2 Friday, January 2, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Hatemongers Who Inspire
Serious Vigilance in 1981
A new year often brings with it new challenges. More
often, they are repeated obligations. The past year was
exemplary. It was filled with problems, yet they were a
continuity of concerns.
In the area of good will and human relations, 1980 may
be said to have taken a step backward towards the bigotries
that have shamed mankind. It was definitely a year
marked by an increased anti-Semitism.
In a Midstream article which was appropriately titled
"Fight the Brainwash" because he exposed the confusing
views about conditions in Israel and Israel's leaders, Benno
Weiser Varon compiled a list of the enemies. There will no
doubt be denials from some that they are enemies. Espe-
cially the Jews listed may claim that they seek justice for
Palestinians and that they seek a new deal in planning the
Jewish agenda. But all those listed by Varon are antagonis-
tic to the Israel of today, they are anti-Zionist and there are
several who Varon calls "the pure anti-Semites." This is the
list:
The list of Israel enemies is endless. The Arab
World, the Muslim world, the Third World, the
Communist world (which is united on this one
point — even China is included); the Far Left, the
New Left, and a big chunk of the moderate Left;
the ultra Right, the neo-Nazis and the old Nazis,
who are also still around; the Ku Klux Klan; the
terrorists of all denominations and all
nationalities.
Oil, and everything that's connected withlt —
the oil companies, the oil lobbies,the registered
and non-registered American agents of Arab cl-
out, including the brother of the President; the
National Council of Churches, the Unitarians, the
Quakers, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, and, let's face it, a good part — or the
bad part — of the Catholic Church, too. The
United Nations and all its legislative assemblies,
including the completely unrelated UN-
sponsored Women's Conferences. The European
Economic Community, the Organization of Afri-
can Unity, the Non-Aligned Nations.
Pseudo-humanitarians, pseudo-liberals, bleed-
ing hearts, fanatics, hatemongers and plain
psycho-ceramics (i.e. crackpots). A wide range of
columnists, editorialists, commentators, report-
ers, headline-writers.
And those old-reliable standbys, the pure anti-
Semites in all their variations: the honest, open,
unabashed ones, and the crypto-anti-Semites, the
closet anti-Semites, the unconscious or subcon-
scious anti-Semites. And to wind it up with a dash
of glamour, the Vanessa Redgraves and her con-
sorts of Revolutionary Chic who would try to
convince the world that "Arafat is beautiful."
Israel has Jewish enemies, too. Self-hating
Jews, like the Alfred Lilientals, the Bruno Kreis-
kys, the Noam Chomskies, the I.F. Stones.
Pseudo-idealists who are obsessed with the rights
of everybody else in and around Israel, but ob-
livious of the rights of their Jewish brethern
there. Anti-establishmentarians who have trans-
ferred their hatreds of the sixties and early seven-
ties from the American establishment to the Is-
raeli establishment. The Orthodox fanatics who
challenge Israel for not having waited for the ad-
vent of the Messiah.
Especially deplorable in the new trend of developing
anti-Semitism is its anti-Israelism. That's how the
present-day anti-Semite seeks to hide his hatred and his
aim at imposing a new Genocide upon the Jewish people: by
acting as the anti-Zionist.
While the need for vigilance on this score has been
re-emphasized numerous times, it will need greater effort
to combat it in 1981 and in the years to come. The anti-
Semite is on the rampage. He is visible in England and in
France and in this country. Because Israel is a free country
he emerges there as well. Because Jewry is a democratic
force in practice, the anti-Israeli Jewish anti-Zionist lends
comfort to his fellow anti-Zionist in non-Jewish ranks, the
latter providing the fodder for the newest anti-Semitic
trends.
It is not enough to ask for Jewish unity in this year of
crisis. What is needed is the fullest expose of the brain-
washing in which Jews are among the guilty.
Non-Jews have been helpful in exposing the Palesti-
nian myth. Prof. Franklin Littell is a leader in the fact-
finding that emphasizes the realities in a situation that has
become critical for Israel and the Jewish people. Others
have been equally cooperative. Jewish ranks must not
weaken.
The challenges are great and serious. This will not be
an easy year in either peace-making or in the search for
good will and justice for those striving for truth and
realities. Therefore, the need for ever-increasing vigilance
in this year of renewed crises.
.
The Pope's Encyclical and the Misunderstandings
About the Lex Talionis in Jewish. Interpretative
Definitions . . . Hatemongers Inspire Vigilance in 1981
In Reply to Pope John Paul II:
His Latest Encyclical
Misspells 'Lex Talionis'
Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Divis in Misericor-
dia,-had this passage: "Not in vain did Christ challenge his
listeners, faithful to the doctrine of the Old Testament, for
their attitude which was manifested in the words: An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This was the form of
distortion of justice at that time; and today's forms continue
to be modeled by it."
It is difficult to believe that it is still necessary to define
the Jewish interpretation of Lex Talionis to modern theolo-
gians. Surely, it was to be expected that the Pontiff, head-
ing the largest of the Christian denominations, would be
fully informed on the interpretation as well as application
of the "eye for an eye" command which became a canard in
Jew-baiting.
While Pope John Paul II has already been apprised of
the established Jewish viewpoint on the matter which has
become, as a result of the Vatican's encyclical, a renewed
discussable issue, it is necessary again to present the full
Jewish interpretation of Lex Talionis.
Jews are continually
taunted with the charge
that they have been the
formulators of an eye for an
eye, tooth for a tooth ideol-to
ogy. Fruitlessly, efforts
have been made and con-
tinue to be made to prove
that the biblical injunction
was accompanied by com-
mentaries which explained
that the actual repayment
for injuries to be expected
was to be judged by the
material value of the in-
juries.
Only the rational who
were not aspiring to harm
POPE JOHN PAUL II
Jews as Jews, out of anti-
Semitic vengeance — men like the noted scholar and
authority on the Talmud, Prof. George Foote Moore —
concurred. Nevertheless, the charge remained as a means
to blaspheme Jews.
Now the Lex Talionis (Law of Retaliation) is being
forced on Jews as a reality and an unavoidable necessity.
Brutalities committed by an army of bandits that poses
under the name of liberators knows no other way of con-
ducting a war against Israel than by murdering innocent
civilians, by brutalizing children, massacring athletes and
throwing grenades into a theater.
If it were a declared war between nations with little
Israel confronted by overwhelming numbers of enemies, it
would be deplorable but understandable. But when settle-
ments of farmers are invaded by assassins, schoolrooms
attacked and children thrown to their deaths from the
windows of their classrooms; when the Olympic Games are
polluted by beasts and scores mowed down in airports; and
when there is boasting that the group is functioning under
the PLO label, is it any wonder that there is retaliation by
attacks on the camps of the murderers?
Israelis at war with Arabs who deny them the basic
human rights of mere existence could be forgiving, but they
cannot forget the major hurt caused them in the compulsion
of exacting vengeance. Even less forgiving under circum-
stances of reactions to crimes like those committed in
schoolrooms and in theaters is that Lex Talionis has be-
come a reality and a necessity. For this there can hardly be
forgiveness for Arab crimes committed against Jews.
Menahem Begin and the Media:
Who Inspired the Sadat Israel
Visit . . . and Proof of Bias
Panorama, the magazine subtitled "Television Today
and Tomorrow," adds to its numerous revelations the dis-
pute over the origin of the Anwar Sadat visit to Israel and
his peace mission.
In its December issue, Panorama carries an interview
with Israel Prime Minister Menahem,Begin who disputes
the credit given to Walter Cronkite.
Begin is quoted at length tracing the developments
that led to the relationship with Sadat and the approach to
peace. He belittled crediting Cronkite as a catalyst, told of
other commentators who did some interviewing and
storytelling, conceded that the accreditation to Cronkite
was "a good story."
The various steps outlined by Begin are in themselves
a good story, worth reading. It includes Cronkite in the cast
of characters of the historic drama but not as the star actor
in it.
Exceedingly important in the Panorama interview
with Begin is the Israel prime minister's recollection of an
experience he had with a prominent American representa-
tive of a leading AmeriCan television station. To quote the
By Philip
Slomovitz
story as Begin related it to the Panorama interviewer, Jane
Friedman, described as a freelance writer who writes
mostly for the New York Times:
But I want to tell you an episode. I had an inter-
view on ABC during my visit to the United States
in March 1979. I was invited by ABC to appear on
"Issues and Answers." They wanted Barbara
Walters to interview me, but she was in Europe or
Morocco.
So a gentleman, Mr. Reynolds (Frank Reynolds,
Washington anchorman on "World News To-
night"), interviewed me. He asked questions.
Some of them were harsh. Usually they were to
the point. Some of them were pertinent. None of
them were impertinent. But in the last few min
utes of the interview, he put to me the following,
question: "Mr. Prime Minister, would you explain
to me what you are doing here?" I said, "Well, I am
answering your questions," "Yes," he said, "but
you make the impression that you speak to the
people above the head of the government of the
United States."
I said, "Mr. Reynolds, that is the most curious
question I have heard in my life. Your office bom-
barded my office with cables inviting me to par-
ticipate in "Issues and Answers." I accepted your
invitation. You asked me questions. I gave you
answers. Now you ask me why I'm here." So he
was rather confused, I must say. But he overcame
his confusion.
He wanted to make the point that I came to
"Issues and Answers" to attack the government
of the United States. Well, I told him that was not
my intention. It depends on the questions and I
have to give appropriate answers to them.
However, the United States is a free country
and Israel is a free country. I told him that if
(former) Secretary (of State Cyrus) Vance comes
to Israel and wants to be interviewed on our tele-
vision, he will be perfectly free to give whatever
answers and whatever criticism he may have
against the policies of the government of Israel
. . . So is America a free country?
If you ask me a question concerning the policy
of the government of the United States and I have
to say the proposals made lately are unaccept-
able, I will say so.
Begin often parried with
interviewers who believed
they can trick him into ad-
missions of incompetence,
intransigence, anything
that would turn him into a
scapegoat for the media. He
has shown greater strength
than his antagonists.
When the Begin story is
written, and then it will
surely be with less malice,
the role of commentators
MENAHEM BEGIN
who have angered many
Jewish listeners will surely be exposed. The Begin related
incident presently suggests that the caution displayed by
the Israeli leaders was a necessity against a prejudice not
readily admitted. When revealed fully, the facts will add an
important chapter to the study of bias tragically acquired
in much-disputed occurrences involving Israel in the Mid-
dle East medley.
Ransoming the Hostages: 11=j 71.17B
• •
Criminality of Kidnapping
The New Year 1981 commences with universal
prayers for an end to kidnapping, with hopes for the libera-
tion of the Americans cruelly held on orders of a govern-
ment that has turned the pages of history back to the lowest
depths of medievalism.
Jewish communities in the Diaspora have always be
under obligation to ransom the illegally imprisoned. Th(,i
were times when entire kehillot, communities of Jews,
pooled their resources to ransom hostages.
Pidyon Shvuyim, the ransoming of captives, con-
tinues to be a serious Jewish obligation. There were in
Jewish experience captives who refused to yield to demands
for ransom when they were cruel and unreasonable.
Pidyon Shvuyim translates redemption of captives.
It does not relate to hostages. Captives may be such as are
detained in war or in anti-Semitic communal experiences.
Political kidnapping is another matter which could become
a menace to diplomacy on a world scale
Never before, in mankind's history, has the demand for
ransom been so collective a scheme as the current by a
government in power.
As President-elect Ronald Reagan defined it: the Ira-
nian act of sheer criminal kidnapping.
Hopes, prayers, sympathies for the innocent victims of
the mass kidnapping intermingle at this time. May this
crime end speedily!