Castro's Yield to Arab Pressures Puzzles
Cubans, Israelis; Expect Retained Amity
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Israelis
expressed surprise and re-
gret over the sudden and un-
expected rupture of diplo-
matic relations by Cuba.
Premier Fidel Castro an-
nounced the break at the con-
ference of nonaligned nations
in Algiers.
Dr. Ricardo Subirana Y
Lobo, the 86-year-old Cuban-
Jewish diplomat who has
been minister to Israel since
1960, said Monday, "I have
heard nothing from Havana.
Good relations have always
prevailed between the two
countries."
icial sources declined to
cL.anent on the Cuban move.
Political circles called Cas-
tro's announcement an "im-
pulsive" act that surprised
even the Cuban diplomatic
corps. A month ago the Is-
raeli minister to Havana,
Baruch Gilad, presented his
credentials to the Cuban
government.
Tuesday morning Gilad
telephoned Avraham Kidron,
director general of the for-
eign ministry in Jerusalem,
to report that he had re-
ceived a letter from the
Cuban deputy foreign min-
ister informing him of the
decision to break relations
with Israel.
The long record of cordial
relations between Cuba and
Israel, unbroken by the Six-
Day War, added to the sur-
prise over the break. Gabriel
noron, the former Israeli
minister to Cuba who was
based in Havana in 1968-
70, recalled the independent
a t t i t u d e demonstrated by
Castro when he was pres-
sured to break with Israel
after the Six-Day War. He
refused to break relations
with any country that did not
directly hurt Cuba's interests
and rejected the idea of
breaking relations because
others urged him to, Doron
said.
Cuba and Romania were
the only nations in the Soviet
orbit that did not sever ties
with Israel after the Six-Day
War. Israelis observed that
Cuba, like Israel, was the
target of attempts by its
neighbors to isolate it diplo-
matically and economically.
Cuba was ousted by the
Organization of American
States (OAS) in 1961. Castro
must have felt the similarity
of his position among the
Latin American states with
that of Israel and its Arab
neighbors, Israelis said. But,
they added, he has a short
memory.
Israelis recalled that Cas-
tro canceled a visit to Al-
- geria in 1963 after he was
c
-d by the then Algerian
Ell I .aier Ahmed Ben Bella
for having declared three
- days of mourning at the
death of Israel's President
Itzhak Ben Zvi. Ben Bella
declared at the time: "Who
ever respects a dead Israeli
in that way has no right to
come to an Arab land."
It was also recalled here
that Israel sent plasma and
other medical supplies to
Cuba and was hailed for its
humanitarian act. An Israeli
NI_ sports delegation arrived in
Havana Sunday to partici-
pate in a weight-lifting con-
test. The delegation was re-
ceived with utmost cordiality,
re-
,
ac .cording to a telephone re-
port from Havana.
Castro's move was ob-
1
IL
IL
r
I
viously a surrender to Arab
pressure in Algiers, Israelis
said. Doron told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency corre-
spondent in Jerusalem, how-
ever, that the break was not
expected to alter Cuba's
friendly attitude toward its
small Jewish community.
Doron noted that fewer than
1,000 Jews remain in Cuba
out of about 14,000 who lived
there before the Castro re-
gime came to power in 1960.
But, he said, they are strong-
ly organized and there are
five synagogues to serve
them. He recalled that Cas-
tro was personally friendly
with the Jewish community
and his government always
paid the expenses of a rabbi
on the High Holidays. Doron
also noted that Cuba im-
ported Israeli products, al-
beit indirectly, through Eu-
ropean countries.
An Israeli journalist re-
garded as an authority on
Cuba expressed fear that
Premier Fidel Castro's dip-
lomatic b r e a k with Israel
may be the prelude to simi-
lar action by other Latin
American states. Simha Fla-
pan, editor of New Outlook;
a political magazine, told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that Castro's high standing
with many Latin American
states may have been the
reason why he was made the
target of Arab pressure to
break with Israel at the cur-
rent nonaligned summit
meeting in Algiers.
* * *
No Change Expected
in Status of Cuba's
Jewish Community
MONTREAL (JTA) — A
Jewish leader familiar with
Cuba said that he didn't ex-
pect any change in the status
of that country's small Jew-
ish community to f o 1 1 o w
Premier Fidel Castro's sur-
prise announcement that
Cuba was breaking diploma-
tic relations with Israel.
"There is no deducing
from this any anti-Jewish
feeling" in Cuba, L a vy
Becker, honorary consultant
to the World Jewish Con-
gress on inter-community af-
fairs, told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency.
Becker, who visited Havana
last February, said he was
"thoroughly surprised" by
the break. He said that his
talks with Israeli diplomats
Greenwich Village
Hears Jewish Poet
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Wolf Pasmanik presented
Greenwich Village intellec-
tuals with something new in
the way of poetry apprecia-
tion.
The noted Yiddish poet held
the spotlight for an hour at
the Cafe Feenjon on McDou-
gal St. in the heart of the
Village reading his poetry in
Yiddish, which was translat-
ed for those unacquainted
with "mama loshen."
This was the first time a
Yiddish poetry reading had
been held in the Israeli-or-
iented cafe.
Pains of Poverty
There is nothing more pain-
ful than poverty .. . Certain
of the sages said: "Put all
other sufferings in one scale,
and poverty in the other,
and the two would balance."
Others said: "The scales con-
taining poverty would be even
heavier,"- Shemot Rabba.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, Sept. 14, 1973-21
Dual Jewish Studies Degree Set at HUC
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—A to Dr. Lewis M. Barth, dean
new degree program encom- of the HUC school.
passing a master's degree in
Jewish education and one in Classifieds Get Quick Results
Jewish communal service is
being inaugurated for the fall
term of the California School
of the Hebrew Union College,
Put your
the Reform seminary, with Op_
money where
the first year of study to be
- ----,
. - your heart is
spent in Israel.
‘,
When they return to the
in America
—__-
California campus here, the
students also will receive
Sign up for
training at the nearby Uni-
versity of Southern Cali-
U.S.
fornia and with communal
agencies and in an educa-
tional setting for their "pra-
tice" experience, according
SAVINGS BONDS,
FREEDOM SHARES
•
At the Algiers nonaligned summit conference, Libyan
Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi (right) was in conflict with Fidel
Castro over the latter's Communist attitudes. But when
Castro announced that Cuba was breaking diplomatic rela-
tions with Israel, the two embraced. Once again, hatred
for Israel united two heads of two governments.
in Cuba last winter and with
the Cuban minister to Israel
in July gave him no hint that
a rupture was imminent.
Cuba's Jewish community,
which Becker estimated at
about 1,200, enjoyed a bene-
volent relationship with the
Castro regime, he said, and
noted that Jews in Havana
have always been well treat-
ed and had access to the Is-
raeli legation. There is no
evidence of a change of at-
titude, Becker said.
(Israel radio quoted a
Moses Baldas, head of the
Cuban Jewish community, as
saying the community was
surprised by Castro's an-
nouncement. Bald a s said
there had never been any
anti-Semitism in Cuba and
expressed hope that the Jew-
ish community would not suf-
fer now.
(Israeli Foreign ministry
sources said there were no
Israeli experts in Cuba late-
ly although up to two or three
years ago, Castro had asked
for Israeli agricultural ex-
perts to instruct Cuban farm-
ers in agriculture and irriga-
tion.)
Becker, who is a member
of the board of the JTA, said
that he was in the process
of negotiating with Cuban
authorities for the removal
of the Jewish archives from
that country to Israel. He
said the reason for the move
was the absence of Jewish
scholars in Cuba who could
study the archives. Although
the first Jew in Cuba landed
with Columbus, the modern
Cuban Jewish community
dates from 1906. and in its
heyday after World War II
numbered no more than 14,-
000, most of them in Havana,
Becker said.
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Change Seen
in U.S. Favor
Toward Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA) — An
American international rela-
tions expert, Prof. William
Griffith of MIT, forecast a
slow but gradual change in
the American attitude toward
Israel.
Speaking at the American
Embassy lecture hall, Grif-
fith, who returned from a
tour of Saudi Arabia and
other Arab countries, admit-
ted that the change will no
doubt call for bitter public
criticism but "whatever will
happen will not be to the lik-
ing of Israel."
It is the oil pressure that
will force this change, ac-
cording to Griffith, who
spoke about the same time
that Nixon declared at a
press conference in Washing-
ton that there would be no
change in the American atti-
tude toward Israel because of
Arab oil.
According to the MIT sci-
entist, Saudi A r a b i a, on
which the U.S. will depend
for oil over the next 7-10
years, will lead the pressure
for a change in attitude
toward Israel. He agreed,
however, that Israel may be
less affected by American
pressure as Israel's self-suf-
ficiency in armament supply
increases.
CLOUD
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