Page 4-THE NEWS-March, 1984
WORLD BEAT
edited by Marta Garelik
Drugs^ Smoking and Alcoholism
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Drug addiction is high in
Israel and there is a correla
tion between drug usage and
social circumstances, accord
ing to the findings of a public
committee which has been
studying the problem for the
past five years.
There are some 4,000-6,000
addicts in Israel. About 50
percent of underprivileged
youths use drugs compared to
3-5 percent of users among
youths who are students or
gainfully employed.
•
TEL AVIV (JTA) - Israelis
are objecting to a new law that
bans smoking in most public
places and in buses. Most peo
ple think the law is an infringe
ment and cannot be enforced,
according to spot surveys by
the media.
•
NEW YORK (Jewish
World) — There are an esti
mated 240,000 Jewish alcoho
lics nationwide. As one recov
ering alcoholic put it, “I didn’t
believe those things happened
to nice Jewish boys.”
“Alcoholism in our Jewish
community is very much alive
and flourishing,” said Helen
Davidson, director of Family
Alcoholism Counseling and
Treatment Services at Long
Beach Memorial Hospital.
“The time has come when we
must deal with ourselves and
our alcohol problems.”
A new program called, “Out
of the Melting Pot: Jews and
Alcoholism” was sponsored by
the Nassau County Depart
ment of Drug and Alcohol Ad
diction, which believes the
alcoholism problem among
Jews is so serious that it
established this program and
hopes to be invited to other
Jewish groups.
Many Homeless in N.V. Area
NEW YORK (JTA) - A
rabbi who is involved in deal
ing with the Jewish poor and
homeless in the New York
Metropolitan area, said that
estimates of homeless in
Greater New York range from
6.000 to 36,000. The number of
homeless Jews is between
1.000 and 1,200.
The homeless people repre
sent a cross-section of the
population equally divided
between males and females.
ranging in age from infants to
senior citizens. In some cases,
the homeless are entire
families, parents and their
children. Many of the
homeless are educated in
dividuals with high school
diplomas and college degrees.
NYC High With Singles
NEW YORK (JTA) - A
Riverdale Orthodox rabbi
opened a conference here on
serving Jewish singles with a
“frightening” estimate that of
the 1.7 million Jews in the
New York area, some 400,000
are single, particularly when
such numbers are evaluated
“in the content of the family
orientation of Judaism.”
“Peace Now”
Nominated for Nobel
TEL AVIV (JTA) - Four
members of the Swedish
Parliament informed the
Jerusalem Post that they have
nominated the Peace Now
movement in Israel for this
year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
In a telegram to the Post
they explained they “consider
the Peace Now movement to
be one of the most important
elements in fostering a
dialogue which could lead to
peace between Israelis and
Arabs...a solution to the con
flict between Israel and the
Arabs may also contribute to
a lessening of tensions be
tween the superpowers.”
Nobel Prize Winner Decries
Anti-Semitism in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) -
Adolfo Perez Esquivel, winner
of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize
for his struggles on behalf of
human rights, stated that
there is “systematic anti-
Semitic activity” in Argentina
which “must be overcome” in
an article in Argumento, the
news organ of President Raul
Alfonsin’s Radical Party.
The World Jewish Congress-
Latin American Branch
reported that this article is one
of a number of such pieces in
cluded in an unprecedented
feature section in the
newspaper on Argentinian
anti-Semitism.
Perez Esquivel observed
that the situation became
especially acute under the 10
years of military rule and
related the story of the arrest
during one of his human rights
marches in Argentina of a
Jewish boy among those who
were detained. “He was the
most punished and insulted
for the simple fact of being
Jewish. He was threatened
and his captors lamented that
there were no crematoria
here.”
Germany and Anti-Semitism
BONN (JTA) - Half of all
West Germans still harbor
anti-Semitic feelings of vary
ing intensity, according to a
study by Cologne University.
The study showed that only 24
percent of the population ful
ly rejects anti-Semitism; that
persons of low income emd lit
tle education are more anti-
Semitic than academics and
office holders. Anti-Semitic
feelings are more intense
among older Germans, those
who lived during the Nazi era.
Anti-Semitic sentiments were
found in up to 88 percent of
people living in small towns
and villages, compared to 48
percent in large urban areas.
There are, at present, about
30,000 Jews in the Federal
Republic.
•
BONN (JTA) - Draft
legislation which would pro
vide criminal penalties, in
cluding prison terms, for per
sons who deny publicly that
the Holocaust ever occurred,
will be considered by the West
German parliament this year.
Under the proposed law, the
maximum penalty for denying
that Jews were persecuted and
systematically killed during
the Nazi regime, would be
three years’ imprisonment.
Existing laws allow private in
dividuals to sue persons who
deny the Holocaust.
•
BONN (JTA) — Non-Jewish
youth volunteers from East
Germany and several other
European countries have done
cleanup maintenance work at
two East Berlin Jewish
cemeteries. In one case, six
Dutch and four East German
youths volunteered several
days’ work at the cemetery in
Schoenhauser Alle, an area
where many Jews lived before
World War II. In another, 10
East Germans were joined by
two Slovakian youths and one
from England to work at the
central Jewish cemetery on
Herbert Baum Street in the
oAe
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Weissensee section of East
Berlin. Tlie East Berlin Jewish
community arranged an infor
mation program for the
volunteers.
BONN (JTA) - 'The Ger
man Democratic Republic,
which strongly backs the
Arabs in their conflict with
Israel and provides political
and military support to the
PLO has shown significant
signs that it wants to improve
its image in Israel and among
Jews generally.
One example is the permis
sion granted the only Yiddish
theatrical troupe in East Ger
many to visit Israel. This is
the first time such permission
was granted.
The East German author
ities have always invited
Israeli journalists to attend an
.annual memorial in Dresden to
the victims of the notorious
Kristallnacht. The journalists
are given every facility to
transmit their stories. An
Israeli journalist reported
from Eisleben, birthplace of
Martin Luther, that the
former synagogue there bore
no memorial taUet identifying
it as a one-time Jewish house
of worship. Within a few
weeks, the authorities revers
ed an earlier decision and
aUowed the Jewish commun
ity to place a memorial tablet
on the building.
Evidence of Gas
Chambers Published
LONDON (JTA) - In light
of continued attempts to deny
the facts of the Holocaust, the
World Jewish Congress re
ported the publication in Ger
many of an impbrtant book en
titled: “National-Socialist
Mass Killings by Way of
Poison Gas: A Documenta
tion.” The book is the first
systematic collection of
documents and reports by
witnesses of that gruesome
chapter of Nazi policy. It was
a major undertaking, the col
lective work of 24 authors
from Germany—headed by
State Attorney Dr. Axel
Rucker—Israel, France,
Poland, Austria and The
Netherlands.
Chilean Jews Call For Probe
Of Anti-Semitic Text
SANTIAGO (JTA) - The
central representative body of
Chilean Jewry and WJC af
filiate here, discovered that a
booklet published by the Uni
versity Press, used in prepara
tion for aptitude tests for en
trance to the university, con
tains violently anti-Semitic
references.
The passages were taken
from “The Jews in 25,000
Words,” a book by Jacob Al-
Kubba, a propagandist for the
PLO. The book had been
published in Barcelona some
time ago and following com
plaints was withdrawn from
circulation in Spain, only to
reappear at the Santiago book
fair.
Tid-Bits
NEW YORK (JTA) - Abel
Kiviat, who won the Silver
Medal in the 1912 U.S. Olym
pics when he finished second
in the 1,500-meter race in
Stockholm and who was
recently elected to the interna
tional Jewish Sports Hall of
Fame, will once again share in
some Olympic glory.
Kiviat, 91, who will soon be
honored by the New York
Runners Club, will be one of
many torch bearers who will
carry the traditional torch
from New York City to Los
Angeles prior to the start of
the 1984 Olympic Games in
July.
•
TEL AVIV (JTA) -
Defense Minister Moshe
Arens has ordered the return
of a $64,000 American car pur
chased without his knowl^ge
for his use by an unnamed
Defense Ministry official.
Arens said such an ex
travagance was unseemly at a
time of economic crisis when
the government is seeking
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