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JL.JL,
Super Sunday182
Jf your phone rings on Sunday, Jan. 17, between 10 a.m. and 9
p.m., you may be among the nearly 10,000 Jewish Atlantans who
will be called during the Atlanta Jewish Federation’s second
“Super Sunday” telethon.
Last year’s “Super Sunday” raised nearly $300,000 for the
annual campaign as almost 300 volunteers made more than 5,000
phone calls.
If you are called, please say “yes” to the volunteer’s request for
you to make the most generous commitment you can, to preserve
Jewish life in Atlanta, in Israel and throughout the world.
The Southern
Zsraelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Our 57th Year
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Vol. LVIII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, January 15, 1982
No. 3
Haig says no
Statement on Golan withdrawn
by Joseph Polakoff
TSr« Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON—At Secretary
of State Alexander Haig's
instructions, the State Department
Anti-Semitic incidents
double in ’81; 14 in Georgia
The number of reported
incidents of anti-Semitic
vandalism during 1981, nationally,
was more than double the figure
for 1980, according to the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B’rith. In the state of Georgia, the
number of such incidents increased
from one to 14.
The ADL audit, which was
prepared by its National Civil
Rights Division in cooperation
with the league's 27 regional offices
throughout the country, include
incidents of arson or firebombings,
swastika daubings, cross-burnings
on Jewish-owned property, anti-
Semitic graffiti and similar acts.
According to Stuart Lewengrub,
director of the ADL’s Southeastern
regional office, the League
recorded 974 anti-Semitic episodes
nationally which would be
classified as vandalism. In
addition, 350 incidents involving
bodily assaults of an anti-Semitic
nature or anti-Semitic harassment
such as threats by mail or phone
directed at Jewish individuals or
institutions were reported to the
ADL. Fourteen cases of this type
of anti-Semitic activity were also
reported to ADL in Georgia in
1981.
Lewengrub said, “ADL began to
systematically audit specific
episodes of anti-Semitism three
years ago. Nationally, the numbers
have more than doubled each
succeeding year. Not every
incident of this kind is reported to
us. If there were a combined total
of 28 incidents of which we were
informed during the past year, I
would surmise that there were
surely additional ones which went
unreported either tp us or to any
law enforcement agency.”
The ADL director added, “The
numbers themselves are
disturbing. What they do not
reveal is the profound trauma that
a family which has its home
painted with anti-Semitic signs or
slogans or receives anonymous hate
calls undergoes. It can be a very
frightening experience."
According to Lewengrub, the
two most important steps that
must be taken to reverse this rise in
anti-Semitic expression are (a) to
enact legislation that will provide
for sterner punishment for
perpetrators of these incidents and
(b) to do a better job in the schools
and churches in terms of teaching
about prejudice and difference,
Lewengrub added, “It is
unfortunate but at times we find
that such acts of anti-Semitic
vandalism are treated as
mischievous pranks rather than as
serious acts against people and
property. Several states have
recently enacted laws which
impose stiffer penalties on persons
convicted of racial or religious
vandalism. The ADL has drafted a
’model’ statute which we hope to
have introduced and enacted during
the next year in Georgia.
“Many of the perpetrators are
teenagers and young adults. Where
are they learning their prejudices?
Why are they acting them out? We
have to examine these questions
both in terms of education and law
enforcement."
The ADL reported that its
model legislation would cover not
only incidents of anti-Semitic
vandalism but also attacks on
other religious or racial groups,
including Christian churches,
lewengrub observed, “Here in
Georgia we have seen several
destructive acts against many
houses of worship. We cannot
tolerate them and ignoringthem or
simply slapping the perpetrators
on the wrist only Encourages
additional, often more vicious,
acts.”
The ADL director noted that “the
causes of anti-Semitic incidents in
particular are often complex. They
are linked to what people read,
hear, believe, and find acceptable
There still are too many A mericans
who all too readily accept anti-
Semitic stereotypes. There has
been a recent growth in the
organized hate movement in
America. The injection of anti-
Semitism into foreign policy issues
and the concerted anti-Semitic
propaganda efforts of the”S6viet
Union and certain Arab regimes all
contributed to an atmosphere that
makes anti-Jewish acts appear to
be acceptable.
“The markEd increase in
incidents against Jews is just one
manifestation of a more serious
and deep-seated prejudice which
seems to be resurfacing. It is up to
the law, the schools and the
churches to convey the message
that bigotry is wrong and eviL If
there is one thing that Jews have
learned it is that prejudice is like
cancer. You allow a few malignant
cells to grow and they can infect
the rest of the body.”
has withdrawn a two-page
statement that had been prepared
by Middle East specialists to
explain former President Gerald
Ford’s commitment to Israel six
years ago that the U.S. supports
Israel’s position regarding the
Golan Heights. The department
refused to make the Ford letter
public.
In place of the statement, the
department, in response to The
Southern Israelite's inquiry,
offered reporters a 21-word
comment which said: “Nothing in
any message from President Ford
justifies Israel’s action in extending
Israeli law, jurisdiction and
administration to the Golan
Heights.”
The following day, a department
spokesman, Alan Romberg,
pointed out that the U.S. joined in
a United Nations Security Council
resolution on Dec. 17 denouncing
Israel's decision and that “Israeli
action is null and void and without
international legal effect.”
Romberg then added that “the
final status of the Golan can only
be determined by negotiation
among the concerned parties" in
accordance with U.N. Security
Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
Privately, State Department
sources told The Southern Israelite
that Ford’s letter to Israel’s then-
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
said that the U.S. “would support
Israel's negotiating position” when
su bjected t o U. N. Secu ri ty Cou nci 1
discussion under those resolutions.
When asked to make the letter
public, the department declined.
The original two-page statement
was understood to detail the
Reagan administration’s position
opposing Israel's decision that
introduced Israeli civil law into the
Golan but affirming that the Golan
was subject to lsraeli-Syrian
negotiation. In saying “among"
the parties, Romberg implied that
more than Syria and Israel were
involved.
Israeli sources have said that
Ford wrote Rabin that he
understood Israel’s requirements
for control of the Golan for
security reasons and that the U.S.
would not apply pressure for
Israelis to leave the Golan except
for cosmetic border changes to
mollify Damascus.
Haig's elimination of the two-
page statement was seen as another
U.S. move in the direction of
placating Syria which is
demanding U.N. sanctions against
See Haig, page 21.
They make the rules
Israel’s Chief Rabbis Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi, left, and Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic, during a recent
meeting in Jerusalem. Last September, in a move that met with strong opposition from secular groups,
the ibbh combined to issue a controversial ruling which held that religious law is the law of Israel.