I MEDIA MONITOR I

SIDEWALK SALE

ONE WEEK, •

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6th to SATURDAY, AUGUST 12th

OAK PARK STORE ONLY

Newspaper Editorials
Back Israel's Action

ARTHUR J. MAGIDA

Special to The Jewish News

SPORTSWEAR

• $25-$44 Cotton Sweaters
• $26-$30 Shorts
• $10-$32 T-Shirts
• $34-$50 Chaus
• $30-$32 Peter Popovitch

E

$ 5-$ 10
$ 10
$ 5 $ 10
$ 10
$ 13 $ 24

BARGAINS EVERY DAY OF
THIS WEEK LONG SALE!

COATS-JACKETS

• Denim Jackets-Dusters . . $ 24 90_$ 2990
$ 2990
• $50-$75 Summer Jackets
$2 990,$ 3990
• Group of Raincoats

$75 MEN'S LONDON FOG JACKETS

NOW $ 2990

BUY NOW FOR WINTER

• Zipout Rainwear
• Sweater Jackets
• London Fog Coats

$

to

$9990

OAK PARK LINCOLN CENTER
GREENFIELD AT 101/2 MILE

968-2060

32

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1989

499°

ditorial writers for
several major Ameri-
can newspapers placed
the blame for the murder of
Lt. Col. William Higgins on
Hezbollah terrorists and Iran,
which sponsors Hezbollah
and to which the group
swears allegiance. For the
most part the press was sym-
pathetic to Israel, though
several editorialists question-
ed the wisdom of Jerusalem's
abduction of Sheik Abdel
Kareem Obeid, precipitating
the latest round of hostage
violence.
Simultaneously, Israeli
editorial writers rushed to
their country's defense. An
editorial in Hadashot attack-
ed European "hypocrisy" for
calling Israel's abduction of
Obeid "gangsterism and ter-
rorism." The paper also scold-
ed President Bush for reac-
ting "in a cold and critical
way" to the kidnapping of
Obeid, who had reportedly
"masterminded" Higgins' ab-
duction over a year ago and
hid him in his home.
"It appears that the fear of
Iranian terrorism has
paralyzed even the United
States," concluded Hadashot.
Noting that the raid
against Obeid's home had
been implemented "with
complete surprise and ab-
solute success,"
Yediot
Ahranot said the United
States would have been proud
to have executed it. The paper
attributed official American
criticism of the raid to sour
grapes.
And in Ha'aretz, Ze'ev Shiff,
one of Israel's leading
military commentators,
reported that much of the
foreign defense and in-
telligence community was
privately conceding that
Israel's action was the only
way to exert pressure on fun-
damentalist terrorist groups.
Shiff noted that the United
States had abducted at sea
last year a Hezbollah member
who had participated in the
hijacking of a TWA plane and
was allegedly involved in the
death of an American citizen.
"Moral preaching to Israel,
including that of President
Bush," wrote Shiff, "is
therefore to be taken lightly."
While much of the British
press was critical of the Obeid
kidnapping, the British na-
tional newspaper, the Mail,
deeply approved. Battling in-
ternational terrorism cannot
be done by "conventional

means," although, "of course,
it would be nice if the pro-
blems of the world could be
solved by an ambassadorial
invitation to tea. Maybe one
day that will happen.
"But until it does, we still
need those prepared to take
tough decision. At that, the
Israelis are really rather
good."
In the United States, the
New York Times defended
Israel's right to take action,
writing that "as a matter of
principle and common sense,
Israel and other nations sub-
jected to terrorism have a
right to pre-emptive and
punitive action. Yes, that in-
cludes military operations for
both rescue of hostages or kid-
napping of terrorists. Yes,
there are risks, sometimes
tragic, for the innocent."

`Washington is
caught between
concern for the
eight other
Americans and the
requirements of
working with a
beleaguered,
independent-
minded ally.

But then the Times ques-
tioned last Friday's Israeli
operation: "The question here
is not only one of principle,
but of effectiveness. The
paper questioned whether it
was a "wise practice" to ab-
duct the sheik to set up an ex-
change for captive Israelis.
"Did Israel think there was a
good chance the fanatical
Hezbollah would approve an
exchange? These are hard
questions that Israel needs to
address."
The Los Angeles Times took
a similar stance, first ques-
tioning whether Higgins had
not been dead long before his
captors proclaimed his execu-
tion. "The guilt in this mat-
ter, of course, lies solely with
Hezbollah," the paper stated.
But while noting Israel's
assertion that her abduction
of Obeid was within the boun-
daries of international law,
the Los Angeles paper ques-
tioned whether it was
"prudent.
Did Israel expect the terror
group to give up their
hostages, and did Jerusalem
have a contingency plan if
Hezbollah threatened to
murder other hostages? the
paper wondered.
Blaming Israel for Higgins'
death, commented the New