THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 12, 1969-41

Israel Writer on U.S. Tour Puts Lie to Big Lie of Leftist Circles

BY CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Israel has found a good argu-
ment for her New Leftist attackers
in this country. It is a 44-year-old
leftist of her own who deals in a
very special commodity: truth.
Natan Shaham was preceded
here by a brief, but impressive,
biography that pointed out, among
other things, "Published works in-
cluded 12 novels and short stories,
two children's stories and three
travel books (the post-Six-Day War
"Journey in the Land of Israel"
was translated into English). Of
his numerous plays, nine have
been produced on stage. Two plays
have also been presented in vari-
ous countries overseas. Won five
literary prizes for prose, children's
literature, drama and radio
drama."
It also Mentioned, among other
credentials, that Shaham is vice
chairman of the board of governors
of the State Broadcasting Authority.

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of noted essayist Eliezer Steinman.
In short, he sounds like a re-
spected member of the Establish-
ment.

But

Shaham turns out to fit no
such stereotype, and thus may
appeal to the anti-Establishment
group in the United States who
have nothing good to say about
that "imperialistic," "cplonial-
istic," "militaristic" occupying
power that had the nerve to de-
fend herself too well in June
1967.

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JNF Schedules
Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Jew-
ish National Fund of Greater De-
troit will be held 8:30 p.m. Sept.
25 at the Zionist Cultural Center.
David P. Zack, president of JNF,
said election of officers and mem-
bers of the board of directors will
take place.
Philip Slomovitz, editor and pub-
lisher of The Jewish News, will be
guest speaker, including a review
of the current situation in Israel
among his observations.
Prior to elections, reports of ac-
tivities and progress for the year
will be given by committees. Rep-
resentatives of organizations and
friends of JNF are welcome.
Following the meeting, refresh-
ments will be served by the Wom-
en of JNF.

Sander Levin to Be Cited

State Senate Minority Leader
Sander M. Levin will be honored
at a testimonial dinner Wednes-
day evening at Cobo Hall. Among
the honorary co-chairman are Sen.
Philip A. Hart, G. Mennen Wil-
liams, Mayor Cavanagh and Rabbi
Irwin Groner.

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is steadily growing. "The poor

MUSIC BY
(m a n y of whom speak
Arabic) bought television sets long
ago so they could see the pro-
grams from Arab lands. Now the
AND HIS ORCHESTRA
rich people are buying them."
LI 1-2563
And for the Arab citizens of Is-
rael, "we have a one-hour show in
"It is a shock to meet a Jewish Arabic, mostly news and children's
boy against Israel. They are psy- entertainment. But there's one
Portraits by
chologically confused, a mixture of philosophy we adhere to: no Arab
self-hate, father-mother hatred, a propaganda."
guilt comlex toward the oppressed
of America."
They use their attack on Israel
as a means to divorce themselves
as always fine
from Judaism, Shaham believes.
quality photography
"There's no way to express some-
Merrillwood Bldg. Mall
thing to them. Yet, you have to
251 Merrill, cor. Woodward
try, for others may hear and learn
Birmingham •
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posing ideas, they will stick to
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their own."
Shaham feels that many New T*********************ern
Leftists are sincere in their de-
sire for answers to disturbing ques-
tions, but they easily adopt ab-
stract ideas which have no bearing
on reality. "On America's problems
they can't a g r e e; but when it
comes to a far-away country, they
can afford to be superficial about
realities. Thus, they agree about
Vietnam, and they agree about
Israel."
Mr. and Mrs.
The misconceptions are rife.

people

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pation was necessary).

"They (the leftists) charge that
Israel — little Israel — is a co-
lonial power, that Zionism is the
spearhead of imperialism in the
Middle East. Have you ever heard
such nonsense? Have you ever read
the Zionist ideology? It's so inno-
cent in its beliefs.
"They attack the so-called rigid-
ity of the Israeli stand on refugee
problems. They charge that there
is a military mentality in Israel.
My only answer is to invite them
to Israel. Let them see for them-
selves. Israelis don't hate Arabs
and, equally important, they have
a sense of humor. People with a
military mentality don't have a
sense of humor."
Although the Israel Foreign Min-
istry would prefer to keep its name
out of it when Shaham visits left-
ist circles in American cities and
on college campuses, he is proud
of the fact that Israel has en- I
couraged his speaking tour. "It
shows that our government be-
lieves in freedom of speech," he
said.
On this point, Shaham is insist-
ent. As a playwright and leading
figure in Israel's television indus-
try , he is particularly sensitive
to censorship. He recalls threaten-
ed censorship in 1950, when he was
producing a play, and finds that
"Today, Israel is much more demo-
cratic, much more tolerant to dif-
ferent ideas."

The broadcasting authority has
seven members "with seven dif-
ferent ideas. But nobody can stop
anything. The only censorship is
on security facts."
Shaham claims that Israel has

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Seasrify Charge

campuses (Wednesday night at
the University of Michigan), and
anticipating more of the same
out West, Shaham is finding that
SDS (Students for a Democratic
Society) is drawing some of its
most vociferous adherents from
the Jewish community.

Quiet-spoken, undistinguished in
appearance, Shaham has confront-
ed leftists of every hue on this
trip to the United States, and like
his name, which is Hebrew for
granite, he stands up to all of them. ,
"I talked to two Black Pan-'
thers," he said, "who asked me
questions I could not believe I was
hearing. I had to collect myself
and remember I had a job to do.
I musn't be outraged. And I think
when I was finished with them
they felt differently. You see, they
had formed an ideology, and it
was so easy to put the Jews on
the other side."
For six weeks, Shaham partici-
pated in the 19th annual Harvard
International Seminar, in which 40
distinguished representatives from
as many countries exchanged hu- "They don't understand the na-
manistic, political and economic ture of Jews in (historical) rela-
ideas.
tion to the countries of the world.
He found the Lebanese and Mo- They make mistakes about the
roccan delegates to be "very nature of the occupation of Arab
friendly," but of all the partici- territory (I'm not happy about
pants, "I felt closest to the Czech. the occupation, but I compare it
From our similar experience, we to the Allies' occupation of Ger-
could speak of realities and not many after the war. The Ger-
just ideas."
mans were a threat, and occu-

Having lectured on college

3311PS Grand River
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C.

An Israeli native, he is the son

kept an amazing aloofness to the
unending barrage of Arab propa-
ganda emanating from neighbor-
ing states. He calls it nonsense
which no one takes seriously.
"They (the Arab leaders) mix
fact with lie with wishful thinking.
And they haven't learned a thing
from the war: they must stop ly-
ing. It's true that they can whip
up the people into hysteria, as
with the mosque fire. But hysteria
doesn't work because they don't
follow through with their declara-
tions of war."
By contrast, Israel radio played
an important part in calming the
people in June 1967. There was
music to lift the morale and news
— factual, not doctored — to put
a lie to the Arab lie.

Shaham is optimistic about the
future of Israeli television, which

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