28 Friday, June 25, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Israelis in the Midst of a War Gather Relief Aid for Lebanon (Continued on Page_1) ings and otherwise used who thought that Prime (some say abused) the Minister Begin made a mis- privilege of free speech to take in ordering the inva- try to halt Israeli military sion, demonstrated in the operations. Where else in streets, painted the gov- the world, in the midst of a ernment press headquar- gans, wrote critical articles critical war, could all this ters with denunciatory slo- have been permitted? Israel takes the free- which the newspapers doms pretty seriously. printed, held protest meet- Most startling was a THANK YOU MOM & DAD (Rose & Irv) MOM & DAD (Sonia & Art) For our wonderful wedding Love Sheila and Lyle A N T • S P D E R • F L A quarter-page ad in Israeli papers denouncing the invasion signed by 100 of West Germany's out- standing scholars, theologians, journalists and politicians. It said Is- rael's military action in Lebanon had "destroyed the hope for peace in the region through the esca- lation of violence." It ended: "We fully recog- nize the historical re- sponsibility of the Ger- mans toward the Jews, however this cannot mean that we can sanc- tion taking rights of other people." There have been protests, also, from many Israelis. Rabbi Manahem HaCohen, a Labor member of the Knesset, went public with this statement: "To me these sad times are not days of glory . . . Can we possibly stand silent in the face of uncontrolled CASE CONTROL PEST MANAGEMENT FOR YOUR FREE Estimates and Professional Consultation: E S DIAL MICHIGAN LICENSE '63437 [352-4390 • MEMBER MICHIGAN PEST CONTROL ASSOCIATION FOR PROMPT SERVICE E B R S • CASE CONTROL IS LICENSED & FULLY INSURED NO VACATING NECESSARY M • B FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE . . . WE OFFER A MONTHLY MAINTENANCE PROGRAM SQUIRRELS • RACCOONS • MOSQUITOES • AND ALL OTHER PESTS T he Ideal Cut Diamond .. . 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The most bitter blast came from Gideon Rafael, distinguished Israeli dip- lomat who was given two full columns in the Jerusalem Post to attack the prime minister as "the defensive minister." Meanwhile, Israel has a problem with the prisoners it has taken. Among the prisoners are terrorists from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Austria, Jordan, Somalia, Egypt, Germany, Yemen, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Cuba, Mali, Niger, India, Korea, Belgium, Turkey and Italy. Also some members of West Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang of terrorists. One reason Israeli mili- tary men were not eager to take Beirut was that they knew they would probably acquire another 10,000 or more unwanted PLO pris- oners. Then there is the legal problem. The Geneva Con- vention defines a prisoner of war as someone serving in uniform in the army of a "state," and says he may not be put on trial and is entitled to numerous other privileges. But these prisoners of war have no state, one of their war aims was to acquire one by taking over Israel and _asking what Jews survived to please leave. In contrast with Israel's 6,000 or more Arab pris- oners, the PLO holds one or two Israel Air Force pilots and perhaps some of the 23 missing Israeli soldiers. The fear is that the PLO will use these Israelis as hostages for the return of all 6,000 of their men. Once released, the ter- rorists could and undoub- tedly would try to start the whole thing over again. * * * - Every war is full of sur- prises, especially this one. These were the principal surprises for this corre- spondent. Surprise 1: That the 1,500,000 Arabs on the West Bank and in Gaza, so many of whom were thought to favor the PLO, made no attempt to create chaos within Israel, while the PLO was being ground to dust in Lebanon. (There were just two incidents of stone-throwing by malici- ous Arab boys.) Surprise 2: That the 60 million Arabs in countries immediately surrounding Israel lifted not a finger to help their brother Arabs in the PLO, except the Sy- rians, who had no choice be- cause they were already in Lebanon when the war started. hundred (Several young Iranian volunteers did arrive in Syria last week. But Iranians are not Arabs and several hundred teen-agers ar- riving in Damascus is a far cry from Khomeini's offer to put Iran in the war on the side of the PLO. A PLO spokesman told a Kuwait newspaper, "The PLO affiances with some Arab states were merely pieces of paper.") Surprise 3: That the third world was so busy with its own problems that it po- litely looked the other way when an SOS came from the PLO. (I am sure some Afri- cans and Latin Americans are actually delighted that they-now have an excuse for not submitting to further PLO intimidation.) Surprise 4: That all the other countries that have given some form of diploma- tic status to the PLO, under, duress, (104 countries in all) lent not even vocal support to the PLO in its hour of crisis. Surprise 5: That Israel planes were able to down more than 85 Russian-made Syrian MiGs in dogfights in which not a single Israeli plane was lost. Surprise 6: That the Is- raeli Navy did such a magnificent job in the combined sea, land and air operation, and thus far has received not nearly the deserved cre- dit. Surprise 7: That Ameri- cans are perhaps not aware of how much the United States benefitted from this short war. What the U.S. military attaches stationed in Israel will find out about the Soviet Union's latest and most powerful tank, the T-72, when they study the operation reports of the Is- rael tank men who knocked out so many T-72s, will be worth all the money the U.S. will give or lend Israel during the next year. Also, we should be pleased at finding out how superior our F-15s and F-16s are to the Russian MiGs in com- bat. Surprise 8: The amazing performance in battle of the Merkava, the Israeli-made tank, which came through its baptism of fire with fly- ing colors. Surprise 9: That the quarter-of-a-million Druze in Lebanon, many of whom fought alongside the PLO in Lebanon's civil war, did nothing to resist the Is- raelis when this war started. Instead, when the invading soldiers ar- rived, the Druze everywhere greeted them with cheers, flowers, cof- fee, candy and embraces. Surprise 10: That the PLO, according to the Is- raeli chief of staff, actually had in excess of 500 Soviet tanks, instead of the 100 to 150 we had all thought they had. I was not surprised that in the stress of battle the Is- raeli soldiers behaved as I have never known soldiers in any other country to be- have. Not surprised, be- cause I have seem them in their other wars. Looting is endemic to military men engaged in killing. Personal morality generally breaks down completely. But the Israeli soldier is unique in the world. In five wars I hay- ---' seen no looting, heard of tle looting. The only case thus far reported in this war was of the lieutenant colonel who somehow ob- tained six video tapes in Lebanon and tried to smug- gle them back into Israel. (I am sure he will be severely punished.) Truth is the first casu- alty in any war. It's been that way in every war I ever reported. Here are some examples from this one: The claim: The Red Cross and Red Crescent told the press that 600,000 people in Lebanese coastal towns and cities were made homeless by the war — a very impres- sive figure for fund-raising purposes. The truth: The total popu- lation of the coastal towns and -cities was under 300,000. How can six out of every three be homeless? The Knesset was told the correct figure is 70,000. The claim: - Lebanese police in Beirut told report- ers that 9,583 Lebanese were killed by Israeli shel- ling and bombing. The truth: That figure is believed to be more than double the actual number. The claim: The New York Times on June 10 re- ported in a front-page story under a two-column head- line that Syria had shot down the previous after- noon 19 Israeli F-15s and F-16s. The truth: Israel lost not a single plane that day. Dur- ing the entire war Israel lost no F-15s or F-16s. Her total aerial loss was two helicop- ters and one old A-4 Skyhawk. The claim: Soviet radio in an overseas broadcast said the PLO had sunk a large Israeli naval vessel. The truth: Israel lost no large naval vessel in any of its operations. The claim: The Sunday Times of London in a front-page story, report- ing on what it called an amazing new French missile, the Exocet, usr - by the Argentinians sink British ships, suggested, without any proof, that the Israelis had trained the Argenti- nians in the use of the weapon. The truth: Two days later another paper, the Daily Times, called the story false and said the Israelis had had nothing to do with it.