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 PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Arthur M. Horwitz EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press STAFF WRITER: David Hoizel LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin OFFICE STAFF: Lynn Fields Percy Kaplan Pauline Max Marlene Miller Dharlene Norris -- Phyllis Tyner Mary Lou Weiss Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Lauri Biafore Randy Marcuson Judi Monblatt Rick Nessel Danny Raskin PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure Cathy Ciccone Curtis Deloye Joy Gardin Ralph Orme CONCULTAMT• rmrrni c 1986 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-5201 Second Class postage paid at Southfield. Michigan and additional mailing offices Subscriptions 1 year - 521 — 2 years - 539 — Out of Slate - S23 — Foreign - S35 CANDLELIGHTING AT 8:33 P.M. VOL. LXXXIX. NO. 23 Beyond Rhetoric Slowly, slowly, almost imperceptibly, there has been some movement on the Arab-Jewish front. No breakthroughs, mind you, but the sort of human contact that has too often been missing from relations between these two troubled peoples. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres met with King Hassan II of Morocco, made some splashy headlines and briefly raised hopes that the almost-petrified impasse in the Mideast would be broken. It wasn't. But it indicated that the slow and painful process toward peace is under way. Also last week, a Jew and an Arab testified together on Capitol Hill. Speaking against ethnically motivated attacks on Arab-Americans in the U.S. were Hyman Bookbinder, the American Jewish Committee's Washington-representative, and James Abourezk, chairman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Bookbinder and Abourezk generally hew to opposing sides of issues that affect their particular communities. But they shared a table and a microphone before a House Subcommittee. The Bookbinder-Abourezk testimony made no headlines. But in its own small way, it is as significant as the Hassan-Peres meeting. Both events illustrate that it is still possible for leaders from both sides to sit side-by-side in the same room and civilly discuss their differences or even, momentarily, to act in concert on issues that are abhorrent to both. It gives us hope that underlying the feisty rhetoric and the political showmanship that has accrued to Jewish-Arab relations, there still remains an underlying strain of hope and humanity waiting to come out. Lonely Election Michigan voters face short lines at the polls on Tuesday. Historically, August primary elections that lack issues as warm as the weather outside draw small percentages of registered voters to the voting booth. Tuesday's election seems destined to repeat the pattern, and increases the chances for "fringe" candidates to be voted onto the November ballot by small groups of loyalists. Bedsheet ballots of judicial candidates, opportunists taking advantage of familiar last names, the lack of a strong state-wide i s sue can all lead to a repeat of this spring's Illinois experience when two Lyndon LaRouche proponents defeated regular Democratic Party nominees for placement on the November ballot. Michigan Democrats are confident that it cannot happen here on Tuesday — "the element of surprise is gone" — but a complacent electorate in Michigan could allow the same mistake to happen again. On the Republican side, should an evangelist television preacher's support help or hurt a gubernatorial candidate's chances? Should the Jewish community worry about the coattail effect of a possible Presidential hopeful who only recognizes "Christian" morality? Tuesday's election is a test for all the candidates, as well as a test of individual responsibility for all of us. 4 Friday, August 1, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS OP-ED Dual Loyalty: Perspective From An English-Israeli ERIC GUTWILLIG Special to The Jewish News A mong the SegineLaa 1.1..a+. go +" 131, Drael's population there is that group, often referred to as "Anglo-Saxons," who came mainly from American and British Commonwealth countries. They came to Israel not because of any persecution or need for refuge, but because they felt it was right to do so. Many of these immigrants faced a personal dilemma. The country of their birth, or in some cases of their adoption, had given them their educa- tion, their upbringing, their rights as citizens, their livelihood in dignity. Was it not ingratuitous, if not dow- nright disloyal, to turn your back on all these, to say goodbye and pitch your tent elsewhere? The question was even more acute for some who had fled the Nazi scourge and found refuge on the shores of England or other free coun- tries in the 1930s. They had found friendship and hospitality there, ob- tained their education, in many cases learned a profession, and now were turning their backs on the countries of their adoption. The dilemma did not end with their decision to go on aliyah. For having lived in Israel for a certain length of time they auto- matically acquire Israeli citizenship unless they specifically request not to do so. Now, when the time comes to renew the passport of their country of origin, the question of dual loyalty arises once more. Can one be really and genuinely loyal to more than one country? And if one cannot, how can one justify the retention of the old passport? narak_o Gutwillig lives in Haifa, Israel. Some felt they could not be hon- est with themselves if they retained two passports or allowed their old ones to lapse. The majority felt no compunction in retaining their old nationaii y 6,4E + hair_ TiPW one. In fact, they not only retained it, but fought to do so. Thus, when the Australian government recently pro- posed a law banning dual citizenship, Australian citizens fought tooth and nail till the threat was removed. The question is often asked, and again arose during the Australian , Can one be really and genuinely loyal to more than one country? controversy, why should Israeli citi- zens be so keen to retain the citizen- ship of their country of origin? In some cases the answers are purely practical. Many immigrants have left family behind which they want to visit from time to time. Now, if they have forfeited their original nationality it may become necessary to obtain a visa each time they want to visit, which is both cumbersome and time-consuming. The question of pension rights also arises. Then there is the matter of travel restrictions to other countries. Some countries which require visas from holders of Israeli passports do not require them from, for example, holders of British passports. Anyone who has to do a lot of travelling on business may find it prudent to retain their original passport for purely practical reasons. But practical reasons apart, is there any reason why an Israeli citi- zen should not hold an additional na- tionality — or indeed, why a citizen of one country should not also hold the c.