Purely Commentary
Challenges on All Fronts: the World
Situation and a Sad Local Conflict
Sloinovitz
By Philip
Nations Who Stand Indicted as Condoning Terrorism and Moss Murders . . . the US., Courageous UN Stand
Out of the outrage of Munich have emerged several developments
that indict a number of nations.
By labeling the murderers martyrs, Arab spokesmen have assumed
the role of perpetrators of the crime that has shocked mankind.
The Russian spokesman at the United Nations, Yakov Malik, by
demanding that the Security Council should adopt the one-sided and highly
prejudiced ,,Somalian resolution condemning Israel while rejecting "with
indignation"—his words—any reference to the Munich murders, had
aligned himself with the killers.
Is it any wonder that the noted -news commentator, Paul Cunnin-
ham, should have charged that the Jewishness of the victims was respon-
sible for callousness, maintaining that if the murdered athletes had been
Americans or Frenchmen or Britishers, the Olympic Games would have
been canceled?
Is it any wonder that Father Arthur Gibson, the chairman of
religious studies at St. Michael's School in Toronto, should have blamed
the entire civilized world for the outrages and should have asked Chris-
tians to "stop pussyfooting" and to treat Israel and Jewry with justice?
For many months, Arab terrorists have been building nests for those
seeking Israel's destruction, and it became necessary, in Israel's defense
and for the protection of her citizens, to destroy them. There comes a time
when retaliation is a necessity for self-defense, and that was Israel's position
when the several villages that harbored the trainees for murder were
bombed.
Meanwhile, there are threats to Jews everywhere, there is danger
in many areas, and unless the civilized world acts to put an end to the
terror that stems from Cairo'asd Beirut and Damascus, there will be no
safety for anyone.
The United States took a strong position. President Nixon called for
"collective measures by the international community . . . to bear on the
problem of terrorism." Congress acted unanimously. The Senate and the
House of Representatives adopted a .,.solution, witdout dissenting votes,
"mourning the loss of Israel's athletes" and extending "deepest sympathy
to the people of Israel" and to the families of the victims of the outrage,
and at the same time resolving:
"That all means be sought by which the civilized world may cut
off from contact with civilized mankind any peoples or any nation giving
sanctuary, support, sympathy, aid or comfort to acts of murder and
barbarism such as those just witnessed at Munich and that the Secretary
of State be directed to communicate these sentiments and expressions.. "
This stand corresponds with the position taken by the United States
on hijacking. The Nixon proposal was to outlaw nations who harbor ter-
rorists and hijackers. The plan was defeated by France, Great Britain,
Russia and Egypt, with the aid of 13 other nations, undoubtedly because
of selfish interests and motivations. It is noteworthy, therefore, that the -
nations who voted for the Somalian Security Council resolution that was
vetoed by the U.S. delegate were:
Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, Argentina, Belgium,
Italy, Yugoslavia, Guinea, Somalia, Sudan, India and Japan. (Panama
abstained).
While the U.S. veto is to the everlasting credit of our government,
those who voted for the resolution of prejudice, bigotry and hatred stand
condemned. Time will judge them in their garb of injustice.
Perhaps what has happened will speed peace rather than deter it. _
But in the process the record is being established. It is saddening to know
that the world organization—the UN in which so much hope has been
placed—has become an arena for the slaughter of everything decent. It is
good to know that we are citizens of a great nation whose legislators are
human beings who stand firm for justice.
And painful as it may be, it becomes' necessary to back Israel's
stand never to yield to terror. It is a stand like this that may save humanity
from utter chaos.
with the State of Israel a modus vivendi for finding permanent
Clarifying Lord Reading's Jewish Loyalties
rehabilitation for them.
In the era of Zionist strivings for Jewish statehood, the Readings
played important roles in England and in Palestine. Lady Eva Reading
"If there is no morality in a law and right of return of the
has been especially active. It is no wonder that she sho"ld have be=
Children of Israel sojourning in the Diaspora, then logic and
come concerned when the Jewishness
morality would seem to deny that same right of return to Pales.
of her father was questioned.
tinians.
In a letter to the Jewish Observer of
"There is nothing in the law of war which indicates that a
London she wrote recently:
state which was forced to go to war in an exercise of the right of
"You kindly refer to my appoint-
self-defense and has conquered territory in that legitimate, if in•
ment as President of the Union of
voluntary, act of war must return that territory to the other bel-
Liberal and Progressive Synagogues,
ligerents before a treaty of peace is drawn up between them.
but you make an error which I feel
"It is the duty of the international community to enjoin Israel
I must correct to' the effect that my
father, the First Lord Melchett, was
and her Arab neighbors to settle their differences through direct
•. converted to Christianity." This is
negotiations pursuant to Artiele .33(I) of the United Nations Char.
not true; my father was buried with
ter or through mediation or any other system of good offices. But
Jewish rites and though not observant
it seems to me to be a position lacking in 'international morality
never hesitated to affirm his Jewish
for a representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations
origin in his public or private life. I
to ask the State of Israel to give an undertaking in advance that
have tried to make our rather unusual
she will dithdraw from the occupied territories before she is given
family divergencies clear in some mem-
a written undertaking, embodied in a peace treaty, that the other
oirs I have just completed for limited
belligerents will desist from and renounce any states of war and
circulation which can now be consulted
that they will guarantee Israel's right to live in secure and rec-
at the -Institute for Jewish Affairs or
ognized boundaries."
the Zionist archives at Rex House.
Lady Reading
Additionally heartening are the reports that Israeli literature has
The memoirs she refers to should be made available to the public a large reading public in Arab countries and that our Arab cousins
and should be widely circulated. The Reading story is a valuable chap-
are getting wise to the anti-Israel propaganda that has created so
ter in modern Jewish history.
much enmity.
Yet, the biased attitudes remain. It has been reported that King
Another Expose of the Arab Lie
Faisal of Saudi Arabia had refused to join other Arab countries in an
While, in some Christian quarters, there are antagonisms toward oil boycott that would affec Western Europeans—that action having
Israel and misunderstanding of the role played by Dayan, Kollek and been proposed as a measure intended to harm Israel. King Feisal of
many others who are striving to improve the Arabs' economic, social Saudi Arabia had rejected proposals by Arab leaders—including
and political position, there are many non-Jews who are wise to the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat—that Arab states take action against
issue and are ready to defend Israel. Barbados Ambassador to the American oil interests in the Middle East to protest U.S. support of
United Nations Dr. Waldo E. Waldron-Ramsey, on his recent visit to Israel. Interviewed in Al Mussawar, the King warned that withholding
Israel ; said:
oil would "impair the economies of the Arab countries and prevent
"The morality of the Arab states did not extend to putting them from supporting Arab steadfastness."
an end to the terrible existence of agony and pain of the refugees
However, King Faisal. in an interview with the Cairo weekly,
by either taking them- into their own homelands or negotiating Al Mussawar, again endorsed an ancient canard by stating: "Two
years ago, when I was in Paris,
the police discovered the bodies of
five children who had been mur-
dered and drained of blood. After-
wards it turned out that Jews had
killed the children to mix their
blood into their bread."
How could a sensible person re-
sort to such tactics to spread his
hatred—even if he was talking to
co-religionists whose favor he was
seeking?
We would like to believe that
Arabs truly are wise to such lie-
spreading tactics.
Israel's earnest efforts to im-
prove the status of the Arabs, in
spite of the problems that arose
over demands for repatriation of
Arabs who have been expelled
from communities on the Lebanese
border, should go a long way in im-
proving Arab-Jewish relationships.
The poison injected in the Faisal
comment, his revival of the ritual
murder libel, prove that the battle
is not only between Israel and the
Arabs but is a declared war by
Arabs on all Jews because they
support Israel.
The Munich tragedy did not help
matters. Yet, it has not been es-
tablished that all Arab states are
fatally ganged up against Israel.
All hope for amity is not lost.
If Arabs are really getting wise
to the canards spread by their
propagandists then we may truly
look forward to better days in the
Middle East.
•
Crisis in Our Schools . . . Challenge to Community Not to Flaunt Arbitration
Yomim Nora'ins—the Days of Awe—
threaten to end on a depressing note. They
commenced with three school systems on
strike. One of them—Hillel Day School—
resolved the problem by means of an arbi-
tration, through the intervention of lay
leaders. In the United Hebrew Schools'
community system and in the Bnai David
school, the situation was stalemated as of
Thursday.
There was picketing. There was the
charge of resort to "strike breaking." Many
children reportedly were kept from attend-
ing whatever classes were in session in one
of the schools because parents would not
have them cross picket lines, or be taught
by unqualified substitutes.
It had been asked before and it is asked
now: Is arbitration dead? Has it become
impossible to have impartial people weigh
2 — Friday, Sept. 15, 1972
all issues in an effort to arrive at amity
in a community that has a deep interest in
the education of the Jewish children?
It is imperative that there should be an
uninterrupted aim to assure amity between
teachers and parents, teachers and pupils,
`teachers and administration. To have per-
mitted picketing, interruption of studies, is
to have invited humiliation upon our com-
munity. It is inexcusable!
We keep bemoaning the fact that it is
difficult to enroll young people in the Jew-
ish teaching profession. We deplore mini-
malization of Jewish studies. We plead for
higher standards. Yet we permit lowering
of such standards!
In order to elevate our cultural pro-
grams, we have pleaded for dignity for the
Jewish teacher, for due respect for him so
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
that a teacher may be a person highly to
be respected in order that what he or she
teaches should be held in highest esteem.
H we permit continuation of picketing and
avoid arbitration, we invite collapse of a
system and condone moral bankruptcy in
the community.
Perhaps a Din Torah will serve as a form
of arbitration. Only halakhic authorities,
however, are qualified to interpret the
claim that a teacher who as!os for a living
wage does not have the right to strike.
Differences between teachers and admin-
istration have been the cause- of several
crises here. More than two years ago we
proposed that impartial arbitrators be in-
vited to tackle the issues in search of solu-
tion. We suggested Wayne State University
experts who need not be Jewish, we pro-
posed the name of William Haber, as im-
partial mediator.
In the experience of the Hillel Day
School controversy it was proven that lay
leaders can exert influence—pressure if
necessary—to come to terms. If lay leaders
will continue to display such interest and
will demand action, there can be speedy
solution to the two remaining continuing
strikes and to future conflicts.
We choose to believe that most teachers
are dedicated, that they wish to elevate the
standards of their profession. We need not
believe in their or any other unions but
we must treat even those we disagree with
with respect. If we deal respectfully with
the situations, perhaps we can put an end
to an intolerable situation. And in the in-
terest of the community's honor and self-
respect every responsible member of a
functioning board in the schools affected
by the present critical situation should de-
mand .resort to arbitration rather than
condone a state oof affairs in which we
presently are embroiled.