Purely Commentary
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Friday, October 19, 1956
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By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Britain's Amazing Position in the Middle East
Britain has again warned Israel, with another reassurance
to Jordan that the John Bull will fulfill all obligations under
the British-Jordan treaty of 1948 to come to the aid of the Jor-
danians in the event Israel undertakes to seize Jordan's territory.
On the face of it, Britain might claim consistency. This time,
her warning is interpreted as the bluntest yet made to Israel.
It sounds like a sanctimonious pledge. It was an endorsement of
a projected Iraqi offer — abandoned since then — to send 3,000
soldires into Jordan to project Israel's neighbor.
It all stems from the help needed by the tottering Jordan
government. There is a threat to the Arab states from Egypt,
whose dictator, Nasser, has indicated aspirations to become the
ruler over a large Arab empire. Therefore, the British, with the
consent of our Government, are re-entering the Middle Eastern
political arena in an effort to check Nasser's aspirations.
What about Israel? Should the smallest state in that entire
area just sit by and watch her citizens shot down, the bodies
of attacked Israelis mutilated, her citizens' security threatened?
From time to time, the inept UN mixed armistice commis-
sions wave a warning finger at Arab marauding, as if to say,
"Now, don't be bad boys!" But when Israel retaliates, when the
threatened Jewish State asserts its rights to life and liberty, Ben-
Gurion and his Cabinet are given severe reprimands, blunt warn-
ings and threats of international punishment.
One begins to wonder how long this can continue, whether
the United Nations, in whom liberty-loving peoples place so much
trust, can survive if war-mongering is to be tolerated in the
Middle East.
We hold to the view that a firm stand by the United Nations,
by the United States and Great Britain, with the aid of France
and the other UN member nations, could force an end to war
threats in the Middle East. A serious effort at establishing a
permanent peace is possible, provided the double standard of
political morality is abandoned.
We recognize that Russia is a factor in the issue. But even
the USSR's role could, as it should be, clarified and adjusted
within a peace-seeking policy.
One thing is certain: Israel cannot be expected to sit by,
permitting her citizens to- be slaughtered and mutilated. If Arab
marauders operate from bandits' nests in Hussan or Qalqila,
Israel's defenders should be granted the right to wipe out the
hideouts of murdering marauders.
To be consistent, Great Britain must recognize such rights.
And our own Government owes a responsibility to a small and
a threatened nation not to be a party to the strengthening of
One hostile nation (Jordan) by another (Iraq), while hesitating
to offer aid and encouragement to the threatened nation (Israel).
*
*
*
Creativity versus War-Mongering
The Middle East's tragedy is that there are too many war-
mongers there. It is our firm belief that the Arab people, had
they known and understood the benefits of creative efforts and
scientific research, and the values of striving for economic and
cultural progress, would have opposed the policies of their
leaders who have been instigating them to war against and
hatred for Israel and the Israelis.
Israel alone is showing the way to progress. Typical exam-
ples of aspirations to discover the best methods for • attaining the
common good are described in the New Statesman and Nation
of London, England. Quoting Ritchie Calder's scientific report,
this important periodical presents three facts about the Weiz-
mann Institute and its laboratories in Rehovoth, Israel:
"Much of what they (the board of governors of the Weiz-
mann Institute) have to tell is remote from the urgencies of
an embattled state—and the more significant because it is. For
instance, the Israeli settlers would find `polyelectrolyte' an
indigestible word. And it is not easy to explain to them that
this research may produce the soil-conditioners which will knit
their desert dust into useful soil and remove the salt from
undrinkable water.
"Perhaps Israelis who are anxious about their food situation
might have pricked up their ears when Ephraim Katchalsky
began to describe how his colleagues were making proteins in
the laboratory. They are not making meat, eggs or cheese.
They have, however, made artificially a whole series of pro-
teins- in the laboratory. They are identifiably proteins, but the
scientist can add to or subtract from them, so that they behave
differently from natural substances. Just how important this
will be the scientists are shy to say, but some can be used to
replace blood.
"Again, there was tritium. Tritium—triple weight hydro-
gen—is used in the H-bomb. The Americans, to produce it,
spent $1,400 million. Israel is not making H-bombs and it has
better things to do with its dollars. But the Weizmann Institute
scientists are studyhig tritium. In nature, it is produced—in
tiny quantities—by the collision of cosmic rays, from space,
with the atoms in our atmosphere. Some of this _tritium is
washed down by rain. It is radioactive and its activity can be
measured. So the scientists have turned this to the service of
Israel. Now, as a regular routine, they test the samples of
waters from new wells. They can tell whether the water of
a well is regularly or only periodically renewed by rain. Or
whether, like some of the wells, it is old water dating back to
geological times—trapped in a sort of water-bottle which will
never be replenished. So the heartbreak of well-failures can
be averted.
"The department of experimental biology at the Weizmann
pays a great amount of attention to cancer—as it should, be-
cause Professor I. Berenblum is one of the world's great au-
thorities on cancer. But he is not working on a "cure." His
work has recently thrown a completely new light on the way
cancer occurs. He discovered that they are substances which,
while they cannot produce cancer themselves, will, even when
taken by the mouth, prepare the way for cancer—when some
other chemical, again not cancer-producing itself, is applied.
Using radioactive chemicals, they are now trying to trace the
way in which those substances are changed in the living body."
This requires no further comment. Seeking peace, striving
for human betterment—through scientific attainments—the world
can and should be a wonderful place to live in.
Israel plays a great role in seeking advancement for her
people. She has in view also a better role for her impoverished
neighbors. But the neighbors are belligerent—due to a leader-
Our Population Older Than Catholic, Protestant
1U-M Shows Jews 4% of Detroit's Population;
Sttidy Reveals Economic, Religious Trends
ANN ARBOR — Jews now
comprise about four per cent of
the population in metropolitan
Detroit and young Jewish cou-
ples are having fewer children
per family than any other major
racial-religious group in this
area, the University of Michi-
gan's Detroit Area Study (DAS)
disclosed here Wednesday.
Using random sampling tech-
niques in an area containing 90
per cent of the population of
Wayne, Macomb and Oakland
Counties, the DAS also found
that the Jewish population of
Detroit is markedly older than
Catholics and Protestants, and
Detroit area Jews at present do
not attend religious services
nearly as frequently as do non-
Jews.
The survey uncovered strik-
ing differences between the
heads of Jewish families and
those of non-Jewish families, as
follows:
1. Nearly three - fourths were
employed in so-called "white
collar" jobs, a proportion
about twice as high as that
for non-Jews;
2. Nearly one - half were
self-employed, compared to
less than 10 per cent of non-
Jewish heads of households;
and
3. One-third had an annual
income of $10,000 or more,
compared to less than 8 per
cent for non-Jews.
Commenting on these find-
ings, sociologists David Gold-
berg - and Harry Sharp said,
"Many Jews in European corn-
.munities, desiring to work under
conditions where they could
observe the Sabbath, daily
prayers, and dietary laws, no
doubt turned to self-employ-
ment as a means of meeting
their religious obligations while
earning a living. Today, while
self-employment is still charac-
teristic of the Jewish working
population, it seems unlikely
that this is a direct result of
current religious motivation."
So far as the findings on pop-
ulation and birth trends for
Jews in Detroit were concerned,
the U-M experts said:
"The small proportion of
Jews included in our study
makes exact analysis and
comparison of this material
difficult, particularly when
we try to compare various age
groups of Jews.
"In general, however, the
Israel Will Get Loan
From U.S., Javits Says
•
NEW YORK (JTA) — Attor-
ney General Jacob K. Javits,
Republican candidate for the
United States Senate, Said in an
interview with the Jewish press
that Israel is getting a loan of
$75 million from the Export-
Import Bank with the approval
of the United States Govern-
ment. He cited this, the Repub-
lican Party's platform pledge to
prevent aggression against Is-
rael and the American position
on the Suez Canal situation as
indications of a more favorable
attitude towards Israel and
pledged that, if elected, he
would strive to have the Gov-
ernment implement its promises
and to assure that whatever is
the result of the Suez Canal ne-
gotiations, Israel's ships should
be permitted free passage.
He said the Republican Party
had always recognized rights of
Israel and its just struggle to
maintain the integrity of its
borders and economic independ-
ence. He referred to the sale of
Canadian and French jet planes
to Israel and declared that these
transactions could not have
taken place without U.S. ap-
proval. Mr. Javits also declared
himself in favor of establishing
U.S. bases in Israel.
A sharp attack on the Re-
publican Administration's Israel
policy was made in a speech by
Rep. Arthur Klein, who is seek-
average size of the Jewish
family does not appear suffi-
cient for population replace-
ment. Taking into account the
proportion of Jews who never
marry and current mortality
rates, the average Jewish mar-
ried couple would have to
have 2.5 and 2.6 children in
order to replace itself.
"Although it is impossible
to state definitely the kinds of
fertility patterns that will de-
velop as the younger Jewish
women complete their fam-
ilies, the smalL mean number
of children (1.4) in this group
would seem to indicate that
they are not likely to surpass
the older generation by an
amount great enough to
achieve replacement."
For purposes of the study,
Jews were defined as those de-
scribing themselves as Jewish
in response to the question,
"What is your religious prefer-
ence?"
Because of the small number
of persons found in this cate-
gory, the DAS analysis_ was
based on material collected in
three Separate studies conducted
in 1952, 1954 and 1955.
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Boris Smolar's
'Between You
and Me'
...
(Copyright 1956,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc-)
Election Moods:
The closer election day approaches, the more intense the
race for Jewish votes by Republicans and Democrats. Both
parties have come to realize that there is really no such thing as
a collective "Jewish vote," but that each Jewish voter can be
influenced to cast his vote for this or the other Presidential can-
didate, just like any other American citizen. Hence, the growing
competition between Republicans and Democrats for individual
Jewish votes which finds its expression in "verbal duels" be-
tween speakers of both parties . . . Hence the appearance of
Nixon and Kefauver at the convention of the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America. The appeal to the Jews is based primarily on
promises of interest to Jews made in the political platforms
adopted by the national conventions of the two parties. Both
platforms contain declarations opposing discrimination by foreign
governments against American citizens on the ground of race
or religion. Jews in the United States are now, on the eve of the
elections, watching with special interest what the Republican
Administration will do to check the Arab boycott against Amer-
ican Jews. This includes not only the trade boycott, but also the_
Saudi Arabian ban on Jewish ,,servicemen at the American mili-
tary base in Saudi. Arabia. On this point all Jews—without ex-
ception—are united, since it affects their dignity as American
citizens, as well as the dignity of the United States itself. The
question of Israel looms large for the great majority of Jews.
The Republican plank makes no promises of defensive arms to
Israel, the , Democratic plank does. This obvious difference is
not being exploited in the election campaign by any of the
Jewish groups friendly to Israel, not even by Zionist groups.
Despite these differences, friends of Israel take satisfaction in
the fact that both major parties are in accord on the' issue of
Israel's security and have committed themselves to stand by
Israel's independence. At the same time, pro-Israel voters feel
that it will be easier to carry out that commitment—indeed, it
may never have to be invoked—if Israel is adequately armed
and in a position to defend itself, and thus deter potential
aggressors.
.
Zionist Reflections:
The American Zionist stand on the elections is that the
present American policy on Israel and the Arabs is not an issue
which divides the political parties. Zionist leaders maintain that
this issue—like many others—cuts across party lines. They point
out that some Republican members of both Houses of Congress
are already on record in favor of arms for Israel and for a
security treaty with Israel. They are fewer than the number
of the Democratic senators and representatives who advocate
giving arms to Israel. What American Zionist leaders would
really like is that Israel should receive American arms as a gift,
and not as a purchase to burden Israel'S economy. They argue
that the U.S. Government has granted arms to 36 nations as part
of the Mutual Security program to defend democracy. Nearly
$2 billion in military supplies went to these nations during the
first five months of this year. Why not also give such supplies
to Israel on the same basis? Isn't Israel of crucial importance in
the struggle for democracy? Is she not a democratic island in a
sea of anti-Western Dictatorship? Aren't her people dedicated to
the democratic system of government? Isn't the strengthening of
Israel's defense a reinforcement of all Western defenses? Why,
then, should the people of Israel bear the entire cost of .a crush-
ing armaments burden, when other countries receive military
supplies free? Is there any valid reason why Israel should not
be included in America's overall mutual security system? These
are the questions which American Zionist leaders are asking in
connection with the elections. And they maintain that there must
be a review of the United States aid program for Israel.
*
a
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Non-Zionist Sentiments:
American non-Zionist groups don't inject the Israel issue in
the elections, but are naturally interested in the reaction of the
major political parties to problems concerning American-Israel
relations. This is true with regard to American Jewish Commit-
tee, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jew-
ish War Veterans, and all central Jewish religious bodies. How-
ever, they are forthright in their demands for the protection of
the right of U. S. Jewish citizens vis-a-vis the Arab countries.
They consider it scandalous that countries receiving American
economic aid should maintain a boycott against U. S. citizens and
refuse to honor U. S. passports only because their holders are
Jews. They hold these practices incompatible with the Constitu-
tional principle of equality of citizenship, and they
Washington will not tolerate them. In the present pl ectron carn-
ne attention of
paign this issue has been brought sharply to tr
Jewish voters together with the fact that thc: Senate Foreign
escr ilInilla tion against