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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XLVII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 4, 1972
Two Sections—16 Pages
No. 31
Israel Envoy Assumes
SE Assignment Aug. 15
Eban Says US Surprised
By Sadat Offer to USSR
Consul General of Israel Ben
jamin Bonney will officially as
sume his duties in Atlanta on
August 15, representing his gov
ernment for the Southeast.
Since 1969, Mr. Bonney has
held a similar post for the
Southwest, based in Houston.
Mr. Bonney succeeds Consul
General Moshe Gilboa who re
turned to Israel at the end of
June for reassignment. States in
the sphere of responsibility are
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, North and
South Carolina and Tennessee..
Bonney, who was born in
1917, studied at the University
of Tours, France, and later
studied law at the Jerusalem
School of Law.
In 1941, in then Palestine, he
enlisted in the Royal Air Force,
serving as a fighter pilot until
1946. From 1947 until 1956, he
saw action in the fledgling Is
rael Air Force, which he helped
found. Bonney commanded sev
eral air bases, collaborated in
the establishment of the Mili
tary Academy of Israel and
served as air attache in Lon
don before leaving the military
aviation field with the rtmk of
colonel
After a period as director of
Lod International Airport and
later as deputy director of civil
aviation in Israel, he transferr
ed, in 1963, to the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs. Bonney was ap
pointed press counselor at the
Israel Embassy in Rome where
he was posted prior to assuming
the consul general’s spot in
Houston.
Affiliations include Rotary
membership, associate member
of the Institute of Aerospace
Sciences and B’nai B’rith.
Mrs. Sara Bonney, a “Sabra,”
was born in Tel Aviv. Her par
ents were among the pioneer
settlers of Israel. After finishing
high school in Tel Aviv, she
studied languages at the Uni
versity of Geneva, Switzer
land.
At the outbreak of the War
of Independence in 1948, she
returned to Israel to volunteer
for the army, returning later to
complete her studies in Switzer-
COPSUL, GENERAL BONNET
land. Mrs, Bonney also studied
at' ifae London School of Eco
nomics.
She returned to Israel in 1955
and became head of public re
lations for ORT-Israel, and
married Col. Bonney in 1956,
retaining her post with ORT
until 1959 when their son, Mod-
dy Daniel, was born.
In 1963 Mrs. Bonney became
executive director of the Coun
cil of Women’s Organizations in
Israel and was a delegate to the
International Congress of Wom
en’s Organizations in Israel and
abroad.
She holds memberships in the
University Women of Israel, Is
raeli Women’s ORT, Pioneer
Women, WIZO, Women of Ro-
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Foreign
Minister Abba Eban declared
on an army radio interview that
he thought the United States
had been surprised by Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat’s ouster
of Soviet advisors from Egypt.
MRS. SARA BONNET
tary, Hadassah and B’nai B’rith
Women. In Houston, Sara Bon
ney helped organize the Ladies
Consular Club, serving as its
president in 1970.
A spokesman for the Jewish
community said, “All of At
lanta, and indeed the Southeast,
look forward with anticipation
to welcoming the Bonneys to
their new post and to continued
close cooperation with Israel’s
official representative to our
area.”
An early opportunity to meet
Consul and Mrs. Bonney will
be provided when they make
their first public appearance in
Atlanta at Israeli night of the
Atlanta International Film Fes
tival on August 17.
BRITISH NEWSLETTER
Dissenters and Zionists
By S. J. Goldsmith
JTA London Editor
LONDON—
The general movement of dis
sent in the Soviet Union and the
Jewish movement of dissent in
Russia run almost parallel. Al
most—there are points of con
tact here and there but they are
few and far between.
The two movements are total
ly different in character though
both are in conflict with the
authorities and thoroughly dis
liked by the organization men,
known in Russian as apparat
chiks.
The present-day Soviet dis
senters are the successors of
Russian liberals of Czarist
times, those who fought for a
change in the Social order right
through the nineteenth century
and the first seventeen years
of the twentieth. They paved
the way for the Revolution,
though many of them did not
want to get rid of the Czar;
they wanted him to become a
constitutional monarch. Others
did, and they carried the day,
eventually. The dissenters of
today do not so much want to
do away with the Communist
order as to liberalize it. In
their approach, they resemble
more Vladimir Korolenko than
the young Lenin. Their loy
alty to Russia is total. Only
they want Russia to be differ
ent; Russian society to be more
sensitive to human freedom and
the liberty of the individual.
The Jewish dissenters are the
successors of the Russian Zion
ists of Czarist times. Like the
Russian Zionists of old, they
love Russia as a country, speak
Russian, and are attached to
Russian cultural values. But
they want to go and live in
Israel. They even resemble the
Russian Zionists of old in their
disdain for Yiddish. Menachem-
M e n d 1 Ushiskin proclaimed
some 75 years ago, “Ivrit-o-
Rusit” (Hebrew or Russian).
Today you have in the Soviet
Union nearly 50 Ulpanim (He
brew courses) but not a single
Yiddish course. The modern
Zionists among Soviet Jews
have much less opportunity to
preach Zionism than their fore
bears had, of course. But they
are luckier in that they have
Israel to go to while their fore
bears only had a dream to keep
them going. They find Jabotin-
sky particularly stimulating:
undiluted Zionism in superb
Russian . . .
Neither of these two groups
has much in common with the
independence movements of the
vians and Tartars though there
are overlappings all along the
line.
Leaving the movements of na
tional independence aside (some
have a long tradition of anti-
Semitism) what are the rela
tionships between the Russian
dissenters and the Jewish dis
senters.
Their relationships could be
defined as mutual sympathy
without co-operation. “We love
them”, said Katia Palatnik
about the Russian dissenters,
“they are lovely people but our
ways differ." And Boris Kochu-
bievsky, the original Jewish dis
senter, who publicly proclaimed
his Zionism way back in 1967,
said: “They are fine people but
our aims and their aims are not
the same. We are Zion-orienta
ted and they are after changes
in Soviet society.”
Eban rejected suggestions that
the ouster was part of a pre
arranged agreement between
the US and the Soviet Union.
Eban said also that reports of
renewed diplomatic ties be
tween the US and Iraq proved
Israel’s long-held contention
that it was possible for the US
to build ties with the Arab
world while continuing to sup
port Israel.
The conclusion, he said, was
clear: “Those who say that ten
sion between the United States
and the Arab countries is not
caused by America’s support of
Israel are right.”
He said he had seen no
change in US policy toward Is
rael since the Soviet pullout
from Egypt began, adding that
while there was always “a
theoretical possibility that the
United States may change its
policy, in practice I do not un
derstand why it would want to
change its policy.”
A Washington Post correspon
dent reported from Cairo that
the Soviet Union, “apparently
determined to minimize the
loss of face it has already suf
fered and to protect its other'
important interests in the Mid
dle East, has mounted its mili
tary retreat from Egypt with a
speed and thoroughness that
surprised experienced diploma
tic observers” in Cairo.
Correspondent Jim Hoagland
quoted a Western observer in
Cairo as asserting that “there
has not been one sign of the
Russians attempting to contra
vene President Sadat’s decision”
to send all Russian military ad
visors home, or of “their want
ing to get involved in what
could be messy negotiations
over who and what can stay.
Right now it appears that vir
tually everything is going,”
Hoagland reported.
He also quoted “well-inform
ed sources” to the effect that
“for two weeks eight Soviet
military transport planes, each
filled with more than 100 Rus
sian advisors had been leaving
Egypt almost daily” and that
“there had been movement of
Soviet personnel from Alexan
dria, where the Russians have
used naval facilities.”
Hoagland added that “ana
lysts now expect a major re
duction” of Soviet personnel at
Alexandria, “as Egyptians take
over much at that facility.”
Eban stressed that the final
Continued on page 4
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Bedouin Watchman Returns
From “Grave”—After 7 Years
BEER-SHEBA (WUP)—Salam Abu-Ayada, a 65-year-old Be
douin watchman of the Abiyeh tribe in the Negev, who was kid
napped by guerrilla infiltrators from Jordan seven years ago and
who was thought dead, was recently returned to Israel via the
Allenby Bridge.
Abu-Ayada had difficulties in being permitted to return to
Israel because of lack of any identifying documents. These diffi
culties were quickly resolved, however, when a member of the
Kibbutz Lahav came forward and identified the watchman.
According to Abu-Ayada’s testimony, he had been kidnapped
because of cooperating with the Israelis. He said that he had been
kept in prison without a trial but had been treated fairly.
On hand to welcome Abu-Ayada were five of his children, most
of whom did not remember him. His wife, although she had been
told by travellers that they had seen his grave in Jordan, refused
to believe that he was dead,
was now vindicated.
He told me a moving story of
his own experience: “When I
was tried in Kharkov, a local
Communist of high standing
made a public protest about
the injustice done to me. He
was — still is — an orthodox
Communist. He is a natural
anti-Zionist, like all orthodox
Communists. But he saw an in
justice being done and raised
his voice in protest. He soon
found himself in the forced
labour camp with me. We had
many discussions in the
camp . . .”
The other day I came across
a leading Soviet dissenter. The
same question came up: What
are the relationships between
the two streams of dissent? He
said: We are trying to cure the
Revolution of its perversity. We
want to put it back on its
normal course. The Soviet-Jew-
ish dissenters, or activists, want
to go to Israel. More Soviet
Jews want to go than we sus
pect. They want to help solve
Israeli problems not Russian
problems. They opt out of Soci-
thanked Allah that her faith
ety, as is their right to do. They
are convinced that the Revolu
tion has not put an end to anti-
Semitism. They may be right,
by and large. This is our prob
lem. They have no patience to
stay and wait until we correct
Soviet society. They don’t join
us because they feel it is not
their fight. And we understand
them.”
I have quoted him verbatim,
word by word. He is a great
man and worth quoting in de
tail. I wish I could give his
name, but I cannot.
Soviet Jews who follow the
Kremlin line have the worst of
both worlds. Jews who assimi
late completely and disappear
into Soviet society are not
sought out for harassment. Sov
iet society is not racialist. But
those who stay Jews and yet
deny the existing Jewish prob
lem, are earning the contempt
of both the Jewish dissenters
and the K.G.B.
But this is not exactly new.
It was like that in the days of
the Romanoffs.