Friday, January 5, 1919 41 ® THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Lost Cause? Genocide Convention tigating a possible case of genocide. Director, United Nations Office, When genocide is men- Bnai Brith International Council tioned at the UN these days, (Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.) it is usually within the con- On Dec. 9, 1948, the text of politically motivated United Nations General accusations against rival Assembly unanimously ap- states. In particular, the ■ •• proved a Convention on the state of Israel, peopled by Prevention and Punish- Holocaust survivors and by ment of the Crime of Jews who escaped persecu- Genocide. tion in Arab lands, and one While Raphael Lemkin, of the few states to have pro- the father of the 'Genocide secuted someone for Convention had suggested genocide, is increasingly outlawing the premeditated the target of fraudulent extermination of a people at charges by spokesmen of o- an international meeting as Communist and radical early as October 1933, it Arab states. was the immediate impact As the Nazi propaganda and unparalleled horror of genius Joseph Goebbels the Holocaust which impel- would have proposed, the led the UN member states victims are depicted as the to finalry act on this ques- perpetrators, and their tion and adopt the UN's first slaughter is justified. Thus, binding human rights Uganda President Idi Amin treaty. cabled a justification of the The UN's international extermination of the Jews commitment was hailed at to UN Secretary General • the time by the President of Kurt Waldheim, then the General Assembly, Prime Minister Golda Meir Herbert V. Evatt, who de- of Israel, and Yasir Arafat o dared: "In this field relat- of the Palestine Liberation ing to the sacred right of Organization (PLO) on existence of human groups, Sept. 12, 1972, just a few we are proclaiming today days after the Munich the supremacy of interna- Olympic games massacre. tional law once and for all." "Germany," Amin wrote, "is In the light of 30 years' the right place where when experience, this judg- Hitler was the prime minis- ment was painfully pre- mature. For we find not • one single case where the Genocide' Convention, accepted in 1978 by 83 states, was invoked to BEERSHEBA — At prevent or punish acts in- Ben-Gurion University of tended to destroy a na- the Negev, the Yiddish Cul- tional, ethnic, racial or ture Studies Program offers religious group. a variety of courses which Although there have been explore the contemporary at least a dozen reported in- influences of Yiddish in the stances of mass butchery in culture of the Jewish state. just the last 20 years, in- The program also stresses cluding three in 1978 in the universality of Yiddish Cambodia, Uganda and themes as reflected by this Lebanon, no United Na- year's Nobel Literature tions organ has even taken Prize Liureate, Isaac upon itself the task of inves- Bashevis. Singer. • The program, newly ex- Bond Campaign panded in its third year of by Alpha Omega operation, was made possi- ORLANDO, Fla. -- The ble by the generosity of Mr. M 15,000 member Alpha and Mrs. Harry Singer of Omega International Den- New York. The teaching of Yiddish tal Fraternity has become at BGU takes on added im- the first organization of its kind to be honored by State portance in light of the uni- versity's special demog- of Israel Bonds. Alpha Omega is planning raphic make-up, explains a world-wide campaign in president Yosef Tekoah. behalf of Israel Bonds. Is- "One-third of our students rael's 31st anniversary year are from Oriental Jewish in 1979 will be designated backgrounds and the uni- he "Year of Isarel" by versity is well removed from 1pha Omega and all chap- Israel's Yiddish speaking "' Wers are asked to hold enclaves," says Tekoah. "The Ben-Gurion Uni- luncheons, dinners and other programs of celebra- versiq- has taken an tion, prior to Alpha Omega's active part in bridging annual convention, which the gap between Israel's will be held in Israel next diverse communities. It is December. During these through such efforts as functions Bonds will be pur- the Yiddish program that chased and the coveted we hope to increase Maimonides Award of Is- mutual understanding, rael Bonds will be presented Museum Director to an outstanding dentist on JERUSALEM — Dr. behalf of each chapter. In addition, the Bond Malachi Beit-Arie, 41, has Organization will design a been appointed director of plaque listing the 31 mem- the Jewish National and bers and chapters most University Library at the actively involved in Israel's Hebrew Universtiy. He suc- progress, symbolizing one ceeds Prof. Reuvan Yaron for each year of Israel's who held the position for statehood. The plaque will five years and is now chair-, be affixed to a dental school man of the Israel Broadcast- ing Authority. in Israel. By HARRIS 0. SCHOENBERG li ' Center Dedicated ter and supreme comman- der, he burnt over six mil- lion Jews." • The choices of the UN and Arafat as recipients of Amin's cables were significant. Just two years later the terrorist chieftain, whose own organization, El Fatah, defines its purpose as not only the "liquidation of Israel," but the "oblitera- tion" and "extirpation" of its Jewish society, was to be given a hero's wel- come and highest honors at the UN. The policy of most UN member-states to • limit at- tention to the crime of genocide means there will be no commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Genocide Convention. Thus, the UN is not only being used to smother genuine complaints of genocide in order to protect governments accused of that crime, but also to sup- port a group like the PLO which is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. Curiously, American op- position to ratification of the UN Convention has al- ways entailed fear of hasty or ill-advised demands by other governments - for in- ternational action against alleged violators of the treaty provisions. What we have witnessed instead is an extra-ordinary refusal to use the convention's rudimentary machinery • even under the most press- ing and tragic circum- stances. Almost half of the UN's present member-states, including the United States, have not even bothered to ratify or ac- cede to the Genocide Convention. However, legal means for preventing, halting, or punishing genocide can never really be effective as long as states have other priorities or adopt positions like that expressed by the Soviet Union in March 1973, when it stated that "there does not appear to be any great urgency about the matter." Thus, additional new modes to deal with the crime of genocide are neces- sary to help overcome de- ficiencies in the Conven- tion. - SUITE 318 ADVANCE BLDG. 23077 Greenfield at 9 Mile (313) 557-1860 41 ■ 1•11111 ■ • ArS Foreign Car Service . • SPECIALIST . !N VOLKSWAGEN AND PORSCHE CARS CALL . 548-3926 548-4160 541.9704 1018 W. 9 Mile Rd. Alfons G. Rehme FERNDALE MICH. Between Lwernois & Pinehurst If you're not wearing it, sell it. You can't enjoy your jewelry if it's sitting in your safe deposit box. Sell it for immediate cash. We purchase fine gems, Diamonds and Gold Jewelry. A -service to private owners, banks and estates. 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