Purely Commentary
Need for Total Response to Anti-Israel
Anti-Zionism That Spells Anti-Semitism
by Means of Support for Libertarian Idea
By Philip
Slomovitz
Revived Anti-Israel Anti-Zionism Stemming From Anti-Semitism
Zionists have a new obligation—to hold so fast to their ideals that the new
rash of bigotry aimed at the great Jewish libertarian movement will be demolished
and exposed for all its indecencies. The Jewish communities everywhere, in turn,
owe an obligation to Zionism and Zionists to implement the reply to those who
seek Israel's—thereby also Jewry's—destruction by enrolling in large numbers in
the Zionist movement.
For a number of years, the new form of anti-Semitism, the anti-Zionist crusade,
began to gain momentum. It was given credence in the Kremlin when the Soviet Union
adopted an anti-Israel policy. Communists couldn't possibly align themselves with
anti-Semitism—isn't it outlawed in Russian codes? The way out, in pursuing a legacy
from Tzardom, was to become anti-Zionist.
Any wonder, then, that Mezhdunoradnaya Kniga in Moscow should have pub-
lished an anti-Zionist tract in English; or that a new anti-Zionist novel, just published
in Moscow, should contain the outrageous lie that Zionists and Nazis collaborated,
with Adolf Eichmann as their agent, to select some Jews for settlement in Palestine
while others were, under such a partnerthip, to be sent to the gas chambers?
The new forms of anti-Semitism may appear fantastic, yet they are to be
expected from sources like the Russian which have produced the stupid, f alsified,
shocking. accusations against all Jews contained in the "Protocols of the Elders of
Zion." Those who could produce and back up such a pack of lies are capable to
publishing the filthy anti-Semitic literature that stems from present-day Moscow.
Tragically, the Zionist label replacing the anti-Semitic, as a weapon aimed
against all Jews, has become a product endorsed by some Jews who are lacking
the full knowledge about Zionism and who resort to all means provided by bigots
as means of harming the Jewish people as a whole. Those who resort to the Zionist
term in attacking Jews on the Wayne State University campus are as guilty as the
plotters of Israel's destruction in the Kremlin. The commentators who fail to recognize
the justice of a people's right to live and to survive.
We know something about double standards. The world has witnessed them in
action at the United Nations, in the Security Council, in the machinations against
Israel and the Jewish people by the Soviet Union and the Arab-inspired bloc; and
now by the effects of the oil-controlled interests upon world politics. But wherein
does the double standard enter in the situation, in a matter involving Israel's very
existence, that CBS news analyst Robert Pierpoint should have resorted to a shocking
attack on Israel, whose one error—call it guilt if you wish!----in the horrible Libyan
airliner's disaster, should be used as a weapon in the campaign to destroy Israel?
Whatever defense may be offered for Pierpoint's anti-Israel comments, the
fact remains that if his attitude should persist it will contribute toward the demolish-
ment of Israel. There need be no worry over it: neither the Jewish people nor the
United States could possibly subscribe to another Holocaust; that would be the re-
sult of a policy propagated by :Pierpoint. But we seek good will among the nations
and peace and accord between Israel and world Jewry with the rest of mankind.
Therefore, we express shock that Pierpoint should have given comfort to bandits.
(Secretary of State William P. Rogers branded them savages in the CBS Face the
Nation interview Sunday), and why the Christian Science Monitor, whose editor tried
Gillette and Pre-Israel Zionist Struggle
A resolution introduced in the U. S. Senate, in 1943,
by Senator Guy M. Gillette of Iowa, calling for the crea-
tion of the proposed Joint U.S. Commission for Rescue of
Jews from the Nazis, led to the formation of the War
Refugee Board by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (In
the U.S. House of Representatives, the proposal of a com-
mission to rescue Jews was introduced by Congressman
Will Rogers, Jr., of California).
The efforts of Senator Gillette, who died Saturday in
Cherokee, Iowa, at the age
of 94, are recalled again
in reviewing the noted
legislator's interesting ca-
reer. During an interim
period when he was de-
feated for re-election to
the Senate in 1944 (he was
returned again in 1948,
only to be defeated again
in 1954 during President.
Eisenhower's popularity
when Gillette was defeat-
ed as a Democrat), he was
offered a judgeship by
President Truman. He de-
clined it to accept the
presidency of the Ameri-
can League for a Free
Guy M. Gillette
Palestine.
In the latter capacity, which he conducted dramatic-
ally during the crucial years of the Nazi terror, he had
notable associates, including Congressman Rogers, Ben
Hecht, Stella Adler, -Konrad Bercovici, Prof. Johan J.
Smertenko (who was selected with the editor of the Jewish
News for attacks in his radio speeches by Father Charles
Coughlin), Mrs. Louis Untermeyer, Arthur Szyk and many
other notables.
Senator Gillette's oratory helped 'popularize the Amer-
ican League for a Free Palestine which was organized
primarily through the efforts of Peter H. Bergson, the
chairman of the. Hebrew Committee of National Libera-
tion. Bergson's views undoubtedly influenced Gillette
who, in his speech of acceptance of the chairmanship of
the American League for a Free Palestine he emphasized
the term Hebrew and spoke of a Hebrew nation as con-
trasted with the Jewish religion. His speech (Aug. 1, 1945)
was a masterpiece of oratory, a demand for action in
defense of persecuted Jewry, a call to action by the
American people, a proposal for concern by the United
Nations. He demanded removal of restrictions by Great
Britain on the admission of Jews into the then British-
governed Palestine. His concluding words were:
"I feel confident of the success of our undertaking
because I know that the heart and soul of America, ir-
respective of the national origin or religion, is with us.
From the length and breadth of this land genuine human
sympathy, understanding, and desire to be of help has
2—Friday, March 16, 1973 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
C
.
to explain to the American Zionist (official publication of the Zionist Organization
of America) that he was not prejudiced. By giving a platform to Pierpoint he proved
that he really was prejudiced against Israel!
Many questions are to be posed on the burning issue of the Middle East. For
instance: why did top New York Times columnist James Reston. in an article de-
scribing "Kissinger's New Assignment," have asked this question: "In the Middle
East, there is a fundamental question: Should the United States take the lead in
pressing for a compromise between Israel and the Arab states, and if it does, should
Washington guarantee the security of Israel and put American soldiers on its borders?"
By what right does a responsible newspaperman introduce such a question?
Doesn't Reston know that all Israel asks for is the means for her self-protection
and has always rejected any suggestion of American troops assisting her in that
struggle?
There are the frequent puzzles created by the columns by Rowland Evans and
Robert Novak. In one of the most recent ones they see no way out of the necessity
for the death penalty for the murderers in the Khartoum tragedy. Then they say:
"Anything less not only threatens other lives in other countries but also guarantees
that even the legitimate Arab cause in the bitter struggle with Israel will be n'
and more damned, everywhere in the world."
We'd rather live in an age and under circumstance of not endorsing capital
punishment. But—what do Evans and Novak imply: That the hands of those who
seek Israel's destruction should be strengthened, that "the bitter struggle against
Israel" should not be damned?
It is this type of ideology that must inspire understanding of the basic fact
that when these antagonists attack Zionism they really are not taking into considera-
tion the justice of the Jewish position. They are not concerned with Israel's security.
They attack all Jews and they would have people believe that when we meet for
pursuance of an ideal in the Zionist Cultural Center here or similar meeting places
elsewhere, that we are producing another set of falsified "Protocols," that we meet
in secret and are plotting. Unless Jews are willing to permit such an outrageous
attitude toward a great ideal to gain ground, they must, as a matter of self-respect,
affirm their faith in truth and themselves become partners in the libertarian Zionist
cause.
With the issuance of appeals for clemency for the lunatics who performed the
outrage in Khartoum, and with renewed appeals for more murderous acts—John K.
Cooley writes to the Christian Science Monitor from Beirut that "Palestine guerrillas
and their allies in radical Arab governments are trying to recapture the momentum
they lost through the Khartoum killings of three diplomats"—the emerging and re-
vived dangers threaten security for peoples of all faiths and nations and especially
for Israel and Jewry.
Therefore it is more urgent now than ever to strengthen the hands of Israel's
defenders, to lend new strength to the Zionist movement, to repudiate the anti-Zionist
anti-Semites wherever they may be—on the home front on the Wayne State Univer-
sity campus, in the press, in condemning prejudiced news commentators. Only those
who lack self-respect will fail to join in this battle for libertarian justice.
been repeatedly and magnificently demonstrated. The
will of the American people in this task, adequately ex-
pressed, must compel our government to take appropriate
action. For such democratic principles we have fought this
war; it is for this that governments are elected and' put
in power: to express and act on the will of the people.
"To the surviving Hebrews of Europe (and I hope my
word reaches them) I want to say this: Do not despair; do
not believe the world is all darkness; humanity is not
dead, and the human soul is not all base. The people of
this land, engaged as they are in a desperate and bloody
struggle against the remaining Axis tyranny, are coming
to your aid. Your emissaries and servants of the Hebrew
Committee of National Liberation here have not faltered
in their task of raising their voice in your behalf. And
as for myself, I consider it a great opportunity and honor
to lend a helping hand and to serve a cause the solution
of which is in the deepest interests of all the United
Nations and which has such great appeal to the tradition
and the principles that make America."
He was a most interesting personality, and his efforts
for a free Palestine and the right of Jews to nationhood
there received wide congressional support. The late
Congressman John D. Dingell, father of the present
congressman, was among his friends and backers.
During the debates on the question of the partition of
Palestine, the late Rep. Dingell proposed Gillette's name
to President Truman for a major role in the resolving
issue.
While he associated with the extremist elements in
Zionism, the name of Senator Guy M. Gillette is irremov-
able from the record of the , tragic era in Jewish era which
had one great redeeming feature with which the Gillette
name is associated: the redemption of Israel.
Common Sense vs. Sledgehammered 'Unity'
Zionists are under such constant attack by Jewry's
enemies — because anti-Semitism has been branded a
crime and it is easier to speak of Zionism as a menace
and thereby to expand the bigoted anti-Jewish attitudes—
that the least Jews can do is work in harmony. Zionists
certainly should avoid splits. The world leaders of several
branches in Zionism were not so cautious. At the sessions
of the Zionist General Council in Jerusalem, there was a
further rift when some party leaders were more concerned
with banning Zionists from the movement than cementing
the ranks.
The attempt to disfranchise the Zionist Organization
of America through prejudicial means supposedly in be-
half of the American Zionist Federation was deplorable.
That antagonistic factions should have angled for the
banning of the oldest and still among the strongest factors
in the entire movement — the ZOA — was not a credit-
able manipulation.
To the credit of the element amenable to peace in the
ranks, the move that might have meant "expulsion" of a
most vital factor in the cause was averted. Now the task
ahead is not so much appeasement of dissenters but an
analysis of the situation, a study of complaints, an ex-
planation of the motivations for introduction of vested
,
interests influenced by a craving for power in the dom-
ination of the Zionist movement. There was the charge
of an attempt to "sledgehammer Zionists into unity." Let
there come forth an assurance that the much-needed
unity will be attained through harmony and old-fashioned
common sense.
Arab-Jewish Relations—in Positive Terms
There are frequent happy tidings from the Middle
East and there is 'an occasional good will signal from
Arab sources.
Two times in the latest issue of Brief—Middle East
Highlights are of more than passing interest. They are
Fluent Yiddish in Vocational School for Sinai Bedouin and
Ja'Abari: Arab Leaders Got Into a Box.
Israel Sponsors Koran Quiz
Officials traveled out to a tiny North Sinai Be-
douin village on. Feb. 14 to dedicate an Israel labor
ministry vocational school—and found themselves
greeted in fluent Yiddish by one of the Bedouin.
The school—the ministry's 35th and southernmost
in the administered areas—is at Bir el-Abed, half-
way between El Arish and Kantara.
Among the Bedouin on hand for the dedication
was 65-year-old Abu Musa, who told the official
party in rich Lithuanian Yiddish how he made a
two-and-a-half-month trek from Sinai to Petah Tik•
va in 1932 looking for work. He explained that he
learned his Yiddish from the Petah Tikva farmer
he worked for until 1940, when he returned to his
flocks.
Hebron's mayor, Sheikh Mohammed' Ja'abari,
recently accused Arab leaders of leading the Middle
East into a situation they were no longer capable
of coping with. The influential West Bank leal
said that Middle East airlines must be getting tii
of flying Arab leaders from one pointless confer-
ence to another.
Sheikh Ja'abari was sneaking in Jerusalem at
a ceremony marking the conclusion of the nation-
wide Koran quiz sponsored by Israel Radio during
the month-long fast of Ramadhan. The prizes, rang-
ing from IL 250 to IL 1,000, went to five Moslems
from Israel and the administered areas. Several
Jews and Christians were among the 1,800 partici-
pants of various faiths who took nart. Israel Radio
plans to hold the quiz annually.
Terrorists disrupt society and give the impression
that they dominate numerically. Actually, like the out-
rageously indecent Jewish group of Matzpen which is said
to number only about 50 troublemakers, the guerrillas do
not represent the overwhelming number of Arabs. Most
Arabs, benefiting as they are from Jewish administrative
skills, are anxious for peace.
The happy incidents like those just quoted could do
a world of good. Unfortunately, sensationalizing predom-
inates in the world press, especially among American
columnists and editorial writers. That is why the problem
remains mooted rather than clarified.