PURELY COMMENTARY

Century-Old Rough Road For Israel

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

I

t was not a pleasant performance
for Israel's supporters when a two-
hour program summarized Arab
and Jew, the book by David Shipler. It
could not have been pleasant for Arabs
either. It could have been much better
for the latter had there been the
recognition that the Jewish builders of
Zion were also providing better ways of
protecting spirituality in the Holy
Land, with religious, social, cultural
and eocnomic benefits for all who
choose to continue life in what had been
Palestine, what had always been Eretz
Israel, the Hebraic land revered in
scripture and in prophecies of
redemption.
But in the David Shipler portrayal
it was not to materialize with the im-
mediacy expected. Zionist settlers who
came to establish kibbutzim for a
homeland, who removed rocks and
came to make the land flourish like a
rose, were confronted by danger to their
very lives. The threats continue to this
day and instead of bricks as symbols of
construction, they are used as weapons
by mere children in attacks upon the
defenders of Zion.
This needs to be said to indicate
that the Shipler account combines
many summations of the events and oc-
currences under the title Arab and Jew.
It is a total account of Jews turning to
the homeland for redemption and Arabs
conducting a war against the fulfill-
ment of the dream translated into reali-
ty as a Zionist ideal.
The bitterness that was depicted in
the televised program summarizes the
horror with which Jews were confronted
in the process of redemption. It shows
how Jews reacted to the mass murders
to which Arabs resorted in the aim of
preventing the establishment of modern
settlements in what was to become the
State of Israel.

The Shipler reports need to be
treated as factual and as results of
thorough study and research. The in-
humanities recorded are deplorable.
The manner in which Arabs murdered
pioneers at every step during attempts
by Jews to colonize, emphasize continu-
ing policies that called for the
resistance without which there could
not have been a beginning for the up-
building of the homeland whence, as
Shipler indicated, there was never an
era without Jews in Palestine. Never-
theless, there are some items in the
televised story that need clarification.
Dir Yassin is major among them.
Whenever Arab propagandists need
an element of truth in accusations of
charges of brutalities, they always
shout "Dir Yassin!" There was such an
incident in early 1948 in Ann Arbor
when Maurice Samuel, the famous
author, was addressing a University of
Michigan student body. Arab students
always came to such meetings to heckle
the speakers. When Maurice Samuel
mentioned the many Arab massacres of
they shouted, "Who cares about a few
Jews" and repeated, "Dir Yassin!"
Whereupon Samuel said to them: "One
Jew was killed less than 2,000 years ago
and the world hasn't forgotten yet."
This may have been irrelevant as an
angry response to catcalls but there
were other occasions when Dir Yassin
was the favorite canard.
One semi-official Israeli condemna-
tion of the spread of Arab propaganda
based on the Dir Yassin exaggerations
demands attention. Here is the sum-
mary of that protestation:
Like a mirage in the arid
desert of Arab hate propaganda
appears Dir Yassin, resurrected
again and again with the intent
to incite, flame passions and
whet the appetite for murder.
Arab hate propaganda has
grabbed hold of the name Dir
Yassin and has spun around it a

web of sick untruths, in a vain
quest to spread the vicious lie
that the outnumbered and
outgunned Jewish defenders of
nascent Israel embarked on a
policy of civilian massacres in
1948.
There were massacres dur-
ing Israel's War of In-
dependence — Arab massacres
perpetrated against defenseless
Jews: at the Haifa refineries, at
the Hadassah Hospital on
Mount Scopus, and at the
village of Etzion near Hebron.
Dir Yassin, a village on the
outskirts of Jerusalem, was the
one and only single occasion

'Arab and Jew'
describes the Jews
turning to homeland
for redemption and
the Arabs conducting
a war against the
fulfillment of the
dream.

when in the heat of battle, Arab
civilian casualties were incur-
red in any number. What the
hate spreaders do not divulge is
that the Dir Yassin massacre oc-
curred before Israel's in-
dependence; that the civilians
were warned to leave the village
before the attack; that it was not
carried out by the Haganah, the
official Jewish defense force, but
by unofficial dissident groups;
and that the representative
Jewish authorities of pre-state
Israel condemned the whole
operation.
The Dir Yassin incident is
significant precisely because it
was exceptional. It serves to
prove the rule that throughout
the period of Arab provocation,

attack and massacre that mark-
ed the years of 1947 and 1948,
the Jewish community as a
body reacted militarily against
Arab forces, not against
civilians.
Thus it is that Arab Goeb-
bel's-like propaganda has but a
single name upon which to
hinge its distortions, exaggera-
tions and downright
falsifications.
David Ben-Gurion, the virtual head
of the pre-Israel Yishuv, assailed the at-
tack on Dir Yassin. The tragic event was
not an official Jewish act.
There is notable interest in the mat-
ter in the Menahem Begin book The
Revolt, which made reference to Dir
Yassin:
"After the capture of Dir Yassin .. .
Haganah commanders in Jerusalem
announced that its capture was . . . in-
deed contrary to the general plan . . ."
There are also these references to
the tragic occurrence in Begin's The
Revolt:
Raanan, the Irgun corn-
wander of Jerusalem, radioed
to us the following letter he had
received from the Haganah
regional commander: ". . I
warn you against blowing up
the village which will result in
its inhabitants abandoning
it . .
The hostile propaganda,
disseminated throughout the
world, deliberately ignored the
fact that the civilian population
of Dir Yassin was actually given
a warning by us before the bat-
tle began.
One of our trucks carrying a
loud speaker was stationed at
the entrance to the village and
it exhorted in Arabic all women,
children and aged to leave their

Continued on Page 36

Mysterious Jewish Literary Glamor

Perhaps the presently planned book
review for the Page Two spot should
commence with the musical score from
the popular song from Victor Herbert's
Naughty Marietta:
"Oh, the mystery of life
At last I found thee . ."

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Vol. XCV No 15

2

FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1989

June 9, 1989

The temptation for it is occasioned
by the title of a new book for young
readers, another in the series of
children's books published by the Union
of American Hebrew Congregations.
The very title of the new book The
Mystery of Being Jewish, excites the
interest.
Author Molly Cone's narratives are
not naughty. They are delightful.
We have reason to be puzzled by
anything suggesting the mysterious.
What's mysterious about us? We are an
open book and the mystery is more
about those who judge us. There is the
villainous and the glamorous. Perhaps
Molly Cone will choose another title
when her book goes into additional and
revised printings. Perhaps it will be the
mystery about glory and glamour.
Meanwhile, there is much to com-
mend about her choice for a cast of
Jewish characters, even in their
mysterious ways.
It is understandable why books like
hers should begin with Theodor Herzl,

with the added glory of winding up the
sensational personalities with Albert
Einstein. It is the title selection that is
enchanting.
Thus, Herzl is followed by Golda
Meir. A glorious list of notables follows
and, interestingly, Natan Sharansky
follows Golda, and there is an ex-
planatory note: "One man's act of
courage inspires another, and that per-
son's inspires a third."
That's how the personalities are
defined. There is a total explanation of
the collected group and in each instance
there is an especially unique leadership
quality.
In the included cast there are the
accomplished like the Nobel Prize
scientist Rosalyn Yalow; ERA advocate
Betty Freidan, the courageous feminist;
another nobelist, Isaac Bashevis
Singer; and civil rights protagonists.
Those seeking knowledge for their
families in the concepts of eminent
leaders will find the Molly Cone work
most valuable. The Mystery of Being

Jewish was written for the youth, and
readers of all ages will be well informed
by it.

There is much to be said about the
UAHC commitment to produce books
for young readers. Another in the cur-
rent list of publications is Bible Stories
for Little Children compiled by Betty R.
Hollender. It is illustrated by Martin
Lemelman. It is the fourth volume in
a series of revised editions. It is an in-
dication of continuity in providing pro-
per instruction in the sources from the
Bible for the very young and is a com-
mendation of fulfillment of UAHC
aims.
It is a resort also to publishing card-
board illustrated children's books.
Books similar to the latter, for mere
infants, have also been published by
Kar-Ben Copies and were commended
when they included the Passover story.
Such are the valuable publishing
tasks that aid in teaching the very
young and their elders. ❑

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