THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Report Shows Continuing Flow of Western
Armaments to Middle Eastern Countries
By MAURICE SAMUELSON
' LONDON (JTA)—With
new weapons continuing to
flow into the Middle East,
i-nainly from Western na-
'tions, advanced aircraft,
tanks and missiles, includ-
ing battlefield surface-to-
surface rockets, are now
commonplace in the region.
The extent of the build-up
emerges in a report by the
inter 'oval Institute for
St-rat. ..! Studies, "The Mili-
tary Balance 1977-1978." It
shows that virtually every
Middle East country signed
a major arms agreement in
the course of the 1976 and
the beginning of 1977.
In two separate deals,
>Egypt is buying from
France unspecified quan-
>t;ties of Cratale surface-to-
air missiles (SAM) and two
Agosta-class submarines.
The SAMs are due to be de-
livered this year.
,
>--- Syria's arms agreements
were with Austria, France
and Italy. Austria is selling
her 2,000 trucks; France,
2,000 Milan anti-tank guided
wespons and a quantity of
Gazelle helicopters; Italy is
supplying six helicopters.
— Jordan will receive 14 bat-
Aeries of improved Hawk
SAMs from the United
=States as well as 100 Vulcan
anti-aircraft guns.
Israel's six arms deals,
all with the United States,
were for 125 medium tanks,
guns, self-propelled guns,
Sidewinder air-to-air mis-
siles, as well as 700 ar-
mored personnel carriers
and 200 Tow antitank mis-
siles.
Saudi Arabia will receive
from the United States 2,000
Sidewinder air-to-air mis-
siles, six batteries of im-
proved Hawk anti-aircraft
missiles and 400 Maverick
missiles. Britain agreed to
sell her 11 strikemaster
training aircraft.
Iran contracted the big-
gest number of separate
arms deals in the year
under review — no less
than 12— with Britain sup-
plying Rapier SAMs and
Scorpion tanks; Italy, heli-
copters; and the United
States a wide range of mis-
siles, aircraft and helicop-
ters.
_ A separate section of the
report shows the array of
forces which Middle East
countries deploy. Israel's
medium tank force had
reached 3,000, compared
with 2700 last year. They in-
clude 1,000 Centurion tanks,
650 American-made tanks,
Detroit Jewish Blacksmiths
Had Other Communal Roles
By ALLEN A. WARSEN
>(-- Jacob Lang was Detroit's
first Jewish blacksmith and
- one of its first settlers. In
1850 the United States
›-Census recorded that he
was 34 years old and born .
in Germany. His wife,
Eliza. 30 years old, also
> was born in Germany.
Their son, Joseph, age one,
=was born in Michigan.
Lang, it is worthy of note,
, was a founder of Cong.
Beth El.
Sol Wolfson was another
-,early Detroit Jewish black-
smith. His advertisement in
the "Detroit Yiddish Direc-
tory of 1907" reads: "Horse-
shoeing can be done by any
blacksmith. But not any
blacksmith can really satis-
fy. Only Sol Wolfson is long
known as the best horse-
, shoer in Detroit and doesn't
have to praise his work.
- When your horse injures
his foot and develops blood-
poisoning, don't take it to a
doctor, bring it to me and
the horse will be cured.
"1- .v wagons are made
.,.. r. All work is guaran-
teea.
_ "402 St. Antoine St., cor.
High." (Translated from
1 Yiddish)
George Trute, who began
shoeing horses at age 13
was one of Detroit's last
Jewish blacksmiths.
He came to Detroit from
Russia in 1915 at age 20. At
first he worked for another
employer. Then in 1921 he
built his own shop at the
corner of Owen Ave. and
Cameron in- the heart of the
troit Jewish community.
. Trute named his shop
Ornamental
"Owen
Works.
W
Known for his financial
assistance to poor peddlers,
Trute was also one of De-
troit's first artisans to con-
struct railings for porches
by hand.
He operated his shop for
25 years until he no longer
could compete with modern
transportation—the automo-
bile replaced the horse and
wagon.
the
liquidating
After
smithy and until reaching
retirement age, as if it
were an irony of fate, Trute
worked for the Ford Motor
Co.
His children, college and
musically educated, are
prominent in the Jewish
community's cultural and
social life. Trute died in
1975 at age 80.
as well as converted Soviet
tanks and Israeli-devolped
Chariots. But there was
only a slight increase in the
number of combat air-
craft—now put at 549.
Syria, which has doubled
the size of her armed
forces to 227,500 men in the
past five years, has also in-
creased her number of
tanks to 2,600, compared
with 2,000 in 1975. The Syr-
ian navy has also taken pos-
session of two Petya class
frigates. No significant
change was shown in her
air force but some aircraft
are believed to be in stor-
age.
Egypt's arsenal, ham-
pered by lack of substantial
new supplies from the So-
viet Union as well as spare
parts difficulties, appears•
to have dwindled in some
items, such as tanks—a de-
cline of 750—while she
waits for deliveries from
the West. Nevertheless,
Egypt's tank force still has
1,930 heavy and light tanks.
All this build=up is reflect-
ed in the amount of money
being devoted to defense by
Middle East states, accord-
Maimonides said: "The
mind needs to relax by look-
Friday, September 9, 1977 2:
ing at pictures and othe
beautiful objects."
ing to the report. Israel's
expenditure in 1976 is put at
$4.27 billion. Although this
was a slight gross increase
over last year, the propor-
tion of the GNP spent on de-
fence-35.3 percent— -was
considerably lower than the
40.8 percent of the GNP in
1973.
Israel's defense burden
is, however, was at least
partially offset by her emer-
gehce as an arms exporter
as well as purchaser. The
report noted that she is list-
ed as a primary supplier to
no less than five Latin
American countries—Chile,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Hon-
duras and Mexico.
Egypt's defense expendi-
ture in 1976 was $4.36 bil-
lion. As a proportion of her
GNP it had risen to 37 per-
cent from 31 percent in
1973. This was the first
time that the proportion of
the GNP was greater than
in Israel.
Saudi Arabia's 1976 de-
fense bill was given in the
report as $7.53 billion, com-
pared with $9 billion in
1975, $6.7 billion in 1974 and
$1.8 billion in 1973.
MAY THE NEW YEAR
BRING NEW INSPIRATION
AND HAPPINESS TO YOU
From
THE DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS
Yugoslav Singer
to Make U.S. Tour
NEW YORK—The Jewish
Welfare Board lecture bu-
reau has announced that
Breda Kalef, prime donna
of the Belgrade Opera of
Yugoslavia, will join the
Belgrade .Jewish Chorus on
its first tour of North Amer-
ica next March.
Dr. Samuel Freeman. di-
rector of the JWB Bureau.
said that requests for the
chorus have already started
to come in. Communities
wishing to book it must
make arrangements with
the JWB Lecture Bureau.
15 East 26th St.. New York.
N.Y. 10010. far in advance.
The cost of the tour is sub-
sidized by the Republic of
Serbia. the City of Bel-
grade. and the Government
or Yugoslavia.
There's a Liberty State Bank & Trust Office hi Your Neighborhood.
Liberty State Bank & Trust
"Full Service Saturday Banking"
West filt>omfield Township
of)95 Orchard Lake Rd
Waterford Township
4330 Highland Rd.
Other Offices. Sterling Heights. Clinton Township and Hamtramck