Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israe^te
Vol. XLIII
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - c r y^t^. ^25
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Bomb Israel Exhibit Anti-Semit ^ o0 ,ators A
In Buenos Aires Carry Day in Fortas Fight
No. 40
By ADOLPH ROSENBERG
Editorial Report
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — A
leading Jewish journalist re
ceived a telephone threat a few
hours before terrorists’ incend
iary bombs touched off an ex
plosion and fire which destroyed
a $2 million Israeli commercial
exhibit in downtown Buenos
Aires this week. The caller said
that such an attack was being
planned, the DAIA central repre
sentative body of Argentine
Jewry, disclosed.
In reporting that Juan Rodolfo
Rosenberg had been the victim
of a telephone threat and the
bombing of the exhibit, the DAIA
also said that the attack on the
Nachman Gesang Zionist Center
NEW YORK (JTA) — A relief
plane carrying 30 tons of food,
medicine and clothing for the
stricken population of Biafra was
scheduled to leave Kennedy Air
port on a humanitarian mission
sponsored by the B’nai B’rith
Foundation. Eugene L. Sugar-
man, treasurer of the service or
ganization, said the cartons and
cases of merchandise worth $250,-
000 were collected by the Anti-
Defamation League of B’nai
B’rith.
The charter flight will take
the supplies to the Portuguese
island of Sao Tome which has
become the center of relief sup
plies for Biafra. The $40,000 char
ter fee will be paid by the B’nai
B’rith Foundation, Mr. Sugar-
man said. Abie Nathan, Israeli
freedom pilot, will accompany
the shipment and oversee its
transfer to Catholic and Protes
tant-run air shuttles to Biafra
to use in hospitals of Catholic
and Protestant medical missions.
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The
Board of Rabbis of Greater
Philadelphia issued an appeal to
its members to seek contribu-
BONN (JTA) — The extreme
right-wing National Democratic
Party polled 5.2 percent of the
vote in Lower Saxony’s elections
Sunday. It was the first time the
reputedly neo-Nazi party partici
pated in county and local elec
tions and apparently its first set
back, according to political ob
servers here. They noted that it
failed to maintain the seven per
cent of the vote it won in the
statewide elections in Lower Sax
ony last year and was far behind
the 9.8 percent polled in the elec
tions for the Baden-Wurttemburg
state parliament last spring.
Based on returns from 60 out
of 75 districts, Sunday’s vote will
give the NPD 78 out of 1,791
seats in various county and vil
lage legislatures. The Social De
mocrats won 42 percent, the
Christian Democrats 39.2 percent,
and the Free Democrats 9.1 per
cent. An NPD spokesman con
ceded that the party had not won
a “victory” but said “we are sat
isfied.” He attributed the results
to fears that “the Russians would
come in if people voted for the
NPD.”
in Rosario City, 160 miles north
west of here, last week were
new “criminal episodes” in a
“long series of provocations."
The statement reiterated an ap
peal “for energetic public action
against the provoking elements.”
Firemen brought the exhibit fire
under control after seven hours.
Among the exhibits lost in the
blaze were agricultural machines,
medical supplies, electronic parts,
computers, and 100 irreplaceable
oil paintings by Israel artists,
as well as Jewish, Christian and
Moslem religious articles. The
exhibit was to have opened in
several weeks- The sponsors say
it cannot be rebuilt.
tions to the board’s welfare fund
to aid starving children in Biafra.
A letter signed by Rabbi Leo
Landman, president, and Rabbi
Harold B. Waintrup, chairman
of the committee on religion and
social action, stressed that “we
have a moral responsibility to
bring to our congregations’ at
tention the horrible destruction
of life that is going on and es
pecially the grisly death of star
vation that is being perpetrated
on infants and children,"
(The B’nai B’rith Foundation
said in New York today that it
and three other organizations
shared the $40,000 charter fee for
a Seaboard World Airlines cargo
plane that left Kennedy Airport
this morning with 30 tons of
food, clothing and medical sup
plies for the stricken population
of Biafra. The other organizations
are the Union of American He
brew Congregations, the Biafra
Relief Services Foundation and
the American Committee to Keep
Biafra Alive. An earlier an
nouncement by the B’nai B’rith,
carried by the Jewish Telegraph
ic Agency, did not mention the
other groups involved.)
(Although the elections were
on a local level in a single West
German state, the results were
followed with considerable Inter
est abroad as a possible bell
wether of next year’s Federal
Republic national elections. The
London Daily Telegraph said
that the outcome was a “bad
omen” for the NPD whose chair
man, Adolf von Thadden, has
predicted at least 10 percent of
the nationwide vote in 1969. That
estimate would give the NPD
about 50 seats in the Bundestag
(lower house). But it now ap
pears that the party is hardly
able to overcome the five percent
hurdle needed to gain parliamen
tary seats, the paper said.
(Mayor Karl Schultz of West
Berlin said in a radio broadcast
that the city would seek a ban
on the NPD which he called a
successor to the Nazi Party. He
said he hoped the West German
states would make a decision soon
about the NPD “in the interests
of Berlin.” The NPD plans to
hold a convention in the city
soon.)
The “Gentlemen’s agreement”
type of anti-Semitism, more vic
ious than the forthright Klan-
type, emerged the victor in the
fight over the Fortas nomination
as Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court.
The arch-prototypes, such as
Georgia’s Senators Russell and
Talmadge and North Carolina’s
Ervin, took the lead in the lynch
party which kept the Jewish
member of the Supreme Court
from this merited post.
As countless newspaper^ and
bar associations have pointed out,
Justice Fortas is “eminently”
qualified for the post for which
he had been selected by Presi
dent Johnson.
He has the stigma, however, of
being Jewish on the basis of
which he was tarred and feather
ed after a character assassina
tion as positive as it was camou
flaged by the lip-service of the
anti-Semitic Talmadges and the
Ervins. These hypocrites self-
righteously testify about their
“Jewish friends” even voting
seemingly in favor of Israel how
ever disgrace the standards of
Jewish and American social
justice, humanitarianism and
decency.
It is only with a Jewish
nominee named Brandeis or an
Abe Fortas that the Senate goes
into such a scrutinizing and
raging demolition of dignity as
in the current circumstances. The
Brandeis fight was more blatant,
but then the political hypocrites
have since been well versed in
subtlty, particularly in the “gen
tleman’s agreement” type.
We can well understand Justice
Fortas’ distaste in letting his
name remain in nomination,
though as long as he has stuck
it out so far, we would have
preferred him to see it through
to the bitter end. No more
damage could have been done
to his reputation than has al
ready emerged.
It is likely that public opinion
might have swung some of the
biased senators into his column.
As it was the 45-43 vote, though
not enough to ward off a filli-
buster would have been enough
for ratification.
The practice of national offi
cials accepting fees for lectures
and public appearances is hardly
an act for disqualifying them for
their jobs, though the Senators
now again and again raise this
point. Vice presidents — even
Re-elected ADL
Commissioner
B’nai B’rith announced this
week the re-election of Maurice
Steinberg of
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wives of Presidents have accept
ed fees and without any outcry
of irregularity. But if a Jewish
Justice participates in the educa-
NEW YORK (JTA)—Sen. Ja
cob Javits, New York Republican,
said he saw little value in the
Soviet Union’s proposal for a
four-power guarantee of peace in
the Middle East. Addressing a
testimonial dinner for Louis L.
Levine, a deputy commissioner of
industrial labor relations of the
New York State Department of
Labor, Sen. Javits asked: “To
what avail is a four-power guar
antee when one of these powers,
the Soviet Union, continues to
rearm its radical Arab clients to
a level beyond that which exist
ed before the June war; when
another of the powers, France,
refuses to deliver jet aircraft to
Israel for which payment has
been made; when still another of
the powers, Great Britain, is en
gaged in pulling back from her
traditional role east of Suez and
is unwilling to assume new res-
tional process — then it is wrong.
Why Jewish financial leaders
should flock with financial aid
for a Talmadge or an Ervin, this
paper does not know. This is
not the first time their real
character is as clearly discernible
as their vote vis-a-vis Fortas.
ponsibilities; and when the United
States appears reluctant to sell
Israel sorely needed jets?”
The dinner was sponsored by
the Greater New York Trade
Unionists for Labor Israel. Pro
ceeds, expected to reach $100,000,
will go toward establishment of
a cultural center in Yad Mor-
decai, a kibbutz near the Gaza
Strip.
The chairman of the Ameri
can Zionist Council urged the
U. S. to reject the Soviet propos
al which he termed “a reitera
tion of the intransigent Arab pos
ition.” Rabbi Israel Miller issued
his plea in an address at the in
stallation of officers of Bnai
Zion, the American Zionist fra
ternal organization. Raymond M.
Patt, of Brooklyn, was installed
as Bnai Zion president for a sec
ond term.
News In Brief
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
plans to open store-front activities centers on behalf of Russian
Jews soon throughout New York City, 1,600 persons were told here
at a rally. Jacob Birnbaum, the organization’s national coordinator,
made the announcement at a “freedom rally” for Russian Jews held
at the Statue of Liberty. The meeting was held today, which is the
29th anniversary of the Nazi massacre of Russian Jews at the Babl
Yar ravine outside Kiev.
The event at the statue will be an annual event as Yom Kippur
nears, Mr. Birnbaum said. A newly formed Babi Yar memorial
council, he said, will ask a world-famous sculptor to prepare a
memorial for the Babi Yar site to be offered to Soviet authorities,
who have refused to mark the place of the mass murders. The council
will seek to establish every Sept. 29 as a yahrzeit for the slaughtered
Jews. Speakers at today’s rally linked the efforts of Russian Jews
and intelligentsia, Polish Jews and the Czechoslovak people to gain
freedom from Russian oppression.
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The role of Jewish pioneers in the
early growth and development of Los Angeles was cited this week
at ceremonies dedicating a California State Historical marker on a
former cemetery in Chavez Ravine granted to the Hebrew Benevolent
Society in 1855. The society was founded in 1854 and was the first
charitable organization in the city. The marker commemorated 114
years of organized Jewish community life in this city.
Principal speakers at the ceremonies were Victor M. Carter,
president of the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles,
and County Supervisor Ernest E. Debs. Mr. Carter spoke of the
contributions made by early Jewish settlers. Mr. Debs said a Jew
had served on the first Los Angeles City Council in 1850.
WASHINGTON (JTA)—A telephone receptionist fired because
she wanted to observe Orthodox Jewish ritual on Friday evenings
has been awarded $800 compensation and offered job reinstatement
following action by the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Com
mission. The name of the woman and the identity of her employer
were not disclosed because of Federal law governing operation of the
commission.
The woman claimed that she was fired because she left work
on a Friday afternoon to reach home in time to observe the Sabbath.
The employer contended that other Jews employed by the same com
pany made no such request for early dismissal and that she was dis
rupting work by creating a Jewish issue. An investigation by the
commission disclosed that the complainant had offered to make up
the lost time by working on vacation and lunch hour periods. The
commission found that there was “no showing that accommodation
to the reasonable religious needs of the charging party would have
resulted in undue hardship on the conduct of the respondent’s busi
ness.” The telephone receptionist accepted the cash compensation but
declined reinstatement because she was now employed elsewhere.
Aid For Biafra
Saxony Poll Seen
As Neo-Nazi Rebuff
Javits Raps Soviet
Peace Plan for Mid East