Zionism's Current Needs for Re-Enforced Public' Relations Programs
By MURRAY ZUKOFF
Editor, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency
NEW YORK (JTA)—Zion-
ist leaders in this country
and Israel are bemoaning the
fact that there is not enough
information about Israel and
Zionism to arm American
Jews to stem the growing
tide of Arab propaganda.
This propaganda, slick and
subtle, subliminal and obvi-
ous is beginning to innundate
the news and editorial pages
of the daily press, much to
the consternation and anxiety
of these leaders.
At the same time, the Zion-
ist informational apparatus
here and in Israel tend to
relegate their activities to
producing and reproducing
The American Jewish Press
Measures Community Change
An Evaluation on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary
of a Great Newspaper : The Cleveland Jewish News
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
American Jewry's press is
the barometer of the many
changes that have marked
the century's developments
in the world's predominant
Jewish community. The
growth of the Jewish press
is consonant with the growth
of the expanded community
itself, and the major change
also is symbolized in the
newspapers that now serve
the Jews of this country. That
change is from an immi-
grant-based settlement to an
ultra-Americanized kehilla.
Emphasis on this point is
essential for-an appreciation
of what had occurred in this
country since 1900. That year,
according to estimates of the
American Jewish Year Book,
the Jewish population in this
country was 1,058,000. The
current American Jewish
Year Book gives the popula-
tion figure for 1972, as
6,060,600.
The earlier year book re-
ferred to — for the year 5662
— 1901-1902 — devoted less
than three pages to a direc-
tory of all Jewish newspap-
ers and periodicals published
in the U.S. The year book for
5734 — 1973 devoted seven
solid pages to the Jewish
publications in this country
and the overwhelming num-
ber is in English. Therein
lies a story of occurrences
that justify the claim of the
press being the barometer
of Jewish developments in
the United States.
A basic fact emerges from
these figures: that the Jew-
ish press in this country now
is English-Jewish. It is surely
an emergence stemming from
the fact that American Jewry
is no longer an immigrant
community, more than-- 90
percent being native-born.
The phenomenon also is as-
cribable to what must right-
fully be termed the result of
a tragic transformation re-
sulting from the drastic de-
cline of Yiddish as the moth-
er tongue of the vast majority
of Jews in the world, for
many centuries — possibly
1,000 years—a decline that
became tragically depressing
with the Holocaust.
An important authoritative'
figure needs to be empha-
sized here. In 1914, when
the Jewish population of the
United States was 2,400,000,
there were ten daily Yiddish
newspapers in this country
(and the Jewish World of
Cleveland, edited by the
venerable scholar Mr. Sam-
uel Rocker was among
them j.
Their total sworn circula-
48—Friday, January 17, 1975
tion, as recorded in Editor and served as _sources for Jewish
Publisher, was 762,910. Today
the Yiddish press has been
reduced to a single daily
newspaper, t h e Forward,
with a total circulation of
only about 45,000. (There is
also the Communist Yiddish
daily, the Freiheit, but its
circulation is so nominal that
it is hardly to be reckoned
with.)
Inevitably, the E nglish-
Jewish press` now number-
ing some 60 weeklies alone=
became the journalistic col-
lective organ of the largest
Jewish community in the
world. The lovers of Yiddish,
the growing number of dedi-
cated people who are deter-
mined not to permit the trea-
sures of the Yiddish language
to disappear, have under-
taken to give new life to the
language. Yiddish courses
are given in a number of uni-
versities. But Yiddish in the
main is studied, read, en-
joyed in translations. The
English language has become
the medium of the American
Jew and the weekly news-
papers in English are the
news media of this great
community.
Thus, the English-Jewish
press is the legator of an his-
toric tradition this writer
chooses to trace to Isaiah
52:7:
How beautiful upon the
mountains
Are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings,
That publisheth peace.
From Isaiah ben Amoz
seven centuries before the
present era through the more
than 26 centuries of recorded
. Jewish history, there have
been means of recording
Jewish history, of creating
media, oral and written, that
assured links between Jews
in all parts of the globe.
Today the English-Jewish
press is the medium that as-
sures knowledgeability for
the Jews of America. In the
modern sense of assuring a
powerful Fourth Estate for
Jews, a great source of news
was the emergence in 1920
of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. For centuries, until
then, European newspapers
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
periodicals in America. Now
JTA serves a need without
which the Jewish communi-
ties would be seriously im-
poverished.
Implementing that great
task, of the creative news
agency are the men and
women Who provide the
genius and the brainpower
that guides the local press
into creativity.
If the press as a whole is
the barometer of Jewish his-
toric developments in this
country, the weekly news-
papers themselves, the new
editorships, give emphasis to
barometral evidence. Cleve-
land is an example. There
were two weekly newspapers
in that community until 10
years ago. Earnest men di-
rected their activities. But
they suffered from a sad be-
ginning in the English-Jewish
press. Until it emerged into
a professional entity the Yid-
dishists and those who sought
more than gossip were in the
habit of referring to such
weekly papers as "shmoos
gazettes." They were papers
that gave major attention to
social items.
There was a weakness that
denigrated periodicals which
were intended to provide in-
formation about Bar /Vfitz-
vas, weddings, family par-
ties. It was the Yiddish press
that was major because its
writers sought the news and
its editors and feature .writ-
ers were interpreting, search-
ing for data, delving into
history, directing the readers
towards a factual Americani-
zation process.
The blessing for American
and world Jewries is that he
legacies have become croi-
tive. Cleveland's Jewish News
is a sample of what had oc-
curred in JewiFh—Vfe. The
community found a need for
sound news and proper cov-
erage and the previous as-
pects were erased to create
an organ for progress in Jew-
ish life. For that purpose it
needed editorial direction
steeped in Jewish devotion
and knowledge. It needed
dedication.
That Jerry D. Barach be-
came available for that pur-
pose is a mark of honor not
only to him and to news-
paper but to Cleveland Jewry
'which had recognized the
need for wholesome journal-
ism to assure progress in
attaining knowledgeability
for a great community.
Therefore, while the Eng-
lish-Jewish press is the
barometer of occurrences in
American Jewry, the Cleve-
land Jewish News is its coun-
terpart in that wonderful
Jewish community.
what to many Jews seems to
be hackneyed, cliche-ridden
statements and shibboleths
that are geared . more errio-
tional barrage against the
Arabs than for thoughtful
and incisive • rebuttals that
Jews can use in answering
some of the Arab contentions.
It is a sad but objective
fact that at the moment the
Arabs appear to be gaining
in the propaganda war, -but
more by default than be-
cause of any genuine contri-
butions to the arvenal of
clear and objectiv.; thinking.
They are gaining by virtue
of the absence of incisive
Zionist educational material
and, alternately, by the dis-
semination of glittering, al-
beit surface propaganda ma-
terial of the kind that was
serviceable before the Arab
propaganda drive began in
full force.
Now American and Israeli
Zionist leaders are beginning
to feel the squeeze.
Arab propaganda—the pro-
fessional,- not the strident —
covers the entire field of
Zionist history, Palestine and
the state of Israel in all its
ramifications. Some of this
propaganda is highly theo-
retical, dealing with the na-
ture of Zionism as theory and
practice. It is slick, it is well
researched, it is analytical,
and goes quite frequently to
original s o u r c e material,
quoting copiously although
one-sidely and out-of-context
some of the more sanguine
statements of pioneer and
current Zionist leaders.
The effectiveness of this
approach cannot be under-
estimated merely • because it
is on a highly sophisticated
and even academic level. It
only serves to impress the
impressionable with the seri-
ousness of the propaganda,
and unless one is familiar
with chapter and verse of the
Zionists quoted it is impos-
sible to detect the highly
selective method, of quoting.
In addition, a great deal
of Arab propaganda is de-
veloped, refined and adapted
to the needs of professors,
intellectuals, students, trade
unionists and journalists by
Arab and left-wing. specialists
in the field of Israel and
Zionism.
The Arab propagandists
and their left-wing partners
are not only prolific writers
but also voracious readers',
much more so than the aver-
age Zionist in a given local
community. They have the
source material and are
trained to use it to "prove"
their contentions.
Why don't the Zionists do
the same to prove the real
nature of Zionism and expose
the specious Arab statements
about Zionism and. Israel?
Part of the answer is that
for too many years they were
convinced of Israel's and
Zionism's righteous cause
and their reading and study-
ing habits become slovenly.
It is easy enough for the
national Zionist organiza-
tions, the American Zionist
Federation, and the World
Zionist Organization to pro-
vide various source material
geared specifically to aca-
demics, students, organizers,
journalists and activists. The
Zionist - community does not
have the millions in petro-
dollars the Arabs are using
for their propaganda activi-
ties in this country but it
.does have the skilled writers,
theoreticians and publicists
to effectively counter this
propaganda.
It is easy enough for local
Zionist groups to form study
circles to analyze Arab prop-
aganda in the light of actual
Zionist writings, but the
pertinent information has to
be available and that has to
be supplied by the Zionist ed-
ucational apparatus here and
in Israel.
The responsibility and the
blame for the lack of such
lies with the official Zionist
groups which, thus far, have
been lackadaisical in their
educational efforts. More-
over, they have been reluc-
tant to challenge the Arab
propaganda in public de-
bates.
When was the last time
that Zionists discussed
Achad Ha'am's scathing de-
nunciation of the early naive
Zionist view that Palestine
was a "land without people
for a people without land?"
It might be well to reprint
this article, "The Truth
About Palestine," written in
1891.
When was the last time
that Zionists referred to the
Brith Shalom (Peace Alli-
ance) and Ichud movements
in Palestine in the late 1920s
and early 1930s which.sought
ways to ahcieve Arab-Jewish
rapprochement and had in
its leadership such Zionist
luminaries as Hugo Berg-
mann, Henrietta Szald, Ar-
thur Ruppin, Judah Magnes
and Hayim Kalvarisky?
When was the last time
Zionists ref erred to the
wealth of information about
Palestine contained in the
now out of print two-volume
1380-page Esco Foundation
study, "Palestine: A Study of
Jewish, Arab and British
Policies." And for that -mat-
ter, when was the last
Histadrut focussed on it
origins and history in
early 1920s when Jewish and
Arab workers organized and
fought side by side against
the British strikebreakers,
union busters and company
unions in Palestine?"
The object of all this? To
show that the history, theory
and practice of Zionism
which led to the founding of
the state of Israel was not a
monolithic movement forcing
everyone to fall into line, nor
an imperialist-oriented move-
ment and ideology, nor a
colonial-settler state, move-
ment, but rather a movement
and ideology of a people
deeply imbued with and com-
mitted to the goal of restruc-
turing- Jewish existence as a
cohesive people in coopera-
tion with and not in opposi-
tion to Arab workers and
other oppressed peoples id
the region.
The point, too, is to show
that Zionism is and remains
as historically legitimate
as any other national libera-
tion movement; and to show
that Zionism and the Jewish
yishuv in Palestine forced out
the British imperialists, not
the Arabs.
Perhaps the time has come
for Zionists to focus beyond
the critique of Arab arms to
arming themselves with
critiques of Arab ideas as
they did in the past. For in
the long run, the ideas will
prove more powerful than
the arms the Arabs now have
at their. disposal.
Solidarity Expressed With Syrian Jews
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A week
of "Solidarity with Syrian
Jews" was observed in Israel
and other countries this week
with the aim of focusing
world opinion on the plight
of Jews in Syria and bringing
external pressures to bear
on the Damascus authorities
to allow Jews to emigIate.
The ministry of education
has distributed 2,000 replicas.
of an exhibit tracing the his-
tory of Syria's Jewish com-
munity from ancient times
to the present. ~It includes an
aerial photograph of the Jew-
ish quarter of Damascus
taken by Israel Air Force
reconnaissance pilots.
The "Solidarity Week" was
proclaimed here by the Is-
raeli Students Union; the Tel
Aviv Pupils Council; the
Public Committee for Arab
Jewry; the Zionist Council
for Israel; and the Organiza-
tion of Syrian- Emigrants.
Mass rallies, demonstrations
and lectures were planned
during the week on campus-
es, and in cities, towns and ther one million signatures to
villages throughout Israel. save Syrian Jews.
In Paris, a rally was led
The drive, sponsored by the
by Beate Klarsfeld, the anti- Union of American Hebrew
Nazi activist. A similar event Congregations and the Cen-
was slated to take place in tral Conference of American
London under the auspices Rabbis, will coincide with the
of the "35 Group," a group first yahrzeit of Eva Saad
of women who have been ac- and Tony, Lora and Farah
tive on behalf of Soviet Jew- Zeyback, sisters, who were
ry. The World Union of Jew- found murdered March 7,
ish Students (WUJS) planned 1974 in a street of the Jewish
&monstrations in 13 differ- quarter in Damascus.
ent localities.
In addition to demanding
free emigration for Syrian Iran Aided Ar
Jews, the various demonstra-
tions called for the release in October War
of Jewish political prisoners
in Syria and the removal of TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Prof.
harsh restrictions imposed on Rahala Ramzani of the Uni-
Syrian Jews. Cables have versity of Virginia disclosed
been sent to the United Na- during a symposium held
tions Secretary General Kurt here that during the Yom
Waldheim, and to UNESCO Kippur War the government
demanding an investigation of Iran permitted Soviet air-
of the condition of Jews liv- craft to fly over their terri-
ing in Arab countries. tory carrying war cargoes to
In the United States a na- the Arabs. The Soviet trans-
tional petition drive will be ports were taking arms to
utciertlaken Feb. 21-23 to ga- Syria and Egypt.
V.