* * * July Fourth Message Imbedded in Emma Lazarus' `New Colossus' THE JEWISH NEWS A Weekly Review Commentary, Page 2 of Jewish Events Diplomacy Under Scrutiny While Wavering Forces Weaken Under Blast of War-Menacing M.E. Conditions Editorial, Page 4 Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co. * VOL. LXXXIII, No. 18 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $18 Per Year: This Issue 40c July 1, 1983 $120,000 NEH Funding Helps Texas Movies Glorifying PLO Council and ADL Challenge WXYZ Radio Talk Shows ea, The Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan De- troit and the Michigan Regional Office of the Anti- Defamation League of Bnai Brith made public today a letter sent on behalf of both groups to Michael Packer, operations manager of radio station WXYZ. Packer, at this writing, has not responded. Citing months of complaints received by both agencies, and a year-long listening to the station by ADL's Media Committee, the letter charges "wide-spread community perception of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic programming by call-in talk show hosts, guests and callers . ." Referring to call-in show hosts Mark Scott and Kevin Joyce specifically and charging Joyce with "routinely" dispensing "disinformation" and "highly-biased programming relative to anti- Semitism and Israel," the letter goes on to state that "the station is rife with such sentiments ... aired by other on-air personalities as well." Claiming that Joyce permits "vicious anti-Semitic canards," the agencies scored the appearances of Nazis "and others of that ilk" who have been given guest-spots in the station's programming. The letter, signed by David Lebenbom, president of the JCCouncil, and Elaine Block, president of the ADL, states that they "do not understand why WXYZ insists on pander- ing to spokespersons who . . . incite hatred and violence" and calls upon station management to "monitor scheduled guests and . . . eliminate the climate of anti-Semitism." The ADL has complained at various times over the past years, and cites a response from Packer which as- sured the agency that Kevin Joyce stated he was not an anti-Semite. More recently, complaints from the Jewish and non-Jewish community centered upon comments from the hosts which incite callers, give hostile treatment to callers who are not anti-Israel, hanging up on callers who don't reflect the host's bias, and allowing unlimited time to pro-PLO, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic speakers, while treating pro-Israel spokespersons with disdain and contempt. (Continued on Page 12) NEW YORK (JTA — William Bennett, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), said last week that a film about Palestinian women produced under a $120,000 grant from the NEH was a "political tract" and his_ agency therefore had "no rightful business in funding" it. Bennett made the statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after receiving a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith claiming that the film was "unabashed propaganda for the Palestine Liberation Organization." "I have seen the film, and I personally think the Anti-Defamation League is right," he said. "Nothing of this film is in the humanities; there is no understanding, nor appreciation of the discipline of the humanities to be gained by viewing the film," he added. An NEH spokesman noted that the money for the film was granted in 1980, before Bennett's term as chairman had begun. The 30-minute film, "Women Under Siege," prepared for use in high schools and colleges, "glorifies the PLO," said Nathan Perlmutter, ADL's national director. Declaring that "obviously, American taxpayers never intended their money to be used for such a purpose," Perlmutter called for an investigation to determine how the grant was approved. The film is the last of a series of three, entitled "Reformers and Revolutionaries: Middle Eastern Women," produced by Elizabeth Fernea of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Texas at Austin under a grant of $120,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is being distributed nation-- any by Icarus Films, New York City. Perlmutter said that he not only found it "peculiar" that a federal agency dedicated to the humanities provided funds for a film which promotes a terrorist organization which has kil- NEW YORK (JTA) The decision by the delegate led and hijacked Americans, among others, but assembly of the Jewish Community Council of Greater that the NEH did so when U.S. policy forbids Washington t9 refuse council membership to the New recognition of, or contact with, the PLO. Jewish Agenda will not deter efforts by the Agenda to continue to seek application into Jewish community urn- "Curiously," he added, "the funds for this brella organizations throughout the country, according to PLO promotion were provided despite and Lee Levin, national co-chairman of the Agenda. shortly after the Carter Administration dis- Levin said that as a national Jewish organization, the missed its Ambassador to the United Nations Agenda, which has 38 chapters across the country and a for meeting with PLO representatives." national membership of nearly 2,500, should be acknowl- Noting that the project was approved by the edged as a representative of the Jewish community and NEH under guidelines in effect in 1980, thus meets the specific criteria for representation in Jewish Perlmutter said that "the pro PLO bias" per- community umbrella groups. She said the onus should not meates the film as the camera and narrator be on the Agenda but on the part of the umbrella organiza- focus on the experiences of six Arab women in tions. Rashadiya, a PLO camp in southern Lebanon While maintaining that the Agenda, formed in De- • six miles from the Israeli border. cember 1980, does continue to represent an alternative to the "established" Jewish community, Levin told the Jewish Perlmutter said that while the movie Telegraphic Agency that by submitting an application for ostensibly depicts progressive social membership in the JCCouncil of Greater Washington, this changes wrought among Arab women by N ew Jewish Agenda to Seek Recognition — . - (Continued on Page 12) ,Lubavitch Dispute Conservative Version of Bar Mitzva Incident NEW YORK (JTA) — A report by the movement for Conservative Judaism in Israel that members of the Lubavitch movement disrupted a Conservative Bar Mitzva cere- mony in Kiryat Gat was denounced by the director of the Lubavitch educational system, in the southern Israeli town. Rabbi Shalom Volpa, director of Makhanaim, currently on a brief visit to the United States, said the report by Rabbi Philip Spectre, executive director of the Conservative movement in Israel, was "erroneous" and "scurrilous." Spectre made the charge during a press conference at the Jewish Theologi- cal Seminary on June 16. He said that if "extreme elements" of Orthodoxy in Israel continued to harass the Conservative movement, "we will urge American Jews not to assist them anymore." The ceremony, which Spectre said included both Bar and Bat Mitzva rites, took place at the start of May. Volpa said the rites took place in Neve Chana, a home for children from broken homes. Volpa charged, in his counter-criticism, that the families of the children, whom he (Continued on Page 11) (Continued on Page 12) July 4th Reflections: Can It Happen Here? By DR. IRVING GREENBERG — National Jewish Resource Center NEW YORK — Older readers will recall Sinclair Lewis' chil- ling book from the 1930s — entitled, "It Can't Happen Here." In this book, Lewis warned with passion and irony against the apathy of those who dismissed Nazism and anti-Semitism in America with the cliche that "it can't happen here." After a period of sharp improvement in Jewish standing in America and of growing complacency, American Jewry has been rocked by a rise in anti-Semitic incidents as well as in attitudes hostile to Israel. Since July 4 is traditionally a time of congratulat- ory rhetoric about America and American Jewry, perhaps it is the right time to ask: "Can it happen here?" — or even, "Is it happening here?" There has been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents — espe- (Continued on Page 3) .