2 Friday, September 2, 1977
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Terror Begets Terror: A Cartoonist's
to Beware of the Examples Stemming
Indecencies...Arabs Bat/le Arabs But
Judging the Antagonist on the Scale of Tactics Toward His Own Kin
•
In an age of terror and turbulence the often agonized con-
cerns are bitter enough without looking for additional
faults in the antagonists who threaten one's sense of cal-
mness. Yet it is necessary to know the terrorizer to under-
stand his motives and to know how to confront him.
The Arab enmity for Israel and Jewry demands caution.
How is it to be fought if Arabs are themselves so fratricid-
al?
It is not only the war between Egypt and Libya, the
Christian-Moslem struggle in Lebanon. the enmities to-
wards the Druzes and Kurds. There is little peace among
the Arabs themselves whose sheikhs are always engaged
in one battle or another.
There is an amazing revelation of internal Arab conflicts
in an Associated Press story from Cyprus. It reveals the
jealousies as well as the hatred for Israel that always
unites them. It is in fact. the only unifying factor in
Arabia. Perhaps the AP story. dated Aug. 21 from Nicosia,
reveals the mariner in which those who do not read and de-
pend on broadcasts react to their and their neighbors'
roles. This is the story from Nicosia:
The Cairo radio, which two years ago lauded the Li-
byan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, as "brother
colonel," now calls him "a Soviet agent and Commun-
ist puppet." Libyan radio, which once praised Presi-
dent Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt as "our elder brother,
the heir of Nasserism," now condemns him as "the
American hireling" and "the CIA agent."
Iraqi radio praised Syria's president, Hafez al-
Assad, as a "comrade" three years ago. Today, it
terms him a "traitor and a weakling."
The Syrian radio calls Iraq's president, Ahmed Has-
san al-Bakr, a "deviant and oppressor." Presidents
Bakr and Assad belong to rival wings of the same po-
litical organization, the Arab Baath Socialist Party.
Since literacy is low in the Arab world people listen
much more than they read. Arabic is a flowery lan-
guage whose poetry is widely appreciated, prompting
listeners to applaud the tone and style of a speaker
rather than ponder his meaning.
Broadcasts sometimes bear little relation to the
truth. "Our radios fought and won the 1967 war, which
unfortunately our military leaders lost on the battle-
field," recalled one Egyptian radio director of the Is-
raeli conflict.
The educated and the literate have developed a
sense of skepticism about bickering on the airwaves.
Arabs often dismiss political lies as "kalam izaat," or
"radio talk." They call a talkative politician a "balie
radio"—"one who has a radio stuck in his throat."
"We Arabs are slaves of our beautiful language."
said one Arab ambassador. "Our voice is frail when
we call for unity and roaring when we preach dis-
unity."
"Voice of. Arab Syria'' broadcasts daily programs
from Iraq, attacking Syria and urging its people and
army to revolt against President Assad. Syria's state
radio counters with similar appeals to Iraqis.
The "Voice of the Masses," also operating in Bag-
hdad, devotes its programs to "exposing renegade
Arab regimes bent on succumbing to imperialist-Zion-
ist machinations." _
Is it unfair to say that by the hater's treatment of his
kinfolk shall you know him?
PLO Pave Way for Terror Everywhere
Terrorist chiefs in Beirut have already announced plans to attend the next session of
the United Nations General Assembly. Dehumanized and thoroughly politicized. the in-
ternational organization that was formed to assure peace for all peoples could well be
transformed again into a hate-polluted gutter.
The most impressive admonitions against the spread of venom often comes from car-
toonists. The Herblock shown here is an example of the warnings that should bring the
world organization back to the source of its ethical codes. Will it do any good'? The les-
sons of the past hardly presage good anticipations. Yet the Herblock equation serves as
a timely message to the diplomats about to assemble in New York.
+1,04E
souo Gernr1G coaz INTEniKrioNAL
1,1PLOMATIC INVITATIONS NAY ;Ay Now
Menahem Begin...
`Er Vet Zikh
Nit Lozen Baygen'
On his recent return trip
from one of his numerous
trips to Israel. Phillip Stoll-
man. who is due for top lead-
ership in the Detroit Allied
Jewish Campaign. had many
good words to say about Men-
ahem Begin.
Speaking of the new Israel
prime minister's firmness.
Stoll--man said: 'Begin vet
zikh nit lozen baygen - .... "Be-
gin won't permit the bending
of his back."
He sounds even better in
Yiddish as another slogan for
the determinedly uncompro-
mising Israeli leader.
Advice to Statesmen
from the Middle East
Unite Against Israel
By Philip
Slomovitz
Oft-Repeated Anti-Begin Libel
About Deir Yassin Repudiated
Anything conceivably anti-Israel and anti-Jewish can be
expected to be heard during the next session of the United
Nations General Assembly. All the previous venom may
be flaunted in the scores of addresses that will surely be
delivered by Arab spokesmen and their allieS. Deir Yassin
will not be forgotten. In preparation for an onslaught.
therefore. it is well to be prepared.
The Deir Yassin misconceptions have been clarified
many times. A comment by Robert Brown of New York.
in a letter to the New Republic. is nevertheless. worthy of
quotation. Writing in an - Update on Begin," Selzer said. in
reference to Deir Yassin:
I was delighted by Eric Breindel's objective and
even sympathetic portrayal of the new Israeli Prim -.
Minister. Menahem Begin ("Begin Without Sme
TNR, June 18). Three slightly mentioned but si b _l-
eant points require clarification, however:
1) Deir Yassin was anything but an "indefensible
wartime atrocity." The Irgun warned the populace of
that town prior to attack and met fierce house-to-
house resistance, suffering a 40 percent casualty rate
during the foray. One can understand that if the only
way to remove a sniper from a but is to detonate a
hand grenade through the window, it is unfortunate
but hardly atrocious if civilians who chose to remain
are harmed in the process. In any event, the best re-
sponse to anyone who seeks to draw a meaningful con-
clusion from the episode need only be asked to name
a second "massacre." Such conclusions should be
drawn from the rule, not the exception.
2) The Land of Israel Movement is not "right
wing." It is a cross-ideological group established in
1967 by stolid Labor Zionists. Furthermore, Israel can-
not by definition "annex" the "occupied territories."
It was Israel that liberated the West Bank and East
Jerusalem from illegal Jordanian occupation. The Jew-
ish state cannot annex territory that has never en-
joyed its own sovereignty since the regime of ancient
Israel fell in 135 CE. From whom would it be annex-
ing it?
3) Despite Mr. Breindel's generally supportive expo-
sition, I am puzzled by his final deduction, namely
that this nice fellow Begin will reverse himself on the
principles for which he has stood for three decades.
Why the unnecessary exercise in apologia since it is
precisely Begin's principled prudence that can at long
last bring peace to the Mideast. Ci:Od forbid a softening
to the position of the discredited Labor Party's foreign
policy.
The point made here that is worth re-emphasizing is that
while there was one Deir Yassin there were scores upon
scores of attacks on Israelis, including massacres of chil-
dren. There was only one Deir Yassin, but many Arab mas-
sacres. That's a point to be ignored by Arabs and their
backers.
Prophecy of Isaiah on Lebanese Fence
The story has already been told, of the Israel Symphony Orchestra playing for the
Lebanese at Metulla, on the Israel-Lebanon border.
It is another of the Good Fence symbols of Israel's humanitarian policies towards
neighbors whose lives are endangered by the fratricide that has struck an important
Arab country.
In that Fence of Justice was erected a tablet with the prophecy for peace from
Isaiah: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares... -
Meanwhile. the terror goes on unabated in Lebanon and the threats to Israelfrom all
Arab lands, as well as from Moslems among the Lebanese continue. The world is silent
and none seems to learn the lesson of Lebanon.
There is silence in Christianity, among the nations. at the foreign embassies. But
when occasions permit. such as demands by PLO and endorsements of them by Arab
potentates, tongues are unloosened and Israel becomes the target.
Let there be confidence that this. too may change, as long as Israel erects Good
Fences and implants upon them the Prophecy of Isaiah.
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