64 Friday, October 19, 1919 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS AJCommittee Leader Defines Falashas' Status American Jewish Corn- wracked the entire country. mittee Executive Vice In point of fact, although it President Bertram H. Gold, refuses to permit emigra- in a statement to The De- tion, the present Ethiopian troit Jewish News, ex- government is seen by the plained the current status of Falashas as one that has the Falasha Jews in been good to them in other respects, e.g. it gave them Ethiopia. His statement serves to land whereas before they clarify many of the ques- were but tenant farmers. "There is no doubt that tions posed regarding the Falashas. His statement fol- the two or three years of the greatest fighting in and lows: "The Falasha problem is around Ethiopia, and with one that merits deep Jewish raids by all kinds of groups concern. I believe it fair to — some simply making in- say, however, that Israel cursions into the country, and Jewish organizations others seeking to attain a are extending all possible more permanent dominance aid, they can in what is a — there were Jews who were killed and others who very difficult situation. "Basically, we are dealing were kidnapped. Insofar as with a situation of a nation one can ascertain, inside that is fighting two external this mountainous land wars while it completes an (where communications are internal revolution that has miserable in the best of cir- half, ORT and the JDC have managed to establish what witnesses like the Ameri- can ambassador to Ethiopia and David Kessler, editor of the Jewish Chronicle in London, condiser a truly first-rate program of aid, better than has existed be- fore. This is done inside the frame of an international program supported by -sev- eral governments on behalf of the Gondar region in which most of the Falashas presently live. "We know that there have BERTRAM GOLD been various charges would be the last to say that leveled against this pro- no new incidents are taking gram. We also know that place although inquiries by representatives of the two Jews who recently vis- different supporting gov- ited Ethiopia and the Sudan ernments who have gone in brought responses that they to examine it following such charges have been univer- knew of no recent cases. "In the past year and a sal in their praise. cumstances, not to mention the population movement of recent years) the numbres are far below those often put out by people who are cam- paigning on behalf of the Falashas. "Such information as we have available indicate that about two score Falasha Jews were killed and about a score kidnapped. This oc- curred about two years ago in Ethiopia's Worgera dis- trict around the town called Dabat. At that time, the present government's writ did not extend very far from Gondar, and various rebel factions were quite active. It is, of course, no com- fort to know that Moslem, Christian and other minor- ity members in Ethiopia as well as Falshas were taken into slavery or killed. We "Two last subjects: "First, Falasha emigra- tion. This government, like the Haile Selassie govern- ment, does notpermit emig- ration and we have little leverage with which to ap- proach it. I could tell you that we are convinced that the present Begin govern- ment has been more active than its predecessors in try- ing to do something about this situation; it is doing. believe, all that is possibi under the circumstances. "Second, there have been rather exaggerated reports about the number of Falasha refugees in the Su- dan. This has been quietly investigated now by at least, two parties and, confiden- tially, some tens of Jews of the less than 100 found have been moved to Israel." Blame for Andrew Young Incident Defined by William Safire Blame for the Andrew Young incident is placed upon President Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in an essay, "Of Blacks and Jews," by William Safire in the Sept. 27 New York Times. Safire wrote: When Ambassador An- drew Young was forced to resign, the question that swept through the black leadership was: Who got Andy? Was he fired because he offended the Israelis by meeting with the PLO, or was he fired because he lied to the State Department and made a fool out of the Secretary of State? If that question had been answered truthfully and promptly, much of the animosity that has de- veloped between black leaders and Jews since that time would have been nip- ped in the bud. • The central facts are not in dispute. Mr. young as- serted he did not tell "the whole truth" to his superiors about his planned contravention of an Ameri- can commitment. Shortly after that admission, Mr. Vance spoke to President Carter, with a State De- partment notetaker on an extension. Then Mr. Young's resignation was ac- cepted. The simple truth: Mr. Vance coolly pointed out that our government had been placed in an im- possible situation, put- ting out an untrue story supplied to it by an am- bassador operating on his own; unless Mr. Young did the proper thing," Mr. Vance could never again be trusted to , speak for the United States. continued silence on the real reason for the Young resignation encouraged black distrust of Israel. That left it to Secretary Vance. On Sept. 5, he was asked twice, in the most precise terms, "was the Young resignation brought about in fact by the Ameri- can Jewish community, or the Israelis, or was it brought about as a result of his own actions?" Exercising great lawyerly care, he absolved Jews in America but not Jews in Israel: "It was not the result of actions by the Jewish community." By selection, he seemed to be blaming both the Israelis and Mr. Young. That stunned the Israelis, who had not sought the Young resignation; worse, it did not deter any black leader from believing that the Israelis "got" their Andy, which in turn encouraged the pilgrimages to Yasir Arafat. . ANDREW YOUNG When asked about this, the departmental spokes- man denied that there had been any "him or me ul- timatum," adding that "the Secretary behaved in a' gentlemanly fashion." That was surely fabtual — Mr. Vance is not the sort to bang his shoe on the table — but surely misleading. What really happened is that with great dignity and deference, Mr. Vance let the President know that he could not continue to serve along with Mr. Young. That's why Mr. Young, who did not want to leave, had to leave. The subsequent outbreak of black anti-Semitism, and the impassioned embrace of the PLO by some black leaders, could have been muted by a simple assertion of the truth: It was a bet- rayed Secretary of State, and not the Israelis, who "got" Young. When a few White House aides realized the damage being done to American society, they urged Mr. Carter to set the record straight. The President could not bear to do that: in his Aug. 30 speech in Atlanta, his Mr. Vance probably thinks to this day that he was merely being a good soldier, backing up the President who did not want to offend his black support. But a half-truth can be as bad as a lie. Mr. Young's half-truth de- liberately misled the Sec- retary of State, and Mr. Vance's later half-truths — that he didn't actually issue a "me or him" ul- timatum and that he could not absolve the Is- raelis — deliberately mis- WILLIAM SAFIRE led the American people. The whole truth will come private import-export busi- out in memoirs years from ness. It set up the media now. In the meantime, Mr. events of Jesse Jackson in Young's half-truths — on Jerusalem, and of Mr. top of President Carter's Young's meeting with an ill craven evasion of responsi- and seriously debilitated Is- _ bility — are fomenting raeli Foreign Minister. bigotry and backlash. Sometimes, "for reasons Mr. Vance's refusal to speak the whole truth of state," a U.S. official must means that an ambassador, button his lip. But when the fired for lying has been reason for misleading treated to a free tour of Af- Americans is purely politi- rica to help establish his cal, and when the conse- quence of silence causes lasting harm, a good man will tell the whole truth. Mr: Vance — long known as "the man who leaves no footprints" — has decided to let the racial hatred spread. Long after the "Georgia- Texas gang" joins the Hard- ing ,"Ohio gang" in the pages of perfidy, the deci- sion of this good man to do nothing will be remem- bered. (Speaking in Detroit on Sunday, at a Cobo Hall ban- quet of the Coalition of Black' Trade Unionists, • Young stated: "Nobody forced me to resign. No Jews forced my resignation." (Young also told the audi- ence of 1,000 persons that Jews within the Carter ' Administration fought the hardest in behalf for him to remain in his ambassador's post and Israel was not to blame.) two parties. Queries for Black Who Legitimatizes PLO Jesse Jackson, the black offer, we have votes to of- leader who has given credi- fer" and "we tend to sup- bility to the PLO, is deliver- port people who support ing many speeches and is us," while decrying the expected to be in Detroit for amount of American aid to Israel, were you calling a public meeting soon. Morton Yarmon, a for cuts in American gov- member of the staff of the ernmental aid to Israel? American Jewish Commit- 3. When you visited the tee, has prepared the follow- memorial and museum ing questions to be ad- dedicated to the victims of dressed to Jackson: the Nazi Holocaust, you 1. Why did you join with said it made you understand Yasir Arafat in singing We better the Jewish quest for a Shall Overcome" even homeland and what you though he has not agreed to termed "the persecution stop PLO terrorism in Israel complex of many Jewish and around the world, or to people that almost invari- recognize the right of Israel ably makes them overreact to exist? to their own suffering." How 2. In saying that black can you "overreact" to votes "have tax money to genocide, which is what Arafat of the PLO still offers to Israel and Jews there? 4. Why did you change your itinerary and refuse to meet in Israel with mem- bers of the World Associa- tion of Jews from Arab Na- tions, who could have told you of the persecution they had suffered in those coun- tries? 5. You said on your flight to Tel • Aviv that "I'm sick and tired of hearing about the Holdcaust and having America being put in the position of a guilt trip. We have to get on with the is- sues of today and not talk about the Holocaust." Does that not exhibit a lack of moral sensitivity on your part? 6. The Christian Sci- ence Monitor of Sept. 25, 197.9, quotes you as say- ing to Arab businessmen and gOvernment leaders in Chicago that By Oc- tober 1st, there will be no black leader left" willing to come to the aid of the Palestinian cause if there is not an immediate infu- sion of funds into the black community from Arab states. "We will all learn to recite the al- phabet without three let- ters, P-L-O," you told them. Is your so-called peace offensive basically a hustle for Arab Money for PUSH? 7. You argue that the U.S. should begin talking with the PLO because of American dependence on Arab oil. Is that not suc- cumbing to Arab oil blackmail? 8. You called for a "clear document" from the PLO executive committee that you attended in Lebarp - Did you get it, and, if does it recognize the right of the state of Israel to exist and repudiate the use of ter- rorism in Israel and elsewhere throughout the world? 9. Did you attempt to get Arafat and the PLO to discontinue their use of assassination and terror against other Arabs who want to make peace with Israel? If not, why not?? 10. You say that Arafat is "flexible" and does not seek to "exterminate Jews." What specific steps can you cite to prove that? Why does . Arafat refuse to support Resolution 242 of the United Nations?