2 Friday, April 9, 19132
THE ()EMU JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Israel Victimized by Bias
Approaching Outrageous
Negations of True Reporting
Readers of reports about happenings in Israel, written
by the foreign correspondents assigned to that
battleground, have in store many heartrending stories.
Judged by the lessons provided in recent months, especially
in the manner in which Israeli actions are described as
brutalities, it can be anticipated that Israel will be placed
on trial, and in spite of the lack of real proof there is certain
to develop a new hatred for which the media must be held
responsible.
The role of the media receives interesting analysis in a
Page One article in this issue by Victor Bienstock, a vete-
ran newspaperman. The reports by many correspondents
can stand scrutiny. Some demand investigation. The fre-
quent prejudice-inciting articles by Anthony Lewis of the
New York Times demand specific testing.
A letter published in the NYTimes April 2, signed
Irvin B. Schermer, an American now practicing law in
Jerusalem, demands serious attention. It must be given
widest circulation. It is not necessarily an expose of the
angled approaches to Israel news by Anthony Lewis. It
exposes all who seek sensations and thereby they distort,
often unknowingly, and create harm to efforts to assure
amity among the peoples of the Middle East.
This is what Schermer wrote from Jerusalem to the
NYTimes:
I see that Anthony Lews has been rooting in
Israel's garbage cans once more. I refer to his
diatribe on book banning in Israel's West Bank
(column March 14).
What is being enforced, albeit in diluted form
are existing Jordanian censorship laws which in-
corporated British Mandatory procedures dating
back to 1921. In practice, insofar as standard texts
are concerned, the ban merely prohibits the im-
portation of Arabic translations which have been
distorted and recast so as to incite disorder, prej-
udice and hostile activity.
As pointed out in a 1981 study by the Interna-
tional Commission of Jurists: ". . during the 14
years of Israeli administration, the import of only
648 such books — all of which were published in
countries which are still in a state of war with
Israel — has been prohibited."
Mr. Lewis states that Shakespeare's "Merchant
of Venice" is on the prohibited list. It is not. What
he has reference to is a viciously anti-Semitic
adaptation of the play in Arabic, designed to warp
the minds of children into the worst kinds of reli-
gious and racial prejudices. The authentic ver-
sion of the play is readily available in any book-
shop in the territories.
As an American lawyer who has lived in Israel
for more than a decade, I can assure your readers
that the degree of civil, personal and political
freedom in Judea and Samaria far exceeds any-
thing to be found in any Arab country in the Mid-
dle East. As a matter of fact, West Bank editors get
away with the kind of inflammatory articles that
would have them swinging from the gallows in
Arab countries.
A case in point involves Al Fajr and Al Sha'ab,
two of the most vicious of the West Bank news-
papers. After years of excesses and repeated vio-
lations of the regulations, the worst that hap-
pened to them was a two-week suspension of pub-
lication rights.
Mr. Lewis states that youthful security offen-
ders have been detained for months without
charge. This is totally untrue. In practically every
case of these rock-throwing, Molotov-cocktail de-
votees, they have been either charged or released
within 24 hours of arrest.
And the Israeli Supreme Court accepts peti-
tions from Arab residents of Israel's West Bank on
the same basis as it accepts petitions from Israeli
citizens. In 1979-1980, for example, almost 10 per-
cent of all petitions accepted by that court were
filed by Arab residents of Israel's West Bank.
Most of Mr. Lewis' flying visits to Israel are
spent hobnobbing with West Bank agitators. If
once — only once — his car were fire-bombed, or
his bus were riddled with machine-gun bullets, or
his head were crushed by a rock thrown by a high
school demonstrator, he might change his tune.
In an article in the April 5 NYTimes entitled "Destroy-
ing the Dream," Anthony Lewis rejected the Schermer ac-
cusations. He repeated some of the charges, indicting Is-
rael, claiming that the Israeli policies are based on bias, a
desire to oust the Arabs from administered territories,
brutalities against the youth. These are yet to be proved.
There are faults ascribable to angered ultra-Orthodox, to
irrational settlers, to uncontrolled soldiers who resist
stone-throwing with weapons. This is not Israel in totality
Sensationalized Distortions of Truth Exposed in Message
From Jerusalem ... Important Facts Refuting Hate-Spreading
Reports Demand the Widest Circulation to Assure Justice
or in policy and Anthony Lewis has not fully proven his
claims. Schermer's remains a powerful refutation of prej-
udice.
In the ultimate, truth triumphs. To attain it the facts
must be circulated as widely as possible. This is the aim of
this resort to the quoted Schermer letter.
Important Step in Red Cross
Recognition of the MDA
Acknowledgements of gifts and invitational cards to
functions of the American Red Cross now display, in addi-
tion to the Red Cross, the Red Magen David as well as the
Red Crescent.
This is a result of the serious efforts that were con-
ducted by American Red Cross leaders for the recognition of
and inclusion in its ranks by the World Red Cross of the
Magen David Adorn in Israel.
Primarily effective was the leadership in that task of
the executive head of the Southeastern Michigan Region of
the Red Cross, Duane -Johnson.
Magen David Adorn of Israel and all supporters of the
movement, Michigan's included, appreciate Mr. Johnson's
efforts. He has been commended for it at MDA functions
here and the appreciation keeps multiplying.
`If the Sinai Were to Be
Bordered U.S.-Canadian Style'
This is a thought-exciting headline over a letter pub-
lished in the New York Times March 24.
The correspondent, writing from Rehovot, Israel, has a
dream. He also has a knowledge of American history.
Harry Lipkin of Rehovot also has a knowledge of the
geography that embraces Detroit.
Joining him imaginatively, let's rename Toronto as
Amman, Chicago as Cairo, then Detroit glorifies as Israel's
Jerusalem.
Then hatreds would vanish, people would fraternize
like human beings, warfare would vanish, there would be
cultural and industrial exchanges.
Let Harry Lipkin relate his dream, as it appeared in
the NYTimes:
The United States can make a valuable contri-
bution to the Mideast peace process during this
crucial period. After Israel's withdrawal from
Sinai, the border between Israel and Egypt will
return to where it was before 1967. If the "iron
curtain" that was there also returns, there will be
no hope for peace. An open border like the U.S.-
Canadian border is the key to further progress
toward peace.
A recent poll in Israel showed 30 percent of the
people opposed to complete withdrawal from
Sinai. The Israeli concessions necessary for
further progress in the peace process can come
only if they are convinced in the next few months
that the sacrifice of leaving Sinai and dismantling
settlements was worthwhile.
Israel is a democracy, and its leaders must pay
more attention to the local polls than to UN reso-
lutions or speeches by U.S. Cabinet members.
Pressure at this time for concessions regarding
the Palestine problem, from the U.S. or Egypt, can
only strengthen the suspicions of the 30 percent
that those two countries are ready to sacrifice the
security of Israel to curry favor with oil-
producing Arab states.
The United States and Canada can help the
peace process today by inviting high-level delega-
tions from Egypt and Israel to tour the U.S.-
Canadian border. They should see how this bor-
der cuts through the Buffalo-Niagara Falls and
Detroit metropolitan areas without causing any
problems.
The crucial hydroelectric power stations at the
Falls and the entire industrial complex of Detroit
are within easy artillery range of the border, and
nobody cares. Visitors to the Falls cross the bor-
der freely. Residents of the Buffalo and Detroit
metropolitan areas may live on one side of the
border and work on the other, or have summer
cottages on the other side. The shortest route be-
tween Buffalo and Detroit goes through Canada
and is easily accessible to any American motorist.
Today we all take this peaceful border for
By Philip
Slomovitz
granted. But once there was war and tension at
this border, and °hawks in the U.S. Congress
shouted the battle cry of "54-40 or fight!" They
didn't get 54-40, and they didn't fight. This is an
example that must be followed in the Mideast.
The first step is for Egypt to announce that the
border to southern Sinai at Eilat will be open to
Israeli visitors, with a minimum of formalities.
The beaches on the Red Sea coast, remote from
the population centers of Egypt, are within easy
driving distance from the population centers of
Israel and are ideal for vacations or weekend ex-
cursions.
Once face-saving national sovereignty over this
territory is restored to Egypt, the Egyptians have
no real use for it. Allowing free access by Isra,- "
will create opportunities for Egyptian businet
well as the good will needed to extract further
-- concessions from Israel on the Palestine problem.
Nature preserves and national parks set up by the
Egyptians in consultation with the Israelis can
form a bridge between the two nations without
compromising Egypt's relations with the Arab
world.
The Egyptians can be free to disagree with Is-
rael on the Palestine problem and work toward a
solution. They can point out to their Arab
brothers that wars, violence and terrorism have
not liberated one inch of occupied Arab territory,
but that the Camp David peace process has suc-
ceeded in obtaining territorial concessions from
Israel. If the open border is a success, they can
point out to the Israelis that national sovereignty
over territories can be conceded without loss of
security or free access:
"No more war. No more bloodshed." Those
words of Anwar Sadat have opened the door to a
comprehensive Mideast peace settlement. To
keep the doors open, we must add, "No more iron
curtains." The American people can show the
way.
Is it a dream? It could become reality _ . But it takes guts
to achieve it.
It also entails a desire to attain such a -peace.
Is it a mere dream? Doesn't it prove how Israelis are
thinking?
Heinrich Heine Redivivus:
Stressing, Germany's Agonies
Heinrich Heine had good cause to indict the Germans.
Their anti-Semitism preceded Hitlerism. Yet he is per-
petuated in German traditions and folklore, especially with
the "Lorelei."
Our recent column on Heine elicited a differing view 4,
and a correction. Signing himself "Heine," one writer called
attention to errors, in a letter in German. The emphasis is
Ich weirs nicht was toll es beduten
Dass ich so traurig bin .. .
Corrections are always welcome and surely merit at-
tention.
Then there was the message from "An Anonymous
Reader," written with courtesy, objecting to referring to
Germany as a "great nation."
Granted, as this correspondent states, Heine also ques-
tioned the greatness of the country he stemmed from.
There could, should, have been a substitute for great-
ness. Perhaps the Germans should be recognized for status
among the leading nations in the world. That doesn't make
one great, does it? Is the U.S. "great" if judged by the -
Vietnam tragedy? Is France "great" in the light of the
Vichy experience? (Note the expose in the NYTimes Op-Ed
Page article on March 28, "The Need to Remember" by
Flora Lewis, exposing the Nazism of the French during the
occupation by the Germans.) Indeed, not great, but some
great things did not come out of there and because much of
it was tinged by anti-Semitism, the word "great" is hereby
amended.
t
The "Anonymous Reader" has more complaints:
a conscience by the Germans and total atonement:
There isn't a total conscience, but there are the admis-
sions of guilt and the readiness of the Stuttgarter Zeitung
whose editorial condemned Dusseldorf University for re- -
fusing to be renamed Heine University.
And there are other examples, especially two from the (4
columns of this newspaper. On Feb. 5, The Jewish News
reprinted an article that appeared, also in Stuttgarter
Zeitung, exposing the neo-Nazi periodicals published in
Germany. On March 12, The Jewish News reprinted an
article from the Frankfurter Rundschau presenting the
facts about the Wannsee Conference at which the extermi-
nation of Jews was planned.
Therefore the point to be made — not necessarily
argumentatively — that generalizing is never justified; the
compelling concession to the belief that even in evil Ger-
many there were under the Nazis and there are now very
good people.
How else can one try to be fair in judgment?