THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, Otother 31, 1969
Middle East, Cloak-Dagger Style
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37
`Jews Responsibility Toward Blacks Not Guilt Reflex'
KIAMESHA LAKE (JTA) —; the civil rights movement, and our and less powerful, thereby doing
Rabbi Harry Halpern of Brooklyn, I aid to many causes for the amelor- Jordan and Lebanon a favor."
a Conservative leader, said Wed- iation of the plight of black people I
Until an arms embargo on the
nesday that while "As Jews we has been considerable.
Middle East is concluded be-
have our share of responsibility
"I would say that we have no I tween the U.S. and Russia, he
said, the U.S. should find ways
in the solution of the problems right to expect gratitude for
of easing the financial burden
affecting the Negro, it should be what we do, that we do not re-
by Israel for its purchase of U.S.
made clear that we resent and ject our children if they do not
military aircraft.
deny any implication that our re- properly receive what we do for
sponsibility as Jews toward the I them. We have a religious man-
Sen. Charles Goodell told the
Negro problem is or should be date to help the poor and the parley that the U.S should press
greater than that of any other downtrodden and we must carry for direct peace negotiations he-
white group of America."
it out under all conditions. If we tween Israel and the Arabs.
Addressing the biennial conven- do anything, we should make it ; Henry N. Rapaport. outgoing
tion of the United Synagogue of abundantly dear that it is not president of the United Synagogue
America, Rabbi Halpern, of East because we suffer from a guilt of America, urged the American
Midwood Jewish Center and chair- complex.
; Jewish community and its welfare
man of the joint commission on , "We deny the unfounded accu- funds to revise priorities in order
social action of the United Syna- sation that Jewish merchants, to furnish more money for Jewish
gogue and Rabbinical Assembly. teachers and landlords are largely education. He said that Jewish
said that "We Jews have-not been responsible for the pitiable condi- !education provided the only assur-
unconscious of our religious re - tions of the black slum dweller. ance of Jewish survival. "Without
sponsibility and participation in We resent the dragging in of our ' survival," he declared, "there will
Jewishness into a situation in be no need for Jewish welfare
Achmed Utman, an espionage which it is totally irrelevant," he funds, Jewish hospitals or Jewish
agent whose career as a journal- sad. Rabbi Halpern spoke at a defense agencies."
Rapaport, of Scarsdale, N.Y.
ist never got off the ground in panel on Black-Jewish relations.
Theodore Sorensen, adviser to defined Jewish survival as "reli-
Israel; and Kobruk Yaakovian—
alias Yitzhak Kochuck—an Ar- the late President John F. Ken- gious survival," asserting that
menian sent from Cairo to gather nedy, told an Israeli affairs panel "there is no evidence that socio-
at the parley that the United cultural activities can alone pro-
[ military information.
Aside from the specific details States should make major changes vide the sinews of survival."
Rapaport, a vice president of
of various case histories and an in its Middle East policy.
He said Washington should call the American Association for Jew.
'
informative summary of the na- off "the present superpower talks ish Education, contended that
ture of Israel's intelligence and because they waste time, and time poor religious education is an even
security establishment, the au- , means lives." Instead, he said, the greater threat to the American
contribute generally to our knowl- [ government should press Moscow Jewish community than intermar-
edge and understanding of the [ for a new agreement to keep the riage."
es p aye
e-saving roles
vita ,
Jacob Stein of Great Neck, N.Y.
e forces of both powers out of any
hind the scenes daily.
new Middle East conflict, to ar- was elected president. He had
Why are the Israelis so good as range for the emigration of the served as vice president for the
"secret warriors?" As Mr. Tad- 20,000 Jews left in Arab states, past four years.
mor puts it: "The special nature and to provide for final resettle-
. of Israel's intelligence services ment and compensation of all Arab Back vote for 18 year olds
was determined by the unique refugees.
{ NEWARK — Rabbi Israel Dres-
' condition of Israel—a small nation
Sorenson said that the U.S. ner, president of the New Jersey
surrounded by hostile Arab states should "oppose one-sided United Region of American Jewish Con-
bent on her destruction. For Israel Nations resolutions which condemn I gress, announced support of the
a superior intelligence organiza- Israeli retaliation against Arab referendum to be voted on Tues-
tion was a substitute for the attacks, for it is through these re- day which seeks to extend voting
natural strategic advantages the prisal raids that Israel keeps the , rights to 18-year-olds in New
country lacked." I terrorist groups more dispersed I Jersey.
By HOWARD GOLDBERG
on poison gas. When appeals to
(copyright, 1969, JTA, Inc.)
Bonn, Washington, -London and
Not too many years ago in a Paris fell upon deaf ears, Israel
day when newspapermen were began clandestine operations that
still being caricatured on the stage neutralized the danger, resorting
and in films, city room "insiders" to kidnapping, terrorism, armed
would speak breathlessly of "the threats and intimidation. Jewish
."
aa ge nts were
story be hind
This now threadbare phrase re- Switzerland and Egypt but were
ferred not to the public facts the later freed.
* * *
stuff of front pages and big head-
lines—but rather the private facts'
The greatest "silent warrior" of
which were often more interest- them all was Elie Cohen whose
exploits in Damascus are now
ing, revealing, even dangerous.
The untold, the confidentially legendary. The whole story has
learned, the esoteric is nowhere been told before, but Messrs. Tad-
more fascinating than in the un- mor and Rothstein review it com-
derworld of international intrigue pellingly, telling how Mr. Cohen,
if only because it can make or passing himself off as a business-
break nations. This is especially man, befriended the most im-
true of the Middle East which to-; portant political and military
day is continually the home of figures in the Syrian capital and
for three years used his connec-
plots and intrigues.
A new book, with the apt title tions and personal charm to pro-
"The Silent Warriors," discloses' vide amazingly accurate and plen-
tiful data to Israeli authorities.
for the first time a number of
His undercover activities were
Arab - Israeli cloak - and - dagger
largely responsible for Israel's suc-
stories and further illuminates
cessful frustration of a Syrian
some known ones.
water-diversion project that would
It was written by Joshua Tad- have rendered useless the Galilee-
mor, a onetime Hagana officer to-Negev national irrigation canal.
and correspondent for the Israeli The intelligence Mr. Cohen pro-
newspaper Lamerhav, a man who vided about the fortifications in
has observed and participated in the Golan Heights contributed to
political, military and intelligence Israel's conquest of them in the
operations in the Mideast for over 1967 war. Ultimately caught, Mr.
two decades.
Cohen's case became an interna-
Ile was ably served by Raphael tional cause celebre.
The author also tells about Mary
Rothstein as translator and editor.
Mr. Rothstein, a member of the Frances Hagen who, as a young
New York News Service staff and girl working at the United Na-
New York correspondent of the tions, fell in with the Syrians and
Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, permitted herself to be used as a
lent his considerable experience journalist-spy in Israel. Her guise
and knowledge as a newsman and . was easily penetrated and she
spent a few months in prison.
Mideast specialist to the book.
* *
There is also Yoakim Al Antoni,
There is "a kind of international who spied for Jordan while head-
mystique concerning Israel secret ing the Coptic Church in Israel;
service and spying organizations.
The well-publicized kidnapping of
the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann
from Argentina and the exploits
of Elie Cohen in Damascus have
engaged the public's imagination
and helped create a supermyth
concerning Israeli agents," Mr.
Tadmor wrote.
"The Silent Warriors" (Macmil-
lan, New York, $5.95) cannot, of
course, unveil all of Israel's behind-
the-scenes secrets in the under-
Michigan's Only English-Jewish
ground war for survival. -Rather,
using selected stories from a long
list of unsung and unknown heroes,
it offers a sampler. Mr. Tadmor
also writes of Arab operatives
against Israel, sometimes almost
admiringly, but by and large their
schemes do not come off as well
as the Israeli ones do.
Mr. Tadmor tells the story of
Yolande Harmer, a young and vi-
vacious woman who, in pre-State-
hood days, using the guise of a
"Palestine Post" correspondent
and her high-level Egyptian con-
tacts, kept the Jewish Agency and
Ilaganah remarkably up-to-date
on Egyptian political develop-
ments. (Toward the end of her
life, she served briefly as a Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency corre-
spondent in Paris.)
** *
In a story of boldness, courage
and tension, the author relates
how the Haganah stopped—and
later confiscated—a boatload of
thousands of rifles and a million
rounds of ammunition destined for
Syria. Set in Italy, the drama un-
folds, James Bond-style with clan-
destine meetings, coded telephone
language, a primitive bomb, a
weak and rather stupid Syrian
major, beautiful women and pi-
racy.
THE JEWISH NEWS
tx4
A Weekly Review
of Jewish Events
Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
takes this opportunity
to thank
its readers and advertisers
for their continued support and cooperation
and we look forward to
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beneficial years in our new location:
"Phase Two of the Final Solu-
tion" reveals many shocking ' de- ,
tails of President Nasser's use of
Nazis to develop war material for
use against Israel and how the
Israelis fought back. In 1960 and
1961 hundreds of German techni-
cians worked around-the-clock to
develop a rocket arsenal to be
used against strategic locations ill
Israel; still other experts worked
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Effective date — December 1, 1969