2 Friday, January 28, .1983 'THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary Self-Scrutiny, Self-Defense: The Press and Israel Policy When a combination of forces representing the Ameri- can Jewish Committee and the Hebrew University Com- munications Center combine to prove Israeli practices, the matter must be treated with respect. It was granted such respect in the report in this column of the study made by a group of newspaper correspondents, under the aegis of these two bodies, of the manner in which the Israeli authorities conducted the supervision of media activities. The result was a very critical analysis of faults and pro- vided a listing of errors which, in effect, nullified some of the condemnations of the media since the commencement of the anti-PLO operation in Lebanon. A former Detroiter now provides a defense of Israel's role in the relations with the press, especially the foreign correspondents. Zev Chafets, now on leave from his post as director of the Israel Government Press Office, authored a reply to Israel's critics, in an essay on "Israel and the Press" in Newsweek, contending that "rarely has a country been so criticized for its press policy — and never with less justification." ° He emphasized that Israel is a democracy and that it has been at war with its Arab neighbors for 35 years. Therefore, it had a unique problem "in the history of open society, how to maintain internal press freedom in a state of perpetual war." Chafets offers a defense of Israel and, of course, of the policies that were pursued by his department, and he con- tends: We are, after all, in a political as well as a military struggle with our Arab adversaries. The self-righteous and self-serving way with which the American media often deal with Israeli mili- tary censorship and their unwillingness to insist on equal standards from Arab countries have left many Americans with the distorted impression of Israel as a society that practices press repression in contrast to an Arab world that does not. For a tiny democracy like Israel, struggling to preserve both its liberty and its military effec- tiveness against police-state adversaries, this is the unkindest cut of all. Chafets took into account experiences of other nations, especially the Falkland crisis, and the manner in which Great Britain suspended freedom of the press. Thereupon he outlines the Israeli position: In the case of Israel, locked in an open-ended struggle, the problem is different. Israel's solution has been to-institute an ongoing military censor- ship that does not exceed carefully drafted limita- tions. This limited military censorship is exactly that mechanism which enables 'Israel to enjoy freedom of the press in other spheres of national life. And what a free press! Half a dozen daily newspapers provide an aggressive critique of government policies. Radio and TV, sometimes incorrectly labeled "state" organs, are based on the BBC model, and often inspire administration complaints that they are antigovernment. Israel also has one of the largest resident foreign-press corps of any nation — almost 250 accredited foreign journalists cover a nation no larger than New Jersey. The results of this media concentration are predictable. Prime Minister Golda Meir's gov- ernment was brought down, at least in part, by the relentless Israeli press criticism that followed the October 1973 War. Her successor, Yitzhak Rabin, resigned as a result of press reports that he had an illegal bank account abroad. Most recently, the Israeli media forced the creation of the Commis- sion of Inquiry on the Sabra and Shatila camps by their uncompromising and uncensored insistence on uncovering every fact regarding the Phalan- gist massacre of Palestinians. The freedom of press that allows such intense scrutiny by local and foreign newsmen is, unfor- tunately, unique to Israel in the Middle East. In Mideastern police states such as Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, there is no free local press to ferret out unpleasant news. Moreover, most Mideastern countries do not permit foreign reporters to live there perma- nently. Nor do they allow free access to visiting journalists; those reporters who do get a visa are often severely limited in what they may see and do. Finally, Mideast regimes that are subjects of unwanted scrutiny by the world's media often rely on the simple expedient of banning the offen- ders. In recent years, Western journalists have been expelled from Iraq, Iran and Egypt. Some Arab regimes also use physical violence to control foreign reporters. Between 1979 and 1981, the period of Syrian domination of the Press Relations With Israel Continue to Stimulate Debates Involving Freedom of the Press, and Equally as Much Attention to Treatment of Truth, Realities Lebanese capital, three foreign correspondents were murdered in Beirut, a fourth was shot and nearly killed, and at least half a dozen were driven out by threats of Arab terror. No one knows what effect these tactics had on the remaining members of the press corps, but most reporters in the field admit that such attacks serve as a sobering re- minder of the limitations on freedom of speech in Beirut. Similar incidents have occurred in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. It is apparent that the American press is not concerned about these covert and highly effective means of censorship. No blank spaces appear on the nation's news pages with the explanation, "This is where we would run a story on Saudi Arabia if the Saudis would permit us to have a correspondent in Riyadh"; no TV commentators castigate the Iranians and Iraqis for abusing freedom of the press by excluding cameras from that Middle Eastern battleground. Even the murder of American reporters and the gradual destruction of the indigenous Lebanese press by the PLO and the Syrians re- ceived virtually no media attention in the United States. Condemnation is reserved for Israel, the only nation in the region that practices freedom of the press. Various explanations are offered for this ob- viotis double standard. "We expect more from you Israelis," we are told, or, "we expect less from the Arabs." The former statement is a subtle form of anti-Israeli hypocrisy, the latter is clearly patroniiing. This is self-scrutiny that must be treated with at least as much respect as the American Jewish Committee and Hebrew University project that was undertaken in the interest of honorable judgments relating to the media. When the total analyses becdme available, in the course of time; in a process in which dozens of books may be expected to be published about the sensations accompany- ing Israel's Lebanese "invasion," it will show that the media will not come off too saintly. The Chafets defense emerges more logically than the condemnations of Israel and the rebukes that have been showered on the Israel press office, whether under Chafets' direction or through the judgments of other Israeli authorities. Truth Needs an Ally in Freedom, as Distortions in Media Keep Indicating By Philip Slomovitz So — prayer and resistance to anti-Semitism are thus treated as political, but the judgment of a Detroit Councilwoman is apolitical. And the Council itself— will it judge itself and its components? Aaron D. Rosenbaum's Positive Approaches to Middle East Issues in 'Foreign Policy' So much of the ultra-critical of Israel has appeared in Foreign Policy magazine in recent years that the latest of the articles, by Aaron D. Rosenbaum, is like a reprieve. Rosenbaum, a former Detroiter and son of Rabbi and Mrs. Milton Rosenbaum, left his mark with AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and defended Israel at public functions. on numerous occasions. In his Foreign Policy essay, "Discard Conventional Wisdom," Rosenbaum tackled the most recent controver- sial Middle East issues. He took into account that anti- Americanism has spread in the Arab world. He suggests new assumptions in American policies and proposes changes that would "force the Arab states to question the perceptions that have guided their dealings with Israel since 1967." Impracticability of American approaches is outlined and Rosenbaum suggests: "In retrospect, it would have been best to urge Egypt back to the autonomy talks. The President should have resisted embellishing Camp David in giving it new meaning by adding items that had been deliberately excluded. In this way, the United States could have sent a more sobering message to Jordan in particu lar." Urging a "bilateral approach," Rosenbaum reaches these conclusions: The primary goal of American policy there (in Lebanon) must be to prevent the PLO from re- establishing an independent political and mili- tary base. To insure this goal, the United States has to promote the reintegration and deployment of the Lebanese army throughout the country. Syria, already overextended, is apparently willing to vacate the country. With a Palestinian exodus from Lebanon, the United States will be positioned to assist the Lebanese in controlling eastern and southern Lebanon. -vU.S. involvement in Lebanon will facilitate Is- rael's withdrawal and thus that of Syria. Talks toward peace should be encouraged between Jerusalem and Beirut. A state resembling peace already exists between the two countries; the economic and social aspects of it are self-evident. By acting this way, the United States can help normalize the Arab-Israeli conflict, making it less a holy war, less a tinderbox, less an obsession imposed on the world. The United States can di- minish the importance of the underlying dispute and reduce the political utility it provides to those who would keep it aflame. In establishing this reality, the United States will not find its task simple, but it will find it re- warding: A lasting solution will appear ever more feasible. At least, the issues are not limited to one-sidedness, and Rosenbaum's analyses add notes, based on familiarity with the problems that have arisen, with a more,amicable treatment of Israel's position. Truth needs an ally in freedom, yet there are the dis- tortions. The liberties provided by Detroit's afternoon newspaper provide the evidence. In the matter called the Lebanese Struggle, the Big Lie played a role. PLO and Red Crescent propagandists con- cocted schemes which gained a lot of space in the press, charging Israel with mass murders. When the Big Lie became apparent, the press gener- ally was cautious. But the Detroit News, on its editorial page, Jan. 21, permitted a hate-spreading letter-writer to repeat the accusation that Israel, in its Lebanon operation, was responsible for the murder of 20,000 and the homeless- ness of 80,000. Since that Forum of Shame on the Detroit News edito- rial page, Oct. 9, 1982, it was to be expected that the respon- sible newspaper would not abuse Freedom of the Press by giving space n to the Big Lie. From Oct. 9 to Jan. 21 there was plenty of time to be on guard_against permitting lie-spreading. The letter-writer in question has a right to object to U.S. aid to Israel and a newspaper has a right to consider it a duty to print it. But JERUSALEM -7- A movie does it enjoy such rights when a nation is maligned and truth is distorted? Such is the journalist's sacred duty, "In that is critical of relations the Babel of Media, Check Out the Source." between Jews and Arabs in tr*, Israel has been chosen by the Israel Film Board as its Puzzling Incredulity — About nominee for .best foreign- Prayer, Anti-Semitism and a language picture in this Councilwoman's Judgment year's Academy Award _ Life and history are often marked by puzzling experi- competition. ences, and the incredible has a way of creeping in. And even The film, "Hamsin," the incredulous often emerges as incredible, as in this item examines the circle of fear, in the Detroit News of Jan. 21: hatred and violence that embroils both Jews and `Prayer' at council Arabs when the govern- ment decides to take over session draws blast Arab lands in a Galilee Stuart M. Lockman of the Jewish Community farming town. Although at Council delivered the invocation — a plea for an first Jews and Arabs work end to anti-Semitism and deploring the suspected well together in the fic- arson of a West Bloomfield synagogue — before tional story, the land issue the Detroit City Council's Wednesday session and drives them apart, turning then left. Just as well. Council President Erma the Arabs, into terrorists Henderson, hosting some Arab dignitaries that and the Jews into vigilantes day, blasted his prayer. "When we asked for a and killers. prayer, we asked for a prayer, not a political dis- sertation," grumbled Mrs. Henderson. One of the film's Arab ac- Academy Award Nomination for Film Critical of Israel . tors refused to play a love scene with an Israeli ac- tress, fearing that the Arabs of his village would con- demn him for it. A stand-in had to play the scene. Daniel Wachsmann, the director, made the movie after spending four months in the Galilee, speaking with both Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. The film board's vote to nominate "Hamsin" for the Oscar was not unanimous. The board, a 10-member commission appointed by the government, showed some concern about the image the movie projects. The Israeli censor, who passes judgment on films and plays, has ruled "Ham- sin" off limits for those younger than 16.