This Week

Insight

Remember
When

kUa ,.1.'.-va-Atagamtassat

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff Writer

orton Klein wants
to know why
everybody keeps
giving the Arabs
just one more chance.
As the world waits optimisti-
cally for an equitable comple-
tion of the peace process in the
Middle East, the Arabs will not
rest until Israel is destroyed,
Klein told a full house of about
90 people at the Zionist
Organization of America
Michigan Region headquarters
in Southfield on Sunday.
The land of Israel is rightly
the property of the Jewish peo-
ple for religious as well as histor-
ical reasons, said Klein, ZOA
national president. "We Jews
have never made it clear that it's
a moral right, a sacred right,
according to our Torah, now
and to the end of time," he said.
He criticized a secular Israeli
government )killing to "forget
about the bond God promised

The Zionist Organization
of America's Morton Klein
whips up emotions
at a packed meeting.

If Klein talks fast and furious,
that's because he is furious. His
targets begin with the Arabs, he
said, but also include conciliato-
ry Jewish groups, a suspiciously
waffling American administra-
tion and a media that refuses to
give equal time to the Zionist
point of view.
Syria, Jordan and the
Palestinian Liberation
Organization — every Arab par-
ticipant in peace negotiations —
has violated the Oslo accords
not once, but dozens, even hun-
dreds, of times, he said.
And yet the world shuts its
Morton Klein
eyes.
"I believe this is being done
because of pressure from the
PLO conforms to the Oslo require-
United States administration," Klein
ments.
said.
And he is extremely doubtful there
Behind the scenes, he said, U.S.
will ever be an appropriate time to
officials hope that, once a peace
give land to the Arabs.
accord is hammered out, illegal, vio-
"Denial of Israel's right to exist is a
lent and antisemitic activities will end.
basic tenet of the PLO," he said. The
Klein finds this attitude naive at best.
group's official atlas includes the entire
If it were up to him, he would stop
state of Israel, calling it "occupied
U. S. aid to Palestinian refugee camps
Palestine," and the same map is out-
and hold up the peace talks until the
lined on official stationery.

If Israel had the same blatant
disregard for the Oslo Peace
Accords, there would be a
worldwide outcry, he said.
"Why is there a different stan-
dard for the Arab world than for
the rest of the world?"
Klein outlined four "legs" to
the PLO's obligations, according
to the Oslo Accords signed in
1993. These begin with the
obligation to fight terrorism in
their ranks and among the
Palestinian people at large.
The PLO also agreed to rec-
ognize Israel's right to exist,
abide by international principles
of human rights and fight
against official antisemitism.
He described flagrant viola-
tions of these requirements, say-
ing that Israel cannot continue
to give away land or to make
other concessions unilaterally.
Most troubling to the audi-
ence were the antisemitic car-
toons he handed out, reprinted
from the PLO state-run newspa-
per, Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah. As
recently as Dec. 30, a cartoon
showed a stunted, ape-like crea-
ture wearing a Jewish star as
"The Disease of the Century."
As he left the meeting,
Gershon Lipenholtz of
Southfield said the caricatures
were sickeningly reminiscent of
Nazi propaganda.
"After the speech, I felt bad in
my stomach," he said. "What
goes on is just unbelievable."
Arline Gould of West
Bloomfield believes the average
Jewish voter does not want to
hear what Mort Klein wants to
discuss.
Vivian Stollman of West
Bloomfield agreed. "The average
human being wants to hear
everything is all right, or is
going to be all right," she said.
The ZOA has stood for the
importance of Jerusalem and Israel,
and the importance of maintaining
Israel's security, since its founding in
1897, said Sheldon Freillich of
Bloomfield Hills, the group's
Michigan region vice president.
"Mort Klein raises issues that are
crucial to helping Israel remain
secure and strong."

From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

Doreen Hermelin was nominated
to a second term as president of the
Jewish Welfare Federation's
Women's Division.
Adele Lewin was promoted to
associate regional director for
Michigan Region BBYO.

Music consultant Miriam
Meckler was honored by the Music
Study Club.
Esther Goldenberg and her
daughter Donna Sklar have been
appointed chairmen of the annual
fund-raising auction sponsored by
the Young Women of the Jewish
National Fund.

Japanese discrimination barred
Israelis from Expo '70.
Judge Bora Laskin became the
first Jew named to the Supreme
Court of Canada.
State Senator Sander Levin
announced his candidacy for governor.

A. Arnold Agree was chosen Man
of the Year by the real estate and
building division of the Allied
r"x't •
Jewish Campaign.
A rabbi in Flushing, N.Y., said
he would risk fine and jail rather
than list his color on the 1960 U.S.
Census.
The Ressler Art Galleries opened
on Livernois.

Nt.

A garden city is under construction
in Ramat Gan, Israel, by the Keret
Company, composed of English Jews.
The Lachowitzer Aid Society
planned to hold its annual third
seder night at the Michigan Israel
Hall on Linwood.
Dr. Edward C. Jandy of Wayne
University will become a cultural
officer with the public affairs divi-
sion of the U.S. State Department
in Tel Aviv.

—Compiled by Sy Manello,
Editorial Assistant

❑

4/7
2000

39

