4 Friday, April 18, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
THE JEWISH NEWS
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If The U.S. Beats Qaddafi
Will Terrorism Disappear?
BY VICTOR M. BIENSTOCK
Special to The Jewish News
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©1988 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
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CANDLELIGHTING AT 6:58 P.M.
OP-ED
VOL. LXXXIX, NO. 8
Daring To Talk
.
One of the more important issues of the day in the American Jewish
community is the widening schism among the various branches of
Judaism. We have given the ongoing story a good bit of coverage,
beginning last August with a story by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg on whether
or not there will be one Jewish people in the year 2000.
This week we call our readers attention to a story (see page 34) on a
recent conference sponsored by CLAL (the National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership), an organization headed by Rabbi Greenberg,
which brought together some of the key leaders of the Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements in this country in
an effort to have them engage in dialogue and address thorny theological
questions that, if left unanswered, Could result in the irreparable split of
the Jewish people. A parallel effort by the Midrasha concluded this week
in Detroit.
The format of the CLAL conference had the leaders of each •
movement deliver a prepared speech, but they never appeared on the dais
at the same time and there was no dialogue. Still, given the climate of
alienation, it was an accomplishment just to have them present and
offering their suggestions to promote a renewed sense of Jewish unity.
Rabbi .Alexander Schindler of the Reform movement called for
informal forums among the leaders of the different ideologies, Dr.
Norman Lamm of Yeshiva University proposed a National Beth Din to
deal with halachic questions and Dr. Greenberg noted that there are
millions of dollars spent each year on Christian-Jewish dialogue but
hardly any on intra-Jewish dialogue.
The issues now dividing the Jewish community are too deep and too
basic to be solved at one or two conferences. But this was a start, and
there will never be progress unless there are more meetings of the minds
where proposals can be explored, ideas challenged and differences aired.
,
The Cup Of Freedom
At sundown next Wednesday, Jewish children around the world will
•
ask the Mah Nishtanah, that oldest of questions for the youngest of
children.
As we answer with the answers that we have given for generations
past, our hearts will again be filled with the joy of celebrating our
freedom, our dignity and our rebirth as a people.
More than at most times of the year, we realize at Passover that the
world is not a gentle place, that the freedom which we celebrate is only .
an abstraction for many.
And particularly at Passover, we realize our longing for the world
that is envisioned in the portion of the Torah that is read on the eighth
day of Pesach:
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
- down'with the kid . . . None shall hurt or destroy, for the earth shall be as
full of intimacy with the Lord as the waters fill' the sky.
Only when this occurs will the full promise of Passover have been
realized. Only then will all our brethren —*Jew and gentile alike — have
drunk from the sweet cup of freedom. And only then will the youngest
child have an answer to his four questions that can truly satisfy his
inquisitiveness..
,
Is the policy on terrorism now
taking shape in Washington being
too narrowly focussed on Libya and
its highly visible leader, Col.
Muammar el-Qaddafi, at the expense
of a comprehensive program to pre-
vent its international manifesta-
tions?
Former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger is one of the mounting
number of experts concerned over
the Reagan Administration's absorp-
tion with the Libyan role and its
failure to develop a united approach
to the problem of international ter-
rorism involving our European al-
lies. He chided them for their failure
to support American attempts to
enforce economic sanctions against
Lybia and their reluctance to take a
firm stand.
-Kissinger, who was probably
more deeply' involved in the Middle
East during his tour of office than
any of his 'predecessors or followers,
referred, in a TV interview with Ted
Koppel, the ABC commentator, to
the terrorist bases in Syria, the
Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and Beirut
and stressed President Hafez Assad's
responsibility for terrorism.
In the current Administration
concentration on Libya and Qaddafi,
Syria and Assad have escaped all
but minor censure, Iran, whose
fanatical Shiites have been responsi-
ble for some of the worst of the
anti-American outrages, has largely
been ignored of late. We have had a
schizophrenic approach to Yassir
Arafat and the Palestine Liberation
Organization; they have been
routinely condemned for their con-
tinued use of violence while at the
same time, our State Department
represntatives give the organization
recognition and status by doggedly
continuing attempts to bring it into
the Arab-Israel negotiating process.
President Reagan and his secu-
rity advisers appear to be convinced
that Qaddafi was directly responsi-
ble for the terror bombing of a West
Berlin disco frequented by American
soldiers. They flatly blame Libya
and want friendly nations to expel
Libyan diplomats; `involved in actual
In the current
Administration
concentration on Libya
and Qaddafi, Syria and
Assad have escaped all
but minor censure.
'
or potential terrorist activities."
'Their public comments seem to
imply that if Qaddafi were neut-
ralized, international – terrorism
would fade away.
Official Washington reportedly
seeks the approval of our European
allies for some form of military op-
eration against Qaddafi. The pros-
pects do not appear promising; the
Europeans have too many economic
ties with Libya, closer proximity and
a strong fear of Libyan retaliation.
They refused to go along with Re-
agan last year when he. called for
economic sanctions against Libya
and they were strongly critical when
Reagan swung the big stick at Qad-
dafi in the Gulf of Sidra in February
over freedom of the seas.
Their relations with Libya are
such that, for example, despite the
memory of lasy year's incident when
British police laid seige to the Li-
byan Embassy, Libyan fighter pilots
are still being trained in England by
the Royal Air Force. There was an
Continued on Page 24