Page 2-The Canadian Jewish News. Thursday. December 10, 1987
World-National
MT
vote
. By,
RABBI W. GUNTHER PLAUT
1 am writing this column on Nov. 29, the 40th anniversary of thcday when the United Nations General Assembly, then meeting in Flushing Meadows. NY. voted to partition Palestine. Two. states; were to emerge from the division, one Jewish and one Arab. In effect, this constituted the birth of Israel, though its independence would riot be proclaimed until some months later, on May 15. UMK, when the ;Briti.sh mandatory forces left the country.
During the iniddle of 1947 the British were still in control (if the country, though the 'inandiite had become a burden to ihcni and they Rabbi Phmt were ready to turn the respohsibilify over tothe UN. The turning point came in July of that year . when the ship l^xodus 1947 arrived.in Haifa with 4.5CX) refugees aboard! But the British did not allow the Jews to disembark and forced the ship to tiirn back. Its sad Journey ended back in Germany from where it had come in the first place.
Exodus turned back
The Exodus 1947 affair had _a profound effect on world opinion and it convinced the British government that nothing was to be gained by prolonging its mandatory rule over Palestine. ..Meanwhile, the United Nations had been considering the problem, though it appeared deadlocked over any workable solution. But when Andre Gromyko (today the president of the Soviet Union) announced that his country would support partition and the establishment of a Jewish state, the die was cast. A special committee recommended a plan whereby the land would be split into three segments. A thin coastal strip, the southern Negey and the eastern Galil would comprise the Jewish state; the West Bank all the way to and including Beersheba. the Gaza strip and the western portions of the Negev and the Galil were to go to the Arabs; while Jerusalem and environs were to constitute a third international zone.
On Saturday, Nov. .29. the voting began at the UN: I was a delegate to the final session of the American Jewish Conference, which had been created during the war and the only Jewish parliament ever to exist in America. The meetings-were held in the Chicago Civic Opera House and began after Shabbat was over.
By the time the session began the voting had already taken place in. New York, but w^e did not know its results. Chairman Louis Lipsky rose to open the proceedings.
• 'Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great privilege in opening this session to make an important state- \ ment. . . TheUnited Nations, by a vote of 33 for,. 13 against; 10. abstentions and one absent, gave official recognition to the Jewish state on Palestine." :
There fdUbued an outburst of wild emotion and we virtually shouted the Hatikvah. Stephen S. Wise, one of the spiritual and political architects of the state, sat weeping in his chair on the stage. When at laist he rose, all of us in the audience stood again, recognizing his immense contribution to the rebirth of Zion.
"1 want to describe to you," he said wiping his eyes, "the Jewish state that is to be ; . . It will be free, it will be democratic. It will be Jewish — Jewish with tolerance and amicability for all people.'' Wise was then 73 years old aind he described some highlights of his Zionist life. He had been a delegate to the World Zionist Organization in 1904 and had ; spoken to Herzl who said to him after the session: "I shall not live to see the Jewish state but you will live to see it;" ;
And Wiise concluded: "I am too small for the greatn^ of the mercy which God has shown us." It was our turn to weep in gratitude^ " *■ ■■■ * ■ ■ ■
Correction: David Greenspan'is address is 390 Bay St., suite 3100, Toronto, M5H1W2. He can also be contacted by phone at (416) 868-3203, regarding the restoration of tombstones in Poland, as discussed ln"last week's colunih;
arms
ton
By — WOLF BLITZER
WASHINGTON -
The U.S. justice department has accused Israel of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle restricted technology for the manufacture of tank cannon barrels out of the United States.
The Israeli embassy in , Washington has flatly denied the allegation. "We are confident that any review will establish that Israel Military Industries (IMI) and the Government of Israel and its employees had acted in full compliance with U.S. laws and regulations," embassy sp<ikesman Yossi Gal said.
The Pentagon, so far, has not issued any formal ..statement on the dispute, which resurfaced on Nov. 24 when the justice department announced that' a Connecticut company.. NAPCO Inc;. had agreed to pay S75().()0() in fines for violating. U.S. export law by smuggling equipment; ' and technology to Israel for hianufaclure of the 120 mm tank barrel cannons. , The guilty plea followed a 2-year investigation by the justice department, the Customs Ser\'icc and other U.S. law-enforcement agencies. . r
In December 1985. the" issue was first publicized when federal agents raided . NAPCO's headquarters. ; At thai lime. Israel also denied any wrongdoing. . insisting that NAPCO was solely responsible for obtaining the required-export licences.
A year earlier, in December 1984,'NAPCO had signed a contract with IMI to construct a factory in Israel that would use a new and highly sophisticated technology to chrome-plate the interiors of 120 mm cannon barrels "without having first obtained a validated export licence from the United States department of commerce." according to court papers filed on Nov: 24.
The new technology enables the tank barrels to he produced faster, and: at less cost, than other processes. In addition, the court papers said, the process results in a cannon T'Nvith greater range, more accuracy, and a life expectancy of 800-1.500 rounds," • as opposed to the older version's only 200 rounds.
.!' Th i s pro c e s s , was believed to represent the state of the art for chrome-plating the interiors of 120 mm cannon barrels." the papers added. "Although neither classified nor mark-: ed proprietary, the cathode, theanodC' and the information relating to these fixtures were considered the property of the United States, similar to a trade secret." . In 1984, the papers said, Israel had made plans with NAPCO to build a'chrome-plating facility in Israel at a cost of approximately $1.9 million. ^APCO's profit was projected~to be betweW, $150,000-$200,000.
An Jsraeii businessman, identified in court papyers as Chaim Milstein^- acted as the broker for the deal. .' The IMJ facility "was intended forchromeplating
cannons and. other weapons as well as other items of both a military and non-military nature, such as hydraulic cylinders," they said.
"As known to NAPCO," the court papers said, "IMI sought and received fuH funding for this project from the United States department of defence under the Foreign Military Sales Credit Program. However, unknown to NAPCO, DVfl advised that this was a general purpose chromeplating facility for hydraulic tubes and cylinders, and failed to disclose that the facility would be used to chrome-plate 120 mm cannon barrels. The facility was, therefore, to be financed bythe United States. Export licences from the departments of state and commerce were still required, however, for shipments concerning the IMI project from the United States to Israel."
The contract stipulated that NAPCO was responsible for obtaining "whatever licences were necessary for the exportation of technology and equipment to Israel." The court papers said NAPCO subsequently informed IMI that no export licences were required,
But the court documents also said that around the time that the contract was .signed, IMI advised NAPCO that the facility would in fact be used to chrome-plate 120 mm cannons. *'Because IMI's development of this cannon, was secret, however. IMI asked NAPCO not to refer to the Cannon as such but instead to refer to the 120 mm cannon as a "hydraulic cylinder.' " the papers' said. -'"Thus, in all communications between Israel and NAPCO coricorning the facilily. the 120 cannon was referred to as a "hydraulic cylinder:" ""
NAPCO. in. its subsequent presentations to the
department of commerce, said that the proposed facility in Israel would be used to chromeplate "hydraulic cylinders."
"Based on this misleading presentation," the court papers said, "the department of commerce representatives determined that no export licence was required. NAPCO made no other effort to obtain an export licence for shipments to Israel."
Israeli officials irisi.sted that they had accurately informed the Pentagon about the proposed factory. Indeed, they said that they had written documentation to prove that they had not inisled the defence department, although they refused, to make it available. They explained that they did not want to enihari'ass specific Pentagon officials with whom Israel has a^ continuing relationship.
Despite the justice department's allegations. Israeli officials said they still expect the Pentagon
eventually to baCk-up the Israeli version.
A Pentagon spokesman. Major Larry Icenogle. said that he was awaiting press guidance from higher-ranking officials who were continuing their investigation. "The matter is under review," he said.
The Washington Post; which first published news about the plea agreement on its front page, quoted a U. S .justice department official as saying that the U.S. foreign aid prograrti financed construction of a facility in Israel that is now using srnuggled American technology. The official added that the papers filed in court make it clear that Israel did in fact try to hide the purpose of the plant when seek ing U. S. goverri-mcnt financing for the project. ; ,
. The newspaper said there arc other pending cusioins-juStice invest iga-lions of alleged smuggling of American technology to Israel.
ession.'
7 1
^ By RICHARD COHEN
WASHINGTON^
In October; the stock market collapsed and everyone said something must be done. The federal deficit must be narrowed: The dollar cannot be allowed to fall further. The trade deficit must be Closed. The President must exercise leadership. From Washington to New York; everyone was ordered to battle stations. A recession, maybe a depression, was heading our way.
There is no underestimating the seriousness of the stock market collapse. Lots of people lost lots of money -—and the victims were not only the wealthy. Many Americans no\vhavd their savings investal in the stock itiarket, either directly throiigh the purchase of stocks or through pension or savings plans. These people, especially if they are about to retire, are poorer today than they were just a little while ago.
But certain segments of American society are already in a depression— both an economic and a psychological one. The Wall Street Journal recently sent a reporter to Girard, Kansas. It's a depressed community, dependent on fanning, whose residents wondered why the collapse of the stock market demanded instant action while the collapse of the rural economy has caused little panic. "It seems to me we've had a depression all the days of our lives," said one 68-year-old resident.
The same question could be asked by members of the American underclass — particularly women and children. Depression is both their plight and their fate. This is ti-ue for the poor of all races." but the statistics are particulariy .stark for Blacks. / As Andrew Hacker points out in the current New York Review of Books, more than 60% of all Black children are born outside of wedlock, more than half of all Black families are headed by women and most Black children live only with their mothers.. The consequence of these appalling statistics is appalling poverty. Almost 30% of all Black families. live below the official poverty level.
As for Black riien. only 40% last year had full- =
time jobs. Indeed, so footkxise and impoverished ='
is their existence, that an estimated 20% of them =.
are missed by the census. Their fatherhood is e casual, job prospects alinost nil, educational level . e
abysmal and their chances of becoming the victims =
of violence or drugs fairiy good. . - . =
This is a true depression, worse than anything e
that befell the nation" from 1929 to the onset of =
WoHd War II. yet it has produced no. panic and =
. no crisisrn'eelings iri Washington. Jndeed. the =
plight of the underclass, particularly the Black one. =
has instead produced a .shrug of the shoulders and e
— on the part of the Reagan administration at- e tempts to gut even successful programs siich as e Head Start. A welfare-reform bill pokes through e Congress'at a pace that makes the budget recon- =; ciliation process seem swift. There are fears that e in an era of austerity its cost may be prohibitive e
— never mind the human cOst in the meantime. e Partly, this indifference to the poor is a refiec- =
uon of the electoral system. The poor are riotori- =
ously bad about voting. They don't contribute to e
political candidates. They have no political-aciion e
committees and, of course, the bulk of them — chil- e
dren — are too young to vote, A system that. e
responds to votes and money has no cause to =
respond at all when it comes to the poor. e
In the long run. national indifference to the un- e
derclass will conie to haurii us. By failing to ad- e
dress the problem, we are losing bur most valuable e
resource — children: Programs that could reach e
thern at an eariy age and possibly break the cycle e
of poverty cither are being underfunded or not even e.
attempted. e
The collapse of the ,stock market, blamed on a =
. panic,.in itself prcxJuced a panic/We were all hor-. e
rified at the prospect of yet another depression — e of poverty, unemployment arid the social malaise . e
that would result. But that is precisely the plight e
of some of the nation at the inoment. What's most ='
depressing about it is how little most of us seem e
.■to .carc;' .. ■ ■ : " ..
(Copyright Washington Post Writers Group) =
Jewish news
: ; Directors: Charles Brpnfman.Oqnald Carr, Q.C. George A. Cohon, Jack Cummings, Murray B: Koffler, Albert J. Latner, Ray p. Wolfe, Rubin Zimmerman Editor, Maurice Lucow '-■-\ Business Manager, Gary Laiforet Advertising Manager, Vera Gillman
VOL. XXVm. NO. 30 (2,382)
Published by The Canadian Jewish News ; (A Corporation without share capital)
Toronto Office: 10 Gateway Boulevard, SiLilte 420, Don Mills, Ont. M3C 3A1 422-2331
Montreal Office: Square Decarie, Ste. 157, 6900 boul. Decarie. Montreal, Que. H3X 2T8 735-2612
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Canad4=$15.00 per year.;..................
USA,..........:.....:...:.................:.....;;
All other countries ::..........
$25.00 - 2 years $26.00-1 year $36.00-1 year
Second Class Mail . Postage Paid atToronto Registration Number 1683
Average net pakj circulation ;.. 50,711 ; Average total distribution ;.. 53,458
Publisher's sworn statement; April 7lh, 1987
The Canadian Jewish-News assuiTies no^^"r^^^ the kashruth of the products advertised.
/