Newspaper Page Text
U.S. Vetoes UN Action-
Scoring Israel Raids
For only the 12th time in the 30 year history of the United
Nations, the United States used its veto power Monday
night, Dec. 8, to block Security Council action that would
have condemned Israel for last week’s air strikes into
Lebanon.
Daniel P. Moynihan, the United States chief delegate,
told the Council that the American action had been taken
because the resolution was not balanced. Moynihan said the
United States “strongly deplored” the Israeli action in
Lebanon, but wanted the Council to also include violence
that had been directed against Israel.
' Proclaim Liberty'' Theme
Of Annual UJAConference
Elie Wiesel, noted author and
philosopher, was the recipient of
the first annual United Jewish
Appeal David Ben-Gurion
Award, Frank R. Lautenberg,
UJA General Chairman an
nounced this week.
The special award which is
dedicated to the memory of the
first Prime Minister of the State
of Israel (David Ben-Gurion,
1886-1973), was presented to Mr.
Wiesel on December 11, at the
Inaugural Dinner of the 1976
UJA National Conference in
New York.
"It is most fitting,” said, Mr.
Lautenberg, “that the first
recipient of the UJA David Ben-
Gurion Award is Elie Wiesel.
His impact has been extremely
profound, horizontally
throughout the world, and ver
tically in society from our oldest
generation to our youngest . . .
including academician and
laborer, farmer and city dweller,
rich and poor, young and old
alike. Author, philosopher,
teacher and teller of tales, and
recognized voice of morality,
justice, humanity and compas
sion — he has continually and
eloquently expressed the theme
of Jewish survival in our time, in
a world where the struggle for
Jewish freedom goes on daily."
The 1976 United Jewish
Appeal National Conference,
December 10-13, marks the end
of a week designated by the UJA
as a period for American Jewry
to demonstrate their unity and
strength on behalf of the world
Jewish community. The theme
of the Conference is “Proclaim
Liberty,” the verse from
Leviticus which is inscribed on
the Liberty Bell — "Proclaim
liberty thorughout the land unto
all the inhabitants thereof."
Attending the conference
from Atlanta were Mr. and Mrs.
Ely Freedman, Mr. and Mrs.
Burton Epstein, Mr. and Mrs.
Larry Frank, Mr. and Mrs. Louis
Taratoot, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley
Siegel, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome
Zimmerman, and Mr. and Mrs.
M. C. Gettinger.
Shimon Peres, defense
minister of the State of Israel
will be the guest of honor at the
Saturday night banquet.
“In a world unconcerned with
decency and respect for
humanity," Mr. Lautenberg
said, “our solidarity with the
people of Israel is to bear
witness to the eternity of the
Jewish people. The UJA
National Conference publicly in
augurates the 1976 fundraising
campaign of the American
Jewish community and is the
renewal of a very special process
... to share in the responsibility
for the destiny of our people.
“In 1976 as our nation
celebrates its bicentennial, and
its struggle for freedom, we are
gathering to dedicate ourselves
to achieving the best in Jewish
life, and to making 1976 a
renaissance of belief ... a
renaissance of brotherhood ... a
renaissance of faith and trust
among all men.”
In addition to Defense
Minister Peres, guest speakers
appearing at the conference in
clude: Simcha Dinitz, Israeli
Ambassador to the U.S.; Chaim
Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to
the United Nations; Leon
Dulzin, acting chairman and
treasurer of the Jewish Agency;
and Moshe Rivlin, director gen
eral of the Jewish Agency.
Other highlights of the
Conference included the Louis
A. Pincus Memorial Lecture,
delivered by Professor Moshe
Davis, head, Institute of
Contemporary Jewry, the
Hebrew University; a celebra
tion of the 50th Anniversary of
the United Israel Appeal; as well
as numerous seminars and
workshops.
Hispanic Paper
Urges Dialogue
NEW YORK, (JTA) - El
Diario-La Prensa, the leading
Spanish language newspaper in
New York, has expressed con
cern in an editorial over the re
cent clashes between Hispanics
and religious Jews in the
Borough Park section of
Brooklyn and has announced its
plans to “host a dialogue and
purposeful exchange of ideas
and opinions in order to heal the
breach which currently exists
between these two fine groups
(Hispanics and Jews) who have
so much to contribute to each
other.”
Borough Park, an area df one
of the largest communities of
Orthodox Jews in the world, has
recently been the scene of
several firebombings of syn
agogues and Jewish schools. The
violence has been blamed on
Hispanic youths.
The newspaper urged both
groups to cooperate by un
derstanding each other and
working together to obtain im
proved services for the entire
community.
ISRAELITE
MWai-SarnMim
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry.
Established
1925
VOL. LI One Section, 16 Pages Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, December 5, 1975 NO. 50
Beirut Jewish Quarter Empty
bv EDWIN EYTAN
PARIS, (JTA) - The Beirut
Jewish quarter stands empty
and practically deserted.
Foreign travelers returning
from Lebanon say the Jews fled
the former lively business center
last week when fighting reached
their area. Most of the houses
were damaged in the fighting,
shops were looted and several in
habitants wounded.
These reports say one inhabi
tant, an elderly Jew, was killed
by a sniper’s bullet. According to
these reports, the fighting reach
ed the quarter last week only as
the cease-fire was practically en.-
forced throughout the rest of the
city. Eye-witnesses say
Phalange commandos entered
the area after being chased out
of their former strongpoints.
Within hours, fighting broke
out between them and Moslem
units. The streets emptied
within minutes and people on
the quarter’s outskirts started
fleeing. Those caught in the ac
tual fighting could not leave the
area and sought refuge in the
synagogue building.
The Lebanese paper, “A1
Howadees, reported that Chief
Rabbi Shahur Sharim managed
to contact Prime Minister
Rashid Karame by phone and
ask for his help. Karame ordered
a Lebanese army unit com
manded by a man identified by
"Al Howadees” as “Capt. Aga" to
enter the area and escort the
people to safety.
According to the Lebanese
paper, the first to reach the
synagogue were, however,
members of the PLO, sent ‘‘on
the personal instructions of
Yasir Arafat.” The paper said
Arafat wanted to show
Lebanon and the world that
the ‘‘Palestinians are not
against the Jews — on the con
trary.”
According to this report, the
PLO unit, accompanied by
trucks with food and a medical
unit, escorted the Jewish
refugees from the synagogue to
the Carlton Hotel which had
been taken over for them by the
Lebanese government
emergency committee for
refugees.
Jewish organizations in Paris
say they know of no PLO units
sent to protect the refugees in
Beirut synagogue but confirm
that on November 3 the PLO
sent a truckload of food and a
medical assistant to the
building. The PLO man in
charge told the refugees if they
need more supplies they can con
tact the PLO office and even left
a phone number to be called.
Many of the former in
habitants of the Jewish quarter
have since fled abroad, others
have sought refuge with Druze
and Moslem friends in the coun
tryside. Others are staying with
Christian friends in Beirut itself
or in the suburbs. Several hun
dred former Beirut inhabitants
are believed to have reached
Western Europe: Paris, London
and Geneva.
Out of the city’s former 1700
Jewish inhabitants not more
than a couple of hundred are left
in Beirut proper. Most, of these,
according to people in contact
with them, also plan to leave
Lebanon for good. Before the re
cent fighting broke out, some
4000 Jews were believed to have
remained in Lebanon, most of
them in Beirut. Some 6000 Jews
left the country after the Six-
Day War in 1967 in spite of the
Lebanese government efforts to
convince them to remain.
The Lebanese press reported
at that time that Minister of
Interior Kamal Jumblatt — a
pro-Palestinian — visited the
Beirut synagogue in the W'adi
Abu Jamil area and met Jewish
community leaders to try and
convince them that Lebanon’s
Jews have nothing to fear. Most
of them emigrated, nonetheless.
This exodus emptied entire
streets, formerly inhabited by
Jews, as, well as a number of
social institutions. The formerly
Jewish school “Salim Trab” clos
ed for lack of pupils and has
reportedly been converted into a
welfare center and sports club
run by the Lebanese authorities.
Jewish organizations in Paris
say that some of those who fled
to France now plan to return to
their homes as the Lebanese
authorities are trying to
reassure them as to thei/future.
As for the Lp^anese
assurances, these organizations
recall that the Secretary General
of the Beirut community, Albert
Elias, who was kidnapped in
downtown Beirut five years ago,
is still missing and no one knows
whether he is dead or alive. Elias
was kidnapped on September 6,
1971, and was reportedly taken
to Damascus, French Senate
President Alain Poher and
scores of other personalities and
organizations have tried to
ascertain his fate but it has all
been in vain.
In this Issue . . .
AJWF Women’s Division
Names Leadership
— Page 6
Mrs. David Eisenberg Mrs. Ely Freedman
CO-CHAIRWOMEN
