MIIIIIII NEWS % 10 I:, __-------, Bid To Recall Israeli Arab Envoy Denounced STAFF REPORT A campaign to persuade Israel to withdraw an Arab- Israeli citizen from the post of consul general in Atlanta has been condemned by commu- nity leaders in that southern city. "Most of us view the ap- pointment of Mohammed Massarwa through the prism of American democratic values," said Rabbi Arnold Goodman, president of the Atlanta Rabbincal Associa- tion. "Those values allow for the expression of minority rights and the advancement of those rights through peaceful means. Israel, also "Israel is my country. I do not perceive it as a Jewish state." being a democracy, shares these values." Forcing Israel to recall Mussarwa, who has been con- sul general in Atlanta since August, "would in effect be saying that the American Jewish community is depor- ting him," said Goodman. "It would be sheer madness." Recalling Massarwa because he is an Arab would also be tantamount to confir- ming the U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism, said Goodman, past president of the Rabbincal Assembly, the national body of Conservative rabbis. The month-long anti-Mas- sarwa effort was initiated by an Atlanta accountant, Jay Starkman, reportedly a sup- porter of the Israeli Kach Par- ty. Founded by Knesset member Meir Kahane, the Kach Party postulates that Israel was intended as a na- tion solely for Jews and its Arab population should be delegitimized or expelled. While speaking before the Atlanta Rabbinical Associa- tion last fall, Mussarwa, a Moslem, said, "Israel is my country. I do not perceive it as a Jewish state. Israeli law grants Arabs equal rights . . . They are entitled to all the rights of citizen- ship." Mussarwa has vehemently denied Starkman's charges that he refers to Israel as "Palestine-Israel" and that "his lips do not move" when Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem, is sung at Jewish events to which he is invited in Atlanta. Starkman has said that Mussarwa's appointment was "wholly misplaced" because Israel is "a unique phenomenon — a culmination of millenia of Jewish praying for a return to the Promised Land, as reflected in Israel's Law of Return, which applies only to Jews." Before his appointment in Atlanta, Massarwa, 45, had been elected for two con- secutive terms from 1976 to 1986 as chairman of the town council of Kfar Kara in Galilee. An attorney with an Arab and Jewish clientele, he also conducted an unsuc- cessful campaign for the Knesset in 1984 as a can- didate in Ezer Weizman's Yachad Party. His post as con- sul general is his first ap- pointment as an Israeli diplomat. Barry Siegel, executive di- rector of the Atlanta Jewish Community Center, said Starkman's campaign has been joined by "no more than five or ten" of Atlanta's 70,000 Jews. He described Massarwa as a "sweet, gentle human being, an intellectual, not the sort who stirs people tm." The recall campaign, said Siegal, is "a personal tragedy" for Massarwa. During a fund-raising con- cert for the Atlanta Jewish Federation last week, enter- tainer Theodore Bikel made a plea to the local Jewish com- munity to reject the recall campaign. losif Begun Leaves USSR New York (JTA) — Iosif Begun, a Soviet Jewish ac- tivist and Hebrew teacher granted permission to emigrate in September after 16 years of harassment by Soviet authorities, arrived in Israel last Tuesday. The 55-year-old electrical engineer and former prisoner of Zion left Moscow with his wife, Inna; son, Boris; Boris' wife, Anya; and their children, the Student Strug- gle for Soviet Jewry and the Long Island Council on Soviet Jewry reported. The news from Moscow brings to an end weeks of uncertainty about Begun's in- tentions. After receiving per- mission to emigrate, Begun confounded OVIR emigration officials as well as Soviet Jewry activists by not leaving immediately. 20 ,/i 0 30 30 "IT'S ALL YOU NEED TO CELEBRATE" contemporary • furniture • lighting • wall decor • gifts • interiors 40 40 ‘4014. t RV SUPERBOWL SUNDAY 50 Contemporary accessories SPECIAL 40 for over 34 years 50 2 LB. 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