et
I
,.
Purely Commentary
`We'll Do It for You, If You Can't Discipline
Your Army,' Israel Warns Offending Jordanians
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Israel surveyors working on a land i the exchange of shotting lasted
issued a stern warning to Jordan project in the Upper Galilee.
I about 90 minutes. Israel lodged
over an attack in which two
The patrol covering the work- , a stiff complaint with the Mixed
a-,
We constantly speak about the necessity for the best rela- Israeli soldiers were killed, a ing party returned the fire and I Armistice Commission.
p
hens between Israel and the United States. It is even more urgent third injured, and three civilians
- that there should he the very best relations between Israelis and seriously wounded.
' the Jews of America. The latter remain and will continue to be,
=
Israel authorities told Jordan
for a long time to come. the mainstay in defense of Israel's officials in direct contact at the
" economic position—and possibly also the great defensive element Mandelbaum Gate between Old
I in diplomatic spheres.
and New Jerusalem, the area of
N Between
Yet. there are Israelis who belittle American Jewry's role the fresh attack, that "if you
c/:
in this partnership. and while some speak disparagingly of cannot control your undisci-
Zionists
they
really
mean
the
Jews
of
America.
r.4
plined army, we will do it for
:"."'
* . *
It is hurtful and regrettable that some Israelis should be you." The Israeli officials cited
CC
treating
their
fellow
Jews
who
live
in
other
lands
than
their
(Copyright, 1962,
co:
an earlier incident on June 16, I
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
" own with a measure of contempt. When Israelis abuse Zionists, when Arab Legionnaires fired
,.,,,
'"'"
they
also
indicate
a
lack
of
good
judgment
and
perhaps
also
4'.
a without
provocation on an The Big Issue
■ I measure of insincerity—certainly a great deal of ignorance.
I Israeli military patrol, killing
The public quarrel over the U.S. Supreme Court's decision
A typical example of the type of abuse that is at times
I-.
C hurled at Zionists, primarily the Zionists of America, is a recent one soldier. Jordan at that time that banned the New York Board of Regents' . prayer in public
i:4 editorial in the Jerusalem Post in which the accusation was made assured Israel it was not official schools is being watched closely by Jewish groups. . . . The
C that Zionists have not contributed anythin g — politically or Jordanian policy to disturb the Supreme Court has dealt with other cases involVing public schools
culturally, financially or personally—toward Israel's redemption. peace between the two countries, and religion, but none precipitated such violent reaction. . . .
There was the Everson case in 1947, in which the Supreme Court
4:
It's a mighty good thing that not too many Americans are and expressed regret.
After a strong Israeli • protest approved public financing of transportation of pupils to and
1: C aware of this type of am ha-aratzut that emanates from the Holy
E-. City, where a few sanctimonious "journalists" sit and pass vulgar to the United Nations Mixed from parochial schools as a welfare benefit to the pupils, but not
Armistice Commission, UN of- to the schools. . . . The McCollum case, in 1948, forbade released
judgment on their people.
This is not the first time the Jerusalem Post has shown ficials began an investigation time for religious instruction in the schools. ...There were other
ignorance about matters Jewish. The newspaper that was founded immediately of the latest ex- cases involving religion in public schools. . . . None of these
by Gershon Agron ( Agronsky), who knew American Jewry well, change of gunfire. The Jordan- cases provoked as violent a controversy as the ban on the prayer.
This is obviously due to the feared implications of the court's
has seen fit in recent years to abuse tourists, to ridicule American ians began shotting from a
Jewish institutions, to villif y the Jewish press. Only the Jerusalem position in the wall around the decision. . . . There are cases which are now moving toward the
Post writers are supposed, in the judgment of the villifiers. to Old City. According to the UN Supreme Court which, if and when they are decided there, will
possess any knowledge of Jewish things, or to have the ability Truce Supervision Organization, spark additional controversy throughout the country . . . One
the Jordanians contended that is the Schempp case from Pennsylvania, where a school board
to judge Jewish events!
has voted to appeal an adverse decision on the constitutionality
.
Fortunately, the Jerusalem paper has been answered, on Israel fired first.
Tourists on Mount Zion began of Bible reading in public schools. . . . Another is the Chamber-
the score of its villification of Zionists, by a resident of Israel
who knows American Jewry and who senses the injustice of the rushing down the slope when lain case from Dade County, Florida, where the American Jewish
Post's attacks on Zionists. Meyer W. Weisgal, the able executive the shooting began. A soldier Congress and the Civil Liberties Union are appealing a decision
head of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovoth, Israel, wrote as on top of Mount Zion was hit on the use of religious symbols in the public schools. . . . The
and tumbled down. The intensity Murray case from Baltimore attacks the constitutionality of Bible
follows to the Jerusalem Post's editor:
of the gunfire was so great that reading and the recitations of the Lord's prayer in the public
"The Editor,
one wounded soldier could not schools. . . . Leaders of Jewish organizations feel that private
THE JERUSALEM POST,
be reached for 40 minutes, and discussions should be held with non-Jewish groups sharing their
Jerusalem, Israel.
"I have long held the view that the debate on Zion- he died en route to a hospital. mutual concern on problems related to the most recent and likely
ism or Zionists v. the State of Israel or vice versa, is The second Israeli soldier was decision of the Supreme Court on church and state matters. .
utterly puerile, superfluous, and profitless. Although killed when he was hit at his They visualize that full agreement is not likely at meetings on
the discussion has raged for many years, it lacks mean- post on the slope facing Mount this subject. but they believe that the meetings will reveal some
ing, substance and validity. Nothing constructive has Zion. The three wounded civil- areas of agreement and ground for mutual trust and good will.
been achieved. On the contrary. Infinite damage has been ians were a man and his 14-year- . . . They feel that discussions are needed within and among
and another man. Jewish organizations to reach inter-Jewish understanding on all
done by denigrating Zionists as Zionists and Zionism old daughter.
* * *
phases of litigation of church and state issues in the light of
as Zionism. This futile tilting at windmills has produced
the Regents prayer decision. . . . Among the questions to be
acute antagonisms, which both Israel and the Diaspora
raised are whether litigation is advisable, and whether litigation
could very well do without.
is the only means of eliminating unconstitutional practices.
"It is not my intention in this letter to enter into
*
*
*
the merits of the arguments. I am far too busy with
(Direct JTA Teletype were
"Z
"'Zionist"
affairs inside and outside Israel to do this.
Extradition Cases
to The Jewish News)
But away from Israel for a few weeks, and reading the
JERUSALEM — Syrian gun-
The United States can learn a lesson from Israel as to how
overseas press. Jewish and non-Jewish, I get quite a ners fired intermittently 'rues- to act in cases of extradition. . . . Israel acted swiftly in deport-
different perspective of this perennial disputation and day on settlers of Tel Katzir, ing Dr. Robert Soblen at the request of the U.S. Government....
am able to observe the untold harm it is doing to Israel, , working in fields in the Galilee, However, the U.S. authorities still refuse to extradite three for-
the Zionist movement- (whatever is left of it), and the in the second attack this week. mer Nazi collaborators charged by the governments of their
Jewish community as a whole. No casualties were reported. countries with participating in mass-murders of Jews. . . . One
"I was particularly struck by this situation—struck, I The fire was returned and the such request has come from the Yugoslavian government. an-
t might add. with amazement—on reading the editorial exchange lasted about 30 min- other from the Romanian government, and a third from the
'Zionists in Council' in your issue of Tuesday, May 29. utes. Syrian tracer bullets caused Soviet Union. . . . The three persons whose extraditions from
I happened to belong to that category of Zionists who some fires in the fields. Israel this country to their native lands is sought are now residing
have been "too busy to study Hebrew." even though I , again submitted a vigorous com- very comfortably in the United States, and their addresses are
think I know a great deal more of the language and i plaint to the United Nations well known to the State Department. . . . Nevertheless, there
literature than some of those who speak its modern1Mixed Armistice Commission. seems to be no inclination on the part of the State Department
equivalent fluently. The attempt of your leader-writer * * * to extradite them for trial to the countries where they are
to deny the identity with Israel of those 'who come to , Israel Protests Wounding of wanted as war criminals. . . . Israel's speedy deportation of Dr.
Jerusalem for a week or two to say to each other what i Worker by Syrian Gunners. Soblen, who has been convicted in the United States on charges
they already know, etc.' is an unforgiveable slur upon I JERUSALEM—Israeli officials of espionage for the Soviet Union. has only shown that, where
people who have devoted their lives to the creation of reported Tuesday that a member there is a will, there is a way. .. . In fact, some in this country
the State of Israel, 'surprising' as its establishment may of an Israeli security unit was feared that legal complications might present Israel authorities
have been to them. as you so delicately put it. slightly wounded Monday when to act as quickly as they did. . . . Especially since there is no
"How can, I ask. the Jerusalem Post say: 'Hardly Syrian gunners opened fire on ratification as yet by the U.S. of the extradition treaty between
any cultural institutions here owe their lives to Zionist the two countries. . . . The fact that Israel preferred to overlook
organisations or individuals as such?' Let me remind you
technicalities and complied with the U.S. request to deport
Plant Lyndon Johnson legal
that the Hebrew University was founded by Zionists as
Soblen was received in Washington with great satisfaction. . . .
Zionists, and none other. as was the Technion. The Daniel Forest in Israel
But what about Washington emulating Israel's example?
•
*
*
Sieff Research Institute and subsequently the Weizmann
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—United
Institute, too, were founded by Zionists as Zionists; States Vice President Lyndon Yiddish Rialto
' what's more, these institutions are being maintained by B. Johnson was honored with
The Yiddish theater in America is not what it used to be a
Zionists as Zionists (I am one of them). The American- the planting of a forest bearing generation ago.. . . The famous Yiddish Art Theater, which had
Israel Cultural Foundation was founded largely by Zion- his name near Aminadav, in a high reputation not only among Jews but also among non-
ists as Zionists.
the Hills of Jerusalem.
Jewish lovers of the stage, no longer exists. . . . Nor do most
"The list is too long to go on. Suffice it to say: The project was . sponsored of the other Jewish theaters which played an important role in
There is not a single educational or cultural institution by the Bnai Zion Fraternal Jewish cultural life. . . . The days are gone when the Jewish
in Israel to speak of that has not been founded or stimu- Order of the United States. The theatre had such stars as Maurice Schwartz, Joseph Schildkraut,
lated by Zionists as Zionists. ceremony was attended by rep- Bertha Kalich, Jacob Adler and a host of others. . . . Those
"Moreover, it may he of some slight historical in- resentatives of the Israel gov- who survived, like Molly Picon, are now playing in Jewish pro-
terest to the readers and editorial writer of the Jerusalem ernment, of the United, States auctions on the English stage . . . . The large audiences which •
Post to remember that this newspaper, too, was founded Embassy. of the Jewish National patronize such productions on Broadway are mostly the Ameri-
by a Zionist. and at that an American Zionist. If nothing Fund and of Bnai Zion. can-born children of the immigrant parents who devotedly pa-
else, such editorials as yours are a disservice to the tronized the Yiddish stage. . . . This is the link that still exists
memory of the Founder of the Jerusalem Post even though in behalf of which he has raised between the Yiddish theater of yesterday and the English-Jewish
you seem to dismiss the importance of founding fathers many millions of dollars from theater of today. . . This link is now cemented in a book by
as "no substitute for living leaders." For such profound American Jews for the great Louis Lipsky, the venerable Zionist leader and author, which
wisdom it was really a pit y to was te a
whole column. institution bearing Dr. Chaim will be published under the title "Tales of the Yiddish Rialto."
"I do not know whom your editorial writer is quot- W e i z m a n n' s name. Weisgal . . . In announcing the publication of the volume, publisher
ing, probably out of con t ex t, w h en h e d ecl ares
that knows the position of American Thomas Yoseloff predicts that Lipsky's book, the only work of
without Herzl and Weizmann there would have been no J e w r v. He is therefore well its kind, will afford poignant nostalgia and keen pleasure, and
Second and Third A huot; but I would add that without qualified to expose the writers will delight anyone who reads it. . . . Any person who knows
them, too, there would h ave been no J ew i s h State and no who are i g n o r a n t in these Louis Lipsky, not only as the builder of the Zionist movement
Israel, nor a Government either to praise or blame. matters. in this country but also as a dramatist and theater critic, will
"I think it is high time that we should be done In the best interests of ami- be looking forward to the appearance of his book.. . . Lipsky
with these sterile, highly damaging and unnecessary cability between American and served for more than ten years — during 1902-1913 — as drama
pilynilim which merely distort the true role and character Israeli Jewries, it is important critic for the New York Telegraph. . . . He came to know all
of Zionism and Zionists and inject acrim o n y and rancour that the facts as stated by Weis- the famous actors and playwrights of the Yiddish theater. . . .
into our life to no constructive purpose." gal should be known. Perhaps His book will reflect his great love for the theater which he
It would be superfluous to acid another word to what Weisgal the irresponsible clique in Israel maintained even during the years when he devoted his entire
has written. A former national secretary of the Zionist Organiza- will stop abusing the Jewries of energy and attention to developing a strong Zionist movement
tion of America, the guiding genius of the Weizmann Institute the world.
in this country.
e-i"
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. Urgency of Good Israel - Diaspora Relations
Boris Smolar's
You
and Me'
Syrian Gunners
Fire on Iraelis
lb