2 Friday, April 10, 1981 . THE .„ DETROIT JEWISH : NEWS • _ . _ _ _ i; • .. Purely Commentary Bayard _Rustin on the Black Hebrews: A Tragic Israel Experience That Beckons Solution Calling themselves Black Hebrews, claiming the privilege of being the only legitimate Jews descending from Abraham, a group of blacks have settled in three areas of Israel, primarily in Dirnona, and are causing great trouble. Anxious to avert increased controversies, the Israel government welcomed a group of American black leaders to study the problem. One of the most eminent American personalities, Bayard Rustin, having studied the situation at first hand, in the atmosphere of that developing tragedy, had this comment: "If a group of Nigerians had entered the U.S. illeg- ally, refused to obey our immigration laws and prac- ticed polygamy, I don't be- lieve a single civil rights leader would question America's right to deport them," said Rustin. "I feel BAYARD RUSTIN the same way about the Black Hebrews and Israel. I will not let the question of color obscure my belief in democracy and abhorrence of dictatoi-s, and Black Hebrew leader Ben-Ami Carter is a dictator. I will not engage in a double standard. If the Black Hebrews do not abide by Israeli laws and intend to replace the pre- sent order of things, they are a threat to the state." The entire issue has developed into an unnecessary and tragic experience. It beckons solution. The Bayard Rustin role inspires the hope that more black Americans will assist in solving the problem and in reducing its threat to more black-Jewish rifts. Arms for the Argentinians and Their Lame Apologetics A new policy seems to be in the -offing in this country. There will be more arms for Saudi Arabia. The conserva- tives in Latin America have this nation's blessings. The Argentinians are next in line to be provided with military and other aid. That's a cause for distress. Assurances have been given to the American Jewish Committee that the government of Argentina will be strict in its rejection of anti-Semitic trends. What about the record of the past decade or more? What has happened to the thousands who have vanished? Is a new government gesture a guarantee that the actions will cease and that human rights will be observed? The inconsistencies stemming from more recent Argentinian flirtations with the democratic forces in this country irritated the son of Jacobo Timerman. An impres- sion had been given in Argentinian propaganda that the eminent journalist who was incarcerated and tortured for several years was not that much of a victim of Argentina's oppressive tactics. It compelled Hector Timerman, who now lives in New York, to refute claims by Argentina's U.S. Ambassador Jorge A. Espil. Hector Timerman wrote in the New York Times: The ambasiador contends that Argentina has an independent judiciary, which is not under the control of the military junta. As proof, he cites the case of my father, Jacobo Timerman, former editor of La Opinion of Buenos Aires, one of the most influential newspapers in Argentina. According to the ambassador, when the Sup- reme Court ordered my father's release in 1979, the "government complied immediately." This is an outrageous distortion that cannot go unan- swered. The facts are as follows: At 2 a.m. on April 15, 1977, 20 armed men in civilian clothes staged a violent, Gestapo-style as- sault on our home. My father was kidnapped, tor- tured and held incommunicado for several weeks. In October 1977, a military tribunal ordered my father's release for lack of evidence. The junta refused. In June 1978, after 14 months of deten- tion, the Supreme Court ordered my father's re- lease. The junta refused. Finally, in September 1979, after nearly two and a half years of incarc- eration, the Supreme Court again ordered my father's release. This time the military junta acted, stripping my father of his Argentine citi- zenship and, on the same day, deporting him. Even then, the junta refused to obey the order of the Supreme Court. On the day of his deportation, the government denied my father his legal right to appeal the deprivation of his citizenship. Thus, in spite of the order of the Supreme Court, the junta saw to it that my father was never a free man in Argentina. In addition, while my father was in jail, the mili- tary junta created a special court to confiscate all Lame Argentinian Apologetics Fail to Explain the Terror Record ... An Israeli Stamp for the Leader and Pioneer Abba Hillel Silver Who Helped Guide Zionism to Triumph of his property, including his newspaper. Again, it acted illegally. The Argentina Constitution does not grant the government the power to create such special tribunals. Only the Supreme Court is in very specific cases authorized to expropriate private property. So it is not the New York Times but rather Am- bassador Aja Espil who has misled the American people. This should not come as a great surprise. It is to be expected from the representative of a government that still today illegally imprisons, tortures and murders its citizens. Argentina's Ambassador to the U.S. Jorge A. Aja Es- pil, in a letter to the New York Times on Tuesday, main- tained that there was just treatment for Timerman in his country's courts. Replying to the charges of Timerman's son, he stated: The rulings are testimony to the presence, not the absence, of an independent judiciary in Argentina. The last, by the Argentine Supreme • Court in September 1979, ordered his release from house arrest, ruling that his detention was uncon- stitutional. It took a lot of pressure to secure such unfollowed "justice" during the years of the persecution and jailing of the elder Timerman. Those experiences cannot be ignored. Pledges of future adherence to fair play are welcome, but it is not easy to forget the past. The Timerman case -was only one instance of many. There is a long record of subjugations, of tortures, of disap- pearing victims of the Argentinian bigotries. They can not be kept silent if the human rights principles advocated by this nation are not to be abused in whatever dealings there may be anticipated with South American countries. Abba Hillel Silver Stamp: Meritorious Tribute Perpetuating Memory of Tribune for Israel In Israel and in the United States, in official quarters of the Jewish state and at events in this country, a postage stamp .served last week as the medium for honoring one of the most distinguished leaders of world Jewry. The 'new Israel stamp commemorates an important era in Jewish history and serves as a recollection of the genius of the man who spearheaded many of the labors in support of Jewish statehood, in public arenas, in the United Nations, in delib- erations with American leaders and legislators. Abba Hillel Silver's lead- ership in these tasks was not merely in his presidency of the Zionist Organization of America from 1945 to 1947. It was in his task as chairman of the Zionist Emergency Council, as friend of Senator Robert Taft who was co-chairman of the American Christian Palestine Committee, and the friendships he estab- lished with important per- sonalities like Senator Ar- thur H. Vandenberg and scores of Christian liberta- • * • * • * • • • • • * * • • 6 • rians. He was unquestionably the most brilliant orator of his time and his devotion to Zionism truly elevated him among the most prominent of the builders of Zion and redeemers of the statement now embodied in the state of Israel. There is this primarily to be said in memorializing him: He was fearless. He was undaunted in his demands for justice for the Jewish people. He was opposed to anti- Semitism without restraint. Whether it was a Coughlin or anyone else in that category, he spoke courageously, never pulling punches. 'AV ••ke. - World Jewry surely welcomes the issuance of the new Abba Hillel Silver stamp. Few expressions of gratitude to the memory of a great man are as expressive. Secretary Haig's Mission, the Saudi Menace, Troubled Waters Viewed in Lebanon Secretary of State Alexander Haig tackled more than one problem on his tour of Middle East countries. His condemnation of Syrian tactics in Lebanon may be a reversal of previous U.S. policies, which were critical of the Christian leadership in the Lebanese war. Recognition of the Syrian menace and the Russian involvement appear to be recognizing the threats to the Christians and may add credence to the Israeli position in its alliance with the Christian leader, Major Saad Haddad. Of major significance is the attitude toward Saudi Arabia and State Department insistence upon providing arms to the Saudis. The New York Times commented on the Saudi role editorially on April 7, suggesting that the Saudis By Philip Slomovitz abandon the extremist anti-Israel threats of a Jihad — a Holy War — against Israel. The editorial commented: The Saudis contend that their growing economic and military ties to the United States represent only an anti-Soviet alignment. But in making their air force dependent upon American supplies and train- ing, they are in fact contributing to American influ- ence in the region and thus to the security of Egypt and Israel. The sooner they own up to that reality, and drop even the pretense of a "holy war" against Israel, the smoother will be their American connec- tion. It is hard to believe that the Saudis' diplomatic doubletalk still fools any Palestinians, thus protect- ing the House of Saud against subversion or revolt. Indeed, if the Saudi monarchy cannot survive open accommodation with Israel, it is hardly a safe de- pository for all that dangerous hardware. A few honest words from the Saudis would cer- tainly improve the Reagan Administration's case for the proposed arms sales. Mr. Haig's explana- tions so far have been extremely vague. His ex- . pressed regard for President Carter's "commit- ments" would be touching if he had not enthusiastically kicked over so many other dip- lomatic traces. The fact is that he, too, is eager to give the Saudis almost anything they want .. . What Congress should also want in return is a Saudi diplomacy that legitimizes Arab negotiation with Israel. The trouble with this type of realism is that appeals to Saudi Arabia for fair play, for common sense, for coopera- tion, have failed. The Saudis hate the PLO, but provide funds for their barbarism. They make concessions in dip- lomatic dealings with the U.S., oil always the guiding ele- ment, but they disseminate the Protocols of the Elders of Zion despite their admitted falsehoods. They do not cooper- ate in peace efforts. The Times editorial therefore appears naive. The Is- raeli concerns are real and justified. They do not end in Lebanon, they continue on the Saudi border and they can't eliminate a controversy with the State Department. The firmness of members of Congress in their opposition to the arms deals for the Saudis emphasize these concerns. `Sheinit Matsada Lo Tipol': Masada Won't Fall a Second Time — or Submit Ever Prior to the Six-Day War, when Israel was threatened with destruction, the slogan was: "Sheinit Matsada Lo Tipol" — "Masada shall not fall a second time." It is proper to recall this dedication to survival and assurance of resis- tance while many millions were watching the great specta- cle on television. Historically tested, the costly production is fiction. Jewish resistance to the Romans was more emphatic even than that dramatized on the ABC programs. Factually, the form the Masada spectacle assumed was fictionalized. It vvas based on a mere five pages in the Josephus story. As Trude Weiss-Rosmarin pointed out in her recent article, the Judeans not only resisted, they could carry on the battle, their way, for a long time. They did. A basic fact to be remembered is that even after Masada the Judeans fought against tyranny. They re- sisted. They survived. The televised story was a great spec- tacle. The greater one is the truth. The challenge to the suicidal factor should not be treated as applicable to the Holocaust for 100 generations later. In the case of Josephus, a $22 million show lasting eight hours (including the many commercials) was based on five pages of disputed history. The Holocaust is the subject of many months of trials of the mass murderers, the more than 1,000 volumes published on the tragic subject, the German official records, the horrors of the numerals on millions of arms of survivors. "Masada" could have more realistically portrayed the spiritual values. The taleisim-wearers were not that insp . ing in the televisied program. But it is admittedly fictio and the producers gain unending applause for dramatizing the available five pages of Josephus into such spectacular staging. Great acting, beautiful scenery, fiction par excel- lence = thereby the vast audience was compensated for its patience.