Purely Commentary
Teller to Speak
Eisenhower's Re-
By Philip
grettable 'Jewish
Stomovitz Here Feb. 12 at
Vote' Innuendo
1 failure to induce the Egyptian dictator to adhere to the principle
..,7 A Personal Tribute to a Worthy Leader
At 70, Abraham Srere remains one of our community's most of freedom of the seas. Members of Congress and others have I I
distinguished and must dedicated leaders. He is the current . Pleaded for such adherence, but their efforts are in vain.
Dr. J. L. Teller, prominent
1-.2
May.we remind the President of his pledge that "if ... Egypt
president of Sinai Hospital. he has served in the presidencies of
c..; the Jewish Social Service Bureau. United Jewish Charities and does violate ... international obligations ... that this should be author and lecturer, will speak
I.
here Friday evening, Feb. 12, at
Jewish Welfare Federation. and was chairman of the executive dealt with firmly by the society of nations."
the Labor Zionist Institute, on
(A "change of memory" statement see Page 1 was made
= >:. conimittee of the latter. lie has held national positions in related l
Theodor Herzl, on the occasion
i by the President at- his press conference Wednesday).
:= movements.
r..
*
S
*
of the Dr. Herzl Centennial
This Commentator desires to pay a personal tribute to. this :
C.,..
Celebration.
I
good and able man on the occasion of his 70th birthday. which The Late Dr. Henry A. Atkinson
i: heLobserved on Feb. 1.
Many Christians have aligned themselves with the pro-Israel
The lecture is sponsored by
iit
, The Commentator's first recollections of Abe Srere date and Zionist forces. Distinguished theologians and laymen have the Farband City Committee, in
C.,.:
;,. back to the time when he was chairman of the board of Con - played important roles in defense of Jewish rights. in activities ' cooperation w i t h a 1 1
t h e
gregation Shaarey Zedek, in the days of the synagogue's tune-
to avert and to repudiate anti- . branches and other branches of
r;lions on Brush and Willis, when, during an interim between
Semitism. i the Labor Zionist Movement,
the selection of a president. the septuagenarian was named chair-
The Rev. Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, ; all of whose
•
man of the congregation's board.
who died in his home city of Balti-imembers a r e
Then came the several years of our efforts in the Zionist I
more on Jan. 24, at the age of 82, ! invited to the
movement. Srere succeeded to the presidency of the Zionist
t
was a leader among them. This gathering.
0
District of Detroit — as the present Zionist Organization of De-
Commentator for years counted I Tickets f o r
=
troit then was known—such men as the late Dr. A. M. Hershman,
him among his good friends. We :this event are
Dr. Noah E. Aronstam and Jacob Miller. He was followed in the
'were together for several weeks in !available from
by
older
—
Maurice
H.
Zack-
men
considerably
Zionist presidency
San Francisco, in 1945,. at the ses-lall Farb and
helmand Robert R. Marwil.
sions at which the United Nations 1 branches or at
Abe Srere was the second chairman of a Keren Hayesod
•
was born; at national conferences !the Labor Zi-
campaign here—the only other person to precede him having
▪
and at American Christian Pales-' onist Institute.
been the late venerable Hyman Goldman.
tine Committee sessions in Detroit.1 Dr. Teller is
In all his capacities, Abe Srere labored with devotion and
He was a lovable man, a great ' the author of
with dignity. To this day. he is one of our most respected and
idealist. highly cultured. from several books
most admired—as well as most generous—leaders.
d
wehaol.m we always learned a great and scores of
There is heartfelt joy in the privilege of greeting this
ischolarly es-
splendid leader on his 70th birthday.
He was fearless. As a leader in says. He is an
0.e..A,
the .League to Enforce Peace. the o u : t s t a n d i n g
President Eisenhower's Reference to 'Jewish Sympathy'
Christian Peace Union. the World ; authority on
Dr. Atkinson
ss
ue
with
It is painful to be compelled to take i
our Chief Alliance for International Friendship Through Religion, the Non- i Zionism a n d
Executive.
Dr. Teller
Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, the Council Against Intolerance in ;Israel, having
The transcript of President Eisenhower's press conference America and the American Christian Palestine Committee, of , visited the Jewish State numer-
of Jan. 26:
which he was honorary chairman, he guided many young Ameri- ' ous times in his official capacity
FEiJk BELAIR. Jr., of The New York Times—Mr. President. since cans towards the paths of justice, against bigotry and intolerance, as head of the press office of
we last met, the former British Prime Minister, Mr. Eden, has had
and in defense of Jewry's just position of aspiring for the the Jewish Agency. His articles
another recollection. this one about Suez. And he says that the decision
to go into Suez by Britain and France was made in June (1956) or many : creation of the State of Israel.
have appeared in Yiddish, He-
•
months before the October going in, and that you, sir, were privy to i
A fine conversationalist, possessed of a keen sense of humor. brew and English publications.
i
that decision.
A.—Well, I don't like to comment on memoirs. As I have said, I thoroughly devoted to the highest principles of the Judaeo- He is now considered an out-
think, here several times, Mr. Eden is a very good friend of mine, been' i Christian heritage and of Americanism, he was one of the noble- ' standing authority also on Rus-
one for years. and I had great confidence in him.
Now I do recall this about the decision—or not decision, the action at
men of our time. His name is written indelibly in the record of : sia and the problems facing
Suez. I made it very clear to—as a matter of fact, I'll tell you one or two
, Russian Jewry.
footnotes of history that might be just interesting. I made it clear that . the battle forjustice to the Jewish people.
H erzl
erd Centennial
—
—
6 -
,
the United States was going to stand by its interpretation of United
Nations policy and the Charter. And this meant that we would apply
this to anybody, thoFe that we thought our closest friends, as well as A
those that we thought were in other category.
At'this moment, or at about this time—I have forgotten Just exactly
at what time the invasion started-but-
"The real joy in life is to be
Q.—October, wasn't it?
A.—I think it was—well, sometime in early October: Mr. Eban was able to render some good to
going back to Israel for a short time. He came in to see me. And I told
others."
him I'd hoped that he would not allow any misinterpretation of sentiment
in this country to sway him, and particularly because of possible Jewish
This credo was expressed by-
sympathy for the, what seemed to be an intention of building up around
the mobilization of Israel at that time—I hoped he would not allow Abraham Srere, one of Detroit's
this to sway his judgment as to what this Administration would do in most distinguished leaders. in
doing its very best to prevent any outbreak of hostilities and the, you i
response t o congratulatatory
might say, the settlement of international issues by force.
And I told him that if he thought that this would- have any part.. greetings extended to him Mon-
iota of influence on the election (of 19561 or that that would have anyl day, at a luncheon •arranged by
influence on me, he should disabuse his mind about it.
In addition to that, both Foster Dulles and I made a great—went to a group of his friends at the
great pains to show to Britain and to France what we would do under Standard Club. in honor of his
that kind of. or set of, circumstances. And as far as the decision itself
vvas concerned, for the past two weeks—I mean the two weeks just prior . 70th birthday.
to the action—Foster Dulles told me there wasn't a single item that came
While only a selected group
in from the British Foreign Office, and as a matter of fact, he referred
to it as "a blackout of news."
Now, that is all I recall from this time.
But I am not trying to impugn anybody else's memory, or anybody's
interpretation of the facts as they were then. We had telephone calls and
trans-Atlantic—in order to try to keep this thing on the rails. but that
was our own attitude. That I know.
be
There are implications here that are most unfortunate. In
the course of the struggle that Israel is engaged in to assure
the State's survival—a struggle which has won the support of
many non-Jews, and in the process of which heads of our Govern-
ment, including the Eisenhower administration. have reiterated
that Israel is here to stay—Israel's antagonists. included among
whom are people who are known as anti-Semites, have constantly
resorted to the charge that the threat of "a Jewish vote" had
played a role in the activities.
It has never been claimed that people who possess a vote are
to he deprived of the right to propagate causes they believe in •
and to plead in behalf of those they feel should he assisted in
the struggle for democratic living. Since there is no longer a
strict isolationism anywhere, and since the world has been con-
densed to such a degree that any portion of it can be reached
by people from what previously was considered a remote area
in the shortest possible time. the Middle East has become part of
American politics. As part of- such an interest, Jews. like their
Chtistian neighbors, are concerned that their kinsmen and co-
religionists in that area should be adequately protected. If
American Jews had felt otherwise ; they would he subject to
contempt.
That such "possible Jewish sympathy"—to quote the Pres-
ident—should be viewed at this time with suspicion. is a matter
for grave concern.
We believe that President Eisenhower's implication carried
with it a suspicion-arousing element, and we deplore it.
We also deplore. in this connection. the regrettable passivity
of President Eisenhower and his administration in relation to
the serious matter of the freedom of the seas and the closing
of the Suez Canal to the passage of Israel's cargoes.
The President's repudiation of Sir Anthony Eden's criticisms
is totally unrelated to his own statement on the Suez question
with which he dealt in his address to the American people, over
a nationwide television program in February of 1957, when he
made his demand—which was adhered to—for the withdrawal
of the Israeli troops from Egyptian territory. At that time, Pres-
ident Eisenhower stated:
"We should not assume that, if Israel withdraws, Egypt
will prevent Israel shipping from using the Suet Canal or the
Gulf of Aqaba. If, unhappily, Egypt does hereafter violate
the Armistice Agreement or other international obligations,
then this should be dealt with firmly by the society of
nations."
Now we are witnesses to complete -defiance of this pledge
by Nasser, as well as UN Secretary Dag Hammarskjold's total
Sirere Honored on 70th Birthany
Srere's many services—his lead- gift to Srere, Judge Levin said.
ership in the Social Service Bu- Srere, in his brief response,
reau and the United Jewish expressed the hope that he'll be
Charities, his presidency in the • blessed with the opportunity to
Jewish Welfare Federation, and continue to serve Detroit Jewry.
his many other efforts. He paid S'rere's communal services, in
honor to Srere for his efforts in addition to those enumerated,
behalf of Sinai Hospital, which include participation in many
he now serves as president. t national movements as well as
A silver cup with the signa- in a score of civic causes.
Lures of those who attended the See Commentator's Tribute
uncheon is being prepared as a
on This Page
........... ■ -•.
Boris Smolor's
'Between You
.. and Me'
(Copyright. 1960,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
The Israel Scene
Israel's present position in the family of nations is being
studied in the U.S. by leading personalities . . . They find that
' Israel is at present in complete isolation in the United Nations
as the result of Arab maneuvers about which the other nations
do nothing . . . In the Communist world, except in Poland, there
is a strong feeling of animosity toward Israel stimulated by the
Soviet Union . . . In Europe, the relations between Israel and
France, which were excellent until recently, are now on the
decline since Couve de Murville became French Foreign Minister
. . The present Foreign Minister in France has always been an
Arab protagonist. and is regarded as responsible for the change
. . . England again equivocates vis-a-vis Israel, hoping to gain
ground in Egypt. Iraq and Saudi Arabia . . Germany is the only
ABRAHAM SRERE
country in Europe which maintains good relations with Israel,
of his friends was present. it though the Bonn government hesitates to establish official diplo-
represented a cross - section of matic relations with the Jewish State . . . In South American
communal leaders — pioneers countries, good relations with Israel. have become even better
like former State Supreme since Pope John XXIII recently sent a Bishop to Israel as his
Court Justice Henry M. Butzel accredited representative . . . The limited Papal recognition
and former Circuit Court Judge which Israel has received from the Vatican is helpful in Catholic
William Friedman. and leaders 1 countries . . . In Asia, Israel is making advances. mainly in
in all walks of life here. Burma and Ceylon, but not in India . . . In Africa. Israel is
The greetings to Srere were
developing friendly relations with the emerging independent
limited to brief remarks by , states, but Arab influence is hard at work against Israel in
Max M. Fisher and Louis Ta- Guinea and Nigeria.
bashnik, in behalf of the com-
mittee that arranged the ' The American Scene
Discrimination against Jewish students in college frater-
luncheon, and Judge Theo-
dore Levin, who reviewed nities has now largely passed into history . . . Currently only
Srere's communal activities. two national fraternities out of 61 still have restrictions against
Rabbi Morris Adler gave the Jewish studentS, as compared with 25 about 15 years ago .
This change was accelerated by the work of the national com-
invocation and reminded the
mittee on fraternities in education which the American Jewish
guest of honor and Mrs. Srere
that it was the same prayer Committee was instrumental in creating . . . While discrimina-
he gave on Srere's 60th birth- tion practically has disappeared in the college fraternities, it
day. Rabbi Adler expressed exists in the university clubs . . . Of 28 university clubs in the
country. only two have Jewish members . . In New York City,
the hope that he'll be privi-
only one of the ten top clubs has Jewish members . . This is
leged to repeat it again on his
the Century Club—not to be confused with the all-Jewish Cen-
80th birthday.
Judge Levin enumerated Abe tury Club in - White Plains, N.Y.