Dear Qaddafi: Do You Really Think Jews Can Return to Arab Lands?
(Continued from Page 1)
Is it correct that you have
declared that once the Jews
from Europe have been sent
back there, only Jews born ill
Arab countries will be al-
lowed to continue to live in
them?
Do you seriously believe•
that the Jews from Germany
or Poland, or rather the few
of them that have survived,
can go and live again where
their parents, wives, hus-
bands and children were
burned in the gas ovens?
And what would you do
about the children of those
Jews who were since born in
Israel and who by now ac-
count for 25 per cent of its
population?
Or do you believe that the
Jews who were born in Arab
countries can go back to live
in countries where they had
been robbed, massacred and
from which they had been
expelled? Particularly since
you propose to reinstate the
Islam totally, to the extent,
I am told, of cutting off
thieves' right hands and
sending the women back to
the harem or to polygamous
promiscuity. That, of course,
is entirely your concern. Sup-
posing that the Moslems
would agree to it, do you be-
lieve that one could go back
to live under such laws when
one is not a Moslem?
Is it correct that you have
stated that the Jews have
always lived at peace in the
Arab countries; and that you
have nothing against the
Jews, but only against the
Zionisti?
Can you really believe in
the myth that is being
hawked around for the bene-
fit of the Western world,
about the idyllic life of the
Jews in the Arab countries?
As late as 1912, any Jew
daring to leave a Jewish
quarter in Morocco had to
take off his shoes, as if it
was a sacrilege for them to
touch the sacred Moroccan
soil. In the same Morocco, in
1907, there was a great mas-
sacre of Jews in Casablanca,
complete with rape, the car-
rying off of women to the
mountains, the burning down
of hundreds of houses and
shops and so on. In 1912,
there was another great mas-
sacre in Fez, and in 1948 in
Oudja and other towns. In
Algeria, there was the mas-
sacre of Constantine of 1934,
with 24 killed and dozens up-
on dozens seriously wounded.
In Egypt, the massacre of
1948—this time with the re-
finement of hundreds of
bombs. In Aden, in 1946, the
local authorities declared that
Jews were not entitled to
live like human beings. A
few months later, 82 were
killed and 76 wounded, with
two thirds of the shops looted
•and burned. In Iraq, between
the 2nd and the 3rd of June
1941, 600 were killed, 1,000
seriously wounded, 600 shops .
looted, women raped and
1,000 houses burned. To keep
to your own country, there
were the massacres at Tripo-
li on Nov. 5, 1945, and those
of Zanzour, Zaouia, Foussa-
bat, Ziltayin and elsewhere
on Nov. 6 and 7, with girls
and women raped in the sight
of their families, pregnant
women having their bellies
slit open and f e t u s e s
dragged out, children beaten
to death with iron bars. In
1967, a hundred were mur-
dered in spite of the protec-
tion of King Idriss. All this
may be found in the newspa-
pers of those days, including
the New- York Times and the
local Arab press, and in the
works of serious historians
like Smith, Fattal, Gardst,
Brunschwig, Van Bery, Vaj-
da and others.
(We always get what may
have been the mistake of
Deir Yassin thrown in our
faces. Good Heavens! We
have suffered a hundred, a
thousand Deir Yassins! And
not only in Russia, in Ger-
many or in Poland, but ac-
tually in Arab lands, with
the world never caring.)
But why do I need refer-
ences and historical records?
My own grandfather and fa-
ther always remembered be-
ing afraid of being beaten
over the head by any Arab
who happened to come by. I
myself, as a child, used to
play in the lanes of an Arab
village—like you, Mr. Presi-
dent, I suppose. Do you re-
member what you thought of
the little Jews and how you
treated them? I remember
only too well, unfortunately!
And don't tell me, please,
that all that is due to Zion-
ism. That is another myth.
With the exception of two
or three periods, and a great
deal of nonsense has been
said about them, this idyllic
life never existed. What is
more, the Jews were not only
at the mercy of the populace,
they had a status which in a
way justified such slavery.
That status is a matter of
record: ever since the days
of the Abassids, it has been
part of the Charter of Omar
that, to put it briefly, the
Jew is at best protected like
a dog that is part of the
chattels. But let him but
raise his head or behave like
a human being, and he must
be beaten to within an inch
of his life, to remind him of
his condition.
(We have, among other
records, an unimpeachable
witness to this: Pere de Fou-
cauld, who could not be sus-
pected of loving Jews unduly,
wanted to travel incognito
among Arabs and decided to
disguise himself, of all things,
as a Jew. I suggest you read
the long story of all the hu-
miliations and threats this
provisional Jew had to suf-
fer.)
The truth is that we have
lived in the Arab countries
in fear and humiliation. I
shall not recite another litany
—that of the massacres be-
fore Zionism. I can let you
have the lists, if you want to
know. The truth is that those
young Jews from the Arab
countries were Zionists be-
fore Auschwitz. The state of
Israel is not the result of
Auschwitz, but of the entire
Jewish condition, including
that in the Arab countries.
Is it correct that you have
said that if the Jews absolu-
tely wanted a state, all they
needed to do was to establish
it in Europe or America?
Need I tell you, who are
so concerned for the values
of your people, that one can-
not establish a state just any-
where or with just any val-
ues?
Why' should we Jews in
countries with an Arab ma-
jority go and establish a state
in Europe—or at the North
Pole, for that matter—when
we were born on the shores
of the Mediterranean,
to which we are attached, as
you understand far better
than anyone else?
Why should this soil, which
you call Arab because you
are in the majority on it, not
belong partly to us? To us,
whose ancestors were Ber-
bers who converted to Juda-
ism and who in many cases
were here before yours? Is
it enough to be born an Arab
to be entitled to everything,
*
Humorless Qaddafi Angered
at Barbs in Italian Paper
ROME—It shouldn't come
as any surprise that Libyan
strongman Muammar el-
Qaddafi has no sense of hu-
mor. So dour is he, in fact,
that it is proving very diffi-
cult for the Italian govern-
ment. which relies heavily
on Libyan oil.
When the Italian news-
paper La Stampa, whose
managing editor Arrigo Levi
is a Jew. made joking re-
marks about the Libyan
president, Qaddafi was livid.
The giant Fiat motor com-
pany, which owns La Stampa
and which has Middle East-
ern interests, reportedly was
warned by the Arab Boycott
Committee in Beirut that
Fiat would be blacklisted if
it did not dismiss the authors
of the offending article, as
well as Levi.
The Beirut committee was
said to have expressly noted
Levi's Jewishness, and the
fact that he had fought
against Arabs in 1947. Levi
was a volunteer with the Is-
raeli defense forces.
The article in question,
written by two regular con-
tributors to La Stampa, said
that Qaddafi was becoming
as internationally famous as
•
•
Hitler and was likely to be-
come a hero of international
rumor mills in the same way
as the Nazi leader was.
The humorists suggested
that people wanting to sound
well informed would soon
say that Qaddafi was really
an agent of the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency or was
a homosexual or had a se-
cret harem of 48 women in
Switzerland.
"A religious fanatic?" the
article said (Qaddafi is an
austere Moslem). "Don't be-
lieve it.. It seems that when
he was Marshal Tito's guest,
he ate an entire little boar
alone."
La Stampa's news staff is-
sued a resolution denouncing
the Libyan "blackmail," and
expressed support for Levi.
Levi, one of Italy's best
known newsmen and televi-
sion commentators, said there
had been no pressure from
Fiat.
Despite the report that at
one point Libya threatened
to break off diplomatic rela-
tions unless an apology was
offered, the Italian govern-
ment said it would not sup-
press freedom of the press.
•
and to be born a Jew to be
entitled to nothing except be
doomed to remain second-
class citizens to all eternity
and be humiliated and killed
off at set times? If you really
wanted to prevent our settling
down together in the little
corner of the world which we
have called Israel in order to
renew our bond with an an-
cient tradition, why did you
pursue and expell us wher-
ever your writ runs?
(I am told that in this
whole business you are main-
ly motivated by the fate of
the Arabs in Palestine. If
that is the case, how do you
reconcile that rumor with
your constant claim that the
Arab nation is one? The
Arabs of Palestine are ad-
mittedly experiencing a trag-
edy, no less than we; but at
the negotiation table one will
have to bear in mind that
there are no more of them
than of us, and that in many
cases they are newcomers,
just as we. When all is said
and done, the disaster of the
Arabs of Palestine amounts
to their having been dis-
placed for some 50 kilom-
eters within the same, enor-
mous nation. Is that so seri-
ous? How much more serious
is our case: we Jews from
Arab countries have been dis-
placed for thousands of ki-
lometers, after having, also
lost everything—and we Jews
from Arab countries are a
million and three hundred
thousand by now, or half of
the population of Israel; add
the 25 per cent of children
of Western Jews, and you
have 75 per cent of the na-
tive-born population. In short,
if one wants to make this
ridiculous account, the Jews
are at home in Israel to at
least the same extent as the
Arabs. But Israel, I say it
again, is the outcome of the
entire Jewish condition, and
_therefore also of Auschwitz;
and the German. Polish and
Russian Jews are also at
home. And no one has the
right to deny us the possibil-
ity of ingathering our refu-
gees, those of yesterday and,
alas, those of tomorrow.)
We are also being told that
you have come to France to
buy yet more arms and to
stress the oil blackmail. If
so, would it not be disastrous
to make the conflict break
out again just as many Arab
countries are finally moving
in the direction of a settle-
ment that would put an end
to our mutual suffering? You
know the saying that a bad
settlement is better than a
good court case. Is it not
time that we reached a settle-
ment amongst us, even if it
is only a moderately good
one?
Mr. President, your lan-
guage, a language of the
heart, a language of determi-
nation born out of a recov-
ered dignity, is one I under-
stand very well; the better,
because it is that of our
youth, yours and ours.
Don't you think that you
underestimate the determi-
nation of the Jews, not only
of the Israelis but of
of the entire world? It
their motor trips on Suhuay
or the gadgets made of oil
compounds that the new gen-
eration of Jews are defend-
ing; they know that their
physical and cultural exist-
ence is at stake.
When two determinations
so' strong — strong because
they are based on sheer ex-
istence—confront each other,
the result may be endless
misery or great advantages-
You have just discovered the
oil weapon; tomorrow, the
Jews will discover the ap-
propriate answer. Don't you
think that this is the point to
stop this mutual suicide,
which is perhaps applauded
secretly by powerful inter-
ests?
(Don't you think that we
should both give up past
quarrels, cruel as they may
be, that we should make an
effort to outgrow the myths
we believe about each other?)
Could we not at last com-
bine the talents we have re-
gained in order to build a
world in which each of us
will have his nation and his
free state — this time not
united by contradictory and
destructive myths but by ec-
onomic and cultural benefits?
I suggest, Mr. President,
that you not only abandon
the purchase of new weapons,
but that with the same gen-
erous impulse which inspires
you, you become the sponsor
of a great conference, in
Tripoli or Tel Aviv or in
a neutral country — Geneva,
perhaps, though alas, hardly
Paris—where not only Jews
and Arabs, but naturally also
Israelis a n d Palestinians,
could meet as brothers. For
such a dialogue, I, a Jew
born among Arabs, am at
your disposal.
• •
Soviets Join America's White Racists Chanting Anti-Semitism I • Rebuked by Black Leaders
t h e Kremlin persuades its
Arab friends to lift the oil
embargo. Tass charged Sen-
WASHINGTON — Sovie t
ator Henry M. Jackson (D.,
propagandists apparently do
Wash.) and "ringleaders" of
not mind being in political
the United Jewish Appeal
tune with American white
were collaborating with "di-
racists and neo-Nazis or the
rect agents of the Israeli gov-
pro-Palestine Arab agitators,
ernment who sacrifice the
foreign and domestic, who
national interests of t h e
are stirring up bigotry at a
American p e o p l e to Tel
pitch unheard for a l m o s t
Aviv's Middle East aggres-
40 years in America. They
sion."
find no fault in the oil em-
Schweiker responded b y
bargo that strikes at the
pointing out that the Soviets
world's poorest peoples in
want to borrow $.6,100,000,000
Africa and Asia even though
from the U.S. Export-Import
the sheikhdoms, using Israel
Bank and private banks to
as a scapegoat, reap enor-
develop their Siberian energy
mous profits. The Soviet
fields "on terms more favor-
Union itself does not shrink
able than other U.S. trade
from making a tidy income
partners enjoy." This means,
itself on the fuel shortage,
he said, that the "American
when possible, and punishes
taxpayer is going to subsidize
those who seek to expose it.
this Russian energy develop.
For example, a f ter the
ment — with the hope that
Swedish Radio reported So-
sometime down the road, the
48—Friday, January 11, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Russians will give us some of
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
(Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.)
viet tankers were hauling oil
to Holland, the
author-
the Press ac-
ities revoked the
creditation of 011ie Stenbohm,
Moscow correspondent of the
Swedish Broadcasting Corp.
It accused him of anti-Soviet
activity. The ouster implied
to other foreign newsmen not
to report developments re-
flecting adversely on the So-
viet Union if they wish to
stay in Moscow. Long before
the oil distributors themselves
engaged in exorbitant price
hikes, the Soviet government
offered Denmark 70,000 bar-
rels of oil at $30 a barrel,
more than nine times the
going price at the time. Oil-
pinched Denmark bought it.
Izvestia felt outraged when
Senator Richard S. Schweiker
(R., Pa.) suggested that the
United States suspend trade
with the Soviet Union until
the oil and gas."
Meanwhile, Action Commit-
tee on Arab-American Rela-
tions, whose purpose is to
wipe out Israel, has em-
barked on a campaign to
"punish" Senators Jackson,
Charles Percy (R., Ill.),
Frank Church (D., Idaho)
and Jacob Javits (R., N.Y.).
According to the committee's
Secretary-General, Dr. Mo-
hamed T. Mehdi, they were
"vicious" in their support of
Israel. He said in Chicago
that his committee has op-
ened new chapters in Illinois,
Washington state and Idaho
and that he is meeting top
Black leaders to win the sup-
port of "millions of Black
Americans" to the campaign.
But most Blacks and other
American minorities do not
accept s u c h agitation. In
Illinois, for example, the Rev.
Martin Luther King in 1967
named Senator Percy ' as his
first choice for President in
1968 and the Rev. Jesse Jack-
son, Chicago black leader,
supported him in his re-elec-
tion in 1972. AFL-CIO and
other labor organizations and
their leaders have consist-
ently supported Israel from
its birth. Expressing "a sense
of solidarity" with Israel,
Cesar Chavez, president of
the United Farm Workers
Union, has urged the U.S.
government to continue
granting aid to Israel.
Senator Edward W. Brooke
(R., Mass.) was the first to
point out in the Senate that
the "calamitous e f f e c t of
dearer oil" on many of the
struggling economies of the
Third World was brought on
by the Arab oil embargo.
The Coalition for a Demo-
cratic Majority, noting that
Rep. Charles Diggs Jr., (D.,
Mich.) reportedly s aid in
Kenya that a feeling of
"brotherhood" with the Arabs
is spreading from Blacks on
American campuses, pointed
out Bayard Rustin's r -410
that Diggs' sentime.
not typical. Rustin, the\ tvali-
tion observed, is director of
the A. Philip Randolph Insti-
tute "a group which focuses
on Blacks in the work force
r a t h e r than campus mili-
tants." T h e institute pub-
lished a full page ad in The
New York Times in which
more than 70 Black labor
leaders gave s u p p or t to
Israel.
Rustin also pointed to
equally strong statements of
support f rom such Black
le.aders as Congressmen Au-
gustus Hawkins, Cardiss Col-
lins, and Andrew Young;
Mayors William Ha r t and
Tom Bradley; Percy Sutton
and Willie Brown, Charles
Campbell, Mervin Dymally,
and Vivian Henderson.
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