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I
H* 4 TNK SOVTNKKS ISKAKI ITK. October ]«. 1*74
Easing tensions
These im am stones tad bmtnm sens to p**y *?
*h»d->»s> iHiwr ud ~a rrfi kaaftt tmdxioaaJ aha'
Li the bj<S.t of tha the Lrhu Lease's tried ion of Erma
Zita to recess* os PtiiinitM i1 Coonun Serna award
rrmxS os that thoghfil ptoyte of both rniuntn rrrogaire
that drffcjcnco cm tpeafic lira. or bam specific mdnxdmah.
^ not threaten a rrianouthy that has existed between both
We'we heard * pot More somanK ~Yo« don't throw oat the
baby nk the bathwater *
Em Zaban czrtaiah deserves the hoaor, aad the Urban
League deserves oar recogtuboa aad contsaocd support
Guest Editorial
We give, we gain
The Greater Atlanta United Way Campaign for 1980 is no*
underway This year’s goal is SI6.640.000. The 51 beneficiary
agencies of the United Way cover a broad base of the Atlanta
community
As an integral part of the general Atlanta community, we Jews
have a vital stake in the strength of the 51 bcakh. social welfare
and other community programs supported by the United Way.
Among the agencies which received funding last year were the
Atlanta Jewish Community Center, which received SI75.397; the
Atlanta Jewish Federation, which received 5239.874 for support
of the Ben Mas sell Dental Chmc: and the Jewish Family and
Children’s Bureau The Metropolitan Atlanta Council on Alcohol
and Drug Abuse received S64.895. the Diabetes Association
$63,045, the Atlanta Mental Health Association received
$210,516. These are but a few of the important community
agencies given funding by the United Way
The Atlanta Jewish Community has always proudly and
generously supported the United Way
We are confident that once again in 1980. the Jewish
community of Atlanta wiD do more than os Fair Share to support
the United Way campaign
Max Rmenbaum
President. Atlanta Jrnxsh Federal ion
Phoenix Rising
Saudi sheikh ‘captures’
sophisticated audience
bow uc are irr—gty forgetting
the “average Aaencaw* is the
that I anrwdrd recently ai
which Sheikh Ahmed Zaki
Ya—a» Saadi Arabia's Wirier
of Pl-lrtdrw was the fcatnred
speaker. There were approximate
K 350 people m attendance Of
these, perhaps 25 or 30 ire Jews.
10 or 12 were Macks, another 20 or
25 appeared to be of Arab descent
The ha taacr of the aadrax was
comprised maialy of well
groomed, relatively yowag (30s
and 40s) hasiaess people,
professionals. aad edacacorv
These were am aad voannka
keen interest m mu-rnauowal
affairs, most of whom arc likely
moving op their corporate aad
institutional ladders
Sheikh Yamani had there folks
eating om of ha hand from the
first Yamani ts a bnlhant speaker
and an ertmordmanH shrewd
politician. He was ai ho best in
responding to questions from tho
knowledgeable audience He
employed facts aad uatntics oa od
and energy, selectively adapting
them to the point he wished to
make. It was evident why Yamani.
who ts nor a member of the Saudi
royal family, has become owe of
the most powerful rename and
political figures, not merely in the
Arab world, but m all the world
He o strong aad tough. ret very
low key and reasooed in ho
approach
Yamani represents the largest or]
producing nation m the world, a
country which in the past six rears
has raised the price of crude od
from $! SfFper barrel to SIS per
barrel, which has adamantly
refused to endorse the peace treaty
between Israel and Egypt and
which has provided millions of
dollars in aid to the PLO Yet
Yamam's skill o such that the
majority of men and women m that
audience were left with a sense that
Yamani aad Saudi Arabra are the
best friends America has. and that
it is the Israelis, their American
Jewish supporters, and the
overconsuming western nations,
who are leading us down the road
to economic disaster
Yamani did stress the need for
energy conservation and for
ahernattre sources of energy and
dad address himself to the purely
economic issue of supply and
i of petroleum. Hut he
threw into the equation juil
da B Atlanta E5
Arabia's patrolaum
evoked euch strong
am some of dioee
The Southern Israelite
moat of ttWs page end
S to separate accounts of
rwrmgh to suggest that Israel*!
pt*trtH*r on the Palestinian Arabs
could very well result in the kind of
od cutback that would produce a
terrible economic dislocation for
the industrialized western world.
What troubled me most,
however, was not Yamam's words
or xkils They were Co be expected.
Owe does not achieve and maintain
hs poutioa without possessing a
great deal of talent Rather it was
the reaction id reception from his
aadimrr. Yamani received two
ovations, the final one of
about two muutes duration He
had captured hn audience, an
that perhaps wanted to
be captured by him. Their
—*■ for him aad what he
represented was uamistakcable
Twice, danng the discussion
Yamam m subtle but clear
■mi *ii Hum On one occasion he
calkd upon the American Jewish
community to pressure the Israelis
and. as be put it. to place American
interests above Israel"v “although
ve know vour hearts are over
there." In response to another
question, the Sheikh explained
that the reason that Arabs had
botoncaBy had a negative image in
the United Stales was due to “the
American media being dominated
by a certain small minority The
words Jews did not have to be
stated Who else could he mean?
One astute Atlanta political
leader who was present remarked
to us afterward, “when we started
coming to these meetings, most of
the people were pro-Israel. Now,
they are pro-Arab."
Was this group unique in terms
of a general American attitude? It
would be comforting to think that
it was. I suspect that it was not.
Perhaps it was unique in terms of
the educational and economic
levels of the audience, which were
obviously higher than the norm.
But there the uniqueness ends.
The Arabs have been investing
Mlbons of dollars in the American
economic system. They have been
investing in universities and in
pnbhc relations activities. They are
bolding, not the price, but the very
avaikabihty of oil over our heads.
They are telling Americans that it
is they, not the Israelis, who are
onr friends and it a apparent that
more and more Americans are
pre~red to trade Israel's security
for what they perceive as ail
insured od supply and continued
investment dollars Moreover,
fewer Americans are questioning
whether the Israel od equation is
valid it all.
I here is a war going on here It is
a propaganda war and, at the
moment. we are not winning it. We
still have many friends, allies, and
supporters. But I sense that they
are reducing in number and in the
strength of their conviction. The
Saudis, because they have only
increased the price of oil by 1,000
percent in the last six years are
viewed as a “moderating" force
Others have increased the price by
1,500 percent. Even I he murderous
PLO ts more frequently being
portrayed as justiqc-seeking
freedom fighters who desire only a
national identity In some media
minds, the word intransigent has
become an automatic adjective
before Israelis. We see equations
being made between a bomb
placed in a Jerusalem supermarket
and one dropped on a PLO tenor
base And we see the Petroleum
Minister of Saudi Arabia lustily
cheered because his nation is
charging only S18 per barrel for oil
that costs them about 30 cents a
barrel to produce.
Why the shift’ Why the erosion?
Is it the result of an isolationist,
“America first" philosophy’ b it
anti-Semitism’ No single answer
can explain it all. Yet I beheve that
a latent form of anti-Semitism is
now emerging. For three decades.
anti-Semitism was unfashionable
In the aftermath of the Holocaust,
with the memory of the
concentration camps still in the
consciousness, it wasn't proper to
speak and think of Jews
negatively. It w as as if many people
were thinking. “Your people
suffered so much. Well leave you
alone for awhile." But that was 35
years ago. Those who were in
Yamani's audience, thyse who
comprise two-thirds of the
American population today, were
either tiny children or not yet born
when that occurred. For them, the
Holocaust is almost ancient
history It doesn't relate to their
lives. Oil does. So do dollars.
I would guess that most of those
in that particular audience would
vehemently deny any anti-Semitic
sentiments. “Me anti-Semitic’
Why some of my best friends..."
I'm sure there were many well-
meaning and decent folks out there
cheering for the Sheikh, some who
genuinely want there to be peace in
the Middle East, no more dead
Jews, no more dead Arabs, plenty
of oil and happiness foiocr after.
But I ask myself, why. when
Yamani spoke of that “certain
minority" and of dual loyalties
didn't one of them, just one. stand
up and say. "Mr Minister, you are
wrong about that." Was it that out
of a sense of southern hospitality
that they didn't wish to disagree
with the guest? Was it that they
were afraid the Sheikh would raise
the price of oil another $2 if he
heard their disagreement? Or was
it because (hey silently agreed and
were pleased that someone else was
saying those kinds of things that
they, themselves, wished to
express?