PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
No Silence About Amnesty's Harm To Israel
A
mnesty International
continued to clamor
for popularity with
claims to objectivity in its
reports on human rights
issues among nations. Its
treatment of Israel condemns
it to notoriety. The continuing
negations of Israel demand
the exposure now being given
it by the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC).
The AIPAC Near East
Report carries an indictment
of Amnesty procedures that
must not be overlooked.
It is necessary to end the
abusive ways of dealing with
Israel's morality. In its
analysis of Amnesty tactics,
the Near East Report
demands attention to the
following:
In its 1990 human rights
report released earlier this
month, Amnesty Interna-
tional once again slammed
Israel on alleged human
rights abuses in the ter-
ritories. But the Amnesty
report repeats many ques-
tionable allegations
against Israel, while vir-
tually whitewashing
Palestinian responsibility
for violence in the West
Bank and Gaza. Amnesty
accuses Israel of torturing
prisoners, killing unarmed
civilians, including
children, and failing to
"adequately" investigate
fatal shootings.
Israel's Justice Ministry
hotly disputed Amnesty's
contentions. "This state-
ment is utterly false," it
declared. "Every incident
of death involving the IDF
is automatically in-
vestigated and court-
martials are instituted
when warranted:' Amnes-
ty International, a Justice
Ministry statement con-
tinued, "relies heavily on
politically motivated
sources in the report's
depiction of specific cases.
Trusting these tainted
sources, Amnesty Interna-
tional draws unwarranted
generalizations and in-
ferences."
In its report, Amnesty
uses the term "reportedly"
to describe numerous in-
stances of alleged Israeli
abuses. That, critics say, in-
dicates that Amnesty
hasn't verified charges it is
making against Israel, and
is wary of the credibility of
Palestinians making them.
Amnesty omits the fact
that during 1989 there
were "359 cases of arson,
734 attacks using Molotov
cocktails, 12 grenade at-
tacks, and 80 shootings in
the administered areas;'
the Justice Ministry said in
its response. "These violent
acts by participants in the
intifida caused 385 Israeli
civilians and 909 members
of the IDF to secure
hospital treatment."
Amnesty accuses Israel
of mistreating a Palesti-
nian "human rights
worker" named Shawan
Jabarin. Jabarin, the
Israelis maintain, is actual-
ly a veteran activist in
George Habash's PFLP,
and has admitted serving
The Near East
Report carries an
indictment of
Amnesty
procedures that
must not be
overlooked.
as a recruiter for Habash's
group.
This is not to say that
abuses haven't occurred in
Israel's fight against the
violent insurrection in the
territories. But Israel —
unlike any of its neighbors
— has institutionalized a
judicial mechanism to
punish renegade troops
and deter such behavior in
the future. As long as
Amnesty International
puts out tendentious, one-
sided reports which fail to
recognize this, or note
Palestinian responsibility
for the violence, it will con-
tinue to come under fire for
its bias.
Amnesty officials should be
reminded about the Nazi
fabrications when Interna-
tional Red Cross commissions
were invited to visit concen-
tration camps. The Nazis
prepared the glories they
wanted to portray for the Red
Cross. That's when the Red
Cross was exonerating
Nazism and the truth was
missing from Red Cross
statements. Amnesty must
not fall into the trap of the
anti-Israel Arab reporters.
When media and Amnesty
strive for facts and realities
that spell truth, there will be
a cessation of injustice to
Israel. ❑
Generating Dignity And Confidence In Gerentology
M
ore concern is nearly
always expressed
about aging than
perhaps any other social issue
affecting family and
community.
Therefore
generating
wholesome treatment of the
needs that affect such an
overwhelming number in our
midst is of compelling
importance.
Dr. Alex Comfort, who has
gained avid recognition as a
psychologist and family
health expert, helps a great
deal with his Say Yes to Old
Age, subtitled Developing a
Positive Attitude Toward Ag-
ing (Crown Publishers).
There is something
remarkable about this book
because it covers every con-
ceivable need in helping and
encouraging the aging. Every
need is touched upon — the
medical, the social, the
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1990
responses to the physician
and every element that
reduces problems that under-
mine reality.
Dr. Comfort diminishes fear
and prejudice as he advises:
From the facts you can,
whatever your age,
debrainwash yourself
about what is and isn't in-
herent in the passage of
time. So long as society is
what it is, self-defense is
the main skill people need
as they get older, and if we
ignored the physical and
social problems we could
be creating a deception of
our own.
Bear in mind that while
illnesses have to be includ-
ed among these entries,
you aren't about to have
all, or necessarily any, of
them. The remedies we
suggest for old-age pro-
blems all carry the
qualification "if you can af-
ford them." This is a
qualification imposed by
the kind of society we live
in. Pleasures need no com-
ment. They can be real.
Resources indicate where
you can turn for help or
organize it for yourself —
and for others, which can
be a resource and a
pleasure in itself.
Positive approaches spell
courage as well as confidence.
It is in treating dignity that
Dr. Comfort makes these
assertions:
Dignity. If other people
don't recognize it, put them
down — other older people
depend upon the degree to
which you ensure that
anyone who thoughtlessly
displays agism doesn't get
away with it. React to peo-
ple who talk slightingly
about seniors ("old duffer,"
"old biddy," "dirty old
man;' "old lady in tennis
shoes") in the way that
black people have learned
to react to people who talk
slightingly about "nig-
gers."
Tell them you don't ap-
preciate that sort of
language. Your reaction
will give them a salutary
shock. Usually they mean
no harm, but need their
heads changed, to see
older people as people, and
only incidentally or secon-
darily as old.
It is high time to put agist
remarks in the same
"socially unacceptable"
category. Never let "old" go
past when it's used as a
put-down.
In entertainment, any
time you see a senior
depicted as a clown by vir-
tue of age, pick up the
phone. Even compliments
can be left-handed. A feis-
ty aunt of mine announced
when she was eighty-five,
"The next idiot who calls
me a wonderful old lady, I
shall clobber."
Age is venerable. Words
for "old" or "senior" gave
us senator, elder, presbyter,
guru and veteran. Don't
you let anybody forget it;
even if you don't have these
titles, you belong to the
club.
Treating
depression
realistically the author takes
into account the medical pro-
blems and the fears that often
strike the aging. A bit of ad-
vice that merits considering
is with special reference to
loneliness:
Loss of pleasure in life, of
libido, of sleep and of well-
being are not features of
aging. If you experience
any of these without cause,
you may require treatment
for depression. The drill'
for the doctor is, naturally,
to attack depressing
features such as loneliness,
bad housing and poverty
in your environment to the
best of his ability, but also
to recognize that these,
particularly loneliness, can
in turn be effects as well as
causes of depression.
An inserted cast of
notables, scattered through
Say Yes To Old Age may well
be called a book within a
book. It is the convincing pro-
of that retirement can be
resisted or that many make a
retirement a labor of love.
Like Golda Meir, they go
right back to active life when
Golda Meir
it appears as if their assign-
ed task may have ended.
Golda Meir claimed to be
ending almost a half-
century career in politics
when, in 1974, at the age of
75, she resigned as Israel's
Prime Minister, a post she
had held for five years and
through two Middle East
wars. In 1976, however, she
was asked to head a com-
mittee to rejuvenate the
Labor Party.
Comfort could not possibly
overlook George Burns, the
nonagenarian of stage fame.
George Burns was born
on New York's Lower East
Side in 1895 and within
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