THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20. 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Assoc-I:akin
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher
DREW LIEBERWITZ
HEIDI PRESS
ALAN HITSKY
Advertising Manager
Assistant News Editor
News Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 16th day of Au. 5738, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 40:1-26.
RJTON BeFoRs
ENTERINq
Candle lighting, Friday. Aug. 18, 8:10 pan.
VOL. LXXIII, No. 24
Page Four
Friday, August 18, 1978
Homework for Politicians
Understandably, candidates for the United
States Senate were confronted with questions
relating to foreign affairs, with emphasis on the
situation in the Middle East. Whoever goes to
the Senate, from any area, will, inevitably, be
challenged to take a stand on issues in the area
that has become a source of continuing disputes.
The energy problem has added to the agonies of
the situation marked by bitterness. There have
arisen misunderstandings that have not been
helpful in the quest for calmness and an elimi-
nation of hatreds.
A tendency among politicians to satisfy the
constituents and listening audiences during
campaigns, to provide all things to all men, to
give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God
what is God's, can't operate well in issues like
the Middle East. The situation there is too
dynamite-laden. There are too many historic
factors to contend with. Therefore, whether it is
in the Arab-Jewish relations or the energy prob-
lem, any one who aspires to positions of respon-
sibility that require decisions on foreign affairs
must qualify on the basis of knowledge and un-
derstanding of what is transpiring.
Indeed, a politician must do his homework
well before even asking for the right to act on
foreign affairs issues. The threats to the peace of
the world, the urgency of retaining the best
relations with the nations of the world, the
urgency of avoiding incitement to hatred, all
are related to the duties that link legislators to
decisions that may affect the very security of
this nation.
In the Middle East there is the duty to assure
stability and avoidance of domination by ele-
ments like the Kremlin-inspired authoritaa-
rian aspirants to acquiring control of the Middle
East to the detriment of libertarian principles.
The divisiveness that seeks to perpetuate hat-
reds between Jew and Arab is part of the chal-
lenge to the liberty-loving elements to strive for
a logical peace that will eliminate all threats,
whether they are from the USSR or from the
oil-producing magnates whose tactics are op-
pressive to their own people who are fed on
war-mongering against Israel while they are in
an impoverished and illiterate status.
Therefore the need for homework, for an un-
derstanding of the issues, for a sympathetic ap-
preciation of historic facts and the rights of a
small nation like Israel to survive, to live in
security, to have a role in an area in which 21
Arab nations, protected by oil wealth, seek the
destruction of the smallest of the nations in that
part of the world that is compelled to seek pro-
tection by the plane and the tank.
A politician who has done his homework will
know that there are many opportunities to ele-
vate the standards of people now living under
medieval conditions and to make life livable for
all, provided the powerful and numerically
overwhelming will not seek the annihilation of
a neighbor and historical kinsman.
It is the all-things-to-all-men that becomes
menacing. It is such a tongue-in-cheek attitude
of making vote-getting the most vital factor in
politics that underlines justice in dealing with
foreign affairs. This is what causes office seek-
ers who lack the background for the fullest un-
derstanding of the issues to grab at a term like
Palestinian without realizing that a Jew in that
area is as much a Palestinian as his Arab
neighbor.
That's why there is need for those seeking the
glory of seats in the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives to be fully informed and factu-
ally fortified. There is need for homework in
attaining knowledge of the facts about the Mid-
dle East by those claiming the right to deal with
such issues. The voter has a right to demand
such knowledge from the politician.
Soviet Russia could have avoided the inevita-
ble embarrassment of facing a boycott of the
Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Moscow
in 1980. A pledge not to harass the Israelis and
others who are on the Communist blacklist, a
guarantee under international agreements, if
that is possible, providing security for athletes
participating in the games and the guests who
are due from many lands, could have created
amity among the nations of the world on this
occasion of the international gatherings.
But such guarantees are not forthcoming and
the only way the free peoples of the world can
act is to boycott the games. The only way for
Americans to act is to demand a change in the
location of the games.
Is this possible? Sadly it must be admitted
that the anxiety to participate in games for
world athletic honors may tempt the athletes to
such an extent that self-glory may dominate
over self-respect. There is always the hope that
Americans who love sports for sport's sake will
keep in mind the horrors of Munich in 1972, the
Hitler-imposed indecencies during the 1936
games and the threats to the dignity of the
games from Nazi and other discriminating
sources since then. The injection of Arab anti-
Israelism has been especially harmful.
Therefore, the battle against impending
bigotries and the stubbornness of the Com-
munist regime that apparently is determined to
run the games the Kremlin-way becomes a duty
for liberty-loving peoples everywhere. The
boycott may succeed. If it meets with obstacles,
there will at least be the satisfaction on the part
of the activists that they were not silent when
prejudice was in evidence.
Sportsmansh ip to the Test
Peace Now Movement
Demonstrations by the "Peace Now" move-
ment in Israel in protests against the estab-
lishment of new border settlements are being
welcomed as a wholesome approach to an ag-
gravated Israeli issue. The overwhelming sen-
timent in Israel is in opposition to the creation
of new settlements.While hailing a movement
functioning under the term "Peace Now" there
emerges at the same time the hope that the
more embracing hope for peace in Israel is univ-
ersal and not limited to a small clique. It is the
dominant aspiration of all Israelis and not that
of a limited group. It is with such an under-
standing of Israel sentiments that the issues to
be brought to the conference convened by Presi-
dent Carter for Sept. 5 must be understood.
</ iVIJD *10006
New Rosenthal Volume
`Flowers from Israel':
A History of Zionism
Jakob Rosenthal is a pioneer newspaperman. He was on the ground
floor of Zionist and Israeli creative functions. He covered seven of the
22 World Zionist Congresses in world capitals, in Basle, Geneva,
Prague, Vienna, Zurich and Jerusalem.
He was a pre-Hitler journalist in Vienna, where he was born, and he
was there when Hitler gained power in Austria, escaping from there
in 1938. He was an eyewitness to events that marked the great
struggle against Nazism, and he was a pioneer correspondent in the
most historic events while covering World War II, the Zionist strug-
gles, the founding of Israel, the battles for the Jewish state's indepen-
dence. He knew practically all of the leaders in world Zionism.
Therefore, his new book, "With Flowers From Israel: An Intimate
History of Zionism" (Philosophical Library) is a descriptive account
by an authoritative writer who lived through the events he described
and therefore was able to record the events as a personal chronicle
that emerges as a valuable history.
Rosenthal's chronicled account of the historic Jewish experiences is
more than a history of Zionism. This is incidental to the record of
noted personalities who had creative roles in the making of the
Jewish state. His reportorial reminiscences provide a Who's Who in
Zionism and Israel, a review of activities in which world Jewry's most
distinguished leaders participated as the defenders of human rights
for Jews, as advocates of Jewish traditional hopes for restoration, as
builders of Zion.
For American Zionists there are many facts relating to the forma-
tive years of the movement that will be very revealing. The pioneers
in the ranks of Americans who joined the movement in spite of the
prejudices that were rampant are of interest: Harry Frieden Delwald,
Prof. Richard Gottheil, Rabbi Gustav Gottheil, Judah L. Magnes and
many others figure in the early history of the cause. These are
supplementary to the well-known names of the subsequent leaders,
Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Judge
Julian Mack, Louis Lipsky and others.
It stands to reason that the creative efforts of Theodor Herzl,
Nahum Sokolow, Shmaryahu Levin, Menahem Ussishkin, Max Nor-
dau and the early leaders in world Zionism should precede the ac-
counts of the labors of the latter-day Zionists, David Ben-Gurion,
Vladimir Jabotinsky and the scores of others who are accounted for,
together with the Israeli leadership.
Because the early pioneers figure in this illuminating account
together with the Israeli functionaries in the years of statehood, it is
necessary to take into account the up-to-date approach to the Zionist
story that includes the rise to the premiership of Menahem Begin.
Rosenthal applauds the role of Begin and he states in his acknow-
ledgment of Begin's leadership:
"Menahem Begin has brought to the voice of Israel a new, refresh-
ingly sounding quality, reminiscent of that old firebrand, David
Ben-Gurion's political heirs, a keen observer recently remarked, to
recapture his spirit, to revive his heritage . . ."
"With Flowers From Israel," the title ofJakob Rosenthal's book, is a
reference to the great success of an industry which has become a
source of income for Israel: "Over a 10-year period this newest indus-
try (flowers) has boomed its exports from a mere $100,000 worth of
flowers in 1964-65 to 200,000,000 flower units to the tune of
$20,000,000 in 1975." This is exemplary of the growth of the state and
its development as it is so splendidly defined in the noteworthy Ro-
senthal book.