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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Fr iday, September 23, 1960 --
Major Occurrences of the Past Year
Sensational IssuesAffected Jester in 5720
By HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
The major stories of Jews and Jewry during
the past year evidenced that our heritage is not
only an inheritance of tradition but a common bond
affected by similar obstacles and ambitions.
The world report testified that what happened
to Jews in Israel, Africa or South America had its
repercussions on Jews in the United States, and
vice versa.
Ramifications of the Arab blockade of the
Suez Canal were felt around the globe. Business
firms and individuals from a myriad walks of life
here found themselves on the Arab blacklist because
of a "Jewish affiliation."
The entrance of the Jewish New Year 5'720
saw Israel drawing overwhelming international
support from the free nations to break the Suez
case wide open before the United Nations.
But while the majority of free peoples showed
strong mettle in the time of crisis, a few yielded to
Arab intimidation.
In the early weeks of the New Year, Israel
lost a multi-million dollar business when the
French government-owned Renault automobile
firm announced it was pulling out of Israel . . .
despite threats of a $2 million law suit by its
partner in the Haifa factory, Kaiser-Frazer. •
But Renault was to suffer for its decision. Cairo
authorities had promised the auto -firm that in con-
sideration of cancellation of the Renault contract with
Kaiser-Frazer of Haifa, they would build a plant in
Egypt for assembly of the French car.
Nearly a year later, however, as was reported
on these pages Aug. 19, Cairo had not fulfilled its
promise and instead entered into a contract with
Renault's rival, the Simca Company.
A Jewish News headline last October summed
up the situation then as it remains today: "Arabs
Flout Israel's Offer to Make Peace." Still pregnant
with dangerous irresolution, the issue portents to
be one of the major stories of 5721, also.
*
*
*
Israel's most significant internal event followed
the outbreak of the Suez crisis when on Nov. 3 the
Mapai (Labor Party) retained the leading role in
the country in the nation's fourth election since
statehood. The election results were interpreted
as a great personal victory for David Ben-Gurion
and as a rejection of Herut's extremism. The elec-
tion emphasized Israel's increasing political stability
in rejecting scores of splinter parties.
The National Religious Party retained - its status
quo, while the Arab and Communist parties suf-
fered defeats at the polls. The most serious loss
was handed to the General Zionists.
*
*
*
A little more than a month after Israel's elec-
tion, two U.S. senators—Albert Gore of Tennessee
and Gale McGee of Wyoming—exposed a fantastic
international scandal in the Middle East that cost
American taxpayers hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
They announced they had found in Jordan
alone the names of at least 150,000 dead or other-
wise ineligible Arabs on ration lists to receive help
through the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees—for which America
pays 70 per• cent of the bill.
It was disclosed that one-fourth, or 250,000
of the total 1,087,628 so-called refugees on the
UNRWA rolls were frauds (some 75,000 names
on the list those of dead persons) whom the Amer-
ican taxpayer fed and sheltered over the past
decade with a quarter of a billion dollars.
*
*
*
Shortly thereafter, on Dec. 18, The Jewish
News reported an incident that was the prelude,
if not the kickoff, of a campaign of anti-Semitism
that swept the world.
Without attesting that the matter was planned
or promulgated by the Soviets, the first major oc-
currence originated, nevertheless, in the USSR. A
radio broadcast from Kirovograd on the Odessa re-
gional service attacked religious Jews as "swindlers
under the mask of God's servants."
It added, "Stuffing themselves with matzoth
and special fruit received from Israel, the preachers
of Judaism pray only to the golden calf how to col-
lect more money from believers and for the militant
spirit of the Israeli militarists."
There folloWed, one month later in Cologne,
Germany, the painting of a swastika on a syna-
gogue that touched off a wave of hate manifesta-
tions against Jews on every continent.
Swastika painters hit synagogues in cities
in the United States, struck at Johannesburg, South
Africa; Oslo, Norway; Leeds, England; and others
too numerous to mention.
Hate tactics of anti-Semites came right to our
own Detroit doorstep. A window was broken at
Beth Abraham Synagogue on Seven Mile Rd. and
a wooden plank painted with a swastika hurled into
the sanctuary. The Young Israel Synagogue on Wy-
oming Ave. was smeared with a huge swastika.
Jews received threatening letters and a missive
with a "Juden raus" was thrown into the office of
The Jewish News. Shaarey Zedek buses, Cong. Beth
Moses and many more were targets of the bigots'
paint brush.
But from the rash of hatred evolved a positive
development of adhesiveness in defense by Jews
themselves and Christians appalled by the reign
of bigotry. Measures were taken—some in the form
of legislation—to assure that such a chain reaction
would not occur again.
For the most part, those violators caught were
brought to swift justice to the maximum extent of
the law to discourage individual acts which are
repugnant to members of all faiths.
*
*
*
On the heels of the anti-Semitic outbursts re-
ported around the world, an explosive situation
erupted in a succession of skirmishes between
Israeli and Syrian troops in the demilitarized zone
of Tawfig_south of the Sea of Galilee.
The border incidents, of no small consequence,
launched Egypt's Nasser on a tirade of war threats
and attracted the attention of the United Nations.
Syrian incursions into the zone and finally the
occupation of Tawfig precipitated organized re-
taliation. Israeli troops stormed and levelled the
village, but some 40 to 50 Syrian soldiers returned
to entrench themselves in the rubble.
Israel's action, however, put a stop to the
aggression, which served only as a stepping stone
from which Nasser could spew his diatribes before
the UN.
*
*
*
It was just a matter of ,days later that the
world - learned of disaster in the Moroccan city of
Agadir. Emblazoned in bold headlines, the story
was related that two-thirds—some 2,300 persons—
of the Jewish community had perished in the earth-
quakes and tidal waves that raked the coastal town.
• The city's entire Jewish section was wiped out,
including all Jewish institutions and schools.
In the wake of the holocaust, it was the Joint
Distribution Committee that was the first volunteer
agency to rush supplies and medical aid to the
survivors of the stricken city.
And the Jewish Agency notified various authorities
that Israel would accept immediately all the dis-
possessed Jewish survivors.
*
On May 23, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
announced to the Israel Parliament the biggest story of
the century.
It was certainly the epitome of dramatic justice
that Adolf Eichmann, Hitler's Gestapo expert who was
directly responsible for the extermination of six
million Jews, should be captured by Israeli agents
after a 15-year relentless manhunt.
The story captured the imagination and sense
• of poetic justice of peoples of every nationality and
faith. Details of Eichmann's capture in his Argentina
hideaway by a handful of Israeli agents, all of whom
had been objects personally of his persecution, com-
prised a tale as •classic as a dime novel thriller.
The Nazi had been referred to as a criminal
"whose like is unknown in all of Israel's history of
persecutors."
Argentina was obliged to register her embarrass-
ment at the violation of her sovereignty by the Israeli
agents who spirited off one of her "citizens." She even
brought the matter to the attention of the United
Nations, but world opinion rejected her complaint and
demand that Eichman be returned.
Argentina finally abandoned her demands for
"adequate reparations" and issued a joint announce-
ment with Israel closing the incident of Eichmann's
abduction, in compliance with UN wishes to restore
friendly relations.
Focus will now be on the trial of the modern-
day Haman, expected to take place early next year.
The most recent banner story of international
scope was the fate of the Congo Jews . . . another
classic report of yet another Jewish community dis-
persed as a result of national and political strife.
The Detroit Jewish News reported on July 22
that all Jews in Luluabourg had been evacuated.
Jewish refugees, forced to leave their homes and
possessions to the hands of rebel plunderers, were on
the move again. They arrived in Belgium from Luluoa-
bourg; Leopoldville, Elizabethville and Katanga without
luggage or funds.
Many of the Jews swore never to return to Africa
and sought Israel citizenship to finally put an end to
their emigration.
Domestic Report
Of the domestic report of American Jewry, perhaps
the most significant was the reorganization of the Jew-
ish Agency to assure closer control of the expenditure
of U.S. Jewish philanthropic funds in Israel.
A Jewish Agency for Israel, Inc., was created with
headquarters in New York and a 21-man board
headed by Dr. Isador Lubin, noted economist, as
its consultant in Jerusalem.
Among the outstanding active leaders in fund-
raising to be named directors were Detroiters Max M.
Fisher and Philip Stollman.
One consequence of the reorganization was the
cancellation of annual grants of United Jewish Appeal
funds to several Israeli parties for their social welfare
and educational programs.
One of the most sensational national stories of
Jewry during the year was the ADL fight against
George Lincoln Rockwell, self-styled Hitler who heads
the 'U.S. Nazi Party.
Rockwell and a handful of "storm troopers" had
been holding anti-Semitic rallies on the mall in
Washington, D.C. Outraged citizens protested the
•
action of District of Columbia police who had been
"protecting" Rockwell's free speech rights by arresting
listeners who sought to - curb the Nazi's influence.
Satisfaction came when New York Mayor Wagner
rejected Rockwell's request for a permit to hold a
Nazi rally in the city's famous Union Square, had an
injunction -issued against his appearance in New
York State and a warrant for his arrest whenever
he appeared in New York.
Rockwell and a group of his troopers were finally
arrested in Arlington, Va., at a Nazi rally that turned
into a wild fracas. The country's chief Nazi was held
for a sanity hearing.
Found competent to stand trial, there ensued
for Rockwell a series of legal battles which apparently
would be dragged out until the issue reached the
Supreme Court.
The neo-Nazi leader lost the first round, however,
when a Washington court found him guilty on two
counts for disorderly conduct and sentenced him to
pay a $100 fine or serve 90 days in jail. Seven of his
stromtroopers were also convicted and received lesser
fines.
Delegates attending the Bnai Brith national con-
vention in November voted a record-breaking $2,-
920,000—almost 50 percent of its total budget—for its
youth activities program.
Shortly afterward, measures were taken at
the general assembly of the Council of Jewish Fed-
erations and Welfare Funds to establish a national
Jewish cultural foundation and a council of Jewish
cultural agencies.
Other major stories on the national scene during
the year included the appointment of Avraham Harman
as the new Israel ambassador to the United States, a
visit by Israel's Foreign Minister Golda Meier here to
spark the Bond drive and Israel Premier David Ben-
Gurion's venture into personal diplomacy in the spring,
which involved face-to-face sessions with President
Eisenhower (he also met with British Premier Mac-
millan and French President deGaulle).
The Allied Jewish Campaign scored another
great success by recording another $5,000,000 year
in gifts by the Detroit Jewish community for the
United Jewish Appeal and 50 other overseas, na-
tional and local causes.
A number of generous contributions were re-
corded during the year. Topping them was the
$500,000 gift by Abraham Shiffman towards the con-
struction of the $3,455,0000 Shiffman Clinic Wing at
Sinai Hospital.
Abe Kasle contributed $65,000 for a number of
major Jewish causes to mark his 65th birthday. •
Al and Tom Borman donated $60,000 to make
possible the erection of the Borman 'Branch of the
United Hebrew Schools on Seven Mile and Bentler.
Another gift by the Bormans, in the amount of
$15,000, inaugurated a local project for the estab-
lishment of a Chair in Medieval Jewish History at
Bar-Ilan University in Israel in memory of Dr. A. M.
Hershinan.
Bequests by David Kabaker and Jeanette Kabaker
established a Kabaker Memorial Forest in Israel and •
a memorial in the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medi-
cal Center in Jerusalem. A bequest by Fannie Perin
provides for another Forest in Israel.
Max Fisher set up a scholarship fund at Temple
Beth El for studies in Israel by Beth El High School
graduates. A Leon G. Winkelman Scholarship Endow-
ment was established at Brandeis University.
Also, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation of the
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare
awarded a grant of $27,050 to the Jewish Vocational
Service and Community Workshop of Detroit to conduct
psychiatric research.
A story that stirred considerable controversy
came from a statement announced by the Jewish Com-
munity Center last September that it would be open
on Saturday afternoons. On Nov. 5 The Jewish News
reported that the Center's board of directors had or-
ganized a special citizen's committee to review the
situation after monumental objection confronted the ,-
decision. Pending further action, the Center's facilities
remain closed on the Sabbath.
One of the most noteworthy deeds against dis-
crimination was performed by Lawrence Gubow, Michi-
gan Corporation and Securities Commissioner, who
defied realtors with a civil rights rule which regulates
brokers from bias in screening prospective real estate
customers.
Gubow's action stemmed from the disclosure of
'point system" in the Grosse Pointe area which
screened prospective home purchasers. His stand
received nation-wide acclaim.
a
Last, and with an eye to the future, U.S.
Jewry and all the peoples of the world were focusing
attention on the American political scene.
The world saw the U.S. Republican and Demo-
cratic parties draft what is purported to be the most
meaningful platforms in this country's political •history.
Chief among their competitive planks was the civil
rights and the Middle East issues.
The future—the year 5721—will record the after-
math and the challenge presented by these major
stories of the past year.