the Israeli government and
their peace policies. The only
agenda that all the Jews all
over the world should have is
how to help Israel with the
staggering cost of absorbing
not only the Ethiopian im-
migrants, but also the Rus-
sian immigrants who are ar-
riving by the thousands.
I would highly recommend
all the agendas to collect as
much money as possible from
their members. That is what
Israel needs now — more
financial support than ever
before. I am sure they all
agree that the new im-
migrants must be cared for
somehow and jobs must be
provided for them.
I would love to see some
editorials which would help
galvanize the Jewish com-
munity to support Israel more
than they are already suppor-
ting it, editorials that would
enlighten us and to make us
understand that without
Israel's survival, God knows
what could happen to our
grandchildren.
We must make sure that
Israel can absorb all the im-
migrants, their lifeblood, and
be strong enough to rescue
Jews from any place in the
world who are in danger and
who need a home. Without a
strong and prosperous Israel,
the Jewish world has ab-
solutely no future.
David Kahan
Bloomfield Hills
Double Standard
On Palestinians
Recently, the Kuwaiti am-
bassador to the United States
admitted his government's
policy of expelling most of its
Palestinian population due to
the PLO's pro-Iraqi stance
during the Persian Gulf crisis.
In an interview (Washington
Times), Ambassador Saud
Nasir Sabah said, "If people
pose a security threat, as a
sovereign country we have
the right to exclude anyone
we don't want."
He continued, "I tell some
of our friends on (Capitol) Hill
who criticize us: 'Why don't
you take them? If you're so
concerned with human rights
and leaving 200,000 Palesti-
nians in Kuwait, which real-
ly poses a threat to our securi-
ty, we'll be more than happy
to airlift them to you free of
charge, and you give them
citizenship in the U.S.' "
Several months ago the
U.N. severely censured Israel
for deporting four convicted
Palestinian terrorists. These
four were charged, tried, and
found guilty in a court of law.
Following their conviction,
they exercised their full right
to appeal their verdicts all the
way to the Israeli Supreme
Court. Due process of law ex-
ists in the Jewish state, which
remains the only democracy
in the Middle East.
One might ask: If Kuwait is
deporting not four convicted
terrorists but thousands of
Palestinians who remain un-
charged of any crime, and if
Kuwait is openly expressing
its blatant disregard for
human rights, why then is
Israel the only country that is
condemned in the United Na-
tions? Why? Simply, because
there is a double standard.
Eric Norber,
National Coordinator,
Institute of Students and
Faculty on Israel
The Politics
Of Kashruth
Kosher or not so kosher?
The May 24 article in The
Jewish News dealing with
rabbinic supervision of Coca
Cola, prompts me to once
again raise my voice in the
name of decency and ethical
conduct in the area of the
kashruth enterprise.
The overriding question
that emerges from the article,
it seems to me, is not so much:
"What is kosher?" but rather
"Who is the. rabbi?"
Obviously, the rabbis are
fighting for market-share and
the methods employed to pro-
tect and enlarge one's turf are
less than honorable. The
heavy-handedness of the OU
organization is patently in
evidence and all this is done
at the behest of Orthodox
Judaism.
Greed, vindictiveness and
arrogance are the hand-
maidens helping to bring
about that which is desired by
the hierarchy. The $20
million which, according to
the article, is the remunera-
tion the rabbis receive could
be drastically reduced if
supervision were limited to
items that traditionally war-
ranted supervision and not
include a multitude of food
items and, may I add, inedi-
ble merchandise that does not
require rabbinical inspection.
Kurt Bauer
Farmington Hills
Information
Appreciated
I received a copy of Philip
Slomovitz' March 29 article,
"Miracles Vs. Diplomacy." In
the article, he noted the im-
portance of media awareness
in general, and letters-to-the-
editor in particular, to the
Jewish community as Israel
faces challenges and con-
troversies now and in the
future.
It was good to see that the
Jewish community is being
educated about the impor-
tance of the media. I also ap-
preciate the praise of AIPAC's
recent publication, Com-
municating with the Media,
which aims to make pro-
Israel activists media ac-
tivists as well.
Toby Dershowitz
American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee
Tax Deductions
Given For Donations
Thank you for the story on
the new Federated Endow-
ment Fund agency special
giving program, Horizons,
which enables donors to link
their name with an agency or
program that will serve the
community.
I wish to make an impor-
tant correction. A person set-
ting up an endowment
through Horizons would
receive a tax deduction for the
amount of the gift in the year
that it is given (not on in-
terest income).
When the fund is created,
the donor is able to suggest
where the interest income
will be distributed. The arti-
cle neglected to say that in-
terest earned by the fund is
nontaxable to the donor.
Robert Slatkin
Chairman,
Agency Endowment Committee
Federated Endowment Fund
Giving Away
Israel's Defense
The Detroit Jewish News
criticizes Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir for
rejecting the Bush Ad-
ministration Mideast Peace
conference (Editorial, June
21).
That's good news!
The Detroit Jewish News
knows the purpose of that so-
called "peace" conference is to
get Israel to surrender Jewish
land liberated in 1967 from
an Arab occupation.
The administration raises
holy hell when some of our
people move into our
4,000-year-old Jewish
homeland — Judea-Samaria,
or Jerusalem's Holy City.
They call them "settlers" who
are an "obstacle to peace."
Recently, 30,000 Arabs
deported by Kuwait moved in-
to those territories. That's all
right, because according to
the Bush people Arabs and
only Arabs, no Jews, should
be allowed to live in the
heartland of our 4,000-year-
old Jewish homeland.
President Bush and
Secretary of State Baker have
made it their business to get
Israel to give up the Golan
Heights which commands the
entire Galilee. It doesn't
bother our State Department
that Syria is buying advanc-
ed aircraft, tanks and missile
technology including the im-
proved SCUD-C with a longer
range and twice the payload
of those used by Iraq and the
Chinese M-9 solid-fueled
missile capable of hitting all
of Israel.
What a wonderful fairy
tale: Israel won't have to
waste money on having arm-
ed forces anymore! Mr. Bush
pledged that Israel's survival
would be guaranteed! But of
course, Israel, little Israel,
now 40 miles wide from the
river to the sea, will have to
earn that wonderful "guaran-
tee" by kicking out a quarter
of a million Jews from their
homes in the eastern part of
Jerusalem, in Judea-
Samaria, in Gaza and in the
Golan Heights and surrender-
ing that territory to the
Arabs.
Haven't Jews learned: That
if we can't, or won't defend
ourselves, nobody else will.
We have had guarantees and
guarantees; and they always
have proven to be worthless.
We must not let our life de-
pend on "guarantees."
The belief that only a
weakened Israel will be able
to enjoy peace, is a delusion
which can prove fatal to our
existence.
Ann Barnett
Southfield
Letters Policy
The Jewish News en-
courages readers to com-
ment on issues in the
newspaper. Preference is
given to letters which are
brief. All letters must be
typewritten, double-
spaced, and include the
signature, home address
and daytime telephone
number of the writer.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS