Israel Among Few
at the Shah's Funeral
JERUSALEM — Israel was one of the few nations
officially represented this week at the funeral of the Shah of
Iran in Cairo. Only Israel, the U.S. and China had official
emmissaries at the funeral. Greece's exiled King Constan-
tine attended the funeral as a private citizen, as did former
U.S. President Richard Nixon.
There was no official Israeli reaction to the death of the
Shah. But Interior Minister Yosef Burg expressed regrets
and said he was sprry the deposed Shah had not died in his
homeland. The Shah had been friendly toward Israel.
THE JEWISH NEWS
The Billy Carter
Case and the
Element of
Inspired
Anti-Semitism
Commentary, Page 2
The Poisoned
UN Atmosphere
and Challenges
to the European
Delegations
of Jewish Events
A Weekly Review
VOL. LXXVII, No. 22 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
424-8833
Editorial, Page 4
$15 Per Year: This Issue 35c
August 1, 1980
Youth Killed and 16 Wounded
in Antwerp Grenade Attack
99-Year Language War
Is Continuing in Israel
By JERRY CHESLOW
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Ninety-nifie years after the revival of the He-
brew language in Palestine, the war of the purists and the language
liberals is still raging.
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has been asked to consider a bill
proposed by Moshe Shamir of the right wing Tehiya (rebirth) Party, to
protect the purity of the language. Shamir wants to obligate television
and movie theatres to dub their films in Hebrew and eliminate the
customary Hebrew subtitles. He also seeks to force government minis-
tries and businesses to use more Hebrew in correspondence and to
make shopkeepers use more Hebrew in their signs.
Other purists, such as Israeli poet Moshe Ater, have gone so
far as to predict that unless something is done to protect the
Hebrew language, Israel's social gap could deepen. This, be-
cause the creeping infiltration of foreign words into the lan-
guage is supposedly creating two forms of spoken Hebrew. The
Jews from Arab lands are using more and more Arabic words in
their Hebrew, while Westerners are using more and more
English words.
On the other hand, there are the liberals, such as Prof. Haim Rabin
of the Hebrew University who believe, "A language is not yours simply
because it is pure, but because a people has developed it into a unique
method of expression."
Rabin, an international expert who settled in Israel from England,
maintains that a language cannot develop in a vacuum, but must
borrow from other languages with which it comes in contact. He notes
that the Bible, with its vocabularly of 8,000 words, has at least 400
words which can be traced to other languages. "Even the English
language," says Rabin, "has about 70 percent foreign words."
1881 is often accepted as the beginning of the modern revival of the
Hebrew language, though the language had been sustained and nur-
tured for many centuries. It is the date when a Lithuanian scholar,
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, and his wife set foot on Palestinian soil. From
then on, Ben-Yehuda declared, the language of the family would be
Hebrew and it was only in Hebrew that he spoke with his wife and
children.
Shortly after that date, Ben-Yehuda wrote of the difficulties in
(Continued on Page 5)
BRUSSELS (JTA) — David Kohane, the 15-year-old French-Jewish youth killed in a
terrorist grenade attack which wounded 16 others in Antwerp Sunday afternoon, was buried in
the Dutch city of Putte where several family relatives live. The boy's father, who witnessed the
killing of his son who was boarding a bus for a summer camp, recited the Kadish. Over 100
persons attended the ceremony described by an eye-witness as "dramatic" with dozens of police
cars and Dutch sharpshooters guarding the cemetery.
Similar measures were taken by the Belgian authorities. Police are now guarding Jewish
organizations throughout the country. The Belgian government reportedly ordered special
measures to prevent any risk of further bloodshed.
Belgian Premier Wilfred Martens telegraphed the .president of the Antwerp Agudat Israel
branch, Salomon Klagsbad, to express his personal and the Belgian government's condolences.
He asked that the victims' parents be informed that the Belgian government will take all
necessary measures to "prevent acts of violence, whatever their origin or reason." Mainly
Orthodox Jews who are members of Agudat Israel were wounded in the attack.
Most of the wounded, with the exception of 13-year-old Joshua Erblich, are now
described as out of danger. The 13-year-old boy is still in a critical condition and
partially paralyzed.
Doctors said that close to 40 shrapnel pieces are believed to have entered his brain. A camp
counselor, Mrs. Janine Pollak, in her eighth month of pregnancy, is described as "resting
comfortably" in a hospital.
The terrorist, who gave his name
as Abdel Wahid Born of Damascus,
told police investigators that he had
acted alone but on behalf of "The
Revolutionary Fatah" an organiza-
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset voted Wednesday
to approve the controversial basic law on'Jerusalem. The
tion previously unknown. He said he
vote was 69-15 with three abstentions.
arrived in Antwerp from Rome on
The basic law affirms that Jerusalem is the capital of
Sunday with a forged Moroccan
Israel. It is the seat of the president, the Knesset, the
passport made out to the name of
government and the Supreme Court. It also assures free
Zayed Naser, and planned to leave
access to the holy places and their reservation as such.
Belgium immediately after the at-
A separate clause assures special treatment to
tack.
Jerusalem by government agencies, as well as a spe-
cial annual allowance to the city.
Meanwhile, Jewish organizations
This clause states that the government would attend to
have demanded the immediate clo-
the development and prosperity of Jerusalem and the
sure of the Palestine Liberation
well-being of its inhabitants by allocating special resources
Organization offices in Belgium. The
through an annual grant to the city of Jerusalem, to be
Brussels office of the PLO denied any
approved by the Knesset Finance Committee. Another
involvement in the attack.
statement inserted in the original bill said that state in-
The Knesset Affirms
Jerusalem as Capital
(Continued on Page 6)
(Continued on Page 7)
Muskie Dismisses UN Votes
But Criticizes Israeli Actions
A preponderance of English signs, rather than Hebrew, seems to dominate
Jerusalem's Zion Square.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said Tuesday that the
United Nations General Assembly vote against Israel on Monday was "one-sided" and
that it "will not bring us any closer to peace." He also said that the European Economic
Community (EEC) "exploratory mission" to the Middle East in the coming weeks would
be "most constructive if it builds on the ongoing negotiations" within the Camp David
process.
Muskie also indirectly criticized Israel by saying that "all
the parties must avoid unilateral actions designed to pre judge
the outcome of the negotiations or that would have the effect of
worsening the atmosphere for successful negotiations." Muskie'S
comments were in a prepared statement made available shortly
before he appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee
for a review of world affairs.
He said that he expected the heads of the delegations of
Egypt, United States and Israel to meet again toward the
middle of August on the autonomy negotiations. In this
connection, he said that an agreement on autonomy must
take full account of Israel's security needs and "must also
MUSKIE
(Continued on Page 8)
MARCH 27, 1992
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