PURELY COMMENTARY

`Scapegoat'-ism Beckons For Truth

Continued from Page 2

world — the extremist Palesti-
nian Arab leadership and the
Arab states — that launched ag-
gressive war against the nascent
Jewish state in May 1948.
As for the 1967 Six-Day War,
Ambassador Kamal neglects to
mention such vital facts as that
the Arab forces under Nasser
took agressive military and other
action with the declared intent to
destroy Israel — and that Jordan,
blithely ignoring Prime Minister
Levi Eshkol's urgent appeal not
to intervene, violated the armi-
stice it had signed in 1949, seized
U.N. headquarters and assaulted
the western Jewish sector of the
city with artillery and tank fire.
It was solely in defense
against this assault that Israel
pushed Jordan's forces out of
east Jerusalem and united the
city.
Under Jordan's 19-year oc-
cupation, religious discrimina-
tion prevailed. The Old City's
Jewish inhabitants, descendants
of a centuries-old population,
were forcibly expelled and for-
bidden access to the Western
Wall, the last remnant of the an-
cient Temple. Sacred Jewish
sites, synagogues and cemeteries
were desecrated; tombstones
were used to construct latrines.
Christians in the Jordan-
controlled Old City were not
permitted to build new churches,
and their numbers dropped pre-
cipitously. Even Israeli Moslem
Arabs were prohibited from

entering east Jerusalem to wor-
ship at the mosques.
Since the city's reunification,
everyone enjoys freedom of wor-
ship and access to holy sites, as
guaranteed by Israeli law. The
leaders of each faith and denomi-
nation have complete control and
administration of their holy
places. Millions of Arabs, Chris-
tians and Moslems — including
many from the very Arab states
still at war with Israel — have
been readily permitted to visit
and worship at their holy sites.
Israel extends an invitation
to Ambassador Kamal, and to all
Jordan's leaders, to come to
Jerusalem, Israel's capital, and
worship freely at the Moslem holy
places. Acceptance of this invita-
tion could well be the historic
first step in the dialogue for peace
that Israel has always hoped
Jordan would join.
The visit to Israel of John Cardinal
O'Connor created many confusions. A
prominent Christian took him to task in a
letter to the Jerusalem Post. In its issue of
Feb. 7, under the heading "God's Promise
to Abraham," a prominent American,
Hamilton Fish, Member of Congress,
1920 to 1945, wrote:
Sir, — I read with much inter-
est the reports of Cardinal
O'Connor's visit to Israel and the
Vatican's refusal to permit him to
meet with Israel's leaders.
Apparently the Vatican has
no knowledge of my 1922 Pales-
tine Resolution which I intro-

world. But as the author of the
present law recognizing the State
of Israel, I deplore the Vatican's
failure to recognize Israel as a na-
tion. The attitude of the Vatican
gives encouragement to and ap-
proval of the PLO and other Arab
enemies of Israel. It seems to me
that if the Pope does not want to
recognize Israel, according to our
present law, the Fish-Palestine
Bill, he would recognize God's
promise to Abraham and his de-
scendants to establish the State of
Israel.

Such are the challenges to issues
muddied and facts fabricated. The Middle
East is filled with calamities. It is a type
of "Hornet's Nest" which is defined in the

Random House Unabridged Dictionary

M.

Rosenne

duced as a member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. After
considerable debate and numer-
ous speeches in the House of
Representatives and later the Se-
nate, the Fish-Palestine Resolu-
tion, creating a homeland for the
Jews in Palestine, now known as
Israel, was unanimously adopted
and signed into law by President
Warren G. Harding ...
As an Episcopalian, I am a
great admirer of the present Pope
who has done more to promote
freedom of religion, not only in
Poland, but throughout the

as "A large amount of activity, trouble,
hostility or animosity." It could have
added, "fratricide," "neighbor killing
neighbor," if it were to deal specifically
with Beirut.
Therefore the need to indicate the
crimes that stem from "scapegoating"
and the urgency to emphasize and de-
mand adherence to truth and facts. That's
why the elaborateness of these com-
ments.
The newest developments which
seem to provide realization for Syria of its
50-year aim to absorb Lebanon suggests
another tragedy for that area of the
world. Syria's new invasion of the Beirut
area under the guise of enforcing peace
may prove an added danger to Israel. In
that case the threatened calamity may
prove global. Therefore the hope that a
new war would be avoided.

`Protocols

Continued from Page 2

the Protocols, Valentin wrote, was
"undoubtedly contained in a
trashy adventury story." It was
significant and disturbing that in
spite of the spuriousness and lack
of authenticity of the Protocols,
they continued to play such an
extraordinary part in the propa-
gation of anti-Semitism. They
were, of course, most welcome to
Rosenberg and Hitler, as well as
such "vulgar" anti-Semitic
writers as Hans Gunther and
Theodor Fritsch. Herbert L.
Willett, professor emeritus of the
Department of Semitic Lan-
guages and Literatures at the
University of Chicago, called the
Protocols "one of the stupidest
forgeries of all literary history."
The Senate report concluded its
analysis of the Protocols by warn-
ing the American people not to be
misled by such "crude and vici-
ous nonsense" which would tend
to impede and prejudice the na-
tion's fight against the com-
munist menace.

Weizmann Biography
Updates Zionism

On the eve of the forthcoming World
Zionist Congress, to be held in Jerusalem
in December, Zionist leaders as well as
rank and file will do well to read the
newest biography of the first president of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann (Viking), by

30

Friday, March 6, 1987

Chaim Weizmann

Prof. Norman Rose, who holds the Chaim
Weizmann Chair of International Rela-
tions at the Hebrew University.
This well-compiled record of per-
sonal experiences of the man who was
president of the World Zionist Organiza-
tion for some three decades, includes the
history of the struggle for Israel's state-
hood and accounts for the eminence of
Jewish leaderships who joined in the
struggle for the realization of the historic
dream.
Dr. Rose has written a most valuable

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

addendum to the biography that preceded
his by merely a year, Chaim Weizmann -
The Making of a Zionist Leader by Prof.
Jehuda Reinhard (Oxford University
Press). Prof. Reinhard wrote about the
early years of Weizmannism, and the sec-
ond volume of his biography is planned
for publication some time later. Dr.
Rose's researched material fills in the
story of one of the most active world per-
sonalities of this century.
The new biography, so well
supplemented, gives a fully elaborated
account of the life of the personality
whose influence on 20th Century Jewry
was unmatched. The reader is introduced
to the human factors of the biographed,
the charming and much of the negatives.
Where it was necessary to indicate an
arrogance, the biographer didn't hesitate
to state it. The impressively fascinating
are not ignored. The love affairs are in the
record. Where and when he was pressur-
ing, Dr. Rose didn't hesitate to state it.
For those who are preparing for an-
other World Zionist Congress, the Weiz-
mann experiences will be valuable. When
he dominated and was at swords, it is
accounted for. The 1928 Congress, when
the revolt against him was successful,
when Vladimir Jabotinsky exerted
strong influence, is a point considered.
That's when Weizmann was succeeded by
Nahum Sokolow as president of the
World. Zionist Organization. That's when
he showed bitterness over defeat.
He was equally distressed when, as
the first President of Israel, he learned
that he was a figurehead and had no
power.

Meyer Weisgal played an important
role in Weizmann's life, during the latter
years of his WZO presidency and in the
course of the battle for Israel's statehood.
He was Weizmann's comforter during the
serious years and the presidency of Israel.
It is on the score of the gallery of
Jewish notables, Zionist associates in
leadership and the statesmen of the world
that this biography attains significance.
One learns a great deal about the
luminaries in the world in their descrip-
tions in the newest Weizmann biography.
Therefore one becomes more inti-
mately acquainted with Arthur Balfour
and the score or more of British states-
men as well as the important figures in
countries throughout the world.
There are errors. Wasn't Weiz-
mann's own biography entitled Trial and
Error? For 'instance, when in the first
reference to Sumner Welles, when he was
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, is listed
in the first mention of him as having been
in an assembly of anti-Zionists, it was an
unfair judgment.
(Jeffrey A. Davis of Albion properly
quoted David Wyman's The Abandon-
ment of the Jews regarding Sumner Wel-
les in a letter to the editor (Feb. 20). Even
Wyman's thoroughly researched expose
of failures to join in rescuing Jews from
the Hitler plague overlooked many posit-
ive facts regarding Welles. His positive
acts far overweighed the few hesitations.
The latter stemmed from State Depart-
ment and White House pressures and re-
fusals to act justly. Welles' record in-
cludes many demands for action. One
very impressive one was in regard to the