Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XLIV
Atlanta, Georgia, January 24, 1969
<$> * -
Opposition Grows • Middle East Dead °* 9
To French Embargo Policy Problem Fac.ny Nixon
No. 4
PARIS (JTA)— Opposition to
French President Charles de
Gaulle’s secretly-ordered embar
go on provision of weapons and
parts to Israel hit new peaks in
France and in many other coun
tries with no signs of abating.
Particularly significant were
two developments in- France. The
Foreign Affairs Committee of the
French Senate voted overwhelm
ingly to reject the Government’s
justification of the embargo and
demanded that French Prime
Minister Maurice Couve de Mur-
ville rescind the embargo im
mediately. The other develop
ment was a poll published by
“Sud Ouest,” a leading provin
cial newspaper, indicating that a
remarkable 97.3 percent of
Frenchmen opopsed tm? embargo.
The poll was the latest indica
tion of widespread rejection of
the embargo, particularly in the
French press, in non-Gaullist po
litical circles, in French industry
and in the Army.
Gen. de Gaulle appeared to be
ignoring the wall of opposition to
what was being widely described
as his pro-Arab policy. The
French Foreign Office said in an
official statement that if Leb
anon was threatened, France
“will not remain indifferent.” A
company of French paratroopers
reportedly was stationed in Tou
louse military airport to be flown*
to Beirut “to protect Lebanon.”
Another Paris report said that
the French Government had set
up a special commission to exam
ine means by which France could
aid Lebanon if that country was
threatened. The hints of possible
French intervention were con
sidered by some observers in
Paris fc intended to serve only
as “advance warning” to Israel
against hitting at Ijebanon, a
“prestige operation” involving
Gen. de Gaulle’s awareness that
Israel had no intention of occu
pying any Lebanese territory,
French diplomatic sources in
Washington dismissed all such
reports, declaring that leftists
elements in Lebanon would never
allow a return of French “im
perialism.” Lebanon was once
under French mandate.
A crowd estimated in the
Continued on page 5
Negro Teacher Group Head
Charges Lindsay Appeasing
NEW YORK (JTA) — Mayor
John V. Lindsay was accused by
the head of the African-Ameri
can Teachers Association of “try
ing to appease the powerful
Jewish financiers of the city”
for ordering an investigation into
the reading of an anti-Semitic
poem by a controversial Negro
school teacher over a local radio
station last month. The teacher,
Leslie R. Campbell, was under
suspension but was reinstated re
cently when a state panel found
insufficient evidence to back up
charges that he had harassed
white teachers during the New
York City teachers strike.
Albert Vann, president of the
Negro teachers organization, said
that Mayor Lindsay had, in
effect, called for the dismissal of
Mr. Campbell and threatened
that “the black community . . .
will not tolerate such action.”
He claimed that there were no
anti-Semitic overtones in the
poem read by Mr. Campbell over
WBAI-FM last Dec. 26 but con
ceded that it was “critical of the
Jews.” Mayor Lindsay de
nounced the poem as “obviously
anti-Semitic.” It was dedicated
to Albert Shanker, TJFT presi
dent, and began with the verse,
“Hey, Jew boy, with that yar-
mulka on your head/you pale-
faced Jew boy, I wish you were
dead,” The poem was purported
ly written by a 15-year-old Negro
school boy. Mr. Van said “poems
critical of blacks are taught daily.
Are Jews beyond criticism?”
The American Jewish Commit
tee meanwhile urged the immed
iate suspension of Mr. Campbell
in a telegram to John Doar, pres
ident of the New York City Board
of Education. Theodore Ellenoff,
president of the AJCommittee’s
New York Chapter, said there
was no place in public schools
for bigots as teachers, no matter
what their color, and demanded
a full investigation of Mr. Camp
bell’s fitness to teach.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The
torch was passed Monday to
Richard M. Nixon, who became
the 37th President of the United
States. Among the myriad prob
lems facing his new Republican
Administration was the Middle
East crisis. Whether that torch
will cast light on the rocky road
to an Arab-Israel settlement will
hinge, to a large extent, on what
foreign policy Mr. Nixon, Sec
retary of State William P. Rogers
and their advisors adopt in the
days ahead.
In his inaugural address, Mr.
Nixon stressed the theme of
America as a “peace-maker.”
Without any direct reference to
the Middle East, he said that a
United States goal should be this:
“where peace is unknown, make
it welcome; where peace is fra
gile, make it strong; where peace
is temporary, make it perman
ent.” He said, “After a period of
confrontation, we are entering an
era of negotiation. Let all the na
tions know that during this Ad
ministration, our lines of com
munication will be open. We
seek an open world — open to
ideas, open to the exchange of
goods and people, a world in
which no people, great or small,
will live in angry isolation.”
Mr. Nixon, a Quaker, took the
oath of office using two brown
leather-covered King James fam
ily Bibles, dating back to 1828
and 1873. They were open to Is
aiah, chapter two, verse four:
“And he shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks; na
tion shall not lift up sword
against nation; neither shall they
Buenos Aires Bomb
Hits Jewish Building:
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — A
Molotov cocktail — a gasoline
bomb — was hurled at the door
of the Buenos Aires Jewish com
munity building but hurt no one
and caused little damage. The
building houses the offices of the
DAIA, central representative
body of Argentine Jewry. Com
munity leaders informed the
chief of police and requested a
meeting with him.
learn war any more.”
One of the world’s hottest trou
ble spots is the Middle East. The
scene of potentially renewed war
fare, it is the locus of a major
conflict of interest between Mos
cow and Washington. During his
campaign, Mr. Nixon called for
Israeli military superiority to de
ter possible war, but Republican
politicians and bqsiness interests
have tended to show greater con-
. cern over the years for the Arabs
than for Israel. In one campaign
speech, Mr. Nixon characterized
the Russians as “fishing in trou
bled Middle Eastern waters” and
called on the U. S. to “deal di
rectly” with the Kremlin on
peaoe-keeping in the region. He
also called for strengthening
America’s ruptured ties with the
Arab world and said Egypt’s
President Gamal Abdel Nasser
was the “key” to a settlement.
He opposed “simply writing Nas
ser off.”
As Mr. Nixon was taking the
oath of office, President Nasser,
addressing the National Assem
bly in Cairo, called for a military
buildup that could force Israel
to retreat from Arab land occu
pied during the Six-Day War. He
hinted that there might be an
Arab summit conference soon to
study the Middle East deadlock.
Pledging support of Arab guer
rillas, he rejected negotiations
with Israel, said Egypt advocated
peace, and added, “we must real-
A hie Nathan Sends
Food to Biafra
NEW YORK (JTA) — Abie
Nathan, Israel’s peace pilot,
was on the docks in Brooklyn
a few days ago when the char-
tered Norwegian freighter
Forra sailed with some 900 tons
of food and medical supplies
for Biafra he had helped to
collect.
Mr. Nathan, a Tel Aviv res
taurateur who became an in
ternational figure by virtue of
his two private “peace flightss”
to Egypt, has been in the fore
front of efforts to aid the starv
ing civilian population of
Biafra, the secessionist eastern
province of Nigeria.
He said a week-long food
drive in New York yielded 550
tons which wete loaded aboard
the Forra despite the long
shoremen’s strike. The ship,
chartered after a fund drive in
The Netherlands headed by Mr.
Nathan, carried an additional
347 tons of foodstuffs and medi
cine contributed -by Israel,
Britain and Holland.
To Toach Catholics
Takes Embassy Post
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — A
Dutch rabbi, Itzhak Ashkenazi,
has agreed to teach Talmud at
two Roman Catholic theological
academies in Holland. The 42-
year-old spiritual leader of the
Liberal Jewish community of
Arnhem will lecture at institu
tions in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
He studied at the Hebrew Uni
versity in Jerusalem.
TELLING IT LIKE IT WAS—Atlantan Larry Frank (center), member of a 23-member investigative
team from his community’s Federation, hears how it was behind the Iron Curtain from two immi
grants just arrived by plane at Lod Airport. At the last minute, the delegation of 21 was increased
by two more—Rabbi Nissim Wemick, spiritual leader of Shearith Israel Congregation, and Jack
Gelbart. (See page 9 for more pictures of Atlanta delegation and eye-witness story.)
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A nephew
of the famed Pastor Martin Nie-
moller, the former Bishop of Es
sen, who was one of the few
German clergymen to publicly
oppose Hitler during the height
of Nazi power in the 1930s, has
arrived here to take up his new
post as cultural attache at the
West German Embassy. Dr.
Christopher Niemoller previously
served as German Consul in Zur
ich.
ize that the enemy will not re
treat unless we force them by
fighting."
The Arab world meanwhile was
angry over reports that the U. S.
had adopted a pro-Israel stance
in replying to Soviet peace pro
posals. Hope was expressed that
President Nixon would alter U. S.
policies. The authoritative Cairo
newspaper A1 Abram reported
Sunday that the Johnson Admin
istration, in replying to the So
viet plan, had called for an In
ternational campaign to halt tho
“grave increase of Arab terror -
Continued on page 3
Drug Users Warned
By Hebrew U.
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The He
brew University has announced
it will expel any student found
to be using drugs. The statement
was made in the wake of a re
port in the student newspaper
which alleged that about 1,000
university students were users,
mainly of hashish, although some
took methedrine, LSD and b few
grew marijuana plants in flower
pots in their dormitories.
The newspaper claimed that
almost all of the users were for
eign students and contended that
there was no drug cult among
Israeli students.
Javits Named
To Foreign
Relations Body
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Sen.
Jacob K. Javits, New York Re
publican has become the first
Jewish Senator ever named to
the Senate Committee on For
eign Relations.
A leading advocate of the
Israeli cause, Sen. Jartts ■will
now be in a position to wifeld
greater influence on U.9. poli
cies and legislation. He has
served in the Senate since 1957
and previously was a member
of the House of Representatives.
While a House member, he
served on the Committee on
Foreign Affairs.
Another “first” occurred
when it was revealed that three
Jews will serve simultaneously
on the House Foreign Affairs
Committee. This has never oc
curred before.
House officials revealed that
Rep. Lester Wolff, New York
Democrat, • would be named to
the committee. He will join
Rep. Leonard Farhstein and
Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal, both
New York Democrats, A newly-
elected Jewish Congressman,
Rep. Abner J. Mikva, Illinois
Democrat, will be appointed to
the House Judiciary Commit
tee, Rep. Emanuel Celler is
committee chairman.
In The News . . .
Ike Shapiro George Jessel
Dies In Augusta in Charlotte
(Page 8) (Page 8)