2 January 23, 1976 • THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary Unconscionable Criticisms With the Critics Who Would Deprive Us of Pride and the Normality of Jewish Propaganda . . . As- sembled Facts to Define Status of Jews Among the Arabs. United Nations must be strengthened, the legitimate and national rights of the Palestinians must be Critics of Israel are multiplying by the scores. Some firmly grounded, and all UN reolutions concerning are exceedingly tough. That does not make them anti-Sem- Palestine back to 1947 — that is, back to the Parti- ites. Jews also criticize Israel and if ever Jews were to cease tion Plan — must be mobilized against Israel. The being self-critical it would be a calamity. Palestinian question must never again be dealt with But there are varieties and multiple stages in criticism in the United Nations as a mere refugee problem, and much of it needs to be studied. but must be handled with a view to a separate Pales- Some critics go overboard out of a desire to be even- tinian state. handed, without measuring conditions that demand greater DIE ZEIT: Would this also create a basis for rationalizing. recognition by the PLO of a separate Israeli state, of A typical example of haste in judgment was Gary Israel's right to exist? Wills' "Israel's Bad Conscience" in the Free Press. How can MUSHIN: I don't like to answer this question. a man, in these trying times, when the only slogan heard If Israel remains what it is — a racist, Zionist, impe- from the Arabs is "Destroy Israel" equate "conscience" with rialist state — all it will get from our side is bullets the right to self-defense? Wouldn't a human being be un- and shells. Not until Israel has become something conscionable to himself if he did not defend himself when different will the Jews see our faces and, indeed, our the knife is at his throat held by those professing to be outstretched hands — not unless they are ready for friends? Isn't this the situation for the People Israel that peaceful dialogue with us, so as to create with us the must defend itself while nations claiming to be endorsing democratic, secular state of Palestine. We want to the nation's sovereignty—England, France, Sweden, Rus- co-exist with them, in a unified state or a state with sia, Japan — are stabbing the state in the back? two cantons. We don't want to throw them into the Another example: the Detroit Free Press editorial com- sea or drive them into the desert. ment about Israel "swallowing pride." There is no obliga- DIE ZEIT: But that really amounts to denying tion on anyone's part to flatter Israel, to pat the people af- them the right of existence in a state of their own, fectionately. But this people, the Israelis, stand alone. They doesn't it? have only Uncle Sam to provide defense against a cutthroat MUHSIN: They will have to accept this even- situation in the international forum and on war-threaten- tually. Our right of existence in all of Palestine ing borders. Isn't it possible for Americans with a tradition comes first. for fair play to back up their government in a stand for DIE ZEIT: And a Palestinian state confined to justice for the Jew and for Israel? the formerly Jordanian West Bank of Gaza would So, there also is a begrudging of Pride . What's the sub- not satisfy these juristic claims? stitute for it? If it is suicide, haven't the naive learned the MUHSIN: No, never. We want back every piece lesson of history that it has no place in Jewish tradition? of land, every field, every village and every house It has been evident that the Detroit News editorials that was ever ours. We will not yield on that. Right, have been more rational than those of the Free Press, that natural right, is on our side. the former often adopted the courageous stance of a Daniel DIE ZEIT: Can one put it to the Israelis to com- Patrick Moynihan while the latter sought appeasement mit this sort of national suicide? which has no place in a battle for justice. How sad that two MUHSIN: They will have to learn to under- competing newspapers must be judged so bluntly. stand, but they won't understand until they change their outlook. That will happen when they are down We, the Propagandists on their knees before us, when we have smashed This assertion of a right to self-defense is not made them to pieces by force of arms. without the realization that it will be branded "Jewish DIE ZEIT: In other words, peace is not in sight? propaganda." Let it be so, but let it be understood as the MUHSIN: For now, neither war nor peace. And right to protect the people that refuses to submit to plans in the future, war again, new wars. It's inevitable. for its suicide, for a nation that proclaims a "never again" Such are the facts Israel must contend with, and if attitude towards those who would introduce another geno- what Jews say in viewing them is propaganda, then so be it. cide. When Dr. Rafael Lemkin, the Jewish scholar, coined But let the fair-minded in this land judge Israel and Jewry according to the standards of American traditions. the term genocide, he was issuing a warning not in behalf of fellow Jews alone but for mankind. Anyone who permits genocide for others may well in- Some More Propaganda Admittedly propagandistic, more is introduced here to vite it for his own people. Jews were the first victims of Nazism. Then came enlighten those who are puzzled by the avalanche of hatred Christianity and all mankind. The Grand Mufti of Jerusa- that has invaded the international forum of the UN and has lem, Haj Amin el Hussein, Anwar el Sadat and other Arabs misled many editors and news analysts. There are the audacious statements at the UN Security collaborated with Hitler, but there were Moslems who knew what the Nazi crime meant for humanity and Islam is not Council that Arabs do not intend to harm Jews: they are linked with the criminals, even if Moslems were among the only against the Zionists; the claim advanced is that Arabs have, for 1,300 years, lived in peace with Jews and treated latter. This point was made before and need not be elaborated them well. Let the facts be known on this score. An authori- tative historian provides this background data on the upon. * * * subject: At times, Jews — and Christians — have lived The Venom in Classrooms comfortably in the Arab world. Yet even in good The matter of propaganda and self-defense does need times life in the Arab world was precarious for Jews elaboration. — if less so than during certain eras in Christian The proof is where guilt for the spread of venom should Europe. In Spain, for example, the Jews of the prin- be anathema. There is much guilt on the campuses and in cipality of Granada enjoyed high status; a Jew, university Middle East and Near East departments. Samuel ibn-Nagrela, was a vizier and commanded The poisoning of minds is at our very doorsteps. There the armed forces. But in 1066 a Moslem mob rose are such classes at the University of Michigan and the facts against the prosperous infidels; 3,000 Jews were must be known. There is a portion of a department dealing killed, and the rest fled. with the Middle East where Israel is defined in most venom- Moslem religious, legal and historical tradition ous terms. Students report that the PLO had its approval has been deeply ambivalent about nonconforming there before it was welcomed to the UN. But when students faiths ever since Mohammed laid down his teach- brought The Jewish News articles as evidence of an Israel ings in the Koran. Although his doctrine, like the role in the Middle East they were shunned with the com- precepts of other faiths, has been modified by vary- ment that the JN is Jewish propaganda. And in imme- ing emphases and interpretations over the centu- diate pursuit was an avalanche of Arab publications which ries, it is still the basic standard of Arab ethical and the students were expected to accept as truths and realities. Therefore the reassertion of the right to self-defense social values. through factual Jewish propaganda. A people threatened The Koran sanctions toleration of certain reli- with destruction must have defense and they are our gions that claim to be based on divine revelation, people. notably Judaism and Christianity. Their adherents There is also the reality and the fact of a frightful situ- — known as "people of the Book," i.e., believers in ation which threatens the security not of Jews alone but of holy writ and in one God — are not to be forcibly the entire Middle East. In these columns — call them prop- converted and may worship in their own way as long aganda if so de'sired — the facts are based on the declara- as they accept the sovereignty of their Moslem rul- tions of Arab spokesmen. The intention is to show the ex- ers. But the dissenting faiths are in no way to be tent of the Arab plan to destroy Israel. If this is propaganda considered on a par with Islam, which is expected to it certainly is not of the Jewish making but of Arab blood- supersede them altogether. thirstiness, as the following, the complete text of an inter- After Mohammed's death, the Arabs explosively view by the West German magazine Die Zett, with Zuhayr extended their domain until it reached from the In- Muhsin, who calls himself the PLO "defense minister": dus Valley to the Atlantic. War on unbelievers be- DIE ZEIT: What will be the PLO's objectives came virtually a religious duty. It was expected that when it participates in the Security Council's Near eventually the whole world would be converted. Meanwhile, the treatment of the millions of uncon- East debate, scheduled for Jan. 12, 1976? verted Christians and Jews was defined in a body of MUHSIN: . . . The positions of the PLO in the By Philip Slomovitz local or regional laws and agreements, collectively known as the Pact or Covenant of Omar. The Pact is based on the Koran's prescriptions. Although the rules varied, the general principle was that adherents of tolerated religions, known as dhimmis, were to be "protected" only as long as they paid tribute and kept their place. They had no control over their destinies; any special privileges they enjoyed were by definition revocable. Under laws of the Pact of Omar dhimmis were excluded from public office and armed service. They were forbidden to own arms, hence defenseless against violence. They could ride no horses, only donkeys or mules. No matter how poor, they had to pay heavy special taxes, which were often collected in humiliating ways. Non-Moslem farmers paid dis- criminatory land taxes and were forbidden to bring new land under cultivation. As a result, dense Christian settlements in parts of the Mideast It ually disappeared. Even in tranquil times, the restrictions re- mained on the books, and the illiterate Moslem mas- ses remained imbued with the idea that they had a right to be better off than unbelievers. By becoming rich, powerful or proud, dhimmis could easily in- flame the mob, which was quick to envy and vio- lence, and thus Jewish communities often paid dearly for their leaders' good fortune. During recent centuries, as European power took hold in much of the Arab world, oppression was mitigated to some degree. By the 19th Century, Jews in a number of Moslem countries had achieved citi- zenship, a lively cultural life and sometimes pros- perity. But where European dominance did not pen- etrate, as in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, nothing changed. In their attitudes toward non-Moslems in their midst, many of the Arab nations are virtually still in the Middle Ages. And as long as they are, their as- sertions of old friendship for Jewry and their prom- ises of equality and democracy will have a hollow ring. Would that the Arab claims were true. Then they would be applicable to the present time and Jews and Arabs would, as they can, live together in harmony. But Arabs also claims that Israelis — Zionists! . . . Jews! — mistreat them. There are facts on that score as well. Israeli law does not discriminate and the charges are refutable. In a study prepared for the Institute of Jewish Affairs and the World Jewish Congress by Dr. Natan Lerner, an eminent Israeli academician and legal authority, the follow- ing is outlined: The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, issued by the Provisional Council on May 14, 1948, determines that: the state "will en- sure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective" of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, consci- ence, language, education and culture . . . As to political rights, elections to the Knesset are general, secret, proportional, the whole country constituting one single electoral unit. Arab partici- pation in the elections oscillates around 85 percent, a percentage undoubtedly high in a country where the vote is not obligatory and abstention carries no sanction, and where moreover Arabs are urged from abroad not to vote. Freedom of expression was not curtailed even in the case of publications vigorously attacking the foundations of the state; the Arabic dailies appear- ing in Jerusalem are not less free than the Hebrew press. As to freedom of religion and worship, no com- plaints have ever been made by minorities. In ac- cordance with the prevailing system, mainly inher- ited from the time of the Mandate, recognized minorities have sole jurisdiction over all matters of religion and personal status. Thus, Moslem reli- gious judges have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of marriage and divorce, alimony, guardianship, wills, etc., their jurisdiction being even wider than that of judges of the Jewish Rabbinical Court, which is only competent when the parties agree to it. In the field of education, Israeli Arabs have--p- arate schools in Arabic in their towns and villages, without prejudice to their right also to attend gen- eral Jewish schools. The Law on Compulsory Edu- cation applies fully to the Arab sector. In terms of citizenship, all Palestine citizens who remained in Israel were automatically granted full citizenship, and residents of the area who fled are exempt from the requirement of having some knowledge of Hebrew. Propaganda? Certainly! But it is propaganda stating facts, without ignoring the arguments of the enemy; propaganda in de- fense of life: propaganda for the protection of the people whose very existence is endangered. And on these scores apologies are unnecessary.