56 Friday, August 1, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Journalist Warns America Against Complacency:
`Crucial Challenges and Rededication for Survival'
By ROBERT ST. JOHN
(Keynote address deliv-
ered Sunday at the 46th
annual convention of the
National Federation of
.Jewish Men's Clubs.)
In the 1930s many col-
leagues of mine (such fellow
foreign correspondents as
William L. Shirer, Vincent
Sheean, Quentin Reynolds
tried by. written and spoken
word to alert a very compla-
cent America to what was
about to happen — what
was already happening in
Europe. But very few lis-
tened.
In 1939-40 I and many
other war correspondents
came home and went on
radio and on the lecture
platform to tell of what the
Nazis were doing to Euro-
pean Jews. But not even
American Jews seemed to
take it very seriously.
Now (in my opinion) we
are once again on the thres-
hold of possible catastrophe,
yet again I find the Ameri-
can Jewish public (in gen-
eral) very complacent.
I fear greatly for Israel's
survival and for the survial
of all that's meant by your
Jewishness. I fear also for
the survival of many values
that we Americans (Jews
and non-Jews alike) at least
pretend we believe in. What
is the basis of this fear?
Listen!
Item No. 1: Jordan and
Syria have just recently
agreed on joint military
action against Israel when
and if war comes and the
Ford Administration is at
this moment supplying
Jordan with Hawk sur-
face-to-air missiles and
other sophisticated weap-
ons for use against Israel,
while at the same time
denying Israel any new
weapons, at least until the
so-called reassessment is
over, meaning, perhaps,
until Israel agrees to lie
down quietly and become
another Czechoslovakia,
in order to satisfy certain
personal ambitions of Dr.
Kissinger.
For years I've been de-
nouncing the policy of arm-
ing-, both sides in various
parts of the world: Greeks
against Turks and Turks
against Greeks; Pakistani
against Indians and Indians
against Pakistani, half a
dozen Latin American coun-
tries against each other.
In 1967 I witnessed a bat-
tle between two identical
tanks near the YMCA in the
Old City of Jerusalem —
one a Patton tank we had
given to Jordan, the other a
Patton tank we had given Is-
rael the privilege of buying
from us. The Israeli Patton
won. The Jordanian Patton
ended up burned out, up-
side-down. When the metal
was cool enough to touch, I
yanked-off a piece of the
Jordanian Patton and for
eight years have been carry-
ing it around the lecture
circuit and holding it up as
an ugly example of Great
Power Immorality. Why?
. 'tern No. • 2:' We are ship-
ping this year to Saudi Ara-
bia one and a half billion
dollars worth of war machi-
nery — 14 times what we
sold her a year or two agO.
Without the approval of
Congress (or the American
people) the White House
and Pentagon have inaugu-
rated a 10-year plan to give
Saudi Arabia the strongest
army in the Middle East,
while Saudi Arabia finances
Israel's enemies and has
made it clear that in time of
war she will let Syria and
Egypt "borrow" any . of her
war machines they may
need to destroy Israel. Why?
Item No. 3: Most of the
Third World and the Arab
countries, probably with
Communist encourage-
ment, are threatening to
vote to suspend Israel this
fall from the UN General
Assembly, as the first step
in expelling her completely
from the UN. Why?
Item No. 4: During the
first quarter of 1975, the Ar-
abs have invested half a bil-
lion dollars in the stocks and
bonds of key American cor-
porations, with no apparent
objection from anyone.
Why?
Item No. 5: When Ameri-
can colleges and universities
open a month or two from
now, there will be a 36 per-
cent increase in the number
of Arab students on U.S.
campuses. Dr. Norman Fri-
mer, national director of
Hillel, indicated in an ad-
dress in Washington that he
is not worried. Having been
recently on some university
campuses and having seen
the Arab students in action,
I am worried.
I lectured recently at Or-
egon State University. On
the way in from the airport
I asked the professor who
had met me how many Arab
students Oregon State U.
had. He said something like
100. I made him a bet that
10 of them would be in the
first row at my lecture.
I was wrong. There were
19, plus others scattered
around the room. The audi-
ence was almost totally an-
tagonistic.
In the question period
one of the Arabs said to
me: "You and your Jew-
friends have had it all your
way for a long time, but
things are now changing
— very fast. Start listen-
ing to Howard K. Smith
and Reasoner. We've got
that network taken care
of. And we'll be taking
care of the others soon."
For two hours they gave
me a very bad time.
I was told there were a
few Israelis among the stu-
dents, although not one ap-
peared at the lecture. Later
I asked one of them why?
"Because we're here to learn
to become agricultural ex-
perts, engineers," he said.
"Not to make propaganda."
My reply was that they had
better start taking as much
interest in Middle Eastern
affairs as the Arab students
are taking, or there might
ROBERT ST. JOHN
b.) Senator Fulbright's
recent statement upon his
return from a tour of the
Middle East: "The Arabs
have learned to be moder-
ate, reasonable. Gone are
the days of the Nasser pe-
riod when the Arabs threat-
ened to exterminate the Is-
raelis."
I need not waste time
proving to you how untrue
those statements are. But I
do wish to warn you that
millions of Americans ac-
cept them as fact, and that's
the reason I mention them.
not he an Israel to go back
to.
P.S. to the story. If there
are any American Jewish
students at Oregon State,
not one of them made his
presence felt at the lecture
that night. Why not?
Item No. 6: In many univ-
ersities around the country
the Middle East Affairs
Depts. are suddenly being
staffed by 100 percent pro-
Arab professors, instead of
either neutralists or pro-Is-
rael specialists. Why?
Item No. 7: After 76 U.S.
Senators recently signed a
letter of support for Israel,
a dispatch from Washing-
ton said that Ford and Kis-
singer, angered by this
action, were going to go
over the heads of the Sena-
tors and "take the issue to
the people." Incidentally,
before this Kissinger-Ford
campaign to change the
public's mind, polls
showed that Americans in
general were more than
three to one in favor of full
support of Israel.
Item No. 8: Last month at
the Bnai Brith convention in
St. Louis, two pickets
dressed in full Nazi regalia
carried signs reading:
"Hitler was right."
Item No. 9: The largest
Argentine newspaper re-
cently published a full-page
ad for a book on Argentine
inflation, showing Argen-
tina crucified on the cross
whose nail heads were Mo-
gen Davids, and at the base
of the cross sat a hook-nosed
person with a hammer in
hand. WHY?
Item No. 10: The leaders
of Arab-Americans are or-
ganizing a public relations
campaign, financed by U.S.
oil companies like Gulf,
Mobil and Standard of Cali-
fornia. A sample of their as-
tuteness: entire high school
classes are being taken on
trips to Arab countries —
all expenses paid by Arab
oil interests. Why?
Item No. 11: Paul Jo-
seph Goebbels, Hitter's
minister of public enlight-
enment, used the tech-
nique of The Big. Lie with
ferocious effectiveness.
Now the Arabs and their
friends are using it, just as
effectively. Two examples
of how they repeat either a
complete falsehood or a
half-lie so frequently that
it gets believed:
a.) We have nothing
against Jews; it's only Zion-
ists we hate.
Item No. 12: In the De-
troit News the other day
there appeared a letter
signed by a very WASP
name, Robert Blake, attack-
ing Israel most bitterly. It
contained, by my own
count, 27 half-truths. Here's
a small example of the dis-
tortion: "Israel lacks free-
dom of the press, religious
neutrality, equality under
the law, freedom of associa-
tion and universal suffrage.
"Instead of liberty, equal-
ity and democracy we find
authority, servility and
theocracy. True, elections
are staged — which always
result in a labor government
— but if that makes Israel a
democracy, then South Af-
rica and Russia are demo-
cratic, too."
This is typical of the
thinly disguised anti-Semi-
tism that begins to rear its
stinking head (even in re-
spectable places) disguised
as "objectivity." Why?
Item No. 13: I hold in my
hand a publication called
Swasia, which calls itself "a
weekly digest of Southwest
Asia and North Africa news
focusing on the Israel-Pales-
tine conflict, the Persian
Gulf, and great power poli-
tics, with translations from
the Hebrew and Arabic
press." It is published by the
Middle East and Europe
Working Group, Division of
Overseas Ministries of the
National Council of
Churches. It's an innocent-
looking publication. It does
quote from both the Israeli
and the Arabic press, but
the Arab quotes are all anti-
Israeli — and so are the
quotations from the Israeli
press. Why?
Item No. 14: I hold in my
hand copies of the Aramco
World Magazine, the
slickest publication (lit-
erally) that I have ever
seen. It must cost a fortune
to publish. But of course
Aramco (the Arabia Amer-
ican Oil Company) doesn't
have to pinch pennies,
thanks to the repeated and
unwarranted increases in
the price of gasoline that
we Americans are forced
to pay. Aramco World
Magazine is sent free to a
select list of American
opinion-makers. It pic-
tures an Arab world with-
out poverty, pestilence or
problems — everything
beautiful, happy and ser-
ene.
Item No. 15: I hold in my
hand a copy of Link, pub-
lished by Americans for
Middle East Understanding
— (How could anyone disa-
gree with Middle East Un-
derstanding"?) The direc-
tors of this organization
include the former commis-
sioner-general of UNRWA
which feeds Arab refugees;
a former CARE director, a
few rich oil men, and some
Protestant and Catholic
clergy. It is subtle poison,
which I am sure is swal-
lowed thoughtlessly by
many "good people." Why?
Finally, Item No. 16: Let
me introduce Israel Shahak,
professor of organic chemis-
try at Hebrew University,
survivor of the Warsaw
Ghetto and the Bergen-Bel-
sen Concentration Camp ...
a Jew, who seems to hate Is-
rael. He wrote an article
for the Israeli press, but the
only Israeli paper that
would print it was Zu Had-
erech, the weekly paper of
Rakah, one of Israel's two
Communist parties. In it he
holds up as a typical Israeli
one Meir Har-Zion, who in a
book told of his own terror-
ist activity ... how much he
enjoys killing an Arab, espe-
cially with a knife, because
he can then feel that he is a
male.
"He asks his commander
for permission to kill an
unarmed Arab shepherd,
with a knife, and then de-
scribes with sadistic enjoy-
ment the way his comrades
hold the Arab while he,
Har-Zion, plunges the knife
in his back and the blood
splashes from the wound."
Then this distinguished
Hebrew University profes-
sor writes: "I am not afraid
to say publicly that Israeli
Jews and with them most
Jews throughout the world,
are undergoing a process of
Nazification. Does a people
whose hero is Meir Har-Zion
deserve any other title?
Would we give another
name to a people whose hero
enjoys killing Jews with a
knife and to see how the
blood splashes?
"Isn't it the Nazi Horst
Wesel who spoke of the
pleasure of Jewish blood
dripping from his knife." On
and on and on. Paragraph
after paragraph of denun-
ciation of Israelis in general
by this Israeli professor.
As a writer and a jour-
nalist I am deeply devoted
to freedom of expression.
So what should Israel do
about Israel Shahak? The
Communist weekly pub-
lished the article. Then
Swasia (National Council
of Churches) picks it up
and re-runs it, for the ben-
efit of millions of Ameri-
can Protestants. Then
Link picks it up from
Swasia and reprints it and
sends it to Senators, Con-
gressmen and to those who
feed the American public
its news and opinions.
Those are my 16 pieces of
evidence. Please don't com-
plain that I have not given
you a "balanced" picture of
the world. ..Of course there
are somp',cheerful, encour-
aging developments. But my
task tonight has not been to
play Pollyanna.
Instead I have been trying
my best to shock you out of
any complacency which
may possess you ... to warn
you that your enemies (our
enemies) are on the alp",
well-financed, ever ab
buy the services of su,ii
once-mighty men as former
Vice President Agnew, for-
mer Secretary of State Rog-
ers, former Attorney Gen-
eral Kleindienst, men who
shall be noted in history for
their utter lack of princi-
ples.
My friends, we live in the
most immoral age in the
entire history of mankind.
Imagine . . . the World
Health Organization,
UNESCO, ILO, the Human
Rights Commission and
other world bodies, with
regard for neither logic, nor
facts, nor morality, voting
almost unanimously to con-
demn Israel for this or that.
Aren't you frightened?
I am!
Aren't you worried? I am!
And so here is our con-
ference keynote: crucial
challenges. (I hope I've
indicated what some of
them are.) Rededication to
survival — the survival of
Judaism, the survival of
Jewishness; even more
than that, the survival of
all those values which we
Americans at least pre-
tend to believe in.
What to do about it? My
suggestions:
• Be wary. Be on your
guard. Be alert to the dan-
ger. Be warned that it could
happen, there and here.
• Support Israel in every
way you can conceive of.
Give to Israel. Lend to Is-
rael. Go to Israel. You might
get wounded in Zion Square,
Jerusalem, or on Allenby
Rd., Tel Aviv; but if you
were to go instead to Los
Angeles your chances of get-
ting killed on one of their
freeways would be even
greater.
(through
• Organize
your men's clubs) a cam-
paign to alert hour fellow
Jews to the dangers.
• Try to devise ways to
reach the general non-Jew-
ish public hack home, not
just with answers to distor-
tion (as in that Detr.it
News letter) but with::
tive facts — with an a r ...al
in this Bicentennial Year for
the Jewish right to life, lib-
erty and the pursuit of hap-
piness.
As you do-battle against
all the forces of bigotry,
stupidity and immorality,
know that you have a
great many friends among
the Goyim — goyim mean-
ing, in its true sense,
"those other people out
there."
Non-Jew though I am, I
would not want to live in a
world in which Israel could
not exist and in which Jews
could not continue to make
their significant contribu-
tion to mankind's climb
from the mud to the stars.