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Publisher's Notebook

Editorial

Tough-Talking Iran —
A Legitimate Threat

I

ran continues its tyrannical
harangue about Zionism and
Israel, raising the bar of hatred
with each outburst. Bluster it's not.
The clerics running the Persian nation
would unquestionably be quick to aim
their first nuclear bomb at the Jewish
state.
So it's appropriate that the Netanyahu administration has made Iran's
nuclear pursuit a top priority and that Tehran is a top foreign issue of the
U.S. election season. Jewish voters should take heed.
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, of which America is a part, Israel
protested the vile emanating from Iranian leaders. Outrageous statements
included calling once more for Israel's destruction and, for good measure,
spreading the anti-Semitism that shapes Iran's core ideology.
The U.N. won't act on the letter; the correspondence will prove just an
outpouring of anger and concern. But the message must be heard: Iran
remains a global threat and unconditionally guilty of inciting against a fel-
low U.N. member state.
The letter underscored that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed
Ali Khamenei declared that "Zionism is a danger for entire humanity" and
that Israel "is a cancerous tumor" in the heart of what he described as
the Muslim world. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted
as saying "the very existence of the Zionist regime is ... an affront to all
world nations." He asked "all human communities to wipe out this scarlet
letter, meaning the Zionist regime, from the forehead of humanity."
Tough talk. And it can't be ignored given the Islamic Republic's reckless
leadership and disregard for anyone not beholden to Islamic beliefs. It's
understandable why one of the great debates in the civilized world dwells
on Israel's capability to act, preemptively or in concert with the U.S., to
curb Iran's nuclear fuel labs, hidden as they are.
Hitler used the same approach as Ahmadinejad, repeating anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories and slurs. We know the success the Nazi leader had
during the build-up to World War II by blaming world ills on the Jews –
and blaming them again and again.
Ahmadinejad's pronouncement that the two world wars were designed
by Zionists "who have been inflicting very heavy damage and suffering on
the whole humanity" for more than 2,000 years easily could have been
adapted from Hitler's manual of hate.
World War II proved that complacency is the wrong reaction to delu-
sions of grandeur. As the Israeli letter so aptly stated: "One can only
imagine what such an extremist regime would do if it got its hands on the
world's most dangerous weapons. There are certain times when silence is
not an option."
The letter concluded by imploring the U.N. Security Council "and all
responsible members of the international community to condemn Iranian
hate speech without any further delay."
America and Israel extended such condemnation, but you would be
hard-pressed to cite others. Meanwhile, only time will tell if the stronger
American and European sanctions against Iran will actually work. At the
same time, the civilized world must stay abreast of the strategic threats
from Hezbollah-influenced Lebanon, Assad-controlled Syria and Hamas-
led Gaza.
Jews everywhere make up the Jewish people. Our future as a people
hinges on our willingness and readiness to defend our twin pillars of
Judaism and Zionism. With Israel one of the most-hated nations, this is no
time to let down our collective guard on behalf of our ancestral homeland.
As the Jewish world welcomes Rosh Hashanah 5773, it's heartening to
hear Israel's new homefront defense minister, Avi Dichter, declare: "The
era of killing Israelis because they are Jews is over." 17,

171.2

Resolutions

For The New Year

A

s we approach the New Year
5773, we take stock of our rela-
tionship with our faith, family
and community. While appreciating the
blessings of life and freedom, we also
acknowledge our deficiencies and vow
to correct them. Our introspections are
framed by the current presidential election
cycle and competing visions for
America offered by the candi-
dates and their surrogates. The
quiet contemplation required of
us during the Days of Awe is vio-
lated by the shrillness that per-
meates virtually every medium
of communications.
At the Jewish News, we wel-
come Rosh Hashanah as a time
to look backward and forward.
Have we been true to our mis-
sion and the principles upon
which the Jewish News was
founded? Have we reflected
reality, neither sweeping under the rug
uncomfortable truths about our commu-
nity nor ignoring its admirable strengths?
Have we respected our community's his-
tory and achievements while also coaxing
and challenging its current leaders not to
rest on their laurels? Have we walked the
business tightrope of providing you, our
valued readers, with unique and un-
substitutable information in the com-
munications format you prefer? Have we
provided our advertisers with a family of
products and services that achieve results
for their hard-earned dollars?
While we can answer "yes" to these
questions, we also recognize that we must

strive to do better — to be better — in all
of these areas, too. We must always be a
"work in progress."
Navigating this, the 70th anniversary
year of the founding of the Jewish News,
provides us with added perspective and
opportunity for reflection. The Jewish
community of Detroit in 1942 was con-
sumed by the Allied war
effort against the Axis pow-
ers, raising money and send-
ing its sons (and some daugh-
ters) overseas to fight evil.
The pages of the Jewish News
from this period provide
clear evidence of European
Jewry's destruction ... and
anti-Semitism in many of our
Detroit area neighborhoods,
hospitals, universities, facto-
ries and social institutions.
Jewish News founder Philip
Slomovitz, through his pas-
sionate opinions (many with an unflinch-
ing focus on the need for a Jewish state),
helped to inform and guide a community
uncertain of itself or its future.
These pages of our relatively recent his-
tory remind us that many of the freedoms
and opportunities for success that we take
for granted today as a Jewish community
were denied to our parents and grand-
parents, regardless of their intelligence
or work ethic. They also remind us that
a Jewish state, reborn after almost 2,000
years of displacement, occurred in our
lifetimes.
So, what can you expect of us as we
enter the New Year?

Resolutions on page 98

96

September 13 2012

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