Purely Commentary
Narcotics . . . Self-Hatred . . . The New Left's
Anti-Zionism That Spells Anti-Semitism
Attitudes of Defenders of Israel and
the Passionate Craving for Peace as Golda
Meir Emphasizes It in Her Deliberations
By Philip
Slomovitz
The Peace That Israel and the Middle East Needs . .. and the Attitude of Israel's Defenders
Peace may not be imminent, as a momentary occurrence, but it is not impossible. It is coming.
It is hoped for and aspired to, and it must eventuate.
When Golda Meir was in this country last September, she addressed a youth rally in Madison
Square Garden in New York and stated, then (Sept. 30. 1969):
"There will be peace in Israel. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever. We believe in
When parents become affected by society's ills, the communities
it, we know it will come. How soon does not depent on us. That depends on our neighbors. If it
in which they live begin to feel the sting of the pestilence that stems
depended upon us, there would be no wars. That depends upon our neighbors. But it will come.
from a variety of causes—hatreds, fears, suspicions, insecurities. The
There is no doubt about it whatsoever. And we would want many of you there in order to make
time has long pased when we can remain indifferent to what is hap-
it come sooner. The more we are, the sooner it will come."
pening about us.
This was uttered during the most crucial period in Israel's struggles against combined neighbor-
Something drastically miserable accounts for drug addictions, ing enemies. Yet that faith that peace is coming was expressed by Israel's prime minister. Now it
can
also
be said that peace depends upon all elements—upon Israel as well as the Arabs—because all
disrespect for elders and therefore also for some of the ideas they
adhere to, and the hatreds that very often create self-hatreds. Out who are involved will have to make concessions. That applies to the United States and to Russia. The
USSR
will
have to withhold encouragement to the enemies of Israel who seek the destruction of the Jewish
of it emerges a miserable society.
state. The United States will be obligated to assure security for Israel on borders to be agreed upon
The Jewish community suffers a great deal from this type of during the negotiations that are just beginning. Israel will surely have to abandon some territories.
This sounds like participation in a peace conference, and it is pure speculation about a peace
rebellious youth that rejects the past and the lessons that were learned
by earlier generations. And the reason for the sufferance is that so conference which must be preceded by agreements on the initiated cease fire. Yet the conditions in-
much of the rebelliousness is not constructive. There is no justification volved must be understood. They can be better understood in the context of Mrs. Meir's Sept. 30, 1969,
for condemning expressions of differing views and youth has a right speech to the youth in New York when she explained the attitude of Israel's youth on war and peace.
to challenge the ideas of another generation. What we ask is that youth And because her views were linked with an appeal for aliya it is necessary to quote her a bit more
also learn the proper lessons to retain the highest ideals of mankind fully. She stated then, in her address to the youngsters in New York, defining the generation that
grew up in wars and between wars:
rather than degrade them.
"What's their philosophy of life? Aren't they militaristic? Haven't they become accustomed
to war? How do you explain to a generation whose fathers fought and many of them fell in battle
It is when the security of people is endangered that we have the
right to question the sincerity and the wisdom of the actions of youth
and they are on the borders, how do you explain to the world that this is a generation, as the gen-
eration before them, who hated violence and hated war, and for whom peace and to live in peace
and those who instigate their actions. It is when the dignity and the
realism of the Jewish position is involved that we are obligated to
with their neighbours were not empty phrases? This is our real passion . . .
take youth to task and to ask them what motivates their hatreds and
"There is no love of war, there is no love for victories in war. There were no celebrations,
self-hatreds.
there was no dancing in the street after the Six - Day War because we buried our dead sons; there
is no celebration of our young people who came back from the war victorious. This was a victorious
We are concerned at present with the attitudes of the New Left
army that created a miracle, a few against the many, and they came back a sad army, sad victors
and the Jewish participation in it. We would be ashamed of our youth
because not all their friends came back with them. Also, they said over and over again: we were
if they did not share in the campaigns for social justice, if they had
forced to shoot, we were forced to lull in order to defend the last hope of the Jewish people, in
not played a leading role in the movement for civil rights and for the
order to defend the very future of the Jewish people. We were happy that we won. We were happy
elimination of the miseries that have been imposed during oppressive
that we were alive, but sad because this has to happen over and over again.
thing they
years upon the blacks.
"This is a wonderful generation—straight, fearless, beautiful, capable—there isn't a
can't do. They want to study and they want to build and they want to create, and if they have
But in the process our youth have become victimized by the
And
there is
to defend they do it and know how. They want more aliya. They want to be many.
untruths and misrepresentations that have been injected in radical
room in the country. And there are challenges in Israel now to every single one of you. There
movement. Pursuing the policies of the Communist Left that has sud-
is something to do with one's life. There is hardship, there is difficulty, yes, and danger, but all
denly transformed its anti-Semitism into an anti-Zionist mysticism,
this is worthwhile. There is a purpose. I don't have to tell you that. You know Israel, you love
some of the New Leftists who stem from Jewish ranks have swallowed
Israel, you are attached to it, and it seems to me that this dialogue has to go on. maybe not be-
hook, line and sinker the shocking lies of the extremists who, instead
tween me and you because of the gap in ages, but maybe between our young people and you, seri-
of adhering to programs of unifying people in defense of human rights,
ously, to see what it is all about, to see why we can't have more."
have revived ancient canards and have created a platform of hate
Apparently there is a positive response to such an appeal because tens of thousands of our young
under the guise of anti-Zionism.
people have gone to Israel in recent months, many have remained, some plan to settle there while thou-
Is it necessary at this late hour to interpret Zionism in order to sands are studying in the Jewish universities in Israel.
All of it is linked with the passion for peace, with the craving for a good life.
defend- it? One of the very great libertarian movements of modern
It is linked also with the dire needs of Israel's neighbors whose fate is as much at stake as
times, Zionism came into being as a force to unify a people without a
of living must be uplifted.
homeland to strive for freedom and to attain it, to seek an end to Israel's, whose position is as insecure, whose standards
First
a cease fire, then talks about peace, then peace—then, may it prove real!—such treaties
homelessness, to give dignity to a people in exile that suffered humilia-
Fulbright,
that will assure permanence to people's
and agreements, even like those proposed by senator
tion for 20 centuries. Such a goal must never be negated.
peaceful existence.
Jews will be found in the ranks even of the Black Panthers' sup-
And if we attain such a high goal in the Middle East, between Arabs and Jews, why not also
porters: there is a feeling among many moderate blacks and in Jewish hope for it for all peoples, everywhere?
liberal ranks that those who rebel against injustice and protest indig-
Lindbergh's Animosities
nities must never be condemned even when they blunder. But the Black
am compelled to see in this solidarity more than a mere personal Steeped in Inhumanities
Panthers and the extremists in ultra-radical ranks never rationalize
prejudice.
Charles Lindbergh's memoirs
in sim.lar fashion. They do not stop to analyze a great movement
"I cannot forget that during centuries, Jews were persecuted and and his anti-Jewish attitudes re-
like Zionism but take orders from somewhere to condemn it.
oppressed and that not so long ago 6,000,000 of them were annihi- mind us of a story the late Pierre
Van Paassen, who, like Lindbergh,
Perhaps that is why, in Beirut, last week, one of the most dastardly
lated. This is an objective fact.
attacks on Jewry and Israel came from Stokely Carmichael. He said
had met Adolf Hitler, liked to tell.
in an interview over the Baghdad Radio: "The Palestinian people have
"The Jews finally found a land where they must no longer fear
It was at a public meeting at
persecution and oppression and I identify myself with the aim which Adolf raved and ranted
only one solution, which has all of our support: elimination of Zionist
entity from Palestinian soil." Why can't such people stop to think:
reached by them. I am happy to be able to be in agreement, in this about "The Jews . . . the Jews
case also, with Jean-Paul Sartre who said: 'The only thing that we
isn't it the Zionist (the Jewish!) ideals that elevated the standards
. responsible for all the world's
must prevent at any cost is a new war of extermination against ills." Whereupon a scrawny little
of living of hundreds of thousands of Arabs for whom great oppor-
tunities were provided by Jewish efforts—and still are provided—for
Israel ... "
fellow arose and said "And the
the elimination of want, degradation, humiliation that came from the
bicycle riders."
Although critical of Israel on various grounds, Marcuse concluded
ranks of the Effendi oppressors of the Arabs?
"Why the bicycle riders?" Hitler
by describing the "context in which the preventive war (for this was demanded. "Why the Jews?" his
in fact the character of the war waged against Egypt, Jordan and challenger replied.
But our concern is more with the young Jews who fall prey to the
Syria) can and must be understood and justified." (Israel Horizons,
propaganda of those who pose as liberty-seekers but who in reality
It is doubtful whether it would
New York, Aug.-Sept., 1968). In this understanding and justification, do any good to ask Lindbergh
are bigots!
apparently, Marcuse has been a prophet without honor among his why he thinks the Jews were res-
And the parents are beginning to feel the sting of such shameful
own most enthusiastic New Left disciples—thereby suffering the ponsible for the war. He was an
reactions on the part of the handful of Jews who have become victims
traditional fate of Jewish vanguard prophets.
ally of Goering and Goebels and
of the ultra-reactionary New Left propagandists. The parents gave
Hitler and he continues to play
these young people the freedom to choose their own ideas and now they
If there isn't an awakening of youth now, it will come very soon. the game. He puts on a front about
If our elders find it so convenient to become pro-Nasser in time the Six Million but it is doubtful
are bringing home the hatred against Jews that was responsible for
Jewish homelessness for 2,000 years.
of grave crisis, they soon will realize that they are not only anti-Zionist whether he concedes that nothing
and therefore allies of anti-Semites but also are placing obstacles in could have stopped Hitler—either
While we deplore the new trend—which may eventually drive many the path of peace which requires Jewish unity as well as the unity
a world war in search for German
young Jews away from the New Left's distortions—we believe that the of all liberal forces in the world.
domination, or the campaign to
deluded among the young Jews who are even listening to the anti-
exterminate the Jews, or the ani-
It
is
tragic
that
the
sad
events
of
our
time—the
roads
of
narcotics,
Zionist canards represent such a small minority in Jewish ranks that
mosities against Russia which
they need not frighten us. But they sadden us. And when there also to self-hatred, to anti-Jewishness—are so interlinked. And in the Jewish
soon
cost him his ambition to at-
are elders who share such views, they sink to low levels of self-hatred community we must find solutions for them.
tain the crown as the ruler over
stemming from ignorance.
We shall find them. Time cures many ills and removes many evils the universe.
It is puzzling that at this late
Of course, not all liberals have fallen prey to the New Left's from the path of rational Man.
date, after the tragic experiences
campaign of hatred which translates the libertarian Zionism into
of the 1930s and 1940s, there can
terms of reactionary movements. There are many who are concerned
Capital Punishment Excluded in Israel
still emerge a Westerner who
and are protesting. The eminent literary critic, Maxwell Geismar,
Two Arab guerrillas, age 19 and 21, were given death sentences apologizes for Hitler. The Nazis
protested. The noted historian, Morris U. Schappes, protested. The
latter, an acknowledged Marxist, wrote a splendid analysis of "The by an Israel military court for having murdered two Nablus Arabs they themselves, when they face trials
Jewish Question—And the Left—Old and New—A Challenge to the accused of collaborating with Israel. The Israel military governor of for the murder of Jews, offer ex-
New Left," in which he traced the history of anti:Zionist movements the area immediately commuted the death sentences to life imprison- cuses. Like Adolf Eichmann they
that became anti-Semitic, the futility of those who sought solutions ment. That's how it functions in Israel: there is the humane factor that tell you that they acted, in their
in internationalism, and he called attention inter alia to the following: must inspire all Middle East rulers when peace comes. When we roles as executioners, because they
recall what had happened in Syria, where accused spies were hung; followed orders.
In a little noted statement, Herbert Marcuse, in a debate with in Iraq, where scores of men charged with being enemies of the state he received from Goering, but he
Rudi Dutschke in Berlin in July, 1967, departed from the main course were executed, it is not so much the Israelis, the Jews throughout the refuses to be silent about it.
Apparently he remains what he
of the discussion to call attention to the Middle East and to note world, and liberty-loving people throughout the world who should pray
that "there exists, indeed, amidst the progressive forces a very strong for better days, but the Arabs themselves who are so seriously was pro-Nazi, a reactionary de-
fender of Hitler, an anti-Semite.
and understandable trend towards identification with Israel." lie affected by medievalism.
If he chooses to take pride in such
went on to explain that "I feel in solidarity and identify myself with
That's one of Israel's and Jewry's major qualities: that we do not self-deprecations, more power to
Israel for personal reasons—but not solely for these reasons . . . I
endorse capital punishment or brutality in any degree. The cruel can him. History knows how to judge
2—Friday, September 4, 1970
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS not forget iS nor, can they condotiq it.
such inhumanities.
■
.
Parents have cause for great worry. When youngsters of 12 and 13
become rioters it is time to ask where the adults were in the years
during which the poisons have entered our social spheres.