THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS 2 Friday, February 21, 1975 Purely Commentary How the Mighty Mike Wallace Has Fallen Victom to a Syrian Lie! Even the mightiest must be on guard, especially when they get to a land like Syria where 4,500 Jews are in a vir- tual prison. Mike Wallace and his "60 Minutes" show were taken in so glibly that last Sunday evening's program was subjected to disrespect. The propagandists certainly made sure that Wallace and his associates would listen to a rich Jew and a teacher who would have risked their lives had they told the truth about events in that country. It was only a few months ago that the Syrian commu- nity of outraged Jews dared to hold a protest meeting against the' Syrian barbarities. But as in the Soviet Union, where even a man who had been called "Chief Rabbi" , for years propagated_ the Soviet line hiding the anti-Jewish acts, it was not so difficult to find a couple of Jews, especially one rich one, -to speak the lie. General Lucious Clay and a group of non-Jews have been exposing the Syrian anti-Jewish terror for several years, pleading with mankind's conscience in their behalf. But Mike Wallace was taken in' Even more inexcusable than the lack of knowledge about the expose of Syrian barbarism by Genefal Clay is the failure of the "60 Minutes" program to take into account the grave dangers that were encountered by the Jews in the Huleh Valley from Syrian attacks upon the Jewish settle- ments. These continuous threats to the lives of Jewish set- tlers . justified acquisition of the Golan by Israel in 1967 and retention of the heights as a protection of Jewish lives to this day. Why'can't the media understand such elementary rights for Jews? - Not so long ago, National Geographic Magazine pulled a blunder similar to Mike Wallace's and for the first time in its history was compelled to publish a correction and an apology. Wallace similarly owes it to the millions of Ameri- can viewers of his programs . to study the facts, indicate the truth and apologize for an error that could well delay the rescue of Syrian Jewry from total annihilation. What a pity — and how difficult it has become to ask a hearing for the truth:! Also tragically misled was Garry Wills. He went to the West Bank, saw the university established there by Israel in operation and. listened to Arabsfuming against Israel. He heard about a prominent Arab being expelled from IS- rael and took it as a sign of discrimination. That Arab must have been the organizer of terrorists against Jews else the propagandist against Israel would have been tolerated. Wills failed to take into account Israel's permitting the functioning of two Arab newsletters that are spreading an- ti-Israel sentiments, that Israel is encouraging an Arab uni- versity in her midst. Should she also encourage those who propagate her destruction? Be reasonable, gentlemen' * * * Even the Mighty Must Be Cautious; Episode of Reston of New Yorke Times Mike Wallace's '60 Minutes' Taken in by Syrian Propa- ganda Tools . .. Another Hitlerian Example of 'Keep Re- peating the Lie and It'll Emerge as Truth' Reston was in Israel during the Six-Day War. He knows that the Israelis feared that their sur- vival was menaced as a result of Nasser's mobili- zation, his ouster of UNEF, his closing of the Straits of Tiran, and the failure of the UN and the United States to respond, as they had promised in 1957. It was- the Russians and the Arabs and their friends who accused Israel of aggression in 1967, but the United States rejected that accusation, and the UN General Assembly and Security Coun cil refused to condemn Israel. In rejecting the Soviet charge that Israel was the aggressor, Pres. Johnson said: "If a single act of folly. was more responsible" for this explosion than any other, it was the arbitrary and danger- ous announced decision that the Straits of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent- maritime passage must be preserved for all nations." Soon after Israel's victory, Reston wrote: "Israelis are now very popular in Washington. They had the courage of our convictions and they won the war we opposed." Observing that "the art of lying . . . seems to be in a slump" at the UN, Reston commented on June 22, 1967: "What the Soviet Union has done here is to encourage the Arab peoples to believe that they were the victims of a monstrous conspiracy, and that their hope now lies in rearmament and re- venge. . . The evidence of Nasser's calculated plot to exterminate one of the member states of the United Nations lies plain on the table. . . . Yet most of the speeches have concentrated not on condemnation of 'these plans but on calling on Is- rael to withdraw. . . . The devilish thing about the Soviet strategy here is its attempt to carry the dis- astrous Arab myths of the past into the future." supports-the emigration of Soviet dissidents no matter what their religion. It is good that the man who is confronted with such a question had the proper and correct answer to all the angles in the Jackson- . ian activities. The suspicion that prompted the question is certain to be repeated while Senator Jackson campaigns for the Presi- dency. An interesting experience, related to such suspicions, is worth recalling. The late W. K. Kelsey, who was perhaps the most popular De- troit News columnist for more than two decades, was an avid reader of The Jewish News. He also read the Michigan Catholic. He lived in the Belcrest and many of the Jewish women who had apart- ments there thought he was a Catholic because of- it. Once he took The Jewish News with him to the lobby and as was reading it one of the ladies stepped .up and said: "Oh, , Kelsey! I didn't know you Were a Jew!" Bill Kelsey got a great kick out of it, as he related the incident. That's how it is. Some judgments are casual. Some suspicions border on prejudice. . When and Where Freedom Rings: Prof. Irving Howe Exposes Abuses, University Lecture Racket Prof. Irving Howe of Hunter College, editor of Dissent maga- zine, has earned many distinctions as an able analyst of social problems. He is among the very distinguished scholars who have contributed _ in great measure _ towards a revived interest in Yiddish, ) and his several books on Yid- - dish literature are among the valuable elements in that stiug- gle. Now he earns added en: comia for exposing the exagger- ated lectureships and especially in his insistence that there are limitations to granting too much freedom to rabble-rous- ers and self-seekers and those who seek to capitalize on noto- riety. It is possible that the Reston correction was a result of He expressed his views ad- the challenge contained in the Near East Report. mirably in an Op-Ed Page New Which- goes to prove that insistence upon truth is im- York Times article on the topic perative; that even when dealing with the most reputable "The Watergate Money-Trust columnists it is necessary to insist upon truth in relation to Harvest." Because it is applicable to many others besides the new Jewry and Israel. What Near East Report accomplished in crop of Watergate conspicous characters, his views merit most seri- the Reston case was not propaganda: it was a quest for and ous consideration. an achievement of justice. • Dr. Howe makes the point in relation to the high fees for lec- * * tures at universities commanded by Ronald Ziegler, former Presi- dent Nixon's press secretary, John Dean and other members of the Non-Interference in Israel's Politics: Watergate cast of characters. He points to the plight of Universi- JDL Program Unacceptable - ties in meeting their financial needs and deplores the spectacles of sensation-creating lecture series at prohibitive fees. A Jewish Defense League appeal -for support of a move- Key figures in the Watergate scandal are not only capital- ment to influence the kind of government Israel is to have izing on their notoriety: they are given top positions in publicity, in in a task of retaining the presently administered territories coverage of their lectures in which they do no more than repeat is, at best, farcial. An American Jew can have preferences. He can favor what's already on the record, and they now must dress their best because their photographs get front page priority in most newspa- a Government of National Unity for Israel of the type de- pers. That's how a crime is being converted into a spectacle of glori- manded by the Likud Party and Menahem Begin. But he is fication! not a citizen of Israel and all he can do is advise. He hasn't His conclusions are admonitions against granting undeserved the right to propagate militancy in matters involving Is- freedom -to those who would disrupt and pollute the air of free dis- rael's political status. cussion. He states: . As long as the media search for and ascertain the The role of American Jews vis-a-vis Israel has been de- truth, there will be gratitude for the value of our press and bated for many years. No doubt, there could be 'justified related communications sources. cooperative tasks involving immigration, the universities, The New York -Times regularly prints corrections in a the school systems that receive support from Diaspora Je- special spot on the first page of the second section. - wry, the institutions for the aged. On the score of such serv- On Feb. 7 an unusual one appeared under the column ices the contributors to philanthropic needs which are so "Scoop!" by James Reston. In his correction, the prominent vital to Israel's existence-have a justified demand for active New York Times columnist stated: participation. The political sphere is Israel's. In this space the other day, I asked: "Who are How can American Jews contribute towards Israel's se- the friends of Israel? . . . those who urge her to curity and her protection against the pressures to drive the give up territory ottupied by aggression or those embattled state into a ghetto? On this score it is obligatory who urge her to hold on to everything she has?" for American Jews to assert themselves with the responsi- The use of the word "aggression'! instead of ble government leaders that the United States should not be "force" implied that Israel was responsible for a party to denuding Israel of just rights and of secure starting the 1967 war, which I did not intend, and borders. was a mistake. The Arab blockade of the Gulf of The JDL has caused Jewry a great deal of annoyance. Aqaba and the Strait of Tiran, and the dismissal Its members have resorted to violence and some of the acts of the United Nations Emergency Force by the Ar- were inexcusable. Just rights for Jews are not obtainable by abs were widely regarded as acts of war which violent means. Therefore JDL has been and remains under led to the Israeli blitz. Both the United Nations suspicion and an appeal of the sort now circulated by that and the United States Government avoided the movement, at a time when there is so much urgency for a question of who was the aggressor. I am sorry -I fair solution leading to peace emerges as irresponsi- was not equally careful. ble. There is a background to this not to be ignored. Near * * * East Report (edited by I. L. Kenen) carried this item, as Suspicions That Border on Prejudice part of an article "Are the Media Fair to Israel?", in its issue It was to be expected: that a prominent legislator who consist- of Feb. 6. ently defends Israel and advocates support for Russian Jews seek- We know that memories are short, and we be- lieve that people have the right to change their minds; but we are astonished to read James Res- ton's column in which he writes that Israel occu- pies territory -by "aggression." Reston has covered the Arab-Israel conflict since 1947 at the UN, and he well knows that the Egyptians used the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza - strip as a staging ground for invasion and terror- ist penetration into Israel in 1948, in 1956, in 1967, and again in 1973. By Philip Slomovitz ing the right of emigration -to Israel should be suspected of being a Jew. Walter Scott's Personality/Parade in the Detroit Free Press included this question and Scott's reply: Q. Is Senator Jackson a Jew, or is he subsidized by Jew- ish interests? The reason I ask is that he spends all his time trying to get Jews out of Russia and ignores other Russians who would like to escape. — John Lawrence, Westfield, N.J. A. Senator Jackson (D., Wash.) is a Presbyterian. He has Jewish as well as non-Jewish campaign contributors. He - There are grave murmurings on editorial pages that to "disinvite" Ziegler is a violation of academic freedom. Why? No one said Ziegler is prevented from talking at Boston University, only that the original fee of $2,500 would have to be cut to $1,000—which his agent appar- antly wouldn't accept. If Mr. Ziegler is so passionately desirous of telling us about the abuses of power, he might find it in his heart to do so for $1,000 a shot. The whole business of forking out vast sums from hard-pressed universities to unsavory public figures needs some critical scrutiny. In the fifties, when I was teaching at Brandeis, every year a tiny- group of students tried to "embarrass" the administration and faculty by proposing to invite as a speaker George Lincoln Rock- well, the American apostle of Hitlerism. Did we care enough - about academic freedom, sneered these students, to give this Nazi the use of " Brandeis forum? And the answer we kept giving\ %- that, even as we believed in Rockwell's right to sperm_ freely, that didn't mean we had to welcome him to a Jew- ish-sponsored school or pay him a nickel for coming there. Let Rockwell get up on a soap box—as many of us have done for far better causes—and talk for nothing. To believe that I have no reason to invite him to my campus is in no way to- abridge his freedom of speech. I may grant people the right to indulge - in all sorts of habits, but not, if you please, in my house. There is a still larger moral issue. What sort of a so- ciety is it in which people who have been publicly con- victed of betraying their trust as officials of the Govern- ment; or people who have shamelessly defended those who betrayed that trust, are then "rewarded" with en- ormous advances for book contracts, enormous fees for lectures? This is clearing the air of misconceptions and of the fears that have gripped the democratically minded communities. Freedoms can be abused under the guise of unrestricted liberties in the demo- cratic society . It has been a perplexing problem for a long time. Prof. Howe helps to clear the air of the pollution of freedom. .