Newspaper Page Text
Some of the 9 Egyptian commandos killed after crossing the
Suez Canal to attack an Israeli Command Post.
One of the Aswan-Cairo highpower pulons destroyed during
a retaliatory raid deep into Egypt by Israel planes.
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XLIV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, July 25, 1969
No. 30
l ighting Breaks Out at Suez
Following Clashes, Plane Losses
ACID ATTACK
Mattapan Rabbi Attacked;
Victim Blames Race Tension
TEI, AVIV (JTA) — Artillery
duels broke out anew Monday
along the Suez Canal following
a four-hour ground and air bat
tle that saw the first Israeli air
attack on Egyptian ground in
stallations in nearly two years.
An artillery and tank battle near
the Bitter Lakes, Firdan Bridge
spanning the Canal and north of
Qantara injured two Israelis, ac
cording to a military spokesman.
Egyptian authorities invited
newsmen to see remnants of 19
Israeli planes which they claim
ed were shot down in Sunday’s
fighting near Port Suez buk can
celled the tour at the last min
ute, claiming that the area was
under heavy shelling. An Israeli
spokesman said there was no
shelling In that area.
A military spokesman said that
Israel bombed and strafed Egyp
tian ground-to-air missile bases,
anti-aircraft positions and artil
lery installations between Port
Said and Qantara. The Israeli
Air Force was reported to have
lost two jets—two Sukhoi-7s,
two MIG-17S and MIG-21s-all
of which were said to have
crashed in Egypt. Cairo Radio
claimed that its pilots and anti
aircraft artillery downed 19 Is
raeli planes and that Egyptian
aircraft struck a tank column,
three radar installations, artillery
emplacements, an ammunition
dump and a Hawk missile site
in the Israeli-occupied Sinai.
Egypt reported one plane lost.
The fighting began with an at
tack by Israeli troops on Green
Island, an Egyptian island strong
hold at the southern outlet of the
Suez Canal that serves as an
anti-aircraft base. The Israelis
occupied the fortress for about
50 minutes and left an estimated
25 killed and dozens wounded,
destroyed an 85-millimeter anti
aircraft battery, a radar post, sev
eral smaller anti-aircraft guns,
most of the island's machinegun
nests and a number of build
ings.
An Israeli miltary spokesman
said that the attack was the cost
liest since military operations of
this nature began Vast year. He
rejected Egyptian claims that 39
Israelis were killed and a Mirage
jet was shot down in the raid
on the artificial island fortress
constructed atop a submerged
rock in shallow waters, some two
miles sout of Port Tewfik. The
fortified base safeguarded the
southern entrance to the 100-
mile-long Canal. It has long
buildings and a wide courtyard
and housed radar-controlled anti
aircraft guns and other weapons.
Egyptian artillery • continued
pounding the island during and
Continued on page 4
MATTAPAN, Mass. (JTAt —
A 28-year-old rabbi who was se
verely burned when two assail
ants attacked him with an acid
bomb in his home here last
month said this week that the
incident may have been related
to the tensions between Jews and
Negroes in his once predominant
ly Jewish neighborhood.
Rabbi Gerald B. Zelermyer of
Temple Beth Hillel here was the
victim of two black youths who
rang the doorbell of his home,
handed him a note and hurled
an acid bomb In his face before
fleeing. The note began “dear
est rabbi,” contained obscene
language and ordered him to get
out of town, he said. Tempor
arily blinded but since fully re
covered, the rabbi said he was
unable to identify his assailants.
The note was destroyed by the
acid, he said. The rabbi said his
assailants obviously knew who
he was and that they apparently
had been watching his home,
where he lives alone, for some
time. He added this indicated that
the attack was planned and not
a random incident but he indi
cated that he could think of no
reason why he was singled out.
He added he intended to remain,
in Mattapan.
The rabbi told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency that he tried
to withhold news of the assault
for fear of increasing neighbor
hood tensions but the story was
published in the Advocate, a
Jewish weekly in Boston. It
spurred the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Boston
to join with rabbis in the Dor
chester Mattapan section to alert
city officials to the need for
more protection and other help.
A meeting was held with police
officials who promised to provide
adequate police protection for
congregants, particularly the el
derly. Robert Segal, JCC direc
tor, urged residents to report
all incidents to the JCC and to
rely on police to provide safety.
Rabbi Zelermyer said he con
sidered the attack on him part
of the spreading malaise affect
ing most large cities where as
piring blacks confronted estab
lished whites. In Mattapan, he
said, the whites happen to be
Jews, those too old or too poor
to have joined the white exodus
to the suburbs. In Mattapan he
told the JTA, black families are
moving in as Jewish families
depart. He said that real estate
speculators, “block busters,"
both Negro and Jewish, were
trying to panic Jewish families
into selling their property. He
reported that Negroes had
sought to buy his synagogue’s
quarters and that their inter
mediary was a Jew.
He asserted that the problems
in Mattapan had nationwide sig
nificance and were "as impor
tant to Jews as the Six-Day
War.” He said national Jewish
agencies were neglecting “the
needs of poor, urban Jewish
comm uni tie*.” He added that
such communities needed social
workers and other facilities for
the aged and the poor but that
the Jewish agencies apparently
felt they were “a poor invest
ment.” The Advocate declared
editorially that “the most shame
ful reaction” by the community
to the attack would be “simply
to ignore this plethora of human
problems.” In a statement in the
Advocate, the rabbi said that
the fault was not in the “black
incursion” into Mattapan but
with the community which had
“sounded a requiem for our area
through almost wholesale indif
ference to our plight. The afflu
ent have left. The less affluent,
who need help, mostly remain.”
New Israel Consul General
Presents Credentials, Gets to Work
Apollo Launching On Rosh Chodesh Av
Moshe Gilboa, an elected mem
ber of the executive council of
the Zionist Movement, has as
sumed his duties as Consul Gen
eral of Israel for the Southeas
tern Region of the United States.
In presenting his credentials to
Governor Maddox and to Mayor
Ivan Allen. Mr. Gilboa discov
ered a shared keen interest in
Kenya with the Mayor. Mr.
Gilboa, in 1961, served as assis
tant director of the Division for
International Cooperation and
Fore'gn Liaison in the Ministry
of Defense. In this capacity he
was responsible for planning,
negotiating and fulfillment of
many projects of cooperation be
tween Israel and 25 friendly
countries in Africa, Asia and
Latin America.
Born in 1930, he graduated
from Herzlia High School in Tel
Aviv. During hjgh school he
served as a platoon commander
in the Haganah and later volun
teered to serve in the Palmach,
Haganah's Commando Unit. Af
ter the War of Independence,
Gilboa settled with his Palmach
unit a new kibutz, Erez, on the
Gaza Strip, where he lived for
seven years. He was 1 elected to
MOSHE GILBOA
the Kibbutz Movement’s national
executive.
Educated at the Hebrew Uni
versity and Cambridge Univer
sity, Gilboa served during his stu
dent years as president of the Na
tional Union of Israeli Students
and attended international con
ferences in Europe and Africa.
After graduation from Cam
bridge, Gilboa was nominated
spokesman of the majority party
in Israel, ILP, and was a mem
ber of its International Relations
Committee.
Called to join the Israeli Civil
Service in 1959, he was appoin
ted head of the office of Abba
Eban. Then followed his position
in international liaison. At the
ISVS Conference in Washington,
Mr. Gilboa was the last Israeli,
in an official capacity, to see
President Kennedy.
Serving in London from 1965
to 1967, he was invited as guest
lecturer on Israeli subjects to
European Universities. He has
served as a member of the pub
lic council for Israeli National
Theatre, Habimah, and was elec
ted chairman of its international
relations committee. In 1968 he
was a delegate to the Zionist
Congress in Jerusalem.
As Consul General for the
Southeastern Region, Gilboa will
have jurisdiction over Georgia,
Florida, N. Carolina, S. Carolina,
Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee
and Mississippi.
His wife, Ayala, is a former
teacher with the Israel Theatre.
They have two daughters who
are with them in Atlanta.
Bible Terms Moon The
‘Faithful Witness In The Sky’
NEW YORK (WUP) — Whether or not NASA officials were
aware of it, the launching of Apollo 11 on Wednesday, July 16, on
mankind’s maiden voyage to the moon happened to take place on
Rash Chodesh Av — the first of the Hebrew month of Av, the 9th
of which, falling out on Thursday, July 24, marks a sad day in
Hebraic history: both Temples, on different intervals, were destroyed
on that very day.
The moon itself, on which there was a Mosaic ban as far as
worship is concerned, plays a vital role in Jewish history. Each
new moon, devout Jews throughout the world, offer special prayers
to the celestial body to which the Jewish people are symbolized.
“Like the moon, they reappeared after being eclipsed,” one sage
has noted.
The Bible itself refers to the Moon as a “Faithful Witness in the
Sky.” The reference is made in connection with the oath which
the Creator made to David that his throne would remain for ever.
The passage, from Psalm 89, reads:
"Surely, I will not be false unto David; His seed shall endure
forever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be estab
lished forever as the Moon — that Faithful Witness in the Sky.
(Verses 36-38)
God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Who
knows? The Apollo 11 launching on Rosh Chodesh Av may have
much greater significance than all the ‘actors’ involved may realize,
a significance for all mankind in connection with the passage cited.