THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit, Mich. 48235,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $7 a year. Foreign $8.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Passover Scriptural Selections
The following scriptural selections will be read today and tomorrow, the con-
cluding days of Passover:
Pentateuchal portions: Friday, Exod. 13:17-15:26, Num.. 28:19-25; Saturday, Dent.
15:19 16:17, Num. 28:19-25.
Prophetical portions: Friday, II Samuel 22:1-51; Saturday, Isaiah 10:32-12:6.
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Candle lighting, Friday, April 19, 6:59 p.m.
VOL. LIII. No. 5
Page Four
April 19, 1968
Israel's Understandable Self-Defense Act
Hebron's mayor has expressed regret over
a tragic incident in his community which
caused an Israeli's death as a result of an
Arab terrorist act. The Arab officials in
Bethlehem are truly apprehensive over the
dangers that lurk anew in Israel because
most of them would earnestly wish to see
the presently Christian community linked
with Jerusalem as part of the State of Israel.
Arabs in Nazareth, while their loyalties to
their Arab kinsmen are well known, appar-
ently are following a policy of respect for
Israeli law..
There are other evidences of Arab mod-
eration which contradicts the claims of mass
organizational plans by Fedeyeen, El Fatah
and Asefa groups to destroy Israel. Never-
theless, the dangers to Israel and its people
are great and the need for both self-defense
and proper preparation against violence is
increasing rather than diminishing.
It has been reported that since Jan. 1
nearly 250 people were killed inside Israel,
about 70 of them Arabs. These figures point
to the dangers that confront Israelis within
their territory. At the same time, more
than 100 terrorists were killed in ambushes
and nearly 1,200 of the El Fatah were cap-
tured. Such vast human losses and the in-
evitably increasing threats to life and limb
in Israel and on its borders, represent a new
warning that unless there are agreements
for amicable relationships the sacrifices to
be made in the struggle involving Israel's
freedom and security will rise to even more
appalling dimensions.
Because of Russia's satanic role in the
Middle East, there will be endless griping
at the United Nations, and Israel will always
be the scapegoat during the ganging up
against the embattled Jewish State. Fortun-
ately there is sufficient defensive action on
the part of the Western nations to prevent
the enforcement of obstructionism that could
ruin Israel. But Israel must, nevertheless,
act in her own defense, and the steps
Israelis take are fully justified.
Reporting from Jericho regarding the
"continuing war," Vermont Royster, writing
for the Wall Street Journal, tells how under-
standable it is that Israelis should blow up
El Fatah caches. Royster stated in the
course of a lengthy report on existing con-
ditions:
"However it may look in Washington, Cairo or
the UN Security Council, when you are touring
roads mined by terrorists or crossing bridges that
are bazooka targets there's a natural tendency to
be in favor of fighting back.
"And this has been pretty much the situation
of any tourist in Israel these past few days who
has left the beaten track of Tel Aviv's beaches and
Jerusalem's holy places to view the countryside.
"As a matter of fact even the hills of Old Jeru-
salem haven't been entirely safe recently. Just a
few days ago, a street-side trash barrel near the old
Mandelbaum Gate exploded with a bomb laid by
an infiltrator from the Fatah, the terrorist organi-
zation of the neighboring Kingdom of Jordan. For-
tunately no one was killed, but it's the kind of
thing that does make an American pilgrim nerv-
ous.
`So perhaps it's understandable, peace loving
though you be, if you share a bit of the Israeli
sense of retributive justice as you stand high on
the hills west of Jericho watching the Israel army
roam over the east bank of the Jordan River blow-
ing up a few Fatah arms caches and hideaways on
the Jordanian side.
Among the tragedies that have occurred
in Israel, justifying all self-defense actions,
in addition to the horrible mine planting in
the Eilat area that struck a school bus, were
the following:
Since Feb. 15, at least 36 attacks and acts of
sabotage were carried out from Jordan territory
against Israel.
..
•
,
On March 4, an Israeli civilian vehicle was am-
bushed and attacked by marauders from Jordan
north of Kibutz Hammadiya 3 kilometers west of
the Jordan River. An Israeli civilian was seriously
wounded.
During the night of March 8-9 bands of infil-
trators from Jordan attempted to carry out acts of
sabotage in the Beit Shean Valley and attacks on
Kibutz Tirat Zvi. They were repelled by Israeli
forces. Jordanian positionsapened mortar and ma-
chine gun fire to cover the retreat of the marau-
ders. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded.
On March 10, four soldiers were killed when an
Israeli military jeep was blown up by a mine laid
on a track near Eilat.
On March 14, an Israeli civilian was killed in
the Beit Shean Valley when his vehicle hit an
anti-vehicle mine. Tracks of three persons led
across the Jordan River.
Three experts have combined their knowledge to produce a
On March 17, two Israel soldiers were fatally volume to indicate that color of a person's skin, biologically studied,
wounded by fire from Jordanian positions cover- does not denote superiority.
ing the retreat across the river of a group of
"The Color of Man," published by Random House, was written
marauders, following a clash with an Israeli patrol
by Dr. Robert Cohen, the excellent illustrations are by Ken Heyman,
in the Beit Shean Valley.
Is it any wonder that a sovereign state, who has been called "the most important photographer" of our time.
desiring to protect its citizens, takes a firm A most significant afterword is by Dr. Juan Comas.
4.nirox
Dr. Robert Cohen's Rejection
of Prejudices in 'Color of Man'
stand and acts to uproot the hideouts and
It is a book produced for youth, and it should be ready by ail
the caches of the terrorists?
who seek information on the subject and who would assist in eliminat-
Israel's ambassador to the United States, ing prejudices.
Gen. Itzhak Rabin, in a speech before the
The author at the outset explains that "there are five different pig-
ments of the skin, but the one which has the most to do with its color is
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
a black pigment called melanin," grains "so small that when we look at them
recently,- made this interesting declaration:
with the naked eye they blend together and give the skin an even-colored
"Bitter experience has taught us that the only
way to prevent war is through military, economic,
and political strength. We do not want anyone else
to fight our wars for us. Our citizens are ready,
able, and prepared to defend their lives and pro-
tect our national existence. The fact that the
Arabs are 60,000,000 and we 2,500,000 does not
alarm us. The only thing we ask of our friends
throughout the world is to let us have the means,
the equipment, to defend ourselves.
"The Arab states have the backing of a Great
Power. This power has no inhibitions, moral or
otherwise, in its unlimited support of the Arab
States. It is pouring an abundace of weaponry, of
very high quality, into the Arab states. They have
thousands of their military advisers, instructors
and technicians in the Arab states. The Egyptian
president has told the editor of Look magazine
that there are barely one thousand. This is far
from the true figure, one of the many inaccurate
statements in the interview.
"The true figure is double and even triple that.
The military presence of that World Power in the
Middle East is an established fact. If Alexandria
and Port Said are not described as military bases
of that power, it is a mere matter of semantics.
The permanent presence of the Power's naval
vessels in those harbors make them bases in fact
if not in name.
"The question which the world must answer is
whether to support the cause of war or the cause
of peace, the cause of negotiation and settlement
or the cause of non-recognition of a nation's right
of very existence."
In spite of the difficulties Israel encoun-
ters, compelling drastic action, there is in
evidence an attitude that is most disturbing.
Even if not prejudicial, there is misinter-
pretation in an editorial like the one in Life
magazine which speaks of "Two Eyes for an
Eye." This is not Israel's attitude and the
truth must emerge from proper considera-
tion of the facts.
The facts are on the record. If Israel
should refrain in its duties to protect its
people, and the tourists who come to visit
the Holy Land, it will be an irresponsible
avoidance of duty is a serious situation in-
volving the peace of an entire area. A limita-
tion of self-defense efforts will only serve
to encourage increased acts of terrorism. The
only way to act against the intrusions and
of emphasizing _ the Israeli desire for peace
is by guaranteeing the rights of the coun-
try's residents. On such a basis peace ne-
gotiations can and should be conducted, not
on the ground of threats to a nation's security.
appearance." He points out: "Everyone's skin, whether
dark in color, contains the same black melanin."
light, medium or
Dr. Cohen explains that "melanin particles are usually spread
about evenly, but irregularities in skin color are fairly common,"
that "when enough melanin particles collect in one place, dark spots
appear on. the skin."
Of specific interest in evaluating this subject of the color of
people's skin is the assertion by Dr. Cohen: "Even though we used
the word 'white' in describing light-skinned people, from a scientific
point of view no skin is really white in color . . . In order to have
truly white skin, you would have to have no melanin and no blood.
There are a few people who have no melanin in their skins, but
everybody alive has blood."
"By building up a tan," Dr. Cohen adds, "through a series of
sunbaths, mq,st. light-skinned people can develop enough melanin to
stay out in the sun for a long time without burning . . . Yet no matter
how deep a tan is, it never becomes permanent . . "
Where does color come from? He explains: "From the genes we inherit
. . . from. the conditions in which we live . . . from a bottle we buy at
the drugstore." -•
And so he emphasizes that "all men are brothers," that "all
mankind belongs to one species," that a million years ago "a
complicated series of gene changes, or mutations, in a prehumatt
species produced the first human being . . . Today the descendants
of that first human have multiplied and spread out to every corner
of the earth. Yet, although we belong to the same species, we still
have meny differences. Some we are born with, and some we learn."
Dr. Cohen's thesis contains scientific explanations why "scientists
believe that the differences in climate have, over many thousands of
year's, played an important part in color differences." It is a
fascinating study dealing with mutations, migrations, marriages, an
untold number of factors. He even indicates that "the descendants
of the first man who came to live in Central Africa were very darks..
skinned. They had to be in order to survive.
There are, in this impressive study, evaluations of social factors, refer..
ences to slavery, to color prejudice, rejection, of the claim that "dark-
skinned people do not score as high as light-skinned people." He points
to the problem. inherent in education, indicating in studies conducted on
the subject that "Better-educated people of all colors generally score higher
than those who are less well-educated
And so he also indicates; that "low scores on intelligence tests,
bad health and high crime rates are connected with poverty, not
with color."
Dr. Comas, the noted anthopologist, in his wonderful essay,
the afterword to this volume, rejects prejudices. As one of the experts
who framed the United Nations Declaration of Ituman Rights, be
appeals passionately for just dealings among nations and races,
recalls the Nazi era with a severe condemnation of anti-Jewish
prejudices, declares that prejudices are not inherited but learned
and expresses the hope that the new generation will solve the prob-
lem in effecting a change in attitude.
Heyman's photographs are remarkable. There are 109 of them,
including several from Israel, and they add immensely to the
impressiveness of this great book.