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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 first day of Adar I, 5744,
the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 25:1-27:19, Numbers 28:9-15.
Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24.
Candlelighting,.Friday, February 3, 5:34 p.m.
VOL. LXXXIV, No. 23
Page Four
Friday, February 3, 1984
MULTIPLYING THE GUILT
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had
a cordial reception in the Israeli parliament, the
Knesset, and in conferences with Jewish lead-
ers. He even received a great honor, having
been awarded an honorary degree by Tel Aviv
University. At the outset, he was admonished
by voice and in a placard at the Knesset that
"Never Forget" remains in the memory of the
Jewish people," as it should be in mankind's.
At the Yad Vashem, Chancellor Kohl gave
emphasis to the obligation of remembering, of
never forgetting, and it was a re-affirmation of
what he had said earlier: that the guilt is ac-
knowledged. Not to be forgotten is the fact that
the mass murder was planned in Munich, and
that it is not far from Bonn, and that Chancellor
Kohl cannot ascertain response to the protest
against Germany's arming Saudi Arabia. There
can never be absolution, and in the interest of
the arms trade deal planned by Bonn, another
murderous act is planned against the Jewish
people. Saudi Arabia is a partner to the cries
being shouted all over the Arab world for a
Jihad, a holy war against Israel, and whoever
provides arms towards the promotion of such a
war makes a Jihad possible. Any move towards
making Bonn another capital from which plans
are to emanate for the Jihad must be opposed
and treated as an act of war against Israel, and
therefore also against the Jewish people who
reiterate the "Never Forget" reminder to all.
Having left Israel with what could be
judged as a warning that German policy is
framed in Bonn and not in Jerusalem, there
remains the need to continue the protests
against arming Saudi Arabia, and it could well
be extended to the United States and other na-
tions as long as there is a Jihad threatening
Israel.
Here are some basic facts to be taken into
account regarding military spending per capita,
revealed in a ZINS news report:
'Israel's military spending was $8.24 bil-
lion in 1982, representing some $2,060 per head
of population, according to a report from the
International Institute of Strategic Studies.
The Institute's 'Military Balance 1983-1984'
showed that Israel's arms spending had risen by
some $1.4 billion, from 1981's figure of $6.78
billion or $1.695 per person.
"Saudi Arabia's percapita military spend-
ing is running at $2,780, by far the highest of all
the Middle East countries with the exception of
the United Arab Emirates where it is just over
$2,800. Egypt's is only $56 per person and even
Syria's is only $286, the report stated.
"Israel's permanent armed forces have
shrunk by 2,000 to 172,000 men. Syria has re-
mained constant at 222,500. Saudia Arabia's
have dropped slightly to 51,500 and Egypt is
down from 452,000 to 447,000. Jordan's have
remained at 72,800."
It could be argued that Israel also is being
provided with massive military aid. It would be
criminal to ignore the truth that in an entire
area composed of 23 nations, all except Egypt
and Lebanon are now advocating Israel's de-
struction. Therefore the human factor, the
American obligation, to give Israel the means
for self-defense, so that another Munich should
not be repeated and that Bonn should not as-
sume the character of Munich of the 1920s
through the mid-1940s.
_There is some hope that perhaps West
Germany will take these truths into account
and will not provide arms to a nation allied with
the advocates of the Jewish nation's destruc-
tion. The anticipated visit of Edgar Bronfman,
president of the World Jewish Congress, who is
planning a visit with Kohl in Bonn, may avert
the feared tragedy. Meanwhile, the American
Section of the World Jewish Congress makes
public the following text of a resolution adopted
Jan. 24 protesting the proposed West German-
Saudi Arabian arms deal:
"The World Jewish Congress American
Section, representing 28 national Jewish organ-
izations, reacts with alarm at reports that West
Germany is to shortly conclude a massive arms
deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
"The Section expresses its indignation and
outrage that the West German government
would contemplate the sale of sophisticated
military equipment to Saudi Arabia whose con-
tinued belligerance to the state of Israel makes
such a wespons transfer a direct threat to the
well-being and security of the Jewish state —
the haven to so many victims of Nazi persecu-
tion;
"Accordingly, the Section calls on West
Germany to cancel any plans for the sale of
military hardware to Saudi Arabia viewing
such an action as an affront to American and
world Jewry;
"The Section has received with satisfaction
the news that the president of the World Jewish
Congress, Edgar M. Bronfman, will meet with
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and
brings to his urgent attention this resolution for
transmittal to the West German government as
an explicit statement of the views of the Jewish
community on this matter."
The die is cast. The Jewish resentment is on
the record. Bonn is tested. Will Chancellor Kohl
be a signatory to a Jihad? That would spell a
German forgetfulness.
'CRAZINESS' PLUS TERROR
Israelis and Jews everywhere are shocked
by the horror that has been perpetrated by fana-
tics in Israel who have launched an insane "Ter-
ror vs. Terror" series of inhumanities and inde-
cencies against Christians and Moslems.
Mayor Kollek properly labeled the insane
acts as "craziness. He has emphasized, and his
--PoTA 0
Harper and Row Volume
Poetry of Yehuda Amichai:
Tranquility in Conscience
Yehuda Amichai, who has attained leadership in Israel's literary
ranks, often emerges as the conscience of his people.
His poetry is among the interpretive, ex-
pressing the reactions to life in Israel, depicting
all the elements, the Jews as the faithful as well
as the critical.
His latest collective effort, the 85 poems in
"Great Tranquility: Questions and Answers"
(Harper and Row), translated from the Hebrew
by Glenda Abramson and Tudor Parfeitt, cover a
field as vast as Israel herself.
The title of the book is kept to the very last. Its
text should not puzzle those who read these
poems, In a deeper sense, it is a summary:
People in the painfully bright hall
Spoke about religion
In the life of modern man
And about God's place in it.
AMICHAI
People spoke in excited voices
Like at airports.
I left them:
I opened an iron door over which was written
"Emergency" and I entered into
A great tranquility: questions and answers.
It is because he does not eliminate anyone, that all who are in
Israel are his concern, that Amichai and his poetry are the guidelines
in the many challenges that emerge among the most expressive,
serving as the voice of Israel.
All faiths are included here, and like his many contemporaries,
Amos Oz being exemplary, the Arabs are a part of the Israel depicted.
Often there is an aspiration for unity. Is it to be emphasized in
this selected and impressive piece from "Great Tranquility":
An Arab shepherd is seeking a kid
on Mount Zion,
-
And on the opposite hill I seek my little son.
An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father
Both in their temporary failure.
Our two voices meet above
The Sultan's Pool in the valley between
Neither of us wants the son or the kid
To enter the terrible process
Of the Passover song One Kid."
Afterwards we found them between the bushes,
And our voices returned to us
And we wept and laughed deep inside ourselves.
Searches for a kid or for a son were always
The beginning of a new religion in these mountains.
.
figures are confirmed by the religious leaders,
that 99.9 percent of all Jews and Israelis con-
demn such acts and would not tolerate -them.
"Great Tranquility" is not a heavy book. Yet its 90 pages provide
guidance to an important era in the life of people who provide inspira-
tion in a testing introduced as implied questions, and equally sur-
mised poetic answers.
Therefore, the world at large should know
that what had occurred was "craziness" and will
not be tolerated by anyone.
(Amichai will be reading from his works at 7:30 p.m. Monday at
Maximus and Co. Booksellers, 189 S. Woodward, Birmingham. There
is a charge.)