Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XLIV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, October 17, 1969
Opposes Haynsworth
AJCongress Rejects Concept
Of ‘Jewish Seat’ on Court
NEW YORK (JTA) — The seat’ but because we oppose his
Mo. 42
American Jewish Congress has
rejected the concept of a “Jew
ish seat” on the U. S. Supreme
Court and criticized Sen. Ern
est A. Rollings, Democrat from
South Carolina, “for injecting
the ‘Jewish question’ into the
debate over Federal Judge Cle
ment F. Haynsworth’s nomina
tion to the Supreme Court.”
Shad Polier, chairman of the
organization’s national govern
ing council, declared in a tele
gram to Sen. Hollings, “Quite
apart from any consideration of
the charges of conflict of inter
est against Judge Haynsworth,
the American Jewish Congress
has vigorously opposed his nom
ination to the Supreme Court.
We do so not because he has
been named for any ‘Jewish
Diplomat, Kirk
Have Tilt
Over Consulate
Israel Consul General Moshe
Gilboa is back in Atlanta this
week after a taste of Southern
politics in his brush with Flor
ida’s Governor Kirk.
The diplomat had conferred
with Kirk who is about to de
part for Israel with five other
governors as guests of the gov
ernment on such matters as
deepening cooperation between
the citrus growers of Florida and
the Jewish State.
In the governor’s press to have
an Israel Consulate established in
Florida, he made reference to the
large number of Jewish persons
in Miami, particularly and hinted
darkly that the Georgia governor
may be anti-semitic, according to
an Associated Press dispatch.
Gilboa explained that selection
of Atlanta was not a population
choice but rather one of a geo
graphical nature since the South
east Consulate has to service the
entire Southeastern states. While
Israel would like to have two
consulates, the financial costs
make this prohibitive.
Riga Memorial Services
LONDON (JTA)— Some 600
Jews of Riga attended memorial
services for Jews killed by the
Nazis during World War II, it
was reported here. The services
were held at the Jewish ceme
tery the day after Rosh Hash-
ana.
Claim Police Disperse Youth
With Truncheons on Simhat Torah
TEL AVIV (JTA)—An Israeli
ewspaper claimed that Lenin-
rad police armed with clubs
ispersed 5,000 Jewish youths at-
■mpting to participate in Simhat
orah celebrations outside of the
eningrad synagogue. The even-
ig daily Yediot Achronot attri-
ited its information to a tour-
t who arrived here from Rus-
a and said he witnessed the
icident. According to the ac-
mnt, about 5,000 Jewish youths
;sembled outside the synagogue
ren though the street was closed
f police. The police apparently
lought the gathering was too
rge and moved in to break it
a, using their clubs. The tour-
t said he saw scuffles between
Juths and police.
Reports in the world press last
eek said that some 12,000 Jews,
mainly youngsters, danced and
sang outside the main synagogue
in Moscow on Simhat Torah.The
street was blocked to traffic but
there was no reported interfer
ence by police. A Jewish elder
was quoted as saying that he
doubted that Simhat Torah cel
ebrations on such a scale were
permitted in cities other than
Moscow.
MONTREAL (JTA)—A round
up of Simhat Torah demonstra
tions in six major Canadian
cities in behalf of Soviet Jews
was included in the Russian
language program of the Cana
dian Broadcasting Corp. interna
tional service, the Canadian
Jewish Congress reported. The
round-up was included at the
CJCongress’ initiative.
Israel Regards
Egypt’s Rejection
Formula Last Word on Talks
-^oO
^.todes
judicial philosophy.
“Neither race nor religion nor
national origin should enter
into consideration in choosing
a member of the country’s high
est tribunal.” Mr. Polier de
clared, “You have been quoted
in the Ne\v York Times as de
claring that Jewish circles were
raising extraneous issues, in
cluding the ‘Jewish question,’
and that Judge Haynsworth is
being opposed by Jewish groups
because, presumably, ‘Brandeis,
Cardozo and Goldberg used to
have a seat,’ now ‘Haynsworth’s
got it,’ and ‘Jews don’t’ like
it.’
“As an organization of Amer
ican Jews, we in AJCongress
would of course take pride in
the appointment of a Jew to
the bench. But we reject the
concept of a ‘Jewish seat’ and
we are commited to the idea
that the sole qualification for
membership on the Supreme
Court shall be merit . . .
“We think no good purpose is
served in injecting the ‘Jewish
question’ into the debate over
this nomination,” Mr. Polier said.
Judge Haynsworth was nom
inated by president Richard M.
Nixon to fill the vacancy left by
the resignation of former As
sociate Justice Abe Fortas. The
nomination was endorsed by the
Senate Judiciary Committee last
week and is to be voted on by
the full Senate.
NEW YORK (JTA) — The
Workmen’s Circle, national Jew
ish labor fraternal order, has
called on its 60,000 members in
major cities to join “with the
rest of organized labor” to de
feat the confirmation of Judge
Haynsworth.
A resolution adopted by the
executive board said that it con
sidered confirmation of Judge
Haynsworth “under the evidence
already provided, a return to the
days when the judiciary was
ruled by men who were bitterly
anti-labor and anti-progressive.”
The Workmen’s Circle resolu
tion, submitted by its executive
secretary, Benjamin Gebiner,
called upon members to urge
their Senators to vote against
confirmation. According to Is
rael Breslow, president of the
Workmen’s Circle, “The Supreme
Court cannot have its traditions
traduced by one whose judicial
and personal record has been so
anti-labor and anti-human
rights.”
JERUSALEM (JTA)— Egypt's
rejection of any negotiations with
Israel, direct or indirect, is con
sidered in Israeli circles to rep
resent the final and authorita
tive word on that subject by the
Cairo Government. The semi
official Cairo newspaper A1
Ahram, which is known to speak
for President Gamal Abdel Nas
ser, stated unequivocally that
“Egypt does not believe there is
any possibility of holding direct
or indirect negotiations with Is
rael—not through the Rhodes
formula or any other formula.”
The A1 Ahram statement sharp
ly contradicted Egypt’s official
spokesman, Dr. Esmet Abdel
Meguid, who said recently that
Egypt would not object to par
ticipating in indirect negotiations
with Israel along the lines of
the Rhodes armistice talks in
1949 “provided this is not con
strued as direct negotiations.”
Israel insists that Israeli and
Egyptian delegates met face-to-
face during the final stages of
the Rhodes talks under the aegis
of the then acting UN mediator,
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche. Egypt
denies that there were any di
rect- contacts at Rhodes .
But the argument was render
ed academic, according to Israeli
sources, by the A1 Ahram state
ment that undercut Dr. Meguid”s
offer. A similar reported hint by
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mah
moud Riad in New York Sept.
24 that Egypt might participate
in so-called Rhodes formula talks
was described by A1 Ahram as
“deliberate gross distortion aim
ed at undermining the position
of the United Arab Republic.”
The A1 Ahram statement also
downgraded the mission of
United Nations peace envoy,
Gunnar V. Jarring, who was
mentioned as the person most
likely to succeed to bring Israelis
and Arabs to a neutral site for
Rhodes-style talks. According to
A1 Ahram, Dr. Jarring’s mis
sion is confined to working out
a time table for implementation
of the Security Council’s Nov.
22, 1967 resolution calling for
Israel’s withdrawal from occu
pied Arab territory and Arab
recognition of Israel’s’ right to
exist within secure, recognized
boundaries, among other things.
The Arabs have insisted that
Israeli withdrawal is a precon
dition to implementing other
elements of the resolution.
The newspaper Haaretz said
that Israeli circles viewed the
seemingly flexible statements
by Mr. Riad and Dr. Meguid ag
no more than an Egyptian at-
tempt to torpedo Israel’s stand
in the United States during and
after Premier Golda Meir’a
meeting with American leaders.
These meetings are over now,
the statements have served
their purpose, and Egypt is re
verting to its basic intransigent
stand, Haaretz said.
Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s
Premier, told Israel on a radio
broadcast that the Government
would be willing to open
“Rhodes-style” negotiations but
indicated that Israel would re
gard them as direct talks.
Iraqi Jews Would Emigrate
But Can’t, AJC Official Says
JERUSALEM (JTA)— Thous
ands of Jews have registered for
emigration from Iraq but they
are not being permitted to leave,
the director of the American
Jewish Committee’s European
office, Zachariah Shuster, told
newsmen here. Mr. Shuster said
the condition of Jews in the
Arab world varied from country
to country—in some, they- are
repressed and live in fear, in
others they are unmolested and
free to come and go as they
please.
Mr. Shuster came to Israel
with Philip E. Hoffman, presi
dent of the AJCommittee, Judge
Theodore Tennenwald Jr., and
GRAPHICALLY DEPICTING the theme of the 27th annual ob
servance of Jewish Book Month, sponsored by the Jewish Book
Council of Che National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), this color
ful trilingual poster has been newly-designed by Ismar David,
noted caligrapher, for the cultural event. Book Month programs
have been scheduled by more than 2,000 Jewish Community
Center, synagogues, Jewish schools and other groups. “Around
the World with Jewish Books” Is this year’s Book Month theme.
Bertram Gold, the organization’s
executive vice president. They
are on a mission to promote bet
ter understanding bet ween
Arabs in the occupied territories
and Israelis, a task undertaken
by the AJCommittee’s Israel of
fice. They visited Arab leaders in
East Jerusalem and on the West
Bank. Mr. Hoffman said that the
Arabs do not strive to fraternize
with Israelis much less integrate.
He said this view was expressed
most vividly by Anwar Neusei-
bah, a former Jordanian De
fense Minister in East Jerusa
lem.
Mr. Shuster said that last year
Egypt permitted about 100 Jews
to leave but that in recent
months there has been no sign
that it would continue that pol
icy. He described the situation of
Jews in Syria as “bad” but in
neighboring Lebanon, he said,
Jews are free to move about and
even go abroad, but they have
recently become apprehensive.
According to Mr. Shuster, the
40,000 Jews in Morocco and 50,-
000 in Tunisia are not discrim
inated against despite their Gov
ernment’s anti-Israel policies.
Emigration is permitted and many
of them go to France he said.
In Algeria, the 2,000-member
Jewish community is not being
molested despite that country’s’
bitterly anti-Israel stand. In
Libya, the official attitude tow
ard Jews had been very liberal
under the regime of former King
Idris. Libyan Jews living abroad
were permitted to return period
ically to look after their prop
erty. But, Mr. Shuster said, the
military coup which deposed the
King caught 156 Jews in Libya
and there has been no word of
them. He said their families in
Italy are anxious over their fate.
Fire Damaged
Shule Re-Opened
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A
Washington area synagogue that
was severely damaged by a fire
bomb last Jan. 11, was reded!Gat
ed and reopened October 10.
The ceremonies at Shaare Tik-
vah Synagogue in Prince George’s
County, Maryland, were address
ed by Rep. Lawrence Hogan, a
Maryland Republican. A blast
that shook the area for blocks
around caused an estimated $200,-
000 damage to the synagogue
building which- was unoccupied
at the time.