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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor Emeritus p erhaps as long as half a century ago one of our distinguished au- thors, Maurice Samuel, wrote a book under the title Jews Be Nice. Even now it suggests that there are re- peated occasions when our people are advised to forget indignities, to kowtow to flattery, to forget in the pro- cess that anything resembl- ing prejudice can ever be compensated with forget- fulness. Ecumenism, which I always treat with a capital E, strives for the noblest. Nevertheless, we must not forget the lessons in Mr. Samuel's book. It need not become debatable in relation to the event on May 11, which was headlined in The Jewish News as "Father Coughlin's Church Will Host Interfaith event." A recollection of an occurrence some 30 years ago should prove explanatory. This is about Father Charles E. Coughlin, who regularly did his grocery shopping in the Gelfand Super Market, which was then located in Royal Oak near the Shrine of the Little Flower. On one of his shopp- ing visits, Father Coughlin was informed that Mr. Gel- fand was soliciting in- vestments in State of Israel Bonds and asked if the priest would be interested. "Certainly," the priest replied and sat down and wrote a $500 check to the State of Israel. There was a photograph. I wrote to Father Coughlin and ad- vised him that I was inter- ested in publishing it and would like it to be accom- panied by an alteration in his anti-Semitic advocacies. He never replied. The photo of the priest purchasing the bonds did appear with publication of his obituary. Now on the occasion of the Ecumenical dinner at the Shrine of the Little Flower, we were treated in The Jew- ish News story to an under- standable recollection of the Coughlin prejudices which became guidelines for hatred of Jews. Much has been published on the subject and the shocks that were incor- porated in the radio priest's public addresses soon arous- ed the disgust and outrage of Catholics as well as Jews. On May 11 we were treated to exonerations that renew contempt for anything that might lead to the encouragement of bigotries, hatreds, anti- Semitism. Among the an- nouncements about the event was: The event will feature a tour of the Shrine and the . Shocks that were incorporated with the priest's addresses soon aroused disgust. private quarters of the church's present pastor • • The Reverend Brunett will speak about the church's history and the Catholic church's efforts to better understand the Jews. ii•■•■•■■ ••01 Part of the idea is to demystify a building that symbolizes anti-Semitism to many local Jews. Perhaps it is proving humiliating for Catholics as well that the great events leading to the new Catholic- Jewish cooperation should in any way be spoken of with the mentioning of Coughlin- sim. The hate that was caused by the radio priest was un- American and anti- American and, therefore, as much anti-Catholic as anti- Jewish. Anything like vin- dication of the hatreds with flattery for this anti-Semite and even a partial foprget- fulness of him and his deeds must never be tolerated. Perhaps, it is always time- ly to repeat Maurice Samuel's challenging title and attach punctuation so that it reads Jews Be Nice? ❑ NEWS I Japan Proposes Wave!, Peace Plan Brussels (JTA) — Japan is reported to have made a con- crete proposal that might improve the economies of Middle Eastern countries and advance peace in the re- gion. It was offered during a closed-door session of the multilateral conference on regional economic problems, held here last week under the European Community's chairmanship. The Japanese idea is to ease travel between Israel and the Arab countries for people from outside the re- gion. That would encourage tourism, which in turn would stimulate investment in tourist infrastructure such as hotels, transporta- tion and communications networks. Moreover, the Japanese said, it would help protect the environment at historical sites. Japan was represented at the conference by senior offi- cials of its mission to the E.C. and representatives from the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. "Japan considers that it's important to start with something which creates the least problems," said Tomio Uchida, head of the Japanese delegation. "As tourism is said to be a passport for peace, we pro- pose that liberalization mea- sures for the movement of foreign tourists in the region become a high priority in this working group," he said. At present, tourists can travel freely between Israel and Egypt, which have a peace treaty, but not bet- ween Israel and any other Arab country. The Japanese plan apparently would remedy that before Israel concludes peace treaties with its other neighbors. Israel, Syria and Lebanon were absent from the Brussels meeting. The Israelis stayed away because Palestinians from outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip attended. Syria and Lebanon are boycotting all of the multilateral talks. Japan was one of the 35 nations attending the meeting, one of five on re- gional issues convening in various capitals. A working group on environmental problems opened a two-day meeting in Tokyo. cJ 0