Commendation
UN's Ostrich
Ailment
for Israel's
Judges from
'Brother
HE
Daniel'
Commentary
Page 2
Vol. XLI I, No. 19
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Arab-Israel TV Propaganda
Seen Over Rothschild Offer
Human Rights Body
lievives Faith in UN
BY SAUL CARSON
JTA Correspondent at the United Nations
(Copyright, 1963, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.—After the anti-
Semitic diatribes heard during the Arab refu-
gee debate, the next item on the UN agenda
.will deal with human rights. On Jan. 14, the
Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities will convene for a
three-week series of sessions to discuss such
subjects as discriminations practiced against
persons wishing to leave their country (or
return to it).; measures to be taken for the
cessation of national, racial or religious hos-
tility that constitutes an incitement to hatred
and violence; and the protection -of minorities.
They are of particular urgency to Jews in
-Russia and the Arab states.
The group known as the anti-bias unit is a
subsidiary of the Commission on Human Rights.
For 15 years, it has met each year, for three
weeks, to study, discuss, debate. It is not an
action organ; it has no authority to approve or
to condemn, to censure or even to recommend
censure by any of the more powerful arms
of the United Nations. But it is an important
group, nevertheless. For it does have one
weapon—the power of words based upon care-
ful study, marshaled into forceful array. The
subcommission does not even name names. The
USSR will not be specified in any of its docu-
ments, nor even identified on the floor. But
he who has eyes to see, ears to hear, can supply
his own labels—governmental or geographical.
It was this anti-bias unit which, three
years ago, put the spotlight of organized world
public opinion on the plague of swastika smear-
ings then besmirching synagogues around the
world. The group adopted a resolution dealing
with anti-Semitism. It took three years for that
resolution to travel all the way from the sub-
commission to its .parent commission, to that
commission's parent body, the Economic and
Social Council, to the General Assembly. Fi-
nally, during the last session of the Assembly,
the resolution, altered somewhat but still strong,
passed the Assembly, condemning racial and
religious discriminations.
During the debates on that resolution the
UN finally got around to naming Russia.
In the Assembly committee, Australia hit
hard at the Soviet Union for government-con-
doned persecutions against Russian Jewry. Be-
fore the committee, too, there was a detailed
report on anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union,
filed by the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions.
Many delegates to the United Nations from
'countries sometimes bemused by Soviet shout-
ing against colonialism suddenly found out that
-
the USSR practices its own racism—directed
against Jews if not against black men. The
Australian and ICFTU interventions were eye
openers for many here. And that lid would
never have been lifted, had it not been for the
preparatory work done by the little subcommis-
sion back in January of 1960. -
When the subcommission gathers this year,
its members will have been furnished with still
another study of official, quasi-official and
semi-official anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.
Each member of the group will receive a copy
of the latest issue of "Foreign Affairs," the
highly respected quarterly review of the Coun-
Cil on Foreign Relations. In that issue, they
will find marked an article, "The Status of the
Jews in the Soviet Union."
• It is a small group. It is a little body without
the semblance of a stick. But it is effective, in
its own quiet unobtrusive way. The UN, the
world, is richer because the anti-bias unit does
place into focus, once a year, the real aim of
the United Nations—human rights.
LONDON
—
Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News
A television "propaganda war" between the Arab states and Israel was predicted
by Arab TV officials following action in Israel aiming at the establishment of an education TV
network there, it was reported here Wednesday by the Beirut correspondent of the Daily Tele-
graph. The report said that both sides are expected to use this medium for "propaganda offen-
sives" onto each other's screens.
Cairo, which has the region's best television facilities, and Beirut, where there are two inde-
pendent commercial stations, will be able to reach Israel's screens, while Israel's projected
television network is expected to be received clearly in most Arab states.
Referring to the offer by the Rothschild group to finance the Israel educational TV net-
work, Lebanese papers forecast that Israeli stations with "ample financial backing" may offer
strong programs and transmit for longer hours than the Arab stations.
Eban Backs Plan for Financing Educational Test Network
JERUSALEM.—Education Minister Abba Eban Wednesday urged the Knesset to approve
the Cabinet proposal to accept an offer by the Rothschild group to finance the establishment
and test operation of an educational television network for Israel. According to the proposal,
the government would decide whether to take over complete responsibility for the project at
the end of the trial periods of two to three years.
USSR Closes Last
Lvov Synagogue
LONDON, (JTA) — The only syna-
gogue in Lvov, capital of Western
Ukraine, in the Soviet Union, has been
closed down, leaving the 30,000 Jews in
that city of nearly a half-million popula-
tion without a single house of worship,
according to a report published here by
the Sunday Telegraph.
The shutdown, according to the news-
paper, was the culmination of a year-
long campaign carried on by the Com-
munist press and by authorities at Lvov,
topped by a demand in the Lvov Pravda,
organ of the local Communist Party,
which stated: "The time has come finally
to close the synagogue, which has be-
come a shelter for idlers, speculators,
parasites and moneygrabbers."
Last spring, the Sunday Telegraph
reported, articles appeared in the con-
trolled press of Lvov, linking the syna-
gogue with "economic crimes." Pointing,
out that the local authorities were mak-
ing of the Lvov Jews "a scapegoat in
the campaign against economic offenses,"
the newspaper reported that letters from
"honest workers"-and from "disillusioned
believers" were printed in the Lvov
press as part of the drive to discredit
the synagogue.
Later, several members of the syna-
gogue's board of directors were arrested
and charged with "profiteering and
hooliganism." Finally, the local Pravda
printed a slander to the effect that the
"synagogue's saints are dividing the
profits" allegedly resulting, from their
economic crimes. The demand for abso-
lute closure of the house of worship
ended the campaign.
In an address opening debate on the issue, Eban
stressed that the Knesset was not being asked to take a
stand now on a general television network. He Said he
could not understand any objections to educational televi-
sion. He assured the Knesset that the Education Ministry
would bear exclusive responsibility foy the content and
form of the programs.
- The debate revealed deep reservations over the proj-
ect even among those ready to support the scheme as
speakers seemed to agree that, while the item on the
agenda was educational television, the real issue was
general television which many believed would inevitably
follow.
It is understood that Achdut Avoda and the National
Religious Party would seek Cabinet permission to vote in-
dependently on the question without being bound by the
coalition clause requiring collective responsibility on cabi-
net proposals. The debate on the TV plan is expected to
continue for an entire week.
Against the reported opposition of Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion, the -cabinet, at its weekly session here,
accepted the offer of the Rothschild Trust to finance an
educational television project in Israel. Eban, as Minister
of Education and Culture, was instructed by the govern-
ment to present the issue to the Knesset.
Under the terms of the cabinet's mandate, the educa-
tional television project will be conducted experimentally
for a period of two to - three years, during which the
Ministry of Education will have exclusive jurisdiction
over programming and instruction to be transmitted by
TV. The construction and maintenance costs will be borne
by the Rothschild Trust.
After two to three years, the government is to re-
consider the entire issue. If, by that time, it is decided to
continue educational-TV broadcasting here, the television
setup will become part of the government's responsibility,
similar to the government ownership of the present radio
and postal services.
ADL's 50th Year
Henry Edward Schultz (left) national
chairman of the Anti-Defamation League
of Bnai Brith, meets to discuss plans for
the League's 50th anniversary observance,
to begin this month, with former Senator
Herbert H. Lehman, honorary chairman
of the observance, and Dore Schary, chair-
man of the observance. A highlight of
ADL's golden anniversary observance will
be "Dinner With the President," to be held
in Washington Jan. 31 when President
Kennedy will be given the League's annual
America's Democratic Legacy Award. ADL,
founded in 1913, is the nation's oldest
human rights agency established to com-
bat anti-Semitism in 'the United States and,
in the Words of its original charter, "se-
cure justice and fair treatment for all
citizens."