2 Friday, August 20, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary By Philip Slomovitz When Poison Affects the Body Politic of a Generation, the Emphasis Is on the Need for Jewish Unity and for Action to Overcome the Bias of George Ball and Others • Militarized Diplomacy . .. The Prayer of the People Israel for a Speedy Peace In war there are the unavoidable casualties, in diplomacy the agonizing rhetoric, in militarism the tragic to toughness. When they conflict there is hope for human accord. When they become inseparable there is danger of tragedy. Israel is agonized by the severe losses and the threat of a future retaining danger to security. World Jewry shares in these heartaches. The great hope is that warfare will cease, that Israelis will be able to return to their `Plunter' as the Continuing Symbol in the War of Nerves Another Yiddish word may make its way into the English vocabulary. NBC's Tom Brokaw picked it up to illustrate his broadcast from Tel Aviv last week. He quoted the application of the Yiddish term Plunter to the current war-affected situation. "Plunter" is confusion. It is the "snarl" that creates a "muddle," with the effect of a "jumble," a "tangle" in the problematic. Yitzhak Rabin, a former Israel prime minister applied the term to the current situation, when he desaribed it as "the Beirut Plunter." * * * `Plunter' Internationalized Yitzhak' Rabin could have given the term more apt applicability had he said it was an "international plunter." How else is one to judge the developing situation, with its hatreds, with a remnant of Jews concurring "with the enemy," the hatred going so far as to invite another holocaust upon Jewry. Can it be fully comprehended that in the Munich of the Hitler Putsch, the German city that bears the memory of the Arab massacre of the Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics, Nazis can march with Arabs in an anti-Semitic rally? It was in Munich, Aug. 7, when 1,000 West Germans marched with Arabs shouting anti-Semitic slogans while assailing Israel for the Beirut military action. Germans will not officially condone such actions. Nevertheless, the emergence of a revived Nazism cannot be ignored and must be viewed in all seriousness. It has become part of a spread- ing anti-Semitic revivalism. * * * The Pogrom in Paris The conscience of civilized society will hopefully be aroused by the new anti-Semitism, by what takes place in Munich as well as the massacre in Paris. They are not isolated incidents. They have multiplied, as did the Arab-inspired and often publicly-ignored horrors inflicted on unprotected people. In Israel, it has been like this for a long time. The PLO claimed to be conducting a war against Israel,_and it was actually against all Jews. They only confronted women and children, never battling Israel's army. It was only when Israel undertook to demolish them that there was actual warfare, tragically forced upon Israel in the Lebanese environment. In Paris, the anti-Israelis also launched a war: this time against people attending synagogue services, as two years ago, and last week upon diners in a restaurant. That's the kind of war Israel's enemies are conducting! * * * Minimal Jewish ReSponse Any wonder that a concerned citizen, distressed over talk shows over which vile propaganda is spread and anti- Semitic venom is administered, should have called and said, the morning after the massacre in the Paris restau- rant: "The Arab terrorist did not ask whether the people they murdered belonged to the Peace Now movement, the anti-Beginites, the New Jewish Agenda. They killed Jews. Why isn't there a louder Jewish voice in defense of justice to the Jew?" Indeed, as through the ages, only Jewish unity meant proper defense. All glory to the kind of tradition which permits differing views among Jews. In time of most seri- ous crisis, while taking pride in the freedoms that make Jews adherents to the right to unhindered expression of personal views, unity is a vital factor. There will be plenty of time, very soon, when Israelis hopefully evacuate the present positions in Lebanon, to criticize, to condemn to encourage change of government in Israel, to reject uni- formity. * * * The George Ball Bias There is so much to contend with in search for realism and justice, yet much is repetitive. George Ball, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State,` s a typical example. He has needled Israelis, created stumbling blocks on the road of Arab-Israel confrontations, is less than helpful in the present situation as he keeps indicating in news- paper articles and statements on radio and television. It's an old George Ball story and it was revealed in an homes from their battlefields, that peace will acquire a real meaning, that Israel, the United States and world Jewry will be blessed with a genuine relationship and humanism. World Jewry pleads with the responsible in the ranks of statesmanship to strive, for ' that goal. An end to warring and a reduction of unnecessary rhetoric are the blessings prayed for in the best interests of Israel, world Jewry, these United States, the Middle East and the peace of the world. exchange of letters between him and the eminent Jewish leader, Morris Abram, the former president of the Ameri- can Jewish Committee, who is never silent when it comes to defending fellow Jews. That exchange of letters was published in the Wash- ington Post. Abram, writing to Ball, indicted him, as indi- cated in these excerpts from his letter: You and I participated in the Public Broadcast- ing TV program "The Advocates," and, though we differed on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, you were then frank enough to admit that such a state, with any military capabil- ity, would be a threat to Israel. I put you down as a fair-minded, if mistaken, man. Then I saw you on "Nightline." Host Ted Koppel apparently was somewhat taken aback by some,of your responses and gave you a chance to clarify your position. Koppel: "Mr. Ball, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you're almost making it sound as though three million American Jews, who play certainly a large role politically in this country, are able to cause the United States to actin _ its own disinterest. Is that what you're saying?" You replied, "I think that's putting it very bluntly, but I think it is not far from the truth." ' After some pro-forma obeisances, you pro- ceeded to invoke one of the most classical and stereotypical anti-Semitic charges in the catalogue of hate literature: ". . I think that . . . they (the American Jewish community) have put the United States interest rather secondary in many cases." Moreover, this follows your assertion that a Jewish lobby, particularly in' an election year, brings financial and other kinds of pressures which make it possible for "the Israelis . . . to use our weapons to behave in a 'manner that suits their policies, but in many cases . . . contrary to the best interests of the United States." It frightens me, George, that one of your stand- ing and reputation should invoke before an audi- ence of millions the charge of undue influence and dual loyalty against millions of your fellow coun- trymen, including myself.' George Ball kept up an antagonistic attitude in sub- sequent statements, his reply to Abram having been a total failure to comment on any of the criticisms. It is well that the Ball image should not be con with an important role he had in the U.S. governme did not and does not whitewash him. He must be judg what he is, and Morris Abram judged him well. * * * The Anti-Begin Venom From the many regrettably antagonistic affronts to Israel, there is one that needs attention, especially since it is on a local basis. It is the lengthy article by Saul Friedman in the Aug. 8 issue of the Detroit Free Press. So much venom has been poured on Menahem Begin who became the chief target of Israel's critics that the Friedman essay demands attention. It contains all, with emphasis on the all. The arguments presented are old, very old. He dug up the Deir Yasin and the King David Hotel bombings in the attempt to prove that Begin is the ter- rorist. These are old incidents which have been tackled. There is more than one side to the Deir Yasin tragedy. There were explanations for the King David Hotel mis- eries. That these should be the weapons directed at Israel, with Begin as the chief scapegoat, is deplorable. Then Friedman brings up the matter of the letter in the Dec. 4, 1948 issue of the New York Times, in__ which Menaheni Begin, as the leader of the Herut party, was condemned by a group of notables, including Albert Eins- tein. There was a reply exonerating Begin in a follow-up letter in the NYTimes, Dec. 15, 1948. The proof is in this editor's Page One article in the issue of May 27, 1977. The Jewish News article proved that even Albert Einstein could be wrong. Resort to the same libel in a Free Press article served to add another drop of poison to a pot boiling with spreading hatreds. That the poison was then injected into the issues labeled Israel should again be repeated is deplorable. There is enough poison without the repetitive. These are the problems that confront Israel and the Jewish people. It is a pitiful situation and it demands a lot of courage to overcome them. It calls for a strengthening of Jewish responsiveness. Therein lies the basic need for Jewish unity in time of crisis. After Beirut: Will PLO Be Born Again? population hostage in Be- irut. Israelis discovered (Editor's note: Robert PLO storage of military Mayer Evans is a former supplies and equipment correspondent for CBS in schools, churches and News and the CBS hospitals. bureau chief in Moscow. Will Beirut represent the He also has covered the end of the PLO? Officially, Israeli leaders say yes. Pri- Middle East.) in vately, however, Israeli 'of- officials Israeli Jerusalem count the "mili- ficials admit a PLO expres- tary operation" in Lebanon sion of Palestinian (they dislike calling it "in- nationalism would con- vasion") a huge success. tinue. It might no longer They see opportunities for have the umbrella group of change in the Middle East Al Fatah as prime represen- that are stumulating, even tative. It may take several exciting. But they ruefully years to revive. But in time note that the United States a form of the PLO will reap- prevents the Israelis from pear, Israelis concede. total victory. And they are Not all PLO leaders are in disturbed that the PLO ter- rorists appear under little if west Beirut. Some have es- any pressure from Wash- caped, joining others al- ington or the West to corn- ready out of Beirut. A thousand or more PLO promise or accommodate. Discussion already fo- guerillas have also slipped cuses on the future. The ul- through the Israeli noose. timate outcome in west Be- Some may be shielded be- irut is crucial to that future. hind the - Syrians in the Will there be a PLO in the Bekaa Valley near the east- years ahead? If so, what ern border. To the south of form will it take? And after Beirut there may be as Beirut, who might host many as 1,000 PLO hiding in the mountains, groves, them in the Arab world? Jerusalem officials de- hills and wasteland of scribe the PLO with the southern Lebanon, north of analogy of "highjacker" the Haddad enclave. If the PLO exodus from or "kidnapper": they say the PLO is holding a city west Beirut is negotiated, By ROBERT MAYER EVANS ROBERT M. EVANS ultimate disposition of the organization could be predictaffle within limits: A break-up into smaller factions of the PLO. Some PLO analysts think that the setbacks in Leba- non will generate more feuding and fighting be- tween terror groups. -Knd PLO craving for re- venge may focus on other moderate Arab leaders also. The PLO feels deserted by the Arab world. Not one Arab state came to its aid under Israeli attack. They may wreak their revenge upon leaders of the Arab states that have previously not been the objects of such an intensity of assassina- tion and murder attempts. But if the PLO founders for several years, Palesti- nian nationalism may not. With PLO hit squads re- moved from the political equation, other Palestinian leaders may speak up politi- cally. But they must be con- vinced there is no longer a threat of PLO murder. That may take time to develop, Israeli officials say. And the story of the PLO rule in southern. Lebanon since 1976 could have a dramatic impact upon its political image. Residents of southern Lebanon report that life under the PLO "state within a state" was chaotic, desperate, terror- filled and frequently non- functioning. The source of all this is not Israeli information ef- forts, but it is testimc Lebanese civilians . _o stayed behind to endure life under the PLO. For Palestinians living in the West Bank, that cannot presage a happy prospect of any future Palestinian rule by PLO elements. It em- phasizes the opportunity that appears now from new statements of Israeli policy: Can Israel help new Pales- tinian leaders emerge who are no longer intimidated by the threat of PLO assas- sination in their villages?