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Page 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 10, 1979
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Our 55th Year
Vida Goldgar
Vida Goldgar
Editor and Publisher
Faith Powell
Assistant Editor
Linda Lincoln
Advertising Director
Mark Nicholas
Production Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
Second Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Go /ISSN 00388) (USPS 776060)
Mailing Address: P.O. Bos 77388, Atlanta, Georgia 30357
Location: 188 15th St., N.W Phone (404) 876-8248
Advertising rates available upon request.
Subscriptions: $15 00 - 1 year; $25 00 ■ 2 years
Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Religious News Service.
American Jewish Press Assn , Georgia Press Assn , Naiional Newspaper Assn
Friendship?
For two countries who are supposed to be friends, the United
States and Israel don’t seem very chummy these days.
In spite of the fact that American politicians, from President
Carter and Vice President Mondale on down, are making
reassuring sounds, actions are booming in counterpoint.
Most disturbing are the manipulations going on around the
United Nations to get recognition for the PLO. Israeli Cabinet
Secretary Arye Naor said it well: “The murderous organization
called the PLO will never be a partner in negotiations with Israel.”
It was the United Nations that gave the pistol toting Yasir
Arafat a forum that launched him to new efforts toward
“legitimacy.”
Now, according to reports, members of our own Congress,
headed by Illinois Republican Paul Findley (yes, the same Findley
who is so anxious to accuse Israel of misusing American
equipment) are planning to appear on television in Beirut with
Arafat. Findley, a JTA report says, wants to give Arafat an
opportunity to improve his image in the U S. It makes one
wonder.
Meanwhile, Arafat is being received in European capitals
while his cohorts continue to plant lethal bombs in Israeli market
places, bus stations and flower beds.
While we are on the subject of Arafat, let's get one thing
straight.
Members of the PLO are not guerrillas. Members of the PLO
are terrorists. All too often the media and others use the two terms
interchangeably (we once carelessly did it ourselves).
Guerrillas have been portrayed almost romantically in history.
Webster defines them as “a small defensive force of irregular
soldiers, making surprise raids, especially behind the lines of an
invading enemy." Key words: defensive and invading.
Terrorists, although they may use similar tactics, are primarily
concerned with intimidation, demoralization and destruction as a
political weapon.
We hope the administration recognizes the difference and does
not use its role as Mideast peacemaker to legitimize Arafat and his
kind.
Supplement satisfaction
Being a newspaper editor has a lot of automatic
satisfactions. That must be true or no one would be
foolish enough to want the job.
• It is satisfying to know that, if
you do a good job, your readers
respect you, even if they don’t
always agree with you (nor should
they).
• It is satisfying to meet each
deadline, despite the mini-crises
that come with the territory.
• It is satisfying to hear an
advertiser say “I get a lot of
business from your paper."
• It is satisfying to be part of something that has an
impact on people
• 11 is especially satisfying for someone who had
expected to be a teacher, to know that you are still an
educator of sorts.
Being associated with The Southern Israelite has
always brought me the enormous satisfaction of being
part of an involved, supportive community dedicated
to strengthening Jewish life.
There are frustrations and disappointments, to be
sure, but in my perspective, the satisfaction has far
outweighed those.
All this is prelude to sharing my excitement at the
tremendous response we’ve received to the recent
“Arab Takeover” supplement.
There was no doubt in my mind when I first saw
this material and heard the author, Hoag Levins,
address the American Jewish Press Assn, convention
in New York that this was important. I wanted each of
you to read this eye-opening report by a fine
investigative reporter (who, incidentally, is not
Jewish).
Not only did I want our subscribers to read it, but I
wished that everybody could read it.
It appears that you agreed with me. This
supplement has generated so much comment that I
have added it to my “satisfaction list.
What has been surprising has been the out-of-
town response. Up to now, I have received requests for
extra copies from Florida, North Carolina, Alabama,
West Virginia, and even New York. In Atlanta, a non-
Jewish group ordered reprints and individual readers
have dropped by almost daily for copies to send to
political figures, business leaders and friends. Even
the Atlanta Journal gave it a mention in the Business
Briefs column.
The thought that American business institutions,
our agricultural lands, our universities and, yes, our
legislators are subject to the whim of Arab
governments is chilling indeed. Surely the awareness
created by Mr. Levins’ investigation and the story he
wrote must have some impact on those who are in a
position to control this takeover.
If The Southern Israelite has been able to increase
this public awareness, we’re mighty pleased
The investigation has not ended. Hoag Levins
continues to search and research further Arab
involvement in America.
Readers who have any information on the subject
can send it to me for forwarding
Book review
All that glitters
reviewed by David Friedman
THE JERUSA LEM DIA MOND
by Noah Gordon. New York.
Random House. 304 pages. $9.95.
Just a few blocks from Times
Square and at the edge of the
Rockefeller Center area lies New
York’s diamond center. It is just
one block long—West 47th Street
between Fifth Avenue and the
Avenue of the Americas, with
some spillover onto adjacent
streets—but it is a fascinating
place.
,Wf*iW8r Me
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A casual stroller would soon
notice the large numbers of
Orthodox Jews, particularly the
many Hasidim. Yiddish and
Hebrew are heard as much as
English. But you can also hear
French, Persian and countless
other languages
But no casual stoller or even a
frequent visitor can easily penetrate
the closely knit community of
diamond dealers whether it is
located in the numerous offices on
47th Street, or in London,
Rotterdam or Tel Aviv. It is a
community where no matter the
person's religion, deals are sealed
with a handshake and the Yiddish
words “Mazel un Brocha" (“Luck
and a Blessing”).
However, Noah Gordon, the
author of the bestseller “The
Rabbi," has managed to do so in
his new work of fiction, “The
Jerusalem Diamond.” The novel is
superficially a thriller about the
search for a diamond that comes
from the First Temple and has
been over the centuries the
property of a mosque in Accra and
the Vatican. This makes it sacred
to Jews, Moslems and-Christians
and of course an important symbol
in today's Middle East politics.
The diamond is being tracked
down for Israel by Harry
Hopeman. a New York diamond
dealer and the scion of a diamond
family that goes back to Lodewyk
van Berken who in 1467 in Holland
first perfected the modern
technique of diamond cutting-
Hopeman’s ties to the diamond
itself are strong; one ancestor cut
the diamond in Spain during the
Inquisition; another set it in the
Miter of Gregory for the Pope, and
his father had polished it in
Germany.
Hopeman, who rejects the
Vatican’s request for him to seek
the diamond, goes to Israel where
he is to negotiate the purchase for
Israel from an Egyptian Helping
him is the obligatory beautiful
Israeli woman, a Yemenite this
time.
The book does not succeed as a
thriller. But it is still a book that is
exciting and interesting to read.
Gordon excels in description of
places and people. The book is
exciting reading, not for the story
but for what Gordon reveals about
the diamond industry, not only
today but its development. He also
provides interesting vignettes
about Jewish life during the
Middle Ages; in Berlin before and
immediately after the Nazis took
over and in the United States
today.
In the sections of the book in
which Hopeman travels around
Israel, Gordon gives the best
description of the various areas
and of Israelis that has appeared
in a book by a non-Israeli.
Whether he is writing about
Jerusalem, Mcah Shcarim, the
Galilee or the Negev, Gordon
knows his Israel and Israelis well.
Don’t get this book if you are
looking for another adventure
story But don’t miss it if you want
an interesting and rewarding few
hours reading about Jews and the
places in which they live