oints of view >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com Publisher's Notebook Editorial JN Primes For A Year Of Advocacy R osh Hashanah, like Shabbat, is a offering annual "happy new year" and "thank time to hit the pause button on our you" messages to the community. They are lives, freezing for precious moments also developing new and innovative ways the intersection of past, present and future. to package all of the assets and capabilities In our technology-drenched world, where of the Jewish News and its parent company, faster is always better than deeper, slowing Renaissance Media, to further satisfy client down our lives long enough to appreciate our needs. blessings, express gratitude for those things In an era of media fragmentation, the we take for granted, and resolve to strengthen Jewish News remains the primary way to our relationships with our Creator and those reach and engage a broad swath of Detroit's around us is not a luxury, but a necessity. Jewish community. Advertisers continue to When the path of the almost-completed register a meaningful return on their dol- year is littered with the pain of war, heinous lars invested in the Jewish News. This lack acts of brutality by blood-lusting of dependence on charitable dol- jihadists, disasters unleashed lars to subsidize operations has by nature and unwittingly engi- enabled the Jewish News to retain neered by man, and further its independence and integrity. All obstructed by the continued but a handful of Jewish community suffering of those merely seek- media outlets across the country ing the basics of food, clothing, require charitable dollars to stay shelter and a sense of dignity, in business, mostly from their we need a navigational tool — a Federations. compass that guides us to true And then, there are the behind- Arthur M. north — to retain clarity, pur- the-scenes Jewish News heroes. Horwitz pose and resoluteness in our Our close production partners at Publisher efforts to perfect our union and Farago & Associates make sure the Executive Editor world. large volume of pages comprising Rosh Hashanah is that naviga- the Rosh Hashanah issue are cor- tional tool, offering an annual opportunity to rectly formatted, placed and transmitted to refresh and renew for the opportunities and our printer, Ann Arbor Offset. There, the challenges ahead. full-color offset presses we share with the New York Times rumble into action, deliver- Gearing Up ing "signatures" of pages that are folded, At the Jewish News, the weeks leading up stitched, trimmed, addressed and transported to Rosh Hashanah are a beehive of activity. to U.S. Postal Service distribution facilities. Editors and designers assemble words and Literally hundreds of hands at the post office images that comprise the backbone of what is assure that the Rosh Hashanah edition — and typically the largest edition of the year. They virtually all locally distributed editions — are cognizant that the melding of traditional of the Jewish News are in your mailbox on printing and digital technology enables Thursdays. Believe me, we hear from you if Jewish News content to be scrutinized by your Jewish News is delayed! more pairs of eyeballs than at any time in its Concurrently, dedicated Jewish News staff 72-year history. is compiling billing information, updating They walk a tightrope in attempting to subscriber records, filing reports with the present a package of information that is true post office and U.S. copyright office, for- to the independent, broad-community mis- warding the digital edition to those who opt sion of the Jewish News. They strive to blend to receive a paperless version, and posting local and national, global and Israel, news content to Facebook and other social media and opinion while appealing to the differ- platforms. ent interests — and media platforms — of This collective effort, coupled with your Baby Boomers, Next-Gens and the Greatest valued readership and advertiser support, Generation. And once presented, the digitized enables the Jewish News to celebrate our form of this package is incorporated into the Detroit Jewish community and occasionally independent, nonprofit Detroit Jewish News challenge it. Foundation's 270,000-page archive for any Action Oriented and all to retrieve and scrutinize, for free and from anywhere in the world, in perpetuity. In the coming year, along with sustained sup- port for Israel, the Jewish state, the Jewish Thankfully, our advertising account execu- tives are also immersed in activity. In addi- News will: . Focus on the continuing shrinkage of our tion to expanded interaction with their regu- lar clients, the account executives are secur- Detroit Jewish community. While efforts by ing "seasonal" business from organizational Federation and others to attract and retain fundraising dinners, synagogue membership young adults have been meaningful and inspiring, on their own they will not reverse solicitations, and companies and families Notebook on page 97 96 September 18 • 2014 jpi Arabs Are Accepted As Israeli Citizens T hey face prejudice, but Israel's 1.7 million Arabs live in the safest place for an Arab in the Middle East. That's clear given the roiling political dynamics in the Arab world. In Israel, Arabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, largely have the same protections and rights as Jews. They benefit from Israel's technological, medical and learning advances. They don't have to serve in the military, but some have risen to officers. Others serve in the National Service, a nonmilitary form of public service. Their schools outshine those in neighboring Arab lands. Joblessness and discrimination are probably their biggest hurdles. Despite efforts by some far-right Israeli Jews to diminish their liber- ties, Israeli Arabs are the envy of the Arab world in terms of basic qual- ity of life. Michigan Jewry's partnership region in the Central Galilee is reflective of Israeli areas that boast relatively easy relations between Jews and Arabs. Visiting a Druze or Bedouin village is typically part of Michigan-based Israeli missions. Politically Aware Israeli Arabs are more apt to criticize Hamas, the terrorist group ruling the Gaza Strip. Blasting the political inertia gripping the Gaza Strip and Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank is evident even in Umm el- Fahm, a large Arab city in Israel's north and a stronghold of Raed Salah's Islamic Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood's Israeli branch, reports Steve Emerson's Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism. Still, it is sad how many Israeli Arabs side with terrorist expressions of disgust toward the Israeli government and don't support Israeli social initiatives. It's difficult to understand how any Israeli Arab could sympa- thize with Hamas; Hamas rockets target them as much as Israeli Jews. You wonder if Israeli Arabs truly think life experiences would be better elsewhere. Thanks to the inept United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East, descendants of 1948 Arab refugees live in sustained squalor in UNRWA camps outside of Israel. Why haven't Jordan, Lebanon and Syria stepped up to absorb these forgotten, home- less Arabs? Israeli Arabs haven't rushed to answer Hamas' call for Arabs in the West Bank and Israel to rise up against Israel. Masked Israeli Arabs have engaged in Hamas-inspired acts of aggression against Jews. But lack of a groundswell is indicative of Hamas' limited influence inside Israel and among its mix of Arabs: Druze, Bedouin, Muslim and Christian. Obstacles Aplenty Complicating Jewish-Arab relations has been Arab youth vandalism against Jews, forcing Jews to avoid some Arab shops and restaurants. Also problematic are those Arab Knesset members who have joined in blind solidarity with the Palestinians. Outside forces are trying hard to dismantle the frag- ile good will among Israel's ethnic groups and diverse communities. Jewish vandalism and even violence Anat Berko pitched toward Israeli Arabs has been the work of extremists, not the Jewish majority. Some right-wing Jews in the Knesset tried to demote Arabic as an official language of Israel, but got nowhere. Writes Anat Berko, an Israel Defense Forces officer, in a Sept. 3 post shared by the Investigative Project on Terrorism: "Israel's Jews and Arabs have weathered crises before because they have mutual economic and social interests. Daily life is stronger than radical Islamic fundamentalism, which is trying to make political capital in Israel. Various Israeli Knesset members contribute nothing to the lives of their constituents, destroying their trust, which has been noted by many Israeli Arabs." Israel is a Jewish state, yet a pluralistic democracy. Yes, Israel can do more for its Arab minority. But Israel remains a model for Jewish-Arab coexistence. ❑