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A Word to
Brezhnev:
Silence
Is Not for
Free Men!
New Dangers
in Spreading
Anti-Semitism
Jewry and
Bicentennial
.
Leonid Brezhnev is coming here for imnortant negotiations with our government. There are mounting hopes that out of the
meetings with President Nixon and his staffs at the State Department and the White House there will emerge a continuing rela-
tionship between Russia and the United States.
These meetings, however, do not command silence from humanitarian sources on vital matters af1 2ting the Soviet Union.
There is discrimination in the USSR against Jews and other minorities, and no visitor to this country can demand silence from
the concerned about the oppressed.
The defiance of Russian Jews in spite of the authoritarian threats from the Kremlin, coupled with the cynical offer to
Kissinger that 26,000 to 40,000 Jews will be permitted to leave, while 110,000 Russian Jews have already filed applications for exit
for each of which there is still the demand of a minimum payment of $900 — in itself a form of blackmail — compels the ad-
visas
monition to the Russian soon to visit here: for the sake of the just cause we shall not be silent; We wish it to be done with dignity,
but the protesting voice of American libertarians will be heard! There must be an end to the discriminations! Your visit, Gospodin
Brezhnev, your questionable promises notwithstanding, will not compel silence!
-
—
THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
Editorials
Page 4
Vol. LXII I. No. 13
f Jewish Events _
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper
17515 W. 9 Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 356-8400 $8.00 Per Year; This Issue 25c
. The New Center
Programing
Golda and Katzir:
Scriptures
and Politics
Commentary
Page 2
June 8, 1973
USSRiewsContinue Mobilization
For Exit Rights; Nationwide
Protests Set for Brezhnev Visit
POWs' Release Aided by Red
Cross; Geneva Convention's
Protection Denied Israelis
JERUSALEM •JTA)—Three Israeli prisoners of war
who returned home Sunday after three years of captivity
in Syria related grim tales of torture at the hands of their
captors who told them at one point that there is a Geneva
Convention "but not for you."
The three, all fighter pilots who bailed out over Syrian
territory in 19'70 after their planes were shot down by
ground fire, were exchanged for 46 Syrian and 10 Leb-
anese POWs held by Israel. The exchange, which took
place at Amadieh Junction on the Golan Heights, culminat-
ed top-secret negotiations which involved the Interna-
tional Red Cross, Israel and Syria.
The freed Israelis are Captains Gideon Magen and
Pinhas Nahmani, both married and each the father of
two children, and Lt. Boaz Eitan, who is unmarried. The
three were briefly reunited with their families at Kuneitra
after their release and then taken to an air force base for
debriefing. Later they were luncheon guests of Defense
Minister Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff Gen. David Elazar
and Air Force Commander Benjamin Peled. Premier
Golda Meir interrupted a cabinet meeting to greet them
by telephone.
Speaking to reporters at the air force base, the fliers
said the Syrians had subjected them to the same methods
of torture used by the Turks before World War I with
some modern refinements, including electric shock. They
said their captors used wet branches to beat the soles of
their feet and their fingertips. Lt. Eitan said the Syrians
admitted there was a Geneva Convention barring the
mistreatment of POWs but said, "That is not for you.
You are Israelis." He said the statement was accompanied
by repeated blows to his head and body.
According to the returned prisoners, broken limbs
and fractured ribs were a daily occurrence during the
first few months of their capture but only to see if their
hearts were strong enough to bear further torture.
Capt. Nahmani, who broke a leg when he bailed out,
he received no medical treatment for five days but
(Continued on Page 5)
Risking arrests, defying KGB spying and threats to the security of their families, Russian
Jews in the hundreds have joined in new demands, for the right to emigrate to Israel. Protesters
are demanding release of prisoners, and efforts are especially being exerted in behalf of Dr.
Evgeny Levich, 25-year-old astrophysicist, who was abducted and sent to the Tiksi Siberian out-
post in spite of his ill health.
Dr. Levich's father, Dr. Benjamin G. Levich, internationally famous electrochemist, appealed
in his son's behalf by calling a press conference of foreign correspondents, in his Moscow home.
He accused Soviet authorities of "cruel, lawless ' and totally unhumanitarian action" in drafting his
ailing son.
In another action, Dr. Andrei D. Sakharov, who has gained fame as the developer of the
Soviet H-bomb, in an appeal issued in Moscow, advocated the launching of "a wide international
campaign" to help in the release of Evgeny Levich.
Hundreds of Russian Jews massed in front of visa offices and the public prosecutor's
building to register their protests. A number of the arrested were soon released, however.
The defiance of Russian persecutions by Jewish protesters has inspired similar action in
this country, and plans are under way to greet Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist leader,
upon his arrival in this country for White House conferences, June 17, with firm American Jewish
(Continued on Page 30)
Hypocrisy in International Arena:
Israel Exonerated in Libya Air Tragedy
But Is Given ICAO Condemnation
MONTREAL (JTA) — The 30-nation council of the International Civil Aviation Oorganization (ICAO)
condemned Israel Monday for the Libyan airliner disaster that occurred Feb. 21 over the Sinai, despite a report
by its special committee exonerating Israel. The resolution, passed at a closed meeting here, also condemned
Israel for its air raid on the Beirut Civil Airport in 1968.
The ICAO council decided to meet Wednesday to study new international procedures and ways of
cooperating to prevent future disasters.
Meir Rosenne, head of the Israeli delegation, said this was at least a partial victory for Israel, since
during the debate he had noted that "what is important is to make sure that in the future these tragedies do
not occur again."
Rosenne, who is legal adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs, asked the council how it could con-
demn Israel when its own report blamed the Libyan plane crash on "the behavior and incompetence of Egyp-
tian and Libyan authorities."
The vote on the resolution, sponsored by Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon and Tunisia, was 27 in favor
with the United States and Nicaragua abstaining. Pakistan, the 30th member of the group, did not attend. The
U.S. failed in its attempt to get the reference to the Beirut incident deleted.
Israel, not a member of the council, objected to Egypt and Lebanon voting on a resolution concerning
themselves. Libya did not send a delegation.
(Continued on Page 6)
Capt. Edward Brudno Shunned Honors
Returning Jewish POW Finds 'Life Is Not Worth Living
Air Force Capt. Edward A. Brudno, who survived seven years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, committed suicide
Sunday, a day before he would have celebrated his 33rd birthday. Capt. Brudno, one of four returning Jewish POWs, was found by his
mother-in-law in a bedroom of her home in Harrison, N.Y. He left a note saying that "Life is not worth living."
Funeral services will be held today in Temple Beth El, Quincy, Mass., having been delayed because of Shavuot.
Coincidentally, and unaware of the tragedy that would transpire, Joseph Polakoff had prepared the following Jewish Telegraphic
Agency feature for release today.
told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "He wants no part of anything
BY JOSEPH POLAKOFF
(Copyright 1973, JTA, Inc.)
like that. He's been through too much. When his health gets better,
he will go back to graduate school for his masters, probably in elec-
Hometowns across the country have honored their returned pris-
tronics and possibly in aviation."
oners of the Vietnam War with enthusiastic celebrations to manifest
Captain Brudno, who at 33 is the oldest of four Jewish prisoners
their gladness in having them back after their ordeals in enemy mili-
back
from Vietnam, was one of the longest-held captives of the 566
tary prison camps, but Air Force Capt. Edward' Brudno would have
returned POWs. He was imprisoned 89 months.
none of those happy homecomings.
(Continued on Page 6)
His father, Dr. James C. Brudno, an internist in Quincy, Mass.,
Capt. Edward Brudno