THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December 21, 1984
OBSERVATIONS
Capture the Holiday Glow
Israelis get their man
11
,
BY ELANA MZAK KUPERSTEIN
Special to The Jewish News
The Israeli police was showered
with praises for uncovering of a
dollar counterfeit ring operating
in both Israel and the United
States. In an enthusiastic letter,
John Simpson, director of the U.S.
Secret Service, thanked three Is-
raeli detectives who worked in the
United States for weeks and
helped to capture the criminals
and $13 million of their counter-
feit dollars. Simpson added that
he doubts his agency would have
been able to expose the scheme
without the aid of the Israeli de-
tectives.
In Israel, ten suspects were ar-
rested in connection with the
same case, and $12 million coun-
terfeit dollars were confiscated.
The Israelis, who decided to
"create" their own hedge against
inflation, did such a fine job that it
was virtually impossible to tell
the forged bills -from the original.
Counterfeiters in the
United States and
Israel were arrested,
and $25 million in
bogus bills were
confiscated.
"Real" money was being col-
lected in Israel in a special cam-
paign to aid the hungry Ethio-
pians. The success of this effort
surprised everyone including the
organizers — Magen David Adorn
— the Israeli equivalent of the
Red Cross. Contributions at the
rate of over IS 1 million ($2,000) a
day were pouring in from indi-
viduals, while manufacturers
contributed much needed medical
supplies. In spite of Israel's eco-
nomic hardships, the highest rate
of income tax in the world, and the
current freeze on prices and
wages, Israelis chose not to neg-
lect those who are suffering from
hunger in Ethiopia.
Igrael's "peace prophet," Abie
Nathan, joined the effort by con-
ducting his own transport of food
and materials to Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, the American Con-
gress showed special concern for
the suffering of Jews in Ethiopia
by establishing a special $2.5 mil-
lion fund for the settlement of
Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Under
the same foreign-aid package,
signed by President Reagan, a
provision was made again for the
amount of $12.5 million to go for
the resettling of Soviet Jews and
other refugees in Israel.
Jews have often suffered as ref-
ugees or as victims of racism, yet
some in Israel fear that we still
have a lot to learn about racism.
The Israel Defense Forces decided
to take action in response to re-
cent findings that one out of every
40 Israeli soldiers had voted for
Meir Kahane's party, helping to
make him a Knesset member. In
an emergency meeting of the ar-
my's education department it was
decided that all military classes,
including basic training, will in-
elude the study of democracy and
racism.
The Knesset, too, is trying to do
something about Kahane's racist
policies and activities. As a first
step, they voted to strike from the
record all racist remarks made at
Knesset meetings.
Israel's Health Minister, Mor-
dechai Gur, is offended by another
practice — smoking at Cabinet
meetings. He reported about Is-
rael's high rate of smokers, espe-
cially among the young, to
Everett Koop, the U.S. Surgeon
General of cigarette pack fame.
Koop was visiting Israel to help in
a new anti-smoking campaign. A
Jewish philanthropist from
California, Joseph Shane, is going
to contribute $1 million a year for
five years to this campaign. Is-
raeli leaders, many of whom are
heavy smokers,. do not serve as
good "role models" for their na-
tion, commented Koop.
Menachem Begin banned
smoking at Cabinet meetings in
1977, but Shimon Peres and De-
fense Minister Rabin, both smok-
ers, have lifted the ban.
Another
Israeli
leader,
President Herzog, enjoys a heal-
thier hobby — playing golf. When
he plays at Israel's only golf
course at Caesarea, he occasion-
ally chooses as his partner a golfer
from the development town of Or
Akiva, near Caesarea.
There are 25 golfers among the
citizens of this poor development
town who enjoy special discount
rates as members of the club for
which they've served as caddies
for years. Although their life is
totally different from that of the
typical golf club member at the
wealthy town of Caesaria, they've
excelled at golf, Israel's newest
sport. They won a number of tour-
naments, and have often repre-
sented Israel in tours of Europe
and the United States. The Or
Akivans proudly boast that on a
recent trip, six of them were cho-
sen to play at nine golf clubs in the
United States.
f
1.
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a lush two-tone
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Three receive
Wolf Prizes
Herzliya — Prof. Robert H.
Burris, of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, has been
awarded the $100,000 Wolf Foun-
dation Prize in Agriculture for his
research in achieving enhanced
yields of food crops through the
utilization of nitrogen-fixing bac-
teria.
The 1984-1985 Wolf Founda-
tion Prize in Mathematics was
also awarded this month. The
$100,000 prize will be shared by
Profs. Hans Lewy, of the Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley and
Kunihiko Kodaira, of the Japan
Academy in Tokyo for the pair's
work in partial differential equa-
tions and their applications.
a superbly crafted
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that usually costs
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a well known
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35