Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1975-09-18

              I
HRONICLE
LiBRAKY, O^i 10. HISTORICAL- SOCUTY
1 982 VELMa AVE,,
COLS'. 0,  43211  '  "   EXOH
zJL\\>y Se|rv'"g Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community for Over SO Years \w/\Vx
VOL. 53 NO. 39
SEPTEMBER 18, 1975 - TISHREI 13
Of V«**41» Amtf ican
»nd Jti»iih Ictaalt
lies Commerce Dept. On Boycott Issue
By David Freidman
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith filed a suit iri
federal court on Sept. 10 to
stop the Department of
Commerce from distributing
Arab bid invitations con¬
taining restrictive trade and
boycott provisions. The suit
also asked the court to order
Comrnerce Secretary
Rogers Morton to release the
names of companies that
have complied with the Arab
request for boycott in¬
formation including the 44
which the Commerce
Department has sent
charging and warning let¬
ters. "This is the first time
we ever filed suit against
the federal government,"
Arnold Forster, the ADL's
general Counsel, said at a
press conference at the
organization's headquar¬
ters. Forster and Lawrence
Peirez, chairman of the
. ADL's national civil rights
committee, are the group's
Sukkot — Harvest Celebration
Sukkot, meaning booths or' tabernacles, com¬
memorates the booths in which, according to legend,
the Jews lived in the desert before reaching Israel, and
- it also serves as a joyful celebration of the final
gathering of the harvest before winter. The .major
ritual symbols of the holiday'are: the sukkah, the
booth-like structure we build, before the holiday, in
which we eat our meals; and the Iulav and ctrog, the
palm branch and citron, which we wave during holiday
services.
An important custom is called ushpizin (guests) —
inviting one of the seven forefathers (Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David, who
correspond to seven of the seflrot, including
lovingkindness and beauty) to join us in the sukkah.
This reflects the strong tradition which calls for an
even greater amount of hospitality during this holiday
so that people less fortunate will have food and shelter.
Part of the concern for the agricultural side of
Sukkot is reflected in the prayer for rain which ends
the holiday.
Kissinger Urges Support of
U.S. Sinai Participation
side or the other "in contrast
to Vietnam." He stressed
while both Egypt and Israel
wanted . the technicians,
Israel would not sign the
agreement if they will not be
sent there. At a press con-
1 renee, Kissinger
minimized the Palestine
Liberation Organization
threat to shoot the American
monitors, noting that the
Americans would be be¬
tween Israel-and Egyptian
forces, and surrounded, by
United Nations troops. He
said the Administration
would decide soon whether
the technicians would be
provided by a private
organization or the
American government,
stressing that it will
definitely not be under the
Department -of Defense.
Rep. Bella S. Abzug (D. NY)
said she is forwarding to the
State Department inquiries
from women who would like
• WASHINGTON (WNS) -
Secretary of State Henry A.
Kissinger has begun efforts
to win massive American
support to. the U.S. par¬
ticipation in the Israel-
Egyptian agreement in¬
cluding the sending of
American technicians to the
Sinai and U.S. aid for Israel
and Egypt. Appearing
before the House .In¬
ternational Relations
Committee, - Kissinger
warned that '"The process of
peace in the Middle East is
not a matter that occurs
thousands of miles away but
which affects every
American. The agreement
could open the way to peace
in the whole , area."
Kissinger stressed that the
total number of Americans
sent to Sinai will not be more
than 200 and no more than 75
would be at the monitoring
stations at one time. The
technicians, he emphasized,
will not be there to serve one
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 11)
attorneys in the suit which
was filed in the U.S. District
Court, Southern District of
New York. Forster said the
ADL "deeply regretted" the
necessity for the action since
for the past 20 years the
. American people have
looked to the federal
government to protect them
from religious or racial
discrimination. But he said
the Commerce Department,
the agency charged with
preventing the use Of the
Arab boycott to discimini-
. nate against Americans,, is
violating U.S. law and policy
by "promoting, aiding and
abetting Arab boycott
operations, thereby
restricting free trade and
discriminating against
American Jews." The suit
. against "Rogers Morton in
. his capacity as Secretary of
Commerce," charged that
the Department- is itself
flouting this country's anti-
boycott policy as set forth in
the Export Administration
Act of 1969' and is failing to
comply with the Freedom of
Information Act in order to
shield companies which are
also ignoring the policy. ,•
Benjamin R: Epstein,ADL
. national director,', noted that
although President Ford
said last February that the
boycott was "repugnant"
and  that  the  U.S.  gov-
' ernment opposes it,
representatives of the
Departments of Commerce,
, State and Justice have op¬
posed every one of the some
40 Congressional proposals
to strengthen the laws
against the boycott. He said
the Commerce Department
- notification- to' the ADL
that it will continue dis-
POINT OF VIEW
Trauma Propaganda Through Israeli Eyes
ByGadNahshon
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
The waving of the bloody
shirt of the Holocaust is a
technique of excitation
which has been developed
and used by the pro-Israeli
camp in the U.S. •
2   The -success   of   this
"method,   according  to  its
planners and admirers, is
2 rooted in the psychological
structure 'm   the average
. American Jews, and to some
extent, of his Gentile
counterpart The goal of this
system   is   to   mobilize.
• financial aid for Israel, to
maintain the various
American Jewish
organizations and to
cultivate a powerful Jewish
American pressure group
which would serve as a
watchdog over the U.S.
policy toward Israel,
This method is based on
2u^einterisiye reiteration, and
remembrance    _of the
massacre of six millionJewB—
by the Nazis and on the
condemnation of the
civilized world's silent in¬
difference. Thus the
Holocaust functions as the
armory of propaganda
devices which culminate in
the slogan Am Israel Chai.
Oh Sunday, May 18, 1975,
the United Jewish appeal
. and the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies conducted a
massive financial campaign
entitled: "Mobilization for
Survival." 2 The various
advertisements and leaflets
'hinted strongly at' the,
possibility of a new'.-,.
Holocaust; the next pogrom
is just around the corner.
Appropriately,/that Sunday
■was named "Survival
Sunday'' and the 93 cam¬
paign centers were defined
as "Survival Centers."
Since one is obliged to
enceunter.this combination
of Holocaust propaganda
and the Am Israel Chai
ritual at almost every
Jewish gathering, it seems
crucial to me to state that we
must change this method
and dismantle the im¬
mediate link between the
world of the dead arid the
world of the living.
Am Israel Chai must die,
as soon as possible, for the
sake of Israel and American
Jewry alike. The
propagandistic use of the
Holocaust stems from the
ghetto psychology of the
Jews', from the tragic Jewish
past and the marching of
tortured people into the gas
chambers rather than from
the future of a great nation
and the dynamic creation of
the three million Israeli
Jews who challenge what
had been unchallengable for
many generations.
Hidden Jewish traumas
have      been      recently
awakened    by    General
George  S.   Brown's   anti-
Semitic remarks and par¬
ticularly  by the Jewish
historically    ascertained
conviction that economic -
crises,    and     economic
depressions     correlate
positively with powerful
revivals of anti-Semitism as
.was the case with the rise of-.
demagogues such as Father
CougWin during the '30's. .
Hence the American Jew is
still   the  victim  of  his •
scapegoat complex;' many •,
Jews were rather displeased '
with the election of Abraham
Beame as mayor of New
York City; "      .
Furthermore, .'.. the
• American   Jew   has   in- ■
tegrated an "Israeli flavor"
•into his realm  of -fears, •
namely an improper in¬
terpretation of the Yom
Kippur War and subsequent
shock. The timing of the
.attack was mystifying and
evoked the past in which
major Jewish religious
holidays had been par¬
ticularly susceptible to riots
and pogroms. Thus, the
crawling of those old fears
has damaged the prestige of
Israel and its function as a
source of Jewish power,
identity and pride. This
depreciation of Israel's
status, among American
Jews, was an expected and
natural outcome;
Therefore, the use of the
Holocaust propaganda
might cultivate and
stimulate the Jewish' ten¬
dency for hysteria which,
in turn, might damage the'
accomplishments which
have been attained through
the generous Jewish support
of Israel and local Jewish'
organizations.
There is yet another
aspect to this use of the
Holocaust   propaganda:   it
(CONTINUED ON PAGE- J)     '
seminating the Arab bid
invitations which include the
request for boycott in¬
formation is evidence that
the Ford Administration
believes that it is more
important to seek Arab
- petrodollars than to comply '
with American laws against
discrimination. Forster
noted that it was "ironic"
that Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger has
gotten a promise from
Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat to reduce the boycott
against Israel while he
cannot get similar action
from his fellow Cabinet
member, Morton. One of the
documents submitted by the
ADL -uy-its suit was a *
confidential Commerce
Department memorandum,
which said that since 1961 it
.has been the Department's
policy to supply complete
. information on its bids in¬
cluding the boycott
reference because "we
would not properly serve the
, interests of U.S. business by
denying it the complete
conditions, of the bid in¬
vitation."*
- Epstein also disputed.the
Commerce- • Department's
, claim '.that, -,theft . .war- a
distinction between the Arab .
economic boycott of Israel '
and discrimination.against
American Jews, which is
illegal. "Both defy ITS.
statutes — and since im-
' plementation of the Arab
, boycott is directed primarily
against American Jews the
. two are synonymous." The
ADL suit came after the
• Commerce Department told
the group it .would continue
■to send out.the Arab bid
invitations  and* "after  die
'Department's 'refusal "to
release the names of the
.companies complying with
;the boycott requests to the
ADL and others including
• the House Commerce
Committee. Forster said
-Morton's action in refusing
to reveal tha names was to
'"protect these firms from
exposure and criticism by.
the American people."
criticism by the American
people."
• WASHINGTON (JTA) -
Department of Commerce
and White House spokesmen
, declined on Sept. il;. to
comment on the suit filed
. by the' B'riai B'rith's
Anti-Defamation. League
■ charging the ' Department
and Secretary of Commerce   ;
-Rogers Morton with, in ef¬
fect, abetting compliance by    -
American firms  with  the
. Arab boycott against Israel.
William Rhatican, director
of communications at the
Department of Commerce,
said Morton would not
discuss the suit until the
legal papers  have  been
(CONTINUED ON PAGE A)
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