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Purely Commentary

The English-Jewish Press in Its True Light

Max Freedman Enigma
By Philip
Misinterpreted Status Slomovitz
of English-Jewish Press

U.S. Rejects
Move to Free
3 Prop
aszus

Apparently he did not even attempt to point out to "they"
A dialogue process of considerable significance has been in- that when the UN resolution setting up an independent Jewish
c.? augurated by the National Conference of Christians and Jews for State was adopted on Nov. 29, 1947, it was the Jews of Palestine
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — The
the purpose of analyzing problems involving political action and who abided by that resolution. He failed to indicate that it was DepartMent of State notified the
religious freedom, and the role of the religious press in our Arab defiance of the UN that brought about the war as a result Jewish War Veterans of the
›; pluralistic society was the subject of incisive studies during a of which Israel gained the Negev. Why didn't he quote Azzam U. S. A. that the Department
•ct three-day institute convened by the NCCJ.
Pasha, who, as secretary-general of the Arab League at that noted the veterans' concern in
The discussions at that Institute had a considerable bearing time, said on May 15, 1958: "This will be a war of extermination consideration of a West German
a
upon the thinking of Jewish spokesmen, and the attitude of the' and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Red Cross move for release of
Jewish community on major religious issues also became part Mongolian massacre and the Crusades." the last three major Nazi war
Why didn't he quote the late U.S. delegate, Senator Warren criminals, and that the United
.rn of the analyses at the sessions in which seven Jewish periodicals.
13 Protestant and as many Catholic shared in frank reviews of Austin, who, on May 29, 1948, told the UN that Arab armies had States had rejected the German
religious differences. .
marched "to blot out an existing independent government" in clemency action.
Noteworthy in the discussions was the evaluation of the "violation of the Charte•." It could have been interpreted as a
The three Nazis, held in Span-
0,4
.r./) Jewish press in America, and it was in this sphere that there reply to the statement made to the UN Security Council on dau Prison, West Berlin, are Ru-
became evident a lack of proper appreciation of at least one April 16, 1948, by Jamal Husseini of the Arab Higher Committee dolf Hess, Hitler's second in corn-
W segment of the Jewish press in this country—the English-Jewish who said: "We did not deny that the Arabs had begun the mander; Baldur von Schirach, or-
fighting. We told the whole world that we were going to fight." ganizer of the Hitler youth
weeklies.
F-4
A-4
How could Max Freedman have written that: "Of all the movement; and Albert Speer,
Rabbis Ira,Eisensteim and Joseph Klein, who are the editors
m
io
of armaments and
of periodiCals that have no relation to news. coverage,--are.quali- Arab countries, U. A. R. has consistently shown the greatest Nazi
▪ fied to speak about the magazines published by • rabbinical organi- restraint and moderation on the problem of relations with Israel."
when it was the infiltration of Egyptian Fedayeen — the suicide
William R. Tyler, Assistant
. •A zations and the periodicals that appear in the names of cengrega-
' tional movements. But in their presentations at:the Institute- of troops that conducted murderous incursions into Israel — who Secretary of State, notified JWV
the NCCJ on the Religious Press in a Pluralistic.: Society. they compelled Israel to start the action that became known as the Commander Morton London that,
Ei proved the need for better evaluation of the role of the news- Sinai Campaign! Nasser himself said in a Cairo Radio speech after considering the Jewish vet-
. paper as a newspaper, and especially to enlighten rabbis who on May 29, 1956: "I was no stranger to the Fedayeen. I knew erans' position, "no (clemency)
generalize about the Jewish press, in order to enlighten them them in Faluja during the war in Palestine. When I decided to action has been taken, and we
about the true status of media that now occupy that most important raise a unit of Fedayeen, I knew at once that the sons of that anticipate none at this time."
land who have faith in their rights to it would be worthy to bear
"I must say," said Tyler, "I
role in Jewish life.
fully understand the feeling of
There was a time, within the memory of most of us, when the name of Fedayeen."
Again, writing in reference to "they" who played such an revulsions which most Americans
the Yiddish press in this country was the most influential factor'
in creating a Jewish public opinion. It is a matter of deep regret important role in his reports, Freedman wrote: "They believe feel for all those who were per-
that Yiddish, in spite of its richness as a spoken language, even that the purely national interests of American policy have been sonally involved in the terrible
though it has such a literary wealth, should be on such a rapid - subordinated to other pressures." He failed to indicate that vast crimes against humanity for
decline. From a total circulation of 790,000 possessed by 10 . sums have been and continue to be given by our Government which the Nazi regime was
existing - Yiddish newspapers in 1914, Yiddish readership has to Nasser and his associates, at a time when grants-in-aid no guilty. Your concern is natural,
declined to the present 120,000 of the two surviving Yiddish longer are enjoyed by Israel. Our Government provides 70 per and this concern has been taken
cent of the funds for the United Nations Works and Relief into account in considering the
dailies.
• The place of the former Yiddish press influence_ is now being Agency to care for the hundreds of thousands of men, women and matter of the three individuals
are still serving their sen-
assumed by the English-Jewish ,weeklies and it was both: unrealistic children who are being perpetuated as refugees by the Arab who
tences."
potentates'
desire
to
perpetuate
the
problem
as
a
weapon
against
and lacking in a basis for judgment for Rabbis Eisenstein and
The State Department official
Klein to state, as they assumed, that these newspapers do not. Israel and last year alone $467,000,000 was given to the Arab confirmed that the West German
states
as
assistance
from
the
United
States.
exert an influence upon Jewish life in America. It was unnecessary
Freedman's blind approach to •the entire issue could be Red Cross had sought to obtain
for Rabbi Eisenstein to single out The Detroit Jewish News and
the liberation of the Nazis and
the 'Boston Jewish AdvOcate for compliments as exceptions to multiplied a hundred-fold. Most objective observers have viewed that the Department had de-
as a threat to the peace of his area and therefore to
the rule. Had he made a realistic study of the emerging English Nasser
the peace of the entire world. But Max Freedman seems to have cided against such action. The
Jewish press as a vital factor in American Jewish life he could . fallen victim
German Red Cross had sought
to Nasser's charms !
have proven that such exceptions proVe the rule.
Having, in a sense, not. only shelved Israel's troubled State Department initiative in
Of course, there are weak and ineffective • Jewish weekly.
obtaining Four Power consent
newspapers. But in their totality, as the distributors of world existence but, in fact, in a measured condoned Egyptian actions for the release of the Nazis who
and national news among the people they serve, as the organs against Israel, how would he view the sentiments expressed in are held in Spandau under the
that make available to the Jews of - America the news that is a speech by Nasser last Dec. 23, at a public rally in Cairo, the joint contr o l of the United
of which has been transmitted by Cairo Radio and Reuter
. gathered from all corners of the globe by the Jewish Telegraphic text
States, Britain, France and the
News Service as follows:
Agency, they serve as the links between the Jewish communities
Soviet Union.
NASSER THREATENS ISRAEL NEXT AFTER ARAB PURGE
of America and the Jewries of the world.
"As soon as we have completed purging Arab countries of their reac-
There are English-Jewish weeklies that are proving their tionary rulers we shall, God willing, start on the liberation of the Israelis in Europe
plundered fatherland (Israel)," Abdul Nasser declared last night.
p
independence and effectiveness in numerous ways—as guides for In
a three hour harangue to a public rally in Cairo marking the sixth
:their readers, as inspirations for closer unity among our many anniversary of the Anglo-French evacuation of the Suez area, Nasser to Point Up Importance
devoted more attention to Israel than perhaps ever before.
communities, as the creators of that deep interest that is so He said: "In the Yemen we are fighting a war of ideologies. We are of Common Market Tie
fighting inside the Arabian peninsula for otherwise the reactionaries
vitally needed for our philanthropic 'Causes.
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to
Zionists would be fighting us here. If they win in the Yemen, they will
The Jewish News)
The effective newspapers are not necessarily all in the larger and
attack us here in Cairo."
JERUSALEM—A 12-man d ele-
cities. - Often a newspaper in an area with very few Jews exerts The Egyptian leader remarked that the Israel radio had "adopted" Imam
el Radr as a member of the World Zionist Movement and added that the gation of the Israel Foreign Pol-
• as much influence as one in a •large city.
"liberation of the Yemen is a step towards the liberation of Palestine."
Jacques Back in Nashville, Tenn., as editor of The Observer He also lashed out at the BBC for its support of the Imamate. "The BBC icy Association left Wednesday
calls me a dog," he shouted. "I say to them 'You are 60 dogs.'"..
that serves'a community of not many more than 3,000 Jews, is as Nasser conceded that the battles in the Yemen: were not easy. "We for a two-week mission to Eu-
with a token force," he said. "On October 16, we sent 2,000 troops rope to explain the importance
productive of good as many in cities with populations ten times started
there and also two planes."
the size of Nashville's. He reaches his people with news they After that, he said, more troops and planes were sent until "today we of Israel's achieving some kind
have there a big force able to cope with all contingencies." He said the of a trade tie with the six na-
Will find nowhere else, and7his. well written editorials are as Egyptian
toll in Yemen was 21 officers and 115 men.
tions of the European Common
stimulating . as those of most 'daily newspapers. He is a major Attacking death
King Saud, the Egyptian President said: "The king of harems
and concubines who said last year he would bring the battle to the heart Market.
proponent of inter-faith good will.
of Cairo is now facing the battle approaching him from the South, from
Israelis Will talk to officials
'What is true about Jacques Back is equally true about Eli the Yemen.
Jacobs of the Buffalo Jewish RevieW and a score of other editors For Kmg Saud and even for King Hussein there is no way to escape in West Germany, Holland and
Abdullah Sallal. The force of the Yemen will attack the bases of Luxembourg. They went to Eu-
—not to speak of Jack Fishbein. in Chicago, Joseph Weissberg in from
aggression—I mean those in Saudi Arabia."
in the clay, Nasser reviewed a military parade in Port Said and rope at the invitation of the
Boston,. Les. Mindlin in Miami .Aeach, the editors in Pittsburgh, Earlier
laid two wreaths on the "Martyrs Memorial."
Europe Union which maintains
Philadelphia, and other communities.
The only conclusion we can possibly come to, after analyzing headsuarters in Bonn and deals
The grave 'errors into which men like Eisenstein and Klein the Freedman
articles, is that he came, he saw very little and with matters of European eco-
descend is to judge the important Jewish press by standards of
was
conquered
by Nasser ! nomic and political cooperation.
ancient judgmentsthat of classifying them as society sheets.
That is no longer true of most of our papers.
Also, while there are some that resort to "canned editorials,"
it is wrong to generalize in resorting to such criticisms.
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
At times the mere dissemination of even the fewest number
gang over the Middle East,
mayed, baffled and fearful
(Copyright, 1963,
of important news stories by even the smallest of our papers
carrying an atomic bomb.
of great stupidity about to
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
provides the power that is needed to create the links we speak
assert itself."
WASHINGTON — President And let's warn everyone:
of between our communities, on a worldwide scale: Therefore,
`We'll drop it — if they all
Commenting on Franco-
whether it is the periodicals like ours with total world Jewish Eisenhower's annoyance with don't cut this nonsense out."
Israeli
cooperation, Eisenhower
Israel
and
lack
of
a
clear
Near
news coverage or the smallest in which its readers find the
Hughes recorded that the sug-
barest amount of news that can be provided for them—within the Eastern policy . are revealed in gestion was greeted with the said: "Damn it, the French,
they're just egging the Israeli
means of the newspaper involved—the English-Jewish press as a "A Political Memoir of the pained silence that was the on—hoping somehow to get out
whole is the vital instrument in American Jewish communal life Eisenhower Years," by Emmet most polite reply possible. But of their own North African
to be honored and respected rather than to be branded with faults John Hughes. Hughes, a White the incident underscored, said troubles."
that either already have vanished or are vanishing.
House adviser, was the speech Hughes, "the capacity of some
When reports came that Brit-
Dilemmatic Max Freedman: He Came, Saw, Was Conquered writer who drafted most of in this Administration for little ain was with France in backing
Max Freedman was considered by many, for a number of Eisenhower's statements during more than parochial, self-pre- Israel, Eisenhower's affection-
occupied distress" and "bizarre ate regard for the British made
yearS„ as the Dean of foreign correspondents in Washington. the 1956 Sinai-Suez crisis.
The immaturity in the White results attainable from a White him incredulous. "I just can't
When he represented the Manchester Guardian, until a short
time ago, his views were watched with great interest as those House those days is indicated House staff totally untouched believe," he kept saying. "I
of a very able observer and an outstanding evaluator of world through Hughes' disclosure of by serious experience in fOr- can't believe they would be so
affairs. His knowledge of conditions in the 'Middle East caused the "bomb for peace" proposal. eign affairs."
stupid as to invite on them-
It was suggestdd, in effect, to
Oct. 29, 1956, found Eisen- selves all the Arab hostility to
him to be called to address many Jewish gatherings.
For a few weeks recently, he was in the limelight for the threaten Israel and the neigh- hower at Walter Reed Hospital Israel."
friendly pats he had given to Abdel Gamal Nasser. Suddenly, boring Arabs that they would receiving a physical checkup
Hughes commented that,
in the interpretation of Max Freedman, the Egyptian dictator be blown up by a U.S. atomic and dispatching appeals for Is- "the viewpoint of Israel" from
the
bomb dropped on the. trouble- rael to halt her mobilization. timing appeared superb. Russia
emerged as a great liberator.
He did not visit Israel on the tour he made as Nasser's some region if they continued He referred to trouble in draft- was involved with Hungary.
ing a message to Israel Premier Britain and France were strain-
guest, and he said very little about Israel. But he did make a misbehaving.
comment, in an address before journalists, students and public
This suggestion was made Ben-Gurion between trips up ing for a crack at Nasser. The
officials in Cairo, that caused considerable amazement. In his at a White House conference and down hospital corridors for United States was in the middle
report to the newspapers that carried his articles, Freedman Oct. 31, 1956. One of the staff tests and X-rays. And the com- of a national election campaign.
said, referring to those he addressed as "they:"
blurted out that perhaps the ment that Eisenhower made to Eisenhower said of this: "Well,
"They wondered --whether the United States would have time had come to consider a Hughes: "Israel and Barium I better get out of here or —
remained so patient if another new country had extended its "bomb for peace." He said: make quite a combination."
despite all these doctors—these
frontiers beyond the limits contemplated in the founding reso- "It's as simple as this: Let's
The whole Middle Eastern things will have my blood pres-
lution of the United Nations."
send one of Curt Le May's
scene left Eisenhower "dis- sure up to 490."

f

Hughes' Book Reveals Eisenhower's Anger in 1956