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1985: Fewest immigrants to Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Only I 1,298 immigrants came to Israel
in 1985, the lowest-ever annual figure. The figure includes 2,035
immigrants from Ethiopia. The previous all-time low was 1953,
when 11,326 immigrants arrived in Israel.
I he 1985 figure reflected a drop in immigration from Rumania
from 1,950 in 1984 to 1,330 last year. Western European immigration
was down, too—from 2,958 to 2,343. Latin American aliyah was
down from 1,853 in 1984 to 1,563 in 1985.
Conveyor to perk potash profits
TEL AVIV (JTA)—An 1 1-rmle, $20 million conveyor belt is
under construction to transport potash from the Dead Sea, the
lowest point on the earth’s surface, to a railhead from where it will
be carried by train to the Mediterranean port of Ashdod for
loading aboard ships bound for European and American markets.
Potash is used primarily in agriculture and is Israel’s principal raw
materials export.
The system is expected to be in operation by January 1987, and
will reduce the cost of transporting Dead Sea potash by more than
$5 million a year, making potash competitive on world markets.
Israel Bonds has banner year
NEW YORK—A total of $505,030,000 in cash proceeds were
mobilized in 1985 for Israel’s economic development by the State
of Israel Bonds Organization sales of its various Israel securities,
according to David B. Hermelin, national campaign chariman.
chairman.
The increase of more than $91 million over the Bond Organi
zation's results for the previous year, he said, represents the best
Israel Bond Campaign achievement in the 35-year history of Israel
Bonds with the exception of the Yom Kippur War year of 1973.
Hermelin said that the outstanding response was an outcome of
the “favorable atmosphere created by Israel’s austerity program
which reduced inflation this past year and which restored the
confidence of individual and institutional purchasers of our
securities in Israel’s economic future.”
Israel, Britain plan research fund
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel and Britain may soon set up a
$50 million joint research fund for scientific research.
Sir David Phillips, chairman of the advisory board of the
British Research Councils, said here that he would “warmly
recommend” increasing Britain’s scientific cooperation with Israel.
He told Israel’s Minister of Science and Development, Gideon
Patt, that his government’s reply to the proposed joint research
fund could be expected “within a week.” Until now, Anglo-lsraeli
scientific cooperation has been limited to exchange visits by several
scientists each year.
Palestinian wins lucky bucks
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A factory worker from a refugee camp in
the Gaza Strip won a record $360,000 in the soccer pools, the first
Palestinian to win the top prize. Salem Barbah, 36, a father of
three, was the only person to pick correctly the 13 winning teams in
Jan. 1 1’s league games, pool officials announced.
Barbah works in a plastics factory in Jaffa and earns $400 a
month.
Israel, Greece getting closer?
ATHENS (JTA)—Greece and Israel, which do not have full
diplomatic relations, may be moving in that direction. David Kimche,
director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry concluded a series of
meetings with Greek officials Tuesday with the surprise announce
ment that a member of the Israeli government. Minister of Tourism
Avraham Sharir, has been officially invited to visit Greece.
Sharir, a Likud Liberal, will be the first Israeli minister to visit
Greece in more than 20 years.
An even bigger surprise was Kimche’s statement to the press
that Greek Foreign Minister Karlos Papoulias has accepted, in
principle, an invitation to visit Israel. Kimche made his announce
ments after a meeting with Papoulias that lasted more than four hours.
Arabs arrested in land fraud
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Seventeen West Bank Arabs, some of
them local officials, were arrested Jan. 13 in connection with a major
land sales fraud now before the Israeli courts. One of the detainees
is reportedly implicated in the murder of Arab land dealer Ahmad
Odde, a prosecution witness in the trial underway at the Tel Aviv
District Court.
The arrests followed six months of police investigation which
produced evidence that the suspects were involved in the illegal
acquisition of land in the territory to sell to Jewish contractors.
Why youth went to hear Kahane §
Editor:
The Young Judaea Bogrim club
(ninth-12th grades) made plans to
attend Meir Kahane’s talk on Jan.
16. This is not to say that Young
Judaea, as a group, supports him,
nor do we oppose him. Young
Judaea is apolitical, meaning that
we do not take political stands.
However, Young Judaea does
put a great deal of priority on
education, specifically education
through experience. What we all
need to do, children as well as
adults, is to go out of our way to
not be ignorant on the issues of the
day that are of concern to us. To do
this we must educate ourselves
about the issues on which we make
judgments; we must hear our promi
nent leaders (e.g., Meir Kahane)
and we must take the time necessary
to formulate well thought out
opinions.
Young Judaea’s decision to go
to hear Kahane speak was made by
its staff and lay leaders. The decision,
once made, faced a great deal of
opposition, both from parents and
other members of the community.
The complaints, which do not lack
validity, ranged from the problem
of having our kids pay money to
Kahane to the opinion that “bringing
the kids to hear Kahane is like
bringing them to hear Hitler.”
Again, I would like to emphasize
the fact that Young Judaea’s decision
to attend Meir Kahane’s talk is for
the learning experience—the ex
perience of hearing a controversial
political figure, immediately followed
by a discussion for the kids and the
experience of seeing the community
backlash to such a speaker. (Maybe M
if people had listened to hear what *
Hitler had to say he could have been ”
stopped before 12 years and II 50
million deaths.) ^
Whether Kahane is to be considered E
a radical, a nationalist or anything m
in between those two extremes is
very open to debate, and it would i
not be difficult to find many people, ^
each with different views and with “
strong arguments to back up their ^
own case. But whether you agree »
or disagree with what Meir Kahane
says, believes in and stands for, I
can guarantee that by hearing him
speak, you will gain something
from the experience—a broader
education.
Asher Zeiger
Atlanta City Director,
Young Judaea
Reader objects to letter on Kahane
Editor:
I regret that this letter will appear
after Meir Kahane has once again
visited Atlanta for the purpose of
fundraising. There’s nothing that
can be done to stop his appearance
and nothing should be done to
prevent it even if it were possible.
My letter is written in reaction to
that of “Name withheld on request”
headed “Reader voices objections
to Kahane.” (TSI 1/10).
First off, the writer should be
corrected in his/her opinion that
this Jewish community is responsive
to his demagogic preachings because
this is the South and Kahane knows
American history. The South, parti
cularly Atlanta, is if anything, less
receptive to this man’s vile spewings
than are other parts of the country.
“Name withheld” could write a
full page of valid accusations
concerning this reprehensible
character and would still be left
with material for another page or
two. Kahane is an unmitigated
horror adding woes, of which its
cup already overrunneth, to the
State of Israel. When anonymous
writes “it will be worth the $5 fee”
to let him know what the community
thinks of him I can register only
disgust.
The proper way to show this
madman exactly what we think of
him is to stay away in droves. I
cannot help but believe that “Name
withheld” first castigated Kahane
in the hope that a few misled
individuals would shell out money,
thereby creating a larger audience,
while at the same time enhancing
Kahane’s coffers, enabling him to
do further damage.
Max E. Rob kin
Cure for terrorism?
Editor:
The cause of terrorism is the
existence of Israel, still not recognized
by any of the Arab states except
Egypt. Qaddafi of Libya calls the
terrorists freedom fighters. The truth
is they operate under the command
of their leaders, and sacrificing
their lives in the acts of terrorism is
heroism to them.
When the threat of retaliation
becomes a show of American military
might in the Mediterranean, these
leaders become scared and lie to
get off the hook of possible military
retaliation.
The only positive approach to
the end of terrorism is mutual
recognition, long overdue. We give
tax dollars for economic and military
aid to Egypt and Saudi Arabia,
and they in turn favor the PLO and
the Arab League.
Our best approach, if the adminis
tration is willing, is to pressure
Egypt and Saudi Arabia to engage
actively in bringing Shimon Peres
and King Hussein face-to-face for
mutual recognition. The West Bank
and Gaza, like the return of Sinai
to Egypt, can then be more easily
negotiated in a more peaceful atmos
phere. Even Syria and the Soviets
would have to change their tune.
Henry Gall M.D.
Cairo, Ga.
Review
An evening of Yiddish music
by Joseph Glazer
Plainly, the bottom line of this
review is: If you didn’t go to last
Sunday’s Yiddish Concert at the
Atlanta Jewish Community Center
you really missed something.
A warm enthusiastic audience of
400 Atlantans crowded into the
AJCC auditorium to enjoy what
was mainly a recital of Yiddish folk
songs. They came to applaud, again
and again, the continued survival
of Yiddish and Yiddish culture.
The program was mostly Emil
Gorovets, a full-throated Russian-
Jewish tenor who threaded through
two full sections of nostalgia and
delight. Both parts were preceded
by readings of several Yiddish poems
plus a monologue ( in Russian) by
Margarita Polanskaya in the emotive
declamatory style which is so charac
teristic of Eastern Europe.
Gorovets was supported by a
particularly capable and under
standing piano accompanist
throughout the evening. Vladimir
Ratner deserves notice, besides,
for his solo interlude featuring a
medley of pieces from “Fiddler On
The Roof’ and an encore from
Gershwin.
With the exception of only a few
Russian songs and a Hebrew insert,
the entire program was one long
recitative of Yiddishkeit in Old
Russia. Some of the songs were,
expectedly, humorous—grappling
with that eternal onus of marrying
off three daughters happily, for
instance —but they were mixed with
pathos and “gefeel” recalling the
style of intimacy as well as that of
the theater. The audience loved
every bit of it and submitted written
requests for more and more.
The “Evening” was presented by
the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center’s Department of Cultural
Arts, Beverly Shmerling. director,
and Department of Special Events,
Chana Shapiro, director; and was
co-sponsored by the Workman’s
Circle, Branch 1015, Joseph Jacobs,
chairman, and by the Hemshech
committee headed by Albert Zeder.
The “Circle” is celebrating its
85th birthday this year, and it is
noteworthy that at this time Yiddish
is enjoying a modest revival in New
York with several well-acclaimed
shows. Yiddish is also being offered
in more and more universities, Oxford
included.
Judging by the turnout last Sunday
at the AJCC it is safe to assume
that there will be another “under
taking” this season, soon. Everybody
plan to come.