EDITORIAL

Students' Rights

The Supreme Court's decision this past week giving public school
officials broader power to censor school newspapers, plays and other
"school-sponsored expressive activities" is not unexpected, but it is
unfortunate.
The ruling, by a vote of 5-3, reverses a Federal appellate deci-
sion and furthers a trend by the Court to take a narrower view of
constitutional rights of students.
Justice William Brennan, Jr., who wrote the dissenting opinion,
criticized the majority for "deviating from precedent" to approve
"brutal censorship" and "thought control in high school." The deci-
sion "cuts the First Amendment legs off the student press;' said Paul
McMasters, chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee of
the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi.
The student press has been timid until now, and will no doubt
be even more cautious in light of the Court ruling. That is a shame,
for student journalism could and should be a training ground for
the kind of investigative journalism our newspapers need more of
in this country. We Americans often talk a good game of exercising
our basic freedoms and then fail to follow through, calling to mind
the Mark Twain quote: "It is by the grace of God that in our coun-
try we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of
speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice
either of them."

Meir Kahane, have called for his ouster on the grounds that he is
an Arab.
Massarawa sees Israel as a democracy, not as a Jewish state
where non-Jews have second-class citizenship. His views may be
radical for some supporters of Israel, but not for Israel's founders
or the vast majority of her lawmakers.
A person's nationality does not automatically assure loyalty to
that nation. Druze have, since the founding of the Jewish State, loyal-
ly served in the Israeli Army. On the other side, a Soviet Jew who
emigrated to Israel in 1971 was arrested last week in Jerusalem and
charged with spying for Moscow.
After 212 years, we in the United States still have much to learn
about our democratic system. Israel, after 40 years, must evolve from
a state with Jewish, Arab and other nationalities into a state where
the nationality is Israeli.

Second-Class

A campaign within the Jewish community of Atlanta, Ga. to
recall the Israeli consul general — because he is an Arab — raises
disturbing questions for Americans and Israelis.
Mohammed Massarawa, an Israeli attorney and politician, has
been serving in Atlanta for six months in his first diplomatic post
(See story, Page 29). He receives high marks from most members
of the Atlanta community, even during the difficult period of the last
six weeks when he had to respond to the violence in the admnistered
territories. But a vocal minority, believed to be followers of Rabbi

LETTERS

Arabs Have Not
Given Up Hope

In response to your lead
editorial of Jan. 8 ("Time To
Act"), for the past two weeks,
we have been treated to the
instant analysis, by instant
experts, on the Middle East,
that the current unrest
among Arab youth is the
result of the fact that they
have "given up all hope."
A more perceptive observer
of the Middle East, would
have related these uprisings
to the recent successful glider
attack on an Israeli military
base by Arab terrorists. It is
interesting that the Arab
population of the territories
was quiet and docile after the
stunning, Israeli victory of
1967, and the unrest only
began after Israel's near
defeat of 1973. Thus, the
violence is the result not of
despair or loss of hope, but of
a perception of Israel's
weakness and vulnerability.
For 19 years, the territories,

6

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1988

were ruled by Egypt and Jor-
dan, who were not hesitant to
enforce their authority with
the use of capital punish-
ment. The gallows in many
West Bank towns left by Jor-
dan testify to this.
"Moderate" King Hussein
killed 10,000 Palestinians in
the PLO uprising of 1970.
It is Israel's benevolent, de-
cent treatment of its enemies
that is unprecedented in the
Middle East . . . The Arabs in
the territories have one of the
highest standards of living in
any Arab country, excluding
the wealthy, oil shiekdoms.
They also have the best life
expectancy.

Yet The Jewish News
editorial writer ignores this
background and history, and
would prefer to join the
jackals in repeating the con-
ventional wisdom he sees on
the 7 O'clock news about the
"loss of all hope" baloney, and
blame Israel.

Dr. Herschel L. Schlussel
Garden City

Hiding Behind
Demographics

I was appalled by your
editorial of Jan. 8, "Greener
Pastures," the implications of
which will only increase com-
munal separatism. The
Jewish News appears to have
fallen victim to the same
malady of Jewish flight which
for so long has typified the
Detroit community.
Neighborhood stability is
subject to people's subjective
perceptions which are often
influenced by the public
media. Rather than assuming
a positive role in encouraging
the continued wellbeing of a
pluralistic Jewish communi-
ty in Oak Park and South-
field, The Jewish News has
chosen to hide behind
demographics.
While it is the right of each
individual to decide where to
live, the Jewish community
has always been based on liv-
ing and sharing together,
young and old; secular and

religious. I, for one, support
the richly varied community
in Oak Park and Southfield.
Does The Jewish News?

Tom Wexelberg-Clouser
Oak Park

Young Israel
Will Not Move

Leonard I. Wanetik of Cong.
B'nai Moshe evidently felt
impelled to exchange some
thoughts with Oak Park
Mayor Charlotte Rothstein
about commitment to the fair
city of Oak Park (Opinion,
Jan. 1).
My purpose as president of
the Young Israel Council of
Metropolitan Detroit is to
clear up an erroneous in-
ference left by Mr. Wanetik
that Young Israel, having
recently bought property in
the northwest, is planning to
abandon Young Israel of Oak-
Woods branch and/or Young
Israel of Greenfield.
Young Israel is not a single
synagogue entity . . . Young

Israel supports religious,
social and communal ac-
tivities in consonance with
our authority in all locations
where families of Jewish faith
wish to further their future in
the Young Israel setting .. .
Recently, actual and pro-
spective residents in the West
Bloomfield area expressed an

Continued on Page 10

Let Us Know

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comes letters from our
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cern to the Jewish
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