TilE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, May 28, 1982 61

First Poll Among Israel's Arabs
Reveals Beliefs on Discrimination

IMMIGRATION-THE HUMAN FACTOR

A

t a time when the immigra-
tion doorway seems to be
closing, it is probably an appropriate
noment to take a look backward and
consider some of our decisions of' the
past.
In 1935 the Nazis enacted the in-
famous Nurerriberg laws which strip-
ped Jews of their citizenship. Those
who were able to do so began to leave
Germany in large numbers. In
February, 1939 (Seven Months
before the outbreak of World War II)
Senator Robert F. Wagner of New
York and Representative Edith
Rogers of Massachusetts introduced
identical bills in the two houses of
Congress. These bills would have
provided for the admission of 10,000
refugee children under the age of
fourteen to be admitted to the United
States in each of the years of 1939 and
1940. Refugee organizations already
at that time had pledges from 5000
American families to take these
children into their homes. All that
was needed was Congressional ap-
proval.
Then the nativist super-patriots
began to show their muscle. The
American Legion testifed at the Con-
gressional hearings chat America
already had enough children. Agnes
Waters, representing an organization
of World War I widows said: "Let us
not be maudlin in our sympathies.
Charity begins at home." Mrs:
James Houghtelling, wife of the

Commissioner of Immigration was
quoted as remarking to a friend, that
"the trouble with this bill is that
10,000 children would all too soon
grow up into 10,000 ugly adults."
She seemed to be expressing the
prevailing opinion in the country. 83
percent of those polled by Fortune
magazine opposed any relaxation of
the immigration quotas.
Father Coughlin, the anti-semitic
radio priest from Detroit, was at the
height of his power and popularity.
His audience was numbered in the
millions. In 1938 and 1939 he was
praising Hitler on a weekly basis on
national network radio and blaming
the war in Europe on the Jews. It was
not until 1941 that his bishop finally
silenced him.
President Roosevelt did not push
for passage of the bill, primarily
because he did not wish to antagonize
Southern congressmen whose votes
he needed in the struggle for increas-
ed rearmament appropriations. The
Wagner-Roberts bill died in commit-
tee.
Those Jewish children, whom
5,000 American families were
prepared to take into their homes,
died in the gas chambers.

c-'--,iro Radio
Hebrew

(

JERUSALEM (JNI) —
Cairo Radio has decided to
broadcast Hebrew lessons
twice weekly for the next
several months, in coopera-
tion with Israel Radio.

The half-hour program
"Learn Hebrew," has been
aired on Israel Radio's
Arabic program for a year,
and has attracted letters
from Egyptians expressing
their gratitude for the He-
brew lessons. -

The first poll con-
ducted among 746 Arabs
who form a representa-

five sample of the Israeli
Arab population (not in-
cluding the West Bank,
the Gaza Strip or the
Golan Heights) showed
that 46.7 percent said that
both Jewish and Arab
students were to be
blamed for campus
clashes and unrest; 44.1
percent felt that Jewish
extremists were to blame;
5.5 percent felt govern-
ment policy was respon-
sible;and three percent
blamed the Arab stu-
dents.

Ninety-six percent felt
the Arabs were discrimi-
nated against in Israel, and
60 percent felt the time had
come to establish an inde-
pendent Arab party to de-
mand full equal rights.
Only 38 percent felt this

low suit and re-establish
their links with the Jewish
state."

Hillel Director
Cites Arab Gains
at U.S. Colleges

WASHINGTON — The
Arab campaign to discredit
Israel in the eyes of students
and reverse America's
commitment to the Jewish
nation is gaining headway,
according to Dr. Samuel Z.
Fishman, associate interna-
tional director of Bnai Brith
Hillel Foundations.
The Arab strategy on
the campus is linked to their
efforts in the business com-
munity, in the Congress,
and with the media,
Fishman told a meeting of
the Bnai Brith Interna-
tional Board of Governors.
Fishman said that there
were two aspects of Arab
propaganda on the campus
— academic and extra-
curricular. The latter, he
explained, is handled by an
Arab student body that has
mushroomed. The number
of students from Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and
Libya alone has grown from
about 2,000 in 1970 to about
13,000.

Falasha Lobby

LOS ANGELES' — The
American Association for
Ethiopian Jewry has an-
nounced a campaign to gain
Congressional support for
the 23,000 Falashas of
Ethiopia.
The association said lead- •
ership in the House has
come from Reps. Barney
Frank of Massachusetts,
Stephen Solarz of New York
and Tom Lantos of Califor-
nia.
Senate leaders are Carl
Levin of Michigan, Rudy
Boschwitz of Minnesota and
Paul Tsongas of Massachu-
setts. -

All books are divisible
into two classes: the books of
the hour, and the books of
all time. •

OF COURSE NOT!

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Swedish Students
to Tour Israel

JERUSALEM (JNI) —
The top 20 graduates of the
Hillel Elementary School in
Stockholm will embark on a
one-month study-tour of Is-
rael this summer.
At the suggestion of the
Israeli emissary in Sweden,
and aided by the World
Zionist Organization, the
school's parents' committee
arranged for the pupils to
spend part of their summer
vacation here. Hillel is the
only Jewish school in Swe-
den.

aim should be achieved
through the existing par-
ties.
Toledano, a liberal, said it
was gratifying that 66 per-
cent of those queried con-
sidered themselves con-
nected, in one way or an-
other, to the Israeli identity
with only 34 percent feeling
themselves tied only to an
Arab identity.
Toledano found another
favorable point in the fact
that the great majority said
their interest in political
party activity involved local
internal problems rather
than wider political prob-
lems of the Palestinians.

are house calls
a thing of
the past??

( Don McEvoy is sentor vice president of
the National Conference of Christians and
Jews. The opinions expressed are his own.)

Re-Opening of Ties Urged

CHICAGO — Following
Zaire's 'recent decision to
re-establish diplomatic re-
lations with Israel, Kenya's
newspaper, The Standard,
came out with an editorial
that encouraged black Afri-
can countries to resume ties
with Israel.
The editorial said, in part:
"Israel is in many re-
spects a good and dependa-
ble friend of the African
peoples. We suggest not
only that Mr. Mobutu
(Zaire's president) should
not bow to pressure aimed
at forcing him to reverse his
decision, but also that other
African nations should fol-

TEL 'AVIV (JTA) — Is-
raeli pollsters have begun
taking notice of public opin-
ion in the Arab sector for the
first time.
They have predictably
found that the vast majority
of Israeli Arabs say they are
discriminated against, and
somewhat surprisingly they
have discovered that most
Arabs blame both Jewish
and Arab students for
clashes in the universities.
The man responsible for
the Arab research section of
the Dahaf Research Insti-
tute, headed by Dr. Mina
Zemah, is Shmuel To-
ledano, former Arab affairs
adviser to several prime
ministers.

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