UFK's Assassination Distresses Americans in Israel;
Nation That Faces Terror is Horrified by Acts of Terror

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

TEL AVIV — There is no limit to the state of shock
was occasioned here by the news first of the re-
ported attack on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and 24 hours
thereafter by the news of his passing.
At every kiosk, at all news stands, wherever people
Poured or stopped for a refreshing drink, the news was
passed on with a sense of revulsion.
Americans who are visiting here in the many hun-
dreds were mourning. The messages of condolence
that went forth from here as from all civilized countries
echoed throughout the land.
For RFK's fellow Americans, these were hours of
despondency. Why have the acts of terrorism been so

that

numerous? President Kennedy- , Senator Kennedy, Martin
Luther King, Rabbi Morris Adler! And even the act of
assassinating President Kennedy's assassin!
The reason for the latest assassination added to the
revulsion.
In the Land of Israel, which has been free of
such acts of terror, the feeling of compassion for the
survivors of the assassinations is especially great.
Israel is surrounded by nations all of whom have ex-
perienced political murders. Only a few days ago there
was an attempt on the life of former Lebanese Presi-
dent Chamoun. In every Arab country, there has been
a political murder or an attempt to murder.
Israel lives in such an environment — and in this
atmosphere Eretz Israel is an oasis in the midst of

terror. Especially because Israel faces and defies terror,
its people are especially horrified by such acts.
Out of the new tragedy emerged a universal kinship
in defense of human values, against the insanity and the
depravity of terrorism.
From here, whence stem the great ethical teachings
of justice and compassion, the message to the Kennedys
and to all Americans is one of sincerest sympathies, of
great compassion, of prayer for better days and for an
end to inhumanities. Israel joined in mourning mixed with
prayer that there should be a halt to terror everywhere
— and for the Americans who are here, temporarily
away from their homes, it is an especially urgent time
for prayer for tranquility in a troubled age.
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to the Faked

MICHI GAN

'Protocols'

f Jewish Events

Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle

LIII. No. 13

27

June 14, 1968-17100 W. 7 Mile Rd.—vE 8-9364--Detroit 48235

Commentary
Page 2

$7.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c

Israel Govt's .Decision to Establish
..Abtorption Men - istry . Creates Storm

JERUSALEM (JTA)
News that the Israeli government had decided
b establish a ministry of absorption and to assume responsibility for the
absorption of immigrants, a responsibility previously held by the Jewish
Agency, created a storm here Monday in the 27th World Zionist Congress.
The decision was announced by the government after Sunday's cab-
inet: meeting. The announcement did not use the qualifying phrase "per-
: Inanent absorption" as Zionist leaders had anticipated, thereby giving rise to
the belief that the government intended to take over the whole process
starting with the arrival of the immigrant.
A special meeting was held Monday morning to discuss the implica-
gons of the government decision and the Jewish Agency's attitude.
Before the meeting began, Aryeh L. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish

—

FLAG DAY

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s

44,40,7.,..,
-- r‘relk--.;:,. .
"We meet to -celebrate Flag Day because this flag
which we honor and under which we serve is the
,.which
of our unity, our power, our thought and
purpose as a nation. It has no other character than
that which we give it from generation to generation..
"The choice is ours. It floats in majestic silence
above the hosts that execute those choices whether
in peace or war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to
us—speaks to us of the past, of the men and women
who went before us and of the records they wrote
upon it.
"We celebrate the day of its birth, and from its
birth until now it has witnessed a great history, has
floated on high the symbol of great events, of a great
plan of life worked out by a great people."
—Woodrow Wilson, June 14, 1917

Agency, received a telephone call from Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
assuring him that the cabinet decision had been "in principle" and that
actual details would remain to be worked out by a joint government-
Jewish Agency committee. Pincus reported this statement to the special
meeting Monday morning but it did not satisfy a number of those present.
Several members of the Jewish Agency expressed themselves in strong
terms against converting the agency into "a travel agency."
Strong opposition was voiced at the meeting to a separation of the
immigration function and primary absorption or the care of the immigrant
immediately after his arrival in Israel. The meeting reportedly concluded
that the retention of the - function of primary absorption by the agency
would be a pre-condition to discussions with the government.

The cabinet announcement has stirred speculation about who will get the new portfolio, provided the
cabinet decides to establish one, something it has not yet done.

A front runner in the speculation over the possible new cabinet post is Labor Minister Yigal
Allon. Should Gen. Allon, the 1948 Hagana commander, switch jobs, it is believed that former Rafi leader
Yosef Almogi would become minister of labor. There was no comment from Almogi Tuesday other than
to say that no one had approached him on the subject. It was reported previously that Almogi was slated
to become secretary-general of Histadrut, Israel's labor federation, after the next general elections in
which incumbent Aharon Becker may not be a candidate.
The cabinet, however, may not create a full minister for the absorption post but establish
the
title of deputy minister of absorption. In that case, according to some sources, the post would go to
Eliav, a member of the Knesset, who was formerly deputy minister of trade and industry. Others
said that Eliav would become deputy minister of absorption even if a full minister were appointed.
Pincus sounded a note of resignation Wednesday when he said that the Zionist Organization can
never sustain a confrontation with the Israel government but can only try to state its case to the best of
its ability. Pincus said that it was found "ready ears" in ministers who had been active Zionists for many
years.

The cabinet and agency issued a joint statement of "explanation" Tuesday which announced the
establishment of a committee of three cabinet ministers and three members of the Jewish Agency executive
which would begin immediately to deal with "the methods of coordinating their respective activities in
these (immigration and absorption) areas and the operational aspects arising out of the government's
decision Sunday with respect to immigration and absorption."
The announcement was sharply criticized by many congress delegates because it failed to spell
out what they wanted—the Jewish Agency's continued responsibility for absorption in its initial stages.
Dr. Goldmann said during Wednesday's Congress debate that Israel must decide whether or not it
wants and needs the Zionist Organization. "Israel's leaders must do some hard thinking," he said.
"World Jewry is far from being in their pocket. Does Israel believe that it alone can hold the Jewish
people?"
On the other hand, Dr. Goldmann said, "without the moral authority of Israel behind it, the Zionist
Organization could fizzle out." Rabbi Max Nussbaum, former president of the Zionist Organization of
America, said that the government had left the WZO "the choice of dying out slowly or liquidating itself."
In his address to the plenary working session of the Congress Monday. Pincus stressed the need
for the Jewish Agency to retain the primary absorption function. Discussing relations between the govern-
ment and the Agency, he described a covenant, which formally recognized the special status of the World
Zionist Organization and the • Jewish Agency in Israel, not as a formal- -document but as an expression of
historic fact and of the true partnership between Israel and the Zionist movement.
He told the session that in the one year of its functioning, the joint authority established by the
government and agency had made significant progress in many directions. Among them he cited incen-
tives for new immigration and absorption by unifying three agency departments.
The Jewish Agency chief said there were three guiding principles the agency and Zionist movement
must follow: the Zionist movement must shoulder the burden of encouraging and organizing immigration;
the government must assume responsibility for the permanent settlement of immigrants, including employ-
ment; and finally, there must be no artificial barriers interposed between immigration and absorption.
Pincus said that the same body that dealt with the bringing of the immigrant to Israel must also see
to his needs in the first stages of absorption — such as the immigrant centers and the Hebrew language
courses (Ulpanim). The welfare of the immigrant, he said, required this.
• The Congress was expected to make Zionist history Tuesday by accepting non-affiliated Jewish
youth organizations into full membership in the Zionist movement. •
The recommendation to admit the youth organizations, mainly student groups, was made by the
Congress presidium and was virtually certain to be approved by the steering committee.
The ease with which the youngsters won recognition. without the fight they had been prepared
to wage, has encouraged them to make further demands and to press vigorously for a program that would
drastically alter the structure of the World Zionist Organization.
The youth groups are represented at the Congress by 11 Jewish students from the United States,
Britain, France, Sweden, South Africa and Australia and six Israelis, all of the . World Jewish Students
Organization.
(Continued on Page 9)