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Page 2 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 28, 1986
Dershowitz raps judge for
Christian nation statement
by Susan Birnbaum
NEW YORK (JTA)—A prom
inent jurist, Alan Dershowitz..
said that the latest instance of
what he called “the Christianiza
tion of America” should be
challenged.
“There ought to be something
done,” he said, about the view
expressed by a judge in Chicago
that “America’s origins are
Christian” and that the “found
ing fathers intended and achieved
full religious freedom for all
within context of a Christian
nation in the First Amendment
as it was adopted, rather than as
we have rewritten it.”
Dershowitz, a Harvard Law
School professor and a spokes
person for civil liberties and
human rights, was referring to
the ruling on Nov. 5 by U.S. Dis
trict Court Judge Frank McGarr
that a creche should stand on the
grounds of Chicago's City Hall.
Addressingthe annual Benjamin
Epstein Memorial Lecture of the
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai
B'rith Sunday, Dershowitz urged
resistance to those “who arc try
ing to turn this country, in which
all citizens are supposed to be
equal, into a Christian nation
where Jews are tolerated.”
He said that “being tolerated
was something very good for us
in most countries of the world.
We spent so much of our history
in Poland because Poland was
one of the first countries to toler
ate us as merely second-class citi
zens.” Jews, he said, were also so
tolerated “in the golden age of
Jewish exile in the Arab coun
tries.”
Dershowitz cautioned those
w ho would say “What’s so wrong
with tolerance?” and those who
claim that “second-class citizen
ship is much better than some
thing else.” He scored the oft-
used term “Judaeo-Christian tra
dition” as “one of the most se
ductive myths ever fostered on
the American people. This is not
a Judaeo-Christian country. This
is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial,
multi-religious country. Judaism
has no claim to being the second
religion both because it has claim
not to be second and because it
has no right to claim to be second
over others.”
Dershowitz said, “We must
fight efforts to try to get us to
take money from government to
help our institutions. We must
continue to fight for the survival
of our Jewish institutions, but we
have to pay the way, because he
who pays the piper calls the tune.
And we don’t want the tunes
called” either by Christian fun
damentalists or by Jewish Ortho
doxy.
He warned against prayer in
the public schools “because there
is no prayer without price. There
is no prayer without inevitably
asking the question, ‘Who is it we
are praying to?”’
He said that either the Chicago
judge or those who say that
America is a religious country
will have to answer, because
“There’s no such thing as a reli
gious country which doesn't
eventually pick its favorite reli
gion,” like a favorite state Bower,
song or bird. “Inevitably, there
will be a state religion if we allow
this process to go forward.”
Calm returning to Jerusalem
following anti-Arab violence
by David Landau
and (iil Sedan
Medics make unsuccessful attempt to revive yeshiva student Eli-
ahu Amdi after stabbing.
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Sources
at the Jerusalem municipality ex
pressed hope Monday that calm
will be restored to the city after
nine days of anti-Arab violence
that followed the fatal stabbing
of a yeshiva student in the Old
City's Moslem quarter Non. 15.
1 heir optimism ma\ have been
inspired by the funeral of Pales
tinian leader Anwar Nusseibeh
which took place in the Old City
Monday without disturbances.
He was buried on the the Temple
Mount. The funeral procession
followed almost the same route
as Sunday’s memorial march by
Jews for the slain yeshiva stu
dent, Eliahu Amdi. Nusseibeh, a
leading Palestinian moderate,
died Saturday at age 73.
Heavy police cordons kept
Jewish extremists away, even
when Arab youths joined the
funeral procession chanting pro-
PLO slogans. Sunday’s memor
ial march for Amdi was fraught
with violence and police said
later it was a mistake to have
issued a permit.
The marchers Sunday shouted
“death to the Arabs” as they
moved through the narrow streets
of the Old City to Khaladiye
Street near the Shuvu Banim
yeshiva where Amdi was slain.
Windows and doors of Arab-
owned shops were kicked in and
Arab-owned cars were smashed.
Two Arab passers-by were beaten
and required first aid treatment
after they were rescued by police.
According to police sources,
much of the violence was whipped
up by members of Rabbi Meir
Kahane’s Kach Party and may
have exhausted itself. The rough
necks were verbally chastised
Monday by Sephardic Chief Rabbi
Mordechai Eliahu who urged the
public not to be “drawn into acts
that violate the spirit of the
Torah.” He suggested that who
ever wanted to honor Amdi’s
memory should study the Torah
and those who shouted “death to
the Arabs” should repent.
The executive committee of
the Likud Knesset faction issued
a condemnation Monday of all
elements, Jews and Arabs alike,
who have “caused unrest in the
city.”
The Jerusalem City Council,
meeting in special session Mon
day, joined with Mayor Teddy
Kollek in warningthat anti-Arab
violence played into the hands of
terrorists who want nothing more
than to create strife between Jews
and Arabs in Jerusalem.
Nusseibeh’s funeral was rela
tively modest. Although the for
mer Jordanian Defense Minister
had maintained personal ties
with Israeli leaders, no Israeli
personalities attended the funeral.
Apparently they wanted to avoid
provoking Jewish extremists.
Kollek stayed away because he
did not attend the memorial
march for Amdi.
Among those at the funeral,
apart from members of the Nus-
scibeh family, were Rashad A-
Shawa, former mayor of Gaza,
Hikmat el-Masri, deputy chair
man of the Jordanian Senate,
and the British and U.S. Consul
Generals in East Jerusalem.
Briefs
Shul arson suspects arrested
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Four young men have been arrested
in Rumania in connection with an arson attack against a syn
agogue in the Moldavian town of Bohush, according to reports
that have reached there.
The synagogue was burned to the ground last month follow
ing the stabbing of the Jewish janitor there. Rumanian police
are investigating. According to reports, the janitor is now out ol
danger and his condition is improving. 1 he attacks occurred a
day following a visit to the synagogue by the Hasidic Rebbe of
Bohush, who now lives in Israel.
Israel limits Vienna staff
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said
last week that Israel does not plan to upgrade its diplomatic
representation in Austria. This apparently means that Israel
will not name a replacement for Michael Elizur, the former
ambassador in Vienna, who retired several months ago.
The Vienna Embassy is presently headed by a charge d'af
faires. A new ambassador w ould have to present his credentials
to President Kurt Waldheim whose Nazi past was exposed
during the Austrian election campaign last summer.
According to Peres, Israel’s diplomatic stance will not have
any affect on Vienna’s continued role as a transit point for Jews
leaving the Soviet Union for Israel.
Study of Jewish culture urged
LONDON (JTA)—Leading Jewish scholars in Britain have
joined an international campaign aimed at encouraging univer
sities worldwide to pay greater attention to the study of Jewish
civilization.
Meeting recently with Professor Moshe David, founder of
the Institute of Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew Univer
sity of Jerusalem, the scholars agreed to sponsor an academic
workshop in Jerusalem next summer devoted to the relation
ship between Western society and Israel. They also will sponsor
a workshop on modern Hebrew in translation to coincide with
the 100th anniversary of the birth of S.Y. Agnon, the Nobe!
Prize-winning Hebrew novelist.
IAF destroys ‘terrorist boat’
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel Air Force helicopter gun-
ships destroyed a “terrorist boat” in the port of Sidon, south
Lebanon last week, a military spokesman announced. He said
the aircraft returned safely to their base.
The strike was the third in a week at terrorist targets in the
Sidon area. Israeli jets bombed a terrorist base on Sunday used
for seaborne missions against Israel. On Monday, combat
helicopters attacked the same targets under protection by jet
fighters.
Jews aid quake victim
BOSTON (JTA)—The American Jewish World Service
(AJ WS) has announced the creation of an “El Salvador Recov
ery Fund” to aid victims of the earthquake that devastated parts
ol San Salvador, capital of the Central American country, Oct.
10.
Noting that 31,000 families were left homeless by the quake,
the AJ WS said funds raised would be channeled through non
governmental organizations and used for recovery programs
that address the housing and health needs of the poorest citi
zens of San Salvador.
The AJ WS has responded to two natural disasters in the 18
months since its founding—the Mexico City earthquake last
year and the volcanic eruption that destroyed the town of
Armero in Colombia.
Museum designed selected
WASHING ION (JTA)—James Ingo Freed, of I.M. Pei
and Partner, has been selected as the design architect for the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it was announced
here by Arthur Rosenblatt, the museum’s director.
Freed, 56, was the principal design architect for the newly
completed Jacob Javits Exposition and Convention Center in
New York City, Born in Essen, Germany, he and his family
came to the U.S. in 1940.
The Memorial Council is conducting a $100 million fund
raising campaign for the museum which will be located on
go\ernment property adjoining the National Mall. The museum
w ill house a Hall of Witness, telling the story of the Holocaust;
a memorial Hall of Remembrance, exhibition halls, a Holo
caust library and archives, a Learning Center and two theaters.