Newspaper Page Text
News Briefs
Israel, Egypt may get U.S. arms
WASHING ION (JTA)—The Defense Department
announced Monday that it plans to sell Israel II F-15 jet fighters
and Egypt 300 AIM-9L sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Congress
has 30 days in which it may reject the sale.
The sale to Egypt, which totals $34 million, also includes 30
training missiles, repair parts and support equipment. The
equipment would be used on F-I6s which F-gypt has already
contracted to buy. The Pentagon stressed that the sale would not
affect the balance ol power in the Middle East.
The $510 million sale to Israel also includes II sets (22) of
conformal fuel tanks, six F-100 engines, support equipment and
other materials. The Pentagon noted that this was part of the U.S.
policy to assure Israel has the means to defend itself within secure
borders.
Jewish children memorialized
BONN (JTA) A plaque in memory of 20 Jewish school
children who were murdered by the Nazis after having been
subjected to inhuman medical experiments, was dedicated in
Hamburg. Wolfgang Tamowski, the city’s senior official for
cultural affairs, denounced the crime as one of the most brutal of
the Nazi regime. One of the murderers, Arnold Strippel, the SS
official said to have ordered the children put to death is still alive.
The children were hanged on April 20, 1945, shortly before
Germany surrendered in order to cover up the effects of the
experiment.
Court voids yarmulka ban
NEW YORK (JTA)—A federal district judge in Washington
Tuesday voided the United States Air Force’s restriction on the
wearing of yarmulkas by Air Force personnel.
According to Howard Zuckerman, president of the National
Jewish Commission on l.aw and Public Affairs (COLPA), Judge
Aubrey Robinson ruled that wearing a skull cap for religious
reasons is a constitutionally protected right.
At issue in the ruling was the case of Captain Simcha Goldman
who served at March Air Force Base inCalifornia when he brought
a lawsuit against the Air Force. Goldman was permitted to wear his' j
yarmulka while in uniform since 1977. However, in the early part
of 1981, a new commanding officer at the base ordered him to
remove it. Discussions with the Air Force broke down and when
Goldman was threatened with disciplinary action if he continued
to wear his yarmulka he went to court.
Gaza unrest draws curfews
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Curfews were imposed on the Israel-
held section of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and in several
towns on the West Bank as a result of widespread unrest early this
week. Rafah lies athwart the international boundary between the
Gaza Strip and Sinai. The southern section of the town was handed
over to Egypt as Israel completed its withdrawal from Sinai April
25.
The divided town was the scene of violent anti-Israel
demonstrations in recent weeks. They erupted anew after the
Egyptians raised their flag in their sector of Rafah
Pakistan bars group led by Jew
PARIS (JTA)— Pakistan has barred a European
Parliamentary commission from entering its territory and meeting
with Afghani refugees because the head of the commission is a
Jewish deputy associated with Israel. The European Parliament in
Strasbourg said it cancelled the visit which was due to have gone to
Pakistan this week.
The group barred from Pakistan is chaired by Pans Gaullist
Deputy Gerard Israel, secretary general of the Alliance Israelite
Universelle. He is also one of the lay leaders of the Council of
Major Jewish Organizations in France (CR1F) #
Service held for Israeli war victims
NEW YORK (JTA) More than 600 people attended a
Tuesday night memorial service for the men and women who fell in
Israel’s wars. The “Yom Hazikaron Memorial," which is marked
every year on the eve of Independence Day, was held in Town Hall
and was organized by the consul general of Israel in New York,
on the occasion of Israel's 34th anniversary
Torx, m
-J
Vetters to the editor
Reader defends Dr. Smith
Editor:
I am deeply disturbed by Betty
Cantor’s article in the April 16
issue of The Southern Israelite
about the NCCJ lecture series in
Atlanta and her labelling of Dr.
Paul Smith as an anti-Semite.
Dr. Smith wrote his D. Min.
dissertation on black-Jewish
relations at Washington
University in St Louis. This
research was facilitated by Rabbi
Arnold Asher of Temple Shaare
Zedek during 1975-78.
In 1978, Dr. Smith moved to
Atlanta, where he has worked for
the betterment of black-Jewish
relations, primarily in the black
community. He has also spoken at
predominantly white institutions.
One session which I clearly recall
was at Temple Sinai, to which he
was invited by his friend, the late
Rabbi Richard Lehrman. Dick
Lehrman was concerned enough
about black-Jewish relations to
provide Sinai congregants with an
opportunity to hear about Dr.
Smith’s research. During this
session, Dr. Smith patiently
educated his listeners about
present black attitudes toward
Jews. The picture he paints is
indeed dismal, but his picture
provides ho cause to label the man
an anti-Semite.
Paul Smith is a man without an
ax to grind. He is a man of
, integrity, a man of morality, a man
of conscience. I have reason to
know. Our families have been
friends since the Smiths moved to
Atlanta. For four years, I have
worked with him at Morehouse
College and team-taught a course
in ethics with him at the
Morehouse School of Medicine.
Moreover, 1 have read his
dissertation, which formed the
basis for his NCCJ talk. Dr. Smith
is not an anti-Semite.
In addition, what Dr. Smith is
quoted in The Southern Israelite as
saying fails to make him an anti-
Semite. What he says adds up to a
theme I have heard him state
repeatedly: “Don’t sweep facts
under the rug; understand and deal
with them. Ftom the general black
perspective, Jews are responsible
for many problems blacks have."
As Jews, we do not want to hear
this view. We know we have
worked for civil rights and not
during the last two decades alone
We do not see ourselves as part of
the “American establishment." But
we cannot assume, as Ms. Cantor
does, because Paul Smith’s
research documents the state of
black-Jewish relations, that he is
an anti-Semite The Jewish
community did not label the
Jewish researchers and writers of
the 1978 and 1981 AJC studies of
anti-Semitism among non-Jews
anti-Semites. Neither does a
careful reader of Ms. Cantor’s
article fail to see the dichotomy
between what Dr. Smith says and
the way he is presented as an anti-
Semitic person.
Dr. Smith’s statement of the
general black view of Jews is all too
sadly correct. As a faculty member
of Morehouse College since 1967,
each year I teach black students
Irom all 50 states and 60 foreign
countries They know little
American social history, and most
care little about the subject. Each
year I am confronted by many
students who are stereotypically
anti-Semitic. They may hate Jews
in the abstract. They may hate
Jews because the tradition has
been handed down to them by their
families They may hate Jews
because they support Third World
peoples, including the PLO.
Whatever their reasons, they are
anti-Semitic, and they believe Jews
are anti-black.
As a result, many of these
students have a difficult task to
face when they discover that this
professor who has worked with
them and cared about them is
Jewish. The relevant point here,
however, is that a portion of each
generation of black youth is raised
to be anti-Semitic. One person
alone cannot correct this view, nor
apparently, can one black person
tell us the truth of the situation
without raising Jewish fear, anger,
and accusations of anti-Semitism.
Paul Smith does not need to
bring upon himself these
accusations He is respected in the
Christian and Jewish communities
as a clergyman of high moral
stature. At the NCCJ lecture series
he tried to promote sensitivity by
laying out some of the parameters
that constrict understanding
between blacks and Jews He was
met by raised hackles instead of by
responsible ears and tongues. It is
clear that some Jews in the
audience, and Ms. Cantor with her
article, added another parameter
to constrict black-Jewish relations.
We believe ourselves to be
concerned, responsible citizens.
Part of being concerned is to learn
what constitutes anti-Semitism,
not just to meet what one may
inaccurately think is anti-Semitism
with vigilance. Part of being
responsible is to listen carefully
rather than to label carelessly.
Linda Tallin
Leadership group replies
Editor: problems and opportunities of our
I’m writing in response to an city.
•rtklt'llui wmm fWblfcrtMrt fcn youi
issue dated Friday, April 16, 1982,
concerning a presentation by
Dr. Paul Smith at a recent lecture
series.
In the article written by Ms.
Betty Cantor, the point is made
that Dr. Paul Smith is a member of
Leadership Atlanta and the
substance of the article dealt with
some remarks made by Dr. Smith
that the writer viewed as anti-
Semitic.
Leadership Atlanta has long
served the Atlanta community by
bringing together those of diverse
backgrounds, opinions and
agendas to expose them first to
each other and secondly to the
Wwh almost 700 Leadership
Atlanta alumni in the community,
the organization cannot and does
not take responsibility for the
individual and personal opinions
of its former participants. It
suffices to say that the Leadership
Atlanta mission is one of bringing
together, building of bridges and
healing. I trust that our
organization will always be judged
by the Atlanta community for the
fulfillment of our mission and not
on the individual opinions or
statements of our members.
Don L. Chapman
Chairman
Leadership Atlanta
Unjust attack?
Editor:
I was very distressed to read
your vicious and entirely
misdirected attack on Paul Smith,
the pastor of Hillside Presbyterian
Church
Dr. Smith is a member of the
board of directors of Metro Fair
Housing, an organization that
works for equal housing
opportunity and integrated
neighborhoods. His lifetime has
been a commitment to fighting
prejudices and stereotypes; his
purpose was to promote
dialogue—sorely needed in
Atlanta>
I have read Dr. Smith’s speech
and it simply does not contain the
attack on Jews that The Southern
Israelite would have us believe. Dr.
Smith instead points out the
perceptions that many in the black
community have of the Jewish
community - perceptions that
may or may not be justified, but
perceptions that do in fact exist.
Dr. Smith does not deserve to be
attacked for reporting on and
explaining these perceptions. And
these are perceptions that the
Jewish community, if they truly
want a dialogue with the black
community, must recognize and
deal with.
The Jewish community must
learn to deal with non-Jews’
perceptions of them, and not to kill
the messenger of bad news.
Marcia Borowski
Executive director
Metro Fair Housing
Services, Inc.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 30, 1982