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The Southern Isr**' >fv
A Weekly Newspa per for Southern Jewry — Ei
GEORGIA
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1957 NO. 42
External Forces Fan Mid East
Tensions, Gurion Tells Knesset
XXXII
Egypt, Permits UN
Officials to Visit
Captured Fishermen
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.,
(JTA) — United Nations Secre
tary General Dag Hammarskjold
informed the Israel delegation at
the UN this week that the Egyp
tian authorities have permitted
members of the United Nations
Emergency Force to visit the six
fishermen detained by Egypt since
September 25 when coast guard
units seized the fishing trawler
Doron.
Mr. Hammarskjold told Morde-
cai Kidron, Deputy chairman of
the Israel delegation, that the
UNEF members who visited the
arrested crew members found
them in good health and well
treated. Israel is seeking the re
lease of the ship and of the
crew which is composed of five
Israelis and one Italian.
JERUSALEM, (JTA)— There
is no particular political signi
ficance in the forthcoming visit to
Haifa of a British flotilla of five
warships, the second of its kind
in several months, Foreign Min
istry circles declared this week.
However, press reports link the
visit here to Soviet and Egyptian
naval to Syria and the landing of
Egyptian troops in Syria 48 hours
ago.
Italy Law Differs
Between Offenders
of Religious Groups
ROME, (JTA)—Italian Justice
Minister Guido Gonella admitted
in the Senate this week that Ital
ian law provided for lesser pun
ishment for offenses against Pro-
testanism and Judaism than for
similar offenses against the Cath
olic religion. He denied, however,
that there was any discriminatory
intent and indicated that there
will be no opposition on the part
of the government to making
uniform punishment of similar of
fenses against any religion.
The question had been raised by
Ugo Della Seta, a Jewish Senator,
who charged that differences in
degree of punishment for the
same offense constituted a viola
tion of Italian constitutional gua
rantees of equal treatment for all
religions.
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Pre
mier David Ben Gurion opened
the winter session of the Israel
Parliament Monday with a long
review of the Middle East situ
ation and of Israel’s foreign poli
cy in which he carefully avoided
any strictures on pro-Soviet Syr
ia and was relatively mild in his
references to the Soviet Union.
Observers described this avoid
ance of extremes as a crystalliza
tion of Israel’s posture today in
Bulgaria Offers
Compensation
for El Al Victims
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Dis
closure this week by the Govern
ment of Israel that it had asked
the International Court of Justice
at the Hague to start proceedings
against Bulgaria in the 1955
shotding down of an El Al plane
brought a prompt offer of com
pensation from the Communist
regime.
The Israel Foreign Ministry
announced here that the Inter
national Court had been asked
to declare Bulgaria responsible
under international law for shoot
ing down the plane, with death re
sulting to all 58 persons aboard,
and for the loss of property.
Damages totalling $2,658,000
were claimed by Israel, approxi
mately $45,000 for each victim.
The offer made by Bulgaria, in a
communique from its legation in
Brussels, was a promise to pay
about $8,000 per victim.
Israel also asked court deter
mination of the amount of com
pensation due from Bulgaria as
well as to decide that all costs
and expenses of the court action
were to be borne by Bulgaria.
Noting that the 58 victims in
cluded nationals from Austria,
Belgium, France, West Germany,
Sweden, Great Britain, the Union
of South Africa and the United
States, the Foreign Ministry said
the Internataional Court also had
been asked to notify the govern
ments of those countries concern
ing the Israel court action.
The Foreign Ministry announce
ment said that Israel had been
seeking for two years to get a di
rect settlement through diploma
tic channels to persuade Bul
garia to fulfil a pledge to pay for
damages. Despite submission of
the issue to the International
Court, the Foreign Ministry said,
Israel was still willing to negot
iate an out-of-court settlement
with Bulgaria.
foreign affairs.
Mr. Ben Gurion’s speech made
seven major points: first, there
is no change in Israel’s foreign
policy; second, Israel’s intentions
are peaceful; third, military vic
tories are insufficient to achieve
a solution in the Middle East,
fourth, Israel’s primary task is
the internal social and economic
consolidation of the country;
fifth, the importance of develop
ing closer relations between Is
rael and the countries of Asia and
Africa; sixth, the time is not far
off when Israel will use the atom
for agricultural and industrial
purposes, and seventh, arms in
Arab lands, whether from the
Communists or from the West,
are actually aimed at Israel.
Mr. Ben Gurion spoke before a
packed house and a distinguished
group of spectators including
President Itzhak Ben Zvi. His
speech was to be followed Tues
day by a report from Mrs. Golda
Meir, the Foreign Minister, on the
United Nations, and on her talks
in Washington and Rome, after
which the Knesset began its de
bate on foreign policy.
Mr. Ben Gurion congratulated
“Russian science and the people”
on the successful dispatch into
space of an earth satellite but
noted that “our joy over this
scientific and technological mile
stone has, however, been over
shadowed to no little extent by
the reluctant increase in world
tension which is associated with
the artificial satellite either as a
cause or consequence.”
He said Israel could not help
but be concerned by the increase
in tension in the world and in
the Middle East whether or not
it was connected with the satellite.
“The Middle East has been a fo
cal point of tension between East
and West for more than two years,
since the beginning of the co
pious flow of arms from the So
viet bloc to Egypt," he declared.
“Israel has been aware, since the
rise of the state, that it lives in
two spheres, the regional which
comprises itself and its Arab
neighbors, and the greater world
sphere which devotes considerable
attention to the affairs of this
region for historical and geo
political reasons.
“The events of the last ten
years,” said Mr. Ben Gurion,
“have proven that a military
campaign cannot, by itself, be de
cisive, because the Middle East
ern sphere is involved, perhaps
more than any other area, in the
world sphere where the balance
of power differs from the local
military balance.”
The Israel Premier expressed
regret that there had been no
improvement in Soviet-Israel re
lations “despite all our efforts to
improve our relations with this
mighty power which contains
some three million Jews and is
one of the decisive factors in
world policy.” He described the
Soviet Union’s early attitude of
friendship to Israel and noted
that “since the Egyptian dictator
opened the gate of the Middle
East to the Soviet Union, there
has been a very clear and sur
prising deterioration in this Great
Poker’s attitude to Israel and this
attitude, of course, has not been
weakened with the growing in
fluence of the Soviet Union in
Syria.”
“The change that has now come
about in the Middle East, con
tinued Mr. Ben Gurion, “is that
it is no longer local forces but
powerful external forces that ag
gravate the tension in the re
gion and only parallel and com
plementary world forces d&n re
duce this tension.”
Mr. Ben Gurion expressed be
lief that the day would come
when the Arab states recognized
the existence of Israel. He noted
increased understanding and sup
port of Israel’s aims by many
countries and expressed regret
that Premier Nehru’s government
in India which, he said, stood
for the strengthening of peace
with all nations regardless of
their regimes, continued to dis
criminate against Israel and
seemed to ignore its existence.
Germany To Issue
Stamp Honoring
Late Rabbi Baeck
BONN. (JTA)—A 20-pfenning
postage stamp with the portrait
of the late Rabbi Leo Baeck, who
served as honorary chairman of
the World Union for Progressive
Judaism after surviving a Nazi
concentration camp, will go on
sale throughout West Germany
just one year after he died in
London.
Born near Poznan in 1873, Dr.
Baeck was Berlin’s principal lib
eral rabbi from 1912 until his
deportation to the Terezin concen
tration camp in 1943. He held
many important posts in com
munal life and is the author of
notable works on Jewish ethics.
The postage stamp will become
available in an editon of 20,000,-
000 on November 2. The same
day, and every year thereafter on
this anniversary of his death, the
Central Jewish Council and the
Central Jewish Welfare Agency
will jointly bestow a “Leo Baeck
Prize” upon a young scholar whose
work is in the tradition of the
deceased.
Discuss Birmingham Parley Nov. 1-3
Discussing plans for the Southeastern Zionist Regional
Conference, to be held November 1-3 in Birmingham,
are: (1 to r.) seated—Ben R. VVinick, Knoxville, Mortimer May,
Nashville; Seymour B. Liebman, Miami; Phillip Block, Birming
ham; Robert A. Persk.v, Augusta. Standing: I. M. Lieberman,
Jacksonville; Arthur Kaufman, Atlanta; Irving Pearlmutter, Bir
mingham; Ben Golden, Atlanta; Israel Feiden, St. Augustine; Gil
Rappaport, Miami Beach, director of the SE region; Harry Libby,
Jacksonville, and Dr. David Andron, Miami Beach. Mr. VVinick,
who is a national ZOA vice president, and Mr. May, former na
tional president and honorary life president of the region, have
been appointed conference advisors.
Opening of Tel Aviv (Cultural Center Stirs Israelis
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
EXCLUSIVE FROM ISRAEL
With Emotion
headquarters for the Israel Phil
harmonic Orchestra.
TEL AVIV, (AJP) — All of
Israel literally shook with emo
tion last week out of the joy of
seeing the completion of another
great cultural attainment. The
dedication of the Frederic Mann
Auditorium in the new Tel Aviv
Cultural Center was a signal for
jubilation and celebration, for
emphasis on the spiritual values
which are so vital to Israel’s ex
istence.
The concert itself was a great
demonstration of Israel’s deter
mined will not only to be strong
on the battlefield — in the young
State’s defense against invaders
and hostile neighbors — but also
to continue the ancient Hebraic
cultural traditions that are em
phasized in the prophetic admon
ition: “Not by might, nor by
power, but by My Spirit, saith
the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6).
Israel’s Prime Minister and
Mrs. David Ben-Gurion, Presi
dent and Mrs. Itchak Ben-Zvi,
U.S. Charge d’Affairs William O.
Baxter and a score of Ambassa
dors from other countries were
present at the historic event. U.S.
Ambassador Edward B. Lawson is
on a holiday in the States.
Leonard Bernstein gave such a
magnificent demonstration as di
rector of the concert that this
little country will long remem
ber him. Isaac Stern was superb
as violin soloist and Artur Rub
instein, piano soloist, stole the
show as the concluding soloist
and broke a ryle by giving an
encore after playing the Beetho
ven Concerto No. 6 with the or
chestra.
A sensational portion of the
program was the appearance of
Paul Tortelier as cello soloist.
Gregor Piatigorsky was to have
played, but he was prevented
from coming to Israel by an
emergency operation. Tortelier
was invited at his suggestion and
he made the trip on 24 hours’
notice. He enchanted his audience
with his cello accompaniment to
Bloch’s Schelomo. Piatigorsky
could not have chosen a better
substitute.
Between Bernstein’s inspired
directorial work and the enchant
ing efforts of Tortelier, great
beauty was added to the event.
More about Tortelier later. Suf
fice it for the present to indicate
that this young French, non-Jew-
ish musical genius had fallen in
love with Israel; that he and his
wife, mother and sister lived in
Kibbutz Maabaroth, and that there
he had created an Israeli Sym
phony.
The concert became a national
event and was transformed by
Prime Minister Ben-Gurion into
a demonstration of friendship for
the United States. Ben-Gurion
opened the concert with a declara
tion of deep appreciation for
what Americans had done for Is
rael. and in recognition of that
amity he asked the orchestra to
play the Star Spangled Banner as
its opening number.
It was an interesting experience
to see the audience of people in
formal attire, at the concert, ming
ling with Israelis in army uni
forms; girls in blouses and skirts,
coatless boys with open neck
shirts. Mink and ermine fraterniz
ed with slacks.
Sold out far in advance of the
performance, the first night’s
concert was repeated a second
time — again to a packed house.
Interestingly enough, the demand
for tickets was so great that the
$37.50 charge for seats did not
deter even a number of service
men from purchasing seats in ad
vance. “It’s an event of a life
time,” one of them explained,
“and I could not begrude myself
the great joy of participating in
it.” In a number of instances,
couples bought one ticket for two
—one seeing half the concert and
the other taking over after in
termission.
Michigan had better than a
front seat at the formal dedica
tion. It has all the seats in the
Frederic R. Mann Auditorium —
a gift of the Philadelphia patron
of music — which is to serve as
American seating Company of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, provided
the 2.560 chairs for this audi
torium. Yaakov Richter, Tel Aviv
architect, went to Grand Rapids
earlier this year to design the
riser-type chairs. These self-ris
ing seats, specially made full-up
holstered, are of black cairo
twisted loop. The arm rest is
made of natural finished wood.
The iron standards are of cast
iron and are orange colored.
Interestingly enough, the Am
erican Seating Company also sup
plied the seats of the 20th Cen
tury Fox Theatre that opened Oc
tober 15 in Tel Aviv. The Grand
Rapids firm provided 1708 full
upholstered padded backs for the
relf-rising seats and 210 full up
holstered seats with spring backs.
Because of the duty involved, the
paddings for the theatre chairs
were done in Israel.