Fenelon Blasts CBS for Casting Redgrave
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Fania Fenelon, whose
memoirs of her experiences
in Auschwitz are being
made into a three-hour
movie for CBS-TV, reiter-
ated Monday her strong op-
position to being portrayed
by Vanessa Redgrave, the
British actress who is a sup-
porter of the Palestine Lib-
eration Organization.
She is not me," Fenelon
told a press conference in
New York sponsored by the
Simon Wiesenthal Center
for Holocaust Studies at
Yeshiva University of Los
Angeles. She is a fanatic. I
do not accept to be played by
I
Congress
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a woman who is the opposite
of what I am."
The press conference was
held after Fenelon, Rabbi
Marvin Hier, dean of the
Wiesenthal Center, and
Rabbi Avraham Cooper, di-
rector fo the Center's out-
reach program, met with
Gene Jankowski, president
of CBS.
Hier said he told Jan-
kowski that CBS- was
guilty of "insensitivity"
to Fenelon and other
Holocaust survivors as
well as the 11 million per-
sons who died in the
Holocaust by not consid-
ering Redgrave's. un-
suitability to the role be-
fore she was hired. He
said the center is seeking
a public apology from
CBS. "Even corporate
giants make mistakes,"
he said. He also criticized
CBS for not consulting
experts on the Holocaust
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as did NBC for its four--
part film, "Holocaust."
A national campaign is
being organized to get view-
ers not to watch the pro-
gram, Hier said. More than
a million postcards are
being sent to CBS Chair-'
man William Paley protest-
ing the program. Fenelon
also met with leaders of na-
tional and local Jewish
organizations Monday af-
ternoon. Similar meetings
were scheduled for Chicago
and Los Angeles. Hier said
college students are being
enlisted and they are meet-
ing with local CBS af-
filiates.
Fenelon and Hier denied
that they were supporting
blacklisting. Hier noted
that the media focus has
been on Redgrave's
"rights," but he said no one
considers the rights of
Holocaust victims.
Hier said it is Redgrave
who is politicizing the issue,
not those who oppose her
appearance. He noted that
when she won the Academy
Award for "Julia" she used
it to promote her pre-PLO
stand. Noting that Red-
grave told Fenelon that she
would remain in the role
even if she was not paid,
Hier said the actress wants
to play a Holocaust survivor
in order to "legitimatize"
her claim that she is only
anti-Zionist, not Anti-
Semitic.
Fenelon, who came
from Paris, was accom-
panied by two sisters,
Lily Assael and Yvette
Lennon, formerly of
Greece and now living in
New York, who, like her
were forced to play in the
inmate orchestra at Au-
schwitz while other pris-
oners were marched to
their deaths in the gas
chambers. She said that
she would not object to
Redgrave playing other
parts in the film, such as
the SS members. To be a
fanatic is to be a Fascist,"
Fenelon said.
Fenelon told the JTA she
told the CBS president that
she was incensed by the way
CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" had
distorted her meeting with
Ustinov Derides
Israeli Policy
TORONTO (JTA).. —
Canadian Jews were
angered recently when
British actor Peter Ustinov
switched from the role of
entertainer to polemicist to
denounce Premidr
Menahem Begin of Israel as
a former terrorist and took
issue with Israeli foreign
policy in general.
The incident occurred at
the annual conference of the
Canadian Institute of Char-
tered Accountants at the
Harbour Castle Hotel
where Ustinov had been in-
vited to entertain.
Midway through the
talks, the actor lapsed into
an indictment of Prime
Minister Begin, Israeli pol-
icy toward the PLO and
spoke regretfully of the ous-
ter of United Nations Am-
bassador Andrew Young.
FANIA FENELON
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 26, 1979 27
ADL Asks
Iberian Airlines
for Apology
UJA Mission
NEW YORK — The
Anti-Defamation League of
Bnai Brith has asked Iberia
Airlines for an explanation
and apology for a derogat-
ory reference to Jews in an
article which appeared in
the Spanish airlines' publi-
cation, "Rondo Iberia."
In a letter to Iberia execu-
tive Joaquin Pradas, Ab-
raham H. Foxman, the
league's associate national
director, said the reference
to Jews as "trying to profane
the body of (the Virgin)
Mary" was "an insult to
Judaism and the Jewish
community." The reference
appeared in the magazine's
report (August issue) of an
18th Century theological
play entitled "Consueta
Fiesta" which supposedly
depicts the death of the Vir-
gin Mary.
NEW YORK — More
than 300 U.S. Jewish com-
munal leaders will meet
with the four top dignitaries
of the Israel government
during the second annual
United Jewish Appeal
President's Mission to Is-
rael next week.
Do You Want Just A
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Redgrave which was held in
WRITE:
London at CBS' request.
ISRACAMP
INTERNATIONAL
She said she was quoted as
119 WEST 57th STREET
saying, "I am for Israel"
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019
when she actually had
(212) 757-9892
added, "I am for the Palesti-
"Michigan interviews"
nians, I am for the Puerto
Ricans, I am for the blacks, I
"Michigan
Charity is equal to all the
am for everybody who suf-
references available"
fers." Fenelon said-the pro- other commandments.
gram also gave the impres-
• • • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
sion that she and Redgrave •
•
VOLUNTEERS — WE NEED YOU
left as friends which she •
•
said was not true.
•
•
Fenelon charged that • Volunteer translators (Russian and Yiddish) and •
Linda Yellen, head of the • drivers are urgently needed by Resettlement Serv- •
company which is making • ice to assist newcomers, and by the Jewish Family •
the film for CBS, never an- • Service to assist our elderly with medical and den- •
swered the five letters of • tal appointments, shopping, etc. Please call Fayga •
protest she wrote to her. She •
•
said Yellen first contacted • Dombey, or Clara Barenholtz, ai 559-1500. •
her after she heard she was • • 9 • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 411 •• • • • • •
coming to the U.S. to speak
against the program and
then offered to have her act
as a consultant.
Fenelon said she sold
her memoirs, "Praying
for Time," to a literary
agent and had nothing to
do with its sale for a tele-
Visit With Us Every Tues. at 8 P.M.
vision program. She said
she has now read the
Workmen's Circle Building
script and finds it dis-
torted and false. She
26341 Coolidge, Oak Park
wrote -to playwright Ar-
thur Miller, who did the
script, but has never re-
ceived an answer.
A group of writers and
producers wrote to CBS and
asked for equal time to re-
spond to the casting of Red-
grave.
presents
GUSH EMUNIM IN ISRAEL
MEANS NO SURRENDER
American Jewish Congress
Boycott Violation
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
The Department of Com-
merce has charged Library
Bureau Inc. of Herkimer,
N.Y., with violating the
U.S. anti-boycott laws by
having "explicitly agreed to
obey all the laws and rules
of Libya's boycott against
Israel."
The firm has 30 days to
reply to the allegations be-
fore facing proceedings for
penalties. The department
charged that the company's
president, Thomas Hovey,
signed a contract with the
Libyan Secretariat, agree-
ing to export to the Libyan
National Library in Ben-
ghazi furniture and library
equipment.
Brookdale Center
NEW YORK — The
newest addition to New
York's educational scene —
the, five-story, $7.5 million
Brookdale Center of He-
brew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion — will
be dedicated on Monday.
Mr.
Eleazar
Lipsky
Ardent Zionist, lawyer, author, dramatist and lecturer on politi-
cal topics concerning the Jewish people — past president of
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency — Chairman of the AJ Cong.
Comm. on Israel — National Exec. Comm. and Governing
Council of AJ Cong.
The Middle East
What A Mess We're In
Thurs., Nov. 1, 1979 8:00 P.M.
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14450 W. 10 MILE RD., OAK PARK