PURELY COMMENTARY ffm••••••
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Israel ORT Lesson
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Editor Emeritus
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RAINBIRD
36
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1991
855-8484
onstant appeals for
just and common
sense treatment of
Israel have kept falling on
deaf ears and blind eyes.
During the harassing of the
Jewish state, both the dip-
lomatic corps of the leading
nations of the world and
even the most prominent
periodicals seemed to be fin-
ding glee in attacking Israel.
Many criticisms have often
been deplorably obnoxious.
Even so prominent a
newspaper as the Washing-
ton Post arouses resentment.
One example of it was in the
Near East Report of the
American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee of April 29,
1991. That article opens
with this note:
Jews around the world
have regarded the mass
emigration of Jews from
the Soviet Union to Israel
as a miracle. It has been a
different kind of miracle
for the Washington Post's
Israel correspondent Jack-
son Diehl. For Diehl, the
Soviet Jewish emigration
has proved a bonanza for
earning front-page head-
lines with sensational nar-
ratives describing every
conceivable negative
aspect of the aliyah story.
The many negative headlines
quoted from the Diehl articles
are multiple indictments in-
dicating inexcusable pre-
judices. That is why the con-
clusion to the Near East
Report indictments is so im-
portant:
One reason the media is
held in such low esteem is
that journalists are seen
as incapable of relaying
good news. Any Israeli
could point Diehl in the
direction of a positive
story about Soviet Jews,
but he apparently finds it
difficult to write some-
thing good about Israel.
Miracles don't make page
one of the Post. The appeals
for just treatment of Israel in
news reports and editorial
comments always ask for
consideration to be given to
the continuing and immense
contributions by Israel to
human needs, education,
arts and sciences. There is
research in Israel's univer-
sities that benefits all
mankind. There are cultural
attainments not to be
sneered at. The most recent
can be found in another arti-
Haber
Baker
cle in the Near East Report,
April 22, 1991:
During Secretary of
State James Baker's first
visit to Israel, he visited
the ORT Braude Interna-
tional Institute of
Technology in Carmiel
(West Galilee). U.S. Am-
bassador William Brown
recommended that Baker
visit the school because of
its reputation for
excellence in technological
training.
Baker was greeted by
children waving flags,
and was given an olive
Consideration
should be given to
the contributions
by Israel to human
needs, education,
arts and sciences.
"peace" tree to plant in
the Women's American
ORT garden. Baker also
visited a class with Rus-
sian olim, who thanked
the U.S. for helping to
make their emigration
from the Soviet Union
possible, and met with
immigrant families, who
described to him the ab-
sorption process. All of
these facts must be made
known and popularized as
one of the means of lending
justice to treatments of
Israel's activities in the
Middle East.
Opportunity is provided by
the Near East Report in giv-
ing recognition to the ORT
movement.
The ORT Braude cam-
pus was built in 1988 with
the goal of transforming
the Galilee into Israel's
"Silicon Valley." The idea
was that, by the 21st cen-
tury, we could have a
high-tech community that
would also enjoy a better
quality of life .. .
When the 1990-91 school
year began, Braude had
642 students enrolled, an
increase of approximately