4 Friday, March 7, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

THE JEWISH NEWS

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CANDLELIGHTING AT 6:11 P.M.

VOL. LXXXIX, NO. 2

Saudi Arms Sale:
Deja Vu

Perhaps this editorial should be filed under the
When-Will-They-Ever-Learn? category. For next week, the Reagan
Administration reportedly will notify Congress of its intention to sell
more than $300 million worth of missiles to Saudi Arabia. This only a
few weeks after Washington tried to save face by putting off indefinitely
a proposed arms sale to Jordan because of overwhelming opposition in the
Senate.
Already the pro-Israel lobby in Washington is campaigning against
the deal, and already the majority of the Senate is on record as opposing
it. No doubt because they recall that in return for AWACS several years
ago, the Saudis pledged to help advance the cause of Mideast peace, and
instead they have continued to support the PLO and other terrorist
groups whose aim is to ensure that there is no peace in the region.
What's more, the Saudis have failed to support King Hussein's initiatives,
continued to snub Egypt and have tried to impose sanctions of American
companies doing business.with Israel.
For these actions, Washington is proposing an arms sale that would
include 800 Stingers and 100 Harpoon missiles and as many as 1,700
Sidewinders, giving the Saudis more advanced air-to-air Sidewinders per
capable fighter plane than any country in the world.
The logical question here is why? Why the Saudi need for the arms
and why the. U.S. decision to sell to them?
The Saudis say they need them because they feel threatened by
Iran's success in its war with Iraq. Iran is moving closer to Kuwait and
Kuwait is close to the oil fields. But Saudi Arabia's problem is in its
politics, not its arsenal. The tiny kingdom already has an over-abundant
supply of arms. And these missiles could easily be transferred by the
Saudis to the PLO, creating more, not less, tension in the region.
Surely, with allies like the Saudis it is no wonder why American
policy in the Mideast continues to flounder.

Terrorist Time Bomb

Terrorism has become World War Two and a Half, notes Joseph
Aaron in the lead story of our special report on who the terrorists are and
what can be. done about them. It is a war against law and order, aimed at
the 'democracies of the world, and sponsored by the radical Arab and
Islamic states as well as the Soviet Union and its satellites.
One of the experts interviewed for this report suggests that nations
are like people in the sense that they try to ignore the proble.m as long as
it doesn't affect them directly. But we've learned, all too well, that a blow
against one democratic country is a blow against all democracies, and -
there must be some form of unified response. To date, Israel is clearly the
world leader in defending herself by striking back against terrorism and
taking precautions to prevent attacks from taking place. Unfortunately,
American policy appears to be an ad hoc one, sometimes talking tough,
sometimes appearing conciliatory — but always a policy of talk rather
than action.
It is time for the U.S. and the other major countries of the free world
• to take Israel's lead and develop a policy that combats rather than caves

in to terrorism.

OP-ED

AIDS: A Modern Disease
Or Biblical Retribution?

BY DR. RICHARD J. ROSENBLUTH
Special to The Jewish News

As early as the Sixth Century
B.C.E., Jeremiah warned his fellow
citizens that "he that abideth in the
city shall die ... by the pestilence,
but he that goeth out ... he shall
live." The Talmud later advised
"when the plague is in town gather
your legs." Flight to save oneself or
one's family was obligatory as a log-
ical extension of the overriding prin-
ciple of Pikuakh Nefesh in Jewish
law.
But what of AIDS (acquired
immune deficiency syndrome)? Un-
like conventional plagues, this dis-
ease is neither geographically iso-
lated, nor is its pattern of contagion
one of symmetrical centrifugal
spread. In short, one cannot "escape"
from it as one can from smallpox or
cholera.
But the analogy to plague is
still applicable, though it requires a
kind of logical inversion at this
point. While it may be true that the
public cannot protect itself by flight,
as mandated by Halacha, it can
identify victims and carriers and ef-
fectively "isolate" them. Because
current evidence argues against
casual transmission of the AIDS
virus, such "isolation" need not
entail physical quarantine, except
when dealing with the most unre-
generate of patients — i.e. those who

persist in their promiscuous sexual
activity. However, since sexual con-
tact remains the most prevalent
means by which AIDS is normally
spread, attempts at control will
necessarily involve a degree of in-
fringement on civil liberties.
Some of these controls which

Dr. Rosenbluth is director of the cancer
program at Hackensack, N.J., Medical
Center, and a Member of the Association
of Orthodox Jewish Scientists and the
National Jewish Coalition.

MItifialtYkS WEAMED

VC, iERAF.L. ,

Halacha would permit include uni-
versal blood testing, the resulting
stigmatization of carriers not-
withstanding; forced closings of bath
houses and gay bars; and civil laws
forbidding high-risk sexual activity.

Controlling AIDS will
necessarily involve
infringing on civil
liberties . . . but the rights
of AIDS sufferers are
subservient to the
commonweal.

The halachic imperative of

Pikuakh Nefesh (saving a life), no

less than the principles of civil law,
recognizes the authority of measures
to protect public health over any
abridgement of individual freedom.
The specific measures that need to
be enacted are the province of physi-
cians, researchers and other respon-
sible officials.
Thus it is clear that the rights
of AIDS sufferers are subservient to
the commonweal. In a free society,
though, it is fair to expect that re-

striction on liberty will not be taken
lightly, and will therefore be applied
judiciously.
Inasmuch as homosexuals as a
group stand to lose most by the ap-
plication of these general principles
with regard to AIDS, a final word on
the halachic view of homosexuality
is appropriate. It is worth pointing
out that unlike other practices and
behavior proscribed by the Torah, we
are gratuitously informed in Scrip-
ture that homosexuality is not only
forbidden, but is an abomination —

Continued on Page 6

WHERE HE it• SURE 'It BE
frtiNY FAZT8
iNICIAD IN
Cr IBRAF.1.1 LIFE

