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News Briefs
Palestinians study in Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Hundreds of Palestinians have
graduated from Soviet military academies, according to an official
of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
s “Scores and hundreds of Palestinian officers eligible to
command major sectors such as brigades have graduated from
Soviet military academies," Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim al-
Shaier, head of the PLO’s Moscow office, revealed in a lecture
^ Monday night in Beirut and- published in Beirut newspapers
| Tuesday. He said there are also some 2,000 Palestinians studying in
| Soviet schools and the PLO received 300 scholarships a year,
| mostly for scientific and technical studies.
Cars come home to Israel
P TEL AVIV (JTA)—Egypt on Monday returned to Israel eight
I cars stolen from Israel and hidden away in the Sinai desert. The
| vehicles, all large cars and mainly Mercedes which had been used in
§ Israel as taxis and are in strong demand in Egypt, were returned at
i the Neot Sinai checkpost. In the months before Israel withdrew
H from the western part of the Sinai, many cars were stolen and
driven to Sinai where they were buried under sand dunes awaiting
I the arrival of the Egyptians. Most were then uncovered and taken
|f to Cairo where they were sold.
Workmen’s Circle blast Lefever
i NEW YORK (JTA)—The Workmen's Circle, the national
g Jewish labor fraternal organization, has urged President Reagan,
S to withdraw the name of Ernest Lefever as assistant secretary of
? state for Human Rights, and Humanitarian Affairs. In a letter to the
president, Israel Kluger, Workmen’s Circle president, and Nathan
1 Peskin, it’s executive director, noted that Lefever has opposed
If American human rights policies.
I i
Auschwitz artist honored
f AMSTERDAM (JTA)—The memory of Charlotte Salomon, |
$ a German-Jewish artist who died at Auschwitz while still in her
* twenties, is being honored in Holland with an exhibition of her I
1 water colors, painted when she lived in the south of France between
« 1940-1942, shortly before her deportation. The exhibit was opened ’
at the Jewish Historical Museum here last Friday. At the same
| time, a book has been published containing reproductions of
I nearly 800 of her paintings and a West German film on her life will
have its premier in Amsterdam next week.
|
1 Israelis favor more settlements
if TEL. AVIV (JTA)—A public opinion polljust taken shows that
about 70 percent of Israelis favor continued Jewish settlements on >
the West Bank in one form or another and extension of Israeli rule 1
over the Golan Heights
The poll taken by the Modi' in Ezrachi Applied Research
i Center for the Jerusalem Post, said 40.9 percent of those polled |
favor Jewish settlements in all parts of the West Bank under |
certain conditions: 26.7 percent in all parts of the largely Arabarea; f
and only 2.4 percent outside the populated centers. It said 26.3 3
percent opposed Jewish settlements in the West Bank under any |
condition.
m |
S. Yemen Embassy bombed
I PARIS (JTA)—Two powerful rockets were fired early P
I Monday morning at the South Yemen Embassy in Paris by a group
I claiming to represent “The victims of the Rue Copemic Synagogue
blast" which killed four people and wounded 33 last Oct. 3. The ,
| rockets, which police said seemed to have been manned by experts,
caused serious damage to the building but no casualties. The attack g
-* took place shortly before 4 a m. local time and police say the |i
1 attackers presumably did not plan to kill anyone.
Le Boutillier pledges allegiance i
NEW YORK (JTA)—Rep. John Le Boutillier (R-C, NY) |
pledged here last weekend that as a new member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee “I’ll be the strongest pro-Israel
advocate in the whole Congress.”
Appearing on nationally syndicated columnist Victor Riesel’s
weekly interview show on WEVD radio, Le Boutillier, who at 27 is
the youngest member of the House, said that as a non-Jew “my
position will be more credible that if coming from someone who is
Jewish."
iter« to tire ed it or
Walking billboards
Editor:
I was a guest with my wife at a
wedding reception. As we were
socializing, a friend related a story
of a sales meeting he was attending.
One of his business associates
used the phrase “that he was not the
typical Jew." The thought occurred
to him, “What is a typical Jew?"
Like it or not, we of the Jewish
faith are walking billboards of
Judaism. As individuals we may
want to do certain things or
participate in activities, but whether
we like it or not we are labeled
not just as Joe Blow, but as Joe
Blowstein—Jew. The word ‘Jew’
can sound good, wholesome,
ethical, wise and even classic, but it
can also sound ugly, distasteful and
even unbearable.
We share in the pride as our chests
rise high and our spirits soar
when we hear or witness a
spectacular or special success of t
fellow Jew. On the other side of the
coin, we too feel shame, contempt,
and despair when a fellow Jew
disgraces a position or a
situation. Unfortunately this is a
human dilemma that each
individual must deal with. I think it
is important to realize that our
mark is a reflection. Let's hope that
our reflections will honor our
people because the truth of Genesis
is evident—We are not only our
brothers’ keepers, we are our
brothers.
As individuals, each one of us
need to do a public relations job on
elevating our image so the phrase.
“typical Jew" can be considered
praiseworthy.
Donald Miller
Looking for
relative
Editor:
[I am trying to] locate a cousin
who moved to Atlanta years ago.
It concerns “Leah,” nee
Schecter, sister of Jack and Harry,
who with their mother (born a
Frankfort or Frankovich) arrived
in New York City before 1921.
I would perfer not to list my
name until there is proof of
relationship. I can be reached as:
Cousin Freda
2095 Yale
Palo A ho, Calif. 94306
Open letter: Plight of the Falashas
■nnmmmmisii .iiiMW'iifimi
The state of Falasha Jews is an
historic tragedy of major
proportions which is now entering
its eleventh hour. A community
that numbered more than 150,000
one hundred years ago is now
down to approximately 23,000.
The remainder of the community is
exposed to continued harassment,
violence, and enslavement, and to
many other indignities that
threaten its physical existence as
well as its integrity as a human
community. This tragedy is
compounded by the continuing
process of assimilation and
conversion that has eaten into the
ranks of the community for the
past century.
Unfortunately the tragedy was
compounded by a combination of
side factors. The Jewishness of the
Falashas was questioned despite a
long standing series of rulings by
leading orthodox rabbis and
scholars. Unfortunately, the
Israeli government did not apply
the Law of Return to the Falashas
until both current chief rabbis (i.e.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the
Sephardic, and Rabbi Shlomo
Goren, the Ashkenazic) formally
ruled that the Falashas are full
Jews in the Halachic definition of
the term.
Earlier there were also the
restrictions on action due to a
desire not to offend Haile Selassie
when he ruled Ethiopia. After a
brief period of openness when the
revolutionary government took
over, there was a breakdown in
relationship between Israel and the
Mengistu government which cut
off that option to help.
The deepest concern I have is
that business as usual and past
bureaucratic errors have built in
strong resistance to reaching out to
Falashas. One fears also some
racist or prejudicial attitudes
towards blacks—compounded by
the fear of the ‘primitive
background' of the Falashas—lead
to relatively weak efforts to save
them.
Suffice to say that this issue has
reached crisis point now. Unless
there is a major effort in the near
future, the remnants of this proud
community will be totally
disintegrated. And even if its
nhv^ical survival were not at stake,
additional moral claim
upon us—this is a very poor and
highly illiterate community which
deserves help from its Jewish
brothers around the world.
There is a widespread
recognition that aliyah is the key to
saving the Falashas. Those
Falasha Jews who have reached
Israel have integrated successfully
and have made a wonderful
contribution to their new society.
It will be a great reinforcement to
Israel if these 23,000 people can yet
be saved and brought there. It is
therefore incumbent upon all of us
to make a maximum effort to
ensure that both a public campaign
and private diplomacy be
exercised to save them.
We have to keep in mind that
there is still significant resistance
to the bringing of the Falashas
among those Jewish Agency
officials who were in charge of this
area in the past. It must also
regretfully be reported that the
Interior Minister, Dr. Joseph
Burg, has had a very poor record in
his attitude toward Falashas and
The United States government
has pleaded its limited
influence on the Mengistu
government. It is true that the
United States has limited influence
but it is crucial that influence be
used to its maximum. Now is the
time for a broad based public
education in both the Jewish and
non-Jewish communities. To wait
any longer will be to allow an
historical disaster to culminate in
the dissolution of a community.
The hour is late, the work is great
but the reward for such lifesaving
will be even greater.
Dr. Irving Greenberg
Director, National Jewish
Resource Center
Those wishing more information
about the plight of the Ethiopian
Jews, may write to the National
Jewish Resource Center. 250 West
57th Street, Suite 216. New York,
N. Y 10019—Editor.
HIAS helps
1AIUUI .
HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society, is trying to locate
Jews who lived in or around
Minsk, in Byelorussia (White
Russia), during the period of 1941-
1944, about a matter of utmost
importance.
Please call or write Joseph
Edelman of HIAS about this
matter. The address is: 200 Park
Avenue South, New York City
10003. Telephone: (212) 674-6800.
Joseph Edelman
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Pope, rabbi rap In Rome
ROME (JTA)—Pope John Paul II and the Chief Rabbi of
Rome, Elio Toaff. met recently in what the Jewish community
officially termed “an event of historical import" and which most
observers saw as a calculated effort by the Vatican to enhance its
relations with the Jewish community which, generally, have been
good. The encounter took place in a building adjacent to the
Church of San Carlo Ai Catinari on the Piazza Cairoli, in the heart
of the Roman ghetto, the oldest in Europe.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE February 20, 1981