'1,6 - 6
ft' it
EDITORIAL
Two-Sided Democracy
The Detroit Jewish community has had a unique opportunity
these past few weeks to reflect on United States policy in the Mid-
dle East and our relationship to Israel. Sunday's Book Fair program
at the Jewish Community Center featuring former Senator James
Abourezk and the American Jewish Committee's Hyman Bookbinder
should be seen in that light.
The Detroit Zionist Federation has adopted a resolution express-
ing dismay that Abourezk, a leading spokesman for the Arab cause
and a PLO apologist while he was a member of the U.S. Senate,
should be invited by the Jewish Center to speak in Detroit.
Bookbinder, on the other hand, has expressed dismay that the com-
munity is forming opinions without reading their book or hearing
them out. (See excerpt, Page 58.)
Some members of our Jewish community have announced plans
to demonstrate at the Center on Sunday, to protest Abourezk's ap-
pearance. It is a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. At the
same time, Abourezk and Bookbinder have a right to be heard by
an expected overflow audience.
It has been a long time since Jews in Detroit have publicly
demonstrated for or against anything. It is a refreshing sign. It should
also be refreshing to hear opposing viewpoints on an issue that is
central to the Jewish community.
These revelations are certainly disturbing. But perhaps most
striking about the commission's report is the complacency with which
it has been greeted. The Israeli public — and most of the cabinet
— appears ready to condone the Shin Beth's behavior as a necessary
evil in the war against Palestinian nationalists. "After 20 years of
occupation," said Mordechai Bar-on, a liberal former member of the
Knesset, "people's hearts have hardened."
Along with the hardening, said Israeli philosopher David Hart-
man, has come a moral myopia. "We have to stop looking at our great
moral past," he said, "and start looking at ourselves as we behave
in the present. If we always see ourselves as victims, we will never
see ourselves as we really are and never be able to change when we
need to."
Just as Israel's presence on the West Bank and Gaza has altered
the military calculus of the region, so, too, it has changed the moral
calculus of Israel itself. A nation founded by a people who properly
prided themselves on their centuries of high-minded, moral behavior
has seemingly succumbed to the easy seductions that appear to come,
eventually, with any people's statehood. Resolving the West Bank
and Gaza is, of course, one of the great dilemmas of the day. But the
moral erosion of the occupation should, at least, hasten Israel's deter-
mination to lessen — in some way — its presence in these territories.
Israel's Moral Erosion
In this 20th year of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Israeli presence
in the two territories has had an onerous and debilitating effect on
the Jewish state. More than military, financial or social resources
have been absorbed by the need to keep the territories and their
Palestinian residents in check. Also squandered has been Israel's
moral capital, one of the indispensables of the Jewish people and
the Jewish state.
Last week's announcement by an Israeli government commis-
sion about the Shin Beth, the nation's domestic intelligence agen-
cy, is a case in point. The commission, headed by a former Israeli
Supreme Court justice, concluded that the Shin Beth had
systematically lied to Israeli courts since 1971 about the methods
it used to extract confessions from Palestinians suspected of engag-
ing in, or planning bombings and other violent attacks against
Israelis, both civilian and military. Shin Beth methods reportedly
included physical and psychological torture. Both are against Israeli
law.
LETTERS
Underpaid
Teachers
In response to your article
on Shaarey Zedek, my feel-
ings and sympathy are with
the teachers who are
repeatedly subjected to low
pay and poor benefits.
Unfortunately, this is
typical of most religious
schools. Our most important
legacy in life — our children
— are the ones for which we
try to cut corners.
I, too, work at a religious
school and am aware that my
pay is well below standard.
Sadly, I also realize that the
time is coming near that I
won't be able to afford doing
what I love best: teaching
Jewish children about the ex-
citing world they live in.
Sandra Ellenstein
Farmington Hills
'Free Press'
Is Anti-Israel
The executive director of
the Jewish Community Coun-
cil, Mr. Alvin Kushner, counts
among his successes his good
relationship with the Detroit
("Council
Free Press
Crossroads" Nov. 6). This pa-
per, over the past 15 years,
has consistently presented ar-
ticles and series that discredit
the State of Israel and its
moral integrity. Moreover,
these articles are always pro-
minently placed on the front
page, where they will get
maximum exposure and read-
ership. I challenge Mr. Kush-
ner to find a more anti-Israel
newspaper on the North
American continent .. .
And, our Jewish Communi-
ty Book Fair provides a forum
for a prominent, anti-Israel
propagandist .. .
Who are we having for the
book fair next year? Has Abu
Nidal written a book yet?
After all, we Jews support
freedom of expression without
limit .. .
Dr. Herschel L. Schlussel,
Garden City
Brandeis Losing
Jewish Soul
The article "Pork on Menu
Causes Big Squeal at
Brandeis" (Oct. 23), fails to
convey the seriousness of the
de-Judaization which is now
occurring at Brandeis Univer-
sity. As a Brandeis student
who hails from the Detroit
area, I am writing to inform
the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty of this deliberate de-
Judaization campaign. The
university administration is
attempting to deny it in its
communications with the
Jewish community.
Although a nonsectarian
university, Brandeis was
founded by, and is largely sup-
ported by, the Jewish com-
munity. It possesses what our
chaplain, Rabbi Albert Axel-
rad, calls a special "Jewish
soul."
this
Unfortunately,
heritage is being sadly
neglected, even assailed, by
the present administration of
Brandeis.
In August, pork and shell-
fish began to be served in a
Brandeis cafeteria. Although
Brandeis has both kosher and
nonkosher cafeterias, pig and
shellfish products were never
before served in either. Presi-
dent Handler calls this new
policy "international dining."
Second, the official Brandeis
Continued on Page 10