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Reveals Anti-Semitic
Terence Prittie's
Nonsense Used in Bigots Anti-'Jewish Cant paign
Terence Prittie's reports from
Israel to the London Guardian con-
tinue to be among the most vital
in regard to the Middle East situa-
tion. A keen observer, having
studied the conditions for a num-
ber of years with a great deal of
interest, he may well he regarded
among the most noteworthy au-
thorities in matters involving Israel
and the Arab states.
His authoritativeness is in evi-
dence in one of the very best books
written about the status of Israel
and the conflicts revolving around
Israel's existence. In "Israel —1
Miracle in the Desert," published
by Frederick A. I'raeger (111 4th,
NY3), Prittie presents the Arab
and Israeli attitudes pragmatically.
He studies conditions and he
judges events pragmatically, and
there is a sincerity that calls for
commendation.
His book was published before
the June war, yet it has as much
merit today as if there were no
war because he exposes the false
reports while presenting the truth
about major events as he found
them.
Prittie saw through the ma-
chinations of Israel's antagonists
and even before the removal of
the UNEF troops from Israel's
borders and prior to the Sharm
al-Sheikh threats to Israel's
economic security he pointed out,
at the very beginning of his pre-
sentation of the facts regarding
the Middle East: "IIaj Am:n el
Husseini, the Arab Grand Mufti
of Jerusalem, played a leading
part in stirring up the riots of
1929, 1933 and 1936. He was
violently anti-Jewish. He be-
lieved in the pernicious trash of
the so-called Protocols of the
Elders of Zion and accused the
Jews of periodic ritual murder
of Christian children and routine
torture of domestic animals. This
shifty, cruel, dwarfish tyrant,
who actively supported Hitler
during World War II, would have
made an admirable tool for the
Nazis if their armies had ever
reached the Middle East. As it
was, the creed of hatred he
preached was embraced by other
Arab leaders after their lost war.
Since 1918, Israel has been sur-
rounded by enemies on all her
land frontiers — her only outlet
to the world has been the sea.
The Arabs closed the land fron-
tiers and maintained the fiction
of a continuing state of war. They
imposed a boycott on all trade
with Israel and sought to black-
mail non•Arab countries and
companies into joining the boy-
cott. When the Suez Canal was
nationalized by Nasser in 1956,
it continued to be closed to all
Israeli shipping and goods, as it
had been since 1948, and the
Gulf of Aqaba likewise, Israel's
only outlet to the Red Sea and
the Indian Ocean, was blocked
at that time. Arab hostility de-
prived Israel, on its piece of
Mediterranean litteral, of a hin-
terland and of a natural role as
entrepot of goods and services
between Europe and Asia."
tects the lies and shows how
hatred for Israel is being fanned
by anti-Semites and Arab propa-
gandists is indicated in the follow-
ing excerpt from his "Israel —
Miracle in the Desert":
"Arab propaganda vis-a-vls
Israel can best be summed up by
a single official Egyptian state-
ment: 'The Arabs consider Israel
an artificial state which has to be
annihilated.' And it was well ex-
emplified by a 1965 recruiting pos-
ter for the terrorist organization
El Fatah, which showed a patriotic
Arab stabbing an Israeli octopus
with a lance. Arab propaganda is
often not very apposite. The octo-
pus in the cartoon is a sad little
animal, stranded on what looks like
a bit of desert, and the Arab pa-
triot has himself leaped across the
frontier wire to exterminate it.
and expanding Arab world. But
enlightenment of this kind is rare
among Arab writers. Many have
propagated the gospel of unifica-
tion of the Arab peoples; others,
like Nasser or the Ba'ath party in
Syria and Iraq, have supported
the so-called Arab socialism, which
by 1966, at least, had not taken a
definable socialist form."
Prittie does not ignore the Arab
side of the coin. He explains,
evaluates, describes Arab, ambi-
tions and aims. There is fairness
in his approach and there is an
understanding of the motives of
those who are set upon destroying
Israel.
Because of the realism of his
handling of the subject, it is so
very applicable today and it serves
as a warning against the bigots
who seek to undermine Israel and
"Arabs are people of charm, in the process are utilizing all the
courtesy, and generosity, ,-ho in- anti-Semitic lies that have been
spire real affection among many hurled at all Jews.
foreigners. The Arab cause in the
conflict with Israel has plenty of
adherents abroad. The British his-
torian Prof. Arnold Toynbee
has been one of the most lucid.
His main argument is that the
Western powers had no right to
introduce the Jews into Palestine,
and that they did so primarily to
`compensate' them at any cost, in
this case at the expense of the
Arabs. The corollary to this line
of argument is that the Western
powers were especially impelled to
compensate the Jews because they
had failed to stop their being per-
secuted by Hitler. Prof. Toynbee's
arguments would be more com-
pelling if the Balfour Declaration
had not been made in 1917, 16
There is a most interesting
evaluation by Prittie of Israel's
religious problems, of the status
of the rabbinate and the debates
over religious issues. He avoids
unnecessary attacks but is rather
receptive to the influences of the
spiritual factors in Israel. He de-
scribes the religious as well as the
irreligious kibutzim, tells about
the survival of Hebrew and in
that respect, while showing that
Erse in Ireland contributed little
to Irish national revival, states:
"Hebrew was, next to the
Bible itself, by comparison, the
most formative agent in develop-
ing the Israeli national idea. And
the rabbinate played the biggest
years before Hitler came to power.
part in keeping the Hebrew
language alive."
"Another supporter of the Arab
cause, the British novelist Miss He states: "It is difficult to come
Ethel Mannin voiced this opinion to any conclusions about the re-
at an April, 1965, international ligious problems of Israel. One can
seminar in Cairo: 'I say that Israel only note with alarm that the re-
as a racial and military state ligious nad nonreligious communi-
should be wiped out. The Arabs ties are drifting farther apart as
... will put an end to Israel as an time goes on and that there exists
aggressive state ...The only solu- an increasing urge on the part of
Lion for the Palestine question is the nonreligious to declare them-
to fight Israel and destroy it.' Miss selves as agnostic or even atheistic.
Mannin backed her case by argu- The religious controversy affects
ing that it was no use appealing the strength and cohesion of the
to world opinion, which was 'domi- community as a whole. But reform
nated by Zionists;' armed force must come from the rabbinate
must be used. Such open incite- and not from the stat?„ which does
ment to an act of war by a citizen not dare to interfere with rabbini-
of a country that enjoys full and cal law and practice. And for the
friendly relations with Israel is rabbinate, one thing should be
clear: organized religion cannot
truly remarkable.
"Talk of this kind has encour- retreat into a spiritual fastness,
where
men in the street cannot
maintain
aged the Arab states to
the fiction of a continuing state of and will not follow."
Prittie makes a number of prac-
war with Israel and to go on
planning for real armed conflict. tical suggestions. He is critical of
Even in July 1965, speaking in many of the Israeli attitudes while
Cairo on the achievements of the he commends the creative efforts.
Egyptian revolution, President His concluding paragraphs empha-
Nasser said bluntly, 'The war be- size shortcomings as well as at-
tween us and Israel is imperative.' tainments but in the following they
While Israel's leaders were put- best describe the attitude of this
ting out proposals for peace, the brilliant reporter, the author of
Arabs talked darkly of `the second "Israel — Miracle in the Desert":
round,' which would reverse the
results of the war of independence
and bring total defeat for Israel.
The Arabs began, too, to develop
an anti-Semitism that was contrary
to their own basic notions of toler-
ance and at variance with their
usual practice. Arab writers even
resuscitated the age-old fable of
Jewish blood sacrifices. This vet-
eran spoof was brought up to date
by Abdallah el-Tel in "The
Dangers of World Jewry to Islam
and Christianity: 'The God of the
Jews is not content with animal
This is not the most effective
portion of a very good book, yet it
must be mentioned first because
it pointed so effectively to Israel's
major problems while indicating
that the garbage known as the Pro-
tocols was a means of inspiring
a bigot like the Mufti. It is neces-
sary to point to this fact because
these Protocols. long ago exposed sacrifices, but has need of human
as lies and fabrications, again are sacrifices as well. From this stems
resorted to as weapons in a war the Jewish custom of massacring
against Israel and Jewry by the children and drawing off their
Arabs, by Russia and now by the blood to mix it with the Passover
imitators of racism among the Matzot (unleavened bread).'
"This disgusting nonsense is
Negroes in this country.
It is important that the distor- probably not believed by many
tions of truth should be made Arabs, and at least one leading
known in order that hopes for Arab writer, Ahmed Baha el-Din,
peace should not be marked by vile has strongly condemned anti-
misrepresentations and appeals to Semitism. His purpose is the long-
hatred. Prittie points to a number sighted and perfectly reasonable
of slanderous comments about one of showing genuine tolerance
Israel and charges against Jewry. and understanding to the Jews al-
In this respect, by exposing the ready in Israel, so that they should
lies, he has rendered a great serv- be ready to allow themselves to be
ice. The manner in which he de- assimilated in a liberal, unified,
'Churches Aid Emergency Fund
President Bourguiba of Tunisia has
said plainly that there is scope for all
the people of the Middle East "to live
together in mutual respect and co-
operation." If this were to happen,
Israel's role is clear. But she also has
a major part to play in the rest of the
world. The Jewish people has already
inspired three world religions — its
own, Christianity, and Islam. Its ethi-
cal concepts have become a part of
the way of life of every civilized na-
no', It has produced a unique sense
of integrated community. It has set a
staggering example of triumphant sur-
vival in the face of suffering. Israel's
relations to the Jews of the Diaspora
gives her a potential world influence
out of all proportion to her small area,
populations, and physical strength. And
the consolidation of those connections
is needed as much by the rest of the
Jewish people as by the Israelis them-
selves, for neither can afford to be
isolated from the other . . .
It could be that the anti-Zionist Jews
who oppose the return to Palestine
are right and that the Jewish destiny
is to remain a divided and scattered
people, a leavening among the other
nations of the world. It could be so,
but I believe it is not. For the Return
has confused the so-called iron and
immutable laws of history. For the
first time in history, a small people
that has been uprooted from its home
has won its way back. Faith has proved
a greater force than material fact and
unbending logic. In this reversal of
lies an immense
every probability
promise for sentient humanity. In
retrospect, the creation of Israel may
seem to have been a miracle, or the
product of a chain of miracles, But
there is an Israeli saying — "He who
does not believe in miracles in Israel
is not a realist." Israel must and will
survive,
The Rev. A. M. Miller (left), public relations chairman of the
Great Lakes Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ, presents
a check for $300 to the Israel Emergency Fund on behalf of his
congregations. Receiving the contribution are Walter E. Klein
(center), executive director of the Jewish Community Council, and
Irving Pokempner, vice-president of the Council. The money was
raised at a rally held at Temple Beth El on July 23, the day De-
troit's civil disturbance began. More than 50 people attended the
meeting in spite of the disorder in the streets. Bishop C. L. Ander-
son of the Great Lakes Jurisdiction presided.
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Published by Brit Ivrit Olantit
40—Friday, September 1, 1967
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS