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Iran impasse
Forty-nine Americans remain hostage to the whim of the
fanatical Ayatollah Khomeini and his'‘student" followers in Iran.
While our government quite properly pursues the path of
international diplomacy in attempting to secure the hostages’
release, let no one confuse this with cowardice. Even Moshe
Dayan agreed this week that there is no military similarity
between Tehran and Entebbe which would have permitted a
lightning rescue.
Nevertheless, there remain other options, including a show of
American military force in the area, and pressures short of
bloodshed.
This is not the first time terrorists have toyed with American
lives to try to achieve their demands. Have we forgotten that the
PLO, despite its so-called effort to reason with the Iranians,
hijacked TWA and Pan American airplanes in the first part of this
decade’’ Assassination of American ambassadors in the Sudan
and in Beirut followed.
Terrorism as a tool for enforcing demands will continue until
its perpetrators- whatever their country or cause—recognize that
we will not give in to their threats.
Dr. Irving
Dr. Irving Goldstein was a man who cared.
His contributions to the Atlanta community were many, but
his special interest lay in the highest form of tzedaka—helping
people to help themselves.
"Dr Irving’s" efforts over the past 20 years in helping the
handicapped find employment were honored only last Tuesday
evening.
The handicapped, the needy and the aged are often the
■forgotten" people. Dr. Goldstein did not forget. And we will not
soon forget him.
Vida GoUaar
With Dayan at the Fox
‘Would you moderate the question and answer
session for Moshe Dayan Tuesday night at the Fox 1 ”
1 thought perhaps the caller was joking. He wasn’t.
It didn’t take me long to agree.
Even though I would much rather
face a typewriter than an audience.
I knew 1 would regret it if I said no.
With 20 minutes until starting
tune. 1 was taken backstage for
security clearance. It was fortunate
that someone from the Israeli
Consulate was there to vouch for
me or 1 might never had made it
made it past the doorkeeper. The Fox’s female
doorkeeper was much more formidable than the
security men.
I sympathized with her though. I once acted as
doorkeeper when the Society of Professional
Journalists here arranged a press conference for
Henry Kissinger. So intent was I that no unauthorized
person would slip past, that I even made Bernard Kalb
and Richard Valeriani show their credentials.
I'd be lying if 1 said I wasn’t excited and slightly
nervous, especially when 1 was asked to introduce
General Dayan as well as moderate the question
portion.
Before I could think of it too much, there he was.
We were officially introduced. General Dayan wasn’t
formidable at all. He briefed me about how he
preferred to handle the questions—I would repeat the
question and clarify if necessary; if he heard the
question clearly, he would field it directly.
With last minute details cleared, we were invited to
the “Star" dressing room for coffee. One by one, the
others went out and there was I, backstage at the
Fabulous Fox. sipping coffee and chatting tete-a-tete
with this hero of modern history. He was cordial and
gracious. I don’t think I imagined that he seemed a
little weary. And why not. This United States tour
covers 15 cities with two appearances in lOof them, he
said.
Here was a reporter’s dream, the opportunity for
an exclusive, and I had neither pencil nor paper
Anyhow, it seemed intrusive to ask political questions
under the circumstances. We talked idly, finished the
coffee and it was time to start.
How can I describe the feeling of stepping through
the heavy curtain and confronting the vast auditorium
that is the fabled Fox. Last week “Chorus Line"—this
week Goldgar That ridiculous comparison gave me
an inward chuckle and I relaxed a little.
Between the brief—very brief - introduction and
the question period, I left the stage and joined the
meager audience. It was embarrassing and sad that in
a community like Atlanta, fewer than 200 persons
turned out to hear General Dayan He is a dynamic
speaker and the audience gave him rapt attention,
interrupting several times with applause.
Afterwards, backstage again, Dayan thanked me
graciously, we shook hands for perhaps the third
time, and, surrounded by the security cordon, he
disappeared through the stage door.
A shared experience
Near Easl Report
The nation is outraged and
embittered over its citizens held
hostage by terrorists. The
country’s leaders threaten severe
measures if its people are harmed.
There is widespread public clamor
to deport troublemakers who
demonstrate support for the
hostage-takers.
This describes the mood of the
American people in the weeks
since 62 Americans were taken
hostage by government-backed
extremists at the U.S. embassy in
Iran. But it also describes a
recurring mood in Israel. If a
picture is worth a thousand words,
then a shared experience is worth
10.000. and the experience of the
last several weeks should illustrate
to Americans better than anything
else what motivates Israel's intense
preoccupation with security, its
attacks on the bases of hostage-
takers and terrorists, and its
unwillingness to accept political
formulas that make its citizens
easier targets than they already
are.
The main difference between the
American and Israeli experiences
with terrorism is that, so far.
Americans have faced the threat
only in small numbers, thousands
of miles from their country.
Israelis face the threat en masse,
every day. in their homes
Considering the current mood,
which affects ail Americans, from
the man on the street to the
policymaker at the State
Department, it should now be
easier to understand Israel's,
attitude toward terrorism that
comes from another group of
fanatics in the Middle East—the
Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion. At the hands of the PLO
Israelis have learned not only the
agony that comes while the
hostages are held, but also the grief
that comes when they are
murdered.
Unlike America’s near-hopeless
situation in Iran—where logistical
problems virtually role out an
Entebee-like rescue Israel has the
capability, and perhaps a stronger
inclination, to punish terrorists,
and sometimes to hit them before
they before they endanger
innocentjives. For several months
this year Israel staged preemptive
attacks on terrorist bases in
southern Lebanon, thereby
aborting many raids into Israel.
Ironically 1 , the State Department
criticized those Israeli strikes.
There is another irony in the
official U.S. response tq Israeli
policy . Responding to the mood of
the people, the President has
ordered the Justice Department to
take steps to deport Iranians in the
United who have violated the
terms of their visas; there are
reports that even some Iranians
who oppose Ayatollah Khomeini
are threatened with expulsion. At
the same time, the State
Department has criticized Israel’s
moves to deport Mayor Bassam al-
Shaka of Nablus, the largest city
on the West Bank, for alleged
involvement with terrorist
activities. Press reports of Shaka’s
expression of “understanding" for
the motives behind a terrorist raid
in Israel last year reflect only part
of the story. Israeli officials say
they have far more specific charges
against Shaka which will be made
at his deportation hearing.
Not only arc the United States
and Israel faced with a common
struggle against terrorism; there is
also an alliance between their
terrorist enemies-the Iranian
radicals and the PLO. The PLO
helped put the ayatollah in power
earlier this year, and if statements
by PLO leaders are any indication,
there’s a good chance some of the
embassy invaders in Teheran were
trained in PLO camps. Yasir
Aralat. the first official visitor to
Khomeini's Iran, was given a
hero’s welcome During his visit in
February, he stated. "Thanks to
the Iranian uprising we can now
say. ‘Bye-bye American inte’rests."’
Terrorists are the same, whether
they strike in Teheran or
Jerusalem, Washington or
London. When one civilized
nation combats terrorism, it
should be supported not
undercut-bv others.
Palestinian Arabs had state in 1946’
L SITED NATIONS (JTA) —Yehuda Blum, Israel’s
Ambassador to the United Nations, claimed Tuesday that the
Arabs of Palestine "achieved their statehood as early as IW6, on 80
percent of mandated Palestine," with the establishment of “the
kingdom of Transjordan. In this way, they preceded by two years
the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine!" the
Israeli envoy declared.