itorials

Voter

Should Israel support creation of a Palestinian state?
Yes -* No

Vote on JN Online www.detroitjewishnews.com

Results from last week's poll (39 respondents):
Whom do you favor in the Israeli elections?
Ehud Barak — One Israel 46%
Yitzhak Mordechai — Center 8%
Binyamin Netanyahu — Likud 44%
Other 3%

Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
WWW. detroitjewishnews.corn

VOTE

Israel's Fateful Test

IN FOCUS

n Monday, Israeli citizens — Jews,
Muslims and Christians — go to the
polls to elect a prime minister and all
120 members of the Knesset. Polls,
which have been wrong in past elections, show
that Ehud Barak will replace Binvamin
Netanyahu as prime minister.
The prospect of not having to deal with
Netanyahu and his recalcitrant coalition pri-
vately pleases the Clinton administration
and most European governments. But they
all could be in for a rude shock. For starters,
Netanyahu could pull out a last-minute vic-
tory, as he did in 1996. And Barak —
Israel's most decorated military man ever —
might prove as reluctant to budge on key
security issues as his predecessor. However, it
is expected that Barak can assemble a coali-
tion slightly less unwieldy, one that is left-
of-center, versus the right-of-center one that
toppled Netanyahu after he agreed to cede
more land to the Palestinians this past
November.
From this side of the Atlantic, it seems the
healthiest option is a national unity government
that will enable Labor and Likud to focus on the
country's massive economic and social challenges.
But the bitterness of Israeli politics makes this
unlikely. And that is exactly what makes no sense
to an increasing number of American Jews, a
group that wants to take pride and inspiration in
Israel's accomplishments.
So we urge whoever governs Israel next to

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The
Virtual

take immediate and sustained focus on sooth-
ing the nation's internal strife as well as culti-
vating meaningful ties to Diaspora communi-
ties. For example, the Israeli government
should give renewed emphasis to the minister
whose portfolio includes Diaspora relations.
This should be backed up with funding of spe-
cific initiatives — such as exchanges of college
students — and be done in consultation with
leading world Jewish bodies such as the federa-
tions on this continent and counterparts
around the world.
We should never lose sight of the fact that,
no matter who wins, Israel's government will
again be the only fully functioning, democrati-
cally elected one in the Middle East. The
Palestinian Authority had a democratic elec-
tion a few years ago to validate the foregone
conclusion that Yasser Arafat would be its
leader. Many other Arab nations stage thinly
veiled "free elections." Whatever its weakness-
es, the Israeli democracy is a far, far better
model than the Palestinian one, with its execu-
tions, internecine violence and steady human
rights abuses.
Whoever governs Israel next will continue
to need the non-compromising support of
U.S. Jews and their political action arms. We
do not, and will not, give any Israeli govern-
ment a blanket of approval for every action.
However, we cannot, and will not, relinquish
our passionate embrace of the hope that a free,
democratic Jewish state promises. 1 1

Paying Their Respects

Former Soviet Marine officer Leyzer Selektor of Southfield
recalls Victory Day during a Russian Veterans Day celebration
last Sunday at Charlotte Rothstein Park in Oak Park. Immi-
grants from the former Soviet Union mark the end of World
War II in Europe with a major celebration each year.

LETTERS

NATO Violence
Not The Answer

Torah's Promise

havuot, a major holiday, marks Zman
Matan Torateinu — "the Time of the
Giving of Our Torah." Yet it's not
nearly as popular as minor holidays
that celebrate battles for religious freedom, like
Purim and Chanukah.
For that, we're all to blame.
Torah represents the heartbeat of our faith
— a beacon of hope, a symbol of pride, a
source of strength. It's the spiritual soul that
binds us as a people.
We were given the Torah just once in
Moses' time, on Shavuot. But every Jew in
every generation receives the Torah when he or
she studies.
By accepting the Ten Commandments in
the desert of Sinai 50 days after leaving
Egypt 3,200 years ago, the Jews of Moses'
time became a free and holy people. They
promised to keep Torah and teach it to their
children.
Shavuot means "weeks," but comes from a

root word that means "oath." This signifies the
promise the Israelites at Mt. Sinai made to "do
and obey" the Ten Commandments and
accept Torah — not to be worshipped as an
idol, but to be used as rules for everyday liv-
ing. God points the way to a life of goodness,
decency and humility; we live that life by fol.-
lowing Torah.
When we rise in shul at the reading of the
Ten Commandments on Shavuot, we accept
the Torah as our forbears did long ago — indi-
vidually and as a people. And we reaffirm our
partnership with God.
Rabbis, educators, parents and journalists:
we all can, we all must, do better at recounting
the tale of Shavuot, really the birthday of the
Jews, and explaining why we must never take
for granted our five, most sacred books.
By doing so, we will truly set an example to
all the peoples of the world, so they, too, will
respect, if not follow, these holy rules of con-
duct. Li

It is imperative that Jews
everywhere take a closer look
at the Kosovo crisis far
beneath the claims of the
U.S.-led NATO assault on

the Serbians.
Kosovo, a long-acknowl-
edged part of Serbia, had
been opened to Albanian
immigrants for the past 10
years. Albania sent a group
called the KLA to conduct

LETTERS ON PAGE 33

NATO airstrikes destroyed a bridge over the Danube in the city of
Novi Sad, north. west of Belgrade as part of the campaign to force
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to accept a western peace
deal for Kosovo.

5/14
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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