4 May; January 17;1986 "" THE DETROIT JEWISH• NEWS
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CANDLELIGHTING AT 5:10 P.M.
VOL. LXXXVIII, NO. 21
But What About Syria?
The U.S. has been legitimately incensed at Libya for harboring
terrorists and has taken steps of late to prove we mean business. That is
all well and good, but Abu Nidal, the terrorist who claims Credit for the
recent airport killings in Rome and Vienna is not in Libya. He's safe in
Syria and the U.S. knows it.
What is Washington going to do about it?
The irony is that while our strong actions against Libya will
probably not have much more than a symbolic effect, because Col.
Qaddafi is who he is, it is likely that threats of similar pressure on Syria
might prove a real deterrent because President Assad cares about -
American actions and reactions. The truth is that Syria has as much
innocent blood on its hands as Libya, having patronized and protected
terrorists responsible for the suicide bomb attacks against the U.S.
Marines in Lebanon, resulting in more than 250 deaths, and numerous
ottier deadly missions. After each tragedy, President Reagan talked tough
and spoke of striking back at the perpetrators — but did,nothing. His
argument has been that America will not take military action unless it is
certain to strike at those directly responsible for the terrorist attack and
be reasonably assured that there will be no innocent victims. But this is a
totally unrealistic criterion, and the terrorists know. it.
• For the U.S. to be consistent, some form of retribution must be
directed to all of those states known to harbor and promote terrorism, and
that includes Syria as well as Libya.
More Than A Birthday
All Detroiters should welcome the local and national celebrations
marking the birthday of the late U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. and the visit of South Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu.
The week-long series of local events have a much wider scope than a
tribute to a single individual. They give us a moment to reflect on how
far this nation and the world has come in its relations between races, and
on how far we have to go.
The question of civil rights has faced conflicting opinions over
strategy for years. Jews and blacks have debated racial quotas,
affirmative action, school busing and other tactics, and these
often-acrimonious debates have been extremely divisive to the historic
coalition forged by these two minority communities. The same
disagreements over tactics are now occurring over international efforts to
end apartheid in South Africa. Locally, divestiture is a meaty topic for
the Michigan legislature.
Dr. King rose above the important side issues in his civil rights
crusade: His message had a universal appeal which transcended the black
community in the United States, and attracted support from every race
and creed. Remembering his goal, the advances we have made and the
distances we have yet to travel would be the most fitting tribute to Dr.
--
Analyst Seeks Strings
On U.S. Aid For Israel
BY VICTOR M. BIENSTOCK
Special to The Jewish News
a slashing assault on "the
myth of a U.S.-Israeli strategic
partnership" which "distorts the true
nature of their relationship," a
former high-ranking official of the
Office of Management and Budget
charges that "exaggerated claims of
Israel's capabilities and willingness
to act as a strategic surrogate for
America in the Middle East" actu-
ally hamper America's efforts to pro-
tect its interests when Israeli actions
threaten U.S.-Arab relations. He
calls for "a frank and open review of
the myth and reality" of the
Anigrican-Israeli association.
Harry J. Shaw, chief of the
military assistance branch of the
OMB during the Johnson, Nixon,
Ford and Carter administrations and
presently a senior associate of the
Carnegie Endowment, complains
that "the myth" distorts the true na-
ture of the U.S.-Israeli relationship
and is harmful to both countries.
Shaw's call for a re-examination
of the nature of the U.S.-Israeli rela-
tionship appears in the winter issue
of Foreign Policy, the quarterly re-
view of world affairs published by
the Carnegie Endowment for Inter-
national Peace.
"A frank and open review of the
myth and reality of the strategic
partnership is overdue," Shaw ar-
gues. The review, he sayg, "should
be guided by an awareness that the
term `partner' implies an equality of
status, an element of independence
and an acceptance of formal or im-
plicit mutual obligations that cannot
exist between the United States and
Israel."
Israel, he asserts, "in fact, is a
small client state that could not sur-
vive militarily or economically with-
out U.S. assistance, politically with-
out U.S. backing and a tacit com-
mitment to its survival, or
,
psychologically 'Without U.S. moral
support"
The writer evinces concern that
the argument that Israel is Ameri-
ca's "strategic partner" might be
used to justify Israel's retention of
the entire West Bank on the grounds
that Israel, to discharge this func-
tion, must be strong.' He is also con-
cerned with the effect on Arab-
American relations of the assump-
tion that America and Israel are
"A frank and open review
of the myth and reality of
the strategic partnership
is overdue," Shaw argues.
partners. He rejects the idea that
any of the Arab states, with the ex-
ception of Syria, constitutes . a milit-
ary threat to Israel.
Jordan, he insists, "is not a sig-
nificant military threat to Israel. On
the contrary, a: stable, secure and
cooperative — if not friendly — Jor-
dan has strategic value as a buffer
along Israel's long eastern border."
In his article, the former OMB
executive challenges the assumption
that Israel significantly helps defend
American interests in the Middle
East against the Soviet threat. With
the reputed exception or Ariel Sha-
ron, he asserts, "few Israelis regard
it as the task of the Israel- Defense
Forces (IDF) to engage Soviet forces
on land, except if Moscow either is
directly involved in an attack on Is-
rael or intervenes in an Israeli en-
gagement with Soviet 'proxies' such
as Syria.
"Some Israeli officials," Shaw
asserts, "explicitly reject Israeli en-
gagement of Soviet ground forces
,