UP FRONT
Anti-Semitic Propaganda
Is Filtering Into Classrooms
DAVID HOLZEL
Staff Writer
"PropagOnda is around us like
air," a leading Israeli propaganda
analyst told Detroit audiences this
week. "If we will be more aware of
propaganda, it will help us analyze
things, not just politics, but all
aspects of life."
Recognizing propaganda and
separating fact from manipulation of
fact were two of the lessons Dr.
Baruch Gitlis left his listeners in
three appearances before Jewish
forums Monday and Tuesday, spon-
sored by the Zionist Organization of
America, Detroit District. Dr. Gitlis,
a senior lecturer in Bar-Ilan Univer-
sity's psychology department and
director of the Harry Karren Institute
for Propaganda Analysis in Herzliya,
also spoke to local academics and
journalists, screening anti-Semitic
propaganda films by the Nazis, the
Soviets and the PLO.
He cited television commercials
as the most prevalent form of pro-
paganda to which Americans are ex-
posed. It is one reason why his
research is based on the film medium.
"An American study showed that,
before he enters kindergarten, a child
will have watched more hours of com-
mercials than he will spend in school
studying until the end of high school."
The leap between a fast food com-
mercial and a PLO propaganda film
is actually rather small. Both rely on
the principle of selection of facts.
"The ratio of shooting .
TV is
Continued on Page 30
Nazis Arrested In Royal Oak
Staff Report
Thirteen neo-Nazis were arrested
Saturday after making appearances
in Birmingham and Royal Oak. The
S.S. Action Group appeared in Birm-
ingham's Shain Park just after 3:05
p.m., police said.
They were _dressed in
paramilitary fatigues and carried
banners and flags, according to Bir-
mingham Police Capt. Millard Squire.
The group participated in the "usual
slogan-calling, the baiting of blacks,
Jews, Arabs and communists . . :
Something to rile the spectators," he
said.
After 30 minutes, police escorted
the Nazis out of the park. _
Royal Oak police received a phone
tip a few minutes later that the same
group was marching through their ci-
ty's downtown.
S
David Gordis: Asked to step down.
Battle At The Top Causing
Turmoil At The AJCommittee
GARY ROSENBLATT
After marching a block down
Main Street, the group was stopped
by police and escorted to a parking
structure where they were arrested
for disorderly conduct.
All were released on cash bond
and were ordered to appear before the
Royal Oak District Court between to-
day and Thursday.
Royal Oak Police Commander
William Snapp said that one man fil-
ed a complaint with police, charging
that one of the neo-Nazis "shoved
him, called him names and punched
him in the nose."
Members of the hate group later
told The Jewish News that they had
decided to march on the spur of the
moment and had not applied for
parade permits from either Birm-
ingham or Royal Oak.
Editor
I
n a move that caught even the
most astute Jewish communal
observers by surprise, the
American Jewish Committee has
asked its top professional, executive
vice president Dr. David Gordis, to
resign. Gordis refused, throwing
the prestigious organization into a
turmoil.
Although no one is talking
publicly, it appears that the issue
is Gordis's relationship with the lay
leadership, whose president, New
York attorney Ted Ellenoff, called
for the resignation.
Gordis, an ordained Conserva-
tive rabbi and former head of the
Jewish Theological Seminary's
West Coast branch, seemed to have -
consolidated his authority at the
AJCommittee during his three-year
tenure. Gordis has been respected
for his broad knowledge of Jewish
affairs as well as his ability to
raise funds. But his decision to
bring in several younger staff
members into key positions may
have offended senior staff with
more tenure, and his effort to con-
trol the organization apparently
ran up against opposition from lay
leaders who felt they had insuffi-
cient input.
"It's a shathe that this whole
conflict is over personalities, not
substantive issues," said one in-
sider, who noted that both Gordis
and Ellenoff have "substantial
egos."
According to several sources,
when Ellenoff informed staff mem-
bers at a special meeting last week
that Gordis had been "terminated,"
they vigorously objected and sought
Continued on Page 30
ROUND UP
Post Article
Backs Svetlana
Detroit attorney Keith
Braun's fight to get his 22-
year-old wife Svetlana from
Moscow to Detroit gained
support from the Washington
Post and the Voice of
America last week.
An editorial page column
by Richard Cohen on changes
in the Soviet Union under
Mikhail Gorbachev men-
tioned the couple's plight,
suggesting that as more
things change the more they
stay the same.
Svetlana told Braun in
their weekly telephone call
on Sunday that her mother
heard about the article on a
Voice of America broadcast
picked up in Moscow.
Braun hopes the article
and broadcast will be added
bits of pressure on the Soviet
bureaucracy. He said Svet-
lana applied to emigrate this
week under the new Soviet
law which went into effect in
January. He is not optimistic
that the application will
change their status.
Israel Opens
Warsaw Office
Tel Aviv (JTA) — The Is-
rael interests section in War-
saw, the first Israeli diploma-
tic presence in Poland since
that country broke relations
with Israel during the 1967
Six-Day War, opened offi-
cially Tuesday morning.
The head of the section,
Mordechai Paltzur, told Israel
Radio in a telephone inter-
view that the opening was a
"private, internal" ceremony
attended by a few invited
guests.
The only diplomat present
was The Netherlands Ambas-
sador to Poland whose coun-
try represented Israel's inter-
ests there since 1967.
According to Paltzur, his
small staff was "earning its
salary" even before the offi-
cial opening. He said the
office has had many Polish
visitors seeking information
about Israel and some apply-
ing for visitors' visas. Poland
is opening its own interests
section in Tel Aviv.
Sect Criticizes
Zionist Leaders
New York — An anti-
Zionist Orthodox group which
opposes the State of Israel
placed an advertisement in
the New York Times on Mon-
day implying that Zionist
leaders are not Jews.
The American Neturei
Karta organization placed an
ad headlined "Jews Not
Zionists (22nd in a series)."
The ad said that Jews will
return to the land when God
sends the Messiah; that Jews
oppose the expulsion of Arab
refugees "who suffer in mis-
ery and despair because of
the Zionist conquests;" and
that Jewish leaders are those
who observe the laws of
Torah and therefore "Zionist
leaders have no right what-
soever to speak in the name
of the Jewish people."
The Neturei Karta sect has
been opposed to Israel since
before statehood, and has oc-
casionally sent its Jerusalem
representatives to Amman to
discuss issues with the Jor-
danian government.
5