Purely Commentary
The Oil Interests' Role
in Middle East . . . Jewry's
Obligations to Back Israel
By Philip
SiOMOVitZ
Humphrey Named
Brandeis Trustee
"Unable to stand against the great empires of Egypt, Meso-
Arab Courses for Their Children . . Aramco's
potamia, Persia, Greece and Rome which successively ruled them,
Glorification and the Oil Interests' Wicked
the Hebrews had independent control of their 'promised land' for
Imagery of the Arabian Role in Middle East
only comparatively brief periods between the time they entered it
ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company) produces a remarkabl y
under Joshua in the 13th Century BC and the time of their final dis-
attractive Aramco World Magazine. Well written, beautifully illustrated
astrous rebellions against their Roman rulers in AD 66-70 and
it deals with matters related to Arabs, oil, the magnates who trade i n
132-35."
petroleum—and the Middle East generally. And the editors manag e
Here we see the devilish intentions in their complete form. The
pretty well to avoid any reference to Israel. But by implication on e
"promised land" is to ARAMCO, in the annual propagandistic expres-
could easily read into some of the things published a note of antagon
sion from Saudi Arabia, a brief episode in history. That's the aim of
ism, disapproval, pro-Arabism, the latter, of course, being predominant
The July-August issue, for example, features an article on "Th e Israel's antagonists in the effort to destroy the Jewish state—to empha-
size that a Jewish state has no right to exist. That's why we view
Greater War," and the theme is about the Jihad—the holy war of Mo
ARAMCO's annual as demoniacal.
hammed. It could well serve to incite an El Fatah!
Besides, here is distortion in relation to World War I and subse-
Aramco World Magazine, in its current issue, features an article
beautifully illustrated as are all of the magazine's works, on the subjec quent events. The Aramco Annual tells about all kinds of mandates,
the British "campaign to wrest control of Mesopotamia from the
"The Arab Child in School." It is a glorification of cultural aims and i
would thrill all who read it, except that there is another side to the Turks," France's position—but not a word about the Balfour Dec
tion, Jewry's reconstruction of the Holy Land (Palestine—Eretz Israel)
picture.
What is happening in Arab schools today is that the young, even th e that had been turned into a neglected desert by the Arabs.
The annual describes the religion of Islam and in the chapter about
youngest, are taught to hate, to prepare for destruction, to aim all their
who
learning at destroying Israel. The guidelines for all such teachings is to "Indo-Arabic Numerals" there is reference to "Jewish scholars"
to
be found in the motto proposed by Syrian Minister of Education Suley "found sponsorship in the court of the Abbasid caliphs." It stands
works.
Vice President Hubert H. HIM-
man Al-Khash, in May 1968, that "Hatred Is Sacred." Every textbook, reason that recommended reading does not include pro-Israel
phrey has been named a trustee
every pamphlet, distributed to children in Arab schools, teaches tha t Israel works.
Here is an attractive work, well illustrated, well written, but devil-
of Brandeis University. The an-
"Israel must be destroyed." A Jordanian first-year high school textbook
a book
nouncement was made jointly by
poses a question under a "Prove It" heading. It states: " 'Israel was ish in its attitude toward Israel—devilish in the sense that it is
Brandeis President Morris B.
born to die.' Prove it!" A teacher-training "Arabic Islamic History' intended to build up an Arab image. At least the wicked intentions
should
be
known.
Abram and Board of Trustees'
carrying the seal of the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Instruction
On Sept. 6, 1968, we carried a story from the United Nations that chairman Lawrence A. Wien of
has a legend: "'They Will Not Live Save in Darkness': The Jews are
New York. The 40-member Bran-
always the same, every time and everywhere. They will not live save ARAMCO had donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
deis board of trustees meets
in darkness. They contrive their evils clandestinely. They fight only for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) a donation of $80,060 to provide
scholarships
for
Palestine
refugees
at
UNRWA
vocational
centers,
the
when they are hidden. because they are cowards." And the same
eight times a year, either at the
Egyptian ministry has issued a "Basic Syntax and Spelling" book which gift being in addition to one for $60,000 made earlier in the year by
Waltham,
Mass. campus or in
contains an "Exercise: 'We Shall Expel All the Jews'" which calls for ARAMCO—for a total of ARAMCO donations to UNRWA of $574,523
New York City.
the following: "Analyze the following sentences: 1. The merchant him- since 1960.
What's so remarkable about that—with all the billions involved in
self travelled to the African continent. 2. We shall expel all the Jews
oil royalties?
from the Arab countries."
But the question that must be posed is whether funds given for
It does not matter that nearly all Jews have already been expelled
from Arab lands. The point to be noted here is that the incitement to scholarships also call for a thorough check whether the textbooks used
are
filled with anti-Semitic slogans and with lessons to hate and to
terror is not against Israel and Israelis but against all Jews.
This is true of scores of other textbooks that have been analyzed prepare for Israel's destruction.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A tele-
But we really do not expect a definite answer from ARAMCO.
and that show the hatred that is taught. that "Hatred is Sacred." But
vision set installed in the mem-
ARAMCO would have us believe that all is glorious in the Arab schools! Its links are well established.
bers' lounge of the Knesset was
Of major interest in relations to ARAMCO is an "updated edition,"
removed after less than a week
a followup, to its handbook, entitled "Aramco Handbook—Oil and the El Fatah Here by Way of WSU
Middle East."
because it precipitated quarrels
By way of Wayne State University, El Fatah was brought to De-
It creates an interest because it deals with the Middle East and troit by the irrational youngsters who edit the university newspaper
among members and further
manages completely to ignore the Israeli role, the Jewish aspect, the that has given the administration so many headaches.
reduced the often meager atten-
historic links of the Jewish people with the entire area under discussion.
In the name of a free press and free speech, the arrogant youth
dance at Knesset sessions.
In its approach, there is something mischievous. The authors have besmirched the sanctity of an honest press with bluffs about
managed to resort to biblical quotations. (Does the devil quote• Scrip Israeli aggression and accusations that bring shame upon a great
A committee of the House de-
ture for his purpose?)
cided to donate the set to the
university in whose name rebels undertake to sacrifice the elementary
It is a richly illustrated book and it has many maps—and the latter factors of truth.
soldiers' welfare committee be-
are especially revealing. All countries are included in Middle East
What a pity that students should ignore truth and fact while
cause of arguments over who
Topography but not Israel. Jerusalem and Haifa are indicated, and pursuing the quest for sensation. There is no other way of explain-
while Jerusalem's listing is understandable, Haifa's role is probably ing a New Left destructive stand. Would that the students could be
would turn it on or off and
accepted because of linkage with oil.
whether it should be kept on
induced to study realities: much heartache would then be avoided.
This procedure is evident in all of the other maps in the book, and
while the Knesset was meeting.
•
although nothing more can be expected from a book not credited to any
author but coming from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, it is amazing how The Threats to Israel and Jewry's Mounting Obligations
historical aspects—ancient and modern—are ignored!
"To your tents, 0 Israel" ... and "Meet the test, 0 Israel" . . . now emerge as merged slogans to
Perhaps the Aramco authors have an excuse for their labors. They be addressed to the Jewish people everywhere in facing the crisis in the Middle East.
do mention Israel once—but not the state—there is references to the
Israel had one defender against the outrageous United Nations Security. Council resolution of condem-
transplanting of conquered peoples, "among whom were the '10 lost nation of Israel in which the great statesmen didn't see fit even
to mention the terrorist attacks against
tribes' of Israel." That's where the authors deal at length with Nine- Israel. Only Israel's ambassador to the UN was able to defend Israel. The
rest were silent about the harm
veh's destruction, with Babylon's empire, Assyria and the destruction to Israel, and as
the AP and UPI indicated, only the vitriolic attacks on Israel induced the U.S. spokes-
of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
men to assert that Israel was not being tested for its existence.
With due credit to the authors, the book's sponsors and the ap-
The world powers and the UN should and could have taken note of the fact that Israel's reprisal may
proaches to the annual's intentions in treating its contents, it should be
poined out that Hebrew, Bible, Old Testament are mentioned indiscrim- have contributed towards preventing continued hijacking, interference with free travel and terrorism
in all of the world's airports. Some one had to issue a warning against the brutalities planned with the
inately. For instance, there is this datum in history:
"Babylon was the scene of many dramatic events in the Bible. It attacks on civilians and innocent travelers. There should have been prayers of thanksgiving everywhere
was to Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar carried many of the people of that the bombs at the Athens airport were not detonated: if they had, 50 people — many of them
Judah into exile. Babylon was also the scene of stirring episodes such women and children — would have been among the murdered, not alone the emissary who was on a
as the trial of the three Hebrew youths Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- UN mission who died in the attack!
Now we have a simple situation in which Israel stands alone, assailed by the world's great
nego in the fiery furnace, the ordeal of Daniel in the lions' den, and the
terror of King Belshazzar when he saw the handwriting on the wall. powers who have joined with the USSR-Arab bloc in seeking Israel's destruction. Only Israel's kinsmen
When Babylon fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus in 539 BC, many of are united in defense of the small nation that is being threatened with extinction. Therefore the voice
the exiles took advantage of permission to return to their homes, but of the People of Israel must be heard in defense of the State of Israel. The People of Israel must rally
many others remained . . ."
to the defense of the afflicted and it must meet the test with courage and with dignity.
Here we have an angled approach to a major issue. Cyrus con-
There will be much discussion as time proceeds. We will be told that the U.S. has no commitments
tributed towards the rebuilding of Jewish statehood, yet the comment to Israel. Because of the new spirit of animosity a friendship between Israel and the U.S. may be endang-
here is only about some exiles' return home!
ered. The challenges will be on many fronts, in many areas, and it will be urgent that the test should
The authors of this annual deal with "Other Ancient Peoples in the be met well, that the new attacks from a hostile world, which now is being treated anew to a revived
Middle . East," of their roles in the area's history, and in the approach anti-Semitism, should not be glossed over indifferently. The situation is too serious not to be
viewed in aII
to the status of the Hebrew there is this remarkable bit of literary earnestness.
wickedness that can not be questioned as fact and yet so evidently
We shall no doubt be confronted by efforts to frustrate both Israel's policies of the right to sell-
reduces the Hebraic role to a mere "other ancient people's" activity! defense and world Jewry's obligation to come to Israel's defense. There will be an effort to impose a
The Aramco Annual states:
peace. It can't and won't work. If there is to be peace
it has to be on the basis of neighbors conversing with
"The Hebrews have left an indelible record of their troubled one another. An imposed peace would eliminate such
an elementary requirement in human relations.
career in the Old Testament. They were never an important people And what we must strive for is genuine human relations.
politically, as compared with the more powerful of their neighbors,
The French "total embargo" on parts for the Mirage planes now in Israel's possession adds immeas-
but they made tremendous contributions in their religion and their urably to Israel's troubles, yet one must hope that the Israeli military leaders know how to overcome these
literature. They did not come into existence as a nation until thou-
difficulties. But they may add to our obligations to demand that the U.S. agreement for the sale of Phan-
sands of years after the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia and tims to Israel should be honored.
Egypt. Their earlier history in the Book of Genesis was probably
The Vatican has become an object for debate due to Pope Paul VI's several declarations regarding
adapted in a spiritualized and purified form from the ancient lore the Middle East. One newspaper
in Israel said that Sephardic Chief Rabbi Itzhak Nissim "overreacted"
of Mesopotamia, where there were earlier recorded stories of the in his criticism. An Orthodox rabbi in New York was critical of the Synagogue
Council which includes
Creation and the Flood.
rabbinical groups of practically all the varying Jewish congregational elements in Ameriea as well as the
"The Hebrews seem first to have developed into a group of united front in Jewish ranks — the Conference of Major American Jewish Oraganizations — calling the
related seminomadic tribes with a common traditional patriarch, rebukes to the Pope "overreaction which mitigates the impact of the initial criticism."
for which parallels can be found among some Bedouin tribes of
In truth, the fear that has suddenly set in over criticism of the Pope is a bit ridiculous. The fact TS
today. The time of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt was probably that Pope
Paul had failed to rise above suspicion of his attitude — regardless of
his exPieSsed regret to
early in the 13th Century BC. Although Moses did much to forma- Dr. Nahum Goldmann about a misunderstanding —
because he had never spoken out against Arab terros-
lize Hebrew religious and social institutions, many scholars believe
The bomb outrage in the Jerusalem market place, where the great heroes of the Arab revolt found
that the first five books of the Old Testament did not achieve their a ism.
way of murdering civilians, went unnoticed in the Vatican. Pope Paul would have been better off if he
final goal until the period of the captivity or exiles in Babylonia.
had ignored the Middle East situation entirely. The stand he had pursued was one-sided, like the shocking
The Hebrews were also influenced by the culture of the Canaanites UN
Security Council resolution, and should not remain unnoticed.
of Palestine, part of whose land they filtered into and conquered,
It is impossible to forget that when Pope Paul was in Israel, where he received warm receptions, be
and by that of the Mediterranean Philistines, with whom they refrained
from even
once as to
much
as the
mentioning
name Israel. That too, has never been explained, and
fought for control of the land and after whom Palestine was named. it took Christian
observers
notice
ignoring the
tactics that represented a lack of respect for Israel.
There
are
other
complications
in
the
Middle
East
situation with mounting threats to Israel. But
2—Friday, January 10, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS a united Jewry can
overcome the dangers. That's our obligation: unite for justice to Israel!
Knesset Turned On
by Television Set
!