McGovem's
Message of
Cheer from Israel

Christians Must
Reply to
Israel's Enemies

Commentary, Page 2

VOL. LXXVI, No. 22

THE JEWISH NEWS

A Week1-v Review

of Jewish Events

Nazis and
Limitations

Danger Relating
to Olympics

Holocaust as
Guideline

Editorials, Page 4

17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 - 424-8833 $15.00 Per Year: This Issue 35'

Feb. 1. 1980

ADL Criticizes Church Group
for Biased Packets on Israel

The New Year of Trees

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith has criticized the
National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC) for distributing a press kit with the "unmistak-
able thrust" of trying "to undermine and reverse Christian support of Israel."
The kit, entitled "American Churches and the Arab-Israeli Conflict," and sent last month to
editors and reporters by Warren Day, executive director of the NCCC's office of news and
information, purports to be a summary of trends, comments and positions.

In a letter to the Rev. M. William Howard, NCCC president, the ADL said it was
"dismayed and disheartened" by the 20 items assembled in the packet. "Instead of
presenting a summary of this very complex issue that is balanced, fair and comprehen-
sive," the letter said, the NCCC's so-called "overall view" is "linbalanced, unfair and
highly selective."

The letter was signed by five rabbis: Ronald Sobel, vice chairman of the ADL's national
program committee; Martin Cohen and David Panitz, co-chairmen of ADL's interfaith affairs
committee; Solomon Bernardo and Leon Klenicki, co-directors of ADL's interfaith affairs de-
partment.
"We are deeply concerned," they stated, "that the one-sidedness . . . may also signal the
direction of the NCCC Middle East Policy Review Committee and the newly-constituted Special
Panel on the Middle East toward a continuing anti-Israel position." The rabbis cited the
following as examples of how the packet is heavily weighted against Israel:
• An enclosure which stressed that virtually all church bodies are "on record supporting
some form of Palestinian right to

Kenyan Predicts Renewed
Ties for Africa and Israel

NEW YORK (JTA) — A member of Kenya's Parlia-
ment predicte-crlast week that his country and most other
black African countries would resume diplomatic relations
with Israel after Egypt and Israel exchange ambassadors
on Feb. 26. But the MP, Abdallah Mwidau, said he could not
estimate when the resumption of relations would actually
begin.
Mwidau, who spoke to a leadership group of the North
American Jewish Students' Network, stressed that he was
speaking for himself and not his government. He arrived in
the United States after three days in Israel and is making a
three-week speaking tour of the U.S. under the auspices of
the Youth Institute for Peace in the Middle East.

The daughter of an Israeli soldier who was killed in the Yom
Kippur War is shown planting a tree in his memory on Tu
b'Shevat last year. A memorial of 64 trees in memory of the dead
of the Jerusalem Division's 68th regiment was planted in the
Jewish National Fund's Peace Forest. Tree planting on Tu
b'Shevat, which is tomorrow, is a traditional activity of Israeli
schools under the supervision of JNF. Two feature stories about
Tu b'Shevat appear on Page 64.

Kenya, which was one of the black African na-
tions to break diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973,
nevertheless has continued to maintain friendly ties
with Israel. Kenya was used as a refueling base by
Israel during its rescue of hostages in Entebbe,
Uganda, in 1976.
(Continued on Page 5)

Knesset Issues Plea to World Parliaments
to Act Against Exile of Andrei Sakharov

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset on Tuesday called on other parliaments to jointly act against the internal
exile of Soviet civil rights leader Andrei Sakharov. All factions — with the exception of the Communists — voted in
favor of the resolution.
The speakers sharply criticized the USSR for having deported Sakharov. They also discussed the issue of the
possible boycott of the Moscow Olympics. Likud Knesseter Ronni Milo compared the Moscow Games to those of Berlin
in 1936, which was designed to glorify the Nazi regime.

Alignment Knesseter Uzi Baram noted that Sakharov himself called on countries of the free world to
boycott the Olympics. The call was also shared by Shlomo Gross of the Aguda and Geula Cohen of the Tehiya
Movement. However, Cohen expressed disappointment that Israel was actually following an American
initiative. Instead, she said, it was Israel which should have initiated the boycott in protest against the
repression of human rights in the USSR.

The 25-member Israeli Olympic Committee, as expected, decided Tuesday night to postpone for one month a
decision whether to boycott the Olympic Games. Israeli athletes will continue to train for the games.
The committee's presidium had met earlier with Premier Menahem Begin, who told them he believed Israel
should not enter the games if the majority of the Western countries boycott the Olympics. Opinion in Israelis lining up
in opposition to participating in the games as more and more Olympic committees are backing President Carter's call
for having the games out of Moscow if the Soviet Union does not leave Afghanistan by Feb. 20.
The U.S. Senate this week voted 88-4 to back President Carter's proposal. The Senate resolution, however, called
for alternative games or an outright boycott regardless of whether Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan. Sen. Jacob
Javits (R-N.Y.) said the resolution "should not be conditional."
Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.), who is Jewish, was one of the four Senators who opposed the resolution.

(Continued on Page 5)

self determination" but makes no

-

mention of current and unprece-
dented discussions between Israel
and Egypt to achieve Palestinian au-
tonomy.
"It is as if," the rabbis stated,

"that brand of self-determination
has been ruled out in advance as a
viable possibility." One wonders,
they asked, parenthetically, "if
this is not considered because of
opposition by the rejectionist

states;"

• An NCCC roundup "comment"
on the enclosures which is weighted
toward the Arab viewpoint, thereby
buttressing the implied assumption
that most church leaders are anti-
Israel.
• "A shameful omission" of the
names of Christian supporter's of Is-
(Continued on Page 5)

Shamir Will Be Appointed
Foreign Minister on Sunday

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Premier Menahem Begin is
expected to announce on
Sunday the appointment of
Yitzhak Shamir as Foreign
Minister.
The seat of the Foreign
Minister has been vacant
for four months since the
resignation of Moshe
Dayan.
Begin is expected to con-
vene with Shamir shortly
before the Cabinet session
and officially offer him the
job.
Shamir, the Knesset
Speaker, met Tuesday with
Yosef Ciechanover, director
general of the Foreign
Ministry and heard from
him a report on the work of
the ministry.

YITZHAK SHAMIR

