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News Briets
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Haifa firm ignites ‘smart bomb’
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The Elbit Computer Co. in Haifa says that
it has field-tested a sophisticated kit which turns an ordinary bomb
into a smart bomb,” one that accurately pinpoints a target.
Kit project director Avi Getzler told the Jerusalem Post that the
kit uses an infrared device to guide the bomb by sensing heat.
The kit costs $35,000, about one-fifth the price of a “smart
bomb. In field tests held in June, the dumb bomb fitted with the
kit, called Ofer, ’ scored direct hits on a tank and a simulated tank.
Elbit claims the kit will allow ordinary bombs to make direct
hits during battles against tanks, armored vehicles, naval craft and
anti-aircraft missile sites. Getzler says that Elbit has launched an
aggressive worldwide marketing drive.
East meets West for Judaism
NEW YORK (JTA)—The People’s Republic of China has
agreed to send one of their prominent scholars on Christianity and
Judaism to the United States early next year to study modern
Jewish history.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience
Foundation, an interfaith group, who just returned from a visit to
China, said that the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has
accepted an invitation to send Prof. Gao Wangzhi to undertake
this task.
Shin Bet officials: ‘Pardon me’
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Seven more Shin Bet officials have
asked President Chaim Herzog to pardon them for their involve
ment in the April 1984 incident in which two Palestinian bus
hijackers were beaten to death while in Israeli custody.
The appeals were the first legal development since the Supreme
Court last week ruled Herzog had the authority to pardon four
other Shin Bet officials who never were formally charged, includ
ing agency head Avraham Shalom.
It was assumed here that Herzog would find it difficult not to
grant the pardons, but the head of the president’s office stressed
Monday that Herzog would decide each case on its own merit.
Go/da Meir Square dedicated
SANTIAGO (JTA)—In a formal ceremony in the city of Vina
del Mar, a central plaza was dedicated as Golda Meir Square, the
World Jewish Congress reported here.
According to the Latin American branch of the WJC, the
mayor of the city, Eugenia Garrido, and Israel’s Ambassador
David Ephrati unveiled a plaque giving the name of Golda Meir to
the square. The ceremony also included the participation of Jewish
and Catholic clergy.
The commemorative plaque describes Meir as “a woman who
forged a world of peace and friendship.”
IDF bombs terrorist bases again
TEL AVI V (JTA)—For the second time in 24 hours, Israeli Air
Force jets hit terrorist bases in south Lebanon. The sites attacked
Monday were near the town of Ba’albek in the Bekaa Valley. An
attack Sunday was carried out south of Sidon. Monday’s attack
was the seventh since the beginning of the year.
The Israel Defense Force spokesman reported that all the
planes in Monday’s attack returned safely and the pilots said they
had scored direct hits on the bases. The targets were described by
the IDF as the headquarters of Fatah terrorists loyal to PLO Chief
Yasir Arafat and of breakaway rebels backed by Syria and led by
Saed Musa. The IDF said the structures served the organization as
bases from which to launch strikes against Israel.
Israelis welcomed in China
JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli delegation to an interna
tional conference on Esperanto recently held in Beijing was warmly
greeted by the hosts, according to delegation head Omri Vandell,
Israel’s representative in the World Organization of Esperanto.
Esperanto is an artificial international language.
Vandell said that although the Israelis received their entrance
visas only two days before the congress began, they were welcomed
warmly, and encountered no difficulties.
Blast hurts three Israeli soldiers
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A bomb that was hidden under a pile
of rocks exploded Sunday in the West Bank settlement of Efrat,
sliehtlv injuring three Israeli soldiers. The soldiers were standing at
a "hitchhiking post near the Jewish settlement south of Bethlehem
when the device went off.
J
etters to the editor
Reader rips ‘apologia for anti-Semitism’
Editor:
In the aftermath of Kurt Wald
heim’s election to the presidency of
Austria, Walter H. Bunzl’s letter
on the subject in your issue of Aug.
8, offers a not so subtle apologia
for the wide spread anti-Semitism
that besmirches the image of that
country. To say that “no doubt
there is anti-Semitism in Austria as
there is in the United States” can
only be characterized as an attempt
to hide its ugly face with a thick
layer of cosmetics.
The fact is that anti-Semitism in
Austria is endemic. It affects a very
large segment of the population. I
would not venture to go into per
centages, but will state emphati
cally that on a comparative basis
its presence in the United States is
negligible.
I lived in Vienna from 1920 to
1921, and still remember the cam
paign posters put up by one of the
two largest political parties in Aus
tria, the Christian Socialists, whose
candidate Waldheim was in the
recent election. The poster was a
typical caricature of a Jew, a thick
tongue protruding from a leering
face, with a caption reading “Stimmt
Christlichsozial” (Vote for Chris
tian Socialist). All the charm of
Vienna, moreover, cannot erase
from memory a recollection of the
vitriolic Jew hatred of Dr. Karl
Lueger, its burgomaster at the turn
of the century; nor the incitements
to violence by the rabble rousing
Leopold Kunschak to thunderous
applause and shouts of “Juden
hinaus” (Out with the Jews); nor
the fact that the great composer-
conductor Gustav Mahler had to
embrace Catholicism before he
could become music director of the
Vienna State Opera.
Revisiting Vienna in 1933 I was
shocked to see uniformed Brown
Shirts marching in the streets and
students sporting swastikas on the
lapels of their jackets. This was five
years before the takeover by Adolf
Hitler, a native son of Austria.
And when that day came, who can
forget the thousands of frenzied,
flag-waving Viennese lining the
Ringstrasse to get a glimpse of the
Fuehrer; nor the nauseous specta
cle of Jews forced to scrub side
walks under the watchful eyes of
mocking, taunting Nazi bullies?
Yet, here comes Walter Bunzl
and assures us that 54 percent of
Austrian voters chose Waldheim
because he was “the best man” in
their opinion. Mr. Bunzl knows as
well as anybody that in Austria, as
elsewhere in European parliamen
tary systems, voting is done on
ideological party lines and not for
individuals. To be sure, the Chris
tian Socialist party is not officially
anti-Semitic, but bourgeois, and
not every adherent is an avowed
anti-Semite. But any voter afflicted
with the disease knows the score
and knows for what party and
what candidate to cast his ballot on
election day.
Mr. Bunzl spoke to a great
number of Jews and non-Jews on
his recent trip. He does not enlight
en us on what any of them said.
One can only guess. He was also
fortunate in not encountering any
anti-Semitism. Lucky man! Re
minds me of a cartoon in a recent
edition of the Paris newspaper “le
Monde” (the World), showing Sig
mund Freud sitting beside his
couch, complaining that there were
no patients, just a lot of amnesics.
Or could it be that Mr. Bunzl wrote
his letter with tongue in cheek and
considered it his duty, as consul of
Austria in Atlanta, to discharge an
obligation to its government?
Adalbert Freedman
Writer seeks proof on ‘Ivan the Terrible’
Editor:
I am currently preparing a book
on the life and experiences of John
Demjanjuk, a former American
citizen of Ukrainian birth, who has
been extradited to Israel by the
United States Office of Interna
tional Affairs (OIA) and is now
awaiting trial.
This writer would be most appre
ciative in hearing, in English, Yid
dish or in Polish, from any survi
vors of the Nazi death camps lo
cated in Sobibor, Treblinka,
Chelmno or Belzec in the Lublin
district of Poland.
John Demjanjuk is accused of
being “Ivan the Terrible” and from
my investigation of the records
recently made available to me (I
was a trained army strategic intel
ligence specialist), some revision
ist evidence has been “uncovered”
to make it appear that Demjanjuk
is not the man. This may be the
reason why the state of Israel has
kept him imprisoned for almost
five months without charging him
with any crime. Lengthy confine
ment for a man his age—he is 66—
and with his mentality—he is a
functional illiterate with a fourth
grade education—certainly consti
tutes cruel and unusual punish
ment and is something that I feel
creates a bad impression about
Israeli justice.
1 am not unmindful of the horri
ble relationship between the Jew
ish people and their Ukrainian
neighbors over the centuries and of
the pogroms that took place there
and 1 claim to be one of the few
living World War II army veterans
who knows what a Yellow Pass
port was and what it was used for.
For this reason for Israel to be seen
as prosecuting an innocent man
may be just as terrifying as the
Holocaust itself.
All communications that I receive
Continued from page 4.
religious format for the newly re
stored Jewish homeland seek to
impose their will by acts of vio
lence and vandalism. Some who
disagree choose to retaliate in kind.
Either way, the order of the day is
partisan politics, a deep and danger
ous rift, characterized by Sin’at
Hinam, the gratuitous hatred of
the Talmudic passage.
In the weeks following Tisha
B’Av, we chant seven Haftarot
from the closing chapters of Isaiah
which offer consolation for the
devastation of Jerusalem and prom
ise its restoration. These prophes
ies, fulfilled in the sixth century
B.C.E. in the days of the Persian
Emperor Cyrus have stood for
nearly 2,000 years as a message of
hope to all who mourn Jerusalem
and await its redemption in Messi
anic times. Today we are privileged
to witness the flourishing of the
state of Israel and the ingathering
of millions of Jews from all over
the world. These miracles, like so
many miracles of ancient times
have come to pass because of the
initiative of the Jewish people.
While many debated the advisabil
ity and the practicality of the Zion
ist program, a few idealists sacri
ficed everything to help carry it
out. The result was the miracle of
will be treated in the strictest con
fidence.
Harvey M. Berg
441 Franklin Street
Buffalo, New York 14202
the state of Israel.
The miracle of Messianic peace
in Israel is no different. We can
continue to conduct business as
usual in Israel and the Jewish world,
or we can take it upon ourselves to
bring about the further redemp
tion of the Jewish people by creat
ing an Israel at peace with itself.
Partisan politics, religious
squabbling, Sin’at Hinam carry
within them the seeds of more
tragedy. Harmony, pluralism and
toleration will make Israel
stronger and add to the momen
tum of our redemption. Israel at
peace with itself is a stronger Israel,
an Israel that will have a better
chance for peace with its neigh
bors, an Israel that fulfills our
ideals of redemption and our hopes
for the Messianic age.
PERFECT!
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PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 15, 1986