94
Friday, September 28, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Need to work at grass roots level to smooth out black-Jewish rift
BY DAVID FRIEDMAN
Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan's speech to the Na-
tional Press CLub was certainly
disturbing to those of us, Jews and
non-Jews, who were now hearing
for the first time something we
had only read about.
But more disturbing was the
applause Farrakhan received
from apparently-educated blacks
in the audience when he criticized
Rev. Jesse Jackson for apologiz-
ing and said that he himself had
nothing for which to apologize. He
also accused black leaders who
criticized him of being Jewish
"pawns."
It is indicative of a growing
anti-Jewish mood in the black
community, especialy among
educated blacks, partly because
many of them, like Jackson, see
themselves as being close to the
Third World. Jackson is the most
important of a growing number of
black leaders who do not have,
and in some cases do not want, the
long traditional ties with the
Jewish community. There are of
course some Jews, too, who reject
coalitions with blacks, but they
are not in the leadership of Jewish
organizations or among Jews
elected to major offices.
Much of the controversy re-
volves around different views on ‘.
Israel and the use of quotas in af-
firmative action. Now, blacks
should be able to criticize Israel,
or U.S. policy toward Israel, with-
out being called anti-Semitic. At
the same time, Jews should be
able to challenge those views, par-
ticularly when they include sup-
port for the Palestine Liberation
Organization, without being
labelled racists.
Nor should Jews be called ra-
cists when they oppose the use of
quotas for affirmative action.
Blacks must understand how
quotas were used to discriminate
Album documenting
Czech-Nazi effort
given to State Dept.
Washington (JTA) — An album
documenting the collaboration of
the war-time Tiso government in
Czechoslovakia with the Nazis
was turned over to the United
States government Friday.
Martin Zapletal, of Woodside,
N.Y., a Jewish Holocuast survivor
from Slovakia, presented the
album to Deputy Assistant Secre-
tary of State for European and
Canadian Affairs Marc Palmer, in
a ceremony at the State Depart-
ment.
Palmer then gave the album to
Rabbi Seymour Siegel, executive
director of the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Council, to be placed in
the Holocaust Memorial Museum
being planned for Washington.
The ceremony marked the 43rd
anniversary of the enactment of
the Nuremberg Laws in Czechos-
lovakia and the first day when
Slovak Jew had to wear yellow
Stars of David. About two dozen
Jewish survivors and non-Jewish
resistance fighters from Slovakia
attended.
against Jews and how they are
still disciminatory.
All these problems existed be-
fore the Jackson campaign but
were exacerbated by his perform-
ance as they might not have been
if another black politician had
campaigned. Jewish opposition to
Jackson was not that he was black
but to the positions he took.
Major Jewish and black organ-
izations are now meeting to create
a dialogue to erase the feeling of
bitterness. But the work that
really has to be done and the chal-
lenge for both the black and
Jewish leadership is at the grass
roots levels. It is the blacks and
Jews who work and live and play
together who really feel the ef-
fects of the that has been
revealed.
Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Calif.) re-
cently noted that it has been a -
"painful experience" for many
with children experiencing anti-
Semitism for the first time in
their lives.
Recently, John Sims, a black
Jewish senior, at Howard Univer-
sity in Washington, D.C., charged
that he had been the subject of
threats and harassments since
last fall at the prestigious black
university and a swastika had
been carved_ on his dormitory
room door. Sims, who filed com-
plaints with the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and the U.s. At-
torney General's office, said that
the harrassment made it difficult
for him to study, causing him to
fail a course last spring and thus
not graduate.
Sims, who is from Philadelphia,
said he was placed on academic
probation and will not be able to
return to Howard because he is
now ineligible for financial aid.
Five IDF soldiers are wounded
in an ambush in south Lebanon
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Five Israeli
soldiers were wounded when their
patrol was ambushed by small
arms fire and rocket-propelled
grenades near Rehan village on
the central front in south Lebanon
Sunday. An Israel Defense Force
(IDF) spokesman said another
patrol tracked down the assail-
ants and killed three of them.
The IDF also reported that an
explosive charge was detonated
by remote control on a road near
Joya village Sunday but caused
no casualties. The Phalangist
radio in Beirut reported that
three terrorists were killed and
two captured after they entered
the Awali River from the sea in a
rubber dinghy and attacked an
IDF position on a bridge north of
Sidon. According to the radio re-
UNVEILINGS
The Family
of the Late
DAVID
TEITLEBAUM
Announces the unveil-
ing of a monument in his
memory at 10:30 a.m. Sun-
day, Oct. 7, at Adat Shalom
Memorial Park. Rabbi
Spectre will officiate.
Relatives and friends are
asked to attend.
The Family
of the Late
MAMIE
FREED
Announces the unveil-
ing of a monument in her
memory at 11 a.m. Sunday,
Oct. 7, at Hebrew Memo-
rial Park. Rabbi Milton
Arm will officiate. Rela-
tives and friends are asked
to attend.
port, an Israeli missile boat fired
on the dinghy.
The IDF has been on special
alert since the car-bomb attack on
the U.S. Embassy annex in east
Beirut last Thursday and the
massacre of 13 Shiite Moslems by
Druze members of the South
Lebanon Army (SLA) in Sohmor
village in south Lebanon also on
Thursday.
Two Americans were killed and
a number were wounded in the
attack for which a little known
group calling itself the Islamic
Jihad (holy war) claimed respon-
sibility. Four wounded Americans
were flown to Tel Hashomer Hos-
pital in Israel for treatment Sun-
day. According to hospital
sources, they are being examined
to determine whether their in-
juries require surgery.
While this is an unusual case,
there are many other young Jews,
and not-so-young Jews, who are
feeling the personal effect of the
black-Jewish conflict.
Regardless of whatever hap-
pens in the present political cam-
paign, it is time to end the free
ride blacks have gotten on anti-
Semitism. Anti-Semitism by
blacks must be criticized and
called to account just as it is from
any other person.
But it also underscores the need
for the Jewish organizations to do
a better job of explaining the
Jewish experience and the Jewish
unity with Israel to the black
community. Too much faith has
been placed in remembering the
shared experience of Jews and
backs in the civil rights struggle.
But at a time when the recent past
seems to be a mystery to most
young Americans, it is too much
to expect blacks to be any differ-
ent.
Copyright 1984, JTA, Inc.
Foreign Relations Committee
urges genocide treaty approval
Washington (JTA) — The Se-
nate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee voted 16-0 last week to
recommend that the Senate ratify
the 35 year-old United Nations
Convention against genocide.
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who
has voiced opposition to the
genocide measure, joined the
other members of the committee
in unanimously approving the
resolution sponsored by Sen.
Christopher Dodd (Conn.) urging
the Senate leadership to "proceed
immediately"seek to complete ac-
tion before Congress adjourns on
Oct.. 5.
However, Senate Majority
Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.)
who will make the decision on
scheduling, was the only member
of the committee not present and
not voting last Wednesday.
Helms used his prerogative as a
Senator to delay a vote on the
Convention earlier this month
when Sen. Charles Percy (R-I11.),
the committee chairman, sought a
vote without consideration of two
riders by Helms, which Helms
said were designed to prevent the
convention from superceding the
U.S. Constitution and to reserve
the right of the U.S. not to submit
certain matters covered by the
convention to the jurisdiction of
the International Court of Jus-
tice.
Helms said last week that in
discussions with members of the
committee in the past week ,not
all of the "outstanding issues'iad
been resolved. "If the concerns
which many American expressed
to me in the past few days are met,
then I intend to support the
treaty," he said. But he would not
publicly discuss these concerns
last week.
In Loving Memory of
Our Wife, Mother
and Grandmother
LILLIAN
SILVER
Who passed away Oct. 6,
1982. She is forever with us
in our hearts and will al-
ways be remembered, to-
day, tomorrow and
forever.
Husband, Jack; sister,
Vivian; children, Rhoda,
Harold, Alan and Herb;
and grandchildren.
In memory of
MACK L.
LIEBERMAN
By wife, Gertrude, Benee
and Jerry Stern, Jackie,
Jill and Jordan.
In Loving Memory Of
J. WALTER JONAS
BERNARD and
JULIA GROSSBERG
Who passed away Sept. 12, 1983 (6th of Tishri).
You left us so suddenly, we didn't have a chance
to say we love you. Our memories of you are all we
have now.
Sadly missed by your loving wife Carole, and
children Laurence, Michele, Doug and Scott.
By daughter Gertrude
Lieberman, son Stanley
Grossberg, grandchildren
Benee and Jerry Stern.
In loving memory of our beloved mother and
grandmother
In memory of
In memory of
BENJAMIN and
PEARL LIEBERMAN
By Gertrude Lieberman.
Gone but always remem-
bered.
HANNAH ROBINSON
SPITZ
Who passed away Oct. 3, 1983. Her beloved mem-
ory is forever in our hearts. Sadly missed and always
remembered by her children, Ronna and Kenny
Blaze, Cheri and Andy Dworkis, Jill and Arnie Fin-
kel, Lauri and David Miller, and her grandchildren,
Stacey, Jeffrey, Michelle, Scott and Hannah.