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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XLVII Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, June 30, 1972 Two Sections—12 Pages No. 26
Syrian Officers Admit
Joint Military Mission
Platform Committee Hears
Diverse Views Vis-a Vis Mideast
TJEL AVIV (JTA) — Five
high ranking Syrian intelligence
officers captured by an Israeli
patrol inside Lebanon near the
Israeli border have admitted
they were on a joint military
mission with Lebanese officers,
Chief of Staff Gen. David Ela-
zar has disclosed. He said the
admissions belied claims from
Beirut and Damascus that the
officers were merely sight-see
ing and were “kidnapped” by
the Israelis.
Ho said the officers revealed
that they were on a joint recon-
naisance mission aimed at pin
pointing targets in Israel. Gen.
Elazar coupled his disclosure
with a warning to Lebanon to
block further terrorist activities
against Israel from Lebanese
soil and added that unless the
Beirut authorities take drastic
action Israel will continue to
take whatever measures it
deemed necessary.
On June 23, an Israeli naval
patrol encountered and sank a
boatload of terrorists off the
Lebanese town of Tzor. Gen.
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) —
The Jewish Labor Committee
joined with a Black labor group
here in support of a strike by
the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers Union against the
Farah Manufacturing Company,
one of the world’s largest man
ufacturers of men's slacks and
sportswear.
A joint statement issued by
Albert Atcovits, chairman of the
JLC, and James H. Jones, pres
ident of the Negro Trade Union
Leadership, urged a boycott of
Farah products until its employ
ees “are treated with dignity
and receive decent wages and
working conditions.”
Farah operates plants in
Texas and New Mexico employ
ing thousands of workers, a
majority of whom are Mexican-
Americans. According to the
Elazar dismissed claims by the
Lebanese authorities that they
were unaware of the existence
of terrorist training camps in
Lebanon. He said Lebanon is an
eager host of the terrorists.
“Their headquarters are located
in Lebanon and conditions” still
exist in that country which
allow the terrorists to train for
their missions,” he added.
Referring to the three Japa
nese “kamikaze” gunmen who
killed 26 and wounded more
than 70 in the Lydda Airport
massacre May 30, Gen. Elazar
said he knew exactly where
they had “trained, ate and
slept” in Lebanon prior to em
barking on their assassination
mission.
Reports from London said
Lebanon might try to avert fur
ther retaliatory action by Israel
by modifying its Cairo agree
ment with the Palestinian guer
rillas. The agreement gave the
terrorists leave to use Lebanon
as a staging area for incursions
against Israel but not to fire at
Israeli targets from Lebanese soil.
joint statement the firm has
fired employes engaged in law
ful union activities; has refused
to comply with a National
Labor Relations Board recom
mendation to reinstate 19 work
ers illegally dismissed from the
El Paso plant; and has refused
to bargain with the Amalgama
ted Clothing Workers after the
union won an election at one
plant unit."
The statement accused Farah
of attempting “to break the
spirit and determination of the
union pickets through intimida
tion.” It charged further--that
despite orderly picketing, union
members have been arrested at
their homes in the middle of the
night and held on $400 bail
whereas bail for similar charges
unrelated to the union dispute
was set at $25.
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
Three contenders for the Demo
cratic Presidential nomination
expressed sharply divergent
views on The Middle East con
flict in hearings before the
Democratic Platform Committee
here.
Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey
(D.Minn.) and Sen. Edmund S.
Muskie (D.Me.) urged the com
mittee drafting their party’s
platform to write in a strong
statement of comprehensive US
support for Israel and advocated
that the US recognize Jerusa-
NEW YORK (JTA) — The
next Congress may have at least
two fewer Jewish members as a
result of . New York’s Demo
cratic primaries June 20. Rep.
Bella S. Abzug lost to Rep. Will
iam F. Ryan in Manhattan’s
20th District and Rep. James H.
Scheuer was defeated by Rep.
Jonat 1 ' ',n B. Bingham in the
22nd District in the Bronx. Mrs.
Abzug and Scheuer are Jewish.
Both contests were held in dis
tricts newly created by reap
portionment and the race in
each case was between staunch
liberals. In the Bronx, where
Bingham defeated Scheuer by
under 5000 votes, appeals to
Jewish voters —- who make up
60 percent of the district-high
lighted the campaign. Scheuer
received national prominence
when he was ordered to leave
the Soviet Union after meet
ings with Jews.
Bingham, a non-Jew married
to Herbert H. Lehman’s grand
niece. issued campaign litera
ture showing him photographed
with Foreign Minister Abba
Eban and Jerusalem Mayor
Teddy Kollek. Mrs. Abzug, the
only Jewish Congresswoman,
was criticized for opposing
Ryan, also a liberal, when her
lem as Israel’s capital.
Rep. Shirley Chisholm
(D.NY), the only Black and the
only woman campaigning for
the nomination, accused her op
ponents of using “rhetoric de
signed to attract the votes of the
Jewish people” and claimed
they ignored the Palestinians
whom “you cannot sweep under
the rug.”
Mrs. Chisholm contended that
the refugee problem was the
“root cause of the problem of
the Middle East.”
Former Sen. Eugene McCar-
district was gerrymandered out
of existence. She said she could
not win anywhere else. Returns
showed shg lost her own neigh
borhood in Ryan’s better than
2-1 sweep.
In Brooklyn’s heavily Jewish
16th District, Rep. Emanuel
Celler, 84, a veteran of 50 years
in Congress— he came in with
the Harding administration —
was upset by an attractive 30-
year-old woman lawyer, Eliza
beth Holtzman, also Jewish.
Miss Holtzman charged Celler,
chairman of the House Judic
iary Committee, with being an
anachronism and with conflict
of interest. Celler, a long time
civil libertarian, retains the
Liberal Party endorsement.
In the 14th District, a Jewish
challenger, former Rep. Allard
K. Lowenstein, was beaten by
incumbent Rep. John J. Rooney.
Rep. Bertram Podell, who
smuggled a Jewish appeal out
of the Soviet Union, won hand
ily over his challenger, State
Assemblyman Leonard Simon,
in Brooklyn’s 13th District. Both
are Jews. Congress’ only Puerto
Rican, Rep. Herman Badillo,
who has twice married Jews,
coasted to a 3-1 victory in the
Bronx’s 21st District.
thy of Minnesota, who was a
Presidential contender in 1968
and again this year, called for
an endorsement of Israeli secur
ity on “moral and legal
grounds.” Sen. George McGov
ern (D.SD), currently the front
runner in the Democratic nom
ination sweepstakes, urged a
strong pro-Israel plank when he
appeared before a Platform
Committee panel in New York
June 22.
Sen. Humphrey described the
Middle East as the "world’s
most threatening powder keg,
ready to ignite at any moment.”
He said the Soviet Union con
tinues to supply Arab countries
with “provocative weapons,”
military technicians and diplo
matic support “which only serve
to bolster their intransigence
towards reaching a comprehen
sive agreement with Israel.” The
former Vice President declared
that the US “must convince the
Soviet Union to assume a stand
off position in the Middle East
and reach an agreement where
by neither country attempts to
pbstruct negotiations.”
Sen. Muskie likewise urged
the US to maintain strong sup
port for Israel and stressed the
need for “direct negotiations be
tween the parties involved” in
the Mideast conflict and “pres
ervation of the unity of Jerusa
lem with free access to the holy
places, backed by US recognit
ion of Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel.” Muskie also urged
the Platform Committee to sup
port “freedom of navigation
through the Suez Canal and the
Straits of Tiran; resettlement
and compensation of refugees,
Arab and Jewish; effective con
trols to end terrorism and hi
jacking; the end of economic
warfare, boycotts and block
ades; and de-escalation of the
arms race.”
Mrs. Chisholm’s remarks on
the Middle East were contained
in her “Presidential campaign
position paper no. 2” in which
she outlined a five-point pro-
Continucd on page 4
Jewish Labor Group Joins
Blaeks to Support Strike
Abzug, Scheuer, Out;
Non-Jews Gain Seats
What U.S. Jewry May Expect in ’72 Party Platforms
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
JTA Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (JTA)— Now
that the Presidential primaries
have been completed, the sec
ond act of America’s quadren
nial political drama begins. By
July 1, the party's program
must lx- in the hands of its
delegates for studying, before
they gather at the convention
in Miami Beach July 10 to rati
fy it and nominate their stan
dard-bearer.
The Republicans will go
through the same process in Au
gust.
The significance to the Jew
ish community of both parties’
platforms this summer takes on
an importance that seems to be
broader and deeper than in
previous Presidential election
years.
To the problems of the Mid
dle East are added the consum
ing Soviet Jewry issue, racism,
terrorism on the airways and
a host of domestic, social and
economic subjects of special
concern to the Jewish urban
masses within the larger com
munity.
Despite their reputation as a
homogeneous group, Jews ap
pear as deeply divided as the
remainder of the country’s peo
ple on such issues as tax sup
port for private schools, busing,
scatter-site housing and the
civil service merit system.
However, it has also been ob
served that the numerical pro
portions within the Jewish
community on any given sub
ject—such as Vietnam, for ex
ample—may be quite different
from the country’s population
as a whole. On some matters,
the Jewish community is vir
tually unanimous.
Party leaders and Presidential
candidates have long recognized
that with respect to Israel's se
curity and the right of Soviet
Jews to emigrate, America’s
Jews are unified.
Nevertheless, the platform
builders cannot fail to under
line their recognition by spell
ing it out in specific terms in
these times of insistence on
having promises in writing. For
example, the security of Israel
has boon repeatedly assured by
both parties.
It is essential, however, given
the natural tendency of poli
ticians to move towards com
promise to effect solutions, that
the platforms insist that the
US government must continue
to stand by its present policy
of “non-imposition,” meaning
that in the Middle East, agree
ment must be reached by the
parties themselves and is not to
be imposed from the outside.
Furthermore, the platforms
can assert firmly that the US
government recognize Israel's
sovereignty over all of Jerusa
lem and that as proof of that
recognition, it will move its
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jer
usalem within one year at the
For Soviet Jewry the issue is
more complex, as the almost
complete official White House
silence on what happened in the
Moscow summit conference
proves. Obviously the Nixon ad
ministration feels it cannot go
l>eyond what little it has said
on an issue which Presidential
adviser Kissinger has explained
the Soviet government regards
SPECIAL JTA ANALYSIS
latest. In this matter, President
Nixon has an advantage. He
can order the move immediate
ly. However, the Democrats can
pledge that if their candidate
should win, the American em
bassy will be in the Holy City
within, say, 90 days after he
takes office. Moreover, the De
mocrats can score a clean beat
on Mr. Nixon by making it a
part of their platform immedi
ately.
as An internal matter. The^e
also may be other reasons for
the silence. Nevertheless, ways
are open to make this Issue a
permanent part of the Amer
ican creed.
The United Nations Declara
tion of Human Rights has rec
ognized that a moral matter is
not “internal.” The right of a
person to leave his country and
gram for the stability and terri-
Continued on page 4