.1111.11111111111111411111111SWIF' Pure-ly Comnientary Charles Yost Reveals The Hidden Prejudices George Bush, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke encouragingly, several days after he had succeeded Charles Yost to the important international post, about the Middle East's conditions and the American attitude. Like President Nixon he empha- sized that this country is not exerting pressures upon Israel for com- plete withdrawal from conquered territories. State Department officials similarly appeased Israel and her friends on that score. Even in the light of his policies that are continually interpreted as harsh, even Secretary of State William P. Rogers has denied that there is pressure. But a retired U.S. official now proves that there are pressures and that there is something unholy about American policy. Charles Yost, who had not revealed his true attitude until after he had left the UN post, showed his true colors, and if his attitude was and remains American policy, then—woe unto the U.S. claim that our aim is for .free covenants freely arrived at. If men assigned to diplomatic posts will keep declaring themselves with tongue in cheek, then there is little hope for peace anywhere. whether it is in the Middle East, in Southeast .Asia• or even on the home front. The entire tenor of Yost's "Guest Privilege" article in Life maga- zine is in the form of emphasis • that Arabs seek peace and Israel resists, and he becomes a prophet on the basis of his analyses that "there is likely. to he another (war) in a year or two." It is his "privi- lege"—and it is a justified one—to judge "territorial acquisitions" in his specific way. There arc many Israelis who say it more emphatically than he does—David Ben-Gurion among them—that there should he vast concessions by Israel. But pragmatist challenges the privileged: how arc these concessions to be attained? by Israel's negotiating with the United States and or with Russia. or with the United Arab Republic? After all, there is such a thing as realism even among statesmen- diplomats, unless they become spokesmen for power-seekers in a game of power-politics—and the Yost view is all too clearly the effect of a Big Four attitude which the proper reading of current history rejects, since three of the four—France, Russia and Great Britain— are definitely unfriendly to Israel. Is the fourth, our own government, now to he added to the three to make it a unanimous anti-Israel viewpoint, if George Bush will prove to be a pursuer of a Charles Yost policy? Charles Yost apparently believes that rational people will fall for such tripe as "the evidence is clear" that the UAR would assure freedom of the seas to Israel. Remember 1957 and the Eisenhower pledge? And on the question of Sharm el-Sheikh Yost speaks of the "consent of the UN Security Council, on which of course the U.S, has a veto." What a sense of humor! Has the U.S. ever exercised its veto power when the USSR was brutal toward every move made by Israel? And does Yost really believe there is justice in a Security Council that is loaded with Israel's enemies? If there k fair play left in the ranks of diplomacy the last statement by Sadat should help resolve the entire issue. He made it plain that an agrcenicnt on the Suez Canal reopening must provide freedom of movement by Egyptian troops and their placement on both sides of the canal. This, if granted, would mean a reversion to the dargers that faCed Israel prior to June 4, 1967—it would mean free passaee for Israel's cnemie.i into Israeli territory and an invita- tion to destroy the Jewish state. Any one who imagines that Israel might adopt such a suicidal attitude or that Israel's friends would subscribe to it is acting insanely. Yost is charitable when he says: "One cannot but deeply sympa- thize with the a:4onizing dilemmas of those responsible for the present and futuoc security of Israel. Its essential vulnerability is indisputa- ble . . ." And there is a but: a choice has to he made, he says, and his emphasis on a "choice" is predicated on the view that Israel should not keep saying they can't trust the Arabs. Aren't the Arabs adhering to the view that Israel must abandon not only the areas held prior to June 4, 1967, but also territories acquired in a war that was instituted by the Arabs in 1948: Aren't many of them saying they would expel Jews who arrived in Eretz Israel after 1918? Where is the logic and where is the justice—and who are they who say they are offering guarantees to Israel? Is there any contender other than Israel who can protect Israel'? Therefore, who else is to negotiate except Israel with those who aimed at her destruction? President Nixon is the man to speak now. If those representing him at the L'N and in the State Department speak through both sides of the mouth, tongue in cheek, mouthing appeasements while adhering to a policy that would spell Israel's destruction, then he more than any other person must state exactly what must be made known imme- diately: what is U.S. policy and who formulates it? Yiddish Ranks Gain a Non-Jewish Adherent Advocates of retention of Yiddish as a major Jewish medium of expression and as a literary language often gain interesting supporters. Books on Yiddish. translations from Yiddish writings, the constant appearance in English of the works of Sholem Aleichem with encour- agement that they be read in the original in which they were written, keep adding to the popularity of the language. Bnai Yiddish is an interesting periodical published by Bnai Yiddish Society. It is edited by Itzhok Kozlovsky. In its current issue there is "A Letter From a 'Non-Jewish Yiddishist,' " signed Magdalene Strum- pet, and it reads in part: :--1,rtIrtior;Nrity-fi',10rder-T.aking:. Catholic A3 ries,t,'§-. View Applied to CaHey My Lai Cae'''and Israeh Soldiers' View Against the Shooting of Innocents ----- '111111111404alipg• By Philip Slomovitz The Calley My Lai Case: Immorality of Order-Taking William L. Calley, Jr., may or may not emerge a national hero. But his and the My Lai case revive the basic issue affecting the rejection of Nazism and the obligation never to forget the Holocaust and to protect mankind against the repetition of the crimes. that stemmed from Hitlerism and related brutalities. The Nuremberg trial was recalled in the discussions about My Lai and Lt. Calley. Taking orders in the service of one's country is being ruled an irrefutable obligation. Is it?' If ever we adopt such an unqualified attitude, we will be reverting to tyranny and medievalism. The Jewish War Veterans have issued a statement about "the personal tragedy of Lt. Calley" and have asked for. protection of "a fragile national unity from suffering further damage." If fragility in unity is to be avoided, it must be judged humanistically, and we must not be misled by hippies waving a Vietcong flag or by ultra-patriots ordering the submission to order-taking under any circumstances. The Jewish War Veterans' statement took into consideration the Vietnam problem, and the JWV National Commander Albert Schlossberg stated: "The policy of American withdrawal from Vietnam requires more urgency as the Calley case further compounds existing divisions among Americans in all walks of life over our commitment and its cost in substance and morale. In the last analysis. the foot soldier has now acquired the additional burden of deciding who is his enemy." This expression of concern has justification. Our veterans would emerge in a poor light if they ‘yere to ignore the urgency of a situation that demands as speedy withdraWal from Vietnam as possible. There remains the problem of order taking. Is it justified? Unless we now negate the entire procedure that marked mankind's condemnation of Nazism, we must reject blind submission to rulers, army officers or whoever would destroy the basic human values. Let us turn back the pages of time and recall an admonition from a Catholic priest. In our issue of June 14, 1963, your Commentator reviewed a book by the Catholic army chaplain, Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Ryan, "A Sol -dier Priest Talks to Youth," published by Random House. The portion from that review relating to the present situation follows: Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Ryan, former chief of the said 'My country right or wrong,' and we all know army chaplains, who spent many years in combat the beastliness that the Nazis turned loose on the areas, has received many honors, among them the world. Look at Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official annual citation award of the Union of Orthodox Jew- whom Israel hanged in June of 1962 for having ish Congregations of America. His experiences with done most to organize the slaughter of 6,000,000 the Men in the armed forces qualify him to an Jews during the Nazi persecution. Eichmann's de- unusual degree to offer advice to our young men fense throughout his trial was that he was `follow- and ' women on the problems that face them in every- ing orders'! He pleaded that he was serving his day:.-life. He does it with a keen sense of humor, country! Could any man have done his country a with candor, and with a deep understanding of issues greater disservice than to have followed the bloody that face Our - youth in "A Soldier Priest Talks to path that led to the destruction of Germany from Youth,"_-published .byRandom House. the air, and its division into two separate, hostile AS'.the title denotes,. : the approach is that of a camps? CatholiC, lull the adOcc is.'.ppplic .;Jble to all faiths, No one can place country above conscience, and ignoring - the ;ChristOlogiCal • aspects, this book any more than he can place loved ones above con- serves a difOst ct.aluable - purpOse. • science. The Church teaches. us that the Fourth Because of his distinguished - ai in career it: is Commandment, on Which patriotism is based, also especially interesting to note•that-j7x. e:ft'; coin% `.Obey. your mother and father in all notes the Eichiparm theory: of . "following _ . .orderS.!.., • 111a.t.ig.niit'sin.' The same applies to the fatherland:. Ile declares in zill's'Oriousties 5 that saW your father striking- a cripple. not the man who 'Says, as Stephen Decatur once did would be horrified- and very qUick to ,/ plead with 'My country, rightfir Wrong, but tight –Or -to . S0p...1.:Ife•I'sgIne ,:Shotifil: i Oply to you,if,4::' country!" If your - coun.try you wOrk forbid-oti "shoUld find your'-countr y bidFY- : Ike m ake her right, if only . love:her . so i little .land or` mistreating _:minorities and it pains you to see,J),ei':ettibarked on a wicked awri community; ...You:16ve.-iifface..of Your, course." Gen. Ryan proecedS to state on this "Score: . too much • to.-"s'OR-1(•disfigure.d or The men who followed Ritter and Mussolini .prehidice." _ • . • back .- • . Unless we adhere to theSeprinciples, we•-Will_.be turning clock ':that cated mankind's emergence from •barbarismto • . • How do Israeli soldiers respOnd . Terror and the Frontier-Guards," •by.. - to -ordertaking?''Ih.'an-article entilled":Gaza-'Re -Porf: • the Israeli jottrnaliSt, Victor Cygielinancbi'respondent.-- of Le Nouvel Observateur and Radio•LUxeMbburg, in the Mi,adle East we read: . Monthly New Outlook,- . . "A year ago, Israeli soldiers stationed in the Gaza • •• Strip' were permitted to do . What is still forbidden in the other occupied territaries:—to...shoot in the directiort._ora 7:grenade- thrower even if he melts into a crowd. But most of the sold 7. told en-- commanders that they could not do this: they refused on - the ground that such action- risked' injury- to innocent bystanders. Revealing this on Jan. 6, General Dayan•added: 'And I must tell you that I am proud that our soldiers, daily exposed to these killers, refused the permissfon: We have referred to this incident on an earlier occasion editorially, and We call attention to it again. It is true that Israeli soldiers have been. given the right to protect themselves in the horribly dangerous Gaza area where life is endangered. For the first time Arabs, under Israeli rule, have the right to travel out 9f that area, and 5,000 Arabs go -to inner Israeli areas on jobs provided for them by Israel. Untir'June of 1967 Arabs were imprisoned by Egypt in that area and now they possess .freedoms! The terrorists who are not respecting that freedom have endangered the lives of all who visit that area—and the dead at the hands of the terrorists are mainly Arabs! That is why Israelis who are there must protect themselves! But orders are not followed blindly by Israelis! They do not tolerate murder! They -. reject tyranny and terrorism! : "Ich Tern zich Yiddish. Yes! I am. finally able to In this spirit we adhere to the idea expressed by Father Ryan, pursued by Israeli fulfill the life's goal I have always had. I am learning soldiers, that blind submission to orders from above is wrong! Yiddish front a fine gentleman, Mr. Blatherstein, who Let this be the lesson in the Calley My Lai case! purchased for me the necessary text and is giving me lessons. He is a real patron of culture and owns the well-known factory of soaps and detergents (out here in the Midwest a well known slogan on the radio is 'Lather Up With Blather') and we are learning. I think that nip BY RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX the people of Israel used to refer the name "Pesah" refers more dir- (Copyright 1971„1TA In•.) example should serve as a reminder for Jews all over to this holiday because this name' ectly to thy idea of redemption and the world.- Jews! If I, a Gentile, can learn Yiddish, why Passover sometimes is called means to "pass over" or to celebrates the fact that our breth- not Jews ! Yiddish is the key to Jewish life. Yiddish is Flag Hamatzot and sometimes "spare," the idea being, the Al- ren were redeemed from Egypt. a barrier to assimilation ! Yiddish united Jews in every called Pesah. mighty is extoled for sparing the It is worth noting that this dem- first born of the Israelites during onstrates how the Jewish people land . . . Yiden, lernt zich. Yiddish. Yiddish iz eyer schprach! Oyb a nisht yid lernt zich Yiddish, yiden muzen Some commentaries write that the course of the last plague. Some remember both the blessings as oych Yiddish lernen. Ich zog zu, az meyn kwmendiker the name Hag Hamatzot (Feast explain that the two names are well as the tragedies and embar- of the Unleavened Bread) is the used because the matzot on the rassments that took place in the brif vet zayn in gantsen oif mammeloshen." one hand remind us of our afflic The Origin of Several Names Given Passover Thus, there is a revived interest in Yiddish, and frequently non- Jews study the language. . As a matter of fact, a number of years ago the editor of the Yiddishe Arbeiter • Shtimme, about whose 70th anniversary we have written recently, was a non-Jewish lover of Yiddish. Thus, there is a revived interest in Yiddish and frequently non- Jews study the language. 4%* name given to the holiday by the Almighty, who is impressed by tho fact that His children in Israel are so meticulous in cleaning their homes and not eating unleavened bread on the Passover. The other name Pesali is a name which , tion" or the "poor man's bread." They are thus reminiscent of the state of haste and poverty under which our brethren worked in Egypt as slaves. On the other hand, 2—Friday, April 16, 1971 course of their long hitory. The embarrassment served to humble them, while the redemptive acts served to make them most thank- ful and indebted to the Almighty, the Heavenly Father. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ee.