THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Newsweek's Knifing of Begin Dissected By FRANKLIN LITTELL National Institute on the Holocaust PHILADELPHIA — One of the most viciously anti- Semitic features in many a year was published in the Sept. 14 issue of Newsweek, along with a cover picture of Prime Minister Menahem Begin of Israel. The cover picture crudely, not to say blasphemously, combined in its border an interlacing of automatic. rifles and the Magen David. The long feature story was shot through with hatred and prejudice of the lower depths. To set the stage for a political discus- sion tainted with blatant hostility to Israel, it began with references to the Jewish fight for freedom from the British occupation of Eretz Yisrael. Begin is termed "a one-time ter- rorist," and his resistance group is called an "under- ground terrorist organiza- tion." This column has carried ample discussion already on the difference between ter- rorists and freedom- fighters, terrorism and a liberation movement. Ter- rorists strike at unarmed and random groups, to de- stabilize a society. Freedom-fighters, soldiers not in uniform, strike at military objectives. Freedom-fighters, when they win against a foreign • • • • • • • • • • • • • have them • • REMEMBER YOUR AFFAIR • • with • •• • COMPUTER PORTRAITS • • • • Framed Pictures, • • Posters, T-Shirts, Etc. • • • • BANQUETS, PARTIES , • • WEDDINGS, SHOWERS • • MITZVAHS, ETC. • • • Call • • • PHOTOGRAPHIC • • .COMPUTER IMAGES, INC, • (313) 851-5977 • • Also located in Tally Hall, • 4111 Farmington Hills • •••••••••••• FOR YOUR 1982 .CADILLAC SEE ME TIM AUDETTE Sales & Leasing at AUDETTE CADILLAC 7100 Orchard Lake Rd. at Northwestern, West Bloomfield (313) 851-7200 PERSONALIZED SERVICE GUALUDIED REV. LITTELL or domestic tyranny, set , up a constitutional govern- ment featuring liberty and self-government. Ter- rorists, when they win, set up a terrorist-criminal gov- ernment. We don't have. to like the political line involved in either case to see the difference between them. Menahem Begin was not a terrorist and his band was not a terrorist organization. Unfortunately, some Jewish writers as well as gentiles, hating Begin's political line, havehelped to blacken his past history. But I repeat: we may think his politics a disaster in Eretz Yisrael, we may re- sent his statements about the kibutzim, we may con- sider his economic and reli- gious policies a texture of errors. As an American gen- tile I do not feel free to pon- tificate on such matters, and I am somewhat amazed at the Jewish fellow citizens who, safe in North America, feel free to publish ex cathedra on such matters. In any case, and this is the issue here, he was a patriot fighting against a military occupation, striking against military targets and per- sonnel, to free his people from a deadly yoke. And today he is the demo- cratically - elected head of a representative government. Newsweek, in slanting its feature article against him and against Israel, lied about him — whether with malice or through intellec- tual sloth, the readers can judge for themselves. Newsweek went on in its feature to quote an anonymous "Administra- tion official" in Washington to the effect that "Everyone in town, from the janitor all the way to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, hates Begin with a passion." Why are they al- ways "anonymous"? Are they as gutless in accepting responsibility for their opin- ions as they 'are appeasementoriented in international affairs?! -I am sure that Begin, and any de- and President Reagan due to "chaos in Lebanon" — as though that chaos were not due to Syrian invaders and occupiers in alliance with a PLO state-within-a- state which has effectu- ally destroyed a once in- dependent republic. I will wager that President Reagan, once he lives through the conse- quences of his misguided effort to do a favor fbr the oil cartels aud Arms manufacturers in the Saudi AWACS deal, will again remember that-Be- gin's Israel is our only dependable ally in the area. At the baseline, Israel's refusal to roll over and die is worth a minimum of a mil- lion and a half NATO troops stationed in the Near East. On principle, Israel's com- mitment to liberty and self-government should in- spire admiration and sup- port from any citizens who comprehend,what a legiti- mate government consists of. Newsweek expresses no pleasure, of course, in the remarkable patience Be- gin's government has shown on the displacement of the Russian-supplied Sy- rian missiles in Lebanon. The missiles, although nowhere near as dangerous as the AWACS Reagan proposes to turn over to the Saudi-PLO alliance, are a standing threat to Israel's security. But to express such appreciation would have weakened Newsweek's intent: to portray Begin as a sometime terrorist — and by implication a ter- rorist today, and to blac- ken Israel as an ally. Like those who con- stantly refer to Israel's trade with South Africa, which amounts to less than one percent of South Afri- ca's business; and then care- fully suppress mention of the fact that 40 percent of South Africa's trade is with black African nations, Newsweek's intent in the feature story and cover is plain. At all costs, by sup- pressing some points and fe,aturing others, by mis- representing some facts and falsely presenting others, the magazine set out to undermine American readers' support of Israel's survival and wellbeing. 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