1 3 4 Friday, January 24, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS THE JEWISH NEWS Serving Detroit's Metropolitan Jewish Community with distinction for four decades. Editorial and Sales offices at 20300 Civic Center Dr:, Suite 240, Southfield, Michigan 48076-4138 Telephone (313) 354-6060 OFFICE STAFF: PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger Lynn Fields EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz Marlene Miller EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt Dharlene Norris CONSULTANT: Carmi M. Slomovitz ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky • LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Lauri Biafore Allan Craig Rick Nessel Danny Raskin Phyllis Tyner Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure Cathy Ciccone Curtis Deloye Ralph Orme ©19138 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520) Second Class postage paid at Southfield, Mchigan and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign • $35 CANDLELIGHTING AT 5:19 P.M. VOL. LXXXVIII, NO. 22 Twisted Sister In San Francisco, Mayor Dianne Feinstein is taking some heat for her proposal to establish a sister city relationship with Leningrad. She says that the relationship would establish a "non-threatening atmosphere in which serious questions" about human rights could be addressed. The mayor, who visited Moscow and Leningrad last month and helped lead efforts in support of requests for exit visas for 160 people, acknowledged that the plight of Soviet Jews has worsened. But she says that "the path we are on has not worked, so why not try something new?" Critics of her proposal, including state legislators and Soviet Jewry advocates, argue that Leningrad is the "worst place" in the Soviet Union for Jews and for Americans in terms of official harassment. They oppose a sister city relationship until there is a "significant change" in conditions for Jews there. One legislator told the mayor that her proposal would mean an "unequal exchange in which we set aside our commitment to human rights while Soviet officials achieve a public relations bonanza." No doubt the mayor has the best of intentions and sees her plan as a means of improving the plight of Soviet Jews by offering a carrot rather than a stick. But why reward the Soviets for their callous disregard of human rights and their pledges to adhere to treaties upholding such rights? After 500 Years: Contact Spain, nearly 500 years after expelling its entire Jewish population, has finally, formally re-established contact with Judaism. This week, Spain officially recognized the State of Israel, established diplomatic relations and went about the business of setting up an 16 embassy in Jerusalem. When Israel was founded in 1948, Spanish strongman Francisco Franco refused to recognize the new Jewish state, lumping it together with his other pet abhorrences, Masons and Communists. Later, when Israel opposed Spanish membership in the United Nations, the ill will deepened. And in recent years, Spain withheld recognition because she feared to offend the Arab oil moguls, although Spain's claim to a special relationship with them never won her preferred treatment or lower prices, despite the fact that the Arab nations do a brisk trade with Spain. What the official act of recognition will mean is not clear. Without diplomatic relations, Spain and Israel managed to do $118 million worth of business with each other last year. So the ceremony of exchanging emissaries seems little more than the steps of a minuet. Also, there is the nagging feeling that Spain waited until phe had nothing to lose before ignoring the threat of an Arab oil cutoff and signing an official accord with Israel. Well, never mind. It is intrinsically good for countries to have cordial relations. And one can also hope that the pain of the Inquisition and the death of an entire Jewish culture will gradually fade, even though the memory of it should not, and that Jews the world over can begin communicating freely again with the country that once sought their elimination from its soil. OP-ED Is Bias Having A Field Day Way Down On the Farm? BY MICHAEL LIEBERMAN On Oct. 23, 1984, a farmer named Arthur Kirk was killed by a , Nebraska State Highway SWAT team. Arthur Kirk, who lived in Cairo, Neb. owed a bank more than $300,000, with no hope of being able to repay these debts. According to police reports, when authorities came to serve Kirk with foreclosure papers, he pulled a shotgun. The incident led to a day- long, tension-filled confrontation. After law enforcement officials sur- rounded his house, Kirk reportedly burst out the back door, a helmet on his head, night camouflage on his face, and an AR-15 rifle, converted for automatic fire, in his hand. It was then that he was shot by mem- bers of the SWAT team. In his home, investigators found 20 rifles and a wide variety of anti- _ Semitic literature. Arthur Kirk had been convinced that Jews and ban- kers were conspiring to rob him of his farm. Like Arthur Kirk, many farmers throughout the Midwest are facing desperate situations as they attempt to hold on to farms which may have been in the families for generations. Their frustration is often mixed with confusion and anger. Some extremist groups have attempted to harness this anger, channeling it into bigotry and hatred. Over the past year, the Anti- Defamation League has conducted an aggressive investigation into the organized extremist groups attempt- ing to exploit these conditions to win new adherents. The study concluded that, unlike Arthur Kirk, the vast majority of farmers reject scapegoat- ing and bigotry and the groups Lieberman is Midwest civil rights director for the Anti-Defamation League. which offer them as misleading an- swers to tough problems. The ADL's field investigation has included discussions and face- tn-face meetings with a large number of government and law enforcement officials, farmers, farm organizations, politicians and inves- tigative journalists who live and work in rural communities and are Investigators found 20 rifles and a wide variety of anti-Semitic literature. Kirk was convinced that Jews and bankers were conspiring to take his farm. concerned with this issue on a day- to-day basis. The research confirmed that some extremist groups have specifically targeted farmers with literature and specially-prepared materials in a concerted effort to win new adherents. In the main, they in- clude: • The Populist Party, a new political amalgam of the far right, launched to promote the agenda of longtime anti-Semite Willis Carto and his organization, Liberty Lobby — the most professional anti-Jewish propaganda organization in America. ADL closely monitored the creation and development of this "political party," a major right-wing extremist organization attempting to- exploit the present crisis in rural America. The Populist Party adopted a plank on "Revitalizing the. Family Farm" at its November' 1984 na- tional convention in Nashville, Tenn. At the national committee Continued on Page 34