On the First Anniversary

American Jewry's Friendship Remains
Most Desired Weapon for Impregnability

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
TEL AVIV — June 4 --- Within 24 hours, any-
thing can happen in this part of the world. At
this writing, there is anxiety and a certain amount
of tension. Tomorrow will mark the first anniver-
sary of the commencement of the three-hour oper-
ation that completely demolished Egypt's air force
and commenced a Six-Day War that restored to
Israel the only remaining wall of the Holy Temple
within a reconstituted unification of the City of
Peace — Jerusalem. It was a war that for the first
time assured for Israel security for the settlements
in the Galil and eliminated an Egyptian threat
from Sinai and the Gaza Strip. But shooting has
not ended, there were some 40 exchanges of firing
from Jordan on the Israeli Bet Shaan area and
especially serious is the refusal of Arabs to have
a direct exchange with Israelis.
Therefore, out of the anger that motivates
Arab resentment, anything could happen in retali-
ation for the defeats Israel imposed upon Egypt,
Jordan and Syria.
In these few days, between this writing and
the presentation of these views in the current
Jewish News issue, there will be lots of speculating
in newspapers throughout the world. The events ,
of June 1967 will be reviewed, analyzed, . studied,
applied to existing conditions one year after the
total rejection by Israel of all of the accumulated
threats the Jewish State was to be destroyed and
its people annihilated.
Taking these concerns by the world's media
of communication into account, it is necessary to
reassert what Israeli military have said and what
Moshe Dayan has emphasized-: that Israel can
tackle her enemies, singly, one by one or all of
them together. Even without the planes that have
been paid for but not delivered by France, or
those promised by the U.S. and not made available
thus far, Israel can overcome existing threats. But
Israelis are not blind to reality and they know that
the threats that continue to mount are not idle
boasts, that what may well be viewed again as an
unfriendly world gives Israel's enemies courage to
gather. new strength and that it is not excluded
that a major operation can present a newly-Menac-
ing situation not to be overlooked now and cer-
tainly. to be treated with all seriousness in the
future.' -
On the first anniversary of the June 1967
war Israel is worried about Russia's role and the_
supply of arms by the USSR to Egypt and Syria;
the Israelis are upset by the hesitancy that marks
U.S. fulfillment of a pledge to provide them with
a few vitally needed planes; there is real distress
over the changed attitude among non-Jews whO
have not taken into consideration the unending
dangers to Israeli's existence and now are more
concerned with an effort to enforce advice for IS-
raelis to be "magnanimous" than with the practical
needs to assure for Israel the security that was
acquired during the war of a year ago. - •
In Israel, therefore, there is one hope: reten-
Uon and solidification of the - one imperishable
partnership — that with the Jewish people. Never
before has the plea for extension of the bond of
friendship with American Jewry been expressed
with so much earnestness. And if there is a sense
of confidence in the future it stems from the faith
Israel has in the kinsmen in America.

TO THE EDITOR:
•
Walter Laqueur's "The Middle East Is Potentially
More Dangerous Than -Vietnam," May 5, makes chilling
reading. Unless a number of attitudes change appreciably
there seems little hope for a peaceful solution in this
area; .another conflict may be the Biblical. 'Armageddon,
not just for the Middle East but for the world. '
However, there is a solution if we keep in mind the
following points:
1) When Theodor Herzl "invented" the concept of a
Judensta at in 1896, he: immediately realized that the
viability of such a nation would be precarious in , the
extreme if it were injected into an Arab world. Herzl,
many feel, preferred the 1903 offer of the British Govern-
ment for settling a Jewish state in East -Africa, -but he
was strongly opposed by _the. Zionists. - -
2). When the unspeakable annihilation of the Jews
occurred under Hitler, it is not unreasonable to assume
that the vast' majority of European Jews who escaped .
would, - if they had been offered the choice, have preferred
to settle. in the New World, particularly the United States,
than in what was even then (1946-47) a turbulent Palestine.
. 3) There are in Israel -today some 2,600,000 Jews. This
tiny number—less, than the population of Iowa—is, as is
painfully obvious, compromising relations ..between the
United States and - a Muslim world of almost 500,000,000—
who, it might be noted, have 62.2 'per cent of the 'world's
petroleum resources in -the - Middle East alone. Moreover,
because of US. prolIsrael sentiment--let us not forget
that almost half of the 13,000,000 Jews in the world today
are U.S. citizens—our. foreign policy has also been • so
pressured that a vacuum has been created and we have
enabled the Soviets for the first time to establish them-
::selves along the eastern Mediterranean. .
It is suggested, therefore, -that the United States—and,
one hopes, our friends in Canada and Latin America—
agree to - solve once and for all this frightfully threatening
condition by offering to admit as citizens all the present
inhabitants of Israel. The city of Jerusalem would be
made - into an international city - (as proposed by- the U.N,
General Assembly in 1947), open to all as a self7governing
enclaVe under United Nations' aegis, and with a diameter
—289 square miles in - the U.N. proposal—to give it validity.
The rest of the state of Israel would be returned to those
whose families and forebears have lived there continuously
for several thousand years. The Jews who eletted to
remain would, of course, be accommodated in Jordan,
- Syria and Egypt as are the over 200,000 Arabs today who
stayed on in Israel. -
Would not this proposal, - difficult though -• its imple-
mentation would be, provide . a glorious haven for
the ever-
threatened Israelis (in • 1966, immigration was only 1,000 more
than emigration!), permanent release for the dangerously
frustrated Arabs and peace to an anxious world?
.
_
G. E. KIDDER SATETH.
New York.

It is because of this great hope that is rooted
in faith that the current _ (27th) World Zionist
Congress, which is to open in Jerusalem on Sunday
morning, carries with it so much significance: There
is no doubt that the WZCongress' chief concern
will be with aliyah: there is the general recogni-
tion that Israel most urgently needs new settlers,
and the close to 600 delegates from some 60
countries will make an effort to encourage the
Settlement of Jews from many lands in Israel.
Out of the Congress, also, will come the call for
unity in support of Israel by Jews in free lands
so that whatever threats may emerge will be defied
by a united people.
There is an unusual note in the preparatory
stages for the WZCongress. David Ben-Gurion, who
boycotted the sessions of the 26th WZCongree, al-
though he no longer considers himself a member
of the Zionist Movement, has asked to be accepted
"as an invited guest." No one has even accepted
his assertion that he is no longer an affiliate
Zionist: hasn't he served as chairman of the World
Zionist Executive? But his desire to attend the
WZCongress sessions seem to indicate that he has
something to say. And what he aims to state un-
doubtedly has a lot to do with aliya — with an
extended migration of Jews to Israel; with a solidi-
fication of Israel-Diaspora friendships and perhaps
also with means to be utilized for assurance of
greater aid to Israel by Israel's kinsmen.
In any event, the new -Ben-Gurion attitude
augurs much for the 27th WZCongress and perhaps
a new era for Zionism which is regaining a large
measure of popularity and acceptance as an instill-
ment for Israel's reconstruction and security.

It is the series of misrepresentations that total
up into a mass of - misapprehensions amounting to
shocking ignorance that must cause the reader to
marvel at the naivete _of a man part of whose
name is "Kidder," causing us to wonder, whether
it was written in- the form of a "kidder." But one
can't "kid" about such matters.
There is absolute misconception of the Uganda
scheme in the first note; in the second the writer
of the latter fails to indicate that only the closed-
door policy imposed . by Britain prevented . Jews
from settling in Palestine; in the third note . there
is a lack of knowledge of history since the facts
are that Arabs did not occupy the Holy Land for
thousands of years — not even for many hundreds
— and fails to indicate that the great Ara-b, con-
tribution to Palestine was to turn "the land of
milk and honey" into a wasteland; the Kidding
letter-writer gives credence to an undesirable power-
struggle in the Middle East.
His basic misstatement is that Jews did not
have or do not have an -historic role that bonds
them to the Land of Israel, making them insepar-
able from the land, therefore immovable from it.
Because this type of letter can be written
and has been published in spite of its nonsense
by a great newspaper, Israelis have new concerns.
They seek understanding, not delusions. To assure
practication appreciation of what is happening here,
Israel needs friends. The hope here still rests on
men like President Johnson, in whom Israelis
affirm great confidence; but primarily in the Jew-
ish people and especially in the Jews of America.
If American Jews stand by Israel, Israelis feel
more impregnable by the partnership with their
fellow-Jews than by anything else other than their

.

An Attitude of Antagonism
Which Must • Be Fought Anew
Israel's position on the international arena has
experienced many transformations. There have been
periods during which the non-Jewish world showed
great sympathy for the Jewish State. That was
true -immediately after the State was reborn, in
1948. Shortly thereafter, the old enmities — de-
veloping from sin'at olam I'ani olam — the eternal
hatred for the eternal people — contributed towards
growing suspicions, hatreds, misrepresentations
that failed to provide even a modicum of encour-
agement to Israel from non-Jews. Whatever the
reason, only a small measure of friendship was in
evidence, and Jews alone were the great reservoir
of aid to embattled Israel.
This was true also in May and June of last
year. When Israel was in danger of total destruc-
tion, there were sympathetic tones. Very soon after
Israel's June triumph the friendly attitude seemed
to -vanish. Some of the attitudes were so puzzling,
some so devastating, that there even developed a
defeatist school that believes that Israel is doomed
to destruction and that the very progressive little
nation must resign its existence. The most puzzling
of all published statements took the form of a letter
published in the New York Times on May 26,
which proposed that total abandonment of Israel
by Jews. Ordinarily such nonsence would not be
dignified with attention. But the NYTimes gave
it notoriety in its Magazine Section. Why? Has the
world . gone mad? At any rate, here is the full
text of that letter:

Tekoah Reports to Thant on 'Revival
of Hitlerite Practices' in Arab Lands

UNITED NATIONS (JTA)—Dis-
crimination and persecution of
Jews is continuing in the Arab
states, especially in Syria, Egypt
and Iraq, Israel Ambassador Yosef
Tekoah reported in a letter to Sec-
retary General U Thant made pub-
lic here Monday.
"Recent reports," declared Te-
koah, "indicate that a particularly
serious aggravation has occurred
in the situation of the Jewish com-
munity of Iraq."
Noting that after Israel attained
its independence in 1948, some 120,-
000 Iraqi Jews had fled to Israel,
Tekoah stated that "the Jews who
remained in Iraq have been sub-
jected to ever greater restrictions
and deprivations. These have as-
sumed alarmingly grave propor-
tions since the hostilities of June
1967. The Iraqi government has
passed laws denying Jews their
civil liberties, their freedom of
movement, and the possibility of
employment. The Jews of Iraq are
under constant fear for their lives.
The Iraqi authorities, and particu-
larly the secret police, threaten
them even with murder."
According:to Tekoah, the Iraqi
actions are the first since the
Nazi anti-Jewish laws during
the Hitler regime in which "the
oppression Of Jews has been for-
mally promulgated" through
legislation.
Tekoah Cited specific actions
taken against the Iraqi Jews in-
cluding - a - legislative provision
which orders "all government and
private offices and businesses not
to pay out any sums 'due to the
Jews' but to notify the minister
instead."
The only exception to this con-
fiscatory rule, according_ to Te-
koah, is one exempting salaries up
to 100 dinars ($180) per month
which is approximately the salary
now paid in Iraq to a beginning
clerk "and does not suffice to sup-
port a family."
Tekoah noted in his letter that
"the Nazi-like persecution of the
Jews of Iraq constitutes a wanton
violation by the Iraqi government
of the charter of the United Na-
tions, of fundamental human rights
and of resolutions adopted by the
General Assembly and the Security
Council."
Tekoah stated that "an end must
be put to this revival of Hitlerite
practices which requires immedi-
ate international attention."
In accordance with Tekoah's
request, the letter was circulated
as an official document to - all
members-- of the United Nations
including the 15 that are mem-
bers of the Seeurity Connell.

determined will to live.
If an auto with an Israel license
plate were to reach Amman, it
is anyone's guess what the fate
of driver and passengers would be.
But anywhere in Israel it is com-
mon to see autos and trucks with
license plates On vehicles owned
by Arabs from Gaza, the West
Bank. It is the freedom of move-
ment .ArabS have within Israel.
One wonders: . could that help
build up espionage against Israel?
Or—can it create friendship for
Israel? Regardless, the contrast
is in evidence.
There is also the contrast be-
tween peoples and generations.
In Israel the modernity is certain.
Among the Arabs, especially on
Shavuot, it was again evident that
the tools of the time of Ruth and
Moab still are in use. Arabs still
work the land with sickle. Israeli-
Arabs have learned: that's why
there is the belief that they are
anxious to a perpetuated peace.
Arabs outside Israel have so much
to learn—and they can learn it
from Israel. Perhaps, as the He-
brew saying goes, what the com-
mon sense (seikhel) does not ac-
complish, time (ha-zman) will.
Perhaps time will bring sense to
Israel's enemies—and peace when
sense arrives.

56 Friday, June 7, 1968

—

Adnan Pachachi, permanent rep-
sentative of Iraq to the UN,
claimed in a letter to Thant Tues-
day that Tekoah's charges were
"completely false" and without "a
chred of evidence to support
them."
The Iraqi representative asserted
in his letter that "Jews in Iraq
enjoy complete equality with other
citizens." He said the March 1968
laws were "designed to protect the
interests of loyal Jewish citizens
of Iraq" and was "directed against
the attempts of some of those who
have already voluntarily renounc-
ed their citizenship to flout and
circumvent the laws of the coun-
try."
Pachachi said that 100 dinars
equals $280 and is the basic month-
ly salary of senior government
officials with 20 years of service.
He said that 100 dinars in Iraq has
many times the purchasing power
of its equivalent in dollars.
Meanwhile, t h e movement of
Jews from Egypt has come to a
standstill after "many hundreds"
were permitted to leave the
country in the months following
Six-Day War, Gaynor I. Jacob-
son, executive vice-president of
the United Hias Service, re-
ported.
Speaking at a conference of
country directors of the interna-
tional Jewish migration agency and
leaders of afencies concerned with
refugees and m i g r ant s, Jacob-
son said thot there were still an
estimated 200 Jews in prison in
Egypt. He expressed the hope that
they would be released and per-
mitted to rejoin their families.
The United Hias executive said
that most of the Jews of Poland
were anxious to be reunited with
their families in overseas coun-
tries. "We trust that necessary
measures will be taken by the
governments concerned to facili-
tate such family reunion," he de-
clared.
He noted that many Jews in
various countries in Eastern
Europe and the Middle East
faced a "distressing and pre-
carious situation" and said that
United Hias faced "serious chal-
lenges" in meeting resettlement
service needs in the coming
months.
Barbara M. Watson, acting ad-
ministrator of the State Depart-
ment's Bureau of Security and
Consular Affairs, told the three-
day workshop conference that the
1965 immigration law, which takes
effect July 1, "removes the last
vestiges of racial discrimination
in U.S. immigration and fosters
family reunion."
She said that under the new law
there had been a 60 per cent in-
crease in immigration from East-
ern Europe, mainly for family re-
union. The figure would have been
"considerably higher," she said,
"except for difficulties encountered
in obtaining passports and exit
permits in many Eastern Euro-
pean countries."
Harry M. Friedman, assistant
secretary and comptroller of
United Hias, warned the confer-
ence that the agency's 1968 budget
of $2,375,000 "might - well be ex-
ceeded."

B-C Wants to Address
World Zionist Congress

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

TEL AVIV Jewish Agency '
Chairman Aryeh Pincus was re-
ported Tuesday to have approved
a request by former- Prime
ter DaVid' Beh-Gurion 'to address
the World Zionist_ Congress that
opens here next week.
Ben-Gurion. is neither' a member
of the Jewish Agency executive'
nor a delegate to the congress. It
is believed that he will reiterate
his formula for a drastic reorgan-
ization of the Zionist movement as
a means of furthering immigration
and improving the immigrant ab-
sorption process.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS