Newspaper Page Text
Friday, Oct. 24, 1969
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page Five
Defense League Draws
Top-Level Censure
NEW YORK (JTA) — A cross-
section of New York community
Jewish leadership, led by former
Supreme Court Justice Arthur
Goldberg, has assailed the mili
tant Jewish Defense League at a
press conference here called by a
group opposed to the JDL and
particularly to its campaign
against Mayor John Lindsay.
The leaders also were dis
turbed by disruption by JDL
members of a campaign appear
ance by Mayor Lindsay in Tem
ple ,Beth Sholom in Brooklyn
earlier in the week.
Mr. Goldberg and the other
“speakers said they deplored in
jection of racist and ethnic ele
ments into the mayoralty cam
paign. The former Ambassador
to the United Nations also said
he opposed private organizations
performing governmental func
tions to physically protect pri
vate citizens, adding that govern
ment was fully prepared to pro
tect religious institutions and the
lives of -Americans. Stanley
Lowell, a vice chairman of the
National Jewish Community Re
lations Advisory Council, presen
ted an NJCRAC paper rejecting
the “para-military operations” of
the JDL as “destructive of public
order and contributory to divis
iveness and terror.”
A special target of the condem
nations was a large advertise
ment, sponsored by the JDL, in
the New York Times, which
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blamed the Mayor for “a violent
outpouring of anti-Jewish hate”
during the school strike last year,
and which he said he maintained
anti-Semites and racists on the
public payroll and that he main
tained silence on “a reign of ter
ror against Jewish merchants in
so-called ghetto areas.”
The advertisement, signed by
Rabbi Meir Cahane, JDL chair
man, and JDL counsel Bertram
Zweibon, also blamed Mayor
Lindsay for “intolerable levels”
of crime in Jewish neighbor
hoods, involving terrorism and
synagogue vandalism, and that
he was responsible for a public
school quota system allegedly
discriminating against Jews. A
statement denouncing the adver
tisement was read. Signed by 300
Jewish leaders, it asked Jews “to
ignore all such offensive appeals,
to vote as they see fit for the
candidate of their choice.” Other
speakers were Rabbi Benjamin
Kreitman of Brooklyn, a Con
servative leader, Rabbi Edward
Klein, a Reform leader, and Rab
bi Joseph Lookstein, an Ortho
dox leader. All have pulpits in
New York City.
A statement by Dr. Bernard
Mandelbaum, president of the
Jewish Theological Seminary,
read by Rabbi Kreitman, de
nounced the JDL for “wicked,
irresponsible talk,” and for be
havior contrary to Jewish tra
dition. Rabbi Klein said the
Times advertisement was an in
sult to Jews. Rabbi Lookstein
said Jews do not believe in vigi-
lantism. Rabbi Leon Fink,
whose synagogue was the scene
of the JDL screaming and booing
of Mayor Lindsay, said the inci
dent was the first in his ten
years as its rabbi that an indi
vidual’s freedom of communica
tion from that pulpit had been
denied. Rabbi Louis Newman of
Manhattan’s Temple Rodeph Sho
lom offered a mild defense of the
JDL. Speaking from the floor,
he said that however mistaken
the JDL was in tactics, it had
sought “to create a different im
age” of American Jews, as being
“not an acquiescent or supine
people.”
What do foreign
visitors say
about us when
Itheygohome?
It depends upon
ithe people
ithey meet.
One foreign
visitor's most'
unforgettable
American
memory might!
easily be you.
UNITED STATES TRAVEL SERVICE
An Ag«ncy of tho U.S. Doportmont of CommsroflJ
advertising oontributod for th# puMto flood 1
This beautiful booth sponsored by the Israel
Government Tourist Office for the first time at
the International Show at the State Fair of
Oklahoma, attracted about a million visitors.
Manning the exhibit were Jacob Goren, assistant
director of the Atlanta headquarters,, and volun
teer members of the Oklahoma City Jewish com
munity, especially Hadassah and B’nai B’rith. In
the picture at right, Oklahoma’s Governor Dewey
S. Bartlett and his staff are in extremely jovial
mood when Visitor Goren presented the state’s
first citizen with a “Tembel Hat." He promptly
tried it on for size and was so pleased he made
Mr. Goren an “Okie,” honorary citizen of Okla.
Syria Releases Terrorists
But Retains Two Civilians
NEW YORK (JTA) — The re
lease this week by Syria of two
Arab terrorists who hijacked an
Israel-bound TWA jet to Damas
cus on Aug. 29 while two Israeli
passengers remain in Syrian cus
tody was deplored this week by
Rabbi Herschel Schacter, chair
man of the Conference of Pres
idents of Major American Jew
ish Organizations. In a telegram
to United Nations Secretary-
General U Thant, Rabbi Schacter
said that the continued detention
of the two civilians was “inex
cusable” and that UN efforts to
demand their release “must be
unremitting and re-intensified.”
The two hijackers were Leila
Khaled, 21, and Selim al-Eisawi,
both members of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Pal
estine. It was announced in Am
man that they had returned to
their “Che Guevara” unit of an
undisclosed base in Jordan.
“The impotence of the UN in
securing the release of the two
kidnapped victims is deeply dis
couraging,” the Rabbi said, ad
ding: “The fact that the inno
cent victims of air piracy remain
in detention while those guilty
of the crime of hijacking have
been freed is a shocking com
mentary on the UN’s failure to
exercise whatever moral and po
litical influence remains to it.
The Washington Post condemn
ed Syria for release of the hi
jackers while holding captive
and Israelis. The newspaper de
plored “regional logrolling” by
the United Nations which, it said,
will lead to Syria’s election
next week to a non-permanent
seat on the Security Council. “A
more unseemly instance of putt
ing politics over principle is hard
to imagine,” the editorial said.
Referring to the release of the
Arab commandos, the Post a "Ic
ed: “How can a country claim
a shred of self-respect of inter
national standing when it treats
the admitted perpetrators of a
criminal act as though they were
the victims and the victims as
though they were criminals?”
The Post noted that the Syrians
are trying to “save face” by
Mayor....
Continued from page 1
knows? But why should Jews
be excused from the imperative
of leadership in citizenship even
especially if it involves a risk?
This is what democracy is all
about.
Sam Massed, at 42, has demon
strated a beautiful and earnest
willingness to take his turn as
Atlanta’s mayor and his train
ing and experience has been di
rected in preparation for this
spot.
With the pressures for social
change that already is smolder
ing and boiling over almost to
explosive fierceness, his charisma
and vision may just be the ans
wer that will lead the commun
ity into green pastures instead
of seared and looted ruins.
holding out for an exchange of
the two Israeli prisoners for two
Syrian pilots who landed in Is
rael by mistake last year. “But
an exchange of legally taken mil
itary prisoners for illegally cap
tured civilians who are accused
of no crime is repugnant to Is
rael. Understandably it balks at
a step whose effect is to give
By HERBERT G. LUFT
Shelley Winters, long-time sup
porter ,of the State of Israel
completed her current motion
picture assignment on location in
Arkansas soon enough to be at
hand for the receptions honoring
Premier Golda Meir both here in
Los Angeles and on the East
Coast.
The 4'/-year-old film star, born
Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Mo.,
twice an Academy-Award win
ner, took on another Oscar- po
tential role as the infamous Ma
Barker in American-Internation
al’s “Bloody Mama” quite a de
parture from the portrayal of the
Jewish housewife in the George
Stevens production of “The Diary
of Anne Frank.” Wholly com
mitted to every project on which
she embarks, Shelley has been
described as a whirlwind of tal
ent, both as “blonde bombshell”
and in such unglamorous roles
as the cne in “Diary” and in
Stevens adaptation of Theodore
Dreiser’s “A Place in the Sun”
(An American Tragedy”).
First on the stage in the
Broadway production of “Meet
the People,” she made her
movie debut exactly a quarter
of a century ago in a small part
in a not-so-distinguished, long-
forgotten film entitled, “Nine
Girls.” “A Double Life” brought
her to the attention of the broad
public enemy list in the 1930s.
Academy Award nomination. On
Broadway, she startled audiences
with her performance in Mike
Gazzo’s “A Hatful of Rain” in
1956; on television she earned an
Emmy with her portrayal in
“Two Is the Number” in 1963.
Capturing the much coveted
Oscar for “The Diary of Anne
Frank” in 1959, she repeated the
A c a demy-Award-winning per
formance with “A Patch of Blue”
in 1965.
In “Bloody Mama,” Shelley
Winters is the boss and brains
of a bank robbery and kidnapping
gang—Ma Barker, who machine-
gunned her way to the top of the
publish enemy list in the 1930s.
The current assignment calls for
the vim and gusto which are an
inherent part of the Shelley Win
ters personality.
Roger Gorman decided to film
“Bloody Mama” entirely on lo
cations of the authentic Arkansas
background to capture the full
reality of the Barker family’s
sordid, poverty-ridden origin in
the Ozark mountains. Robert
international pirates a free
pass,” the Post said.
The Far Rockaway, N. Y. Jew
ish Community Council said that
.it was launching a nationwide
effort to obtain 100,000 signa
tures on a petition demanding
the immediate release of the two
Israelis. According to Rubin A.
Dobin, council chairman, the
petition when completed, will be
presented to General Assembly
president Angie Brooks. He said
Jewish and non-Jewish groups
have been asked to enroll in a
drive to get the signatures.
Thom’s original screenplay goes
into the “why” as well as the
“what” of the gang’s crimes.
This is the second teaming of
writer Thom with actress Shelley
Winters, the actress having starr
ed in his production of “Wild in
the Streets.” Thom, one of Hol
lywood’s most-talke d-about
writers for his controversial
scripts, recently both wrote and
directed “Angel, Angel, Down We
Go,” an ultra-modem motion pic
ture of moods and shadows starr
ing Jennifer Jones (Mrs. David
Selznick) in her screen comeback
as a tragically involved, neurotia
woman, wife and mother.
More shocking than the pic
ture’s dealing with unrepentant
murder, corruption, seduction,
flagellation and homosexuality,
plus a great deal of male nudity,
are the remarks of young pro
ducer Jerry Katzman, a fomer
attorney, who made the film for
his father, veteran producer Sam
Katzman.
The picture mocking mother
hood, sexual fidelity and “the es
tablishment” in general, is being
justified by Jerry Katzman in
this way: movies are only suc
cessful when based on the prop
osition that man is fundamental
ly evil. “We have to make films
that satisfy the baser appetites
in man, in order to have him do
the good things that he does.”
This philosophy, to young Katz
man, assures a profit and also a
chance to serve a useful social
purpose. Katzman’s maxim for
contemporary filmakers is that
the picture that doesn’t offend or
repel an audience is not giving
the public its money’s worth. He
argues the judgment is the pub
lic’s, not his.
* * « *
Ruth Gordon, the Academy
Award-winning actress of “Rose
mary’s Baby,” has been signed
to star with Michael Sarrazin
and Barbara Hershey in the
David Susskind production of
“The Pursuit of Happiness,”
which is now before tne cameras
with Robert Mulligan directing
from a Sidney Carroll screenplay
based on Thomas Rogers’ best
seller. The veteran actress-play
wright portrays Sarrazin’s wealthy
and cantankerous grandmother in
the realistic but wryly humorous
yam of a young couple who are
too aware to fit in and too con
cerned to drop out of present day
American society. The picture is
made for Columbia Studios.
Copyright, 1969, JTA
Our Film Folk