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The Wrong Lesson

Mr

e're perturbed as much by the after-
math as by a Nov. 15 incident where
basketball players from a Jewish day
school became targets of anti-Semitic
slurs during competition against players from a public
school academy ("Technical Foul," Nov. 23, page 12).
The incident, involving girls teams from Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills
and Conner Creek West Academy in Warren, was dis-
turbing enough amid today's backdrop of growing ecu-
menism. But we were stunned when the Hillel admin-
istration, very open to us over the past three years,
reminded parents via a letter that it was
against school policy for them, students or
faculty, "to speak to the media on behalf of
Hillel Day School."
The letter came after a parent of a player who was at
the game had already contacted the Jewish News to
express her outrage. Clearly, there's a difference
between talking about a school incident and talking on
behalfofa school.
We appreciate the Hillel administration's desire to
speak with one voice on the school's behalf in response
to media queries when a troubling incident arises. But
to suggest to a parent speaking for herself that she had
done something wrong smacks of excessive control.
That heavy-handedness does nothing to reinforce
values of openness and free speech taught to Hillel stu-
dents. Nor does it help enlighten the larger communi-
ty. Instead, it makes us wonder if the school fears cast-
ing an unfiltered light on itself.
We're a partner with Hillel in championing the value
of Jewish education. But when a Jewish school con-
fronts intolerance in the everyday world, it's our job to
report that confrontation as fully and sensitively as
possible to help identify the hurtful winds for the
entire Jewish community
Hillel may be a private school, but it wants, seeks
and accepts communal funding in the form of annual

allocations from Federation's Annual
Campaign. This year's gift nears $600,000.
That makes campaign donors stakeholders in
Hillel and every other constituent agency.
According to representatives from Hillel
and Connor Creek West, poor officiating
set the stage for unsportsmanlike conduct
during a middle-school varsity basketball
game, won by Hillel. After the game, play-
ers from the academy and adults who hap-
pened to be on hand allegedly surrounded
the Hillel team bus and hurled anti-Semitic
slurs and rocks, bringing the visit-
ing players to tears.
Administrators and coaches
from the two schools met a few
days later to try to patch relations.
A few shoves in the heat of competition
are one thing. But when Hillel athletes are
called "kikes," whether by opposing players
or adults, Hillel parents must feel free to
speak up.
Let's be clear: We're a newspaper, not a
newsletter. It's our role to report not only
good news, but also controversy in a fair and
sensitive way. We don't manufacture news;
we mirror the community.
Are there tangible benefits to a full,
informative and sensitive account of a basket-
ball game that turns confrontational?
Unquestionably.
For starters, such coverage reinforces the
ongoing need for school and community
programs on racism and stereotyping. It
exposes day school students to the haunting effects
of ignorance, and puts Jewish students everywhere
on alert. And it's a weathervane for the Jewish com-
munity's vigilance; prejudice can emerge at any
moment and engulf us as one or individually.
Over the years, Hillel has built a reputation for

Dry Bones

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quality Judaic and secular coursework, buoyed by
high-profile families and supporters. Its graduates
enjoy business, civic and communal success.
Yet the school chose to rebuke a parent angered
by her daughter's encounter with anti-Semitism.
That's the wrong lesson. El

When Is It Treason?

case headed for trial in Israel
will test its tolerance for dis-
senting speech in a time of
war. The case may also offer
substantial lessons for America as it
tries to balance its worries about ter-
rorism against its carefully won consti-
tutional protections for individual lib-
erty.
The charges in Israel were brought
against a member of the Knesset,
Azmi Bishara, who in recent years has
become a powerful force in organizing
Arab Israelis to side with Palestinian
demands. This summer, Bishara went
to Syria to mark the one-year anniver-
sary of the death of Hafez Assad, the
dictator long considered one of Israel's
most virulent foes. At the gathering

A

were Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan
Nasrallah and Palestinian terror chief-
tain Ahmed Jibril.
Bishara lauded Hezbollah for its
"determination, persistence and hero-
ism." He added that all of the Arab
world should support the intifada
(uprising) so Palestinians "can wage
resistance" with the same success.
A year earlier, shortly after the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) abruptly ended
Israel's 20-year occupation of southern
Lebanon, Bishara told his political
party that "Hezbollah won, and for
the first time since 1967, we tasted
the flavor of victory. Hezbollah has
the right to flaunt its achievement and
humiliate Israel."
Two weeks ago, the Knesset

their full rights — seems
stripped Bishara of his par-
ridiculously weak. The
liamentary immunity, allow-
Knesset was right to allow
ing the attorney general to
the charges to be brought,
press charges of incitement
and the prosecutor should
against the legislator. Bishara
pursue his investigations
does not deny saying what
against many of the other
he is charged with saying,
Arab Knesset members who,
but he insists that the words
as writer Yossi Klein Halevi
were not intended to stir
noted earlier this year in the
violence against Israel either
JONATHAN
New
Republic magazine,
by its 1 million Arab citizens
FRIENDLY
"function
as a psychological
or by the rest of the Arab
National
fifth
column,
openly back-
world.
Editor
ing Israel's enemies."
Given the fact that for-14
But what should America do with
months the Palestinians have been
those in this country who have
waging a bloody intifada against the
cheered the terrorist attacks here?
Jewish state, killing nearly 200 Israelis,
Bishara's defense — that he simply
wants Israel to grant its Arab citizens
FRIENDLY on page 42

11/30
2001

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