r rt ! t
2 Friday, August 6, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
'Premature' Diplomacy
It was to be expected that someone
who has a gripe or a prejudice or a desire
to either harm Israel or deprive her of
basic rights would object to the Democ-
ratic Party platform's pledge to grant
recognition to Jerusalem's status as the
capital of the Jewish state.
The Egyptian ambassador to the
U.S. registered a protest and Democratic
candidate Jimmy Carter's aides im-
mediately gave an assurance that the
platform decisions were "premature."
How normal this is in politics! And
how well it challenges consistency!
Party platforms do not amount to a
damn unless there are enough seriously
minded members of Congress who won't
stand for nonsense, no matter who the
candidate or from what party.
It's an established fact that Presi-
dent Gerald Ford, as a Congressman
from Grand Rapids, demanded
Jerusalem's recognition as Israel's capi-
tal. What's happened to that pledge?
Now comes a test of Democratic sin-
cerity, and the Egyptian ambassador
should be greeted with appreciation for
placing the subject on the agenda.
Since Israel will not abandon a basic
right and will not resign from historical
relevancy, the battle is between the
Egyptian ambassador and the Carter
crew. Factually, Jerusalem is the capital
of Israel and no one can change it. At
stake is American morality and political
honor: either retaining the U.S. embassy
in Tel Aviv and thus being isolated from
the honorable in diplomacy, or of being
realistic and moving the spokesmen for
this country to Jerusalem.
"Premature" in what? In historical
realism? In Israel's statehood? In U.S.-
,Israeli friendships?
Are those who are being "prema-
ture" being honest?
* * *
Premature Diplomacy Assumes a New aspect in
Hesitating Political Ranks Over the Much-Vaunted
Status of Jerusalem as the Historic Capital of Israel
The sessions themselves are con-
ducted as open forums and all who ex-
press a desire to speak are given that
opportunity and a proper hearing.
But balloting for delegates had be-
come impractical. Zionist constituencies
have not responded to calls to the polling
booths. The result has been selection of
delegates on a basis proportionate to
party membership.
Charlotte Jacobson, the chairman of
the American Section of the World
Zionist Organization, commenting on
the current dispute over popular elec-
tions to the next World Zionist Congress
to be held in Jerusalem next January,
explained the planned selection of dele-
gates on this basis:
"What is at issue," she said, "is the
number of delegates each Zionist party is
entitled to. This is generally decided by
the proportion of votes cast in the elec-
tions. In the United States it is subject to
two limitations: the largest group is not to
have more than 50 percent of the dele-
gates to the Congress, and the smallest is
not to have less than three delegates."
Clowning Mexicans
By Philip
Slomovitz
movement and its newsletter that is
•
packed with lies.
Is Agnew, like Amin, a villain, or a
buffoon, or both? The American verdict
is on the record and his apparent
mimicking of an Amin gives him new
Either there is a trend to convert
relations between nations into comedies
or the Mexicans are taking it for granted
that Jews and Israelis are cheap pawns
global status in buffoonery and
in diplomacy.
One day the Mexicans align them- bigotry.
* * *
selves with the Israelis and confidence is
reaffirmed that the cheap politicians
south of the United States are not such Fisher's Political Acumen
bad fellows after all, that they mean
Max M. Fisher was out of the
well, that they really are friends. -
limelight for a while and the politically
Then the conclusion is arrived at curious surely wondered what role he
that there will be no need for another will play in the oncoming Presiden-
boycott of Mexico and that tourism pro- tial campaign.
ceeds unabated.
never was a doubt about his
It's a funny game, and Israeli role, There
and it is known that he is a Ge- 'd
spokesmen owe a better explanation for
Ford backer. He has
the diplomatic juggling. If, as the Mexi
been quoted as expres., _g
cans some months ago said, they view
the belief that President
Zionism as racism, and if in their view
Ford will have 40 percent
the rescue of Israeli citizens at Entebbe
Jewish backing, even more
was contrary to international law, then
than the Jewish reversal
Mexico remains aligned with Israel's
from Democratic alignment
to the Republicans in the 30
enemies. What makes Israel turn the
percent Jewish vote for
Mrs. Jacobson's referral to past ex- other cheek twice in a single year?
Richard M. Nixon in 1972.
If this is a puzzle, it calls for solution
periences immediately poses another
That's when Fisher was
problem: why the unchallenged grant of , not in the interest of business and
among the quarterbacks on
'tourism
but
of
self-respect
and
decency
representation to the "smallest" and are
the Nixon team.
Fisher
such designated bodies to have rep- in relations between two nations.
resentatives regardless of services re-
Max redeemed himself last week and
,* * *
ndered to the movement, and is the val-
became a symbol of political wisdom
idity of such groups to remain undis-
when he went to Washington, met with
Agnew: Villain and Buffoon
puted?
the President (he has held a coveted ad-
At issue are groups like the so-called
Idi Amin of Uganda who may riot mission card to the White House since
American Jewish League for Israel-. It survive the week if his military that is Nixon's time) and succeeded in inducing
keeps claiming delegations to world con- reportedly in revolt succeeds in ousting an order from President Ford to assure
gresses but its very existence is in ques- him from his dictatorship — needs a freedom of action for Mayor Coleman
tion.
counterpart in the United States, he ac- Young to use Federal funds for rehiring
An address in the American Jewish quired one in the person of Spiro Agnew, of Detroit policemen.
Year Book and a telephone answering one-time Vice President of the United
Suddenly, by this move, Max M.
service do not lend status to such a paper States.
Fisher re-emerged as a political factor.
organization. Will it remain recognized
It wasn't enough that he had bes-
to exert an unjustified influence with mirched the record of decency in Ameri- His acumen as a politician by that single
three votes assigned to it at the next can history. He is pursuing his task of move gave him new status in a political
Problems of Elections
campaign in which he will undoubtedly
World Zionist Congress?
for Next Zionist Congress
This would be stretching democracy undermining American foreign policies, be a vital factor in President Ford's
World Zionist Congresses are essen- a bit too elastically, even for a World of creating hatreds among Americans, of campaign for re-election — assuming
tially democratic in nature. They are Zionist Congress, and someone should reviving the vilest forms of anti- that Ford will be re-nominated in Kan-
perhaps the most representative bodies challenge Mrs. Jacobson and her as- Semitism with innuendos, misrepresen- sas City next week.
imaginable. All Jewish communitiet, ex- sociates if non-functioning paper or- tation of facts and support of movements
Fisher was silent for a while. He
cept those behind the Iron Curtain and ganizations continue to receive recogni- seeking the destruction of Israel.
proved that until last week silence was
in Moslem land's, are represented at the tion at the important World Zionist ses-
His latest trickery is in his role in golden. Now it becomes valuable again
sessions.
behalf of an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel
sions.
more for Ford even than for Fisher. •
-
,
Jewish Athletes Have Been Impressive in the Olympic Games
By HASKELL COHEN
Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.
This is the summer when
the whole world watched
with bated breath what took
,place the Olympics.
In 1972, while the world
mourned the slaying of the
Israelis, a Jew, Mark Spitz,
went on to win seven gold
medals, a feat never before
performed.
Esther Roth, the only
member of the 1972 Israeli
team to compete in Mon-
treal, lowered her national
record in the 100 meter hur-
dles to 13.04 seconds while
finishing sixth.
The best finish by an Is-
raeli in Montreal was Ed-
uard Weitz' fifth-place in
his weight class in weight-
lifting.
Although we shall never
know the exact number of
Jews who participated in
modern Olympic games over
the past 80 years, we have
fairly reliable information
concerning Jewish medal
winners.
In the Paris games in
1900, Myer Prinstein of the
U.S. won one gold and one
silver medal in the field
events. If not for a ruling
based on religious practices,
r'rinstein might conceivably
have won two gold medals.
At that time, the authorities
of Syracuse University, a
Methodist institution at-
tended by Prinstein, forced
him to compete on the Sab-
bath but forbade his partici-
pation in the long jump on
Sunday. Four years later he
won both the long jump and
hop-step-and-jump in St.
Louis.
Although it has been
common to assume the
Diaspora Jew as noncom-
petitive in physical sport,
it is interesting to note
that in 1904 the first Olym-
pic heavy-weight boxing
title went to an American
Jewish athlete, Samuel
Berger. Berger was fol-
lowed by many Jewish
strongmen who won Olym-
pic gold medals in boxing,
wrestling and weightlift-
ing; Richard Weisz, Sam-
uel Mosberg, Jackie
Fields, Karoly Karpate,
Henry Wittenberg, Frank
Spellman, Boris Gurevich,
Harry Devine, and Isaac
Berger.
In reviewing the boxing
picture, it should be noted
that the United States team
in the Antwerp games in-
cluded no less than five Jew-
ish fighters and in the Paris
games in 1924 it had six box-
ers on the squad.
Sociologists of the times
assumed these accomplish-
ments were due to the fact
that Jewish youths were out
to achieve two things, 1) to
disprove the accepted ster-
eotype of the weakling Jew,
and 2) to use sports as a
means towards better social
acceptance.
As yet, however, no
theory has been promul-
gated as to why Jewish ath-
letes excel in fencing. At the
first three Olympic Games,
fencers of the Jewish faith
won but one silver medal
(Edgar Seligman-1906)
and one bronze medal (Sig-
fried Flesch-1900). Subse-
quent Jewish fencers won
six gold, two silver and one
bronze medal in London in
1908, and 10 gold and two
silver in Stockholm in 1912.
The total number of
medals captured by Jew-
ish fencers representing
Austria, Great Britain,
Hungary, France, Bel-
gium, the United States
and the Soviet Union have
been over 30 gold, with a
similar number of silver
and bronze.
When female swimming
was first introduced in the
Stockholm Olympics, the
Austrian team, which won
the bronze medals in the
4x100 meters relay, intro-
duced three Jewish swim-
mers. Many years later,
swimmers like Eva Szekely
of Hungary and Marilyn
Ramenovsky of the United
States, a Maccabiah Games
champion, carried on the
same winning tradition.
Female participants were
first permitted to compete
in track and field in the Am-
became the only double gold
sterdam Olympics and
Fanny Rosenfeld of Canada
became the only double gold
medal winners. The late Lil-
lian Copeland of the United
States won two gold medals
at the Los Angeles Games.
Agnes Keleti of Czecho-
slovakia has won more
medals than any other
Jewish female athlete; five
gold, three silver and two
bronze medals in gymnas-
tics at the games in Hel-
sinki and Melbourne.
The honor of being the
best Jewish female athlete
in recent years belongs to
Irena Kirszenstein of Po-
lan , i, who participated this
year in her third set of
games.. Miss Kirszenstein,
kno vn as Szweinska today,
has stayed at the top in the
100 and 200 meter sprints
for close to a decade'.
All in all, we know that
Jews have won (through the
Tokyo games) 98 gold, 62 sil-
ver and 59 bronze medals.
Students of the history of
the Games realize now that
the first political disturb-
ances began with the Olym-
pic Games in Berlin in 1936
when they actually became
a means towards political
ends and where discrimina-
tion on the basis of creed
was practiced openly.
In order to overcome the
avalanche of protests
which came in from all
over the world, the Nazis,
in 1936, nominated 21 Jew-
ish athletes to train for
the Berlin Games. Ac-
tually, none of the 21 were
ever invited to attend the
training camps. The Nazis
finally selected a half-
Jewish fencer, Helene
Mayer, who was studying
in California, to partici-
pate as a fencer. Miss
Mayer, one of the finest
female fencers of all time,
to her everlasting dis-
credit, saluted Hitler on
the victory stand with the
Nazi greeting of the ex-
tended raised right hand.
The height of ludicrous-
ness was reached in the
years preceding World War
II when a United States pro-
Fascist general, Charles H.
Sherill, justified the dis-
crimination against the
Jewish people by stating,
"There never was a promi-
nent Jewish athlete in his-
tory."
To their everlasting credit
many prominent Jewish
athletes from all over the
world proudly refused to
represent their respective
countries in Nazi Germany.
As a matter of fact, many
were punished for their re-
fusal to do so. Perhaps the
most famous case was thr.'
of Austria's swimmer J i
dith Deutsch. who nv ---1,e-
sides in Israel.
Israel's flag entered the
Olympic arena for the first
time in 1952 in Finland. The
United States Committee
Sports for Israel, under the
strong leadership of the late
Harry Henshel and the late
Charles Ornstein, was in-
strumental in getting the
IOC to recognize Israel as an
entity and aided immensely
in helping to raise the neces-
sary funds to get the team
from the Holy Land to the
Scandanavian country.