EDITORIAL
Slaps On The Wrist
The line between justice and mercy is always thin, but two re-
cent — and unrelated — cases seem to point up a weakness in our
society's ability, or willingness, to prosecute those who have com-
mitted crimes.
The first case involved the tragic collision in January 1987 bet-
ween an Amtrak passenger train and a string of Conrail locomotives
in Maryland that killed 16 people. Ricky Gates, who was at the con-
trols of the Conrail trains that blundered into the path of the Am-
trak train, pleaded guilty last week to one count of manslaughter.
He acknowledged that he and his brakeman, Edward Cromwall,
smoked marijuana just before the crash, and he accepted responsibili-
ty for the fatalities. He faces a maximum five-year prison sentence
and a $1,000 fine.
In New York, a debate has been precipitated by a judge allow-
ing Morris Gross, 77, to return to his home in Brighton Beach after
serving only eight days of a 15-day sentence in the run-down tene-
ment building Gross owns in Brooklyn. Rather than send Gross to
jail for failing to correct some 400 housing code violations, Judge
Ira Harkavy sentenced Gross to experience what his tenants must
contend with every day: lack of heat, faulty plumbing, and general
neglect and disrepair. But Gross moved into an apartment in the
building with security agents to protect him and a newly-installed
radiator to keep him warm.
Our society sometimes teaches that it is more important to learn
how to get around the law than to abide by it. While punishments
for criminal behavior should not be vindictive, they must have enough
sting to truly represent a deterrent.
knowledgeable person and a desecration of the suffering of millions
of Jews who died in the Nazi death camps.
To compare the Israel Defense Force soldiers facing rock and
gasoline bomb assaults to the Nazi killing apparatus is heinous and
callous. Not only does it trivialize and pervert one of the most im-
portant lessons of this century — a tactic straight from the Nazi
arsenal — it also deflects attention from the true state of affairs in
the territories and the underlying facts which created the Palesti-
nian problem in the first place.
It is an inescapable truth that since the 1917 Balfour Declara-
tion, the Arabs have been unwilling to face reality. They always have
hoped that time or false pictures will make Israel disappear.
Reality. So many of us have incomplete understanding of what
life in Israel is really all about. Without downplaying the clashes
in the territories — the rocks, the bottles, the sticks, the dead and
the wounded — without downgrading the serious problems of Palesti-
nian unrest and unhappiness, we American Jews should not assume
that Israel is a powderkeg with a lit fuse. Life is, for the most part,
a good one for Israelis, both Arab and Jew. And it is a better existence
for Palestinians under Israeli administration than for Palestinians
living anywhere else in the Middle East.
These facts also must be presented and acknowledged by the
Palestinians and the PLO. Turning a blind eye to reality will not
create a new one — nor will trampling on the graves of the Six Million
who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
Perverting the Holocaust
The long-term anti-Israel propaganda battle has taken an addi-
tional twist: If you can't belittle one of the most important factors
leading to the establishment of the Jewish State — the Holocaust
— then usurp it.
Tel Aviv University's Dr. Bernard Gitlis has conducted major
studies on the Palestinians' use of Nazi propaganda methods. How
in character, and unsettling, are the terrorists' attempts to trivialize
and twist the lessons of the organized destruction of the Six Million.
The Palestine Liberation Organization's high-powered propagan-
da machinery has reached new lows by comparing Israel's use of force
to keep peace in the administered territories to the Nazis' persecu-
tion of innocent Jews. The public relations ploy of mimicing the Ex-
odus with a shipload of PLO supporters is an affront to any
LETTERS
Bring Aronson,
Leiken Together
Perhaps The Jewish News
can bring those two intellec-
tuals, Ron Aronson (New
Jewish Agenda) and Ezekiel
Leiken (Zionist Organization
of America) together for a ver-
bal debate on "How to Solve
and Who Is to Blame" for the
latest disturbances in Israel.
Their extreme different ideas
would make for an in-
teresting dialogue debate
discussion for the public .. .
I suggest that this could be
sponsored by the New Jewish
Agenda, the Birmingham
Temple or any Zionist
organization. Aronson and
6
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1988
Leiken have the same goals:
the security and in-
dependence of a free
democratic Israel and to live
in peace with their Arab
neighbors. How can this be
accomplished?
Nate Garfinkel
Southfield
Facing Reality
In Mideast
It sickens me to hear all of
the bleeding hearts of the
world, including influential
Jewish leaders, criticizing the
way Israel is handling the
Palestinian situation. It is
time for these people and
anyone else who desires peace
in the Middle East to face
reality.
The first reality that must
be faced is that the media is
sensationalizing the situa-
tion. When you see an Israeli
soldier beating a Palestinian
on television, before you start
to criticize Israel, ask yourself
a simple question: What
preceded this beating? Could
it have been a Molotov
cocktail? Could the soldier
have been provoked?
The next reality that must
be faced is that from 1948 un-
til 1967 the West Bank and
Gaza were controlled by two
Arab countries: Egypt and
Jordan. During that time, the
Palestinians never demanded
a state of their own .. .
The last reality poses a
challenge to the Palestinian
people: As long as you and
Israel's neighbors refuse to
recognize Israel's existence,
you will never have
independence.
Instead of throwing rocks
and molotov cocktails, hold
up signs saying, "We
recognize Israel and want to
live in peace with Israel" and
"We are our own represen-
tatives and we denounce ter-
rorism and the PLO". If you
do so, you will demonstrate
that you have faced reality
and you will have the
credibility necessary to
achieve independence .. .
Michael Neuvirth
Farmington Hills
Good Training
In The USSR
I read with great interest
your article "The New Wave"
in the Feb. 5 issue of The
Jewish News. I am an im-
migrant from the Soviet
Union, a physician.
The article is a thoughtful
and knowledgeable account.
Unfortunately I found a
blunder that causes me a
great deal of exasperation and
resentment. The words are
from Jewish Vocational Ser-
vice Executive Director Al
Ascher: "Medical training in
Russia is light years behind
us in most cases. We have a
Continued on Page 10