Newspaper Page Text
Israel Seeks World Focus on
.Of Prisoners Returned From
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Premier
Levi Esllkol declared this week
that Israel would seek maximum
world attention to the “cruelties”
suffered by Israelis held in Syrian
prisons and that no effort would
be spared to obtain* the release
of Israelis still held. Jle charged
Syria with “barbarism” in the
treatment of Israeli risoners.
Israel twice approached the In
ternational Red Cross in Geneva
on the issue. The agency was first
asked to make an objective med
ical investigation of the physical
and mental state of the 11 Israelis
who were returned to Israel on
December 21 in exchange for 18
Syrian prisoners. Moshe, Israel’s
permanent representative at the
European office of the United Na
tions, said suth examination were
Slate
Syria
needed immediately because the
Israelis had been subjected to in
human treatment.
In the second request, Israel
asked the Red Cross to intervene
with the greatest urgency on be
half of some 10 Israelis still held
in Syrian jails. The Red Cross
said, in reply to the first request,
that it could not accede unless
both parties agreed to recognize
6 »
the Red Cross as a “neutral and
objective body.” Since it was gen
erally recognized that it was high
ly unlikely that Syria would ac
cept a probe which would expose
to international public opinion its
treatment of prisoners, no such
impartial investigation appeared
possible.
The list of the 10 still imprison
ed Israelis was handed by the
Israel Government to Gen. Odd
Bull, chief of staff of the UN
Trace Supervision Organization,
with a request to seek their re
turn. The list v/as compiled r>
pig questioning of the ''
ed Israelis.
I lie Southern lsr.it
x o0
-I -
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
, Oi aXJCVIII
s.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1064
NO 1
Tons of TV Equipment
In Israel for Pope Visit
AJC Charges 50 American Firms
With Anti-Jewish Discrimination
lie Service Electric & Gas; Long utilities giants.”
TEL AVIV (JTA)—An Italian
naval transport unloaded at Haifa
this week tons of special televis
ion equipment to be used for cov
erage of Pope Paul's visit to Israel
on January 5.
RAI, the Italian Television Net
work, which has been given the
exclusive coverage rights by the
Vatican, will relay television
broadcasts to a!) European sta
tions and the United States via
Tel star.
Some 700 reporters and cam
eramen are expected in Israel for
the Pope’s one-day visit which
will include six hours of motoi
travel and five hours of visits,
including a mass at the Church
of the Annunication in Nazareth
and lunch at the Mount of Beau-
titude Monastery.
The official Israeli reception, at
Megiddo, will have President
Shazar, Premier Eshkol, Deputy
Premier Abba Eban and Mrs.
Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Min
ister, welcoming the Pontiff. A
platoon of Israeli cadets will sal
ute the Pontiff as bulgars herald
his arrival at Megiddo.
President Shazar will greet the
Pope m Hebrew and hand him
a special medallion inscribed
Terra Suncta." At the bordei
crossing, a collective list of the
Pope’s entourage will be endorsed
with an Israeli entry stamp. The
Pope and his Cardinals will re
main in cars driven by clergymen
while correspondents and othei
persons in the convoy will trans
fer to Israeli busses and proceed
to tour Nazareth, Lake Tiberias
and various churches en route t.>
Mount F.ion in new Jerusalem. A
similar but much briefer cere
mony will be held in new Jer
usalem before the Pope crosses
the Mandelbaum gate on his ie-
turn to Jordan-held old Jerusal
em.
Israeli has spent more than
SJOOJ'OO m preparation for the
visit, including placement of tele
phone, telegraph, telex and broad
casting stations along the route
A Very-
Happy 1964
To Everyone
NEW YORK rJ 1 A; The
American Jewish Comm l 11 e e
made public this week a list of
30 utility corporations in the
United States where, according to
A. M. Sonnabetid, president of the
.AJC, “discriminatory barriers
exist against Jews, both at the
recruitment and p r o moti t> n
levels.”
Among the firms listed are 10
of the leading utilities in the
country, including American Tel
ephone & Telegraph (New York),
Consolidated Edison (New York);
Pacitic Gas & Electric (San Fran
cisco); Tennesee Gas Transmis
sion (Houston , Commonwealth
Edison (Chicago); American Elec
tric Power (New York); Southern
Company (Atlanta); Public Serv
ice Electric & Gas (Newark);
Southern California Edison (Los
Angeles); and El Paso Natural
Gas (El Paso)
Many of the accused companies
issued denials, stressing that thes
employ persons of varied religious
beliefs. Among the firms that is
sued such denials were American
Telephone & Telegraph; Western
Unifln; Consolidated Edison; Pub-
Island Lighting; and many others
across the country.
The “discriminatory barriers,"
The AJC stated, “are preventing
the nation's major utilities from
utilizing fully a substantial por
tion of United States manpower
m the management field.” Ac
cording to Mi. Sonnabend, Jews
make up less than one per cent
of the total executive personnel
in the country’s 50 leading util
ities. About 8 to 10 per cent of
the college-trained population in
this country is Jewish, he said,
and the managerial staffs are re
cruited almost completely from
the ranks of college graduates.
In describing the discriminatory
bairiers, Mr. Sonnabend said that
“the problem really begins at the
recruitment level when company
representatives ^visit the colleges
and graduate schools throughout
the nation." He pointed out that
potential Jewish candidates for
jobs in utilities management are
presented “with a negative and
discouraging picture of their po-
'ential and possibilities in the
management divisions of these
The AJC president reported
that “there seems to be a built-in
discriminatory screen which has a
much finer mesh for Jews than
for other candidates, Jewiah per
sonnel traditionally must do bet
ter than others either to stay in
the same place, or to move up
on the higher managerial ladder
He said that, while very few com
panies have an explicit pdlicy of
discrimination, the utilities never
theless "maintain a personnel
practices climate that discourager
Jewish candidates and members
of other religious and ethnic mi
nority groups.”
Mr Sonnabend set forth a
number of major proposals on the
basis of preliminary Committee
investigations which, he aaid,
would help in exploring the di
mensions of the problem. He
urged that the utilities undertake
a series of steps toward eliminat
ing patterns of discriminatory be
havior:
1 To enlarge the existing body
of knowledge about minority
groups in management, qnd th<
—Continued on page 4
Jacksonville Fire Claims 21 Lives, Including Two Atlanta Jewish Couples
Mass tragedy ag*«in struck the
Atlanta Jewish community, this
time claiming the lives of four
persons in the Roosevelt Hotel
fire in Jacksonville
The victims were:
Jay P. Cohen, 29, and his wife,
I.eslie Tornow Cohen, 23.
Max Jerald (Jerry) Kahn 27,
and his wife, Gail Orenstein
Kahn, 26.
The two popular young cou
ples were ant<>ng 21 who lost
their lives, six of them Atlan
tans, in the fire which early
Sunday, Dec. swept the hotel
crowded with, visitors for the
Gator Bowl football game the
previous afternoon.
Another Atlanta couple, Mr
and Mrs. Kurt Holland, were
rescued from the building. They
were two doors from the rooms
where their friends were killed.
Smoke inhalation was attri
buted as the cause of death since
the fire never rose beyond the
first floor, but smoke filled the
other floors.
Many occupants remained in
their room with water-soaked
towels around their heads until
they could be rescued.
Others attempted to make
sheet ladders in their Lid for
safety. ,
.'.round 60 persons were m-
tured in escape attempts or were
overcome by smoke.
The Cohens left a 10-month
old daughter, Rosa. The child
was staying with a nurse at the
family’s home in Atlanta while
the parents were on the trip.
Rabbi Harry Epstein conduct
ed the funeral at Blanchard’s
Chapel on Monday, Dec. 30. In
terment was in Greenwood
Cemetery.
Mr. Cohen owned the Cohen
Insurance Agency, A native of
Mrs. Cohen
Wintry Visit To a President's Grave
Jay P. Cohen
Mr* JerrlU Kahn
Mrs Kahn
Atlanta, lie graduated from the
Univer- tv of North Carolina
and later from tire Emory Uni
w. tty Law School. He was
aiso i graduate of Riverside
Neade.ny lie and his wife were
“ "eibei < of Ahavath Achim
: “ogue
Mi Coliei, is survived by he
MASS DISASTER
The Roosevelt Hotel fire
i lall-d the tragic loss of 116
F es, including several Jew-
is’ persofis, in Atlanta dur
it; the Winecnff Hotel blaze
in the late 1910's.
I In- disaster also brought
grim recollections of the Orly
Held. Paris, plane crash in
June, 1962. when eleven mem
bers of the Atlanta Jewish
eoftimunity were among the
130 victims.
parents, Mr, and Mrs. I. T
Cohen, and a sister, Mrs. Wil
liam Schatten, all of Atlanta.
Mrs Cohen is also sjurvived
bv her parents. Dr. and Mrs
Abe Tornow of Atlanta.
Mr. and Mrs. Kahn were mem
hers of the Temple. They leave
three children, Michael Allen,
3; Kathy Lynn, 25; and David
Bryan, 4 months.
Funeral services for the Kahns
were held Tuesday, Dec. 31, at
Spring Hill Rabbi Jacob Roths
child and Rabbi Harry H. Ep
stein officiated. Burial waa in
Crest Lawn Memorial Park.
Mr. and Mrs. Kahn arrived in
Jacksonville Friday night on
the first lap of a vacation trip
to Miami. They had attended the
Gator Bowl game and were to
continue their vacation trip
early this week.
Mr. Kahn was a 1957 graduate
of North Carolina, whose team
played against the Air Force
Academy eleven in the Gator
Bow I
Vice president of Empire Dis
tribulors, Inc., he was in the
wholesale liquor business. He
was a member of the Progress
ive. Standard and Mayfair Club*
A native of Pensacola, lie moved
to Atlanta with his parent* m
1938
!!w wife was a graduate of
1 leni y Gr.idy High School, She
had attended the University of
Michigan She is .also survived
by her parents, Mr. and Mr*
Max E Orenstein of Atlanta
and two brothers, Richard and
Steven Orenstein of Atlanta
Mr Kahn is also survived by
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Max
F Kahn Sr. of Atlanta; a bro
I her, Roger Frank Kahn, and a
sister. Miss Jan Kahn, all of
Atlanta, and grandparents, Mr*
Kdna G Kahn of ^Atlanta and
Mrs. Max Friedman of Shreve
port.
WASHINGTON - Amid .wirling .nowflolc.., 77 rabbi dir.ctor. of B'nai Brith HIIUI Foundation., torn* occompqni.d by
wivo. tot. tim. out from th.ir onnuol .toff conf.r.nc. to poy tribut. to th. m.mory of Pre.id.nt K.nn.dy at hi. gray,
m Arlington Notional C.met.ry Army offic.r on duty .alut.. oft.r Rabbi B.niomin M. Kahn (foreground, hand, fold.d),
plac.d a .pray of flow.r, on th. grov. Other, in .ndo.ur. or. Rabbi Harry Koplan, Hill.l dir.ctor at Ohio Slot.
MMl chairman of fh. .toff conf.r.nc., ond Dr. Loui ‘ Gott.chalk of Chicago, national chairman of th. Hill.l commiuion