Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Vol. XLIV The Southern Israelite A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925 Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, February 14, 1969 New York Holds Parley On Rising Arson, Vandalism NEW YORK (JTA) — Deputy Mayor Timothy Costello of New York and top officials of the city’s Police and Fire Depart ments met 94 Orthodox Jewish leaders and rabbis here this week . to discuss ways of combating the wave of arson and vandalism that has hit Jewish religious in stitutions during the past few months and the increase in mug gings and other crimes in Jewish neighborhoods. The meeting was disclosed by Rabbi Joseph Kara- sick, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations . of America, which convened it. In addition to Mr. Costello it was’ attended by Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery, Police Com missioner Howard R. Leary and Chief Police Inspector Sanford Garelik. Rabbi Karasick said the offi cials were apprised of the grow ing alarm in the Jewish com munity for the safety of children attending Hebrew schools and the safety of synagogues and Jewish community centers hit by fires and vandalism. Initial pro posals ranged from improved fire prevention and security methods in synagogues to efforts, through political channels, to bring about increased police man power, better law enforce ment procedures and court ac tion, as well as inter-racial con sultation on the problems of changing neighborhoods. Most of New York’s Orthodox Jews tend to congregate in old neighbor hoods once exclusively Jewish but now racially ifiixed. The city officials noted that while 14 synagogues and yeshi- vas have had fires in recent weeks and others have been bur glarized and vandalized, houses of worship of other denomina tions have also been victims. Police Commissioner Leary and Fire Commissioner Lowery both asserted that ca*reful studies have shown no single pattern, such as Maryland Man Held in Blast Of Synagogue WASHINGTON (JTA)—Police were holding a 30-year-old Chev- erly, Md., man on charges of dynamiting January 11 the Shaare Tikvah synagogue in su burban Temple Hills, Md. Dam age to the year-old synagogue was estimated at $200,000. A small arsenal was found in the home of David V. Maness, an electrical worker, along with a printed list of synagogues in Prince Georges County, where Shaare Tikvah is located, and a handdrawn map of the Temple Hills' area. Among the charges filed against Maness were dynamiting of a house of worship. Some 38 pounds of dynamite, fuses and detonation tapes were found in his home along with weapons and ammunition after police picked him up in a car stopped when it was recognized as be longing to a convicted felon. Found also in the home was a quantity of literature produced by the extreme right-wing Min- utemen organi z a t r o (i which teaches its members guerrilla warfare. Officials did not say whether Maness was a^Tinute- men member. Rabbi Robert Chcrnoff, the synagogue’s spiritual leader, said he hoped “there will be no prem ature judgments made against the man.” There were no in juries in the explosion as the synagogue was empty on the Saturday night that it occurred. The rabbi said repairs had begun. The congregation is meeting in a church. racial conflict, could be attribu ted to the outbreaks. They sta rted that some cases had been traced to juveniles living in the vicinity of the affected syna gogues, schools and churches who were apparently bent on idle mischief rather than arson. They said in some cases evidence of arson was found and others indicated .the work of dope ad dicts. All four city officials urged the synagogue leaders to implement Police and Fire De partment guidelines for building security and fire prevention. They also pointed out the prob lems encountered in court prose cution of those charged with the crimes many of whom are re peters with long police records. French I *ropos OK’d by II. S. 03^ iii Changes WASHINGTONN (JTA)— The Nixon administration acted last week tf> cooperate with a French proposal for Big Four talks at the United Nations on a possible Mideast peace formula but with substantial American modifica tions of the French proposal. The resistance of the former Johnson administration tSL the initial proposal from Frohch President Charles deGaulle for an imposed Big Four setttlement led to French second thoughts and a revised proposal excluding any idea of imposing on Israel and the Arab states whatever formula the Big Four might reach. The revised proposal was for Big Four talks at the Foreign Minister level at the UN, with the understanding that this would be to buttress, rather than weaken, the assignment of the UN’s special Mideast emissary, Dr. Gunnar Jarring. Replying to a January 16 French note proposing the Big Four talks at the UN, Secretary of State William Rogers handed French envoy Charles Lucet a letter to Gen. de Gaulle in effect rejecting the French proposal by saying that preliminary meetings No Jews Among Next Defendants in Iraq LONDON (JTA) — Egypt’s Middle East News Agency had reported from Baghdad that Iraq is trying' a second group of alleged spies but that none of them are Jews. The news agency quoted Iraqi president Ahmed al Bakr as saying that Iraq’s esti mated 3,000 Jews were free to leave the country if they wanted to. Another report reach ing here was that between 21 and 25 Jews arrested after the Six- Day War had been released from jail. The hanging on Jan. 27 of 14 Iraqis, nine of them Jews, after a secret trial, spurred worldwide protests and demands on the in ternally-riven Iraqi regime that it drop plans for a second trial in which more Jews were to have been “tried,” this time for alleged spying for the CIA. The first 14 victims were accused of spying for Israel. The report that Iraq had ap parently responded to unremit ting worldwide pressures, in cluding criticism from some of its Arab brothers, came as the protests continued to be regis tered. In Amsterdam, JTA quoted Foreign Minister Joseph Luns as announcing that Jews leaving Arab countries would be wel come in Holland. In Rio de Janiero, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that Brazil’s permanent representative to the United Nations had been instruc ted to inform the Iraqi Govern ment of Brazil’s “grave, humani tarian concern” over the fate of the Iraqi Jewish community and the treatment given Jewish lead ers. In Stockholm, foreign min isters of the Scandinavian com munity — Sweden, Norway, Den mark and Finland — adopted a resolution warning that the Baghdad executions would ad versely ^affect prospects for a peace settlement in the Middle East. In the first reported published comment on the executions in the East European Communist satellite bloc, a Bratislava news paper, Pravda. denounced the “inhuman methods and actions” of the Iraqi regime. The Slovak daily warned that such actions would only harm Arab prestige in the world. It said the execu tions were more in the nature of settling old scores than of liquid ating spies. Mrs. Rita Hauser, the young New Yorker'appointed by Presi dent Nixon as the American rep resentative on the United Nations Human Rights Commis sion and UN Economic and Social Council, said in Washington that the execution ofVhe Iraqi Jews would be the first agenda sub ject taken up by the Commission when it meets in Geneva, Feb. 14. She expressed concern over the fate of the Iraqi Jewish com munity and said she would urge the President to press for U.S. ratification of the human rights and genocide conventions. In Paris, Dr. Nahum Goldman, World Jewish Congress president, continued efforts to line up gov ernments and international or ganizations behind the WJC plea to UN Secretary-General U Thant to seek the emigration of Iraqi Jews. A massive demonstration of solidarity with the Jews of Iraq was given in Jerusalem. Thou sands marched through the main streets after hearing Menachem Beign, Minister Without Port folio, appeal to the nation^ of the world and international organiza tions to aid the Jews remaining in Iraq. Another cabinet mem ber, Police Minister Eliahus Sas- son, participated in the memorial services for the nine hanged Jews, lighting nine candles. He told the throng that the world could not be absolved of respon sibility for the fate of the slain Continued on page 4 International President Bill Wexler of Savannah leads B’nai B’rith and communal leaders in a Washington memorial service for the Jewish Iraqi martyrs. should be held at the UN on a bi-laterial basis before the major powers met for the proposed talks. President Nixon added some details at his second White House press conference to the careful spelling out of his ad ministration’s Middle East policy. In general terms, he said that policy was an active one, that the United States would take “initiatives” to promote peace and would not “wait for some thing else to happen.” He reiter ated his belief thart the area “might explode into a major war” and hence needed immediate at tention. On specifics, the President said the approach would be five fold: support of Dr. Jarring’s mission: bi-lateral talks with the Big Four at the UN followed by formal talks; meetings with the Middle East parties concerned and advancement of aid plans foor the region. He cited the plan formulated two years ago by Adm. Lewis Strauss and endorsed by former President Eisenhower to bring atomic-powered desal ination efforts to the area. Even-Handedness Again Endorsed Bu Ex-Gov. Scranton BOSTON (JTA)—Former Gov. William W. Scranton, ot Pennsyl vania, who went to the Middle East on a special iact-tinAIn# mission for Mr. Nixon last year, has reiterated his controversial statement made at that time that the United States should adopt a “more even-handed” policy in the Middle East. Gov. Scranton told Christian Science Monitor correspondent Godfrey Sperling Jr., in an inter view published this week that there is “rightly or wrongly the Impression all over the Middle East (outside of Israel)—an im pression that has been growing in the last two or three years— that the U. S. is interested only in supporting Israel, regardless of what It does.” The Scranton report to Mr. Nixon has not been made pub lic. His recommendations, how ever, were “said to bave moved President Nixon, more than any thing else, to make a No. 1 pri ority of an effort toward achiev ing peace in the Mideast,” Mr. Sperling reported. Sen. Hartke Says V. S. May Be Paying For Jordan Army WASHINGTON (JTA) — The United States Government may be indirectly financing Iraqi mil itary units based in Jordan, hi- cluding artillery units that have fired on Israeli kibbutzim, ac cording to Sen. Vance Hartke, Indiana Democrat. Sen. Hartke, a member of the Commerce Committee, which handles revenue legislation, has asked Secretary of State William P. Rogers for a report on con tinued American financial assis tance to Jordan and on possible Jordanian diversion of support funds to cover logistical costs of Iraqi units stationed on its ter ritory. The Senator suggested that Jordan may he compensating Iraq tor rations, lodging, and even munitions and pay tor such Iraqi military components ns the Saladdin Brigade now in north ern Jordan. The inquiry follow ed recent developments in Bagh dad including the hanging of Jews.