2 Friday, June 18, 1982

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely Commentary

Dealing with Facts and Having All Cards on the
Table Instead of Hiding Realities ... The Many
Lessons in Israel's Tackling With Realities

By Philip
Slomovitz

Facing Realities, Confronting the Enemies, Recognizing the FriendS

Current experiences are more than a war. They emphasize realities. They provide
evidence of who are and who are not friends. The enemy is in evidence. The interpreters of
the events are better able to judge who are the haters and why they hate.
The media appear in a better light than they have in some time. Israel, central to it
all, often has occasion to resent prejudices. There is better cause, in what may be termed
the Lebanese crisis, to value the efforts realistically to report the events and to assign the
comments to proper study of developments.
This is the sixth war for Israel. It is the most vital. Cards are on the table in this
conflict. The enemy is recognizable. The challenger is on the alert.
The facts are better understood than ever, and the need for upholding Israel's hands
in a battle for life will, hopefully, receive firmer assistance.
The enemy went a bit too far. He threatened the life of the Jewish state and its
people. He went much farther. He intruded among Israelis, created havoc, poisoned
minds, interfered with the best approach to peace, the plans for autonomy for Arabs
administered by Israel.
If the enemy can be driven out of sight, the solution will be nearer.
If the poisoned minds can be cleansed, all the nearer to peace.
Hopefully, out of the morass will develop a craving for and an acceptance of truth.
The enemy, painfully, travels widely. A member of the Israel Knesset who also is
mayor of Nazareth, Tawfiq Zayyad, was interviewed on a visit here. He charged that
Israel aims at the extermination of Palestinians. He is one of the three Communist
members of the Knesset who enjoy Israel's freedoms. He is one of the three Communist
members of the Knesset who voted no-confidence in Menahem Begin's government in
opposition to the unanimity of the balance of the Israeli parliamentarians. Yet he travels
freely, has the right to attack the goyernment of a state in which he claims citizenship. He
operates under . diplomatic immunity in the distorted views he seeks to present to a
deluded audience. In reality, he does here what he and his ilk do in Israel. They enjoy
freedoms while endorsing the state's destruction. It attests to Fifth Column-Lag, contrary
to confidence in such inner enemies expressed by Israel President Yitzhak Navon.
Hopefully, Navon will be proven correct and Zayyad will be repudiated by fellow Arabs
when he returns to his adopted country.
But there is a more positive aspect. The ousting of the PLO from Lebanon had the
fullest endorsement of world Jewry. The Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations mobilized unity in Israel's defense. Responsible Jewish spokesmen
everywhere stand by-Israel. Unity will not be broken.
This must have an effect on American thinking, on the White House and State
Department. There must be support for an heroic effort not only to protect Israel, but also
to rescue Lebanon from the banditry of the PLO and the intruding Syrians.

* * *

At last, with a ceasefire achieved, all people with a sense of justice, Americans
adhering to fair play, will recognize that Israel acts as the liberator of Lebanon. At last,
after many years of agony, Lebanon can be free, the PLO chased from there as they were
chased from Jordan!
Let it be a lesson also for self-flagellating Jews, like the New Jewish Agenda group
which, locally, in time of crisis, sought a platform for Israel's enemies under the false
theme of non-belligerence.

Contrasting Two Newspapers:
Rejection of Shocking Abuse

Another crisis, with many attendant tensions, and
mice again the press, the media, are being tested.
It should be recorded in recognition of the most vital
Factor in human relations, in reporting and analyzing
world affairs, that newspapers in the main are fair in re-
porting and in presenting the views of Israelis, while giving
platform to Israel's enemies, in the true fashion of re-
spected journalism.
In this community there is a contrast. Both newspap-
?rs remain critical of Menahedm Begin. Like so many others
— too many! — they judge Israel's prime minister as a
/Main.
Both Free Press and News keep criticizing Menahem
3egin and both call him belligerent. But there is a dif-
erence in approach, and it is most regrettable that the
-ecord cannot be ignored. It must not be ignored because,
while there is continuity in condemnations which are often
eery unfair, there is a difference.
The Free Press, whose editorials have been assailed as
)rejudicial, keeps repeating that an end to Beginism would
lelp solve the problems that plague the Middle East. Or
something to that effect. Of course, it is wrong. Begin
3choes Israelism. In the present crisis there is unanimity in
:srael seldom experienced.
The Free Press writers have a just right to express
,iews, even when they irk Jewish readers and many Chris-
tian friends of Israel. They have a right to differ, and that's
what makes good journalism.
But the News did more than that. It became abusive. In
its editorial June 8 it was so insulting that readers have a
right to interpret the manner in which that editorial was
written as an abuse to every intelligent reader, to all Jews,
not necessarily Israelis alone.
Call Begin belligerent, but be objective in treating the
people of Israel, the manner in which they are being
pressed to the figurative as well as literal wall.
Contrary to all assurances, to all indications, to the
pro-Israel sentiments of Christian Lebanese who welcome
the aim of kicking the PLO out of that country, the News
dares to spread the lie that Israel aims to reach out for more
territory in the Lebanese campaign.
In its failure to treat the Begin leadership as the demo-
cratic decision of the people of Israel in the most democratic
country in that part of the world, the News dares to advise
Israel to get rid of Begin. Ignoring the unanimous support

The NYTimes, June 11, the day of the cease-fire announcements, had somimpor-
tant reminders, for all, in an editorial from which these basics are quoted:
"After a decade of civil war, Syrian occupation, Palestinian agitation and Israeli
intervention, there was no more Lebanon. Its Christian-Moslem society collapsed, leav-
ing a feudal array of private armies and a battleground on a once-peaceful southern
frontier. The civil war was ignited by the arrival of militant Palestinians after they
failed, in their 1970 'Black September,' to seize Jordan. To prevent a total PLO takeover,
and to stake its own claim to Lebanon, Syria thrust in its army and tried, in cynical
coordination with Israel, to rule the ruins.
"It didn't work, because no one dared to challenge the dynamic Palestinians. They
carved out many enclaves to build a state within the Lebanese non-state. Recruiting
among a quarter-million Palestinian refugees, the PLO built its guerrilla forces into
what began to resemble a regular army, with artillery, tanks and rockets from Libya and
the Soviet Union.
"Israel tried smashing these concentrations from the air, with occasional gr,
assaults and with military aid to various Christian armies. But when helping the
Christians threatened Syria's sway, Israel and Syria fell to contesting the air. Hence last
summer's crisis over Syria's anti-aircraft missiles and the American-sponsored Israeli-
PLO cease-fire. But the PLO build-up continued while no one produced even a plan to
revive Lebanon. So now the Israelis offer theirs, violently.
"They have two objectives. First, to seize and hold the southern third of Lebanon
until they and the Christians can drive the PLO rockets out of range of the Galilee.
Second, to destroy or chase the PLO forces to Syria, so that Lebanon might gain a chance
to reconstruct a political order.
"Israelis pleaded for Syria to stand _aside, but the new life they have offered the
Christian armies again propelled the Syrians to block the way."
. There are others to contend with, like the Jewish columnist who dared join in an
abuse of Begin by calling him "obnoxious" in a moment when the Israeli leader was
determinedly striving for his people's security and was backed unanimously by all Israel
except the handful of Communists. Was it to be denied to him that he referred to that
unity as "a glorious hour"?

* * *

There is nothing humorous about warfare, especially in as serious a matter as
Israel's aim to demolish the fomenters of terror affecting not only her but wherever the
PLO has gained a foothold. Yet, it was amusing to watch and hear the Lebanese
ambassador to the UN hesitating to admit that the PLO was "an unwelcome guest" in his
country. While not denying it, he proceeded to blame Israel as the party responsible for
the PLO having rooted there. He would not admit that Jordan was the driving power,
that King Hussein's massacre of thousands of PLO in 1970 as they were ousted from
Jordan had led to the terrorists under Arafat settling in Lebanon. An established fact is
an historical truth and can never be denied.
Seldom before have the facts been made as evident for mankind. The attempt to
accuse Israel of territorial expansion is recognized in its stupidity. The need to cleanse
Lebanon from enemy intruders becomes apparent in the attitude of Lebanese who
applauded expulsion of the PLO and Israel's action to achieve it.
Hopefully this is truly a time for the triumph of libertarian principles in an embat-
tled world.

he has from all parties in his country, the abusive News
editorial dares continually to resort to character assassina-
tion when referring to Begin.
The community should express its condemnation of
such cheap journalism.

The Repeated Enmity: UNESCO
Still Receives U.S. Dollars

A letter published in the New York Times (from Lea K.
Bleyman of New York) speaks volume-s. The lady wrote:
The absence of Israel on the Middle East maps
of the Saudi Arabian exhibit at the World's Fair in
Knoxville is reminiscent of the nonexistence of
Isrvl on the UNESCO "World Heritage List."
The "Cultural and Natural Properties" listed by
the World Heritage Committee (1978-1981) include
"the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls," entered
under "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan." I
double-checked my passport, and when I visited
that site, I was in Israel.
At the World's. Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., a similar
dishonesty was enacted in the circulation under Saudi au-
spices of a map of the area that eliminated Israel.
UNESCO has been exposed numerous times for sub-
mission to pressures and prejudices from Israel's enemies.
Yet UNESCO continues to receive American dollars.
The U.S Congress must make note of this dishonesty.
Perhaps there can be an avoiding of repeated insults to
Israel.

Hopelessness in Aims
to Assure Disarmament

Amidst so many crises, with armed conflicts
everywhere, the United Nations General Assembly is con-
ducting a session devoted to disarmament.
The objective is a noble one; the future remains bleak
and threatening.
From the very first decade of Israel's attaining sover-
eignty, her repesentatives pleaded for reductions in arms
sales. The threats with which the Jewish state was sho-
wered demanded instead that Israel continue to search for
means of remaining a military state. How else could one, so
beleaguered, operate?
Today, Israel Prime Minister Menahem Begin is
scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on the
disarmament question. The time element, this issue going

to press at the time, made availability of the text of his
speech an impossibility.
The Israeli viewpoint was reiterated, however, a week
prior to the anti-PLO operation in Lebanon by Israeli
forces, in a speech to the Knesset by Yitzhak Shamir, Is-
rael's foreign minister. The speech dealt with the proposed
sale of U.S. arms to Jordan. In his speech, Shamir stated:
The vast arms stockpiles in the Middle East, by
their very existence, constitute a danger to the
peace of the region and of the entire world. The
Middle East does not need,any more arms. It
needs peace and stability. The weapons piling up
in the region will never be used against invading
forces from outside. They are intended by their
recipients for use against one target only — the
peace and security of the state of Israel.
Israel cannot be reconciled to these steps, nor
can it permit itself to wait until Jordan's burgeon-
ing offensive potential is ready for an attack
against Israel's population centers. It is difficult
to overlook the alarming contradictions of our
friend, the United States, which on the one hand
has invested, and continues to invest, so much in
the Camp David peace process, and on the other
hand is injecting into the region quantities of
powerful and dangerous weapons, which could
shatter the peace and ignite the flames of violence.
Once again, we call upon the government and
people of the United States to stop playing with
fire and to cancel — while there is still time — the
plan to supply Jordan with sophisticated lethal
weapons which will threaten the security of the
state of Israel and endanger peace.
I will say only this — that the votes in Congrec -
on the AWACS sale and the recent appeal by
large number of Senators concerning the supply
of arms to Jordan prove beyond any doubt that
our standing among the representatives of the
American people — who give voice to American
public opinion — is encoureagingly high, despite
all the Doomsday prophets who ignore reality.
These become empty words as long as there is a
massive movement to "obliterate Israel," as an Iranian
stated in New York in an apparent gesture to appease even
those Islamic co-religionists who are at war with his coun-
try. As long as the destruction of Israel is a collective aim,
and the Free World is silent on the subject, Israel needs
arms for defense.

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