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 127