Purely Commentary
Christian Theologians Review Israel's
Role, Emphasize Prophetic Heritage of
the People of Israle to the Land of Israel
By Philip
Slomovitz
An Historic Event—New Hopes for the Elderly in Our Community
A Revealing Novosti- Report on USSR Jewry
An 18-page single-spaced report entitled "Soviet Jews as They Are,"1 There was an outpouring not only of the elderly but of interested and concerned citizens who came
released this week by the official USSR agency, Novosti News, emerges I last Sunday morning to participate in the ground breaking for the 15-story Federation Apartment that will
as a most revealing declaration. . house some 200 of our elders, in a project that is expected to be realized towards the end of next year.
It was an event of great significance because children and grandchildren came with their elders to
It takes great pride in having provided Jews with many freedoms I
after the defeat of Czarism. It points to 100 synagogues functioning in acclaim
achievement.
And a it noteworthy
signaled the
community's interest in the welfare of an important age group among our citizens.
Russia. The achievements of Jews—many of whom are named in the
Joseph Jackier who presides over the project, the men who direct the Federation affairs here and many
report—in sciences, the theater, the arts and other fields of endeavor of the elders who kept clamoring for the realization of the idea are receiving commendations for their
reads like an assertion of pride.
Yet , the report also reveals the prejudice. The manner in which accomplishments.
It all began some 13 years ago when Leonard N. Simons returned from a visit to Sweden and other
w hich European countries where there has been progress in the area involving elder citizens, who either did not
Bund aspira-
Zionism is berated. the attitude of contempt towards h the
national
a l so was an ti-Zi on i s t but w hi c h c l a i me d some Jew i s
tions within the Russian
spheres, indicate the - prejudices which the need homes for the aged or did not wish to abandon their privacy in retaining residences To pursue
Soviet Union has not been able to shake off as an inheritance from pre- independence they needed the type of home Mr. Simons saw in operation during his studies of the problem.
He returned as an ardent advocate of the idea, and while it inevitably took some years to attain the goal,
Communist days.
he and his confreres in these efforts deserve the community's gratitude. They have earned it well, and the
While boasting about the rights that were granted to the many community is fortunate to see realization of a significant idea.
nationality groups within Russia, the Jewish group, also spoken of as a
national entity, - nevertheless is denied the cultural rights that are in-
herent in Zionist - ideology.
The prejudices are traced to Lenin himself. They are tragic indica-
tions of bias that now deprives Russian Jews of the many human rights
the USSR boasts of in its latest report.
The analysis issued from Russia is significant. It has many vain-
crimination but because most
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The con-' loyal subjects, and they can — and
able facts. But it must be read cautiously to detect the antagonism th at
Jews regarded themselves as
has caused Russia to become an enemy of Israel and a denigrator of dition of Jews in the Arab world do — hold public office," Tuohy
Frenchmen and went to France
varies '-from outright persecution said. But Jews in Rabat told him
the great libertarian idea represented by Zionism.
when Algeria achieved independ-
that
"Our
co-existence
has
been
•
•
*
in Syria and Iraq to full freedom, I
equality and respect in Morocco undeniably damaged by the state ence in 1962.
The Prejudiced Mind Unconcerned With Truth
Jews are leaving Tunisia, where
of Israel."
Some months ago, when the Michigan State University lecture and Lebanon, the Washington Post
According to the correspondent, they have been well treated, be-
reported Monday.
series suffered a handicap from prejudiced lecturers, one of e pa
moderate Arab leaders deplore the cause of the collectivization poli-
A survey of the 3,000-mile Arab wholesale departure of Jews, which ties of President Habib Bourguiba.
eipants provided the great university with a perplexing problem. He
was propagating hatred instead of contributing towards amity among belt from the Persian Gulf to the deprives their countries of some "In Libya, practically no Jews re-
Atlantic by correspondent William of their most valuable citizens — main of the 35,000 who lived there
those concerned with the situation in the Middle East.
Now this man is on the scence again with the type of distortion that Tuohy indicated, however, even doctors, lawyers, technicians and in 1948. The country's economy is
said to have suffered because most
causes grave concern and a measure of distress. As a professor in the where Jews are relatively well off, merchants.
In Algeria, the former Jewish of the import-export business was
MSU social science department, Fauzi M. Najjar gains a platform, and they are increasingly apprehensive
community of 140,000 had dwin- run by Jewish merchants," Tuohy
he injected his hatred with this letter in the New York Times (Oct. 21): because of the Arab-Israel conflict.
In those Arab countries that per-
Premier Golda Meir's meeting with a group of "Jewish intel- mit emigration, the Jewish com- dled to 2,000, not because of dis- reported.
lectuals" (news story Oct. 7) would have been more revealing had munities have decreased markedly
The Times been able to report some of the searching questions in size, and Jews continue to leave
such a distinguished group should have addressed to the Premier in large numbers, Tuohy said.
of Israel. Israel must have been an embarrassment for intellectuals
He reported that the plight of
and liberals, but the silence of the Jews among them has indeed Jews is worst in Iraq, where at
been shocking and alarming. Are we to understand that the purpose least a dozen have been hanged
Carl M. Levin, running for of-
Leading all candidates for the
of the Jewish intellectuals in their meeting with Mrs. Meir was to during the past 12 months on the
fice for the first time, came in
see what they could do to improve Israel's declining image in the charges of spying for Israel and Common Council in Tuesday's elec- third in the Council race. Levin
world, or to express concern about what Israel is doing to the the United States. "Iraq Jews are tion, Councilman Mel Ravitz will is a brother of State Senator
Jewish image, not to say the Jewish conscience?
forbidden to travel. There are se- become the Council president in Sander Levin. He is the son of
Mrs. Meir could congratulate herself and the Zionists in Israel vere restrictions on Jewish busi- January.
Mrs. Saul R. Levin.
for "being alive," but she would have sounded more conciliatory nesses and bank loans. Jews may
and human had she expressed a little sympathy for the Palestinian not enter the university. Mail and
Arabs who have been sacrificed on the altar of Jewish survival. telephone calls are censored. Ar-
Her ridicule of Stewart's hypocritical reproof, "you are in rests are made without charges,"
territory that belongs to other people," is cynically appropriate Tuohy reported.
especially when one recalls that it was one of his predecessors in
He said the Iraqi Jewish commu-
NEW YORK (JTA)—New York's may have divided along these eco-
the British Foreign Office, Arthur Balfour (author of the Balfour nity, which once numbered 130,000,
Declaration that granted the Jews a national home in Palestine)
he tar est in the Middle East • Jewish voters, the largest ethnic nomic lines was indicated by the
in the city, split sharply in fact that in the generally upper-
that disposed of a country and its people which Britain did not now down to about 3,500. But virtu-,
even possess. Needless to say, that "holy, holy attitude" of Balfour's ally all of the emigration occurred the voting Tuesday between vic- and middle-class, heavily 'Jewish
area of Forest Hills, in Queens,
torious
M a y o r
Mrs. Meir had wholeheartedly and unreservedly applauded.
prior to 1951, when the Iraqi au-
Lindsay received 56.3 per cent of
If the premier of Israel is genuinely interested in peace, all she thorities restricted the departure , John V. Lindsay
the
vote. In less affluent Jewish
l and defeated
has to do is to respond positively to the Palestinians' call for a of Jews.
neighborhoods, like Sheepshead
' Democratic can-
united Palestine in which Jews and Arabs can live together on a
Syria the situation is similar
Bay and Coney Island, Brooklyn,
didate M a r i o'
basis
basis of equality and justice.
p e d on
because o of restrictions lac
Lindsay ran behind Procaccino.
most
- „
It is not only the discourtesy and the distortion of historic facts that h
, Procaccino,
,
5
4
0
J observ-
.
-
e'
,-,
political
galling
in
this
letter:
there
is
primarily
the-refusal
to
acknowledge
This pattern was not universally
is
He said diplomatic
ers agreed on
historic rights, to recognize the unbreakable) links between Israel, Tuohy
wrote.
followed, however, the New York
sources in Damascus contradict
Wednesday.
the people and the land, and the arrogance 0 /refusal to live in peace claims by Syrian authorities that
Times pointed out, noting that in
The election rel
with a kindred people that evidences the ex ion of influence intended there . is no discrimination against
the Grand Concourse section of the
effectively '
sults
Bronx, Lindsay received a greater
to destroy good will and to refuse to contribute towards its achieve- Jews.
,
demolished
t
h
e,-
vote than he did four years ago
ment.
In Egypt, o n 1 y about 1,000 c o n c e p t of
A distinguished Jewish scholar, one of the most noted writers of
and ran even with the Democratic
candidate in what was considered
our time Elie Wiesel, found it necessary to reply to this diatribe, and Jews remain out of 80,000 who "Jewish vote" in a
years
ago.
Male
lived
there
20
the
metropolis.
a Democratic stronghold.
he wrote as follows to the N.Y. Times (Oct. 23, 1969):
The New York__
Since Premier Golda Meir's private meeting with a group cf heads of families were jailed
In other citywide elections, for-
Lindsay
authors and college professors took place in my home, I feel I after the Six-Day War and about Tim e s- declared
mer Controller Abraham D.
should not let Prof. Fauzi M. Najjar's letter (Oct. 23) go unan- 90 • are t still imprisoned,
Tuohy that the closeness of the election Beame, running on the Democratic
•
Eg ypt "seemed to result from the fact ticket, was elected controller, re-
san d .
swered.
Mrs. Meir "ridiculed" nobody. She dealt only with ideas and I Is better than in Iraq or Syria." tat Jewish voters — the city's larg- ceiving the biggest vote cast for
always with restraint, dignity and humor.
Among the Middle East coun- est group of voters — divided in any candidate in the municipal
Not having been present at that gathering, Professor Najjar tries, conditions are best for 4,000 unpredictable patterns, sometimes elections.
couldn't possibly know who raised what questions and who gave Jews remaining in Lebanon. "They favoring Mr. Lindsay and some-
Sanford D. Garelik, who had re-
what answers. Thus his gratuitous indictment of Jewish intellectuals have full rights along with the times favoring Mr. Procaccino.
signed as chief inspector of the
According to a sample polling New York Police Department to
cannot but pain and shock anyone interested in facts rather than other citizens, Christian and Mos-
lem," Tuohy wrote. He said that taken by the Columbia Broadcast- run for City Council President
propaganda.
Being Jewish myself, and hopefully "intellectual," I would according to one Jewish lawyer System of men and women after with Lindsay, was elected as the
simply add that Israel has been to me a source not of "embarrass. in Beirut, the only discrimination they had voted, New York Jews Republican liberal candidate. Both
ment" but of consolation and pride precisely for her efforts to show comes from American, British and who went to the polls gave 44 per Beame and Garelik are Jewish and
compassion toward an enemy who, in 1967, pledged to be merciless. French firms who are afraid to cent support to Lindsay in his re- made a strong impact on the Jew-
election bid, 44 per cent to Pro- ish community.
How unfortunate that it should be necessary at this late date to hire local Jewish executives.
speak of Jewish rights, to plead for kinship with Arabs, to be con-
Apart from Lebanon, the condi- caccino and 12 per cent to State
fronted with the poisonous tactics of Prof. Najjar!
tion of Jews improves as the dis- Sen. John Marchi, the Republican 2,500 Terrorists in Jail;
And how sad it was that Michigan State University found it neces- tance increases from the center conservative candidate.
According to the New York New Prison Going Up
sary to call in a Jewish expert to set the record straight when Najjar of the Arab-Israel conflict. In Mo-
Daily News, Mayor Lindsay
was distorting truth and misleading the unknowing!
rocco, the 45,000 Jews remaining
JERUSALEM (ZINS) — Israel's
made a good showing in the jails are now holding some 2,500
But history has a way of dealing with untruth. The Najjars harm out of what was once a community
Jewish districts of the city, with
their own people more than they do Israel.
of over 225,000 "are considered
Jews. Condition in Arab Lands:
From Persecution to Freedom
Ravitz to Be Council President;
Carl M. Levin Wins Third Place
`Jewish Vote' Proved a Myth in NYC;
Divided Between Lindsay, Procaccino
43 per cent of the ballots. In an
Israel's Population
4,000,000; Includes 1,520,000 Non-Jews
JERUSALEM (ZINS) — Israel Samaria total 600,000; Gaza and
now contains a population of 4 Northern Sinai, 362,000; Golan
million, of which 2,478,000 are Heights, 7,000; and the non-Jew-
Jews and 1,520,000 non-Jews. As ish population within the pre Six-
of September, Israel's Jewish pop- Day War boundaries, 418,000, in-
ulation numbered 2,478,000 and the eluding inhabitants of the Old City
non-Jewish inhabitants 1,520,000. of Jerusalem. There also are sev-
Non-Jews located in Judea and I eral thousand Bedouin in the Si-
2 Friday, November 7, 1969
—
nai Desert.
Another feature revealed by the
report is that the Arabs living in
the liberated areas (Judea, Sa-
maria and Gaza) reach an aver-
age old age of 51 years, in con-
trast to the average age of 71 at-
tained by Israel's Jews and 69 by
appraisal of the factors contribut-
ing to the Lindsay victory, the
paper noted that the mayor got
"political mileage" f r o m the
visit here of Israel Prime Minis-
ter Golda Meir last month.
A National Broadcasting Co. an-
terrorists who are guilty either of
active sabotage or who were found
aiding the murdering marauders.
They have a greater number of
personal visitors and are permit-
ted to send more letters to their
families than the number provided
by the Geneva Convention.
Shortage of detention centers
alysis showed that Lindsay got 62
per cent of the high income vote, has made it necessary for the gov-
ernment
to establish a new prison
only 32 per cent of the middle in-
Israel's Arabs. The comparable come and 63 per cent of the low- in Beersheba, which will be ready
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS statistics for Egyptians is 52.
income vote. That the Jewish vote to receive prisoners by April.