2 Friday, February 14, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Anti-Semitism And The 'Joke' From The USSR

ing Jewry. Entitling his ADL address
A Certain People by Charles Silber-
"Jewish Honor," Wiesel said that the
man has acquired a unique status.
fight Jews must wage against the con-
Nearly a year since it came off the press,
tinuing prejudices has a basic Jewish
its conclusions are being debated widely.
Silberman has gained wide honor and admonished: "As long as we
have memories that honor is safe."
endorsements for his views. He is still
The factors involved are clear. There
often refuted by many who are judging
his optimistic attitudes, especially on is the compelling realization that anti-
Semitism not only exists but may even
anti-Semitism.
The definitiveness of one critic is be considered inerasable. That's "the
Jewish lot." With such a realization goes
worth noting. In one of two articles deal-
ing with A Certain People, Marshall J. the compulsion always to be ready to be
active in the battle to confront it with
Breger, who has served as special assis-
tant to President Reagan for Public courage. That's where the "Jewish
Liaison, in his refutation of Silberman, honor" outlined by Wiesel enters into the
fray.
wrote:
The anti-Semitic virus affects many
Historically, the Jews have
peoples and many areas. The terrorist
seen themselves and been seen as
Arab gangsters have also been called
a "people who dwell alone." Cer-
anti-Semites and their defenders have
tainly the nations (be they Ro-
been heard to say, "How could we be
man, Christian, or Soviet) have
anti-Semites; we are Semites ourselves."
viewed them thus. While Silber-
Therefore the necessity to indicate that
man, points out that the political
those who have engineered attacks
and sociological pressures for
aimed at Jews as such have no defense
this isolation have diminished (in
in their Semitism.
America at least), the theological
Ann Arbor currently has an experi-
and ontological imperatives re-
ence which raises the Arab-Semitic
main. That these imperatives are
angle. A debate is in process in the Uni-
hardly touched upon by Silber-
versity of Michigan Daily. An unques-
man is not surprising. I doubt
tionably vicious series of diatribes was
that most American Jews worry
incorporated in an article by Hilary
overmuch about what it means to
Shadroui. She gathered all the conceiva-
enter "a covenantal community"
ble accusations against Jews and Israelis
or indeed to offer a "light unto
and made the Semitic claim in a denial
the nations."
that she and her cohorts are anti-
Silberman, however, would
Semites. One of the replies was by Eric
do well to remember that his title
Siegal. Since the latter also refuted the
is drawn from Esther 3:8, where
anti-Israel arguments, his letter pub-
an earlier commentator de-
lished in the Michigan Daily has special
scribed the Jewish people thus:
merit. He refutes the "Arabs are not
"There is a certain people scat-
anti-Semites" claim and his letter covers
tered and dispersed among the
the issues involved as follows:
other peoples in the provinces of
your realm, whose laws are
At the risk of sparking an
different from those of any other
endless literary "point Counter-
people."
point," I would like to counter
It is in the difference, not the
Hilary Shadroui's response
sameness, that the story of
"Zionism is Racist in Israel," (1-
Judaism is to be found.
20-86). It seems -that Shadroui
Silberman's views have been sub-
needs a bit of a history lesson
jected to many tests. He bases his op-
herself before she asserts that
timism on the positiveness of his own
others are spreading prop-
children in their Jewish responses.
aganda.
"Would it were me" was the general
First of all, and contrary to
reaction from many a parent.
Shadroui, Palestine was primarily
Then there is the Silberman opinion
a barren wasteland before that
that anti-Semitism has declined. The
Jews settled it. The entire Huleh
overwhelming treatment of this view
Valley in upper Israel, once a
may be described as skepticism. Elie
malaria-ridden swamp, is now
Wiesel certainly is in disagreement.
one of the most agriculturally
productive areas in the world.
Wiesel, in his Benjamin R. Epstein
Memorial Lecture sponsored 'by the
The hills around Safed, once to-
tally barren, are now heavily for-
Anti-Defamation League, expressed the
view that anti-Semitism "is alive and
ested. The Israelies are consid-
ered the foremost experts in des-
well" and that there are more anti-
Semites now than there were "one year
ert agriculture and land reclama-
tion, and the notion that the Is-
ago or even five years ago." Sources of
raelis intentionally took the best
the hatred range from "fashionable sa-
land from the Palestinians is
lons and intellectural types" and he de-
absolutely ludicrous. In 1947, the
scribed black anti-Semites like Louis
Farrakhan as obscene. On that score he
U.N. proposed its Palestine Parti-
tion Plan, calling for the Jewish
declared that "no ethnic group in the
United states has helped the black com-
state to encompass land legally
munity as much as the Jews have done
bought by the Jewish Agency
from its Arab owners. It
— in activities, ideas and money."
encompassed three distinct
It is important to note that Wiesel
regions: the Huleh Valley region,
branded as anti-Semites those who deny
the coastal plain, and the Negev
the realities of the Hitler massacres of
desert.
Jews during World War II.
Interestingly enough, the
Such are the differing views between
Arab sheiks sold the Zionist
' the acknowledged inspirational author
settlers this land only because it
Elie Wiesel, who has become a guide in
was so infertile, they assumed the
judging the current Jewish situation,
Jews would quickly give up the
especially relating to the post-Nazi era,
notion of ever growing anything
and best-selling Charles Silberman. The
worthwhile and would leave
gathering of facts currently affecting
Palestine. Even though this new
Jewish experiences should serve to judge
Jewish state was logistically im-
the actualities. Of major importance is
possible to defend from its in-
the guideline advocated by Wiesel for
creasingly belligerent Arab
overcoming the menacing aspects affect-

Elie Wiesel

neighbors, the Yishuv Central,
the official Jewish government,
agreed to the partition. It was the
Arab states and the Palestinian
leaders (i.e. Haj Amin Husseini,
Fawzi Kawjuki, etc.) who did not
accept the partition plan, vowing
to "drive the Jews into the sea."
The Israelis begged the
Palestinian fellaheen to say out of
the ensuing battle. Some did,
most didn't. As everyone knows,
the Israelis won their war of in-
dependence, indeed capturing
land not allocated to them by the
U.N. partition plan. However,
considering the belligerence of its
Arab enemies, it was absolutely
reasonable to expect the Israelis
to seek more secure borders, and
even then Israel was only seven
miles wide at it narrowest point.
Granted, many Palestinians
are treated like second-class citi-
zens in Israel and this is a horri-
ble tragedy. However, to place
blame solely upon the Israelis for
the miserable plight of the Pales-
tinian people is irresponsible and
unfair. It was the Arab leaders
who soil out their Palestinian
"brethfen" by promising them
the land of their Jewish
neighbors if they would fight the
Israelis. It was Jordan that an-
nexed the West Bank, which was
suppled to comprise most of the
Palestinian state, yet the PLO
never declared war on the Jor-
danian people.
Shadroui contends that the
PLO is not anti-Semitic, but an
anti-Zionist organization. Tell
that to Mrs. Leon Klinghoffer, to
the relatives of the Jews mur-
dered in cold blood on the Mal-
tese jetliner, or to the Jews
standing at the Rome and Vienna
El Al counters who were targeted
just because they were Jewish. The
PLO, by reason of its actions has
declared war on the entire
Jewish pe,ople, not just the Is-
raelis.
Palestinians claim that the
PLO is fighting a legitimate
battle against "Zionist aggres-
sion.". This might hold water if
the PLO were to limit its attacks
to Israeli military bases. Why
then, does it choose to murder
schoolchildren, Olympic athletes
and people worshipping in
synagogues? Why does the PLO

Rep. William Broomfield

place its military bases in the
midst of civilians when it knows
the innocents will inadvertently
become targets, literally hostages
to the PLO?
The PLO is a ruthless organ-
ization of murderers that indis-
criminately kills Jews of all ages,
nationalities, and political per-
suasions, yet the Palestinians
have chosen this organization to
be their spokesman. Is it any
wonder that the Israelis requrie
Palestinians to carry I.D. cards,
or submit to searches? The Is-
raelis are scared. The PLO has
shown that every Jew is a poten-
tial target, so the Israel govern-
ment is reacting in the only way
it can. This unfortunately results
in the loss of civil rights for many
innocent Palestinians. However,
until the Palestinian people re-
nounce the PLO as its leadership,
they will never gain the freedom
and statehood they so desper-
ately want and deserve.
In the course of the debates like the
current one in the Michigan Daily, it is
commendable that the opportunity was
utilized to refute an oft-repeated Arab-
Semitic claim.
Meanwhile the anti-Semitism prob-
lem is expanding. Now it admittedly also
is under exposure. The Communist-
dominated East German area is not free
of the virus.
The East German official position is
far from friendly. A letter by David A.
Bell of Cambridge, Mass. responding to
a statement which absolved the East
Germans of guilt, published in the Wall
Street Journal, thus presents the case on
a factual basis:
David A. Janello (Letters,
Dec. 31) is only partly correct
when he contends that the East
German government "would not
neglect its historical obligation to
Jews." The East Germans do ac-
knowledge that many Jews were
killed by the Nazis, but they don't
acknowledge the Holocaust.
In the official Museum of
German History in East Berlin,
there is not a single reference to
the number of Jews who died.
Instead, a plaque mourns the
death of nine million Poles, 20
million Russians, and so on, with
the Jews subsumed into their
pre-war nationalities. The official

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