James Reston on 'The Art of Lying'
James Reston, New York Times!
Washington correspondent who was
one of the war correspondents in
Israel during the first week of the
conflict, commented on "The Art
of Lying" in a special article from
the United Nations. In that ar-
ticle in the N. Y. Times he wrote:
The art of lying, which owes so
much to diplomacy, seems to be in
a slump at the United Nations
these days. It is not that the pres-
ent delegates at the General As-
sembly have given up the prac-
tice, but somehow they have lost
their cunning.
There is a kind of mental lazi-
ness about contemporary diploma-
tic falsehood. The subtle half-
truth, perfected by the British and
artfully surrounded by witty ob-
scurities, contributed a great deal
to the history of diplomatic decep-
tion, .but modern deception does
not deceive.
The Shoddy Arguments
For example, the Russian argu-
ment that Israel mobilized on the
Syrians' frontier in mid-May is the
biggest fish-story since Jonah and
the whale. The Israeli Government
invited the Russians to check the
facts for themselves. but they pre-
ferred the lie and refused to in-
vestigate.
The Arab invention that the
American. rather than the Israeli,
air force won the war was at least
an audacious fake. worthy of that
authentic phony. Herr Dr. Goeh-
bels, but it was such obvious trash
that not even the Russians believ-
ed it.
Even President de Gaulle. whose
elegant duplicity has done so much
to perpetuate illusion at home and
disunity abroad, seems to he losing
his touch. "The war was started in
Vietnam through American inter-
vention," he says in his latest pro-
nunciamento. which falls far below
his normal -standard of superior
, the destruction of all the Arab
fantasy.
This does not mean that lying I states from Morocco to the Hima-
is no longer an effective instru- layas, and calling on the United
ment of world politics. When dis- Nations, which is supposed to be a
tributed through a controlled press, center for harmonizing interna-
radio and television, as in the tional relations, to condemn Israel
Soviet and Arab worlds. it still for saving its life.
The evidence of Nasser's calcu-
fools a lot of people who have no
access to anything except the offi- lated plot to exterminate one of
the
member states of the United
cial hokum; but in the wider arena
of the General Assembly it now Nations lies plain on the table—
down
to the dated Egyptian battle
seems pathetically feeble.
plans. Yet most of the speeches
The Lost Melody
Even the most obvious five-flush- have concentrated not on condem-
ers here have lost their zip. They nation of these plans but on call-
used to rush up to the podium at ing on Israel to withdraw.
The Soviet Argument
the General Assembly and roar out
It is not hard to understand the
their forgeries as if they actually
believed them. but now they nei- mythomania of the Arabs. The
ther pretend nor expect conviction. truth of their spectacular defeat
Maybe this is progress. At least was obviously unbearable and had
the contemporary misrepresenta- to be denied, concealed and dis-
tions, while shameless, are more torted. But that is the past.
The devilish thing about the
candid, but something else has hap-
pened that is not so good. A subtle Sovet strategy here is its attempt
change has come over the dele- to carry the disastrous Arab myths
gates in this emergency meeting of the past into the future, to pro-
of the Assembly. They may not be voke the Arabs into thinking that
as gullible as their predecessors, they can rearm and do better in
but they are far more tolerant of the next round with their hated
falsehood and deceit than they enemy.
That, at least. is the clear mean-
were a few years ago. The big
change is their present cynicism ing of the words spoken here by
Mr. KoSygin in the debate, and
and moral indifference.
the only hope is that maybe this
•
What the Soviet Union has done is a lie, too, and that, behind the
here is to encourage the Arab scenes, he is really urging the
peoples to believe that they were Arabs to adjust to the new
the victims of a monstrous con- realities.
spiracy. and that their hope now
lies in rearmament and revenge.
There has been scarcely a word
about turning the earnings and
energies of these staggering gov-
ernments away from their dreams
Certified Master Watchmaker
of conquest and empire into the
and Jeweler
long-delayed tasks of removing the
hunger. disease and illiteracy of
1 8963 Livernois Ave.
their peoples.
UN 1-8 1 84
Delegate after delegate has gone
Open Daily 9 to S p.m.
to the rostrum and portrayed Israel
as a nasty little Sparta threatening
GEORGE
OHRENSTEIN
Israel's Aged Made Homeless by War
Admitted Into JDC Institutions
NEW YORK LITAI Aged men
and women in Israel who were
made homeless by the war were
immediately taken into old age
homes operated by the Joint Dis-
tribution Committee. Theodore D.
Feder, deputy director-general,
who has just returned from the
Jewish state, reported.
Feder, who was formerly a .JDC
director for Israel. told the board
of directors of the JDC at its semi-
annual meeting here that - a num-
ber of aged who were formerly
self-sufficient—how many we do
not yet know—will now need our
help because of the war. In sonic
cases, the war has claimed sons or
daughters who supported and look-
ed after them; in others, homes or
flats have been destroyed, parti-
cularly in the Jerusalem area.
"Without delaying, without wait-
ing for any formalities. we have
already begun admitting such aged
to our Malben old age homes." he
reported. Malben is a special wel-
fare program established in Israel
by JDC to care for aged. ill and
handicapped newcomers.
Feder told the assembled Jewish
leaders that during the five days
of the war in Israel there was not
a single death or illness reported
among the 3,300 aged in the 15
JDC-supported old age homes in
Israel. Normally during such a per-
iod there are from six to eight
deaths and at least 300 requiring
medical attention.
"During those anxious days
not only did death take a holiday
but the effect on the aged was
extraordinary," Feder said. "If
they could have, they would have
enlisted in the army. There was
a great deal of discontent be.
cause most of them were turned
down when they volunteered to
donate blood. In every home, the
impoverished old people contri-
buted what little pocket money
they had left. There was com-
plete discipline. They taped the
Windows and cleaned the shel-
ters. In one -home they offered
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
their beds and blankets for eva-
cuees and volunteered to sleep
on the floor."
Louis Broido. JDC chairman,
who presided, called for all-out
support of the Israel Emergency
Fund of the United Jewish Appeal.
He urged upon the board members
"that we pledge ourselves to do
and to give our utmost for the re-
habilitation of the needy. the han-
dicapped and the helpless in Is-
rael."
Charles H. Jordan. JDC execu-
tive vice-chairman, told the as-
sembled Jewish leaders that only
"prompt and vigorous action" by
the Moroccan and Tunisian authori-
ties prevented widescale attacks on
Jewish minorities in those coun-
tries. Both King Hassan of Moroc-
co and President Habib Bourguiba
of Tunisia extended the protection
of their police and military forces
to the Jewish populations in their
countries when mob violence seem-
ed about to break out, he declared.
Jordan lauded the Italian and
French governments which "in ac-
cordance with their traditional hos-
pitality have offered a haven to
Jewish refugees who are arriving
in a steady stream from North
African countries."
He said that representatives of
the ,IDC and local Jewish welfare
organizations were meeting the
ships and planes carrying Jewish
refugees and were supplying emer-
gency relief shelter and other as-
sistance.
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Murrow on Nasser
The late Edward R. Murrow,
network news commentator, des-
cribing his impression of Egypt's
President Gamal Abdel Nasser in
an earlier Mideast crisis: "You
look at him and he looks at you
and you seem to see right into his
soul. He exudes honesty, truth and
utter sincerity. Then you suddenly
wake up and realize that every
blanketyblank word he said is a
blanketyblank lie."
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