2 Friday, July 22, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Cordiality on Agenda:
Temporarily Postponed
Reagan-Begin Handshake
Symbolically, the Israel-U.S. handshake remains on
the agenda as a compelling need toward the aims for peace.
It is far from thrilling to learn that the planned Rea-
gan-Begin meeting which was set for the coming week has
been delayed. It was a necessity, in view of what had been
interpreted as an animus between the two heads of two
friendly nations. But the chief objective, the friendship
between the two nations, remains on the agenda and the
interrupted handshake between the two statesmen 'need
not be mourned as destructive. The cooperative spirit be-
tween two peoples continues, and if it is interfered with all
who are dedicated to goodwill and peace efforts must strive
for friendly rettentions.
Meanwhile, great interest attaches here to the an-
nounced visit in Detroit of Lebanon's President Amin
Gemayel. He is scheduled to speak at the Masonic Temple
Auditorium and his message and the greeting to be ac-
corded him by the large Lebanese community in this area
will be of great interest to all.
Jews and Lebanese have a cordial relationship, both
here and on the Israel-Lebanon border. The Lebanese-
Israeli agreement signed recently, providing for with-
drawal of Israel's troops from Lebanon, began a procedure
of cooperation. While it is yet to be fully coordinated, it is a
mark of neighborliness with serious implications in the
efforts for peace.
On the local scene, the two peoples have pursued
friendships, in mutual interests as American citizens, in
business relations, also with political implications. For
some 20 years, a Lebanese newspaper, published in Arabic
with occasional English-language articles — the Lebanese
Gazette — affirmed friendship for Israel and the Zionist
ideal. Under the editorship of the late Checri Kanaan, that
newspaper, often suffering from an onslaught of
animosities, pursued a policy of goodwill and created
friendships between the Jewish-Lebanese communities.
The newspaper did not survive its friendly-publisher, but it
left a mark of friendship. This is the spirit that is antici-
pated from the Gemayel visit in Detroit.
Granting a Platform
in the Newspapers
to a Confessed Pro-Nazi
Under the direction of Allan Ryan and his associates in
the U.S. Department of Justice staff who are ferreting out
Nazi criminals residing unlawfully in this country, a
Romanian cleric, Valerian Trifa, was ordered deported last
October. As his si g ned statement, reproduced on the front
page of The Jewish News, Oct. 15, 1982, indicated, the
accused bishop confessed to enough guilt to accept the rul-
ing that he must leave this country.
Because a dozen countries have refused to grant him
assylum — in itself a sign of unwillingness for any other
country to welcome in its midst a criminal — he was given a
platform in the Detroit Free Press to incite whatever anti-
Semitism may have been in evidence in his case. He was
undoubtedly correct in his judgment that his case added to
feelings of hatred for Jews among the young people he has
been in contact with. How else could the freedom-granting
by this country have resulted?
If there is fault-finding with the American press, it is
the notoriety given to criminals. They may be demented
murderers, but they earn a vast amount of newspaper
space. The platform granted to a man convicted by the U.S.
government, lending him the opportunity to fan hatred of
Jews, is most deplorable.
When 'Bailing Out Israel'
Becomes Means of Negating
American-Israel Friendship
"Bailing Out Israel" seems to have become a slogan in
an effort to weaken the established American-Israel
friendship with the questionable charge that Israel is being
overloaded with American funds. Several columnists and
some editors have resorted to this method of proving that
Israel "gets too much" from this country. The McCartney
articles in the Knight-Ridder press and the Evans and
Novak articles point in that direction. Therefore, the refu-
tation by Dan Halpern, minister for economic affairs for the
Israeli Embassy in Washington, published in the Washing-
ton Post, needs special attention. Halpern presents these
facts:
The Evans and Novak column of July 8 ("The
Burden of Bailing Out Israel") is a disturbing dis-
tortion of a General Accounting Office report
about U.S. aid to Israel. The columnists failed to
confer with any representative of the government
of Israel before rushing to print.
The claim that Israel "has camouflaged ef-
forts to obtain U.S. financing for the Lebanon in-
Cordiality and Genuine Friendship the Necessity
in American, Israel and Lebanese Friendships .. .
Correcting the Record on 'Bail Out' Propaganda
vasion" is false. The military campaign in Leba-
non has been financed by purely domestic Israeli
economic measures spread over three years
(1982-1984), stemming from additional taxation on
the Israeli public, that will generate $1.45 billion
in revenues. The campaign in Lebanon required
no changes in foreign assistance levels or terms
from the United States and none was sought. Is-
rael's aid request for FY 84, which was presented
in the fall of 1983, included figures identical to
those presented a year earlier.
The column further claims that Israel re-
peatedly deceived the United States. Israel has
never received special favors from the United
States that are not fully permitted under U.S. law.
American business and labor directly benefit
from U.S. assistance to Israel and do not carry the
burden, as the writers charge. The funds avail-
able to Israel are used for the purchase of U.S.
military and civilian goods, promoting American
industry and its economy. The Merkava tank was
built in Israel with some U.S. funding, but this was
the sole exception to the practice of using such
assistance in the United States. But there was
nothing secret about the decision by the Ameri-
can government; it was made openly and with
consultation with Congress.
The most important part of the GAO report is
the part left out by Evans and Novak; the GAO
found that the U.S. assistance program is well
run and efficient; there were no findings of mis-
management, waste or abuse.
Unlike some countries, Israel has never failed
to repay its debts on U.S. loans. Between 1973 and
1982, Israel repaid $5.072 billion to the United
States. This year Israel will pay close to $1 billion
on outstanding loans, an amotint that exceeds Is-
rael's 1983 EConomic Support Fund allocation
appropriated by Congress.
We hear from the GAO office that the "report"
on which many of the quotations are based is a
misrepresentation put together by parties admit-
tedly hostile to Israel and is not the final accurate
version of the report. This might explain why the
article quotes sentences which, to the best of our
knowledge, are not included in the final
authorized version of the report.
The matter of American-Israel cooperation is seriously
affected by misrepresentations and the correcting of them
is a duty, in the best interests of both countries. The Hal-
pern statement must therefore be considered most seri-
ously and the facts must remain on the record, disputing
whatever damage may already have been done to the
friendship of two nations.
The 'Irreversible' Jewish
Rights in Disputed Areas
and the 'Lack' of Solution
Danny Rubinstein, a member of the editorial staff of
Davar, the Israeli Labor Party-oriented newspaper, on a
tour of this country under auspices of the New Jewish
Agenda, was asked, on his appearance at a meeting in
Washington, to estimate what percentage of Israelis be-
lieved they have a biblical right to be in the West Bank-
designated territory. His reply was: "All of us."
Rubinstein explained that he and his compatriots be-
lieve in their history and their rights. He added that the
By Philip
Slomovitz
problem arises out of two peoples claiming their rights in
the same land and compromise, therefore, is necessary.
He stated that Israel's presence in what he described as
disputed territory is "irreversible. He offered no solution
while seeing the controversial aspects as providing a mor-
tal threat to the Jewish state.
Such is the problem which keeps gnawing at Israel
while her neighbors refuse even to seek compromise.
Even the "shared rule" proposal was called "Jewish-
manipulated" and received no other response.
Whence cometh help? Perhaps, once again, time will
offer some sort of solution. But while the agonies are suf-
fered Israel's need to exist remains her right. For Jews
generally it could be judged as one of the last ramparts. For
Israelis it is life itself. Inerasable is the right to live and the
compulsion to defend.
They Keep Waving .. .
Their Banners of Hate
There is no end to the saber-rattling and the waving of
banners of hate.
The aim is apparent: Israel's destruction.
Therefore, the new Arafatism, whether it is to hail him
as a moderate or to predict his finish, is all imaginary.
Whoever wins in the Arab battle for leadership and
power, both factions are united into one aim: to annihilate
Israel.
They shout such slogans in Dearborn and Detroit, and
if there is moderation it is hiding in fear lest its advocates
meet the end intended for Israel.
There is, as an example, this AP news item from Lon-
don:
LONDON (AP) — The leader of the mutiny,
against Mr. Arafat, Col. Saed Musa, said in an
interview published here today that "Arafat can
give you all the communiques and statements in
the world but he never practices what he says."
The rebel leader, a former Jordanian Army
officer who uses the code name Abu Musa, said in
the interview with The Guardian that he had re-
belled because Mr. Arafat started moving the
8,000 to 10,000 Palestinian guerrillas in eastern
and northern Lebanon to other Arab countries.
"There can be no armed struggle from Algeria
or Yemen," he was quoted as saying. He charged
that Mr. Arafat had an agreement with President
Saddam Hussein of Iraq "for the rest of the fight-
ers to go to Baghdad."
He said he opposes Mr. Arafat's diplomatic
efforts in the past decade and remains committed
to the 1964 Palestine National Charter, which says
there must be complete liberation of Palestine
and "no reconciliation, no recognition, no negoti-
ation" with Israel.
"Without armed struggle, our voice cannot be
heard by the United States," he declared.
There is nothing new in it, yet it adds emphasis to the
intentions of Israel's would-be destroyers.
Meanwhile, there are the continuing shortcomings in
the media. There is no let-up in the selectivity of news that
negates Israel, and the positive 'and creative in Israel is
seldom defined.
The unfortunate Hebron incidents are front page copy,
but the progress made in the Israeli institutions of research
and learning indicating advances in the fields of cancer and
heart ailments are either totally ignored or buried some-
where in the American newspapers.
These are the sad lessons in this generation's experi-
ences.
New Cardiograph Is Result of 'Stellar Effort' at TAU
By ELISSA
ALLERHAND
TEL AVIV — The stars
have always been close to
man's heart, but a new de-
velopment at Tel Aviv Uni-
versity removes the connec-
tion from the realm of ro-
mance.
Prof. Dror Sadeh of Tel
Aviv University's Depart-
ment of Physics and As-
tronomy, working on a joint
project with NASA examin-
ing the pulsation of stars,
discovered that the pulsa-
tions emitted by the stars
are of striking regularity
and are similar to the pulsa-
tions of the human heart.
Modifying the in-
strumentation used to
measure the pulsations of
the stars, called pulsars,
Prof. Sadeh, together with
Tel Aviv University Prof.
Shlomo Laniado, director of
the cardiology department
at Ichilov Hospital, de-
veloped a prototype which
can be used for cardiac
examination.
The instrument works
by picking up tiny
"noises," sifting through
them by computer, thus
locating the significant
signals which can por-
tray a more accurate pic-
ture of certain heart dis-
orders than the elec-
trocardiogram.
The development paves
the way for a new genera-
tion of more sophisticated
and advanced electrocar-
diograms using this new
system. The instrument and
the technique may be
applied to other biological
signals as well, and the
team of scientists is pre-
sently examining its use for done at Ichilov Hospital by
assessing respiratory func- Prof. Laniado and Dr. Ber-
tions and monitoring blood nard Bellassen, in coopera-
pressure. tion with Prof. Sadeh, Shi-
The examination in the mon Aboud, and a team of
hospitals is currently being TAU medical physicists.
Prof. Dror Sadeh of Tel Aviv University uses a
new heart assessment instrument developed by a
team of university researchers and based on the prin-
ciple of measurement of the pulsations of stars.