Historic Incidents Attest to Mrs. Harman's Popularity
BY SAUL CARSON
(JTA Correspondent at the
United Nations)
(Copyright, 1965, JTA, Inc.)
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.—When
Mrs. Zena Harman, of Israel, stood
resplendently before the Storting,
Norway's Parliament, r e c e n t l y,
delivering a 40-minute address on
the humanitarian work of the
United Nations Children's Fund,
h e r extraordinary personality
came into world focus.
Mrs. Harman was speaking as
chairman of the executive board of
UNICEF, which had just been
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for
1965. And that
very position is a
sign of her stand-
ing at the United
Nations. It is a
post to which one
is elected — It is
not an appointive
job. There are 30
members on the
UNICEF exec u-
tive boar d, in-
cluding such
anti-Israeli mem-
bers as three
partners of t h e
Arab League, —
Egyp t, Tunisia
and Morocco; the
Soviet Union; and Mrs. Harman
some other assorted Moslem states,
like Pakistan, who always support
the Arab cause here against Israel.
Yet Mrs. Harman was elected as
chairman in 1964, and was reelect-
ed in 1965.
Was her choice a compli-
ment to Israel? Only indirectly
is that true—only to the extent
that she is ai Israeli citizen and
the wife of Ambassador Avra-
ham Harman, Israel's envoy to
Washington. Primarily, however,
her election was a tribute to
Zena Harman herself. She holds
the highest elective post in any
UN agency or body ever voted
to a citizen of her country at
the United Nations. There is
only one explanation for the
respect and trust given to her.
She has earned these accolades.
One occurrence here may illus-
trate why Mrs. Harman is so highly
respected for her objectivity and
calmness. The date is a memorable
one—Oct. 29, 1956. That was the
day Israel's armed forces invaded
Egypt's Sinai Desert and marched
forth so vigorously that they came
within 10 miles of the Suez Canal.
The army took Gaza, and could
have achieved greater successes
if some of Israel's powerful friends
in the West had not turned
against it.
Mrs. Harman was at the time
chairman of the UNICEF program
committee, a 14-member body that
determines the organization's activ-
ities in aiding hundreds of thou-
sands of mothers and children lit-
erally around the world. The corn-
Mentzel-FreemanTroth
Is Announced Here
MISS LOIS MENTZEL
Mrs. Ann Mentzel of Hubbell
Ave, announces the engagement of
her daughter Lois Joy to Earl M.
Freeman, son of Mrs. Esther Free-
man of Grandville Ave. and the
late Mr. Hyman Freeman.
The bride-elect, daughter of the
late Mr. Morris Mentzel, attends
Wayne State University. Mr. Free-
man attends Ferris State College.
A June - 19 wedding is planned.
mittee, under the Israeli's chair-
manship, was in session and, on
the agenda, the item happened to
concern the strengthening of a
campaign against trachoma bedevil-
ing children in Egypt.
Word came from outside the
committee room that Israel had
invaded the Sinai. The action had
become the world's hottest news
item. Delegates were excited.
But not the chairman. Calmly,
she proceeded to put the ques-
tion of an anti-trachoma cam-
paign in Egypt to debate. Quiet-
ly, she steered the item through
the committee, obtaining its ap-
proval of the project to aid
Egyptian children at the very
moment that Israelis and Egyp-
tians were fighting one another
in deadly battles. It was a drama-
tic moment, and there was not
one delegate in the committee
room who failed to appreciate
the Israeli chairman's even-
handedness.
By that time, 1956, Mrs. Harman
was already well known here. The
London-born wife of Avraham Har-
man had come here first in 1951
as a member of Israel's permanent
delegation, and represented her
government in the General Assem-
bly's Social, Humanitarian Cultural
Committee. That appointment was
an obvious one for her. She had
graduated from the London School
of Economic and Political Science,
obtaining a degree in economics
with honors in international law
and relations. Subsequently, she
studied sociology at Morley College
and planned to enter social work
in Palestine. She and her young
husband, Avraham, settled in Jeru-
salem in 1940, and Mrs. Harman
became head of the children's de-
partment of the Jerusalem mtmic-
ipality.
In 1952, the Assembly's Social
Committee elected her as rappor-
teur. In 1955, she was elected a
member of the United Nations
Commission on the Status of
Women. She was first placed on
the UNICEF executive board in
1951. She was the executive board's
first vice-chairman in 1954, and
served five times as chairman of
the program committee. So that,
by the time she was chosen for
her first term as UNICEF execu-
tive board chairman in 1964, she
was well known at the UN.
In November 1960, Mrs. Har-
man was elected a vice-president
of the International Council of
Women and, in 1963, was re-
elected to that organization's board.
The International Conference of
Social Work has twice elected her
to its executive committee—a post
she holds now.
UNICEF officials have time and
again lauded her "humanity, ob-
jectivity and tolerance." Henry
Labouisse, executive director of
UNICEF, has said: "It seems to
me that her calm objectivity and
quiet demeanor cloak a very strong
determination to get things done
and also cloak a right arm which
can wield a very strong gavel."
A speaker of high eloquence,
Mrs. Harman, though very quiet
in tone, can put abstract concepts
into moving, human terms. She is
an expert negotiator who can reach
the heart of a problem, come up
with acceptable solutions, and cre-
ate an atmosphere of consensus.
The mother of three children,
she is anything but neglectful re-
garding her family. A "housewife,"
she gets pleasure out of running
the menage in Washington. Friends
report that, in Washington, she
has one weekly ritual—to do the
family shopping in a supermarket
near her home. "I've always done
my own marketing," she says. "It
makes you a part of the life
around you. And it's something I
really enjoy doing."
She was once elected "Mother
of the Year" by Youth Aliyah and
"Woman of the Year" by the He-
brew University in Jerusalem.
Now the world has added another
title: Peace Laureate of the Year.
Segal-Kirsch Betrothal
Told in California
The appointment of RAFAEL
KOCHAV as vice-president of the
American-Israel Shipping Co., Inc.,
owners representatives in North
America of the Zim Israel Naviga-
tion Co., Ltd., and associated lines,
was announced today by Gottlieb
Hammer, president of AISCO.
Kochav, who was born in Vienna
and educated in Europe, joined the
Zim Lines in 1953 as manager of
the company's Jerusalem office.
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`Make UN Delinquents
Pay Price of Submarine
to UNICEF'--Mrs. Harman
OSLO (JTA)—A suggestion that
nations which fail to agree at world
conferences on disarmament pen-
alize themselves by contributing
the cost of a submarine or a dozen
fighter planes to the United Na-
tions Children's Fund was made
here in a formal address Sunday
night by Mrs. Zena Harman of
Israel, chairman of the UNICEF
executive board.
Mrs. Harman delivered the an-
nual Nobel Peace Prize lecture at
the conclusion of the ceremonies,
begun Friday, when the 1965
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded
to UNICEF.
The award was accepted by
Henry it. Labouisse, the organi-
zation's executive director, who
was also given a check for
$56,000 to help UNICEF's world-
wide programs of aid to 750,-
000,000 children and mothers.
Mrs. Harman, who is now serv-
ing the second term as the elected
chairman of the UNICEF executive
board, is the wife of Ambassador
Avraham Harman, Israel's envoy
to Washington.
In her address, at the Nobel
Institute here, Mrs. Harman
pointed out that the nations of
the world spend annually about
$180,000,000,000 on arms, while
UNICEF's annual budget amounts
only to a little over $35,000,000.
"If only the nations of the world
could together agree to spend a
fraction of their outlay on building
`deterrent strength' for developing
the capacity of the young genera-
tion to adjust in health and happi-
ness to a dynamic society," she
pleaded.
She pointed out that an atomic
submarine costs $200,000,000, while
the latest supersonic fighter planes
are priced at $6,500,000.
Dr. SIMON HALKIN, Israeli au-
thor and educator, has been named
visiting professor of Hebrew lit-
erature at the Teachers Institute
of the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary of America, it was announced
by Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Semi-
nary chancellor. Dr. Halkin has
been a guest lecturer at the In-
stitute since September. He has
been professor of Hebrew liter-
ature at the Hebrew University,
Jerusalem, since 1954.
MISS JOYCE SEGAL
Mr. and Mrs. Ira Segal of Re-
ceda, Calif., announce the engage-
ment of their daughter Joyce
Gloria to Sheldon Marcus Kirsch,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis E.
Kirsch of Curtis Ave.
Miss Segal is a senior at UCLA,
majoring in Hebrew and educa-
tion. Mr. Kirsch, a Wayne State
University graduate, is attending
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America in New York City,
where he is completing his rabbin-
ical studies and will be ordained
in June.
Detroit life and health insurance
specialists LOU J. GOODMAN and
CARL A. LOOK have been selected
for membership in Mutual Of New
York's Field Club, an honor or-
ganization comprised of the com-
pany's leaders in sales and service.
Ranked among the top 25 per cent
of the company's field force, they
are with the company's James E.
Gibson agency.
* *
AVRAHAM SCHENKE R of
Brooklyn, N. Y., a member of the
Jewish Agency Executive, has been
re-elected chairman of Americans
for Progressive Israel-Hashomer
Hatzair. He is also national vice-
chairmen of the American Zionist
Council.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 17, 1965-35
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