Newspaper Page Text
Showing solidarity
The State Capitol was the setting for presidents of Atlanta’s Jewish organizations who gathered last week
during the Reagan-Gorbachev summit to express solidarity with Soviet Jewry.
The cutting edge
by Edwin Black
We all know that the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer. But
increasingly, we also see that the
loud get louder. And here we speak
of Meir Kahane, who sees himself
as der Fuhrer of Eretz Yisrael.
Israeli society is correctly shunning
him. Indoors, this means leaving a
room whenever he walks in one,
especially if that room happens to
be in the Knesset. Outside, throngs
of decent people surround Kahane
and shout him down whenever he
tries to speak at one of his rallies.
Nothing bothers a loudmouth
more than not being heard. But
Kahane now thinks he can foil his
opposition. His answer: get a bigger
loudspeaker. Kahane currently walks
around with a standard bullhorn,
but even that cannot be heard
above the protests of the hundreds
and often thousands who regularly
drown him out. But Kahane located
a firm in Jerusalem that specializes
in public address systems, and they
have one powerful enough to outhoot
the hooters.
The portable amplifier rents for
$800 per day, which Kahane decided
was too expensive for the regular
use he plans. However, he can buy
the thing outright for $4,000. Israelis
aren't willing to cough up that
money. So of course Kahane turned
to gullible American Jews who
sometimes think a checkbook is
the best way to show love of Zion.
A retired gentleman from Chicago
was sought out. The gentleman
enjoys a distinguished past as a
supporter of Israeli defense in the
pre-state days. Last September,
A®
Meir Kahane
when Kahane learned this gentleman
was in Jerusalem, he had a follower
arrange a meeting at the bar in the
Plaza hotel. Kahane and his wife
both came. Kahane explained that
“it was quite embarrassing to have
the protesters always drowning him
out,” recalls the gentleman from
Chicago. “The amplifier Kahane
prefers is made in Israel. If he
bought an American one, there
would be too much tax to pay, and
it would take too long to ship it.”
The retired gentleman agreed to
bring back $4,000, even if he had to
contribute it all himself. That wasn’t
necessary. Kahane sympathizers in
Boston and throughout the Midwest
donated a total of five checks ranging
from $100 to $500, with the Chicago
gentleman providing the balance.
All the money was funneled through
the well-know tax-exempt conduit
See Edge, page 24.
Hijackers singled out
Israeli women to die
by Hugh Orgel
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Two Israeli
young women are in a Malta hospital
undergoing treatment for wounds
inflicted by the terrorist hijackers
of Egyptair Flight 648. Nitzan
Mendersson, 23, of Kibbutz Halata
in Galilee is in an intensive care
unit. She was shot in the head and
her condition was reported critical
Monday.
Her companion, Tamar Artzi,
24, of Kibbutz Revivim in the
Negev, was reported in stable condi
tion with facial wounds. Their
families flew to Valetta, the Maltese
capital, accompanied by an Israeli
surgeon. Dr. Mordechai Shalit of
Hadassah Hospital.
The Egyptian airliner was seized
by hijackers shortly after it left
Athens Saturday night for Cairo
and was forced to land at Valetta
where the hijackers demanded fuel
and food. Of the 80 passengers and
crew of 14 nationalities, 60 died,
either shot by the terrorists before
the plane was stormed by Egyptian
commandos or killed by the terrorist
when they pulled the pins from
hand grenades and tossed them
into the passenger area as the
commandos stormed the plane at
Valetta Airport Sunday.
Mendersson and Artzi, the only
Israelis iboard, were among the
seven or eight passengers wounded.
e Souther
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Je
Vol. LXI
'Since 1925'
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, November 29, 1985
Spy revelation promi _
Knesset finger pointing
Traveling together for a tour of the
Far East, they left Israel for Athens
and boarded the Egyptair flight
there for Cairo from where they
planned to fly to Bangkok. Both
were on a one-year leave of absence
from their kibbutzim. They met
after Artzi placed an advertisement
in a newspaper for a traveling
companion.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem
has set up a special liaison unit to
maintain contact with the Maltese
and other authorities to help the
families of the wounded women.
An official of the Israel Embassy in
Rome has gone to Valetta to represent
Israeli interests there. Israel has no
diplomatic relations with Malta.
The hijackers, described by survi
vors as “vicious killers”, may have
been Palestinians. There were four
or five of them who boarded at
Athens—the exact number was not
immediately known—and according
to Arab passengers spoke Arabic
with Palestinian accents. One may
have been Syrian.
An organization calling itself
Egypt’s Revolution claimed credit
for the outrage. It is opposed to the
1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty
and is believed by Egyptian authori
ties to be backed by Libya. It has
been linked to the murder of an
Israeli diplomat, Albert Atrakchi,
in Cairo last August. The killing
remains unsolved.
by Gil Sedan
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Knesset
members are taking with a large
grain of salt the insistence by govern
ment leaders that if Jonathan Pollard,
a civilian employee of the U.S.
Naval Investigative Service, was
indeed spying for Israel, they knew
nothing whatever about it.
Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir
was confronted by angry members
of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs
and Security Committee—Likud
as well as Labor—when he appeared
Monday to assure them that the
authorities have instituted a thorough
investigation of the affair which
has caused acute embarrassment
to Israel. He promised to furnish
details once the investigation is
completed.
Likud MK Pinhas Goldstein
demanded that those responsible
for the scandal be punished imme
diately, including Cabinet ministers.
He said the government handled
the affair clumsily and too slowly.
Pollard, 31, a resident of
Washington, D.C., was arrested
last Thursday near the Israel Embassy,
charged with passing intelligence
secrets to a foreign government,
alleged to be Israel. He was being
held without bail pending a hearing.
It was only Sunday, however,
that the Foreign Ministry issued a
statement saying the government
was shocked and concerned and
The plot thickens
WASHINGTON (POLAKOFF)—The Washington Post re
ported that “unofficial Israeli sources have named a man who
worked for then Prime Minister Menachem Begin as the Israeli
intermediary who received documents from (Jonathan) Pollard.”
The Post said, “Israeli censorship refused to allow” two Israeli
newspapers to publish his name. The man “never served in the Israeli
Embassy here,” the Post said.
After the Post’s report, Israel Radio and Israeli newspapers
Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot linked a former adviser on terrorism,
Rafael Eitan, to Begin and his successor Yitzhak Shamir.
This unconfirmed report, true or not, would cause repercussions
with intense bitterness between the Likud and Labor parties in
Israel and go much deeper than the ordinary tensions that exist.
was investigating whether the long
standing policy against spying in
the U.S. had been violated.
MK Yossi Sarid of the Civil
Rights Movement (CRM) said the
gravest implication was that the
high political echelons, by their
own admission, did not know what
was going on and were lax in their
supervision. He warned that this
“mishap” will not be allowed to be
whitewashed.
The government’s position was
that if Pollard was working for
Israel, his employment and pay
was arranged by low level officials
who ignored specific directives against
such activities.
Several motions were placed on
the Knesset agenda for a full-scale
debate, introduced by the National
Religious Party, Shinui, the CRM
and the Progressive List for Peace.
As far as the Knesset is concerned,
there is little doubt Pollard was
spying for Israel. Labor MK Rabbi
Menachem Hacogen suggested that
Israel apologize to the U.S. govern
ment and make every effort to find
the responsible parties.
Sara Doron, chairperson of the
Likud Knesset Caucus, expressed
hope that no senior official was
involved “in this very strange and
bizarre story.” She challenged the
authorities to take measures to
ensure that such an incident would
never happen again.