2 Friday, March 11, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Solidarity With Israel
Arab Leaders on Trial as Much as the Hijacking
Murderers . . . The Challenge of the Horrible Act
by Beasts and Solidarity of the -Jewish People
By Philip
Slomovitz
An Answer to the Beasts
Vatican — these are as much the guilty as the murder-
The answer to the beasts who inspire massacres like
ers who committed the wholesale massacre. Sadat now
the one of last Saturday evening will surely be in the
has belatedly condemned the incident.
form of Jewish solidarity for a strengthened Israel. _
President Carter's prompt condemnation of the out-
The insanities that resulted in the hijacking of an
rage
is a welcome sign that from free America may yet
Israeli bus were the result of preachments by Arab lead-
come guidance for mankind in repudiation of the hatred '
ers whose aim is the destruction of the sovereign Jewish
that
is
aimed at Israel's destruction.
state. It is not sufficient to place the blame on the PLO. _
From the Jewish communities of the world will surely
Every Arab ruler — including Anwar Sadat— shares in
go forth a message of comfort accompanied by a pledge of
the guilt. The support they have given to the terrorists,
solidarity. The snuffing out of human lives will be a
their failure to condemn the previous outrages, the fai-
challenge not only to defy the murderers but to let man-
lure to punish criminals of earlier outrages, the silence
kind know that the Jewish people will stand united with
of the religious communities of the world, including the
Israel to assure the nation's and the people's survival.
The misfortune that struck Israel is world Jewry's
tragedy. The kinships will not be destroyed and the
determination to live and prosper will not be deterred.
The need for greater security increases and Israel's con-
cerns are unquestioned. What is under challenge is the
enmity that causes such horrors. When will Israel's
neighbors realize that they can not destroy the Jewish
will to live or interfere with the Jewish right to national
autonomy? This may be the time for Sadat and his
cohorts to stop erecting obstructions and to adopt honest
neighborliness with Israel.
Diaspora-Israel Cooperation More Hopeful After 29th World Zionist Congress
JERUSALEM — "Out of Zion," after nine days of World Zionist Congress delibera-
tions, there is developing evidence of greater cooperation between Diaspora and Israel
than had been hoped during many months of frustrations and doubts.
Political maneuvers notwithstanding, bitter debates over priorities given due consid-
eration, a new credibility must be recognized in recognition of a devoted seriousness with
which some 625 delegates from 40 countries labored to frame a Zionist program for action
between congresses.
Unless the World Zionist Congress is recognized as the Parliament of the Jewish
People it can not be judged properly or factually. The Zionist Congress can be likened to
the U.S. Congress or the British House of Commons. In none of these can the hundreds of
deputies act in unison as single bodies. Drafts of resolutions must be studied and
prepared for the actions to be taken by the parliamentary bodies. That is how it operated
at the World Zionist Congress. Anyone judging the many speeches as indicating irres-
ponsibility is both wrong and unfair.
A number of important commissions functioned, many of them day and night, debating
the issues, arguing over principles, defining decisions. It was out of these that the
platforms for action emerged from the nine-day congress held here.
It took time to reach decisions, and it was inevitable that there should be majority and
minority reports. That's when a dissenter proposes a votum separatum, an amendment
from a minority. This is democratic action by a democratic body. Out of the latest of the
congresses, marking the 80th anniversary of the world Zionist movement, on the eve of
the 30th anniversary of the state of Israel, emerged important decisions. The attitudes of
the hundreds of delegates, the sense of responsibility to world Jewry as expressed in the
actions formulated, are of great significance.
The political controversy must be viewed as exaggerated. A new party is in power and
seeks control. The minority demands a share in the governing body. There have been
disputes in the past and there is one now. As in the past, the Zionist Actions Committee
will be the deciding body. This is normalcy.
Abnormality is ascribable to the religious issue. A revolutionary step was taken in the
decision to demand "religious pluralism" in Israel, with equality in the Orthodox-
oriented Israel for Conservative, Reform and even Reconstructionist Jews. There are 11
Conservative, 10 Reform and one Reconstructionist synagogues in Israel. The new role
for the. Reform Zionist grouping, ARZA, had its influence in the adopted resolution, and
the Mizrachi protest was anticipated. The Zionist viewpoint for religious equality is now
on the record. Adherence to it is questionable. After all, Likud needs Orthodox votes in
the Knesset to retain control of the existing Cabinet. But for those seeking religious
pluralism it was a triumph.
Politically, the support pledged to Israel by the Diaspora is of significance.
Major in importance as parliamentary actions were the matters relating to aliya and
to youth and education. The aliya question could have split the World Zionist Congress. A
very vocal minority went so far as to demand the negation of the Diaspora. Few issues
emerged as vital as this one in the Congress. There remains a sentiment that Zionist
leaders must operate from Israel and must settle there. On an overall basis the impor-
tance of aliya was confirmed as a priority. Israel depends on new settlers and Zionist
ideology confirms it . The movement is bent upon striving for massive settlement, for all
possible cooperation in and assistance to tasks for increased migrations to Israel, espe-
cially from Western countries. In a sense, Diaspora now will be tested on that score.
Unqualifiedly accepted is the principle of advantages for youth to be part of the Zionist
movement and to have an increasing role in it. The representatives of the World Union of
Jewish Students (WUJS)—references to WUJSers became popular at the Congress—
and that of Dor Hemshekh, the growing movement of Zionist youth, were hailed as
especially encouraging. There still is cause to deplore the disparity in delegates' ages and
Channel 56 — a Controversy
That Needed Common Sense
It is much easier to arouse anger than to come to terms
with oneself and with fellow men over disputes.
The Channel 56 controversy proved it. There is no deny-
ing the blurOar. A Nazi who advocates hatred and condones
murdering those he dislikes should not be given a platform.
The dispute should have been resolved promptly, as it could
have been by resorting to common sense.
Instead, an embittered person began advocating a
boycott. A spokesman for Ch. 56 reasonably explained that
any harm to an important television station that renders
immense service would be harmful to the entire commun-
ity. Newspapers picked up the threads and columnists had
a heyday: they showed how the Jewish community — not
the individual who blundered but the Jewish community —
had acted irrationally.
What are the facts regarding boycotts and the Jews? The
truth is that only on two occasions, in the last 63 years,
have boycotts had the tacit consent ofJewish communities.
The first was when Jews stopped buying Ford cars, when
Henry Ford I commenced an anti-Semitic campaign. The
Fords of our time have not only corrected the error, they
have emerged as people with a social conscience. They are
the relatively small numbers of youth. The aggressiveness of newly-developing youth
groups offers hopes to the elder Zionists who dominate the movement that the younger
devotees will soon be in their ranks.
For world Jewry as an entity the most encouraging WZCongress action was the
adoption of an extensive program for Jewish education. There was no mincing of words or
viewpoints on the question. The decline in Jewish school enrollments in the Diaspora,
increased intermarriage, indifference to these have become matters of challenge and the
Zionist aims are to give priority to every effort to overcome these shortcomings.
The Nahum Goldmann warning of an increasing indifference did not fall on deaf ears.
The final parliamentary actions here at the 29th World Zionist Congress were decisive.
They can only lead to judging the nine days of deliberations here as having been
productive and progressive.
Among the Supplementary VVZCongress Items
All social and political aspects of life in Israel and the Diaspora were on the agenda of
the World Zionist Congress. Whatever troubled individuals or the communities was
injected into the deliberations.
The Sephardim were there with requests — many treated them as demands — for
equal treatment. In the main they equated with the American "affirmative action"
programs. Because there is so much poverty in their ranks, and the charge is that much of
the crime in Israel stems from their ranks, the call is for special consideration of their
needs.
There is another viewpoint. A leader in the world Sephardi movement, Moises Levy
Lemor, of Peru, asks for equal treatment without special privilege. A leader in his ranks,
a delegate from his country to the WZCongress, he said he hopes for the day when there
will be no divisions between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. •
He does not ask for special privilege. He hopes for the day when there will be no
divisions between Ashkanzi and Sephardi communities, when there will be one, unified
Jewish community.
The Levy Lemor view is reminiscent of the days when American Jews hoped for an end
to the sniping that was the order of the day between Litvaks, Poliakes, Galitzianer. The
unity of today in the United States is the aspiration of the Sephardis like the emissary
from Peru.
A summary reported by the Technion relating to the role of Sephardis in universities in
Israel indicates that 17 percent of the students are from Oriental countries. This is an
encouraging addendum to the planning which gives courage to cooperative efforts that
will include the Sephardi as well as the Ashkenazi in Israel.
The Youth and Education
Of major importance in the planning for greateneducational tasks is the concern about
youth in the Diaspora as well as in Israel. Both areas are subjects of concern — the
Diaspora as an insurance that greater numbers of Jews will benefit from newly created
educational opportunities and the Israelis who are asked to take a deeper interest in the
history of their people, in Zionism, in the cementing of Jewish unified efforts.
It is easy to criticize and to say that WZCongress resolutions are merely papered
declarations that are not put into action. The new spirit negates such criticism. Many
Israelis are expressing concerns over future efforts on a par with the spokesmen from
communities everywhere. There is cause for optimism that the future dedications will be
treated with realism. Too much effort has been expended at the WZCongress to destroy a
spirit both of unity and of realization that without action between congresses the losses to
Jewry will be too great ever to be repaired.
of the highest integrity and the Jewish community prides
itself on their friendship.
The second boycott incident was the reaction against
Hitlerism. This needs no explanation. It is understandable
why, for many years after, Jews cringed from making
purchases upon seeing a "made in Germany" label because
of the Holocaust and, in a sense, the continuity of neo-
Nazism which the rational German refuses to condone.
But there have been no boycotts Of any sort on an or-
ganized basis. Jews have reacted when oil companies dis-
criminated, but the tearing up of credit cards in those
,instances were not an organized move but individual ac-
tions.
If Jews were to resort to boycotts they would have to react
against newspapers, some of whose writers are unfair to
Jewry and to Israel; they would havegripes against educa-
tional and other agencies.
In our civilized society we recognize differences of opin-
ions and error and do not slash ears to spite faces. The Ch.
56 incident was dragged into the mud and the dispute could
have been averted. The error may have been bipartisan, in
the Jewish and Ch. 56 ranks. Let the solution serve as a
lesson that angers of individuals must not poison the com-
mon sense of the community.
• Ch. 56 could have averted the controversy with a prompt
statement on its innocent blundering. Instead the incident
escalated into the usual, equating the Jew with the power
of the dollar. It was up the alley of sensationalizing to say
that threats by Jews to remove support from Ch. 56 compel-
led station manager James Christianson's apology. This is
unfair to libertarianism. The principle of fighting for a just
cause, the same that rejected the Nazi terror, should have
predominated. It didn't. That's the pity of the Ch. 56 resul-
tant.
Shcharansky: A U.S. Issue
For an entire year, Anatoly Shcharansky has been in the
limelight as a victim of USSR discrimination.
His case has assumed major importance in the struggle
in defense of Jews and non-Jews, dissidents who have dared
protest against the bias exercised by the Kremlin.
The established fact is that this has emerged as an
American problem. Shcharansky is accused of being in the
service of the CIA. The U.S. State Department condemns
the charge of spying as an outright lie. Meanwhile, the
Jewish dissident is being denied an exit visa to go to Israel,
he is under arrest, his fate is in the balance and there is the
fear that he may be convicted with a threat of execution for
spying
The hope now rests with the State Department that every
effort will be made to rescue him and to end the farce that
has been created, possibly as a method of the Kremlin to
scuttle the ranks of the dissidents.