EDITORIAL
Maintaining Commitment
With a merger into the large, financially
secure Henry Ford Health System no longer
in the offing at this time Sinai Hospital finds
itself swimming upstream, against the flow of
consolidation in the health care industry.
While shaky, Sinai's financial condition is
not tottering on the brink of collapse. However,
the long-term prognosis is not good. Expan-
sion of managed care systems, reim-
bursements for services from government en-
tities that don't cover expenses and a surplus
of hospital beds will continually pressure
Sinai's bottom line.
As Sinai's leaders continue to explore
merger opportunities which enable the in-
stitution to maintain or achieve excellence
while retaining its unique Jewish mission and
character, they must accelerate the difficult
process of determining what kind of a health
system to have while pursuing a partner. The
Sinai of today will be different from the Sinai
of tomorrow, as programs and services are
targeted for reduction and elimination and
new, financially viable ones are introduced.
What shouldn't change is the Jewish com-
munity's ongoing commitment to Sinai as it
navigates the difficult times ahead.
Critical Ballot
With the primary election only 10 days
away, the political races promise to be typical
of the dog days of summer: quiet, lazy and in-
spiring only a handful of those eligible to
turn out and vote.
Our Close-Up stories this week on the
primary elections Aug. 7, both local and na-
tional, point out how dangerous that majority
attitude can be.
The Middle East has taken a back seat in
most political races across the nation. In
some ways that is a blessing. It means that
Israel, the intifada, the Palestinians and ter-
rorism have not been the focus of news events
of recent weeks. It may be a welcome relief
for American Jews, but it does not necessari-
ly translate that progress is taking place on
the Middle East political or peace fronts.
The area has a way of returning to the
forefront because its problems have not been
solved. And ignoring those problems, and ig-
noring the views of political candidates on
these issues, will only backfire after the elec-
tions when these issues again return to the
front pages of our newspapers and our elected
officials' agendas.
It is the major reason The Jewish News this
week pays such close attention to the 13th
Congressional District in Detroit (see Page
24). Rep. George Crockett has been a strong
critic of Israel during his 10 years in Con-
gress. Local friends of Israel are anxiously
eyeing the eight candidates vying for the
Democratic nomination. The winner Aug. 7 is
virtually assured of election in November.
We would be remiss, as would the voters, if
we made Israel and the Middle East the sin-
gle issue of any election. It certainly isn't the
major issue for George Crockett's consti-
tuents. Jewish voters have shown in the last
decade that there are Jewish Republicans as
well as Jewish Democrats, that domestic
issues are just as important as a candidate's
attitude toward Israel, and that many views
exist within the Jewish community on both
sides of the abortion question and on Middle
East peace.
Jewish voters cannot be taken for granted.
Nor can Jewish voters take for granted the
views of candidates for local, state and na-
tional office. We must take the time to weigh
all the issues carefully, and to vote on Aug. 7.
A vote that day counts more heavily than in
most other elections because of the low voter
turnout. And it will count heavily in the
future when local, state, national and inter-
national policies are devised.
LETTERS
Fictitious Homeland
Provides A Lesson
In the early 1900s, the
Zionist Congress accepted the
British offer of Uganda to be
a refugee settlement for the
Jewish people . . . Immediate-
ly, thousands of Jews entered
the promised land, Uganda.
They built cities and villages,
and a Jewish government in
Kampala, the "New Jeru-
salem," was established.
The local black tribes were
happy. They got better hous-
ing, health programs and
education, and much more.
Once that happened many
hundreds of thousands of
blacks from surrounding ter-
ritories entered and settled
there and enjoyed the fruits of
the Jewish state Uganda.
In the 1980s, the winds
6
FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1990
blew in a different direction.
A great number of blacks got
higher education from the
several universities founded
by Jews. The blacks seem
more frustrated; they want a
greater piece of the pie and
even all of it. After all, they
say, Uganda is their land and
the Jews took it from them;
the Jews are aliens. And of
course Jewish groups support
their claim. The brotherhoods
of blacks and Jews demand
that the Jewish people give
up their dream.
Let's wake up from our
dream and return to reality
and thank God that at the
Sixth Zionist Congress in
1903 the Jews opposed the
British offer of Uganda in
favor of Eretz Israel the bona
fide Jewish land.
Now that Nelson Mandela
toured Europe and the United
States with extraordinary
success, it's evident that he
strengthened the antagonism
and planted some poisonous
seeds all through his trip.
While Mandela said he
could not interfere in the in-
ternal affairs of other coun-
tries, he had the audacity to
tell Israel what she should do
and equated her to apartheid
in South Africa .. .
As Nelson Mandela disap-
peared into the blue yonder,
the "Arabs and Jews For a
Just Peace" (Jewish News,
July 13) blamed Israel for
human rights abuses and
demanded that the U.S.
government pressure Israel.
Yes, how pleasant for the
Arabs sitting with their
Jewish brothers, when the
Jews talk in Arab tongue,
demanding that Israel give
up "occupied" territories and
to talk to Arafat. But they
have Alzheimer's disease
when it comes to Arab coun-
tries. They must demand
pressure on Syria, Iraq, Jor-
dan and the Saudis to sit with
Israel and negotiate peace
without preconditions.
What about human rights
for the Jews in Syria, for the
Kurds in Iraq and the mostly
black slaves in Saudi Arabia
where human dignity is at
zero?
Shiomo Micznik
Southfield
support of World Jewry as
well . . .
Tied in with this action pro-
gram should be the im-
mediate mobilization of
Israeli industry to publicize
the purchase of Israeli export
items. If 2.5 milion Free
World Jews would buy $2,500
worth of Israeli products per
year, then the gross export
figure would almost double.
This would create jobs and in-
come for Russian Jews as well
as native Israelis.
Norman E. Mann
San Diego, Calif
A Dangerous
Gift Horse
Housing Crisis
Needs Action
Recent reports tell of Israeli
evictions to provide homes for
the subsidized Russians. This
will, in my mind, lessen sup-
port for contributions to
house and provide for the new
immigrants.
Israel must immediately in-
stitute some form of rent con-
trol or rent stabilization. This
must be done now and homes
must be found for those
Israelis who have been forced
to move into tents. Any argu-
ment which considers rent
control or rent stabilization
' as undemocratic can take a
glance at. Santa Monica,
Calif., Los Angeles and New
York City, all of which have
some form of controls. Do not
lose sight of the fact that in
Israel you have an emergen-
cy, and emergencies evoke
emergency reactions.
The manufacture of mobile
homes such as those which
were built by the Bar Ton Co.
of Tel Aviv are part of the
answer. A massive building
program should be started
and some of the olim should
take part in building their
own homes. Should more
Israelis be displaced, then I
am confident that the
government would lose not
only national support but the
Nelson Mandela's accep-
tance of aid from Castro,
Qaddafi and Arafat can be
easily understood.
A man who spent 27 years
in prison because of a cause is
obviously so dedicated to it
that he is willing to accept
assistance for it from any
source whatsoever, without
looking the "gift horse" in the
mouth.
Castro, Qaddafi, and
Arafat's motives for giving
the money are not hard to
fathom: They obviously hope
that Mandela's millions of
followers and admirers all
over the world will take
another look at them, and see
them as "not all bad," and as
supporters of freedom and
human rights.
I wonder if Mr. Mandela
realizes that he is being used.
This unholy trio most like-
ly also have long-range hopes
connected with their "gifts."
They undoubtedly also hope
that if Mr. Mandela and the
ANC ever come to power,
South Africa will be added to
the countries that support in-
ternational terrorism, piracy,
and the war against the world
establishment.
Perhaps this gift horse
should be "looked in the
mouth."
Balfour Peisner
Huntington Woods