Soviet Challenge
Detroit's Jewish community has been asked to take on an im-
portant task in the coming months: to help finance the growing ex-
odus of Jews from the Soviet Union.
The Jewish Welfare Federation board of governors has commit-
ted the community to absorb this additional financial responsibili-
ty immediately upon conclusion of is major fund-raising drive of the
year, the annual Allied Jewish Campaign.
The timing of the effort signifies the importance. The supplemen-
tal campaign to help resettle Soviet Jews must be accomplished while
the Iron Curtain is open. All too frequently in the past the Soviet
government has proven that its Jewish citizens are merely pawns
in the game of East-West power politics.
We must work quickly while the opening exists. Detroiters are
being asked to dig deeply to aid more than 60 local, national and.
overseas agencies through the Allied Jewish Campaign, and then
contribute again to help rescue our Soviet brethren. It is a respon-
sibility that we should be happy to carry and we must accomplish
it as generously as possible.
The lead paragraph of the story implies that the physician's win-
dows were smashed because of the newspaper advertisement and that
some local Jews felt he deserved it because the advertisement was
misleading in its description of its sponsors. These "local Jews" in-
clude Mayor Charlotte Rothstein of Oak Park. The story makes no
mention of a complaint filed with police by the physician. It implies
the physician called the Free Press and 'informed it of the broken
windows. The story was written on that basis. If there was enough
time to send a photograher to Trenton, there must have been enough
time to receive input from the police department.
Those responsible for the window smashing must be caught . . .
and their motivations, if any, shared with Free Press readers. But
it's time for the Free Press to stop talking out of both sides of its
mouth. Fairness and even handedness are laudable. Sloppiness and
insensitivity are not.
pix
Questions For Arafat
Yassir Arafat steadfastly refuses to condemn guerrilla raids in-
to Israel. Even Egyptian President Mubarak this week sought
without success to convince the PLO chairman to renounce such acts,
and Washington has warned that the fledgling U.S.-PLO dialogue
is in jeopardy.
Why does Arafat refuse? Surely the crafty chairman realizes that
such small-scale raids, serve no real military purpose and stand to
thwart monumental political gains he has made in the international
community. The only plausible explanation is that Arafat apparently
feels that internal political dynamics within the PLO coalition
prevents him from challenging or condemning the factions carry-
ing out the raids.
If this is true, and Arafat cannot control the PLO, how can he speak
for it — or the Palestinian people he claims to represent? And didn't
he promise to condemn all forms of PLO terrorism? If he can't keep
his verbal promise, why should Israel trust him with its very life?
Morning Unfriendly
In its desire to be "even handed" in its interpretation of events
from the Mideast, the Detroit Free Press frequently offends members
of the Jewish community. Headlines have been insensitive or inac-
curate. Photographs have been enlarged or cropped to highlight the
sensational. And the use of unidentified news sources for informa-
tion and quotes has made independent verification of alleged Israeli
misdeeds virtually impossible.
When events happen several thousand miles away, especially ones
that have dominated the front pages of newspapers for years, the
sting of an offensive headline or misleading photo caption in the Free
Press hurts, but the pain often subsides after soothing comments
by the publisher and a promise to do a fair job.
But an article in Tuesday's Free Press goes beyond offending
members of the Jewish community. Unlike events in Nablus or Gaza,
this one hits very close to home. The article, on Page 5A, reports
about a Palestinian physician whose clinic windows in Trenton were
smashed. The physician believes, according to the Free Press arti-
cle, that this damage occurred because of an advertisment on the
Middle East he sponsored in Saturday's Free Press. Accompanying
the article is a picture of the physician looking through one of the
windows, holding a copy of his Free Press advertisement for the
photographer.
6
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1989
LETTERS
Macomb Judge's Name
Was Not Mentioned
On Friday, Feb. 24, your publication
carried an article entitled "Blanchard
Picks Howard for Circuit Court Bench'?
Having known Barry Howard as a
friend and attorney I feel that the gover-
nor made an excellent choice.
The last paragraph, however, in the
article has me perplexed. The
paragraph mentions other Jewish
judicial appointments by Governor
Blanchard and lists many other col-
leagues and close friends.
I am just wondering, my mother was
Jewish and my father was Jewish, as a
matter of fact my father was a shochet
in the City of Mount Clemens and, fur-
thermore, I was appointed by Governor
James Blanchard in 1986.
Do I qualify as "other Jewish judicial
appointments by Blanchard" and being
named in the paragraph?
Michael D. Schwartz
Macomb County Circuit Court Judge
Trip To Israel
Was Safe, Memorable
I would like to add my voice to those
who have enjoyed a very exciting and
secure trip to Israel beginning Dec. 23,
1988. Two of our granddaughters, ages
18 and 20, accompanied my wife and me
and it was a memorable experience for
us to be together. This was the first trip
for the youngsters and they enjoyed
every moment.
We know that tourism has suffered
because of the bad press that seems to
discourage travel in Israel. We receiv-
ed many raised eyebrows from our
friends when we mentioned going to
Israel. At no time did we encounter any
alarming security situations in spite of
the fact that we were on the West Bank
several times.
We can attribute the success of our
trip to the selection of a highly compe-
tent travel agent who works in com-
bination with a fine Israeli land
operator .. .
I urge anyone contemplating a trip
to do so without fear. They will enjoy it
as much as we did.
Eugene Kraft
Bloomfield Hills
Newspaper Helped
The Nazi Menace
Your front page article and picture
Feb. 17,. "Growing Menace," displaying
a big black swastika is just as much in-
appropriate and counter-productive as
Continued on Page 10