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April 15, 1983 - Image 72

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1983-04-15

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

72 Friday, April 15, 1983

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Begin's Message on Israel's 35th
Celebration of Its Independence

By MENAHEM BEGIN
Prime Minister of Israel

virtually ruled large areas of Lebanon and oppressed its
people. The aggressors were ejected from Beirut and that
From Jerusalem, our eternal and indivisible capital, I capital city was restored to its owners. The blessings of a
send my heartfelt greetings to the Jewish communities new life of peace, serenity and security have been given to
throughout the Diaspora on the occasion of the 35th an- the people of Galilee. And as at the outset so now, the one
niversary of Israel's independence.
goal of policy of the government of Israel is to live in good
Yom HaAtzmaut — the Independence Day of the peaceful relations with our northern neighbor, Lebanon,
Jewish state — is unique in the annals of mankind because whose sovereignty and integrity we respect, and to ensure
it celebrates an unprecedented historical truth, namely, and guarantee that never again will the blood of the Gali-
the return and self-liberation of an ancient, exiled, scat- leans be shed.
tered, persecuted and ultimately almost devastated people
To the Roll of Honor of the wars of Israel in which
back to the land of its birth after close to 20 centuries of the best of our sons sacrificed their lives so that Israel
homelessness, defenselessness and holocaust. This victory might live in security, we add the names of those who
of life over death, justice over might, right over wrong, the fell in Operation Peace for Galilee. The memory of
few over the many, elevates Yom HaAtzmaut into a uni- them all shall live on forever.
versal Jewish festival for all generations to come.
Despite the stains in the relations between Israel and
In the year of freedom which this Independence Day Egypt, the treaty of peace between our two countries has
heralds, we will together pay homage to all those who, in withstood the test. We look forward to strengthening those
the blackness of the night, kindled the torch which illumi- relations, as befits the spirit and letter of the treaty,
nated our path to national liberty and who have defended through a progressive interchange of trade, culture and
that liberty ever since.
tourism between our two ancient peoples.
We recall the martyrs and the heroes, the parti-
We live in a region in which convulsion and turmoil
sans and the soldiers, who raised the flag of Jewish persist, erupting in inter-Arab confrontation and even in
revolt against the Nazi exterminators, fighting them, attritional warfare, as between Iraq and Iran. It is in this
often hopelessly, inside the death camps and the ghet- context that Israel presses ahead in its quest for peace with
its neighbors, mindful always that without security no
peace can ever prove lasting. This is the essence of the
Camp David Accords. Had that not been its fundamental
point of reference Israel would not have signed them. Let
the world note this truth and let it register that it was in the
context of this truth that we signed the peace with Egypt.
The sacrifices we made for the sake of that peace were great
indeed, but we made them because, by the provisions of
Camp David and by the stipulations of the peace treaty,
Israel satisfied itself that its security remained intact.
Now we wish to move ahead speedily to consummate
the other part of the Camp David Accords, namely the
negotiations on the full autonomy for the Palestinian Arab
inhabitants in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District. We
want those negotiations renewed. There are proposals,
positions and plans, but there exists only one single docu-
ment of an international character that is binding, and that
is the Camp David Agreement 'signed by Israel and Egypt
and witnessed by the United States.
Just as we remained true, to the date and the dot,
to the one part of Camp David — the peace treaty with
Egypt — so shall we remain true to the other at the
heart of which lies the autonomy program. Its negoti-
ation and realization is the key to the further ad-
vancement of the process of peace to which Israel is
PRIME MINISTER MENAHEM BEGIN
firmly committed.
tos. We commemorate this year the 40th anniversary
Israel has remained faithful to its Declaration of Inde-
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
pendence. We have built up the land and made it green: We
We shall remember the fighters for the liberation of have gained national vigor with each passing year. We
our Land from foreign rule, the members of Hagana, Irgun have renewed our heritage in our ancient homeland. And
and Lehi. We shall pay tribute to all our sons and daughters we have brought home millions of our scattered sisters and
who continued the heroic fight to sustain our independence brothers.
against aggression. And we shall salute the Israel Defense
This, above all, the great ingathering, the Aliya, re-
Forces, the army of the people of Israel, deovoted and brave, mains the ultimate mission of our generation. Let all those
dedicated to but one single purpose — the protection of our in the free world who perceive the greatness of this chal-
country and people and the advancement of peace with lenge come and join us in the further upbuilding of our
security.
beautiful country and of our free and democratic society.
Between the last day of independence and this, the
There are still vast numbers of our brethern who wish
Israel Defense Forces were once again compelled to enter to join us, but are barred from doing so because of the
battle against a ruthless enemy of our nation, indeed of the hostile policies of their regimes, notably Syria, Ethiopia,
Jewish people, who had built themselves an armed state Iran and the Soviet Union. There, in the Soviet Union, is
within a state in Lebanon and who had turned Beirut into a the largest of all the Jewish communities which lives in a
center of international terrorism. For seven bitter years the state of distress. After some years of emigration the doors of
citizens of Galilee had suffered horribly from the incur- the USSR have again been slammed shut. As elsewhere,
sions, the atrocities and the shellings of the ever-growing with unbelievable courage, the prisoners of Zion, thesefus-
terrorist aggression on our nothern border, equipped with niks and the activists for aliya keep alive this heroic Jewish
some of the best weapons the Soviets and its satellites could movement to return to the historic homeland, Eretz Israel.
provide, including long-range artillery and katyusha roc- Their voice is heard and the response of the Free World was
kets, and financed by the petro-dollars of Arab states. The given dramatic and loud expression at the Jerusalem
population of Galilee — every town, townlet, kibutz and World Conference on Soviet Jewry. That conference de-
moshav — had become hostage to the murderous and indis- clared "Let my people go."
criminate attacks of the so-called PLO. Their strength had
We, Israel, the whole Jewish people and men and
reached a point that Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona faced women of goodwill everywhere, rededicate ourselves
the threat of physical destruction.
to the holy endeavor to bring home all of our fellow
And so, Operation Peace for Galilee was launched. Jews who so wish from the Soviet Union and from
Israel did not "invade" Lebanon for we do not covet an inch every country where the torment persists. We shall
of Lebanese territory. The Israel Defense Forces entered succeed.
Israel, stable, strong and faithful ally of the free and
Lebanon for the single objective to deftroy those armed
democratic world, enters its 36th year of freedom with
bands who, with the aid of the Syrian occupation forces, had
the unflinching resolve to
pursue its goals of peace
while remaining ever vigil-
,. ant in protecting its na-
tional rights and its vital
security in Eretz Israel. By
standing together in the
performance of the
momentous tasks of our
generation, the justice of
our cause shall surely win
the day. Hag Sameakh!

Boris Smolar's

Between You
. . . and Me'

Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA

(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
JEWISH STRATEGY: American Jews wishing to
obtain proper knowledge of the strategy and tactics applied
by the organized American Jewish community in preserv-
ing Jewish security, combatting anti-Semitism, fighting
bigotry, promoting equal opportunities without distinction
as to race and religion as well as interpreting Israel's
position and needs to the American people and govern-
ment, and marshalling public opinion in behalf of Soviet
Jewry — should read "Strategies for Survival," a valuable
book by Dr. Walter A. Lurie.
The book, just published, is the first comprehensive
presentation of the principles that guide Jewish commu-
nity relations. Its publication was underwritten by a grant
from the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory
Council which coordinates the policies and strategies of all
leading national Jewish organizations and of the more than
100 local Jewish community councils engaged in what was
originally called "civic protective" activities and is now
known as the Jewish community relations field.
The author is a top Jewish social worker who served for
years in an executive position in the Council of Jewish
Federations system and later joined the National Jewish
Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC) as di-
rector of one of its most important departments. In his book
he deals with a wide range of community relations ques-
tions against a background of 40 years developments in this
field of Jewish activities. He boils down the Jewish corn-
munity relations policies and practices into 62 distinct
principles and discusses each of them separately and
briefly.
VIEW ON ANTI-SEMITISM: Central in Dr. Lurie's -
book are the decisions of the National Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council -- usually adopted by consen-
sus by all its affiliated national and local bodies. They
constitute the fundamental policies of the organized
American Jewish community on the various problems af-
fecting- creative Jewish living. The author analyzes these
problems incisively and presents them in a very popular
style of writing. He provokes very serious thoughts.
Among other things, he points out that young Jews in
this country who don't experience today the difficulties
their parents had experienced and are well adjusted, may
not have come across any anti-Semitism in their personal,
lives. They are therefore not aware of the lessons of cen-
turies of oppressions which Jews have — in their char-
acteristic gallows humor — condensed into the saying, "It is
hard to be a Jew." However, he stresses that American
Jewry in general is well aware of the plights of many Jews
abroad because of anti-Semitism.
Is there anti-Semitism now in the United States?
Dr. Lurie establishes that despite fluctuations in overt
anti-Semitic manifestations from year to year, the Jewish
community relations field does not regard the level of
anti-Semitism as persistent and potentially threatening.
He enumerates some low-key manifestations of anti-
Semitism and emphasizes that although they may have
little significance in themselves and can generally be dealt
with calmly and disappear, they nevertheless serve as im-
portant reminders that while overt anti-Semitism has been
out of fashion since Hitler gave it a bad name, the sub-
stratum still exists and a spark can start a conflaguration.
The Jewish community relations program, he says,
copes with any form of manifestation of anti-Semitism. He
believes that, as of now, it would be a mistake to push the
panic button. He cites the 1982 joint program of the
NJCRAC as stating that "on balance, we believe that Jews
are secure in America." This opinion is shared at present by
all leading national Jewish organizations engaged in com-
batting bigotry.
POTENTIAL DANGER: While combatting overt
forms of anti-Semitism, such as vandalism and defamation,
the Jewish community relations field maintains a constant
watch for potentially dangerous organized and political
forms of anti-Semitism, Dr. Lurie stresses.
He points out that even without explicit anti-
Semitism, the Jewish community relations field recognizes
the deep menace to Jewish security from malfunctions and
crises in the American society that could threaten Ameri-
can democratic life. Anti-Semitic acts - and expressions are
widely interpreted as being a danger to all Americans
rather than to Jews alone,,he asserts. The Jewish commu-
nity relations field therefore seeks and expects the coopra-
tion of general community resources in combatting anti-
Semitism.
Space does not permit dealing with the evaluations in
"Stragegies for Survival" of the other aspects in community
relations work which I mentioned above. In analyzing
them, the author establishes the special attention paid to
each of them by Jewish leadership as part of the program to
preserve Jewish security. The book reflects extensive in-
terconsultation of many of the keenest minds.

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