Purely Commentary
Abe Kasle: Dedicated Advocate of Jewish' Education;
Zionist, Pace-Setter in Philanthropic Activities
Abe Kasle was a man of great courage. He was all heart, he
dedicated himself to causes aiming at Jewish survival, and he justly
attained wide national recognition for his tireless labors for major
Jewish causes.
His death is a great loss to our community, and the cause of Jew-
ish education loses one of the most ardent advocates.
As president of Hillel Day School, he set into motion the activities
that led to the beginnings for a Hillel Day School Building which, hope-
fully, will be completed in time for the September school opening.
It was not through brick and mortar, however, that he sought to
attain the goal of advancing Jewish cultural activities to the highest
level. As president of the United Hebrew Schools for more than 15
years he secured the necessary funds for an increased school enroll-
ment, and, more than any other person here, he succeeded in giving
priority to Jewish education in communal planning. Thanks to him, the
Detroit Jewish school system emerged among the leaders in efficiency
and attainment in this country.
He was among those who set the pace for big giving to the United
Jewish Appeal through his generosity towards the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign and as a chairman of the Detroit campaign he helped set high
standaras for better giving to great causes.
The teachers in our community recognized his sincerity and his
devotion and only last month he received the award for his dedicated
labors and for his interest in Jewish cultural values from the Hebrew
Teachers Association of Detroit.
He had earned many honors. A forest bears his name on land of
the Jewish National Fund in Israel. He was a life-long Zionist and
Israel's security meant a great deal to him.
Abe Kasle did not separate himself from the general community.
He took a deep interest in civic affairs and only a few months ago he
offered personally to assist in assuring safety on our streets in a pro-
posal to members of the Common Council and to the Police Depart-
ment. Had he lived, perhaps another great achievement in this regard
might have been added to the long record of attainments which dis-
tinguished him as a noted personality in our midst.
He was fearless. He never hesitated to pronounce his beliefs. He
spoke his mind freely, regardless of whose toes he might step on—as
long as be was personally convinced that he was right.
We have lost a good friend, a loyal fellow citizen, a man who
labored for the community's good. Zeher tzaddik livraha!
President Keast's Patience Brings Accord
Wayne State University President William Keast was subjected
to a lot of abuse, but he also had defenders who sincerely believed
that his patience will bring the best results. In the midst of the tur-
moil over the WSU college newspaper, Dr. Keast did condemn the anti-
Semitic and bigoted articles and the policies of a deluded staff of
writers.
Now we see the results of patience. He suspended the summer
issues of the paper for its obscenities and again he was assailed. His
critics were from all quarters. One Jewish chap fumed against him
in the name of free speech. But in the name of free speech it was
permissible—for these deluded liberals—to attack Jws and Israel, to
glorify the El Fatah, to be as anti-Semitic as the worst of the
extremists.
The Student-Faculty Council, by adopting a set of guidelines for
the WSU paper for the coming term, appears to have solved a painful
problem. We can have, we should have, we will have differing opin-
ions. But perhaps there now will be an end to vituperations and the
spread of libels, lies, misrepresentations that have led to divisiveness
and to hatred. If and when we will have attained accord, and agree-
ment that we can differ without name calling and suggestion of riot-
ing and destruction, President Keast will have been fully exonerated,
as appears already to have been proven correct in his actions.
*
A Man of the Cloth Who Errs on the Side of
Damaging Lie-Spreading Against Jews and Israel
All men are obligated to the truth. A man of the cloth has a spe-
cial duty to avoid the pitfalls of untruths that can lead to animosity
among peoples, to hatreds and therefore also to violence.
A case in point is the essay by the pastor of the St. Frances Cab-
rini Parish, Msgr. Hubert A. Maino. The very title Monsignor should
have caused him to be careful not to mouth the propaganda of the
enemies of the people and State of Israel. Instead he fell hook, line
and sinker for the moral filth that characterizes the dirt blown into
the wind to defame Israel.
Point by point:
It is no wonder that the Monsignor wrote as he did: he had gath-
ered his wisdom in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Did he go to the reli-
gious dignitaries in Israel—the Christians!—who are enjoying fullest
freedom to worship now under Israel's sovereignty? Has he learned
that for the first time there are no religious wars in the Holy City of
Jerusalem because there is theological freedom there for all?
He came face to face in Damascus with 60,000 refugees. Did he go
to Gaza to learn that until Israel acquired that area the refugees lived
as in a concentration camp, and now they have freedom of movement,
into and out of Israel? There is some restraint there now: the terror-
ists have made it difficult for fellow-Arabs more than for Jews. But
freedom came with the Israeli occupation.
They lost their homes because of Israel? To append a line later
on in his article about their having fled does not help. The facts are
not told. They not only fled: they were offered compensation, and
the only ones who never gave a dime to help them were the Arab
states. Most of the money for refugee aid came from the United
States, abuse of whom is shared in the Maino article, and Israel gave
vast sums for refugee aid. But not a dime came from an Arab!
And the Monsignor takes the liberty to assert that "the Arabs lack
the vast resources available to their opponents." Monsignor, where
do you get that? What about Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the hun-
dreds of millions they get from all of us for oil? How dares any one
repeat such nonsense?
Are the 60,000 the Monsignor spoke of part of a million and a half
refguees? The enemies of Israel and of Jewry will love you for this,
Msgr. Maino! Even the extremists speak of 1,300,000 refugees, yet you
2 — Friday,
July 25, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
By Philip
Slomovitz
Tributes to Kasle and Haggai . . Keast's
Role in WSU Fracas . . . Columnists' Errors,
Cleric's Analyses That Lack the Facts
dared to say that a million were ousted, when only 450,000 fled from
Israel and that number has been padded in excess of a million—and
United Nations officials have admitted that many, many thousands
are padded so that the racketeers can use the ration cards of those
who have passed away!
Of course, the refugees sit idly by and do nothing—because the
Arab potentates DO keep them as means of propaganda against Israel,
because offers of economic assistance to employ these refugees have
been rejected by the potentates, because there is amoral irresponsibil-
ity which is shared by the great nations, and has the blessings of
clergymen like Maino who have failed to search for the whole truth
and have spread lies against us and Israel! If there is abuse of our
kinsmen who are striving for peace and friendship with the Arabs, it
is also abuse of us!
There is an attempt, while blaming the United States (why: because
there is some honor and humanness and compassion among knowing
Americans?), to offer advice, and it is shallow, impractical, does not
guide anyone, Arab or Jew, and the result is Msgr. Maino has failed
miserably, in stating the facts and in evaluating them!
It isn't pleasant to say these things. But he wrote about the "Sad
Plight of Arab Exiles," and WE are more concerned about them than
he is, because we hope for accord, and he has spread discord.
*
*
Credibility on the International Scene
Diplomatic credibility often leaves much to be desired. Truth
often is juggled even in tne face of the most serious challenges.
Israel tastes it often at the United Nations where not only Arab
credibility but also that of other nations, especially the Soviet Union.
spout what they wish to impose upon an unsuspecting world in utter
indifference of the basic and true facts.
A good example of the form truth, credibilty and common sense
assume was presented when the bodies of dead soldiers were to be
returned by Israel to Egypt. A fantastic story was reported in the
New York Times, from Jerusalem, by James Feron, who gave these
details under date of July 14, 1969:
The bodies• of three Egyptian soldiers have lain for three weeks
on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal, Israeli officials confirmed
today.
The attempted removal of the bodies has involved Red Cross
and United Nations representatives and become a subject of recrim-
ination between Israeli and Egyptian officials.
The Egyptians have charged the Israelis with "inhuman be-
havior" in not returning the bodies of the three Arab commandos.
The Israelis say that the Egyptians opened fire on them when
they tried to recover them.
The exchange of bodies across the canal has become a bizarre
side issue to the continuing armed struggle in the canal area.
United Nations officials are able on occasion to arrange a
cease-fire and then, for a brief period, the only sounds to break
the strange silence are those of boat engines and the sharp corn-
mands of honor guards.
Last Thursday, the war along the canal stopped for 20 minutes
so that the bodies of nine Egyptian commandos killed in an assault
on an Israeli position could be returned at Qantara, a principal
crossing point.
The Israelis mounted an honor guard for the Egyptians, and
on the Egyptian side, where another honor guard stood at attention.
flags flew at half-staff.
Coffins are inspected by the receiving parties. Once, when
the Israelis were expecting the return of a soldier killed on the
Jordanian front, they found that caskets filled with sand were
being handed over.
This afternoon the Israelis announced that the expected return
of the body of one of their soldiers who died after having been
captured in a. commando raid last week had been rescheduled
for tomorrow. The Israeli Army spokesman said he had been in-
formed by the Red Cross that the vehicle carrying the coffin had
been involved in an accident near Ismailia.
The strangest case in nearly two years of prisoner exchanges
and transfers of bodies involved the three soldiers killed June 23
in an attack against an Israeli position near Kantara.
Last Friday, the United Arab Republic asked Secretary Gen-
eral Thant for United Nations help in retrieving the bodies
An Israeli Army spokesman said that the United Nations had
arranged for recovery of the bodies the day after the accident.
But when an Israeli officer approached the site with a colonel on
the United Nations staff at 5:40 that afternoon, the Egyptians
opened artillery and mortar fire, he said.
The Egyptians were reported to have told the United Nations
that they would agree to another try at 8 o'clock that night. The
Israelis said they wanted to wait until daylight.
Egyptian authorities refused to permit the Israelis to make
the attempt the next day, the Israeli spokesman said, and that
is where the matter stands.
This report is quoted here in full for an obvious reason: to present
all available facts and to offer students in political science a lesson
in credibility.
It is apparent from what we have just quoted that it is so easy
to call Israel names and to blame the Israelis: didn't they insist on
staying out of gunshot? how did they dare protect themselves, even
if it was necessary to return the bodies of dead soldiers?
The Arab position is understandable. Didn't they attempt to build
up a case of self-absolution by charging that the United States and
Great Britain were involved in the destruction of the Egyptian air
force on June 5, 1967? And didn't the Washington Post then refer
to the Cairo "lying media of communication" as "this cesspool on
the Nile?"
When Nasser, interviewed by Look magazine reporters, was asked
whether he might have been misled by suspicion and faulty informa-
tion for having made the charge against the Us. and Britain, he
replied: "You could say that yes." But the Cairo press reported his
reply as having been: "You may say so, but others say something
else."
So, the Arab attitude is established. But in the instance of the
transfer of bodies of dead soldiers it is proper to ask why neither
the Red Cross nor the United Nations could state the truth bluntly.
Why is there the silence from both these world bodies? Why the
lack of firmness? There is never hesitancy when efforts are made
to rebuke Israel. Talk about double standards!
Yirmiyahu Haggai: His
Dedication to Israel
Haggai was a revered name in
Detroiter many years. Joseph
Haggai was one of four ablest edu-
cators and Zionist tribunes. The
entire Haggai family always was in
the movements for defense of Jew-
ry, national rebirth, succor for the
less fortunate and oppressed.
Yirmiyahu Haggai not only fol-
lowed in his father's footsteps; he
' fulfilled the family dream, settled
in Palestine in 1936, became a
builder of Israel as a farmer, turn-
ed his attention to literature, gained
distinction as a stylist, edited his
party's newspaper, did much trans-
lating from and to Hebrew and
lectured extensively.
His death creates sorrow in the
ranks of those who knew him and
loved the Haggai family. He was in
the prime of life and had com-
menced new assignments to inter-
pret the labor movement in Israel
to world Jewry. His memory will
be blessed.
• *
Analysts' Blunders
News analysts and commentators
are of great value in our lives—if
they are people who do research.
But when they fail to delve into the
truth they can cause much damage.
A typical example of blundering
was provided in the Evans and
Novak syndicated column entitled
"Nixon to Intercede for Romanian
Jews "
How puzzling—that two men who
claim to be authorities on the Mid-
dle East, Eastern Europe and
world affairs should have failed to
ascertain that Romania is the only
Communist country that has the
finest relations with Israel; that
tens of thousands of Romanian
Jews have gone to Israel; that the
Romanian policy already has an-
gered Arabs and Russians.
What do Evans and Novak im-
agine that Nixon can do that Jews
and Israelis have not done already?
And if they had dug into the ac-
tual facts they would have known
that pieces like theirs do just the
damage angled for by the Russians
and the enemies of Israel in the
Middle East: to effect a cessation
of immigration into Israel.
Be careful with your words, fel-
low columnists!
Safety in Israel
A girl In Jerusalem displays
one of the new plastic refuse
containers Installed to foil sabo-
teurs—somewhat. The former
metal containers were fine
places to plant bombs in the ref-
use. The plastic containers are
not as destructive when blown to
pieces, and are below bead
level, another safety feature.