THE JEWISH NEWS

USPS 275 520)

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951

Copyright "O') The Jewish News Publishing Co.

Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, National Editorial Association and
National Newspaper Association and its Capital Club.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $15 a year.

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

ALAN HITSKY
News Editor

Business Manager

HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor

DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager

Sabbath Scriptural Selections •

This Sabbath, the first day ofAu, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 33:1-36:13,28:9-15. Pi'ophetical portion, Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4.

Candle lighting, Friday, July 31, 8:34 p.m.

VOL. LXXIX, No. 22

Page Four

Friday, July 31, 1981

LOBBYING AS AN ISSUE

Crises in the Middle East have become com-
monplace. While they always dominate over
most other world developments whenever the
conflict between Israel and her enemies, now
mostly represented by the PLO, arises the
media make the confrontations the most press-
ing news.
The latest in the developments, Israel's mili-
tary actions at the very base of PLO headquar-
ters, in the heart of Beirut in Lebanon, continue
to cause anguish. Israel's determination to de-
stroy the very roots of the antagonisms,
engendered in the PLO covenant, has aroused
more criticism than any other occurrence. Yet
there is a measure of understanding of the
motivations, and they are evident in the Ameri-
can position of assailing the attacks yet refrain-
ing from basic threats against Israel. The U.S.
position is now one of emphasis on the need for
peace as a solution to the problems rather than
one of sanctions and of condemning Israel with-
out taking into account the threats from Arab
quarters and the shelling of Israeli areas which
keep wreaking vengeance on the Jewish state.
In the process of judging Jewish attitudes,
American Jewry being consistently concerned
with Israel's traditional friendship with the
United St rtes, there has emerged a renewal of
charges tnat the Jewish lobby" has caused
difficulties for this country and is responsible
for an American dilemma in the relations with
the Arab nations and with the oil-producing
powers. This raises once again the dispute over
lobbying and its role in this country's foreign
policies.
If lobbying were a crime it would be outlawed.
It is practiced and it is always subject to
scrutiny. The propagated causes are either ac-
' cepted if judged proper or rejected when differed
with. In Israel's instance it has an entirely
different connotation. It deals with human
rights, with.a people's insistence on the right to
live and survive.
Most of the criticisms of the so-called Israel
and/ Jewish lobby are leveled at the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee — AIPAC —
and its news and feature organ the Near East
Report. What is dealt with, therefore, is not only
the contact AIPAC's leaders have with mem-
bers of Congress and other public officials but
also the 'printed matter. When confronted with
the negativism in the accusation of lobbying it

ROOTS OF

should be mandatory for the critics to study the
contents of Near East Report.-If conducted ob-
jectively there must emerge the realization that
this news-feature bulletin- deals with facts and
figures, that is it is an educational medium, that
it probes the issues involving the Middle East,
Israel, the Arabs, the Jewish opinions and atti-
tudes and the reactions to them by the non-
Jewish world.
Related to lobbying, therefore, is a principle
involving pamphleteering. There is a very hon-
orable aspect in pamphleteering. It is an estab-
lished way of educating people to 'certain as-
pects of political and social attitudes. True: it
contains. a measure of propaganda. But it need
not be destructive propaganda.
In Israel's ease, and the role of that nation's
Jewish kinfolk and Christian friends, it is a
matter calling for action to prevent the state's
destruction. The expose of the PLO and that
group's supporters is a compelling matter cal-
, ling for protection against the threats to destroy
the state. The friendship Israel has established
with the United States, this nation's commit-
ment to Israel's security, the Israeli position of
assuring the principle of democratic govern-
ment in the Middle East, combine to give Israel
the right to propagate her views. It becomes an
obligation for Israel to inform her friends
everywhere about existing conditions in the
Middle East. That's the role of an organized
effort which antagonists would convert into a
menace under the title the Jewish lobby."
Lobbying in Israel's instance is the legitimate
right to the struggle for life. It becomes a search
for, criminality on the part of those who would
undermine the existence of the Jewish state.
Many in the media share the guilt for traducing
Israel's right to present her case through the
media of public officialdom and in the press.
To the credit of the heads of our government it
should be emphasized , that the call is for a
greater striving for peace, that an assurance of
amity is necessary to end hostilities. A basic
problem is involved here. To attain peace it is
vital that Arabs and Jews sit together, speak to
each other, talk peace with an aim at attaining
it. Refusal by Arabs to share such a round table
with Jews for peace talks is the obstacle to good
will and harmony. This is the tragedy: the fail-
ure by Jews in their invitation to Arabs to sit
together at a peace table.

M.E. TRAGEDY

A recorded tragedy, resulting in. the death of
hundreds of people in the Beirut area headquar-
tered by the forces seeking Israel's destruction,
naturally resulted in much sadness. It was a
heartbreaking occurrence. It was not the usual
way in which Israelis resisted the forces seeking
her destruction.
While deploring loss of civilian lives, it is
nevertheless important that the realities of the
situation not be ignored. The consistent _Arab
threats to Israel's existence compelled attacks
on the arsenals created by Russia and Libya. If
these arsenals were to be permitted to remain
operative it could mean an end to Israel's secu-
rity and the very life of the nation. The cause of

the tragedy must be charged to those destruct-
ive forces. What happened was most regret-
table, but blame must be placed where it be-
longs. It is attributable to the forces of destruc-
tion financed by Saudi Arabia, militarily pro-
vided by Russia and Libya.
Lebanon's agonies also stern from the horrors
perpetrated in the territory of that unhappy
land by the PLO. It is because the bankrupted
world public opinion and the hypocritical world
powers permitted the PLO to become the
"authority" for events in the Middle East that
most of the troubles emerged in that area of the
world. A realization of it may compel prevention
of the continuation of such a condition of horror.

%.rraa

Joan Comay's 'Diaspora
Story' an Historical Gem

Joan Comay has already earned recognition as a classicist in
tackling Israeli historical data, as author of a guide for tourists in
Israel, as • an anthologist of Bible topics and as a biographer. Her
newest work, "The Diaspora Story" (Random House) enriches the
bookshelf of her many works and adds significantly to published
Jewish historical data.
Because she links her researched and collected material, the
splendid text and the valuable photographs, to the most recent out-
standing Israeli accomplishments, the establishment of the Beth
Hatefutsot, the Nahum Goldmann Museum in Tel Aviv, utilizing the
massive material in that significant structure and its archival data,
The Diaspora Story" gains in importance.
Mrs. Comay has a notable record as
an author and lecturer, as a researcher
in historical data and as an advocate of
Zionism. As the wife of Michael Comay,
the former Israel ambassador to Canada
and the United Kingdom and as Israel's
delegate chief representative to the
United Nations, she had an important
role in behalf of her nation in the United
States, Great Britain and Israel. She
lectured extensively in this country,
making numerous appearances in De-
troit.
Born in South Africa, Mrs. Comay
settled in Israel at the end of World War
II, being involved in her new nation's
war of liberation, later joining the
JOAN COMAY
editorial staff of the Encyclopedia
Judaica.
"Who's Who in the Old Testament" is among her widely -
acclaimed works which include, "Who's Who in Jewish History,"
"Introducing Israel," "The UN in Action," "The Temple of Jerusalem"
•
and "The World's Greatest Story."
"Diaspora," which stems from the Greek "dispersion," represents
Jewish history as it functioned prior to the redemption of Zion and the
rebirth of the modern state of Israel.
In "The Diaspora Story," subtitled "The Epic of Jewish People
Among the Nations," Mrs. Comay traced and depicted history, ac
counting for Jewish migrations, travels from country to country
under the duress of the persecutions.
This is a story of 19 centuries of Jews who both attained-their
identity while being challenged by assimilatory temptations to adopt
the ways of the lands in which they settled, pursuing the goals that led
many to great successes in the arts and the sciences, in literature,
•
medicine.
Beth Hatefutsot is the means of drawing material for many
periods, many lands, including the triumphs in survival as well as ''le
hardships occasioned by the prejudices under which they lived
Adherence to faith, keeping the home strong, lending dignity it)
existence even under, the whip, "The Diaspora" also spells survival.
While the new Joan Comay book deals with the synagogue,
holiday celebrations and the way of life in the ghettoes marked by
oppression counteracted by survival ism, her book also deals with
relations with the non-Jews of all faiths. This lends her portrayal the
necessary totality in covering a very vital subject exploring the
Jewish historic experiences.
With definitions of the biblical and talmudic teachings, describ-
ing Judaism as having become "a portable faith and a way of life that
could function without a state, a temple or a fixed abode," Mrs. Comay
leads up to the emergence of statehood, the merging of the cycle. Thus
her work is both historically descriptive, fascinating as literature,
adding "The Diaspora Story" as an enrichment to her previous works.