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News Briefs
Tehiya Party gaining ground
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A public opinion poll published in Maariv
June 23 showed that the ultra-nationalist right-wing Tehiya Party
would become the third largest in the Knesset if elections were held
now.
According to the poll, conducted by the Modi’in Ezrachi
Research Institute, Tehiya would take votes from Rabbi Meir
Kahane’s extremist Kach Party. Kach presently has a single seat in
the 120-member Knesset, won by Kahane in the 1984 elections, A
poll taken last March indicated it would marshal sufficient votes
for lour seats were elections held then. The poll showed two seats
from Kach going to Tehiya, raising its Knesset delegation from
seven to nine.
Greek anti-Semitism seen rife
ATHENS (JTA)—Forty-one percent of the respondents in an
exhaustive survey of public opinion perceived the existence of
widespread anti-Semitism in Greece. Fifty-five percent believed a
persistent anti-Semitic allegation that Jews control the economy
and political activity in Europe and America.
Only 36 percent disagreed and nine percent had no opinion,
according to the survey conducted by Eurodim.
The survey, carried out in the greater Athens area where 35
percent of the Greek population lives, noted that Greece is “a
uniquely homgeneous country” where 98 percent of the citizenry
speaks the same language and adheres to the same religion, the
Greek Orthodox faith.
lAlhits smear attempt over Lavi
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Sources at Israel Aviation Industries (I AI)
charged June 25 that an attempt had been made to smear the name
of I AI in the U.S. by a lobby opposed to Israel’s second generation
jet fighter plane, the Lavi, because it might compete on the interna
tional market against American fighter aircraft.
The sources, not identified, cited a just published report in
Forbes magazine, a leading American business publication, that
1 AI was forced to recall aircraft wings it had contracted to manu
facture for General Dynamics because of defects.
1 AI said the faults, discovered five months ago, were long since
corrected. The IAI sources expressed surprise that the story was
published now.
The wings in question were for the American F-16 jet fighter
which is manufactured by General Dynamics. IAI recieved a con
tract for 300 pairs of wings. An IAI spokesman confirmed that the
third and fourth sets delivered to General Dynamics were recalled
several months ago because a faulty machine had drilled holes in
the wrong places.
Goulko to play chess for Israel
PARIS (JTA)—Boris Goulko, the former Soviet grand master,
will represent Israel this month at the Mediterranean Chess festival
in Marseille. It will be the first time Goulko will be playing abroad
since he left the Soviet Union last month for Israel.
Goulko, his wife Anna Aksharumova, also a chess champion,
and their seven-year-old son David, left the Soviet Union on May
29 after a seven year wait for their exit visas.
Jewish tombstones overturned
MONTREAL (JTA)—An official of the League for Human
Rights of B’nai B’rith reported June 26that 110 Jewish tombstones
were overturned during the night of June 17 at the Savannah
Cemetery in Montreal and that 22 tombstones were overturned the
same night in the Jewish section of the Mount Royal cemetery in
Montreal.
Buildings of seven Jewish firms were daubed with “Front for
the Liberation of Quebec" signs. The Front, an extremist organiza
tion. has been involved in several anti-Semitic daubings.
Beth Zion Synagogue in the Cote St. Luc section of Montreal
was sprayed with swastikas, and “Kill the Jews” was lettered on its
doors.
Neo-Nazi sentenced in Bonn
BONN (JTA)—West German neo-Nazi leader Karl-Heinz
Hoffmann was sentenced June 30 in Nuremberg to nine and a half
years imprisonment for various offenses concerning his political
activities. But Hoffman was cleared of the prosecutor’s main
charge that he allegedly masterminded the 1980 murder of the
Jewish publisher Shlomo Levin and his female companion, Frida
Poeschke.
Hoffmann's girlfriend. Franziska Birkmann, drew a seven year
prison sentence foi hei participation in the neo-Nazi leader’s
unlawful activities. J
etters to the editor
Reader responds to Kahane follower
Editor:
In response to Barney Cortell’s
Kahanist letter (TSI, April II):
1. The establishment during the
days of the Kingdom of Israel and
Beit Hamikdash became corrupt
because it had absolute power; in
all human society power tends to
corrupt.
2. Torah values, as our people
have learned over the millenium,
are a complex set of rules, regula
tions, laws and principles.
3. The Arabs are not one nation,
although some of their leadership
may imagine re-establishing a Uni
ted Arab nation as during the days
of Muhammed. Both Allah and
the G-d Israel are One.
4. Mr. Cortell’s critique that
Rabbi Kahane is trying to advance
his personal power is proof of that
very point—as a member of the
Likud Party he would not have
had the freedom to espouse his
own fascist ideas. Like Adolf Hitler,
he had to establish an independent
political movement to gain power.
5. During our 2,000 years of
exile we learned how evil it is to be
forced to leave our homes by racist
anti-Semites when we were inno
cently living our lives and now
Meir Kahane wants Israel, the
Jewish State, to practice the same
evil on members of another group
of people!!! Perhaps Hitler was not
interested in co-existence with Jews,
but Meir Kahane reminds me of
the Catholic pope of Italy who
liked having a Jewish ghetto next
to his Vatican in the Holy City of
Rome. But what says Kahane when
the ghetto is a prison instead of a
fortress that becomes a death
chamber?
6. Several forces motivate, I sus
pect, those who support Kahane:
Western Jewish feelings of guilt
about the suffering of observant
Eastern Jews who are living in
Israel alongside Arabs and are
frightened by their presence; the
age-old and eternal-in-this-world
fear of intermarriage and conver
sions; and an inability to deal with
the evil that exists within the Jew
ish community and individual Jew
ish people, and a projection of that
evil onto “the Arabs”; and con
troversy sells.
Sarina Spielberg
Candidate’s stand
makes son proud
Editor:
As far as I know there is only one
political candidate in our entire
nation running for statewide office
(Labor Commissioner) who refuses
all political contributions.
He happens to be Jewish. And a
Georgia resident. His name: Joe
Greenberger. I’m proud to be his
son.
Paul Greenberger
Witnesses sought to Nazi camp crimes
Editor:
The U.S. Department of Justice
has requested the assistance of the
World Jewish Congress in locating
witnesses to Nazi crimes commit
ted in 1944 at the Radom concen
tration camp in Poland and at the
Vaihinger Subcamp of the Natz-
weiler concentration camp in Ger
many.
The Department’s Office of
Special Investigations (OSI) is in
the process of gathering evidence
in connection with its investiga
tions of suspected Nazi war crimi
nals residing in the United States.
OSI is especially interested in
contacting survivors who were: (1)
present at the Radom concentra
tion camp during the period from
January 1944 to June 1944 (espe
cially those persons who engaged
in slave labor in armament plants
under the supervision of SS guards);
(2) involved in the June 1944 evac
uation of the Radom camp, forced
to march to Tomaszow, then trans
ported to Auschwitz or Vaihinger;
or (3) present in Vaihinger labor
camp from June 1944 until the end
of World War 11 (especially those
who engaged in slave labor).
Survivors, or those who might
be of assistance in locating survi-
Editor:
If the Arabs will be patient while
the Jews, both secular and non
secular remain silent, the state of
Israel will fall into their hands like
a ripe plum.
The latest shocker, of which there
have been several, is the charge
that the Interior Ministry is trying
to introduce the Orthodox-inspired
“Who is a Jew” amendment
“through the back door.” The Inte
rior Ministry would require that
the word “converted” be printed
on identity cards of all converts to
Judaism.
The probability that this will
vors from these camps, may com
municate in any language they
choose, can contact me at World
Jewish Congress, One Park Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10016, (212) 679-
0600.
become law is slim. The mere
thought that certain Jews be espe
cially designated is nauseating. How
far removed is this horrible con
cept from Hitler’s command that
Jews wear a yellow star?
The Reform, Conservative and
Orthodox must cease quibbling
over issues of relative unimpor
tance and must wisely conclude
that they are confronted with dif
ferences that endanger their very
existence.
Max E. Robkin
Ms. Bessy Pupko
Can infighting undermine Israel?
JNF establishes youth camp
The Jewish National Fund is
establishing a youth camp in the
Jabotinsky Park near Zychron
Ya’acov which will operate for
nine months of the year and initially
accommodate between 150-200
youngsters of all ages from Israel
and Jewish communities abroad.
The camp’s slated facilities in
clude a dining hall, kitchen, first-
aid clinic, administrative offices,
three study rooms and a store
room. They will be housed in the
adjacent Shuni Fortress which was
built by the Crusaders on the site of
a former Talmudic village used in
later years as the central com
mander’s school of the lrgun Zva'i
Leumi (Etzel). Residential quar
ters and bathrooms and facilities
for sporting and other activities
will be located outside the fortress.
Jabotinsky Park is located in
picturesque countryside, within a
JNF restoration work is in full swing for a Betar youth camp being
established at the historic Shuni Fortress near Zychron Ya’acov.
comfortable distance of the Car
mel Ranges near Haifa and Caesa-
ria on the coast. The region is emi
nently suitable for hiking and re
plete with intetesting walk trails.
The youth camp is affiliated with
the Bctai movement, where par
ticular emphasis will be attached to
studying the region’s local history
and archaeology, from the days of
King Herod and Agrippa, during
the Second Temple period, to
modern times.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 4, 1986