Renewed Plea for Reversal of Center Decision on Sabbath Programming Commentary Page 2 Vol. XXXVI, No. 9 SHE JEWIP NE A Weekly Review Michigan's Only English-Jewish N loo j:ri;TintlodniLoap 17100 W. 7 MP .1, t o hEvents .0> to*. co iS 44 Jewish News Salutes Canadian Jewry on Its Bicentenary a Editorial Page 4 porating The. Detroit Jewish Chronicle —Detroit 35, October 30, 1959 — $5.00 Per Year; Single Copy 15c 'Renault A,:b.dnits Yielding to Threat of ,Boycott by Arabs Canadian Jewry s History Reviewed on Bicentenary Marking the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the permanent settlement of Jews in Canada, the National Bicen- tenary of Canadian Jewry, to be observed for an entire year with many important events commemorating the historical de- velopment of- the Canadian Jewish community, this week is be- ing marked by many highlights Major celebrations are being introduced at the 12th Plenary Session of the Canadian Jewish Congress, sponsor of the cele- bration, which commenced yes- terday. Speaking at the Con- gress this Saturday evening will be John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada. Canadian Jewry's history com- menced with the permanent settlement of the first Jew, Aaron Hart, on Sept. 18, 1760. Hart was a lieutenant in the British army serving with the German Legion in the British North- American colonies. He recruited a battalion of the 60th AARON BART Royal American Regiment of New York which formed part of General Sir Jeffrey Am- herst's forces which' marched upon Montreal. He received the surrender of Montreal on Sept. 8, 1760, remained in Canada and settled in Three Rivers. A group of 18 other Jews came to Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec from 1760 to 1763. In 1763, when the second post office was established in Can- ada, it was opened in Aaron Hart's home in Three Rivers. Hart's son, Ezekiel, was the first Jew to be elected to the Canadian General Assembly. The dramatic story of the battle EZEKIEL HART to assure for Jews the right to sit in the Assembly is related in the editorial in this issue of The Jewish News. The fourth oldest congrega- tion on the North American continent—Shearith Israel—was founded on St. James Street in Montreal on Dec. 30, 1768. • A petition of the Montreal Jewish residents for incorpora- tion of .a Jewish religious cor- poration was granted by an act of Feb. 7, 1829, which received Royal Assent on Nov. 30, 1830. On March 29, 1831, a bill was passed by the Legislature of - Lower Canada "that all persons professing the Jewish religion LAVY M. BECKER are entitled to the full rights and privileges of other subjects of His Majesty . ." In that year, the Jewish population of Canada numbered only 107, The complete record of eanadian Jewry's history has been compiled by Louis Rosen- berg in a publication of the Na- tional Bicentenary Committee of the Canadian Jewish Con- gress, "Chronology of Canadian Jewish History." Canadian Jewry presently. . numbers 246,000. Lavy M. Becker, a former Detroiter, is chairman -of the National Bicentenary .Commit- tee. Samuel Bronfman is presi- dent of- the Canadian Jewish SAMUEL BRONFMAN Congress. JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Israel may enter the brisk market of foreign car sales with a made-in-Israel small auto as a result of the cancellation by Renault com- pany of its contract with the Kaiser-Frazer company plant at Haifa. A specific promise that Israel-made cars, assembled at the Haifa plant, would be exhibited throughout the world within two years was made by Ephraim Illin, manager of the assembly plant. He said that while the Renault decision was "a _severe blow," he hoped that the action would lead to production of an all-Israel compact car soon. The Renault company, which is partly.. French government owned, conced- e d in a statement issued in Paris that Arab boycott pressures had been the prin- cipal reason it had cancelled its contract for the assembly of its Dauphine in Haifa where one-third of the plant's capacity-had been used for such assemblies. • The Renault company Paris statement said that for the past several years "several countries" — which the statement did not specify — "had refused ad- mission of goods from companies having contracts with Israel firms "contrary to the rules and practices of international law." It was believed that without the boycott pressures, the cancellation would probably have not taken place and that even under boycott pressures, the opera- tion would have been continued if profits to Renault were substantial. In fact, it was understood, the profits were small, particularly in comparison to the Arab market. - Cancellation by the French Renault automotive concern of agreements for the sale and assembly of Renault cars in Israel is being discussed "at the highest levels," Foreign Minister Golda Meir reportedly informed the Israel Cabinet. Mrs. Meir's report did not raise any question of counter-action against Re- nault. That the Renault affair will not affect Franco-Israeli relations was indi- cated by the fact that the Cabinet also approved a decision by the Zim-Israel (Continued on Page 3) Quiet 'Election- Day Predicted in Israel; Proportional Representation Major Issue By ELIAHU SALPETER Copyright, 1959, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc. JERUSALEM—Election Day—Nov. 3--Lis going to be an unusually quiet ,one. Propor- tional representation is the major issue. Naturally, the government coalition parties—particularly the dominant Mapai—do their best to knock down any peg on which the opposition can hang its propaganda. But, somehow, all this is done with much less zest and zeal than could have been an- ticipated. Mapai (which 10 years ago also dreamed about "Socialism In Our Time") has followed liberal economic policy, abolishing rationing, easing foreign currency controls and foreign trade a restrictions, destroying the favorite slogans of the General Zionist campaign. Due to a gen- eral economic upswing, as well as to the receipt of tens of millions of dollars in personal compensation by the victims of the Nazis, there is enough money circulating in the country, and there is plenty of goods to buy. Herut, which as the right-wing nationalistic party traditionally based its vote-getting on demanding a tough policy vis-a-vis the Arabs, has not mentioned the slogan of "Both Shores of the Jordan" for quite some time. As a matter of fact, Herut's leading speakers conspicuously abstained from injecting the Suez blockade issue into the election campaign. They—as prac- tically everybody else—have realized that the average voter does not foresee any chance for a fundamental change in Israel's international position. The only new issue, injected into the elections on the heels of the Wadi Salib riots few months ago, is the grievance of some oriental immigrants against alleged discrimination. a s These grievances, however, are also slowly fizzling out, and the government parties are also making an effort to tell the Oriental voter that they, too, have his problems at their heart. Moreover, to the extent that the opposition parties hoped to cash in on these grievances, their chances of vete-getting have been gravely under-cut by the organization of three new parties which appeal specifically to the North African and the Oriental immigrants. Supreme Court' Justice Yoel Sussmann who heads the Central Elections Commission, may be unable to vote in the elections next month to the Knesset. When he found himself listed in the voters register as "Sissman," he requested that the misspelling be corrected. He is now listed as "Suissmann," which may disqUalify him from casting his ballot._ Vital statistics relating to Israel's election on Tuesday, results of the last three popular elections and current vital statistics are: 1949 election Number of Seats 46 14 7 Name of Party Mapai (Palestine Workers' Party) Herut General Zionists Hapoel Hamizrahi Mizrahi Achdut Avodah Mapam (United Workers' Party) Agudat Yisrael Paolei Agudat Yisrael• Maki (Communist Party) Progressive Party Arab Democratic List Work and Progress (Arab) Agriculture and development (Arab) United Religious Front Sephardim ............... .. Yem,enite Federation Fighters Women's Zionist • Organization (WIZO) Number of persons qualified to vote Number of votes per seat Number of participants in election 19 — — 4 5 2 ..... 16 4 1 1 120 506,567 3, 592 86 .8% 1951 election Number of Seats, 46. 8 20 8 2 15 3 2 5 4 3 1 1955 election Number of Seats 40 15 13 11 10 8 6 6 5 2 2 3 3 1 120 924,885 5,6 92 75% 120 1,057,609 6,938 62.8%