I NEWS I From All Of Us At Audette Cadillac We Wish You A Happy and Healthy New Year «dee a() 851-7200 7100 ORCHARD LAKE RD. at the end of Northwestern Highway WEST BLOOMFIELD OPEN MON. & THURS. 'til 9 P.M. HENRY & MARIETTA SPERBER ALAN LI PEGGY LINKER OF SPERBER'S KOSHER CATERING EXTEND WARM WISHES TO OUR FRIENDS & PATRONS FOR A HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR CONG. BETH ABRAHAM HILLEL MOSES 5075 WEST MAPLE WEST BLOOMFIELD OUTSIDE GARDEN CHUPAH AVAILABLE CONG. BETH ACHIM 21100 W. TWELVE MILE RD. SOUTHFIELD, MICH. AND THE NEW CONG. B'NAI MOSHE 6800 DRAKE WEST BLOOMFIELD 357-2910 WE INVITE YOU TO MEET WITH OUR PARTY CONSULTANTS FOR YOUR NEXT OCCASION FOR THE FINEST IN KOSHER CUISINE UNDER SUPERVISION OF THE COUNCIL OF ORTHODOX RABBIS Arab Adviser Has Resigned Jerusalem (JTA) — The resignation this week of Dr. Alexander Blei from the of- fice of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Arab Affairs — a move encouraged by the prime minister —marks a historic change in the treatment of Israel's Arab population. For the first time in the history of the state, neither an Arab affairs adviser nor a single minister will be in charge of the 700,000 Arab citizens living within Israel's pre-1967 borders. The Arabs will be on their own. The office of Arab affairs adviser was established in the early days of the state, to serve as a liaison between the Arab sector and the government, particularly during the era when the Arab citizens of Israel lived under military rule. Those days are long since gone. The military govern- ment in the Arab population centers in Israel was abolished in 1966 —but the adviser's position remained. Despite their good inten- tions, there was little most of the officials who served in this capacity could do; they had neither adequate budgets nor the clout to come up with more funding. Under the new arrange- ment, the director general of the Prime Minister's Office will chair a committee of di- rectors general, represent- ing all government min- istries, to deal with issues that arise in the Arab sector. The change came about at the request of Arab Knesset members who argued that if the government aspired to count them as equal citizens, they should be treated by the same official agencies as the rest of the population. The first task of the direc- tor general of the Prime Minister's Office in his new capacity was to put an end this week to the 10-day sit-in strike of Arab mayors in Jerusalem. The mayors demanded increased budgets for their towns and villages. After a meeting with Premier Yitzhak Rabin, they were persuaded to go home, with less money than they had wanted — but with a new address to tun to in Jerusalem. Salesman Sues Mercedes-Benz New York (JTA) — A former salesman for the German luxury car manufacturer Mercedes- Benz has filed suit in New York State Supreme Court, charging that the company fired him after he complain- ed about anti-Semitic harassment. Bruce Ehrmann, the former employee, claimed in court papers that there is "a custom or practice — perhaps unconscious —within the Mercedes-Benz corporate structure of latent institutional insensitivity to discrimination against Jews." The behavior by Mercedes- Benz has been "heinous and abusive," in keeping with "a long tradition of anti- Semitism" at the company, according to Mr. Ehrmann, who worked in the Manhattan showroom. As evidence of the com- pany's attitudes, he filed with the court several chapters from a book published in 1990 by Ber- nard Bellon titled, Mercedes Mr. Bellon's book details Mercedes' collaboration with the Third Reich and the company's use of tens of thousands of concentration camp inmates as slave laborers in its factories dur- ing World War II. Lawyers for Mercedes- Benz North America Inc. have asked State Supreme Court Justice Carol Arber to strike the historical refer- ences in the complaint. "Mercedes-Benz Manhattan did not even ex- ist at the time of the Holo- caust," argued the company in its motion to suppress sec- tions of the complaint, call- ing the charges "scandalous and prejudicial allegations which are in no way related to" Mr. Ehrmann's firing. Mercedes' Manhattan showroom issued a brief statement saying it "categorically denies the allegations set forth in (Ehrmann's) complaint." in Peace and War —Baruch Spinoza An emotion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it.