Friday, August 16, 1963—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEW S-2 Purely Commentary Begin and the New Israeli Attitudes . . Nasser's New Threats By Philip Slomovitz Davis Resigns From UN Post on Arab Aid New Israeli Attitudes Menahem Begin has been Israel's stormy petrel for many years. He has irritated the dominant Mapai party and the other groups that lean to the left. David Ben-Gurion certainly has been his antagonist. Now, on his 50th birthday, he has received birthday greet- ings from Israel's President Zal- man Shazar, members of several parties in Israel participated in a birthday fete for the Herut leader, and there seems to be a new attitude towards this minor- ity leader. It is not only because Begin at last is recognized as a leader of the "loyal opposition," but the change in government seems also to have had an effect on Menahem Begin Herut's position in Israel. Begin was the leader of the Irgun Zvai Leumi. He had come to Palestine via Iran with the Polish army of General Anders. While the latter was considered anti-Jewish, the fact that his trek was towards Palestine and the Middle East accounts for Begin having joined him after having been freed from Soviet incarcera- tion when the Nazis began their attack on Russia. Begin's rightists extremism has not been to the liking of many of us, but as a member of the opposition in the garb of loyalty to his nation he has gained new recognition. The fact that an Irgunist now is in the good graces of the Israel government may also lead to a formal decision by Israel to re-inter the remains of Zeev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky, who was Begin's mentor, in the soil of the nation in whose behalf both Jabotinsky and Begin had labored ardently. Such a new turn in Israel's attitude is heartily to be welcomed and sincerely to be commended. Yet, the stronger resolutions that were changed into "recom- mendations" were supported by Latin American and European UNITED NATIONS, N .Y., representatives who, apparently are closer to truth and recognize the need for emigration from their areas where there have been (JTA) — Dr. John H. Davis, Commissioner-General of the more dangerous threats to their existence as Jews. The lack of understanding of Zionism is especially deplor- United Nations Relief and Works Agency able in the sentiments that were expressed at the Jerusalem con- for Palestine ference. Without Zionism there would have been wholesale Refugees, the abandonment of the Jewish faith and an intrusion of despair UN organiza- that would have been ruinous to Judaism even before Hitlerism. tion that aids Zionism offered hope for survival as Jews of many communities. the Arab ref- Then came the Nazis, and under their rule Jews who hoped to ugees in four survive had only one ray of hope: Eretz Israel. All of that Arab coun- spelled Zionism. How blind to reality were those at the Jeru- salem youth conference who reacted negatively to the Jewish tries adjacent to Israel, re- messianic idea! signed M o n- day, effective Nasser's Renewed Threats Dec. 31. He Egypt's dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser must have had some- has held the thing to hide when he utilized the return of some of his troops post since Dr. Davis from Yemen as another occasion to threaten Israel and to admonish his soldiers that they were to stand as a "national February 1959. Secretary-General U Thant, shield" against Israel. It was not a new attack on his neighbor but a renewal of who announcde the resignation, his threats to the Jewish State. Yet, it serves as a lesson to said Dr. Davis was quitting those who would give him all the aid he asks for that actually "for compelling personal rea- sons." His successor, said Thant, he is bent upon Making war upon a peaceful neighbor. As long as we have the insistent clamor from State Depart- will be named soon. Mean- ment representatives for help to the United Arab Republic, in while, the UN chief said, Dr. order to ward off Soviet influence, the danger to peace and to Davis will present his agency's annual report to the next Gen- Israel's security will continue. A wiser Nasser could get together with Israel, make peace, eral Assembly, to convene in assure higher standards of living for his people instead of using September. An American, Dr. the multi-million grants to build up a war machine. But it is Davis was formerly on the fac- a vengeance-seeking Nasser with whom Israel and her Prime ulty of Harvard University's Minister, Levi Eshkol, who already has warned the war-monger Graduate School of Business Administration. against aggression, must deal. That's the trouble. Why Not Investigate the Arabs and the AFME? One of our most distinguished Senators, J. W. Fulbright of Arkansas, has conducted an investigation into the political aspects of the Zionist movement, and the aim of the probe seems to be to compel Zionist groups to fall into the category of propa- gandists to be watched under the provisions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. There already have been changes in the operations of some of the functioning pro-Israel groups which have for several years filed all of their reports and news releases with the Justice Department. These already are under scrutiny of our Govern- ment's agencies that are on the lookout for ropaganda from foreign governments. Surely, Senator Fulbright can not be listed as a bigot, or as an antagonist of Jewry. Since, however, he has begun an investigation of Zionist activities, it. is proper to ask why he is not probing the work of an American organization like the American Friends of the Middle East, which has incited to hatred for Israel and Zionism; of Arab propagandists who have resorted to campaigns of misrepresentation and of incitement to war against Israel; of Arab spokesmen who had gone so far as to say in their speeches that Jewish propaganda slogans in- eluded one that said "give a dollar to UJA to kill an Arab." Arab spokesment have not hesitated to attack American Jews, and some of their friends have resorted to the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda. There is no doubt that the Fulbright investigation will end with a lessened inflation. Perhaps out of it may even come, eventually, a better appreciation of the libertarian principles inherent in Zionism, whose political aspects have never been denied. What matters at present is that American Jews should not fall prey to the sort of Panic that will prove harmful to the causes that function in behalf of Israel and those who must be rescued from many infernos by being settled in Israel. A great humanitarian idea is at stake, and that must not be made the victim of an investigation that has been given entirely too much notoriety and the importance of which may already have been overemphasized. Nuclear Ban Treaty Is Signed by Israel; Nasser Also Signs While Making Warheads Shocking Lack of Understanding of Zionist Idea In spite of the reality of Israel, whose emergence as an in- dependent State was the direct result of Zionist endeavors over a six-decade period, there still is a shocking misunderstanding of Zionist aims and a lack of appreciation of the great • Jewish national movement. At the Conference of World Jewish Youth . held in Jerusalem last week, representatives of four American non-Zionist groups registered their objections to resolutions that were interpreted to have Zionist content. Their threat of with- drawal from the conference was stifled when, according to the JTA cabled report from Jerusalem, "a series of drafts calling for education in Jewish communities outside Israel to encourage Zionism and immigration to Israel were adopted as 'recommend- ations' and not as resolutions." It is especially noteworthy that the four American non- Zionist groups referred to are Bnai Brith, Hillel, United Syna- gogue Youth and National Federation of Temple Youth, all of whom, except, perhaps, the latter, always show a deep interest in Zionist activities at home. Of equal significance is the fact that the Israeli delegation, which at the outset had sided with the Zionist-oriented Latin American and European organizations in the sponsorship of disputed proposals, went along with the American non-Zionist youth. It should be noted also that the Americans objections were to the exclusion of religious, cultural and related values as edu- cational objectives in resoltuions which set down Zionism and immigration to Israel as specific aims. There is something inconsistent in the entire procedure at the youth conference. Zionists have not and could not object to the inclusion of religious and cultural aims in their pro- grams. Except for the leftist groups, such values have always been part of Zionist ideology—and they- still are in well-func- tioning Zionist groups. Then there is the issue revolving around immigration to Israel. Except for the extremism of David Ben-Gurion, it is recognized as a concrete reality that migration to Israel can not be forced upon any group, and that it must be voluntary. WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Israeli delegation led by charge d'Affaires Mordechai Gazit for- mally adhered to the Anglo- American Soviet nuclear test- ban treaty at a State Depart- ment ceremony. Affixing the formal signature of Israel here at ceremonies similar to others held recently in London and Moscow, Gazit said that it was Israel's _hope that the treaty would lead to an improvement in the inter- national atmosphere, and serve as a positive step toward re- laxation of tensions. He said he hoped it would be followed by further measures for attainment of complete general disarma- ment. He voiced Israel's belief that lessening of tension be- tween the Big Powers would have a salutary effect on the Middle East region. Phillips Talbot, Assistant Sec• retary of State for Near East Affairs, said he was pleased with Israel's adherence to the treaty, and pointed out that the deSire for peace constituted a common bond between Israel and the United States. LONDON (JTA) — Although President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt has signed the three- power nuclear test ban treaty, "he still aims to produce nuc- lear war-heads for his rockets," Arthur Kook, Daily Mail corres- pondent, reported from Beirut. ADL Urges Senate End Political Odds Over Negro Issue WASHINGTON, (JTA)—The Anti - Defamation League of Bnai Brith urged a Congres- sional committee not to allow "political arguments" about the constitutional basis for outlaw- ing segregation in public ac- commodation to interfere with ending "this stubborn residue of slavery" in the United States. Playwright Dore S c h a r y, ADL chairman, made the - plea in a statement filed with the Senate Commerce Committee, which is holding hearings on the Administration's proposed civil rights legislation. His ref- erence was to a debate over whether such legislation should use the 14th Amendment or the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution as the basis for outlawing such segregation. The correspondent said that the warheads were intended for rockets being developed for Egypt by West German scien- tists. He added that Nasser, in his speech in Alexandria yester- day to returning troops from Yemen, made it plain that the Middle East "can expect little peace" as long as he is in power. The Egyptian leader told the troops that the time had come to "wash out the stain" of Egypt's defeat by Israel in 1948. On the Record By NATHAN ZIPRIN Editor, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate . Page From My Notebook It is said of the famous pianist and composer Anton Rubin- stein that his first awareness of Jewishness was one of the most dramatic moments in his life. He had been out promenading on a cool evening when he was lured by an intriguing melody. Before long he was to stand in awe at the threshold of a synagogue where the worshippers stood bound in unison as by enchantment. It was Yom Kippur eve. Anton Rubinstein the musician was not unfamiliar with the Kol Nidre melody. But now it had a strange qual- ity, not alone of plaintiveness, but of distance, as an echo. It was a simple tune, by the standards of the great, but its emotional im- pact upon this stranger in the sanctum was vast beyond explanation. Rarely had he been so moved even by the masters he so masterly interpreted on the piano's keys. Silently he made his way home, little realizing perhaps at the moment that this musical experience was to lead him to a re-examination of his past and discovery of his true lineage, though it is amazing how he could have escaped up to that time such a reminding rod as the name Rubinstein Rubinstein. A still greater composer, Felix Mendelssohn, needed no such reminding rods. His grandfather had been the great Moses Mendelssohn, most of whose disciples and children took the baptismal road. Felix himself was born in the Christian faith, his father having taken the step to church door under the impact -of the emancipation concept sired by Moses Mendelssohn, who died a devout Jew some three years before the French Revolu- tion, but who had been forewarned by his opponents that his teachings would lead to apostasy. Felix was not only aware of the apostasy in his family; he often felt the sting of relatives who remained in faith. But had the artist ever given pause to his Jewish roots in his works? There is division of opinion on this score, even though two of his compositions are called Moses and Elija. Yet his Jewish antecedence must have troubled - him, as in the great moment of elation when he declared it was providential perhaps that he, a Jew, should have rediscovered for the Christian world Bach's immortal musical and religious masterpiece, The Passion According to St. Matthew. It would be folly to speculate what heights of artistry Mendelssohn would have achieved if he had drawn on his original roots. Conceivably—as has once been said by the late music critic Olin Downes of the New York Times—it was Mendelssohn's "social and ancestral disharmony" that "gave us a master of the second instead of the first rank." At this moment in our history it is pertinent to pause at the thought that creativity without roots is too often a minor if not a transient labor. Our young Jewish novelists and intellectuals who are striving for artistic sustenance in other pastures would do well to ponder their literary fate against the background of this verity. One needn't harness a space ship to reach out for the heights. The heights begin in one's roots.