Page 2-Thc Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, October 9. 1986
M T
Rabbi Plant
Lifeline to the people
of Israel
RABBI W.GUNTHERPLAUT
With Yom Kippur at hand and Israel Bonds ap-' peals a standard teaturc almost everywhere, it might be asgcHid time as any to lay out some tacts.
Purchasers of Bonds loan money to Israel., they do not give It. At present low Canadian interest rates the dirterence beiwcen what Israel pays the lender and what the banks pay has become ver\. small indeed.
Now. when people go to a bank and purchase a term paper they will hardly say that they • have. "donated money." Vet this is what 1 hear time and again. from those. who buy Israeli term papers — (or that is what Bonds are in essence. Therefore; Bonds are pot ta.x deductible. They can he cashed in Israel or here, at maturity or before.
It is different with the United Jewish. Combined Jewish or United Israel Appeal. There you"re asked to give plain and simple. You thereby sup^ pon certain educational and welfare projects, and the donations are tax.decuctible. like those to other
approved recipients. , • ...
With the ncedsof Israel being what they are today, attention to both Bonds purchases and UJ.ACJ.A/UIA gifts pro.vide.s a lifeline for the embattled state.' .A recent article by S.imcha Bahiri. Research Fellow at^Xt;! Aviv University, set out some startling comparisons. It gave precise;U.S. dollar figures, and 1 will repeat a few to let you see just what is involved.
Since. 1967. when militarv'.spending was.99f of the Israeli Gross National Product, it is how about 30% — and according to some, the figure is actually much; higher. Since the state cannot do without its defence equipnient it has obviously less, lo'spcnd on stx'ial or developmental projects. For inslimce:' ■ ■■■
• ..One Lavi nghter. plane costs S5,0 milli(in. which is also the cost of a. new central bus station in Tel .Aviv; which is badly needed but currently' stands, uncompleted'. The project is frozen.
• Five F-16 planes cost 5150 million, which would niake p<.)ssible the.extension of Isfaers rail. sNsteiii to Hilat.
. • One ..single ground-tp-aii". shoulder-fired Stinger missile costs S75.000- forwhich amount three public dwelling units could be built. . .• ;The co^;t of one Merkayahtan equals-the debt of 100 farms in the Gaiilee.
'• Eight butlcls for the Galil rifle cost the same as one school meal. ; .- .
•. Foronc 40mnV machine gun.one could buv a family farm tractor.
And so oh. The contribution to Israers health. which.our'cominunity will make can be substantial or negligible. And who is "the community ■' but. we. every one of us. The advent of Yom Kippur. is a good, time to explore our personal obligation. "■
female graduates
BEERSHEBA -
Shifa El-H.ouzayil.'\sho recently Completed her course of studies "at ; Ben-Giirion University's department of social work.. ha.s become the first female B.tidouin student to graduate from an Israeli university. ■ '
Her final graduation project, undertaken with her brothers and another student; was a study of the transition of a small Bedouin tribe from a. nomadic I i festyle to a per-rnanent settlement.
Prof. Benjamin Gid-ron, head of BGU's social work department, says Bedouin students can serve as thie bridge between traditional tribal
environment and modern, urban society. '
For Shifa El-HouzayiU however, breaking through the barrier of age-old. family traditions was no;easy task. Her father demonstrated great resistance to allowing- her to travel to Beer.sheba. unchaperoned and return home in the dark. . ' .
Other members of the ENHouzayil tribe threatened to ostracize the family to . prevent their own daughters from. fo 11 owi ng in her fdot.steps.
Intervention by Shifa's older' brothers, themselves students and Prof: Gidrqn^ resulted in her father consenting to her studies.
WOLF BLITZER
WASHINGTON
La.st April's U.S. bomb-inglrf terrorist targets in Libya is beginning to have important political benefits lor Israel in Wa-shingtoni. This was underlined recent-. ly at the U.S- defence department;. ■ , :..
The .Pentagon's spokesman. Bob Sims; was.asked by reporters to comment on Israel s bombing that day ot-terrorist targets outside Beirut. "We'rccontinuing-to monitor the situation..''. he replied. "But generally. we're concerned about the report; of increasing violence in that troubled region." . ■ : Like other spokesmen at the state department and the White Hoiise that day. Sims urged all parties ' 'to exercise restraint before any ac-. lions which lead to violence and the Continued suffering.. of the Lebanese people .We . don't believe there is; a military solution ib; the Lebanon problem."
At the Pentagon briefing. Sims was then. asked .whether Israel "s use of : U.S.-supplied military equipment during the bonibing raid out.side Beirut had violated .Americian law. In the past, the Reagan ad-. ministration — like the Carter administration before it — had raised the possibility of an Israe.li violation of the stipulation that American weaponry be us-. ed only in "'legitimate self-defence."
But now. the Pentagon ■spokesman was clearly in an avvkward -position.: as underscored by the; following exchange:
Repoiier: "Bob. al one time.when the Israelis of other people 'used.U;S. equipment for other than . delensixe purposes, the U.S. would say it was.investigating the circumstances to see whether the . situation was really: one of ■ defence or whethei" itlwa.s an attack, an offensive-type , operation. Is that the case he re. or we j u St don ■ i bo the r. any more?. ■ ^ .
•Sims; ."Well.; L'don't, know that,— What are you talking, about that we should be investigating':'"
Reporter; •"VVell. the .arms were .sold to Lsrael for det'ensive,purposes, and I. believe theyat one time had the liriiitation that they,, Could only be used for defensive purpo.ses. Does that apply any more?"
Sims, unprepared for and uncomfortable with that kind of questioning, skirted the iissue. *•! just don't have anything on that for you," he said. He was, 0|f course, ven a>vare of the fact that President Ronald Reagan, in justifying, the April bombing of the Libyan targets, had argued "legitimate self-defence."
Thu.s, the U.S. had accepted the Israeli principle that pre-emptive strikes could indeed be defensive in nature. If Israel knew the locations of terrorist targets in Lebanon, how could the' U.S. now criticize Israeli air strikes against them? The U.Si had earlier done the same thing. The point was obvious to everyone at the press briefing. _ Still,, another reporter— pressed the issue: "Is it still
U.S. policy to review ahy potential -— .6r any action like that to see if_it.Vs of-^ Tensive in nature, if U.S. weapons are involved?" . Sjms:"I can't get into . 'what if questions. We -don't — th'erc's been no i change in oiir policy ':■ But I'm not going to get into a review of .'what ifs.' " '
Repivrtef :'*But it's hap-, pcncd, and it is-happening. Are you reviewing the facts: with that in mind." , ^ : CSims; '"As Lve said, we're ntonitoring the situation there very closely, and we're watching to see what has happened, Sot^r.Ihave ho information on what has happened there, other than. that there's been violence in . a nuiiiber of .sources:in the. past several days."
Israeli officials were understandably delighted. ;: They had recognized last April that the U.S. bomb-, ing of Libya would autonia-tically make it much more difficult, for Washington • later to hpjd the issue of "self-defence" oyer Is- : rael's head.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign.Minister Yitzhak Shamir, already at the : United Nations for the opening session of the General Assembly, was quick to make the very jx)irn during an interview, pub-.lished SepL 25 in The New York Times;
"You can't call it a
bonibing," he said of the raid near Beirut, the 10th Israeli air strike on Lebanon this year. "Frqinltime to time, there are some defensive aciicins against terrorist bases, against terrorist attempts against the population of Israel.."
State department officials agreed that the U.S.,could . . no. longer very easily investigate whether Israel was using American-supplied /weaponry in .strict' self-defence. Israel's. legal arguments have, been strengthened by thq Reagan administration's own ac-;tions.■
Thi.s is not the first time that the U.S.. under: Reagan.-: has used Israeli-style tactics in trying to curtail terrorism. The dtjcision. for example, to force down in Italy an EgyptAir commercial airlinecarrj'ing the Achille Lauro hijackers to freedom raised allsorts of . que.stions involving interna-; tional law-,— just: like Israel's' decision to tbrce down in. Israel a small Syrian busines.s jet cai-r>'ing Syrian, officials from a meeting in Libya to Damas-cu.s. Israel, which had suspected that Palestinian terrorists were aboard, quickly allowed the plane and the officials to.leave once it was. learned that no terrorists were present.
The U.S. did not scold Lsrael:for that action. And
there was no critiGi.srh of the bombing raid in Lebanon last week cither. Indeed; the Reagan :adminstratlon has generally been very sen-. ;sitivc to Israel's security concerns .stemming from the continued chaos in Lebanon, especially in the south. ■ . • '
pefenCe Mini.ster Vitz-; hak Rabin, in an interview published iii The Wall Street JournaL referred to the perception in parts of the Arab worjd that there already was some sort of division of labor between the U.S.. and Israel in the fight against terrorism. The U.S.Would deal with the L i b y a n t h r e a t, w h i 1 e Israel would handle Syria. Even if that were not the case, Rabin noted, the preceptioh alone might deter the Syrians and the Libyans.
Asked about, any such formal division of labor. P r i m e Minister Shi mo n: Peres denied it exiisted, But he confirmed that "today our two countries act Clo.se-ly on terrorism.■'■ . :
President Reagan, addressing the: UN General .As,sernbly on Sept: 22. once .again issued a hard line. Israeli-style \ warning against. terrorism,., "No cause, no grievance can j usti fy it." he .said. " It is the. crime of cowards, cowards who prey on the innocent,,
the defenceless, and the helpless. -
''With its allies and other nations, the United States, has taken_steps to eouhter terrorism directly, particularly state-sponsored terrorism.. Last May, the. ,United States dehiohstrated that it will defend its interests and tiet against terrorist aggression. Arid let me assure all ;of you today ' — especially let me as.sure any potential sponsors of terrorismthat the American people are of one mind, on this, issue. Like other civilized peoples of the world; we havQ reached, our limit. Attacks against our citizens or our interests ; \vill not go unahswered: We will also do all in our PQvver to help other law-abiding . nations.threatened by. ler-^
rorist attacks."\ ■
Still, despite that kind of' strong rhetoric' there is by no means, a complete identity of views between Washington and Jerusalem.
Thus, on Sept. 24, the U.S. abstained from — rather than vetoed — a UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel to w i t h d r a w i t s t rop ps f ro m the"security zone" ih southern Lebanon and permit the UNIFIL troops to move up to the Israeli border. The 14 other Security Council members voted for the French-sponsored resolution.
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tourism was
By
RICHARD COHEN
WASHINGTON -
First came hewsmagazine cover stories aboiit terrorism abroad. Then came the Ipgical.cover story' that Americansvvere going to stay, in the ,s.ummer; chtx)sing to spend their money — and not their lives '— where:they both still;had some value. It was. we'were told; a newirend. ■
But then canre the news that domestic travel was down. That meant that a considerable number of people had hot gone to Europe and had not taken their vacations in America and were, therefore, simply unaccounted -for. And so, being addicted to newsmaguizines. I concluded that these missing people were engaged in other newsmaga/ine trends that.we already knew about: / . Maybe 10^ of the people \vere staying home doing drugs — another trend. Some of them were •snorting.coke and some others doing crack, while still others were doing absolutely, nothing — prepar-i.ng for a drug test .on the job,^'M a small, percentage of the uhaccounted were politicians like New York's Senator.Alforise D'Amato. out on the streets buying drugs to show how easy it is: In an election year, their number.s could add. up.
It couiiJ be. though, that millions of people were simply staying honie not having, babies — a recent trend; Or maybe they were all at Ralph Lauren's new store oh Madi.son Ave., spending the.billions they had made a.s insider traders. .Maybe; as reported in People Magazine, they had canceled a vacation to "do" infidelity.
The newsmagazines tell us, though, that even marriage cheaters could not aiccount for the shortage of travelers. This is because other cover stories said that no one is having sex for fear of herpes or becau.se of the new celibacy (remember that?) or becau.se ofthe new morality > and the return to commitment.
Some people, for sure, were not smoking or not drinkiiig and were returning to religion although why they needed it, given their lifestyles, Isbeyond me. Still others had taken up tap dancing or were trying to figure out if Andrew Wyeth teally had ah affair with Hclga and. If so, why?
I know all these thing-s from reading the newsmagazines. I accept their word that these are genuine trends, although^ know ho one who inr
dulges in them. Like a teen-ager sitting home on , =
Saturday night. I have the unea.sy feeling that ; =
everyone el.se is doing somethings but I don't have , =
a clue what that is. As inhigh:school. Monday nior- . =
ning is when I find out.. Now. instead of overhear- . =
ing my classmates. 1 read the newsmagazines. . s
I have learned that Richard Nixon is back =
(\shere?;how?). and fathers are playing with their : s
kids- This is because they are not reading (explains =
why Nixon is back,), not going to the movies, not ^
watching televisionand not playing video games ^ '=
an\ more; They are. instead.reading pornography; e
walking around Shopping malls for exercise; travel- e
. ing to Nashyitle.to diet, realigning as Republicans^^^^^ ^
.starting their own businesses. se.xually;abusihg their =
children, taking poison pills (they deserve it) or H
— it can: not be the sanie people — learning how s
to'cry!.^ ■,;!
Most of us are getting older. Everyone i.sriiov' =
ing Avest and .south except the people we know. e
None of uscan afford a house and all of us live e
in condominium.communities that ban children and s
pets — although the latter arc: absolutely essential =
for a full roiinded life whije the former, for some. e
rea,son; are. not. We eat an average of 126.8 pounds e
;of„sugar a year, have co.smetic surgery (little |
wonder) and treat our aging parents as we dp our ; e
growing children: We ignore them; e
God is dead, says Time Magazine, No she's e
not, counters Ms. There's a new nationalisin, s
a new isolationism, a new interventiphi,sm and e
;sUrrogate mothers are being sexually harassed e
while at work. Kids are no longer proniiscuous e
except when they are, and Yuppies have more =
money to spend, only of course they don't and, e
anyway, they ought to because they are childless e
and were all raised by single mothers in coii- s
dorniniums Mhere they were se.xually exploited =
by crack-crazed insider-traders. s
\Vomen are divorcing the surrogate father of e
their child by another man; They are working .not s
\vorking, seeking fuiniment, and. rejecting e
feminisni. Everyone is s;h6wing the flag... being a e
single parent, being a spy, wanting to be Sam ,e
Shepard, worshipiping the sun. rejoicjng in the ..e
return of womeh to rock music taking over inedia s
companies and, it seems, being afraid to yehture. e
out gif the house. i
Who can blame them? Nixon's back. s
(Copyright, 1986, Washlngton_Po.st) |
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