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Syria removes some missiles?
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Senior military officials tend to believe
foreign media reports that Syria has removed its mobile SAM-6
and SAM-8 anti-aircraft missiles recently introduced into Lebanon.
But the Israelis stress that the SAM-2 surface-to-air missiles Syria
has deployed close to its border with Lebanon are the greater
menace.
Media reports in the United States quoted Reagan administration
officials as saying the Syrians pulled their mobile missile-launchers
out of Lebanon, at least temporarily. The SAM-6s and 8s were
reported to have been moved to sites along the Beirut-Damascus
highway and in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon last month.
They were removed after a day or two, then apparently re-introduced
and moved out again.
Ras Burka killer found hanged
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Reports from Cairo said the Egyptian
soldier recently sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering
seven Israeli tourists at Ras Burka in eastern Sinai Oct. 5, was
found dead by hangingTuesday in his room at the military hospital
in Abbassiya, near Cairo.
The reports said a military investigation has begun into what
appeared to be the suicide of 25-year-old Sulieman Khater. The
former law student, doing his required military service, machine-
gunned a group of Israelis on the Sinai beach.
He was sentenced by a military court on Dec. 28 but was sent to
the hospital for treatment of what was described as a blood
ailment. He had 60 days to file an appeal for a reduced sentence.
No travel ban to Israel issued
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The State Department has said that
it was not warning Americans not to travel to Israel. “No travel
advisory for Israel has been issued as a result of the recent incidents
and no such travel advisory is being contemplated,” Department
spokesman Bernard Kalb said.
E'Bl director William Webster recently urged Americans to be
careful about traveling in the Middle East because of a recent rash
of terrorist incidents. Kalb said that Webster was probably urging
that everybody keep in mind the possibilities of danger in the area.
Shcharansky’s term extended
JERUSALEM (JTA) The wife of imprisoned Jewish activist
Anatoly Shcharansky told Israel Radio that her husband, now in
the 10th year of a 13-year prison sentence imposed in 1977, has
been given an additional five-month sentence to be served in
isolation in a prison compound in the Soviet labor camp where he
is now confined.
Avital Shcharansky learned from friends in Moscow that he
was being punished for going on a hunger strike recently to protest
the non-delivery of his mail by the camp authorities.
She said that her husband’s mother, who also lives in Israel, has
not had direct word from Anatoly since October. His last letter,
supposed to have been sent at the beginning of December, has not
been received. It was then that her inquiries led to the information
that he was given a new sentence.
Negev picked for nuclear station
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The site of Israel’s first nuclear power
station has been selected after 1 1 years of studies and tests that cost
$20 million. It will be located in the Negev, just off the Beersheba-
Nitzana road.
Negotiations for the purchase of a nuclear power reactor are
under way with possible suppliers in West Germany, France,
Canada and the United States. But before the project can be
started, a political decision has to be made whether or not to build
the power station.
Once approved, it will take a decade to complete and will cost $2
billion. It would not be operational before the year 2000 but would
provide between 2,500 and 4,000 jobs during construction. Once
operational, an estimated 350 employees would be required to run
the plant.
Israel gets first veterinary school
JERUSALEM—The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine—the
first school of its type in Israel—has opened at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem with an initial enrollment of 20 students.
The school is located on the campus of the University’s Faculty
of Agriculture in Rehovot and is headed by Prof. Kalman Perk.
The school will have a four-year curriculum, with the first two
years of study on the campus of the Faculty of Agriculture, and the last
two years at the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, which
will be built adjacent to the Veterinary Institute in Beit Dagan.
The new Veterinary School has been established with the
assistance of a grant from the Koret Foundation of San Francisco.
uetters to the editor
Honoring the memory of Dr. King |
Editor:
Martin Luther King Jr. had a
most profound influence on the
hearts and minds of men and women
throughout the world. His teachings
are etched into the souls of all
people who value human rights
and the dignity and worth of mankind.
His vision expressed the hopes and
dreams that lovers of freedom and
pursuers of justice share. H is prayers
energized the spiritual yearnings of
all who believe that oppression and
persecution can and must be
overcome.
There is much pain and suffering
in our world today. The wisdom of
Martin Luther King Jr. has yet to
be accepted by the ravagers of
liberty and the oppressors of justice.
Nevertheless, his strength of con
viction and enduring belief in the
perfectability of man remain as
challenges to all who strive to
make this world of ours a more
peaceful place for all its inhabitants.
We join with the King family SC
and with all who have taken to —
heart the message of Martin Luther ££
King Jr. in honoring the memory >
of this great man; and we pray that r*
this year we will be witness to an H
tN
end of violence and an awakening ^
|D
of peace throughout the world. 3
Sincerely, *
Gerald H. Cohen ^
President -°
*
Atlanta Jewish Federation ;£>
00
Reader voices objections to Kahane
Editor:
I see with great interest that
Rabbi Meir Kahane, M K , is making
another visit to our town on
Thursday. This is, by my count, the
fifth time in the past six years. Do
you know why he keeps returning,
spewing his famed line of racial
hatred? He comes here because he
thinks that this Jewish community
is responsive to his demagogic
preachings. After all, this is the
South and he knows his American
History.
We Atlantans must show this
disgrace to everything for which
Judaism stands, just what we think
of him; that his vile rhetoric in the
name of our sacred Torah is just
that. We must show up at the
Sheraton Northlake in large numbers
to let Kahane know that we don’t
want him here; it will be worth the
$5 fee to let him know that this is a
Jewish community that espouses
love, and not his brand of hate.
This is our opportunity to send a
message to the right wing fascists
that we Atlantans believe in a
Democratic Israel with rights for
all its citizens.
Name withheld on request
Unicoi can benefit all women
Editor:
As you read this letter, I will be
in Israel on the Federation’s Panim
El Panim Mission. Preparing for
this trip brought into focus my
activities with the Federation’s
Women’s Division.
Over the years I have greatly
benefited from my involvement with
the Women’s Division. I’m very
excited this year to be chairing a
Women’s Division event which is
designed for the benefit of all women
in Atlanta, Unicoi'86—Faces. Unicoi
is a full day program addressing
the needs and interests of Jewish
Women. Ruth Gruber, author of
“Raquella” and “Maven,” and an
expert on Ethiopian Jewry will be
the scholar in residence.
Unicoi will be held nearby this
year, as a one-day program, in
order to reach the maximum number
of people. It has been carefully
planned to appeal to a diverse
audience.
Today, more than ever, it’s
important for us to be educated
about the events affecting our lives
as women and Jews, to explore our
Judaism and share our views.
Barbara Pollock
Chairman, Unicoi ’86
Remembering MLK
by Rabbi William Berkowitz
National president
American Jewish Heritage Committee
How can I forget him? Whenever
I saw or heard Martin Luther King
Jr., I always thought that maybe
Isaiah or Jeremiah or Micah had
been reincarnated and now inhabited
the being of a black preacher, the
son of a preacher, the grandson of
a slave. H is words bore a resem blance
to the cadences of my teacher
Abraham Joshua Heschel, and it
came as no surprise that the two
were close with each other. Dr.
King headed a revolution in American
life, one which spoke of non-violence
in the cause of human rights. How
many revolutions can boast non
violence?
Jan. 20 of this year marks an
official day of remembrance for
him. Yes, I will remember him for
many things. 1 will remember him
for showing how one could disagree
without being disagreeable. I will
remember him for how he used the
power of love in the face of arch
segregationists. 1 will remember
him for his speech at the famous
March on Washington. I will
remember him, when I stood by his
side, and spoke at a gathering in
New York, representingthe American
Jewish community, when he returned
after receiving the Nobel Prize. 1
will remember his words to me—
Biblical words and words in Hebrew-
Martin Luther King Jr.
when I presented him with Heritage
Committee’s Brotherhood Award.
And I will remember him, the last
time, at the convention of rabbis
when he spoke about Israel and
Soviet Jewry and his warmth for
the American Jewish community.
But how do I remember him
today? Today I remember him
through an understanding that if
we are to memorialize the past, we
must do so by consecrating the
future. Recently, we have read reports
concerning strains between the black
and Jewish communities. The presi
dential race of Jesse Jackson, and
the recent utterances of the Rev.
Farrakhan, have led to discussion
of whether the black and Jewish
communities are at loggerheads
with each other. I think not.
Most of all, I think that the
memory of Dr. King must be an
occasion when we reaffirm the ties
which bind us as communities. We
must use the occasion to recall his
legacy that there is no place for
bigotry and racism. The ravings of
a Farrakhan must not be allowed
to divide us or destroy the relationship
that exists between us. To do so, is
to play directly in the hands of
Farrakhan, who wishes to see a
race war against whites, who has
called for death to black leaders
who disagree with him, and who
has joined forces with Neo-Nazi
and Klan groups against the Jewish
people.
Those within our community
who are not aware of contributions
and achievements of Dr. King, his
relationship with Abraham Joshua
Heschel and his support for Israel
and Soviet Jewry, would do well to
examine it.
Most of all, his memory will be
best observed beyond the critically
important need to study his writings,
to join in special prayer services
and to utilize a variety of means
and methods of recall, by reaffirming
that the ties which join together the
black and Jewish communities are
stronger than what may divide us,
and that together we must utter a
resounding no to the forces of
racism and bigotry from wherever
they emanate. As for Dr. King—
yehi zichro baruch: may his memory
be for a blessing.
*WNS-Seven Arts