THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
2 June 25, 1976
Purely Commentary
Chaim Weizmann's Warnings to Rhodesian Jews
as Applicable Today as They Were Four Decades
Ago . . . Ugliness of Apartheid Comes Home to Roost
By Philip
Slomovitz
South Africa and Rhodesia . . . Jewish
Experiences and the Lessons That
Go Unlearned in Facing Dangers
ness, and in the professions, their Jewish schools function more than 100 Lebanese non-Jews are benefiting from a ha-
fairly well and mixed marriages are to a lesser degree than ven of refuge in Israel.
elsewhere, as a Rhodesian leader recently told this re-
This is both problematic and speculative. The wonder-
porter when they met in Johannesburg; and there have been ful Jewish community of South Africa, the affluent, the
Riots in South Africa or Rhodesia, or anywhere else a considerable number of conversions to Judaism out of con- cultured, the thoroughly Zionistic, which has provided Is-
where the race issue is paramount, inevitably compel the viction. But they are few among a comparative handful of rael with wholesome settlers and able leaders, has a serious
affected populations, and mankind at large, with warnings whites in a land whose fate is precarious. What should Jews problem. It may be in grave danger in years ahead. South
against complacency and indifference. There is seldom an do when they are not permitted to take their possessions Africa's government is strong, it is very effective, but the
outburst of racial tensions that had not been anticipated or with them if they emigrate? Should they recall Weizmann's nation's survival depends not on the power of a military
force or the effectiveness of a national program that will
in anticipation of which there were warnings to seek solu- warning or should they risk the future?
This is reminiscent of another not-too-distant period in keep the Communists — always the gravest danger to na-
tions speedily lest calamities lead to inhumanities and to
Jewish history. The late Gershon Agronsky, editor of the tional security — far away from the country's shores.
mass murders.
Palestine Post which later became the Jerusalem Post, who
Some young South African Jews are leaving their
Race riots in South Africa and Rhodesia had been both later changed his name to Agron, was on a mission to Ro- homes, their families, and are settling in Israel, the United
experienced and anticipated, and there have been warnings mania, in 1937 or 1938. He carried with him 200 capitalist States and other lands where the danger of racial eruptions
to the white populations to beware of consequences. Is it visas for those who may desire to settle in Palestine. His does not threaten or does not exist. Is it to be anticipated
possible that people never learn until it is too late?
mission was on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine that so glorious a Jewish community as South Africa may
As far back as 1921, during a visit in Rhodesia, the late and the capitalist visa category was the -restrictive one vanish in the course of time because it takes so long to inte-
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who in 1948 became the first Presi- among the obstacles created by the British Mandatory Gov- grate blacks into a society dominated by a white minority'?
dent of Israel, deplored a tendency among Jews not to aban- ernment in Palestine. It was sort of a sop to those desiring
Time solves many problems: it also creates.many more.
don the countries where they had established themselves to settle in Palestine and they could do so if they possessed That which today upsets mankind as a race issue in Sou'
affluently in business. He had foreseen
$5,000 or more. Such a possession was implied in the Bri- Africa is a pain for all mankind, and Jews are often amot,.
an impending danger and he then said:
tish-made term capitalist visa.
chief sufferers in global crises.
* * *
"It is a great pity that our Jews some-
Agronsky offered these visas to Jewish industrialists.
times fail to sense the great dangers
He proposed that they transfer their factories and busi-
looming over their heads, closing their
nesses to Palestine, with guarantees that the Jewish com- Ugliness of Apartheid
eyes rather than facing reality."
munity would assist them. There were no takers. Soon
This reporter has indicated, from South Africa, the
Truly, what are the realities of life
thereafter the Jassy pogrom nearly ruined all of the Jewish
trend there to refrain from speaking of Apartheid and the
and of the challenges that confront Jews
businessmen and the rejecters of the proferred tisas had tendency to hope for separate development. This is the hope
who live in socially and politically dyna-
something to cry about and to bemoan.
of those who, witnessing the threatening upsurge of rebel-
mited lands? How does one judge the
Isn't this what the Jews of Poland as well as Romania liousness, would welcome the success of an acceptable au-
WEIZMANN
blindness and deafness of such people
had to bemoan in those years of terror. Couldn't tens, per- tonomy for five states of blacks integrating into a South
unless there is the submission to be in the shoes of the haps hundreds, of thousands more of Polish Jewry have African entity__
sought refuge in Palestine and elsewhere? Wasn't their hes-
endangered?
Apparently this is not a hopeful solution without the
There are some 280,000 whites among 6 million non- itancy like that of the hesitant fearing other kinds of erasing of the discriminatory practices which perpetuate
whites in Rhodesia and the white population includes some danger?
the non-whites as pariahs.
4,000 Jews. That Jewish community commenced, as in
What about South Africa, where the riots of last week
The riots at Pretoria and in areas not too distant from
South Africa towards the end of the last century, with Lith- were on a matter of the Afrikans tongue. There are 32 spo- Johannesburg broke out sooner than expected. They were
uanian Jewish settlers. After the last war several thousand ken languages in South Africa but Afrikans has become a not necessarily a result of resentment against the Afrikans
German and other Jews joined the Litvaks. They became an symbol of oppression because it is the tongue of the settlers language. The reasons are cumulative and are a legacy from
affluent community and they grew to 9,000 in number. The who predominated over the blacks. There are some 24 mil- low-form medievalism and enslavement.
fact that less than half of those who were in Rhodesia about lion blacks in South Africa who are ruled by some 4 million
Only a more speedy approach to an end to Apartheid
15 or 20 years ago remain there is a clear indication that whites. The disparity in figures denotes the danger that can possibly contribute to a solution to a problem which
there is concern of major significance. It is not safe to live in marks a conflict.
may well contribute to global tragedies.
a land now under constant attack by guerrilla forces from
Perhaps the adoption of the progressive platform of the
* * *
within and from neighboring African lands and to be so party headed by Helen Suzman, the courageous Jewish par- Respectability for Banditry
outnumbered as the whites. That is why there is realism in liamentarian, will encourage a partial accord.
the comment by a writer in the Jerusalem Post on the
Lebanon, the jewel in the Arab world, an oasis in the
The hesitancy to emigrate to safer homes is not pecu-
Rhodesian question and on the recent trend of emigrating liar to Jewish sufferers from persecutions or those endan- otherwise war-torn Middle East, is not only being crushed:
from that country:
gered in their homes which they had considered firmly es- the bigoted and the cruel warmongers have begun to take
Most have crossed into South Africa, drawn by tablished. A current notable example- is the American possession of the land.
Because so-called Palestinians had provided a measure
its similar easy way of life and by family ties. Some colony of some 1,400 in Lebanon. The evacuation move did
have emigrated to North America and Australia. A not influence all of them. Only a tenth of that number took of protection for the evacuees from that terror-stricken
few are going to Israel to swell the ranks of the 500 advantage of the first call to evacuees. The rest remained land, after the murder of two Americans who are victims of
hopeful conditions would improve and they would continue the very situation that these new-found saints have created,
ex-Rhodesians already settled there.
Many stay, because of the currency restrictions to derive the benefits that had at the outset brought them the U.S. now confers respectability upon bandits. Praise for
the Palestinians from the U. S. State Department provides
and because they figure it would be too difficult for to and caused them to enjoy life in Lebanon.
The situation might have been different had an oppor- the trek the enemies of Lebanon as well as Israel need in
them to start from scratch somewhere else. They
hang on, hoping to be able to jump the last train out tunity been provided for the Jews of Lebanon to escape their quest for power to gain control of an area they have
from that country's terror. It is not even known how many polluted with terrorism. What a glorious new role for the
if it becomes absolutely necessary.
Jews live well in Rhodesia, they are established in busi- Jews remain in Lebanon. What has been established is that U.S. — to give respectability to terrorists!
AJCom m
i t tee Units Conduct Education Project on Judaism
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
A long-range effort to
.help non-Jewish high school
and college students to un-
derstand Jews and Judaism
is being sponsored in a num-
ber of cities by chapters of
the American Jewish Corn-
mittee.
The project is being im-
plemented through develop-
ment of lesson plans for in-
clusion in history and social
studies courses; surveys of
textbooks to determine
whether they have adequate
and accurate portrayals of
Jews and Judaism; holding
workshops for teachers for
in-service training credit;
contributing to educational
TV programs about Ameri-
can ethnic groups; and help-
ing colleges to set up courses
in Jewish history, religion
and literature.
The Chicago chapter had
developed two lesson plans
which several high schools
in the area have started to
include in their social stud-
ies and history courses. One
on the French Revolution
notes that France was the
first nation in Europe to
grant citizenship to Jews.
The other traces the history
of the Jews from the time of
Abraham and their role in
developing the concept of
one God.
In Los Angeles, the
chapter, together with
other local Jewish groups,
helped develop a 45-minute
TV program on the contri-
butions of Jews to Ameri-
can life.
The chapter in Kansas
City, Mo. had two projects.
One, undertaken over a
10-month period in 1973-74,
was an intensive study of ev•
ery American and world
history textbook used in the
public school system.
More recently, the chap-
ter, in cooperation with the
local Jewish Education
Council, held a 13-week lec-
ture series on Judaism for
teachers who received in-
service training credit for
taking, the course.
The chapter in Milwau-
kee recently served as a re-
source consultant for the
Jewish element of a hu-
man relations course for
teachers at a Catholic col-
lege for women.
In Baltimore, the Towson
State College, with a mainly
black student body, started
several courses, including
Jewish history and,compari-
sons of black and Jewish lit-
erature, after a conference
on ethnicity in education.
Survey Reveals Only 20 Pct.
Oppose Jewish Vice President
A recent Harris Survey
tested the extent to which
voters might object to var-
ious types of potential can-
didates for vice president.
Some of the results obtained
in the Harris Survey reveal:
A Jewish vice-presidential
candidate would meet with
opposition from 20 percent
of the public, although 76
percent would not object.
The South holds the great-
est opposition — 33 percent
would object to a Jew on the
ticket.
Only 25 percent of the
public would object to a
black candidate running for
vice president. A substantial
72 percent volunteered that
they would have "no objec-
tion" to a black on the
ticket. However, in the
South this number shrinks
to 59 percent.
Naming a woman vice-
presidential candidate
would be a little harder to
do than nominating a
black. Nationwide, 30 per-
cent would object to a
woman running mate, al-
though 69 percent would
have no objection.
No more than 12 percent
oppose a Catholic running
for vice president; although
in the deep South the oppos-
ition rises to 24 percent, or
double the national average.
Patience and Luck Needed
in Search for Oil in Israel
By MOSHE RON
Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
JERUSALEM — The
Israeli leaders acted wisely
when they started to search
for oil in A-Tor in Southern
Sinai before they returned
the oil wells of Abu Rodeis
to Egypt.
A-Tor is famous in
history. Moslem pilgrims
sailed from A-Tor to Mecca
and Medina to the grave of
the Prophet Mohammed.
For nine years the little
place was deserted. Today it
is full of life. Hundreds of
engineers, technicians and
workers, among them ex-
perts from the U.S. and
Canada, are active day and
night in search for oil in
this region. The geological
explorations have shown
that it must be rich with oil,
on the ground and in the
sea. One only needs luck to
find the right place.
Opposite from A-Tor we
could see the rich Morgan
oil fields a distance of only
nine kilometers. A few
kilometers from A-Tor in
the Israeli held territory is
a deserted oil-drilling
tower. Here the Egyptians
have drilled for oil until
the Sinai Campaign of
1956, but since then the
search for oil here has
been abandoned.
The Israeli Oil Co. invit
a group of editors of Israt.,.
newspapers to see the work
involved in drilling for oil.
We started in an Arkia
airplane from the Ben-
Gurion airfield and arrived
at A-Tor. By bus and ship
we approached the drilling
site in the Gulf of Suez. V -
saw the huge drilling-towt. _
We were lifted from the
ship into the tower. From
here we would see the hu
drilling machine whic-
stands 11 meters deep in the
sea.
The directors of the
Israeli Oil Co., Israel Lior,
Elisha Rai and Ranni Zak
said there is a need for
specialists and experts, in-
vestments, patience and
luck in the search for oil.