18 Friday, November 11, 1983 FIRESTONE THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Ben-Gurion and Kennedy: Interesting Kurzman Memo • JEWELRY Wholesale Diamonds & Jewelry Remounting Jewelry & Watch Repair SUITE 318 ADVANCE BLDG 23077 Greenfield at 9 Mile The 20th anniversary of the assassination of • President John F. Kennedy draws attention to many in- (313),557-1860 Gary R Miller & Associates Photography with a Personal,Touch 398-6894 Specializing in Candids and Video ternational aspects in the life of the late President. Is- rael and the Jewish people are among them. The definitive biography, "Ben-Gurion: Prophet of Fire" (Simon and Schuster) by Dan Kurzman, who is due to speak at the Jewish Book Fair at 10 a.m. Nov. 16, has the following in- teresting revelation about David Ben-Gurion and the late President Kennedy: _..• OWN YOUR OWN PHONE AND SAVE MONEY! The monthly rental from the phone co. is $243 a month and they own the Phone. All our phones are FCC Approved, legal to install. 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Our special weekend rate: $29 for up to four persons in any room Friday and Saturday nights. Just mention this ad when you call for reserva- tions or when you check in. **Offer also good over holidays. Call us for details. * , For Reservations Call 353-6777 In Southfield on Northwestern Highway at 1-696 and Telegraph. - SK LIGHT mn The Great Inn Between 1 "Ben-Gurion was, indeed, so eager to redeem Ken- nedy's campaign promises to Israel that he demanded to see the new President almost before the man could settle into his rocking chair. Israeli diplomats were in- credulous. Not a single foreign leader had met with Kennedy yet. He hadn't even formulated his policies; anyway, he wanted to keep the Arabs off his aching-back for a while. "But when Ben-Guiion insisted, the diplomats conveyed the 'demand' — only to receive a terse reply that the President would see Ben-Gurion only in June, six months later. " 'I can't wait,' Ben- Gurion howled. 'I must see him now!' ICanadian Prime Minis- ter John Diefenbaker 'coop- erated,' inviting Ben- Gurion on a state visit to his country. Muttering under their breath, White House aides agreed to squeeze him in right afterward in late May. (He couldn't wait until June!) And then only for 'ari unofficial talk in New York, where Kennedy would be stopping on the way to Europe for a summit meet- ing with Khrushchev. " a is hoped,' presidential aides wrote in a memoran- dum, 'that this ar- rangement will produce a minimum of publicity with respect to the President's° talk with Ben-Gurion.' "Ben-Gurion sized up with uncertainty the slim, youthful man with a shock of sandy hair. The prime minister had met Senator Kennedy years before and had not been very im- pressed. He seemed too young and inexperienced to hold a top political position. Now Kennedy was President of the most pow- erful nation on earth. - "But if. Ben-iGurion harbored doubts about Kennedy's presidential stature, he was pleased by the tenor of the meet- ing. American scientists, Kennedy said, were satis- fied that Israel's reactor was designed for peace- ful purposes. He pressed Ben-Gurion, however, to take back a token number of Arab refugees. "The prime minister's ad- - visers had warned him that Kennedy would propose this. Agree to do it, they said. The Arabs would surely reject the idea, and it was a cheap way to win the President's goodwill. "Ben-Gurion was hesit- ant, but he finally agreed. Kennedy beamed, 'Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Blessed be the peacemaker!' "As Ben-Gurion rose to leave, the President, now bursting - 'with goodwill, placed his hand on the prime minister's shoulder, took him aside and said: "I owe my victory to the sup- port of the American Jews. How can I repay them?" "Ben-Gurion was stunned by his candor. And de- lighted. The President G-f fers to the Israeli leader's JOHN F. KENNEDY interest in two other U.S. Presidents. In reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example„ Kurzman notes the difficul ties that were encountered in securing the wide support for the Zionist cause and he comments: "Roosevelt had met with Saudi Arabia's King Ibn Saud after the Yalta Con-. ference and then had writ- ten him promising not to `undertake . . . any action likely to be hostile to the Arab people.' The president did not even invite the Jews to the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco. To Ben- Gurion he was 'two-faced,', claiming that he supported Zionism while quietly stifl- ing it." Harry S Truman was the only other President Ben-Gurion had met in the United States felt obli gated to the . Jews. He re plied diplomatically, 'Do what is best for the free world.' "But as he left, Ben Gurion wondered whether he himself had done what was best for Israel. He had reluctantly agreed to take back some Arab refugees, but he must somehow renege on his promise. After the meeting he told newsnin that he had reached a 'large measure of agree- ment with the -President on the Arab refugee problem.' Since he said nothing about any Israeli concessions, the Arabs soon screamed that Ken- nedy had sold them out, and Washington, ter- rified, furiously denied there was any agreement. "Israeli diplomats shud- HARRY TRUMAN dered. Their boss had barged in as an unwelcome person. As Kurzman guest and now departed notes: "In May of 1951, in Wash- leaving ashes on the rug! "But not before another ington, D.C.,- he (Ben- President, Harry S Trurna,n,. _ Gurion) presented a bronze iribra: 16 . - L="r0iiiient Tru- who had pull him for his own from under 'the 'State mnaa, Department at Israel's role in Israel's rebirth and birth, came to see Ben- admiring him for his deci- Gurion. The prime minister siveness in dismising Gen recalled that feat and told eral Douglas MacArthur his visitor, 'I don't know and asserting civilian con- what the Americans- are trol over the military, a tra- saying about you . . . But,n dition he himself had begun the eyes of the Jewish at home." people you will live forever!' Germans Drop "The tough former President had cooly Bias Charge ordered the dropping of Against Two atomic bombs on Japan, de- BONN (JTA) — Criminal cisively hurled troops against the Communists in proceedings have been Korea, and daringly fired dropped against two offi- General MacArthur. But cials of Moringen who were held responsible for allow- now he broke into tears." ing anti-Semitic material to * * appear in the town's official Ben-Gurion, Truman; history. Comment on FDIC. .The prosecution in Han- Dan Kurzman's . Ben- nover determined that Wal- Gurion biography.,.also re- ter Ohlmer, the former town archiviSt, and town man- ager Rudolph Boedcher, could not be charged with incitement to racial dis- crimination or public disor- der. Ohlmer, 64, was fired from what is an honorary post as keeper of the town's records. Boedcher retains his job. He was not accused of writing anti-Semitic material, but of accepting their inclusion in the offi- cial records. One passage justified the notorious Kris- tallnacht of 1938 as a legitimate response by Germans to Jewish pro- vocation in the United FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT States and' elsewhere.