Page 8-the Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, May 4, 1989
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TheCainadian Jewish news
Anlndependent Community Newspaper serving as a forum for diverse viewpoints.
Nisan 30, 5749 - Kedoshim Candlelighting: Montreal 7:46; Toronto 8:05
^Troiibling phenoiiienon^^
Israel at 41
On May 10 Jews the world over will be celebrating Israel's 41st anniversary. The rejoicing, however, will be eclipsed somewhat by the many difficult challenges which Israel faces in the wake of the intifada.
Those challenges are compounded by the chorus of Critical voices now being directed against Israel from diverse quarters. Within the spectrum of criticism we also notice a growing Jewish component.
Jewish critics of Israel have gone public of late with a litany of complaints about the "wickedness" of the Shamir goveniment. They have breached what was once a kind of community solidarity about attacking Israel in public. - .
. They have, as a result of their anti-Israel statements, become the darlings of the Western media and have obtained so much exposure for their critical views that one is tempted to ask if it is permissible for Jews to defend Israel in public. ' ^
Our answer is a resounding yes. -
Israel is not a perfect state but her neighbors make her look very virtuous. For 41 years Israel has faced a powerful coalir tion of Arab adversaries who until this very day contihue to assemble a weapons arsenal of unimaginable destructive potential.
Seven wars, thousands of Israeli dead and wounded, continued terrorism, the example of the carnage in Beirut, Habash's promises of extermination, the PLC's unchanged and obscene covenant which renders Israel "null and void" — these are but some of the elements which have caused one Israeli leader to observe: "If there is one mistake Israel cannot afford to make, it is the mistakb of forgetting where w;e live.''
Given thispenlous state of affairs; Isreal has displayed a rare magnanimity as its approaches its 41 st anniversary: Offering the Palestinians something which no Arab regime has ever offered free elections. This is a gesture which is consistent with Israel democratic •traditions.".; '.^ ' '-^
We doubt, however^ whether the Palestinians, now enjoying a favorable press and the misguided moral support of many nations, will have ihe good sense to search their vocabularies and find the one word which they avoided for four decades — com-'promi^.
In themeantime Jews- everywhere will salute Israel oh Yom Ha'atzmaut. May the state go from strengUi to strength as it faces great challenges — challenges which will be resolved only by the citizens of Israel.
We are indebted to Conor Cruise O'Brien for his illuminating contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust in a recent piece in The New York Review of Books. v
"The greatest concentration of murderous hatred ever attained on earth came about," says O'Brien, "in our own century in the shape pf Hitler's Third Reich;
"And that coiicentration could not have been possible without the bonding of collective passion brought about by German nationalism.
In tracing the evolution of Gerniany's malignant nationalism and the way in which Hitler exploited it, O'Brien suggests how the Jews might have been spared — through the intervention of the church,
"Followers of Jesus Christ might perhaps have been expected to manifest some disapproval of the greatest preacher and practitioner of hatred and revenge who ever walked the earth," says O'Brien..
The churches, vyith rare exception, offered no censure of the Nazis and in fact hailed Hitler as the savior of the German people. The reason was that the churches diemselves were saturated in German nationalism The nationalist infestation of Catholic and Protestant Churches was the most disgraceful chapter in the history of Christianity. ■;■„..■■
b'firien says th^t if the churches had spoken out against anti-semitism and the Holocaust as they did in 1940 and 1941 against Hitler's euthanasia-program, the Nazis miglit_have be§n impeded in tiieir diabolical scheme. i^i-- """"
Says 0'Bnenr^"The fmlure of the churches even to tiy to stop the per$eGution of die Jews — was one of the greatest and most tragifc nwssed opportunities in history." '
We can add to O'Btien's remarks the following: Israelis and Jews today do not like to hear moral counsel irom the churches; tiiey abdicated their right to do so before and during the Holocaust. It will be a long time before they earn that right again.
ow more
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...-.By,
SHELDON KIRSHNER
Skinheads in the U.S. celebrated Hitler's 100th birthday last week. So what?
Ordinarily, a Skinhead gathering hardly falls into the realm of noteworthy news; But this one was different. These Skinheads were neo-Nazis who converged on an isolated compound near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, under the auspices of one of America's leading fascists, Richard Butler, leader of the Aryan Nations Church of Jesus Christ-Christian. ,
The m^ority of Skmheads, who are characterized by theu- close-cropped hair or shaved heads, are not racists, merely non-comformist youths devoted to punk reck culture. They can be: safely ignored. The Skinheads who should be watched closely are the neo-Nazi minority who have been implicated in numerous assaults against Blacks, Jews, Asians and homosexuals m recent years. '^v''-
"The Skinhead phenomenon is a very troubling phenomenon," says Irwin Suall of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, "mainly because it involves, new young people,. many as young as 14 or 15, inculcated into anti-semitism — a new generation of active haters.'"
Active in about 30 U.S. states and Canada
In the U.S., where roughly 3,000 Skinheads are active in about 30 states, some neo-Nazi Skinheads have gravitated toward political exU^sm —Butler's extreme Christian Identity movement, which considers Jews the children of satan and prescribes extermination for them; the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), which is led by professional rabble-rouser Tom Metz-ger; the KuKluxKlan, which has been stirring racial animosities since the end of the American Civil War. ' In Canada, neo-Nazi Skinheads have reportedly been recruited by Don An-
drews of Toronto, a convicted hatemonger. Among other things, Canadian Skinheads believe that immigrants should be segregated in special neighborhoods.
Klanwatch, a civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala., released a report recently blaming Skinheads for some of the worst racial incidents in 1988.
Describing Skinheads as a group "obsessed by violence, "Klanwatch says they have been linked to racially motivated murders all across the U.S. - Portland, San Jose, Chicago, Tampa.
Late last winter, a county judge in California halted a weekend concert in Napa, a noted wine-growing area, billed as an "Aryan Woodstock."
The abortive event was organized by Metzger, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who heads WAR.
In response to their activities, B'nai B'rith has begun to sponsor conferences in schools, attended by educators, law enforcement and community leaders.
"We're finding a trend — Skinheads are increasingly sending organizers out to schools, particularly schools where there is racial conflict," says Suall.
Later this month, B'nai B'rith will publish a survey of Skinheads.
In 1988, 823 acts of anti-semitic vandalism were recorded in the U.S. It's uncertain what role Skinheads played in these outrages. ,
ABBIE
Abbie Hoffnian, gadfly par excellence, claims his life of rebellion was based on his Jewish consciousness.
Hoffman, who died last month at the age of 52, wrote in his 1980 biography, Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture, that Jews are destined "to be rebels, to question society and to be funny." : ; ■ •'
One of the symbols of the 1960s hippie movement, Hoffman was bom in Worcester, Mass. From an early age,' he exhibited a penchant for the theatrical. Of his mother, he said: "She understood and forgave a lot. She knew I was a banditl."
Hoffman, who was arrested 44 times during his career, attended Briandeis University, and joined the civil rights movement, helping register Blacks to vote in the south.
He gained pronunence in the summer of 1968 as a mejmber of the Chicago Seven, a group of largely Jewish radicals who stood trial on charges of conspiring to disrupt the Democratic convention.
During the trial, a Jewish Telegr^h-ic Agency dispatch states, Hoffnian sparred with the judge, Julius Hoffman
(no relation), calling him a "shtunk" and a "shander fur de goyimv"
Hoffman and his co-conspirators were found guilty, but the ruling was overturned on appeal.
In 1973, he was arrested for selling cocaine to undercover agents. Skipping bail, he went underground, using the alias of Barry Freed. Later, after having surrendered, he was active in environmental causes. Toward the end of his life, he was a stand-up comedian.
It was clear that his Jewishness had formed bun. As he put it: "I came into the world acutely aware of being Jewish and I'm sure I'll go out that way."
A PIONEER
Abel Wolman is dead at 96.
Don't be surprised if his name doesn't ring a bell. He was not a celebrity, but he probably contributed more to his environment than all the glittering stars in Hollywood.
Wohnan, who led efforts ui the U.S. and abroad to chkninate drink-big water, was a titan in the field. fraak Press, president of the Natkm-al Academy of Sciences, of whkh Wobnah had been a memba-, said he was "one of the great Americans of the 20th century, truly the father of modem sanitary enguieering."
Abel Wolman
was the father
of modern ehlorination
In a career spanning seven decades, Wolman advised more than 50 foreign governments on their water supply, and his methods for water treatment by ehlorination were adopted by virtually every city in the U.S. /
Together with a colleague from John Hopkins University, he developed a method for chlorinating water that would kill deadly pathogens but not harm people'who drank the water.
Abbie Hoffnian in 1968 Geft) and recently.
Abel Wohnan
Some critics claimed that ehlorination was a Communist plot to undermine America. But studies have shown that ehlorination, far from weakening societies, has contributed immensely to fighting tooth decay.
Wolman, one of six children of Polish Jewish inmiigrants, was bom in Baltimore. He wanted to be a doctor, but his parents encouraged him to study engineering. After graduating from John Hopkins, he joined the United States Public Health Service^ where he specialized in stream pollution. He then became chief engineer of the Maryland department of health. In 1937, he signed on as chainnkn of John Hopkins' department- of sanitary engineering.
He held more than 200 positions in public health, public works, engineering and education. They included presidency of the American Public. Health Association and chairmanship of the National Water Resources Board. '■.C / ..
Wolmari's son, Markley Gordon, presently occupies; his father's engineering chair at John Hopkins.