Page 3-THE NEWS-March, 1987
WORLD BEAT
Theater Cancels
Anti-Semitic Play
LONDON (JTA) - The
Royal Court Theatre cancelled
the presentation of a play
which depicts Zionists as col
laborators with the Nazis in
the mass destruction of
Hungarian Jewry during
World War II.
The play, titled “Perdition,”
was due to open for a five-
week run at the prestigious
West End Theater. It was
withdrawn following angry
protests by the Jewish com
munity and by scholars and
historians who branded it a
vicious travesty, after reading
the script.
The playwright, Jim Allen,
is a Trotskyist who makes no
secret of his antipathy for
Zionists though he claims to
be pro-Jewish. “Perdition” is
based loosely on the desperate
attempts of Jewish leaders in
Budapest to save Jewish lives
by offering the Nazis trucks
and money during the last
year of the war.
Dr. David Cesarani, a Lon
don University historian, call
ed the play “one of the most
serious examples of anti-
Semitic thinking seen in this
country for many yeeirs. It
revives the anti-Semitism that
goes back to ‘The Merchant of
Venice’.”
Allen called the cancellation
“an absolutely disgraceful
form of censorship” and accus
ed the Royal Court of succum
bing to pressure. The cast also
deplored the cancellation.
Allen is reportedly looking for
another theater to stage his
play.
Ontario Court Reverses
Conviction of Anti-Semitic
Propagandist
TORONTO (JTA) - The
Ontario Court of Appeals, in a
move that stunned Jews and
civil libertarians in Canada,
has unanimously reversed the
conviction of German-born
anti-Semitic propagandist
Ernst Zundel, who was
sentenced in 1985 to 15
months’ imprisonment for
distributing a booklet entitled
“Did Six Million Really Die?”
a denial that the Holocaust
occurred.
The court overturned the
conviction on technical
grounds but upheld Section
177 of the Canadian Criminal
Code under which he was con
victed — “spreading false
news” — and allowed that a
new trial may be ordered. A
new trial would give Zundel
another public forum from
which to promulgate his racist
views and denial of the
Holocaust and, as he made
clear in an interview with the
Toronto Globe & Mail, that is
exactly what he had hoped for.
Radio Transmitters
In The Negev
TEL AVIV (JTA) - Israeli
and American delegations
have successfully completed a
week of private discussions
here for construction of Voice
of America (VOA) radio
transmitters in the Negev,
with Israel apparently winn
ing its point that major con
tracts go to Israeli firms.
Yoram Alster, Director
General of the Communica
tions Ministry, expressed
satisfaction with the agree
ment. Walter Roberts, who
headed the American delega
tion, said more than $300
million would be invested in
the project, at least half to be
spent in Israel.
UIA Gets $25 Million
Refugee Settlement Grant
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
United Israel Appeal has
received a U.S. government
refugee resettlement grant of
$25 million for 1987. This
grant, the latest to UIA since
1973, was again initiated by
Congress and is twice the
amount provided in 1986.
Ethiopian OUm was allocated
$125,000.
Henry Taub, UIA’s chair
man, stated that thus far UIA
has received 12 refugee reset
tlement grants totaling
$310,077 million to assist in
the absorption of refugees in
Israel.
The grants, which are sup
ported in both Houses of Con
gress and in the State Depart
ment and the White House,
reflect the U.S. government’s
desire to link its support of
refugee resettlement in Israel
directly to the philanthropic
support of Israel by the
American Jewish community,
Taub said.
Iran Arms Deal Could Lead
to Wave of Anti-Semitism
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
chairman of Governor Mario
Cuomo’s Task Force on Bias-
Related Violence warned that
“moves within the Reagan Ad
ministration to make Israel
the scapegoat in the Iran arms
scandal could result in a wave
of anti-Semitism in the United
States.” Commissioner
Douglas White, head of the
New York State Division of
Human Rights, said that “by
focusing attention on the
alleged role played by Israel
and Israelis and making Israel
the scapegoat, the Reagan Ad
ministration has created an
environment which divides
rather than unites us.”
The Commissioner, who is
Black, also warned that
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“racism and anti-Semitism is
deply rooted in the psyche of
this nation, and we are having
trouble finding the tools to
destroy the disease.”
Israel Concerned that Iraqi
Air Force Poses Serious Threat
to Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Israel is increasingly concern
ed that the battle-hardened
Iraqi air force will pose a
serious threat once Iraq’s war
with Iran is ended.
Israeli and outside observ
ers have discerned a signifi
cant improvement in the quali
ty of Iraqi air power.
Their planes attack at much
lower levels than before and
their bombing and ground
support is more accurate.
Though some outside observ
ers maintain that foreign,
mainly Pakistani, pilots are
flying for Iraq, there is no con
firmation of such reports.
Lapidot said the improved
capabilities of the Iraqi air
force would enable it to fly sor
ties against Israel in a future
war from Iraqi territory
without the need for bases in
Jordan or Syria.
Immigration To Israel Drops
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Im
migration to Israel totaled
9,500 in 1986, an 11 percent
drop from the previous year
according to figures released
by the Central Bureau of
Statistics. The decline was
mainly in olim from the Soviet
Union and Africa.
Of the 914 Jews reported to
have left the USSR last year,
only 202 came to Israel.
Although 565 Jews arrived
from South Africa, more than
double the number in 1985, im
migration from Africa as a
whole fell by 58 percent.
About 2,000 American Jews
immigrated to Israel in 1986,
only 100 more than in the
previous year. About 1,000 im
migrants arrived from France,
800 from Argentina, 600 from
the United Kingdom and the
rest from other European and
Latin American countries.
Tid-Bits
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Eliezer Sheffer, head of the
World Zionist Organization’s
young leadership depgirtment,
says he has the solution to the
problem, of intermarriage — a
worldwide computerized Jew
ish dating service. According
to Sheffer, one of the causes of
intermarriage is that many
young diaspora Jews have lit
tle chance to meet socially
with other Jews, especially in
small communities.
•
MELBOURNE (JTA) - The
leader of Israel’s Sephardi
Council of Sages has determin
ed that fighting bulls and even
watching a bullfight violate
Jewish law, the Australian
Jewish News reports.
Rabbi Ovadia Yossef,
former Sephardic Chief Rabbi
of Israel, so ruled in response
to an inquiry by a group of
Israelis planning a tour of
Spain. The rabbi said Jewish
law insists on protecting
animals from wanton destruc
tion.
He did suggest an alterna
tive: Visit a zoo.
•
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
How does a high-tech plant on
the outskirts of Jerusalem
help the California Edison Co.
supply electric power at max
imum efficiency to some
50,000 homes in the Golden
State 9,000 miles away?
The answer is remote con
trol. Luz Industries, manufac
turers of electronic equipment
in Jerusalem, recently built
huge reflectors in California’s
Mojave Desert to capture
solar energy for conversion to
electric power. They also in
stalled computers to monitor
sunshine £uid other climatic
conditions, minute-by-minute.
•
ROME (JTA) - Italy and
Israel signed an agreement for
the joint promotion of tourism
between the two countries and
to each of them from North
America and other areas of the
world. Both countries have
suffered a slump in tourism
over the past year.
•
GENEVA (JTA) - The
Swiss Air Force plans to buy
48 Scout teleguided military
aircraft from Israel at a cost of
50 million Swiss Francs, the
Lausanne daily Le Matin
edited by Marta Garelik
reported.
Air Force chief Gen. Walter
Duerig said Scouts purchased
in 1985 were tested and found
acceptable under local condi
tions.
•
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Israel and Hungary will soon
exchange resident trade
representatives, though it was
“not timely” to speak of full
diplomatic relations. Many
Israelis of Hungarian origin
have visited their former
homeland as individuals or in
organized groups.
There are an estimated
80,000-90,000 Jews in
Hungary today, the largest
Soviet bloc Jewish community
outside the USSR. Although
they enjoy relative religious
freedom and have a lively
cultural life, the Hungarian
Jewish community is eroding
due to a high level of intermar
riage and assimilation.
•
NEW YORK (JTA) - Gov.
Mario Cuomo declared
February 1-7 Hadassah Week
in the State of New York, in
honor of the women’s Zionist
organization’s 75th anniver
sary.
•
(JTA) — 12,000 Jews lived
in Cuba prior to the revolution
led by Castro in 1959. Today
only about 1,000 Jews remain
in Havana and 300-400 else
where in Cuba.
•
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Legal abortions increased by
15 percent in Israel since a law
limiting the right to abortion
was passsed by the Knesset
nine years ago. The Health
Ministry approved 9,300 abor
tions in the first six months of
1986. Health authorities
estimate that 10,000 abortions
are performed illegally every
year by private physicians.
The main grounds for ap
proved abortions are pregan-
cies which endanger the lives
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