Purely Commentary

On What Bask Should a U.S. Stamp Be Issued?

• rule

By Philip Israel Seeks Stand
Against Germans
was short-lived because of his mental illness. But while Who Aid Nasser

The Basis for Stamp
Issues . . . Hussein's
Fears, Inconsistencies

VOMOVitZ

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -

A Michigan Congressman has taken directly to President relating the events that led to the assassination of King Abdullah,
LONDON, (JTA) — Press re-
Kennedy his proposal that a special stamp be issued in this there isn't a word about the major cause of Arab antagonism to
ports here said that the Israeli
country next summer to mark the centennial of the birth of his grandfather: the fact that Abdullah had negotiated with Golda government is considering tak-
Henry Ford. Since the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee of Meir (then Mrs. Meyerson) to establish peace with Israel, and ing up with the German govern-
the U.S. Post Office Department has refused to act on the the Mufti's henchmen prevented it by murdering him.
ment a request that Bonn take
proposal, the Congressman has undertaken to take the matter
Abdullah's meetings with Israelis are well known and are a stronger attitude regarding
in anger to the President himself.
a matter of record. But not a word about them in the young the West German rocket experts
The question arises: what is the fundamental principle
monarch's autobiography! What he said about Saudi Arabia's and technicians who have been
guiding the selection of a person for so great an honor as the
unwillingness "to anger Nasser" thus applies to him, although aiding Egypt's rocketry pro-
issuance of a stamp with his photograph and his name?
he constantly excoriates Nasser and accuses hitii of being his gram. There are about 200 of
This Commentator had a sad experience. When he was the vilest enemy.
these German rocket experts in
state's chairman during the American Jewish Tercentenary
A chapter dealing with "The Dismissal of Glubb Pasha" Egypt, the reports stated.
celebration, his proposal to the Post Office Department that a sounds equally convincing. Glubb hardly gets the credit due him
(The New York Times, in a
Jewish Tercentenary stamp should be issued during 1954 was for having organized the only force—Jordan's Arab Legion—that cable from its correspondent,
rejected. If so significant an event was not honored, why select was able to withstand Israel's unorganized and weak forces that C. L. Sulzberger, reported that
Henry Ford for the honor?
existed at the time of the declaration of Israel's independent either of the two rockets which
Since the outrageous forgeries called "The Protocols of the statehood. Hussein even blames Glubb for having advised Egypt prodtieed could bombard
Elders of Zion" still crop up from time to time in Eastern "cautious patience" in dealing with Israel. Jordan's king states: all of Israel from bases well in
"I felt strongly that we should answer with force the Israeli the rear, and that "the design
European and Latin American countries, as translations from
documents that were distributed in the early 1920s by Henry commando attacks against Arab villages. On several occasions and fabrication of these rockets
Ford, and since the Ford influence was felt in anti-Semitic ranks the Israelis crept across the frontier, burned houses or even were made possible by signal
for many years, with the imprint of Dearborn Independent villages, killing defenseless Arabs, then returned to Israel. I contributions from three Ger-
articles of the 1920s hardly obliterated, that element of the Ford argued that every time such an outrage occurred we should select mans, Professors Saenger,
memory can hardly be forgotten.
a target on the other side and do the same to them. It would soon Brandner and Pilz, aided by
have stopped the Israelis. As it was, we accepted these outrages over 100 German technicians."
True: Henry Ford apologized.
Sulzberger added that Saen-
Even more true: his son went a long way to wipe out the meekly; the people were helpless. The UN condemned the
Israelis, but that did not stop them. Our soldiers were ridiculed, ger and Brandner once held im-
sins of anti-Semitism, and the grandsons are among the finest a great gulf grew between the army and the
people."
portant positions with jet and
leaders in industry and among the noblest figures in American
Hussein contends that "if Glubb had been in command of ordnance firms and institutes in
civic affairs. There is no bias in the Ford family today, and the
the army a year longer, it would have been the end of Jordan. West Germany. Brandner worked
Fords are a great credit to our country.
The country would have been carved up among the other Arab
But: the proposal is not to honor a son or a grandson, but states seeking aggrandizement." Here we have another example in Russia after World War H
helping design Ilyushin engines.
the man who figured so ignominiously in the sad plight of the of sheer inconsistency. Hussein knows that the other Arab state
s Pilz is credited with inventing
Jewish people! And the request to honor that name has gone
are after his skin and crave his territory, yet he has to keep up an astonishingly inexpensive
to a nation that has affirmed the principle that anti-Semitism a front to justify his discharge of Glubb Pasha and continually
missile which, although it still
is mankind's gravest sin!
to accuse Israel of planned aggression. In the instance of his has a short range, costs only
,,
S
above charges, he avoids, of course, mentioning that whenever $50,000 and has been vital to
Hussein's Autobiography—Inconsistencies Vis-a-Vis
there were Israeli "invasions" of his territory, they were—in Nasser's tests.
Israel, Excoriations of His Arch Enemy Nasser
the early days of Israel's statehood—retaliations against Jordan-
"Bonn has been aware for
King Hussein of Jordan has written an autobiography under ian massacres of Jews within Israel's territory.
many months of this special
the title "Uneasy Lies the Head." It has been published by
Jordan's monarch was 16 when his grandfather died. He German role in the Middle East
Bernard Geis Associates (130 E. 56th, N.Y. 22).
became king as a teenager. He tells about the poverty of his - i arms race. Its security branch
family in his youth, his mother having been compelled to sell eventually forced all concerns
It deserves the serious consideration of all who are interested
his coveted bicycle to get urgently-needed funds for the upkeep
in world affairs and especially in Middle East problems. The
in the Federal Republic with
of
the family. Yet, as a student in England, his hobby was auto which the three scientists had
young king tells an intimate story—about his youth, the fate of
his grandfather and his father, his relationships with Israel and
racing! Autos must have become cheaper than bicycles for
ties to severe these connections.
Arab kings!
Nasser and his attitudes towards the latter two.
But passports have not been
His comments on the latter two "issues" are of particular
The story he tells has many aspects of great interest and withdrawn from the professors,"
importance. They reveal how a young king whose rule is in there are sympathetic elements in his narrative. If only it Sulzberger reported-)
constant danger because his Arab kinsman—the Egyptian clic- r ecognized reality and was more truthful in dealing with Israel.
tator---has an eye on his kingdom, speaks bluntly in condemning , What he does, however, is to follow the Arab line of seeking
Nasserism, but at the same time continually refers to Israel asiL he "unity" that does not exist on the strength of appeals to Charge 13 Ex-Nazis
the aggressor. If it had not been for Israel as his major line of ' atred for Israelis. Such is Israel's misfortune—that even the with Murder of Jews
defense, it is doubtful whether young Hussein would
have `7
,. ordanian neighbor, who could benefit the most from peace with
survived even a fraction of his overlordship. Yet he keeps up a 1 srael, must continually shout wolf! wolf!—Israel! Israel!—in in Poland Death Camp
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
front of anti-Israelism, and in not a single instance does he se eking a scapegoat for its ills and in trying to appease its
to The Jewish News)
prove his charges against Israel.
srael-hating kinsmen. Would that Hussein had the courage of
BONN — Thirteen former
The amazing thing about the inconsistency on this score
Abdullah! But Hussein apparently fears the fate of Abdullah. Nazi SS officers were charged
*
here Tuesday with having taken
*
is that when he was in real trouble it was Israel who came to
his assistance. On Page 199 of his autobiography, while ex-
Contradictions in Hussein's account about himself will be part in the murder of 170,000
pressing his worry over "the threat to Jordan"—and the threat I found in many newspaper reports issued at the time of the Jews in a death camp in Poland
here was to come from his Arab kinsmen after his cousin major happenings in Jordan—and the former Transjordan of during the Second World War.
Two of the men were accused
King Feisal of Iraq was murdered—he nevertheless found it which Hussein's grandfather was the king; in magazine articles,
of having driven a truck
necessary to appease the very elements who are after his crown
in Glubb Pasha's and other books.
by asserting, without rhyme or reason: "Whenever Arab nations
In an article in the October 1956 issue of Adventure, the equipped with a facility for di-
were in trouble, Israel was always ready to pounce." Yet,
military expert, Maj. Gen. George Fielding Eliot, writing under recting exhaust gases into a
starting on Page 202—in the same chapter entitled "The
the title "The Day Abdullah Died," made some important revela- chamber. The others were ac-
Murder of King Feisal" he tells the story of his request for
A woman was involved in the plot to murder Abdullah. cused of having forced the
help from the United States when he felt himself in grave tions.
Eliot wrote that King Abdullah ibn Husayn, who died at inmates of the Kulmhof con-
danger: "Our friends in Saudi Arabia—on whom we counted—
centration camp into the truck
the hands of an assassin on July 20. 1951, was "the greatest
suddenly refused, at this critical juncture, to permit American Arab prince of his time and the only balance-wheel of the to be gassed.
Only three Jews are known
aircraft to fly over their country while carrying fuel from the Arab world."
gulf to Jordan. It was the only possible route they could
to have survived the camp in
He declared that "he was murdered because, had he lived,
take.
western
Poland. The trial of the
The unspoken reason was obvious--some powerful advisers
he would have made peace with Israel."
in Saudi Arabia thought this was the end of our country and
men is expected to begin later
"The
hopes
for
peace
died
with
him,"
Eliot
wrote.
"Peace
this year.
they did not wish to anger Nasser." In this critical situation,
and the reopening of trade between Israel and Jordan would
as described by Hussein, negotiations proceeded, and the result
have shattered the a .Arab League at a moment when no other
is described by the young king as follows: "We did receive
Arab power was able to take counteraction, while Soviet atten- Chicago Jew Chosen
fuel after a short break in supplies, but how it arrived was
tion was fixed on Korea. It would have set up a new grouping Prexy of Cook County
perhaps the most humiliating feature of the whole sordid
of Arab states under Hashemite influence, released the energies
business. Our Arab friends had refused to let us fly over their
of the Israeli people into channels of commerce, industry and Commissioners' Board
country—the air of brother :Xi - MN—and so, in the end, the
social progress. opened the way to relieve the sufferings of the
CHICAGO, (JTA) — Seymour
fuel canie from Lebanon, and every gallon had to be
Arab
refugees.
F. Simon, Cook County Commis-
over the skies of Israel, the mortal enemy of the Arab flown
Turning to the world scene, Eliot stated that Abdullah, sioner, was reported to be the
Where an Arab nation refused, an enemy agreed." Such states.
con-
had he lived. would have brought the Middle East into closer first Jew to become president
sistency! Even while Israel was helping
him,
Hussein
cried
cooperation with the West; that Abdullah was a sworn enemy of the Cook County Board of
"mortal enemy!" 0 temporal 0 mores!
of Communism and a friend of Britain and the United States, Commissioners. A special meet-
IIussein's story begins wi;11 his childhood.
He tells about that: "He had no love for Israel, but he saw clearly that the ing of the board named him to
the fine relationship he had withhis grandfather—King Abdullah Soviet power was the true threat to all of the Middle East—a the office, one of the highest
- and he mention ,: the tragedy
of his father, King Talal, whose threat far greater to the Arab future than Israel could ever be. in local politics. He will serve
Therefore, those whose minds were closed to any hate save hate out the term of John J. Duffy,
of Israel had sought his death and accomplished it."
who died the previous week,
Eliot declared in his article that while Communist influ- and will be a candidate for
ence played a part in Jordanian politics, "there can be no election next November to a
doubt that the moving spirit behind the assassination of King full term.
Abdullah was Maj. Amin el-Husseini, ex-Mufti of Jerusalem,
whose trained assassins are still the terror of the Middle East."
father was killed, but he did
Eliot's article reported: "Moussa el-Husseini, the two Okkeh not tell it in his autobiography.
brothers and a man named Harahat, who had supplied the He knows that the Mufti still
murder weapon, were tried before a military court in Amman "weaves murder webs," but he
and hanged. Moussa, the Mufti's cousin, confessed his guilt at is like an ostrich, unwilling to
the last moment. Such of the evidence at the trial as was pub- admit that Israel is his strong-
lished was conclusive enough as to the guilt of the defendants. est defense. A young monarch
The Mufti's name did not figure in the evidence. He still who could have been great and
sits in his pink palace at Cairo and weaves his blood-stained a hero, who hates Nasser and
murder webs. Only recently his name was in the news dispatches says so, who views the Egyptian
again, as the instigator of the riots in Jordan which were sparked dictator and says so, neverthe-
Abdullah: Had
to prevent young King Husayn, Abdullah's grandson, from joining less kowtows to him and ap-
He Lived Jor-
the Western-sponsored Baghdad Pact. And in the Middle East peases would-be murderers. As
dan Would
King Hussein: Is-
The Mufti: His
the peace which King Abdullah might have brought into being long as there is a lack of cour-
Have Made
rael Is His Scape-
Henchmen Were the
in 19.51 seems as far off as ever."
age among Arab leaders in the
Peace with
goat — Nasser His
Murderers of King
If peace is that far off, it is due to the lack of courage on Middle East, peace is hardly
Israel.
Chief Enemy.
Abdullah.
the part of young Hussein. He knows how and why his grand- possible.

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