Todah!
Israel - Undaunted Victim
Page 11—THE NEWS—November 1979
Yes, that’s Marvin
Bienstock, director of
Federation and the JCC. We
took this picture with the
Polaroid camera he donated
to **The Charlotte Jewish
News.** Thanks MarvI
-the Editors
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Rabbi David S. Shawel'; 653-
A Windemere Boulevard,
Charleston, South Carolina,
does circumcisions. h
CHARLOTTE
Nov. 3rd — Hayride
Nov. 4 th — Sun. Breakfast-JCC
11 a.m.
Nov. 16th — Covered dish
supper
Dec. 15th — Chanukah party
Call: Blair Shiffman at 364-
0041, Nancy Goodman at 568-
7578 or Ellen Mark 363-7474.
By Philip Perlmutter
Probably no democracy — not even America—
has been subjected to as much petty criticism as
has Israel, particularly by third-world, com
munist, and even some liberal circles. Behind the
criticism is a pattern of double standards and
perfectionism sufficient to bewilder a logician,
dishearten a moralist, and shame a saint:
• Israel is criticized for keeping Arabs in
second-class status, though Arabs living in
Israel earn the same wages as Christian and
Jewish Israelis, serve in the Knesset, and travel
about the country with greater freedom than
Christians' or Jews do in most other Arab coun
tries.
• Israel is criticized for denying the creation of
a separate Palestinian state, though Jordan was
created out of 80 percent of the original Palesti
nian Mandate, and though the very countries
which critidze Israel refuse to allow any self-
determination to their own minorities—whether
it be the Kurds in Iraq, Bahai in Iran, Ukrainians
in the Soviet Union, Tibetans in China, or
Falashas in Ethiopia.
• Israel is criticized for selling minor arms or
produce to South AMca, though such sales are
minuscule, and though black AMcan, Arab, and
European countries, which are publicly critical of
South Afnca, secretly do much more trade with
South Africa than does Israel.
• Israel is criticized for not doing enough for
peace, though unUke America, Russia, and
England, it readily entered into a peace treaty
with Egypt without demanding “unconditional
surrender,” the way the World War II allies did
with Japan, Germany, and Italy.
• Israel is criticized for using the Bible to de
fend or justify some of its actions, but Carter is
praised for ^believing in it; Brezhnev is damned
for not believing in it; and Arabs are ignored for
calling for a “holy war” against Israel.
• Israel is criticized for being overly concerned
about its “security,” though it has been aggress
ed against four times and though its enemies —
and particularly the PIX) — continue to threaten
its destruction. • “ • v
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Abbeville Press in New York has an
nounced the publication of “Gail Rubin: Psalmist With a Camera,”
a collection of photographs taken by the late photographer who was
killed by Palestinian terrorists in March 1978 at a bird sanctuary in
Ma'agan Michael in Israel where she had been photographing the
nesting habits of storks and pelicans. The terrorists then continued
their rampace on the Hai£a-Tel Aviv highway where they killed 28
more people.
y .JBas^,o|U)hotographs first exhil^ited in a 1977 show at the
'LiIKj w 'jBwtsh'Miiseum titled “Birds of the Heaven, Beasts of the Field, the
Bible as Source,” the “Psalmist With a Camera” also includes selec
tions from her later work exhibited at the Israel Museum in Israel
and the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, Calif. The excerpts accom
panying the pictures in her book were culled from the lyric poetry of
the Bible and Prophetic literature.
The “Psalmist With a Camera” includes a touching tribute to
Rubin's gentleness and humility by Gen. Avraham Yoffe, chair
man of the Israel Nature Reserve Authority, and the man who in
vited her to photograph Israel’s animate and inanimate life.
• Israel is criticized for occasionally censoring
the news, though its press is one of the freest in
the world, with more newspapers of varying
views than exist in any other Middle Eastern
country.
What is missing from all the criticism is any
recognition that no country in modem times has
so yearned for peace, without having a single
revolution, coup d’etat, shake-up, or loss of pop
ular support. In Israel, unlike Asia, South
America or Africa, ex-presidents and ministers
are not shot or exiled — or retired in wealth.
Instead of being criticized, Israel should be
applauded for practicing what we Americans
preach — and for being undaunted by the
hypocrisy of others. Israel and its admirers have
never claimed perfection. Whatever its imperfec
tions, they are but a reflection of its democratic
rather than imperialistic desires.
If the critics of Israel seek credibility for their
views, let them first put their own homes in order:
Let the Soviet Union allow free elections and
emiep^ation in its own country and in those it
dominates. Let China withdraw from occupied
Tibet. Let Cuba call back its mercenaries from
the far comers of the earth. Let England end its
tyrannical occupation of Northern Ireland. Let
France stop building nuclear reactors and
munitions plants for Asian dictatorships. Let
black African nations realign their national
borders to conform with tribal realities rather
than inherited European boundaries. Let Arab
countries end press censorship, public ex
ecutions, and rampant sexism. Let the PLO end
its wanton murder of Israeli and Arab civilians.
Let our President reestablish America’s
traditional sense of helping friends rather than
bowing to tyrants and blackmail.
In short, Israel should be judged not by its
closeness to some impossible ideal, but its dis
tance from the cynical and miserable realities of
its critics.
Philip Perlmutter is executive director of the
Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan
Boston.
Black Leader
(Continued from Page 9)
Premier Menachem Begin of
Israel reverse his decision not to
meet with Jackson during his
visit to Israel. But the White
House emphasized that Carter
never engaged in discussion
with Israel’s Ambassador
Ephraim Evron about this. At
least one news report said
Carter’s request had been
relayed to Evron. The Israel Em
bassy declined to comment.
Presidential News Secretary
Jody Powell said that the matter
of whether Begin should meet
with Jackson was discussed at
the White iHouse and with per
sons outside the Administra
tion. He said the discussion was
based entirely on the concern of
Administration officials
whether Bfegin’s refusal to meet
Jackson might damage Israel’s
relations with Americans.
. Powell emphasized that
Jackson’s Mideast trip was in
no way related to the Ad
ministration and indicated that
at least one Congressman ex
pressed concem over the impact
of Begin’s decision on
Americans and Israel and that
Carter agreed it was important
to talk with Israelis about this.
The Congressman was not
identitied but it was indicated
that it was a Senator closely
identified with Mideast affairs.
Jackson, himself, said prior to
leaving Beirut that he would
report to Carter about his trip
and would urge the President to
convene a Mideast peace con
ference that included
Palestinians.
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