EDITORIAL
Morality At The U.N.
Last week's ruling by a federal judge in Manhattan that the U.S.
government could not force the Palestine Liberation Organization
to close its observer mission to the United Nations was legally cor-
rect. The decision upheld the primacy of this country's obligations
to the world body under the United Nations Headquarters Agree-
ment. That treaty restrains the United States from interfering with
the functioning of the New York-based U.N.
The PLO was granted observer status at the U.N. by a majority
vote of members of the United Nations. The U.S., against the objec-
tions of its own State Department, sought to oust the PLO mission
from American shores because of the PLO's terrorist activities. Had
the U.S. succeeded in ridding itself of PLO representatives within
its continental boundaries, it could conceivably have expelled
representatives to the U.N. from nations with which it has strong
disagreements, say, Cuba, El Salvador or Panama. This would reduce
the U.N. to nothing more than a parlor room — a very large parlor
room — full of "Yes, men" for the United States.
The real issue is not whether the United States has the authority
to kick out members of U.N. missions with whom the U.S. has ma-
jor gripes. The issue is the United Nations itself. The credentials
are immediately suspect of any world organization purportedly
dedicated to peace that takes into its tent members of a terrorist
organization. Terror — and its apologists — has no place at the United
Nations. Yet, there has been a place for the PLO at the U.N. for 14
years. This may say more about morality at the U.N. than it does
about the PLO.
thousands, of meetings between western and Soviet officials at which
the former pushed for a more liberal Russian policy toward its Jews.
And in the last two years, there have been four face-to-face meetings
between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in which the former
pleaded for a more humane policy for Soviet Jews.
And yet, the Moscow party conference produced not one syllable
that could comfort the 400,000 Jews who have requested exit visas
from the USSR — or the other 1.5 million Jews in the Soviet Union
The USSR is slowly moving toward a thaw in its domestic cold war
— this one toward its own people. The Soviet people have long suf-
fered under a cumbersome, unwieldy and, perhaps, unworkable eco-
nomic system. They have suffered under at least one leader who was,
quite simply, a cold-blooded murderer. But until party leaders call
for emigration for those who wish to leave the USSR, for religious
freedom for those who remain, and for an end to state-sanctioned
anti-Semitism, there will still be suffering in the Soviet Union.
No Refusenik Comfort
Last week's events at the Communist Party conference in Moscow
were almost stirring and exciting. What kept the four days of sur-
prises from being fully satisfying, though, was the one glaring omis-
sion: There was no mention of Jewish refuseniks or Jewish emigra-
tion to the West.
In the last two decades, there have been hundreds, perhaps
LETTERS
'Sanctuary'
Article Hit
I was greatly distressed at
the total misunderstanding of
my congregation's efforts to
help a Honduran family find
political asylum in this coun-
try which your recent article
demonstrated (June 24).
You stated that in the often
illegal work of the sanctuary
movement, we managed to
stay within the law in our ef-
forts. One might understand
from the article that even if
somehow legal, my "railing"
against our government and
its allies was part of my "con-
tagious" "fervor" which in-
fected my congregation, and
that there was something
anti-American about our
work. Nothing could be fur-
ther from the truth.
You even brought in rab-
binic colleagues of mine
6
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1988
whose quotes seemed to in-
dicate the inappropriate
nature of our actions. These
two colleagues are both in-
volved in social justice work
themselves and I suspect that
they were dismayed at your
misuse of their words to. at-
tack our work.
First, we are not part of the
Sanctuary movement as you
stated on several occasions.
We did not skirt the law or
just stay within its limits
while others in "our" Sanc-
tuary movement "strayed
beyond the law." Our ac-
tivities are not sanctuary ac-
tivities .. .
Second, our efforts on
behalf of the Vasquez family
were not barely within the
law. They were indeed about
the law. We set out to make
the system work and it
responded. After a legal ac-
tion center near the border
helped us identify Mario Vas-
quez as a refugee with a
reasonable claim for asylum,
we paid his bond and re-
quested a change in venue so
as to bring him to Ann Arbor.
Here we formally applied for
asylum status and after filing
a brief of over 100 pages, ap-
peared before an immigration
judge.
Both the judge and the
government attorney agreed
that Mario had a well-
founded fear of persecution.
He was granted uncontested
asylum. We now had permis-
sion to bring up his family of
eight, whom the Honduran
authorities had threatened
with death and who had fled,
with our help, to Mexico. Our
efforts proved the system and
even celebrated its fairness.
Finally in casting us in a
false light you missed the
point of our work on behalf of
the Vasquez family. As Jews,
we remembered what it felt
like to be driven from our
homes without a place to go.
That was the reason for help-
ing Mario Vasquez and his
wife Miriam and their seven
beautiful children .. .
Rfibbi Robert D. Levy
Temple Beth Emeth
Ann Arbor
Midrasha Cut
Is Deplored
I have just read in The
Jewish News (June 24) that
the hours of the Midrasha
Library are to be cut
drastically. This is a disser-
vice to all scholars in the
Detroit area who rely heavi-
ly on this library, which con-
tains the finest Judaica col-
lection in the state and is
staffed by a trained profes-
sional, Ms. Sarah Bell.
When a library is curtailed
in this fashion, acquisition
ceases, profesional Staff
dwindles, access becomes
more difficult and scholars
frequent it less. The library
ceases to be a functioning ele-
ment in the intellectual life of
the community and becomes
simply a warehouse for old
books.
I have seen such
warehouses in other coun-
tries, marking the death and
disappearance of the Jewish
communities that sponsored
the original library; but I did
not think to see this
phenomenon in Detroit, with
its strong economic base and
its thriving Jewish
community.
The Midrasha Library is a
community asset and
deserves community support
through the allocation of suf-
ficient funds on a regular
basis to maintain its current
level of operation (already
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