Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1982-09-30

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LIBRARY,   OHIO   HISTORICAL,   SO^iC/TV
I 902   VELMa   AVE. ^ '
COLd,   Or      43211 EXGH
VOL.60   NO.40
SEPTEMBER 30,1982-TISHREI13
Devofcd to American
and Jewish ideals
TERROR IN EUROPE
SUKKOT
On Friday evening, Oct. 1, the
observance of Sukkot, a joyous
eight-day festival of   „
Thanksgiving, celebrating the
reaping of summer fruits at the
beginning of autumn, begins.
Historically, Sukkot
commemorates the time when
our Israelite farmer ancestors
dwelled in booths or huts during
the harvest as well as during
their perilous journey through
the Sinai wilderness to the
Promised Land.
on In Paris, Attack In Brussels
ar European Rosh Hashanah Holiday
Louis Robins Named Chairman
Of Heritage Manor Dedication
Morris Skilken, president
of Heritage Village, announces that Louis Robins
will serve as chairman of the
Louis Robins
forthcoming Housewarming
and Dedication of the A.
Herbert and Lillian Kanter
Residence—Heritage Manor
and the presentation of the
1982 Eleanor and Jack Res
ler  "Life with  Dignity"
Award.
The festivities, to which
the community is cordially
invited, will take place on
Sunday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m.   .
In announcing the appointment, Skilken noted that
Robins currently serves as a
vice president and is chairman of the Heritage Village
Finance Committee. He has
served on virtually every
committee in the Heritage
Village table of organica-
tion.
"Lou has been a part of the
Heritage Village Family
since its inception and has
been a moving force working
behind the scenes to assist
the growth of Heritage Village in every way possible. I
am delighted that he will be
serving as chairman-of this
milestone event in the life of
our community," stated
Skilken.
PARIS (JTA)-Jews in
west European countries
prayed this year behind po:
lice cordons with army
smipers " ready to protect
them after two terrorist attacks, one in Paris and the
other in Brussels, marred
Rosh Hashanah observances.     .
In Paris, close to 50 people,
including 45 Hon-Jewish
school students, were
wounded by an explosion
which blew up the car of an
Israeli diplomat on New
Year'seve.
In Brussels, a man fired a
submachinegun at worshippers leaving the city's main
synagogue on the first day of
Rosh Hashanah, Saturday
morning, seriously wounding four. In both cities, several of the injured are, still in
critical condition.
In most West European
capitals, police took stringent security precautions.
Police barriers were set up
near places of worship and
people entering the areas
were searched by police officers and local community
volunteers for possible hidden weapons and explosives.
In spite of the Paris and
Brussels attacks, synagogues were crowded in
most large European cities.
At Paris' liberal synagogue on the Ruel Copernic,
where four people were
killed by a bomb blast on
Simhat Torah in 1980, hundreds of families filled the
hall and hundreds more
stood outside for lack of
space. The same happened
in most synagogues in Paris,
Brussels, Zurich, Rome and
Amsterdam.
The Explosion In Paris
The Paris explosion occurred Friday afternoon, at
3:30, as an official of the purchasing mission of the Israeli Defense Ministry,
Amos Man-El, 61, turned the
ignition key in his car. A
powerful-blast shook the entire street in a central residential area, shattering windows for several hundred
yards and wounding people a
block away. The two other,
passengers in the Israeli dip-,
lomat's car, his; Venezuelan
cousin, Zoltan Mandel, and
his wife, Veronica, were seriously injured.
Flying glass wounded 45
children in a nearby school
and several passers-by. The
purchasing mission had
closed earlier than usual to
allow loo staff members to
return home to prepare for
the Rosh Hashanah celebration. An Israeli Embassy
spokesman said that had the
staff left onetime, as.usual,
dozens would have been
wounded.
Angry crowds rapidly
gathered* on the site, and
people started demonstrating, calling for stricter pov
lice-protection and for the
closure of the PLO bureau in
Paris.
Israel's Ambassador Meir
Rosenhe blamed the attack
on the Palestine Liberation
Organization, quoting one of
its leaders, Farotlk Kad-
dumi, as having said that the
Palestinians "will make life
■- uhlivable for any Israeli
wherever he is." Rosenhe
later met with Prime Minis^
ter Pierre Mauroy to protest
against the attack.
Israeli sources said
R,osenne hinted that
France's Mideast policy has
been conducive to anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish murderous attacks.
President Francois Mitterrand chaired a special anti-
terror crisis group at the
Elysee Palace, and later
government spokesmen said
that security precautions
will be further tightened up.
Hours after the attack, all
Reactions Vary To Beirut Massacre
by Judith Franklin
Chronicle Staff Writer
Action—reaction. A natural law like "What goes up
must come down." Action by
Israel—reaction by the
world community. Md, just
like in physics or chemistry,
the reaction is predictable.
■      ■ i     1"     I    ■!     in      i i i ■   i    ■■■■—mi ■■ ■        i ■
"Every step must be
taken by every party involved, directly or indirectly, including Israel,
to determins how this
tragedy occurred and by
whom these crimes were
perpetrated..."
Once again, deserved or
undeserved, Israel, after the
Sept. 17 massacre of Palestinian men, women and children in Beirut by Christian
Phalangist militiamen, has
been labeled the villain and
censured—in the press and
in the United Nations—and
confusion about her motives
has been raised in the minds
of many.
And once again the Jewish
community has responded,
but this time the response
has not followed the predictable pattern.  This  time
• many Jews are not unreservedly supporting Israel.
The statement issued by
the .American Jewish Committee, a human relations
agency, on Sept. 20, for in-
. stance, reflected a definite wait-and-see attitude.
"Every step," it stated,
must "be taken by every
party involved, directly or
- indirectly, including Israel,'
to determine how this
tragedy occurred and by
whom these crimes were
perpetrated. Responsibility
must be fixed and appropriate action taken."
"Israel must surely
bear some blame..."
The B'nai B'rith Anti-
Defamation League's approach was somewhat
unique. While they joined in
the "sickness and revulsion
at the Christian Phalangist
outrage in Beirut," they
acceded that "Israel must
surely bear some blame"
although "there are others
who must also share that
burden." Then they took a
slightly different tack by
taking to task those who "tin-
1 fairly malign  Israel's
motives and use this tragedy
as a cynical justification of
previous criticism of Israel's
actions and policies."
Local reaction followed
much the same pattern,
ranging from the opinion
that Israel can do no wrong
to the attitude that Israel
should not have been in Beirut in the first place.
"We reject the idea of
any participation or involvement by Israeli Defense Forces in this terrible event"
Somewhere in between
was Rabbi Robert Levy,
President of the: Columbus
Board of Rabbis and Rabbi
of Temple Israel, who found
it "impossible to believe that
, ' ' (CONTINUED ON PAGE i\S)
Jewish community centers,
synagogues and schools as
well as many office buildings
were cordoned off by police
forces, with sharpshooters at
the ready.
In phone calls to news
agencies in Paris, a group
calling itself "The Lebanese
Armed Revolutionary Faction" claimed responsibility
for the attack. Police said,
however, that the calls were
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 15)
ADL Head Reports Increase
In Anti-Semitic Acts Locally
By Judith Franklin
Chronicle Staff Writer
Anti-Semitism, usually
lurking just below the surface, arising only in sporadic, short-lived episodes,
lately seems to be becoming
more; prevalent, more
vicious. One has only to pick
up a newspaper or turn on a
radio to learn of yet another
attack on innocent Jews,
whether it be in a French
restaurant or outside a Brussels synagogue.
Closer to home, Dr.
Michael C. Kotzin, Executive Director of the Ohio-_
Kentucky-Indiana. Regional
Office of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
(ADL), reports that, while
there have been no overt
IfeTfiA
Dr. Michael C. Kotzin
anti-Semitic acts here, there
has been an increase in anti-
Semitic phone calls, anonymous mail and letters tolhe
editors of local newspapers.
He links this to negative
world reaction to Israel's
military policies and actions
in Lebanon. He is careful to
point put, however, that not
jail criticism of Israel has
anti-Semitic overtones or
motivations. "But some of it
does use or echo traditional
anti-Semitism," he states,
citing as an example editorial cartoons, reminiscent of
the Nazi era, in which stereotypical caracatures of Jews
appear. And this, in turn, en
courages those, who already
have anti-Semitic attitudes,
to display them openly, he
states. They suddenly think
it's all right to be anti-Semitic. In fact, some might
even consider anti-Semitism
"fashionable" right how, he
says.'v ,',/' " ■•'' ...
While*, speaking for himself as well as the ADL, Kotzin feels that the killings carried out by the Lebanese
Christian militiamen in the
Shatila and Sabra Palestinian refugee camps in West
Beirut last Friday were horrifying and shocking and
that Israel must take some
of the responsibility for
them; he emphasizes that
others also share the blame.
Moreover, he "strongly deplores the way some people
are now unfairly maligning
Israel's motives—distorting
the nature of Israel's involvement." He feels these
people are exploiting the
current Lebanese situation
to air critical attitudes they
have always held toward Israel.
• What can the community
do to combat the anti-Semitism resulting from inaccurate or deliberately distorted information about
events in the Middle East?
Kotzin suggests first being
very careful not to jump to
any hasty conclusions. Then,
he feels it extremely important that individuals become
as well-informed about the
situation as possible through
such sources as the iVeH>
York Times, national public
radio, the Jewish press, and
Jewish agencies like the
Federation and the ADL.
Finally, once someone is
convinced that he has at last
learned the truth, Kotzin
feels that he owes it to his
community to share his
knowledge through any public forum available to him,
including letters to the editor
and, radio call-in programs.