Purely Co'rnmentary

The Crimes Being Committed in the Name of Religion
and the Arab Fanaticism That– Threatens Security
of All Faiths if Jerusalem Goes Back to the Bigots

By Philip

Slomovitz

Woe Unto All 1Faiths if Israel's Just Jerusalem Administration Is Interfered With !

In the process of renewed Middle East negotiations
for some sort of peace agreement, reinstituted by Secretary
of State Henry A. Kissinger, the Jerusalem issue is certain
to emerge anew. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia more fre-
quently than anyone else keeps threatening that there
will be more oil embargoes if East Jerusalem- is not
returned to Jordan. The Vatican vacillates on the subject,
yet is suspected of being antagonistic to Israel.

Perhaps Pope Paul VI is the guiltiest in the entire
matter of Jerusalem's status because he does not take
a firm stand' in defense of the only state able to provide
fullest security for all faiths: Israel. Yet the Vatican per-
mits disruption and distortion of facts and apparently en-
courages opponents of Israel's administration in a united
Jerusalem.
The dispute over (Jerusalem is rooted in distortions
because Israel's enemies refuse to understand assurances
that Israel would agree to introduction of administrative
programs for all faiths involved over their holy places—
except that .total government supervision over a united
city would be under Israeli direction. Since squabbles
between faiths ended only when Israel took administrative
charge of the city, and in view of the truth that unrestrict-
ed freedom of worship became possible again when Israel
regained control of the entire area, logic would dictate
that Israel is the appropriate administrator.
While the Middle East struggles are political, the Arab
potentates would make a religious issue of it. Thus Faisal
of Saudi Arabia, who calls himself and acts as the "Pre.:
tector of Islam," keeps fanning religious hatred in his
campaign against Israel. He has even revised the atrocious
deicide libel. Here is a sample of this thinking, in an
excerpt from one of his speeches: "The Jews are accused
by God through the prophets . . . They have deviated
from the teachings of Moses and haye attempted to
murder Jesus Christ . . . They have no connection or
rights to have any presence in Jerusalem. The Wailing
Wall is a structure they weep against; another wall can
be built for them to weep against."
Woe unto all faiths if such a bigot were to take control
of Jerusalem. At least one Christian minister recognized
the threatened menace: The Rev. Lester Kinsolving, an
Episcopal priest and syndicated columnist, characterizing
this exegesis of Christian doctrine an "obscene neo-Nazi
outburst," pointed out that "the Protector of Islam" still
bars all Jews and all Christians from the cities of Mecca
and Medina, and suggested that "the world's nearly one
billion Christians might do well to contemplate what

would happen if this feudalistic Moslem fanatic were to
gain control of Islam's third holiest city—Jerusalem."
For an understanding of the manner in which new
theological hatreds are being fashioned by spokesmen for
Moslems it is important that the following analyses of
Islamic declarants, prepared by an analyst for the Amer..
ican Jewish Committee, should be taken into consideration:
"The lengths to which Moslem scholars, theologians
and other religious spokesmen have gone in distorting their
own Islamic tradition to fit the Arabs' political and military
designs is most dramatically illustrated in the published
proceedings of the fourth conference of the Academy of
Islamic Research, held in September 1968 in Cairo at Al
Azhar, the most important Islamic university in the Arab
world. Excerpts from 25 papers read and discussed at the
conference sessions (published in Arabic and English by
the U.A.R. Printing Office) demonstrate conclusively that
religious anti-Semitism has become a weapon in the war
against Israel.
"Although Islamic tradition holds Judaism to be a
religion of true revelation, and the Bible a holy book for
both Jews and Christians, the scholarly authors misrepre-
sented and slandered the Hebrew Scriptures, and attributed
all manner of crimes to the innate depravity of Jews and
their religion.
"Kamal Ahmad Own, vice principal of the Tanta Insti-
tute, in a paper entitled 'The Jews Are the Enemies of
Human Life As Is Evident From Their Holy Book,' set
out to show
`that the Jews as represented by their Holy Book are
hostile to all human values in this life, that their evil
nature is not to be easily cured through temporary or
half measures.'
Evil, wickedness, breach of vows and money worship,
he went on, are qualities inherent in the Jewish character.
Jews were punished many times for their wicked ways,
but never repented and never turned away from sin.
More over, their wickedness "is incurable unless they are
subdued by force . . . No good is expected from them
unless they live under the aegis of Islam as loyal and
obedient subjects." (Added emphasis.)
"In another paper, 'The Attitude of the Jews Towards
Islam and Muslims in the Early Days of Islam,' Moh.
Taha Yahias stated:
. . worldly avarice, obstinate contention, and cruelty
are deeply ingrained in the innermost being of the Jews
who try to achieve their individual and social ambitions
by fair means or foul . . . arrogance and evil-doing are

inherent qualities of their nature ... They are avaricious,
ruthless, cruel hypocrite (sic) and revengeful. These
traits govern their lives. They never change nor are they
inclined to change . .
"Muhammad Aza Darwaza, in a paper entitled "The
Attitude of the Jews Toward Islam, Muslims and the
Prophet of Islam P.B.U.H (Peace Be Upon Him) at the
Time of His Honorable Prophethood," declared:

'It is incumbent on the Muslims to strain every
nerve and make all efforts in order to be well equipped
by all means to fight the Jews. The Muslims should
corner the Jews without feeling exhausted or tired- as
Allah enjoins upon them. The Muslims should spare no
effort to exterminate their state and deliver every place
of Muslims'•homeland from the Jews' desecration and
keep it under the control of Islamic authorities as it was.
Any slight indifference to this matter, is indeed a
shameful sin against religion.'
"And Professor Abdul Sattar El Sayed, the Mufti of
Tursos, Syria, said of 'The Jews in the Quran':
'Jews in any community have always been a factor
of sedition. They have moreover been a curse that spread
among the people bringing about corruption, sowing the
seeds of enmity and hatred . . . the Jews are like evil
which has the same effect whether it were big or small,
or like germs of a malignant disease where only one
germ is sufficient to eliminate an entire nation ' "
Honorable. Christendom doesn't fall for such tripe, as
the American Jewish Committee's, analysis indicates in the
following:
"The question arises whether the scholars have thought
of some means, familiar or unfamiliar, for eliminating the
'germ' and the 'disease.' As the editors of Encounter Today,
a periodical published by Catholics in France, commented:
'This type of propaganda is not new. It has filled pamphlets
and school books for years . . . But here the territorial
contest is definitely placed on theological ground and hate
is openly given a religious basis and justification, feeding
the old medieval spirit of holy war with crudely western
anti-Semitic arguments. That this should be initiated and
supported by scholars, theologians and 'men of God,'
vilifying another religion and another"people at a time of
ecumenism, not shrinking before the vilest abuse is sur-
,prising, indefensible, and shocking. Now we know what
feeds the fanaticism and alleged 'despair' of the man in
the street and sanctions terrorism of the most reckless
kind.

, ,

Senator Jackson's Accomplishments in Behalf of Emigres . . . and Two II. S. Diplomatic Shortcomings

Some Russian Jews are skeptical that
whatever agreement may have been
reached to assure the freedom of exit for
some 60,000 Jews yearly from the Soviet
Union may be stymied by Communist-im-
posed obstacles. Senator Henry M. Jackson
now feels confident that the accord appar-
ently reached to ease passage of the pending
trade bill will be adhered to. This may end
a long drawn out dispute, and the credit
for the attainment of a- satisfactory pact is
due primarily to the U.S. Senator from
Washington.
It would be folly to deny that Jackson's
efforts had on /..)ccasions been obstacled by
the White House and the State Department.

Senator Henry t■ k Jackson

The craving for detente was stronger than
the determination to achieve justice. Firm-
ness was vital, and it was always evident
in Henry Jackson while it was missing in
some other areas.
Just as in the case of the Syrian Jews.
who are being hounded to death, or the
issue involving the PLO, against whom there
was not a single word of protest from the
U.S. delegate to the United Nations, the
Kissinger-Nixon actions in the matter of
Jewish emigrants from the USSR was nega-
tive. Neither of the two waa fully helpful.
History will relate whether President Ford
was more cooperative and was partly re-
sponsible for the accord. The history of the
entire' case may not prove to be a pretty
picture when it is fully written. --

A temporary hitch in new interpreta-
tions created some doubts about the entire
Jackson-attained goal, due to a statement
by Ron Nessen in behalf of President Ford.
But Jackson's confidence that 60,000 or
even more will be the yearly emigrants'
figure from the USSR heartens considera-
tion of the emerging results of a long-drawn-
out controversy.
Respecters of the American traditions of
providing assistance to the downtrodden,
wherever they may be, will share in grati-
tude' to Senator Jackson .for his persistent
and untiring labors to secure a guarantee
and adherence to an international principle
of respecting the rights of people who wish
to emigrate from their native lands and to
settle wherever they may acquire the right
of refuge.
Would that the American representative
at the UN had shown a measure of courage
when the PLO question was voted upon! He
was aligned with Israel, Bolivia and the
Dominican Republic but cast his vote on a
technicality, failing to speak out against the
insult to humanity inherent in an invitation
to murderers to be invited into the society
of mankind as recognized diplomats. A diplo-

2—Friday, October 25, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

mat does not earn thanks for refusing to tion must receive due credit, and the short-
dignify murder: he earns rebuke for refus- comings elsewhere must not . be ignored. The
PLO is coming to the UN, and the great
ing to condemn terror and murder.
So many issues are linked in the current world organization that creates a haven for
world situation that it is obligatory to point murderers will soon hear shouts of joy in
welcoming them; and the tragedy of the
out the blunderS in a time when one of them
—the Russian emigration issue—apparently Syrian Jews is still being ignored by: those
is being resolved. There is another link in who pose with diplomatic sanctity. Some
the tragedies that affect the Jewish people: have condemned the UN glorification of the
the horrors being perpetrated by the Syrians PLO terrorists; the Syrian horrors are yet
against their Jewish citizens, most of whom to enroll a human interest. It is not enough
trace their history in that land for some for a Jewish newspaper to expose the facts.
2,000 years. In an appeal to the V.S. govern- Where is world public opinion?
ment in behalf of the oppressed Syrian Jews,
At least there is the blessing that the
Dr. David Hunter, general secretary of the plight of the Russians has enrolled pro-
National Council of Churches, criticized the tectors under the leadership of Senator
Kissinger-Nixon failure, while the two Jackson. Let that agreement work out well!
American statesmen were in Syria, to inter- Then must come renewed action to prevent
cede in behalf of the 4,500 persecuted Syrian terrorists from becoming rulers in thi.!
Jews. Such failures are never excusable.
international arena, and a horrified Syrian
Courage is so rare on occasions that the community of some 4,500 Jews rescued from
Jackson role in the matter of USSR emigra- the threat of annihilation.
*

Abba Eban at Akiva Dinner . . . Other Major Local Events
A series of events of special significance noted Israeli social scientist, Dr. Aryeh
is on the 'Calendar of the Greater Detroit Nesher, will he here for that purpose on
Jewish Community. —
Nov. 4. The briefing of prospective
The appearance here, in behalf of Akiva Jewish Campaign workers, in a year
Day School, at a dinner next Thursday, of great crisis for Israel and the Jewish people -,
Abba Eban, certainly occupies. a place of is a signal to every citizen in Jewish ranks,
first importance. Eban brings to Akiva a to assist in mobilization of forces for th
meritorious award, recognizing its scholas- protection of Israel's security and Jewry'...
tic achievements, from the Israel govern- honor. A briefing session for the Allied
ment and the. World Zionist Organization. Jewish Campaign must be considered an
Such an honor, shared by the community inaugural to the great campaign itself. A
at large, earns appreciation and widest real challenge exists — to match the gen-
recognition.
erosity of the current year in the months
Another eminent personality who will ahead. The Yom Kippur War's tragedies
appear here is former Supreme Court Jus- continue to beckon to us to be mindful of
tice Arthur Goldberg, whose role as the our serious duties. Therefore Nov. 4 is an
U.S. ambassador to the United. Nations gave occasion to fulfill the responsibilities all
him high rank diplomatically. The current owe to their fellow Jews.
revelations about a book that maligned him
The three dates are significant on the
adds interest to his visit in behalf of Yes-
communal calendar. Two of them may mark
hivath Beth Yehudah.
Of more lasting significance for the conclusion of serious efforts supplementary
entire community is the briefing session to the great fund-raising task; the third is
arranged by the Jewish Welfare Federa- a duty of conscience from which none can
* r ►
tion for the Allied Jewish Campaign. A escape.