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News Briefs
Jewish youth charged with arson
WEST HARTFORD, Conn Four cases of arson which
severely damaged two West Hartford synagogues, the home of
Rabbi Solomon Krupka and another Jewish home last August were
closed this week with the arrest of 17-year-old Barry Dov Schuss.
Schuss was a member of one of the synagogues which had been
burned West Hartford police said Schuss surrendered voluntarily
and was charged with four counts of second-degree arson.
UJA film wins Gold Medal
NEW YORK (JTA) — “Partners in Faith." a multimedia
production written, composed, directed and produced by Issachar
Miron, United Jewish Appeal creative consultant, won the top
gold medal at the 26th annual awards competition of the
International Film and TV Festival. It was chosen from more than
4.000 entries submitted by film makers from some 40 countries.
Canadian fired for newscast
TORONTO (JTA) The Canadian Television Network (CTV)
has dismissed its correspondent, Brian Nelson, for an
unauthorized appearance on a television newscast in Abu Dhabi
where he read a script that referred to Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir as a “terrorist” and to Israel as "the Zionist entity.”
The privately-owned network said it was taking disciplinary action
against Nelson’s field producer, Barry Barnett. Nelson confirmed
last week that he was fired and said he would consult a lawyer.
Marjory Anthony, vice president for network relations, told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency that by agreeing to appear on the
newscast, Nelson acted irresponsibly and violated network rules by
x / j failing to obtain his employer’s permission.
\ The incident occurred while Nelson was covering Prime
Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s visit to the Persian Gulf states.
According to Anthony, Nelson would have been dismissed even if
there had been no derogatory remarks about Shamir and Israel in
the newscast.
Hussein opens arms to PLO
PARIS (JTA)— King Hussein of Jordan Tuesday invited PLO
chief Yasir Arafat to Amman saying he will “always be welcome in
Jordan.” Hussein, as if to stress his new relationship with the PLO
spent his first day in Paris in close consultations with PLO
representatives.
He lunched with the head of the foreign affairs commission of
the Palestine National Council, Khaled el Hassan, and conferred
with a number of other Palestinian leaders.
Bus bombing claims fifth life
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Esther Pollack, 16, one of the 46
people injured in last Tuesday’s bus bomb blast..died of her injuries
over the weekend, bringing the death toll to fivfe. Her sister, Nurit
Pollack, 14. was one of the four killed when the bus exploded. Tlhe
other three killed were Eli Adi, 11, Yehuda Kaplan, 77. and Lasslo
B Danisky, 50. All were from Jerusalem.
Number of U.S. ollm on rise
NEW YORK—The number of North Americans who have
made aliyah between January and the end of October stands at
3,177, nearly 1,000 more than during the same period last year and
some 650 more than in all of 1982, adcording to Moshe Shechter,
director of the Israel Aliyah Center.
"More and more American Jews are realizing that Israel is their
home, both in a spiritual and a practical sense,” Shechter said
adding that the latest figures “indicate that more of them are acting
on that belief and joining their brothers and sisters already living in
Israel.”
Where go the brides?
TEL AVIV (ZINS) -ln the middle 70s,.when Israel's
population was smaller than now, there were 28,600 Jewish
weddings. In 1981, with a greater population, there were only
24,700 marriages among Jews. That is to say, a ratio of 10
weddings per 1,000 population had fallen to 7.6 per 1,000. In the
same time frame the number of divorces had almost doubled. In
1975 there were 2,500 divorces; six years later that number had
“+isen to 4,200. In 1976 there were 2,500divorces; six years later that
number had risen to 4,200. In 1976 there were 75.000 hirths; in 1981
only 70,700—a decline of 25 births per 1,000 of populatiop
V '
1 etters to the editor
Herzog puts Israel in perspective
Lebanon. Today Haifa (an Israeli
city) is the major port of Lebanon,
not Beirut. There’re more goods
going through Haifa for Lebanon
because it’s more reliable; it has
more security from theft; there's no
bribery, no corruption.
“All in all, there's $120 million to
$150 million worth of trade
between Israel and Lebanon. Our
hotels are full of Lebanese tourists;
last year because of the war we had
a tourism crisis, and the Lebanese
saved us.
“Then there’s Saudi Arabia.
Only a month ago, 1 welcomed
back the representatives of 3,500^
Israeli Arabs who had gone on the
“hajj” (pilgrimage) to Mecca. They
reported to me that for the first
time they had been very well
treated by the Saudis—that’s a big
change in attitude toward them. In
previous years Israeli Arabs had
come back swearing they would
never go back because they felt
they were singled out for ill
treatment.
“Even within Israel, for many
years the dominant political force
for Israeli Arabs was the
Communist Party, controlled, by
the way, by Moscow. Not that the •
Arabs in our country cared all that
much for Marx and Lenin—it was
just a way of expressing opposition
to the government.
“Nowadays, the Labor Party is
making inroads within the Arab
sector. In the test election*. Labor
gained about 25 percent of the
overall Arab vote; two or three
Arab towns went over to the labor
side.
“What we’re seeing is an Arab
willingness to take part in Israeli
elections. They’re beginning to
fight for representation in existing
parties rather than in Arab
organizations.
“There’s a very interesting
evolutionary process going or all
the time—to be sure, it's a long one.
“But if you ask me to give an
overall picture and compare it with
the situation of a decade ago. I
would say we’ve long since passed
the watershed of acceptance in the
area. Today there’s nothing about
Arabs’ negotiating with Israelis.
It’s on what you negotiate—what
the substantive issues are, what’s in
it for me, who can deliver—that
sort of thing.
“It’s not all black and white,
with Israelis on one side and Arabs
on the other, shooting at each
other all the time.
“It’s nearly imperceptible, but
it’s there. We can feel it. You can’t
grasp it from here.
"As I said at the United Nations
the other day, I’m the only head of
state in all the Middle Fast who
feels free to walk about a town with
a large Arab population, and I do
it nearly every day.”
And who could be in a better
position to evaluate the current
situation than the president of
Israel?
With kindest regard* Lor the
holiday season.
Jack Hirsch
Munford’s at it again
Editor.
Dillard Munford has done it
again! On his WCNN Comment
(8:25 a m.. Nov. 15), he attacked
the committee called “Jews Against
Jackson." This group has placed
ads in The New York Times
denouncing the candidacy of Jesse
Jackson with slogans such as
“Ruin, Jesse. Ruin."
Although Mr. Munford brought
out the fact that this committee is
sponsored by the Jewish Defense
League, he. of course, did not
mention that the JDL constitutes
less than % of I percent of the total
Jewish population in this country!
In this gross distortion of facts, he
leads us to believe that “the Jews"
are trying “to create another split
in the Democratic party" (his
words).
According to Mr. Munford, the
Jews Against Jackson Committee
is funded by “many wealthy Jews”
(his words) and needs to be
stopped at once. The truth is that
the JDL is always crying for funds
and has severe money problems.
This is just another of his vitriolic
attacks which 1 feel should be
countered.
Tune in, folks, every morning,
Monday through Friday, at 8:25
am. and listen to Dillard
Munford’s “Comment.” At least
once every week, you’ll hear him
try to generate real hostility
toward Israel and her supporters
by his deliberate exaggeration and
distortion of facts.
Carol B. Nemo
Reader rates ‘Yentl’ a 10
Editor:
Aaron Baranan’s letter (TSI,
Dec. 2) regarding Rabbi Kahane’s
message, while excellently written,
should not go unanswered. I can
think of no better answer to Rabbi
Kahane’s prophecy of doom than
to quote Joe Geshwiler’s editorial
in the Nov. 24, I983, Atlanta
Journal and Constitution, in
which he related his conversation
with Chaim Herzog, Israel’s
president.
President Herzog states, “To
evaluate the entire Mideast
situation without any perspective
is a thoroughly uncomfortable
exercise, but... to compare it
with what prevailed I0 years ago,
even seven years ago...if I had told
you Israel would have open
borders with Arab countries, you
would have thought that, at best, I
was being optimistic," and he
rolled his eyes to indicate that what
he really meant was “loony."
“Look at the situation today—it
hasn’t found true expression
anywhere in the world. It’s
unbelievable.
“We talked about the Druse
before. Nobody knows that Israel
has a Druse general, commanding
Israeli troops, and six Druse
colonels, plus a large number of
senior officers who are Druse.
Every army unit l visit has Druse
personnel. Young Druse men aspire
to our army because for them it is
an opening to a career.
“Take the Egyptians. Today we
have peace with them. True, we
paid a high price for it (withdrawal
from the Sinai Peninsula) and it
hasn't fulfilled all our
expectations, but since I977 not a
single Israeli or Egyptian soldier
has died on the front between us.
“We have embassies it’s true
there hasn’t been an Egyptian
ambassador posted to Israel since
last year, but their charge d’affaires
is as able as any ambassador I’ve
seen. And there are indications of
slight improvements between
Cairo and us. We have a mission
there that may be beginning to
break some of the logjams between
us. and there is a mission coming
from Cairo to Israel at the end of
the month.
“There’s lots of tourism —
Egyptian hotels and resorts in the
Sinai are full of Israelis. Not many
Egyptians come to Israel, but that
can happen..." (He shrugged as if
to say, "Give them time ”)
“Nobody ever mentions it, but
our ships have been going up and
down the Suez Canal every
day . ..and there are buses that leave
from Tel Aviv bound for Cairo and
vice versa every day.
“Look at Jordan, with whom we
have a semi-peace. About a million
people cross the border between us
in each direction every year,
hundreds of thousands of Arabs
coming across to Israel as tourists
from all over the Middle Fast
“We have tens of millions of
dollars worth of trade crossing the
River Jordan.
“We have an open border with
Editor:
After waiting for many months
for a good movie to co^ne out, it is
finally here, and well worth
waiting for. "Yentl" is the most
heart-warming, poignant movie of
I983. A refreshingly clean movie
that makes you cry and laugh,
almost at the same time.
Watching TV one evening, I was
very surprised as well as
disappointed that the Channel 2
Movie Goer Review, only rated
“Yentl" a four, on a scale of one-
I0, I0 being the highest The
gentleman giving this review said
“Yentl” was good, but had too
many songs. I felt the songs in this
movie were beautiful, and there
could never be enough of them. I
hope that everyone will take the
time to see this wonderful “feel
good" movie and form their own
opinions. During a time when
violence and crime seem to be on
the rise, this movie is like a “dose of
relaxation and fun.” Just what the
doctor ordered On a scale of one-
I0. I rate “Yentl" a I0.
Regina Abrams
PAGE 5 THE SOLTHERN ISRAELITE December 16, 1983