THE JEWISH NEWS (USPS 275-5201 Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co. Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, National Editorial Association and National Newspaper Association and its Capital Club. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $18 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 17th day of Tishri, 5744, is Hol Hamoed Sukkot, and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 33:12-34:26, 29:17-22. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 38:18-39:16. Hol Hamoed Sukkot Sunday, Numbers 29:10-28. Monday, Numbers 29:23-31. Tuesday, Numbers 29:26-34. Wednesday, Hoshana Rabba, Numbers 29:26-34. Thursday, Shemini Atzeret Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17, Numbers 29:35-30:1. Prophetical portion, I Kings 8:54-66. Sept. 30, Simhat Torah Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12, Genesis 1:1-2:3, Numbers 29:35-30:1. Prophetical portion, Joshua 1:1-18. Candlelighting, Friday, Sept. 23, 6:56 p.m. VOL. LXXXIV, No. 4 Page Four Friday, September 23, 1983 DIPLOMATIC NAIVETE Soviet-supported military hardware is chiefly responsible for horrors that make hair stand on human heads. A government that con- dones the mass murder of 269 innocent people on an aerial flight removed from military in- volvements could presumably be expected to go to extremes in the sponsorship of policies that threaten important areas in the world. The occurrences in Lebanon are surely chiefly as- cribable to the encouragement Syria receives from the same sources that approve of shooting down a passenger airplane. Yet, there are some who naively express the hope that Assad will withdraw from Leba- non and help end the fratricidal war. It is clear that Russian inducements contribute toward the endlessness of a conflict that is not only fratricidal and internecine but also has an as- pect of power-seeking in the Middle East by the Soviet Union. All of which makes the American involve- ment so heartrending. The intention was to pro- tect Lebanon and to assist in that country's emergence as a democratically-functioning na- tion. Instead, there is such a multiplicity of hor- rors that there is little hope for solutions. Russian-backed Assad is in the lead in fanning the hatreds, and whoever believes that he can be induced to end the conflict is as naive as those who thought Russia would apologize for the crime in shooting down the Korean plane. Meanwhile, there is not only naivete but also media blindness to realities. Two recently ignored news items point to the shortsighted- ness in exposing the realities of currently de- veloping situations. A Reuters report from Darhascus reveals that Syria urged the Arab League, under date of Sept. 5, to ostracize Leba- non and "sever all diplomatic, economic, cul- tural and political ties with it." Another Reut- ers report, also dated Sept. 5, from Geneva, stated that the "United Nations Sub- Commission on Human Rights called on Iran today to conform to international convention and stop recruiting child soldiers for its Persian Gulf war against Iraq." Both oppressive developments have a rela- tion to Israel's agonies. The call for unity among Arabs to ostracize Lebanon has a direct effect on Israel's hopefulness for a resolution of the tragic problems. But from apparent pressures from Syria the anti-Israel elements seem determined to combine forces on a destructive basis. This creates international and American problems as much as adding to the obstacles for peace for Israel. The induction of children into a warfare is a confirmation of what the PLO has been doing all along, how the detrimental forces in the so- called West Bank areas have been using mere children for warfare. Youths under 12 have been carrying guns and using them in a war promulgated by the terror-striking elements in the Middle East. These factors cannot be ignored in the treatment of the Middle East situation. The conditions are grave. The obstruction to peace stemming from Damascus and the Kremlin are sheer warmongering. Using children for war- fare is disastrous. Such are the difficulties confronted by Is- rael, the United States and whatever is left of peaceseeking. Hopefully there will be an end to diplomatic and media naivete in treating the horrors of Middle East problems that are becom- ing internationalized. THE WORLD IN ANGER An entire world, excepting only the associ- ates in the condemned outrage, is angered and embittered by the shooting down of a civilian Korean airplane resulting in the tragic death of 269 from many lands, including the United States. The indictment for the bestial act has near unanimous condemnation and the handful who are giving comfort to the Kremlin are themselves subjected to a measure of contempt. The USSR guilt is not limited to the Korean plane tragedy. It is far more extensive. It has a wider scope which demands concern in acts that are causing grave anxiety in many areas and bear responsibility for the diminution of oppor- tunities for peace in the Middle East. It is the Russian support for Syria that enables Assad's . government to carry on a war against the present Lebanese government and encourage the Islamic-Christian crisis. A Lebanese-Israel agreement called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the embattled areas and only the Syrian refusal to collaborate in such efforts interfered with a genuine assur- ance of peace for Lebanon. It is ascribable mainly to the Russian involvement in. war- mongering that prevents the peace. Now it is the Lebanese government whose very existence is endangered by the Russian manipulations. Thus, the Russian guilt has such a vastness that the latest guilt in shooting down a plane with 269 innocent people aboard is only a guideline to an inhumanly-motivated govern- ment that endangers hope for amity among all nations. Volume from Doubleday `Children of War' Echo Current Tragic Problems Roger Rosenthal, with a rich record as a student of world affairs, as a correspondent of note, devoted 35 days to a study of the children in the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians, those of Vietnam and -- Ca mbodia, to arrive at reactions among the youth. - "Children of War" (Doubleday) is among the very remarkable books of the current era in which a concerned student of present-day experiences delves into the moods of children, arriving at the senti- ments which serve as guides to an understanding and appreciation of the effects of human struggles on young minds. People vanish, tragedies continue, causes remain on the agenda in the analyses arrived at. In the course of confrontations, the atti- tudes reflect the end results — that of a continuity that becomes a challenge. Rosenthal's study of the attitudes of Israel's antagonists, whey_ dealing with the Palestinians, is a factor to be dealt with. Yet, in contrast with the contacts with the Israelis there is a contrast that cannot be ignored. A Palestinian child of 12 carries a gun; an Israeli who witnesses the massacre of fellow-children utters a challenge to God. Rosenthal's is a psychological as well as sociological study. Therefore it is also an immensely human approach. In the instance of his coverage of the Israeli effects, the author presents a chronological account of what Arabs — the terrorists — had performed, the cruelties resorted to, the terrorizing and murder of , children in schools, in Kiryat Shmona and other northern Israeli settlements. The hatreds that were generated offer no surprises, yet there is the evidence of a rejection of vengeance. But the fears remain and the results and the anger that is part of the eyewitnessing. War becomes a way of life and in Israel it is an experience that is part of a tragedy which is an element in such a life course. As Rosent- hal comments: "I remind myself where I am — in a country of real people, with a real history. If ever a nation had a right to hardness, it is this one. Israel itself is a child of war, born in one war, fighting - another at the age of eight, another at 19, yet another at 21, and the wars continue." In a child's room in a kibutz at Manara, Rosenthal sees a drawing on a wall of Indian tepees. Why Indians? The child explains: "After the Jews, the Indians are the people I love most. First, because the white man came and made them suffer and they didn't deserve that. Second, I love how brave they are. I sympathize with them." As a consequence of the mass murder of Jews in Nahariya, a child who was affected by the horror wrote a challenge to God: "If there is a God, and yes many claim there is, then how does it happen that little kids get killed? Rosenthal provides a new to the concern expressed for American involvements in the Asian affairs and in . the Vietnam experiences. The views of youth express the reactions that have be- come tragic reminiscences for so many and warnings of the necessity for concerns lest there be a repetition of the heartaches that have left marks of distress on a generation. It is the warning that there be an increased measure of concern for the generations to come that enter into the impressions gathered from the experiences recorded in "Chil- dren of War." The realities are on the record, the challenges.are indelible. The lesson in the study is immense. Perhaps the judgment is that man- kind remains on trial with "Children of War" the accusers. -