Urgent Appeal Issued
for Immediate Payment
of Campaign Pledges
Black-Jewish
Confrontation
Inexcusable .. .
Resort to Scapegoat
Deplorable
Commentary, Page 2
Jewish Welfare Federation President George M.
Zeltzer and Louis Berry, chairman of Federation's
Cash Mobilizatoin Committee, have issued an urgent
appeal to Allied Jewish Campaign-Israel Emergency
Fund contributors asking for payment of 1979
pledges.
The United Jewish Appeal should be transmitting
$15 million a month to Israel for social service pro-
grams, Zeltzer said, but last month the UJA was able
to send only $8 million.
The Detroit Jewish community is being asked to
transmit an additional $1 million cash by the end of
this month. Cash receipts will be wired each day to
UJA headquarters in New York until Aug. 31, Zelt-
zer said.
"This is the worst money crisis Israel has faced in a
decade," Berry added.
THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
of Muish
Events
Voices for
Justice Must Never
Be Silenced
*
Significant
Education Survey
Editorials, Page 4
VOL. LXXV, No. 25 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $12.00 Per Year: This Issue 30c
Aug. 24, 1979
A Message to the Jewish Community Calling
for 'Cool,' for Temperance and Understanding
This statement is the result of consideration of
the current disputes involving PLO threats to Israel
and the reactions in the black community, and was
It is our strong recoil} niendai Ion that we not use the
current situation surrounding the Andrew Young res-
ignation, the SCLC meetings with Israeli Ambassador
Blum and the PLO, or the strident voices of a small
number of black leaders to further exacerbate what may
appear to be a rift in communications and even a black-
Jewish confrontation.
You should know that following the troublesome but
highly publicized meeting at the Detroit SCLC office
last Friday attended by the presidents of the Jewish
Community Council, the Rabbinic Commission and
others, our participants have received a telegram read-
ing in part:
The meeting and press conference held on
Aug. 17 at the SCLC was done without the
knowledge of the Michigan Chapter president,
Dr. Claud Young or national president, Dr.
Joseph Lowery .... Further, we hereby issue
our apology and regret for any embarrassment
or misunderstanding that may have occurred
out of the meeting of Aug. 17."
It is our belief that at this time the organized Jewish
community will achieve its objectives best if we can
avoid making inflammatory public statements. Our
major thrust in our concern for the well being of Israel
must not be to encourage those who would, with a broad
brush, paint the entire black community into a corner.
R9.ther, it is to recognize that Andy Young's resignation
came about in the course of a probable shift in our gov-
ernment's position toward involvement of the PLO in
the peace negotiations.
Ambassador Young has become an important symbol
to the black community but his actions and resignation
themselves are not a Jewish issue. His personal beliefs
may not be shared by many other key black spokesmen.
The appeal to remain calm and thoughtful as set forth
in this letter is the judgment of leadership, lay and
professional, of the Jewish Community Council, the
Jewish Welfare Federation and the Detroit chapters Of
the national community relations agencies who were
readily available to meet together Monday. We have
received concurrence in our position from the president
of the Rabbinic Commission.
Please be aware that responsible officers of our corn-
munity are continuing to closely monitor the current
situation and are dealing with same. We are also main-
taining daily contact with our national Jewish agency
offices in New York and Washington. You may be sure
that we will keep you informed of subsequent develop-
ments on the general subject, including more_detailed
explanations and informational pieces. We will welcome
any suggestions which you may want to call to our atten-
tion.
By the time you receive this, two separate meetings
will already have concluded: one of national black lead-
ers and one of national Jewish leaders. Subsequently,
there will be a meeting of both groups together to see if
there is a joint position that might emerge. Obviously, it
is too early to predict the outcome, but we are hopeful,
that it will be positive.
It is our plan here to give concentrated attention to the
ongoing local relationships between the Jewish and
black communities. We may be making some sugges-
tions to you in the near future in this regard. But right
now, the times call for "cool," for temperance, and for
understanding. We are counting on yotir support and
assistance in furthering these ends.
Sincerely,
Marian Shifman, president
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit
MARIAN SHIFMAN
U.S. Is Prepared to Veto
Resolution on Palestine
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Carter Administration's "big four"
on Middle Eastern affairs on Tuesday presented the President with a
set of recommendations on the U.S. course in the Arab-Israeli situa-
tion. On Wednesday, the Carter Administration announced that it had
abandoned its intention to propose a resolution in the UN Security
Council debate, starting this week, on the future of the Palestinian
abs, and declared it would veto a resolution being prepared by
ro-Palestinian representatives. The U.S. urged a postponement of the
ebate.
Vice President Walter Mondale, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance,
national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and Special Ambas-
sador to the Mideast Robert Strauss decided on the recommendations at
a three-hour meeting at the White House and then telephoned them to
Carter, who is cruising on the Mississippi River.
Vance, who broke a vacation at Martha's
Vineyard for the meeting, said that Strauss'
conversation with Israeli Premier Menahem
Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
over the weekend "have led to new insights." -
He said the four U.S. leaders have come to a
unanimous recommendation for the
President.
Strauss' aides in Washington were quoted as
saying that Strauss was opposed to the U.S. offer-
ing its own resolution but was given written in-
structions on this just before he boarded the plane
for Israel last week
STRAUSS
(Continued on Page 7)
.
prepared by responsible leaders of the Detroit
Jewish community and concurred with by the major
local Jewish organizations.
GEORGE ZELTZER
George M. Zeltzer; president
Jewish Welfare Federation
Moderation Fades: Anti-Jewish Bias
Surfaces at Black Leadership Meeting
Special to The Jewish News
NEW YORK — A hoped-for resumption — continuation — of the established and respected black-
Jewish friendships faded Wednesday afternoon when a conference of more than 200 black leaders issued
expressions negating every gesture for amity.
Representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National
Urban League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were so critical of American Jews, while
adopting policies that were akin to endorsing the PLO, that the atmosphere was judged as bitterly
anti-Jewish.
Georgia State Senator Julian Bond, Gary, Ind., Mayor Richard Hatcher,
Rev. Joseph Lowery of the SCLC and others delivered speeches and read state-
ments that emitted bitterness. Bond's statement was especially deragatory. He
spoke of a declining Jewish liberalism and there were implications that Jews
had endorsed racial tactics.
Only Mrs. Coretta King, wife of slain civil rights patriarch Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., took issue with the black leaders' predictions of a
breakdown in black-Jewish relations in the wake of Andrew Young's
resignation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Mrs. King said, "I think the conflict has been overplayed. I don't think
blacks are anti-Jewish and I don't believe Jewish people are anti-black."
According to a statement read by Bond for the group after the meeting,
"Realism demands that blacks will differ with Jews even as Jews will differ with
blacks. Each group will then use whatever power and influence it has to pursue
its own goals."
The statement said that "Jews must show more sensitivity and be prepared
for more consultation before taking positions contrary to the best interests of the
black community." The statement also condemned Israel's ties to South Africa.
(Continued on Page 5)
CORETTA KING