inion

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Dealing With China

Cf its
down-
ing handling
o
b
ing of an American spy
plane underlines the wis-
dom of Israel's decision last
year to cancel the $250 mil-
lion sale of its Phalcon radar
system to China.
There were good reasons
for letting the purchase go through, par-
ticularly because it would have contin-
ued to open the door to other kinds of
trade between the two countries. Unlike
America, Israel must find other buyers
for its high-tech military hardware
because its armed forces are too small to
sustain the development costs on their
own. Arms exports are a significant frac-
tion of its economy, running now to
more than $2 billion a year and provid-
ing 14,000 jobs for Israelis.
But, unlike other arms that Israel
and America have sold to China, the

Phalcon system would give China a
powerful new tool to threaten Taiwan.
When the proposed deal became a
major public controversy last fall,
many congressmen warned
that ultimately China would
be able to use the technology
to target American ships and
planes that could be called
up to defend Taiwan.
While President George W. Bush
was awkward in his first reaction to
the incident, needlessly offending Chi-
nese sensibilities, China's subsequent
behavior has made it clear that it is
not ready to follow international
norms and law even in its relations
with America. It is clear that China
would not hesitate to use technology
like the Phalcon system as a tool for
aggression. Thank goodness Israel
backed out of the deal.

EDITO RIAL

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Bad Timing

srael should reconsider the plan it
announced last week to allow
some 700 new homes to be built
in the West Bank set-
tlements of Ma'aleh Adumim
and Alfei Menashe. While
those particular settlements
are likely to remain under Israeli control
for a long time, the current action is a
needless provocation at a time when the
government should be seeking ways to
reduce Palestinian anger.
In approving the new units, Hous-
ing Minister Natan Sharansky said the
latest intifada (Palestinian uprising)

Dry Bones

has shown "how important it is to
lend a hand to and strengthen the citi-
zens" living in the West Bank. On the
contrary, it shows how care-
ful Israel needs to be if it is
serious about an eventual
peace with the Palestinians.
We don't counsel a retreat now
from the settlements in the occupied
territories, but we believe that talking
about expanding them now is simply
going to make it more difficult for the
Palestinian leadership to talk sensibly
about stepping away from confronta-
tion. ❑

Itey woubD

KNOW WHAT

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AND WHAM

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THERE

GOES

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EDIT ORIAL

Basis For Trust

7

he announcement last week that Rabbi
Sheldon Zimmerman will lead the Amer-
ican office of Birthright Israel, a
program that sends young Jews
on free trips to Israel, hailed his 30 years of
experience as a leader of American Jewry,
including his presidency of the Reform movement's
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
and Central Conference of American Rabbis.
It was silent, however, on the fact that three
months earlier, he had been suspended by the
CCAR for violating guidelines relating to "sexual
ethics and sexual boundaries," which led to his res-

Related story: page 22

ignation as president of HUC-JIR. The suspension
also requires that he not serve as a congregational
rabbi for at least two years. But that sus-
pension may potentially have more impact
on his ability to lead Birthright Israel than
his years of previous experience.
We don't know — and we don't care to know —
what Rabbi Zimmerman did to warrant his suspen-
sion in December. But we do know that he will have
to perform brilliantly to prove that he is the right
man for the job, which includes being a role model
for young people, whose promised trips to Israel are
such a key link in the efforts to build Jewish identi-
ty. As a top communal leader, he will be held to a
higher standard than less-visible organization
administrators.

EDIT ORIAL

Rabbi Zimmerman's footsteps will almost certain-
ly be dogged by lingering suspicions about the
improper "personal relationships" 15 years ago that
led to his ouster by CCAR. Both last December and
last week, Rabbi Zimmerman declined to talk about
the past. Birthright leaders, hailing Rabbi Zimmer-
man's qualifications, said that past was simply irrele-
vant to his new duties. We hope they are right.
Repentance and forgiveness are ingrained in
Judaism. Rabbi Zimmerman's appointment under-
scores that.
The burden now falls to the rabbi to lead in a
way that's not only representative of the Birthright
effort, but also of what we want in leaders who
shape young people Jewishly during an especially
impressionable time in their lives.

❑

13

2001

31