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Paf* 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 9, 1979
The Southern Isi
*aelite
The Weekly Newspaper For South)
Our 55th Year
Vn Jewry
\ ^ -
Vida Goldgar
Edtor and Publisher
\ ^
„ Faith Powell
Assistant Edtor
Linda Lincoln
A<frert»ing Director
Mark Nicholas
Production Manager
Goldgpr
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
Second Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Ga (ISSN 00388) (USPS 776060)
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 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: Reiigous News Service;
American Jewish Press Assn : Georga Press Assn . National Newspaper Assn
PLOy
They first became a reality to Americans seemingly decades
ago when three airliners were hijacked to sit in the Middle Eastern
desert. Terrorists, every American exclaimed.
What kind of people would perpetrate such attrocities on
innocent victims!
Most Americans next really remember them for the Munich
Olympic massacre.
We, as Jews, will never forget them.
As The Southern Israelite goes to press, it seems the world has
forgotten so much. The PLO is playing everything very close to
the chest but reliable reports from Beirut indicate that there is no
doubt of the euphoria at PLO headquarters.
The PLO has created or found a golden opportunity to add
luster to their quest for recognition as a legitimate political body.
Their options in Teheran are vast, but all seem to indicate that
the safety of those Americans being held by the radicals in Iran
will leave the position of the U.S. seriously diminished, the
position of the PLO greatly enhanced, and the position Of Israel,
who clearly has no linkage to the situation, tenuous at best.
if ;.
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HcWQuicioy We Forget/
M-e £*•.'
•c - TSI mail call
Opening our daily mail at The Southern Israelite
takes up a good bit of my morning. Though we have
the largest post office box available, rarely a day goes
by without it being practically full.
The day's “take" includes a
bunch of out-of-town newspapers,
press releases by the dozens,
submissions for possible
publication, news dispatches, the
usual junk mail, checks (for which
we thank you) and bills (for which
we don’t).
Lately, there is a new category:
political announcements. All of a
' sudden, The Southern Israelite is the darling of all the
candidates. With the “Jewish vote” seemingly up for
grabs, nobody’s missing a bet. We're even on John
Connally’s mailing list, though only my insatiable
curiosity keeps me from pitching those into File 13
unopened.
For the most part, it appears the candidates want
to be absolutely certain we know that they have
appointed prominent Jews to important roles in their
campaigns. About the only one I haven't heard from
yet is Teddy Kennedy, and 1 expect that any day now.
I expect there is some little gray man behind
locked doors sitting at a computer feeding in all sorts
of ethnic data. Out of that, it can be determined that a
successful campaign effort should include X
number of Jews, Y hispanics and Z blacks, plus
assorted “miscellaneous." With this information, it
could be imagined that the inner circle sits down with
voluminous lists from each group and selects those
whose influence could be expected to garner votes.
President Carter didn’t have to look very far to
find important Jews for his campaign effort. He has a
top-notch group stepping over from the White House.
So far, Robert Lipshutz, former legal counsel;
Edward Sanders, top adviser, and now, Robert
Strauss, special ambassador to the Middle East, have
all joined the campaign. Milton Wolf is resigning his
ambassadorship to Austria and will also be aboard.
That is a classy team. But it worries me.
I’m particularly concerned about Strauss’
switchover this week. From all reports, he has been
doing a first-rate job as trouble-shooter in the delicate
Middle East negotiations. Even though Strauss'
announced successor, Sol Linowitz, is also a skilled
negotiator, I have a lot of respect for the adage about
changing horses in the middle of the river.
Besides, naive though I may be, Td like to think
that voters make their choice on hard issues, not on
how many Jews, or hispanics, or blacks or whatever
are on the campaign trail.
But from the looks of my mail, the candidates
don’t agree.
Bruno Kreiskv
‘Student not specialist’
V by Wolf Blitzer
WASHINGTON— Visiting
Austrian Chancellor Bruno
Kreisky must have snickered inside
when he found himself almost
defending Zionism. Answering
questions at an Overseas Writers
Club luncheon here on Oct. 26, just
moments after meeting with
President Carter at the White
House, Kreisky was confronted by
Alfred Lilienthal, a New York Jew
who has dedicated his professional
life against Zionism and Israel.
Lilienthal, who once was
affiliated with the fiercely anti-
Zionist American Council for
Judaism, asked Kreisky whether
there could ever really be peace in
the Middle East so long as Zionism
and its “abnormal" and
"exclusive” doctrines, such as the
Law of Return, existed.
“You are Mr. Lilienthal,”
Kreisky said, “Unlike you, I am not
a campaigner in this field. I am not
pro-Zionist nor am I anti-Zionist.”
The Austrian chancellor, who
angered Israel by formally
receiving PLO Chairman Yasir
Arafat In Vienna last July, went on
to note that he was opposed to “all •
kinds of chrtvthism;* but
conceded that he understood
“there has to be a certain portion of
nationalism in all countries.”
Lilienthal, whose question
sounded more like a statement
designed to score some
propaganda points among the
approximately 50 journalists
present, d;d not seem pleased by
But many of
Ur.4Al. reporters at the
fhjtre not happy
il for U.S.
recognition of PLO as the
legitimate representatives of the
Palestinians. “I’m in favor of it,” he
declared.
Kreisky said he was speaking in
his capacity as a vice president of
the Socialist International and
head of its permanent fact-finding
mission for the Middle East. He
described himself as a “student but
not a specialist” on the Arab-
Israeli conflict.
The chancellor, who is Jewish,
was careful in trying to present a
balanced view. He praised the
Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty as “a
very important achievement,"
which has “its own value as such.”
But at the same time, he said the
Palestinian question was “the key
problem in the whole question."
Asked why Arafat continues to
reject Israel's right to exist or to
renounce terrorism, Kreisky
resorted to diplomatically phrased
expressions of hope. “I’m not so
sure that the leadership of the PLO
will not recognize the realities,” he
said. Rut first, he continued, the
PLO must know “what is the
compensation.” He suggested that
if Israel were to recognize the PLO
first, Arafat and his executive
committee would then find the
“technical procedures" to
respond in kind —“immediately.”
If the PLO, on the other hand,
would still refuse to budge after
such an Israeli move, Arafat would
be making a big mistake. “They
would not be well-advised. The
fact is that Israel is here to stay."
According to Austrian Embassy
officials, Kreisky's visit to
Washington was private, designed
to accompany the current U.S.
tour of the Vienna Opera. Some
diplomatic observers here in
Washington, however, noted the
“coincidence” that his arrival here
came just on the eve of the “New
Outlook” Symposium on the
Middle East.
“New Outlook.” a leftist Israeli
magazine has long-promoted
Israeli-Palestinian (including
PLO) contacts. Its editor-in-chief,
Simcha Flapan, told a press
conference that the major purpose
of the event was to demonstrate to
American public opinion —
“specifically to American Jews"—
that serious differences exist
within Israel itself on the future of
the Palestinians and the territories
captured during the 1967 war.
Flapan said it was important to
convince the American Jewish
community not to be just “a rubber
stamp" on the Israeli Government.
And in this regard, some of the 40
Israelis participating in the
conference have scheduled a
speaking tour around the United
States after the meeting here to
explain their views to local Jewish
audiences.
As the conference opened up
over the weekend, Israeli
delegates, including some from the
“Peace Now" movement, met with
members of Congress, news media
representatives and others to
articulate their opposition to the
policies of Prime Minister
Menachem Begin and his
government.
By explaining their views here in
Washington, they presumably felt
that they could generate additional
U.S. public opinion pressure on
the Begin government—already in
disarray over Moshe Dayan's
resignation and the worsening
economic situation—either to
change its positions on Palestinian
autonomy or fall, resulting in new
national elections.
Senior U.S. officials monitoring
the political situation in Israel are
coming around to the conclusion
that Begin probably won’t be able
to keep his coalition intact in the
coming months, even if he
manages to patch things up in the
short run.