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Friday, November 29, '1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
HERALD
WHOLESALE
AUBURN BRASS
NEWS
Cost Cutting Leaves More
Israelis Out Of Work
Jerusalem (JTA) — Large-scale
dismissals of state employes and
civil servants is the price Israel is
paying for economic recovery.
The Treasury last week pro-
posed a budget of $21.2 billion for
the next fiscal year which incor-
porates a $500 million reduction
in government expenditures. If it
is adopted, another 5,000 civil
servants will be fired in addition
to the 6,500 laid off earlier as a
result of a Cabinet decision last
July on measures to stabilize the
economy. About 900 of the laid-off
workers were employed by the
government. The rest worked for
a variety of public institutions.
Government spokesmen said
the lay-offs caused less social un-
rest than feared because the ter-
minated employes received
generous severance pay. The
overall economic program pro-
posed by the Treasury envisions
the reduction of the government
and civil service work force by
10,000.
Treasury officials said last
week that the number of lay-offs
next year will depend on the ex-
tent of cuts in Defense, Education
and Health Ministry spending.
Premier Shimon Peres main-
tains these three ministries have
(
absorbed all the cuts they can. He
has asked Finance Minister Yit-
zhak Modai to look elsewhere for
further measures. Health Minis-
ter Mordechai Gur and Welfare
Minister Moshe Katzav went on
television last week with the
same argument. Modai maintains
the cuts must be made or the eco-
nomic recovery program will fail.
Senior economists tend to support
him.
In addition to budget cuts, the
Shekel is in for further devalua-
tion. It stands presently at 1,500
to the U.S. dollar.
The consumer price index drop-
ped by 1.25 percent during the
first two weeks of November,
compared with the last two weeks
of October.
The Central Bureau of Statis-
tics said the decline was due
mainly to seasonal lowering in
the prices for vegetables and fruit,
even though the prices for clo-
thing and footwear went up. It
was the first time the index has
declined in about ten years.
Finance Ministry officials say
they expect the index for the
entire month of November, due to
be announced on Dec. 15, to rise
by less than one percent.
Lebanon Air Battle Probed
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Israeli offi-
cials are pondering why Syria
precipitated an aerial dogfight
over Lebanon last Tuesday in
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which Israel Air Force jets
downed two Syrian MIG-23s.
Some sources have suggested this
was President Hafez Assad's way
of calling the attention of the U.S.
and the Soviet Union to Middle
East tensions while their leaders
were engaged in the Geneva
summit conference.
Assad, they feel, wanted to re-
mind President Reagan and
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
that Syria's role in resolving the
Mideast conflict cannot be ig-
nored. Recent U.S. diplomacy in
the region has focussed almost ex-
clusively on Jordan and Israel.
Other officials, skeptical of the
summit explanation, attributed
more limited motivations to the
Syrians. They maintain that
Damascus wanted to disturb the
relative quiet and stability Israel
has enjoyed along its northern
borders since withdrawing from
Lebanon eight months ago and to
create new strains in any develop-
ing Israeli-Jordanian dialogue.
These officials say that by forc-
ing an air battle with Israel, Syria
wanted to put King Hussein of
Jordan into what one Arab affairs
expert called a predicament of
loyalty. They also wanted to test
the loyalty of anti-Israel forces in
south Lebanon, particularly the
Shiite militia, Amal.
In other news from Lebanon,
the transmitters of the Christian
Missionary Middle East Televi-
sion Station in the southern sector
were blown up by terrorists last
week. First reports said the dam-
age was extensive.
Middle East Television and its
associated Voice of Hope radio
station are owned and operated by
American Christian groups. They
transmit from studios between
Marjayoun and the Israeli-
Lebanon border.
The television studios were also
damaged in a terrorist attack
some months ago. Orthodox reli-
gious groups in both Israel and
Lebanon object to the heavy mis-
sionary aspects of the broadcasts.
FBI Searching
For Vandals
New York (JTA) — State As-
semblyman Dov Hilkind said he
has asked the FBI to help local
police track down rock-throwing
vandals who smashed the win-
dows of more than 20 Jewish-
owned shops in two assaults over
a two-week period in heavily Or-
thodox areas of Brooklyn.
Mayor Edward Koch said the
city would offer a $10,000 reward
for information "leading to the ar-
rest of the people responsivle."
Hikind, who represents these
districts, told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency that he appealed
to the federal law enforcers to in-
vestigate the incidents for possi-
ble violation of civil rights. He
said this did not mean the com-
munity has olst confidence in the
police who were taking the inci-
dents "very seriously." But it is
clear the police need help, the as-
semblyman said.
The second rash of rock-
throwing occurred despite a "very
heavy" police presence in the
streets of Boro Park. The assail-
ants were undected.
I