2 Friday, November 5, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary Confessionals ... : Misjudging Love Affairs, Distrusting the Historical In the lengthened history of the oft-defined miraculous rebirth of Israel, sentiments clashed, Israelis, Diaspora and statehood fell under judgment. Christians affiliated with Jews in glorying in the ful- fillment of Prophecy. Israel was that symbol. Differing opinions nevertheless remained the order of the day. Jews flocked to Israel as tourists, and Christians often outnumbered Jews as pilgrims to the Holy Land. The impression attained was that Israel was a rallying center for Jews who visited the histdric homeland and to take pride in it. Yet, to this day, surprisingly, perhaps shockingly, less than 10 percent of American Jews have visited Reborn Israel. In that process, in the developing decades, criticisms were heard. To the credit of Jews everywhere they never vanished. In the opinions expressed, it has often been heard that Jews do not understand the Israelis. Similarly, there were the distressed who complained that Israelis were not aware of the devotion-of American Jews. Many Israelis preferred not to be called Jews and only wished to be identified as Israelis. And there were those who, while admitting the inspiration that spelled kinship, failed to be respectful to their fellow Jews. Now comes a responsible journalist who registers a complaint for worldwide consumption. Amos Kenan, the noveliSt and political columnist of the responsible Israel Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot, aired his views in the New York Times Op-Ed Page (Oct. 26), in an essay entitled "Smothering Israel." Who is "smothering?" They are the Jews of America, who, "like all Jewish mothers, loves her only child, Israel, very much. What she doesn't know, and doesn't want to know or hear about, is that she is smothering that child with her love, drowning him in her tears of joy and pity, killing him at her maternal breast." Is it possible that the reality of Israel is so bleakly existent? Is American Jewry — and the judgment is appli- cable to all Jews — such a misguided folk that it denigrated kinship and subdues the human factor in historic con- tinuity? Kenan and his saddening opinion that approaches bit- terness must be confronted on the basis of views in which he expresses: As long as you Americans help us to stand up, we Israelis have no chance to stand on our own feet. We have no -chance to have peace as long as you support us in war. We have no chance to straighten out out relationships with our neighbors as long as you help us forget that they, too, are legitimate children of humanity and that they, too, have legitimate rights. How can we hope to learn to survive as long as you keep us artifically alive? Please, leave us alone. Abandon us, at least for a while. Give us a chance. There is something weird and monstrously unreal about a hero who is shooting with both hands while kneeling like a beggar. It's unpleas- ant to watch a stripteaser showing his wounds, then making the rounds with his hat. What a humiliating performance: Israeli generals shak- ing hands for money and Israeli Knesset members and ministers and prime ministers boasting while whining, wagging their tails while baring their teeth .. . Welfare, like many other expressions of noble intentions, has a seed of corruption in it. You might, at first, accept charity because you really need it. But if you don't stop accepting it the very moment you can make a living on your own — even a modest living — then you lose your soul and with it the chance to get off the welfare rolls. Welfare can corrupt in more than one way, in more than one direction, affecting the benefactor as well as the recipient. The recipient loses all control of money received and money distributed, while the benefactor must shoulder the kind of power that creates and dominates a docile, pass- ive people. Welfare is a gift from one organization to an- other — and an organization, whatever the origi- nal idea, tends to take on an organizational life of its own. In this case, the benefactor organization became an octopus that had to grow more and more tentacles, to be able to catch more and more fish, to feed the recipient — an ever hungrier shark. At the same time, the Jewish lobby becomes more and more lobby, less and less Jewish. There is nothing Jewish — as I understand the word — about Jewish American leaders who support Menahem Begin. Of course, these leaders are self-imposed. But that is only a small part of the When an Israeli Comes to U.S. to Needle Jewish Leadership With Innuendos Charging 'Smothering of Israel,' It's Time - to Test the Critic's Sense problem. The more important thing is that they have lost their soul. In supporting despicable Israeli actions, they create a new fact for American Jewry — an ex- ceedingly ugly face. And by their support, they also help Israel to live with its own ugly new face. Is there anyone, anywhere, who would not be stunned by this protocol? Is it conceivable that in time of crisis, when there is need for amity and self-respect, that an Is- raeli would emerge to stab his kinfolk and his nation so drastically? Who smothers Israel? Is it the enemy who envisioned the Mediterranean for drowning the Halutzim and his suc- cessors and those who would make sure a disaster possible? Or is it those who are boats of rescue and fortresses of protection, the endangered protectors of Israel? Reborn Israel, like the People Israel, has never been without crises. They existed, exist, continue. In that com- plex, there are differing attitudes. There are the loyal who glory in Redemption, in the Fulfillment of Prophecy; there are the patient who await the Messiah and portray hatred in the miniscule numbers of Neturei Karta; there are the peaceniks and the creators of arsenals. There is also the legacy. In the legacy is embodied the aspiration to end Jewish homelessness. These are the hopeful who see in Israel an assurance of the morality that has not become a challenge to devotion and loyalty to traditions. The latter is more important than the differing view. It is the selfless, the idealism, the hope for a better society, for a better world, and while the faithful proclaim "Out of Zion shall come forth the Law," there is the overwhelming "Tziyon b'Mishpot Tipode" — "Zion shall be redeemed with justice." The moment these inspirations and ideals are aban- - doned, the structures begin to collapse. But Jewish history doesn't permit it. Why, therefore, build on smothering when the em- brace is so real, so vital!?! What the Yediot Ahronot political expert wrote does not contribute to unity, to cooperation, to mutual respect. It is divisive at all times, but especially in time of crisis. It is deplorable! Direct and Plain Talk: Treating Realism Sensibly By Philip Slomovitz Against whom would the wrath be turned? Against whom the demands and demonstrations? Upon whom would the United Nations place re- sponsibility for receiving and absorbing the refu- gees? Whom would the European Community condemn? Yes, we Israelis would be the guilty ones, and we would be expected to correct this "injustice." We would be required to prove our dedication to true peace in the Middle East by opening our gates to the refugees who have nowhere to go. We would be exposed to pressures, censure and sanctions if we claimed that we have already paid the price, already made all the possible sac- rifices. There is a wide range of political outlooks in Israel but only one physical reality — and it re- mains unchangeable. Some people believe, as do I, that the land of Israel is indivisible, and that it belongs to the Jewish people. Some support Menahem Begin's plan for au- tonomy in Judea and Samaria and Gaza; others advocate Palestinian self-government under Jordanian patronage; yet others look to a Pales- tinian state side by side with a state of Israel - with- in its pre-1967 borders. But whatever their views, all Israelis recog- nize the fact that Judea, Samaria and Gaza cannot possibly absorb the dispersed Palestinians who may wish to realize their right to return. There is only one place in the Middle East where a problem of this scale can be solved— and this is true whether or not Judea and Samaria are eventually attacked to Jordan. Only in- the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with its 35,000 square miles and a population of three million, is it possible to absorb, with suitable investment and planning, additional hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Only in Jordan is there now a majority of Palestinians, linked by family ties to the Palesti- nians dispersed in the neighboring countries. And thus only there can the local Arabs be ex- pected not to harry and give a cold shoulder to their brothers who have come to join them. As•long as this basic fact is not recognized in Washington, the Reagan plan will remain one more exercise in wishful thinking. Will such appeals to reason fall on deaf ears and be rejected blindly? Hopefully, the new Reagan calls for direct talks and the available solutions will be accepted. Perhaps the road is truly being paved with genuine peace aims. * * * So much confusion is related to the Middle East events that they have been treated with hopelessness. Instead of realism there is tragedy. Rather than confront facts prag- matically, Israel's role is bathed in hatreds. When Arafat was still playing the role of a monarch in Lebanon during the demands that he leave the country whose horrors are attributable to the terror he brought to it more than a decade ago, he and his cohorts kept saying, Yitzhak Rabin's Mission "We'll leave, we'll go back home, to Palestine." There must Visits to this community by Israelis are not novelties. have been many who were hoodwinked by such bravado. Many come here with messages intended to strengthen the How many stopped to measure it by its proper status? Diaspora-Israel partnership. The approaching visit here of It doesn't matter that there are very few, in proportion former Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has added to what is now the numbers the refugees have exploded into importance. As former Chief of Staff who directed the ac- while being denied havens by their own coreligionists. tivities curing the Six-Day War and afterward as Israel What the PLO bravado meant was that they were planning Prime Minister, he is steeped in knowledge about Israel's to go into Israel, to take over and to dominate, to restore the many roles. Therefore, he is expected to have viewpoints on name Palestine and end the revived Israel. the current situation based on earlier experiences. The intention; of course, and it continues as PLO pol- In view of the antagonisms that have developed in icy, is the end of the Jewish state. Is it sensible? recent years, most of them based on the antagonism to Even the stupidest would not - continue to say, "We are Menahem Begin, it is necessary to note that Rabin has been going into Israel, We'll drive all Jews into Tel Aviv and and seems to remain moderate in his treatment of the Israel reduce the Jewish state into that Jewish city." party in power. He is in the opposition and is a leading If the Arab nations had cooperated and shared in pro- contender for the Israeli prime ministership, emerging viding homes for their kin, by means of direct negotiations, much more popular in the public polls than Shimon Peres. the problems might have been averted. If King Hussein of Therefore, his visit here is without the negatives involved Jordan cooperates now, the solution may be at hand. in both public relations and politics. Sidney Zion properly assessed the matter by indicating The occasion for Rabin's appearance here is to advan -ce that "Jordan IS Palestine" (see The Jewish News, Oct. 15). the cause of the Technion, Israel's and the Middle East's Shmuel Schnitzer, editor of the Israel Hebrew daily leading scientific center. That's the basic significance of Maariv, also took the aggravating issues into account. He such a visit by an eminent Israeli leader. The cause he treated the problems with respect, listing the Arab griev- comes to aid is vital and therefore of major importance in ances, and in a NYTimes OP-Ed Page essay ("Jordan as a the anticipated Nov. 11 event. Palestinian State") confronted the "Palestine home" threat. Commentary and fact, offered by Schnitzer, will, hopefully be widely shared and will be treated with the respect it deserves. He declares: Rebbe's Birthday Is Noted We fear that the Palestinian problem would not disappear with the signing of an agreement on the lines of the Reagan plan. Rather, it would change its form, and would almost certainly be- come more acute. The Arab host countries could be expected to invite the refugees to pack their bags and "go home." This of course would be mockery, for no such "home" exists. But such a mockery could soon become ex- tremely dangerous, accompanied as it would be by strident proclamations that "someone" was responsible for the fact that there was no place for the Palestinians in their homeland — the someone who had driven them out of the places where they and their forefathers had lived. President Ronald Reagan met with a Lubavitch delegation on Oct. 22 in recognition of the 80th birth- day of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the "National Day of Reflection" declared by Congress in honor of the Rebbe's birthday.