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THE JEWISH NEWS
Iltieti 275-521 ,
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20. 1951
Copyright •c. 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
address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
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CARMI M SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
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JUST U DOWN
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
The. .•: ■ 11,hillit. the ...Tont? dnv of K.141...5742. the following scriptural selections will be read is our synagogue,
Pentoteurhol portion. Genesis 25 19-28 -9. Prophetical portion. Afolachi 1.-1-2:7.
Candlelighting, Friday, November 27, 4:45 p.m.
Vol.. 1..XXX, No. 13
Page Four
Friday, November 27, 1981
OFFICIAL ANTI—SEMITISM?
1
1
Anti-Semitism embraces so many aspects of
prejudice based on ignorance, xenophobia
rooted in inherited bias, venom stemming from
continuity of emotional instability, that it
would be too much to expect that any one nation
would be immune from it. There is a bit of
hatred everywhere, and this country has felt it
from time to time.
It existed during the Civil War and President
Lincoln on occasions stepped in to squelch it.
President Grant suffered from an incident in-
volving discrimination.
There was a period when members of the U.S.
House of Representatives made Jews their
scapegoats.
For decades, those who judged developing
conditions in this country had a major judgment
regarding the role of the Jew in America and the
status of the American attitudes toward all
elements in the population, especially the Jews.
There is a boast about it in the records of Ameri-
can Jewry's sense of pride in the American
idealism: that Jews have nothing to fear in this
country as long as there is no official anti-
Semitism. This will always remain the basic
faith in America.
Woe unto a day when hatred and bigotry as-
sume official credibility! Then it will be
calamitous not only for Jews but for all their
neighbors. It is an old lesson, as in Nazism and
in whatever form bigotry may assume: it starts
with Jews, others inevitably become the victims
soon thereafter. There are no limitations to
hatred, and therefore no exemptions from it.
Therefore, the concern for the vigilant that
this should never occur. Therefore, the posing of
this question at this time. It was introduced in
the Congress of the United States when • some
members of the Senate expressed fear lest ac-
tion in a matter that was opposed by most Jews
should be used as a weapon baked in hatred
against all Jews.
It was out of these fears which were stimu-
lated by warnings and threats that there also
was re-introduced the accusation of dual alle-
giance against American Jews. This charge
raised the question of the possible emergence of
an official anti-Semitism, which would become
the menace averted until now. Therefore, the
justified posing of the question regarding the
diversionary in American idealism in the direc-
tion of the destructive and humiliating byroad
to the indecencies that have been totally re-
jected in American experience.
It all happened during the AWACS debate,
when Jews became targets under the title of
"Jewish lobby," while a nation bordering on Is
rael, which became the beneficiary of massive
arms supplies in the concluding process of that
debate, was continuing its own campaign to at-
tain its goals among all elements in govern-
ment, in the legislative as well as the executive
circles.
The charges that were uttered, and implied
when not mouthed, accused Jews of lobbying
and the implications of dual allegiance were
shocking. They remain so because of the impact
they have left during and after that serious de-
hate.
These are matters not to be ignored, and they
therefore demand tile following counteractions:
To begin with, those who yield to bigotry -must
learn that Jewish loyalties are unmatched.
American Jewry, by its devotions, its serious
concern for the survival of the basic principles
upon which this nation was founded, does not
yield to anyone in dedication to that idealism
and in the loyalties of the Jewish citizens.
It is this devottion to duty, to the ideals that
are American that compel a-major obligation: to
speak out, to adhere to the right to differ, to
demand the privilege of adhering to one's basic
opinions, even if they must counteract those of
the majority, even if they find it necessary to
hold views contrary to the President of the
United States. How else is the democratic and
human ideal of this nation to survive?
The first head of this government, President
Washington, set the stage for such action when
he addressed a Jewish congregation with the
salutation of to bigotry no sanction. This
must be held sacred.
And there is the established ideal coined by
another President, Thomas Jefferson, that et-
ernal vigilance is the price of liberty. This
carries with it an obligation to speak one's
mind, and the subjects are not restricted.
When the government has involvements with
foreign nations and there are differing views, no
one has a right to accuse the interested, the
concerned, of either disloyalty or unconcern
with American interests. When a just cause is
under attack, the obligation in the human
sphere is to express one's views without being
subjected to suspicions. In such a sense of
human reactions and adherence to a citizen's
privileges, no one has a right to condemn and to
injure.
The basic idea is: that the obligation of true.
Americanism is the right to differ and to
criticize, even if it is the government in power.
In this democracy, no administration is perma-
nent, no Congress is irreplaceable. Therefore,
the citizen cannot be denied the right to his
views and must never be subjected to abuse
involving patriotism.
As long as there is that existing right, so long
as the basis for differing views is not under-
lined, fair play can predominate. In a spirit of
fair play there must never be an avenue for
official anti-Semitism. Rejecting such a possi-
bility, the American way of life will survive the
venomous and the bigoted.
In times of crises, especially when there are
economic difficulties, the search for a scapegoat
could become a national game. Since evidence of
prejudice is never lacking, racism and anti-
Semitism are always in existence. Would that
the black community understood it as well as
Jews do! They would never submit to partner-
ship in such declines in humanism.
In both aspects of problems that are becoming
universal and certainly not limited to the
United States, where both exist, there is one
hope: that they are passing phases. In the U.S.
experience there must be a strict adherence to
the belief that American fair play is stronger
than prejudice.
a
Richard Marek Publishers
,
Sachar's 'Egypt and Israel'
Enriches Historical Records
"Egypt and Israel" by Howard Sachar (Richard Marek Pub-
lishers) came off the press prior to the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
This in no sense reduces the significance of this thorough study of the
conflicts and more recent friendly relations between the two nations.
On the contrary, it enriches the record and calls attention to it under
the scrutiny of the eminent historian whose research into the events
in the Middle East are among the most important of the current
decade, as well as the preceding -historical experiences.
Dr. Sachar traces historical occurrences, outlines their develop-
ing sequences, touches upon the current and provides a canvas that is
certain to provide the indelible as guides in future studies, with the
factual bases that make his "Egypt and Israel" an indispensable
portrayal of the events in the Middle East.
His studies of Sadat as well as the
Israeli leaders are impressive. Much of
what he relates is new, resulting from
an accumulation of hitherto unpub-
lished data.
Exemplary is the Sadat record. It
emerges as one of the most complete
accounts of Sadat's earliest attitudes,
his conflicts with the Soviet Union and
the ultimate anti-Russian position.
Also recorded are Sadat's relation-
ships with the Arab states, which
emanated into hostilities by the latter,
and the opposition he encountered as a
result of his negotiations with Israel.
Interestingly, in his earlier years
HOWARD SACHAR there was the anti-Israel sentiment
akin to the jubilation in Beirut and
other quartZrs over Sadat's death. During the Munich massacre
DR.
of 1972, there was similar jubilation and Sadat seemed to share in it,
as thus referred to in the new Sachar history:
"'The Munich massacre (of Israeli athletes at the 1972 summer
Olympics),' recalled Eban, 'the indecent support given to the assas-
sins by Arab leaders, including President Sadat, the gloating that ran
riot across the Arab world ... all fortified Israelis in the feeling that
peace with the Arab world was an Israeli dream ... At.the same time,
the Munich attack had reduced the international pressures upon us to
make concessions to an adversary who seemed impervious to harm
human impulse ...' "
Both Sadat and Menahem Begin disapproved of a revival of the
proposed Geneva Conference which would have given a role in the
Middle East discussions to the. USSR.
Begin is as thoroughly tested by Sachar as is Sadat. The relation-
ships with the U.S. emerge here in interesting and revealing fashion.
- Similarly, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and most
other Israeli leaders figure prominently in the Sachar account.
Dr. Sachar's "Egypt.and Israel" is eminently worth being on the
desk of every historian and those concerned with foreign affairs
policies for constant reference.