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The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Our 54th Year
F-15s for Arabs create stii
by Joseph Polakoff
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—The
Senate’s confirmation Monday, by
a IO-vote margin, of President
Carter’s Middle East warplanes
package, ominously portends a
visible weakening of Israel’s
influence at the Capitol and a
commensurate growth of
persuasion with the Congress that
the Arab governments already
have with the White House.
The consequences of the
struggle between the Carter
Administration and supporters of
Israel are seen as encouraging the
White House to take further
initiatives that will create “new
realities" bearing on issues such as
Israel's withdrawal from occupied
Arab territories and the creation of
a Palestinian “entity" for “a just
peace."
by Vida Goldgar
The first thing one noticed
Sunday morning was the smell—
the unmistakable acrid smell that
fire leaves behind.
Hoodlums tried to ruin the
Atlanta Jewish Community
Center’s “Passport to Israel”
celebration Sunday. They tried.
But they didn't succeed.
The vandals (if one wishes to be
polite) had indeed brought fire—a
pipe lighter or small torch
someone suggested—and used it
“selectively.” The bulletin board of
Yeshiva High School, near its
classrooms upstairs, was
completely barren of its posters.
Only black ashy blobs remained.
And the smell. Nearby lockers
were ripped open, a muddle of
contents on the floor—paint
smeared.
Downstairs in the gymnasium, a
poster decorating the Jewish
National Fund booth was almost
intact—just a small section of faces
charred. Other posters and
decorations here and there were
marred with brown-edged holes.
Then they showed me the dolls.
Two of those delightful Israeli-
made dolls, part of a superb
display arranged by the Israeli
Government Tourist Office, had
apparently been chosen with a
special, sick glee. Their colorful
costumes intact, the dolls’ faces
had been gut-twistingly mutilated
with the torch.
The green-crayoned swastika on
the gym wall—the unprintable
epithets on the floor. Why? Who?
we asked each other.
In the auditorium, there was the
catsup. Israeli produced catsup
ready for sale in the “Israeli
News reports from Jerusalem
indicate that Israelis feel a sente of
betrayal over the Carter warplanes
package and some contend that
bot h the Begin government and the
American Jewish community have
been deficient in promulgating
Israel’s program for peace.
Actually, the media tide in favor
of Arab perceptions of a peace
settlement has been flowing with
increasing breadth for 15 months.
On the aircraft issue, the major
American media, including top
television commentators, leading
newspapers and news mag^ines,
have been siding with the
President’s proposal, observing
that Arab oil is paramount and
implying that Jewish consider
ations are in the backwash.
Repercussions flowing from
Carter’s 54-44 victory in the Senate
point to an increased division
Marketplace” was sprayed and
poured everywhere—globs almost
to the ceiling, over the floor and
chairs, even poured into the baby-
grand piano on stage. Yes, catsup
does look like dried blood.
An isolated door leading from a
sort of courtyard, its shattered
glass on the inside floor, gave mute
testimony to the probable entry
point.
No one is certain at this point
just when the desecration took
place. It was discovered about 11
p.m. Saturday night by Mike
Lainoff, assistant director of
AJCC. He stopped by to proudly
show some out-of-town visitors
the preparations for Sunday's
“Passport to Israel" festivities—and
found horror. Lainoff later
expressed his reaction as “rage”
and “a feeling that I had been
violated.”
The police looked, sympathized,
and left.
Bqt "Passport to Israel” was
supposed to be a party—and a
party it was. Lainoff and others of
the Center staff set about early
Sunday morning to clean it up.
There would be no cancellation.
Volunteers came to help, too.
Center youngsters with buckets
and brushes scrubbed the catsup
and Israeli preserves off the chairs.
“Passport to Israel’’ was ready
for business when the people
start -d to come. They poured in all
day —possibly as many as 3,000.
They looked, they bought, they
ate, and they enjoyed. Some never
knew what had happened. Others
came “because we wanted to show
’them’ they couldn’t ruin our day.”
At the Tourist Office display,
where the dolls had been, was a
hastily drawn poster:
“Our reaction: We are not
afraid.”
between his Administration and
Israel and its American
supporters. The voting, after 10
hours of intensive debate,
including two hours when
classified material relating to the
impact of the aircraft sales on the
military balance of power was
discussed in closed session, found
28 Democrats and 26 Republicans
supporting the aircraft package
and 33 Democrats and 11
Republicans opposed. Two
Senators were absent for the vote.
Both Georgia Senators, Herman
Talmadge and Sam Nunn voted
against the President's proposal.
“We have put the Israelis in doubt
as to a 30-year-old commitment,”
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY) told
reporters after rtreScnan. rowt. **1
am going to look for evidence now
that the result will be a hardening
of the Arab line. It will be more
difficult to bring about a peace
settlement,” he said.
Sen. Clifford Case (R. NJ)
denounced the vote outcome as
devastating to Israel’s morale and
called the Administration's action
“one of the worst mistakes our
government has made in a long
time.”
Sen. Joseph Biden (D. Md.),
who introduced the resolution
disapproving the planes sales in the
Senate Foreign Relations
Committee last week, said the vote
represented a “defeat for a sound
policy, a setback for a negotiated
settlement in the near future. I
don’t know why Israel would move
toward constructive negotiations,”
he said.
Sensing the bitterness induced
by the stunning defeat for Israel's
backers, the White House
modified its initial statement tha'
the President was “delighted" by
the vote in a longer, formal
statement issued later designed to
mollify the losers and avoid the
appearance of gloating over the
Administration’s victory.
The statement said that
President Carter was “deeply
gratified by the Senate’s decision”
amd^rmmgjd^to^’inteiwify our
their diffarwte**’’ in the Middle
East. The statement said that
Israel “will continue to have the
unwavering support of this
Administration and the American
people." The President also noted
that the Senate “vote strengthens
our ties with moderate Arab
nations who share our goal of
peaoe and stability in the region."
The Saudi Arabian Ambass
ador, Ali Abdullah Alireza, who
led the intensive lobbying effort for
the aircraft sales in which his
country’s leaders participated, said
“We are very gratified” by the vote
and “I look forward to close
cooperation and continuation of
close friendship with the United
States.” A spokesman for the
Egyptian Embassy, Mohammed
Haki, said the vote meant the
Congress is “helping bring about
the just and lasting peace we have
been aspiring to have” and is
“further testimony of the end of
polarization in the Middle East.”
International observers and
some Senators spoke of the vote as
a “watershed” in Israeli-American
relations and suggested that the
President may now take a tougher
position toward Israel to obtain
what he regards as a “just
settlement" in the Middle East.
“He will now believe he has the
support of Congress to speak out
on points necessary for a
settlement,” one source said.
“He now has freedom of action
and has taken an independent U.S.
action. It would be logical for the
U.S. to be more than a neutral
intermediary and publish its points
of view and put them to use,” the
source said.
Another commentator observed
that the Senate vow went beyond
the sale of planes to issues of U.S.
ties to Israel and to “Arab
moderates.” Still another referred
to “oil and the ‘new realities' ” and
noted that three years ago 76
Senators had signed a letter to
President Ford attacking his
reassessment of Middle East policy
while last night “for the first time in
many years, Israel lost a high
priority, high visibility test on the
floor of Congress.” The reason
“cited often,” he said, is “oil."
Sen. Lowell Weicker (R.
Conn.), a bitter opponent of the
Administration's Middle East
See F-15s, Page 18.
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Vandals fail to mar
‘Passport to Israel’
Hebrew Union Col Library
Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, Bhio 45220