EDITORIAL

Enter Freedom

In Persia of old, the king's decree was immutable. That is why
King Ahasuerus issued a decree permitting the Jews to defend
themselves when the sons of Haman came to destroy them on the
13th of Adar. By the law of the land, the old monarch was not able
to retract his earlier command to wipe out the Jews.
Fortunately, the rule of law has progressed a notch or two since
those days. In America, an unfair sentence can be reversed. The life
sentence imposed on Jonathan Jay Pollard and the continuing in-
carceration of Anne Henderson-Pollard are cases in point.
Judge Aubrey Robinson, who sentenced the pair one year ago
today, has turned down the Pollards' appeals for a sentence reduction.
For Pollard, this means the continuation of an unjustly harsh
sentence. Previously, the heaviest U.S. sentence imposed on an
American convicted of spying for a friendly nation was five years.
For Henderson-Pollard, who suffers from a debilitating digestive
disorder, continued imprisonment without proper medical treatment
could be tantamount to a death sentence.
The Pollards did no damage to U.S. security. They did enhance
the security of Israel. The notion of a strong Jewish State is axiomatic
for Americans of good will — Jews and non-Jews alike — and is the
stated policy of the United States.
In the name of justice, if all attempts at judicial appeal have been
spent, President Reagan should commute the Pollards' sentences.
As our minds turn from redemption to redemption, from Purim
to Pesach, from the skin-of-the-teeth salvation of our ancestors in
Queen Esther's Persia to the liberation of our people from Egyptian
bondage, we hope the Pollards, too, will soon join their people in
freedom.

war and the U.S. blacked out our Grenada invasion, no one argued
that the British or American governments are not democratic. In
times of war, military decisions can and often do take priority.
Israel did not limit media access to the Palestinian uprisings;
the result, in terms of her image, has been disastrous. The damage
has been done, though. We have seen the beatings and those images
will not go away. And on a practical level, it is fair to assume that
journalists, being an enterprising lot, would still manage to gain
access to off-limit areas.
A press ban would also fuel the rumor mill. Reports that a cer-
tain number of Palestinians had been beaten or killed by Israeli
soldiers would probably be magnified by the outside world. If this
is what is leaking out from an area barred to the press, people would
think, then what, indeed is actually occurring?
There is, however, a middle ground. Israel can limit the number
of journalists in the occupied territories by insisting that they pool
their resources. This would allow continued coverage of the territories
and retain Israel's freedom of the press. But it would also place a
certain cap on the press' presence in West Bank and Gaza, a presence
that, arguably, can contribute to the resident Palestinians' sense that
"the whole world is watching."

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Too-Late Press Ban

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's statement this week
that he favors barring reporters and television crews from the West
Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza is a case of too much and too
late.
Had the press been barred at the outbreak of the Palestinian
violence three months ago, there would have been a burst of anti-
democracy criticism from the media. But Israel could have respond-
ed by noting that when England banned coverage of the Falklands

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LETTERS

Israel's Image
Needs Work
It is necessary for all Jewish

newspapers, periodicals,
organizations to raise the
issue again of Israel's lack of
energy, focus and expertise in
the area of public relations,
propoganda and image
making.
Tbday, the reality is that im-
age plays a major role in dic-
tating public policy and the
media create images by what
they focus on. It is ironic that
in an arena where so many
Jews are innovative and suc-
cessful, we are failing Israel
and Israel is failing itself.
You have given us so many
excellent, exploratory
features in The Jewish News.
Can you not investigate and
report to us on this issue? We

have not grown nor learned
from Lebanon and our
distorted image there on how
to deal with image makers.

Marlene Kreinin

East Lansing

Not So Scared
In Ann Arbor

Steve Blonder's article
"Scared in A2" (Feb. 26) cap-
tures the emotions experienc-
ed by some Jewish students
and faculty when reaction to
the news of the riots in Gaza
and the West Bank first
began to be heard at the
University of Michigan . . . It
is with considerable pride
that I report that Jewish
students responded over-
whelmingly to the anti-
Semitic cartoons, and to what
they perceived to be the bias-

ed treatment of Israel in the
student press.
Shortly after realizing that
it could not be business as
usual, Jewish students
literally flooded the Michigan
Daily with letters. Prodded by
this outpouring of student
mail, and aided by a schedul-
ed change of the paper's
editorial staff, the Daily
responded in a much more
responsible fashion. Letters
and op. ed. pieces more fair to
Israel were printed in large
numbers. Criticism of Israel
did not cease, of course, nor
ought it to have in a truly free
press reflecting the thinking
of a vital university com-
munity, but the environment
in which serious discussion
and debate might take place
improved markedly.
Except for the heckling
which regrettably did occur

during Consul General Zvi
Brosh's speech (and which
hurt more than helped the
cause of its instigators) and
the early treatment of the
issue in the press, the Univer-
sity of Michigan campus, as of
this writing, has been
remarkably quiet regarding
anti-Israel activity.
Scared in A2? Not so very
scared. Jewish students have
responded firmly and effec-
tively and we may expect that
they will continue to do so in
what promises to be challeng-
ing weeks ahead.

Joseph Kohane

University of Michigan Hillel

PLO Mission
Must Close

The UN PLO office is an ac-
tive center for dissemination

of self-serving and distorted
information in its campaign
to delegitimize the State of
Israel, and to reinforce its
own campaign to win U.S. and
world-wide (through the UN,
which is infamous for its anti-
Israel bias) recognition.
The UN PLO office will con-
tinue to play its sinister role
in fanning the flames of chaos
and violence in the territories

Continued on Page 10

Let Us Know

Letters must be concise,
typewritten and double-
spaced. Correspondence
must include the signa-
ture, home address and
daytime phone number of
the writer.

