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The Canadian Jewish News. Thursday, May 29, 1986-Page 3
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national executive
On June 4, nine Toronto Women, leaders in the Jewish community, will be honored at a State of lisrael Bonds Womens Division Tribute Dinner at Beth Tzedec Synagogue. One of these ">yomen of Valor" is Mira Koschitzky, who was recently elected chairperson of the national executive of Canadian Jewish Congress.
^-^■■■-■■■•■■By
PAUL LUNGEN
TORONTO -
Mira Koschitzky has come a long way.
From the lime when as a child she and her family had to hide from the Nazis and rely on the good graces of Gentile farmers hot to betray them, to her comfortable life iri. Toronto
Mira Koschitzky
near the top of the Gana- ■ jng the Holocaust was a dian Jewish : Congress. seminal event, and she still hierarchy Koschitzky is a    refers to jt as "influencmg
•livmg reminder of survivors who rebuih their lives after the Holocaust. For Koschitzky. surviv-
me for the rest of my life."
Back in 1944. the fact of the Nazi tyranny hit her farnily with a vengeance:
riSeriom errors
SHELDON KIRSHNER
TORONTO —
There is no systemalic pro-Israel or pro-Arab h)ias in the American media. But there have been "major and serious errors" in the coverage of the Middle East, says an investigative journalist who has exposed Saudi Arabian influence peddling in the U.S:
Steve Emerson, author of The American House of Saud, spoke at a luncheon. on the media and the Middle East sponsored by Canadian Professors for Peace in the Middle Eist and Canadian Academic , Foundation for Peace in the Middle East..; .
Emerson, now employed by U.S. News and World , Report, listed several examples of how the media haye been biased.
•Many reporters, he said, rely on less than objective sources — former American diplomats in the pay of Arab interests — to compile their dispatches.
Emerson said that more than 200 ex-diplomats currently serve as paid lobbyists of Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Two of them are former ambassadors to Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Qften. he-pointed out. they mislead the public by writing newspaper articles' without identifying themselves as lobbyists. ,
The American press doesn't do enough investigative reporting, particularly into the flnancial background of lobbyists, Emerson stated. When ex-Vice President Spiro Agnew went around the country blasting Israel and casting aspersions on so-called Jewish influence, the press neglected to report-that he was in the employ of two Arab governments
Steve Emerson
— Saudi .\rabia and Kuwait.
•Israel receives closer scrutiny of alleged human rights violations than Arab countries.
There have been stories describing Israel's methods of controlling the West Bank, but the reporting of repression of Shiites in Saudi Arabia has either been non-existent or un-^ critical, he charged.
. •The coverage of the 1982 war in Lebanon was. by and large, fair. But the media's portrayal of Lebanon was such that a reader might not have known that Lebanon was wracked by deep-seated problems before Israel's invasion.        . -
As well, Emerson said, there was little reporting, in the pre-1982 period. of how the PLC ran southern Lebanon like its own ficfdom.
•In fast-breaking-developments, the media lack "critical judgment."'
During the 1985 TWA hijacking in Beirut, the Lebanese Shiite hijackers were given a daily platform : for their views. In future terrorist incidents, the media .should impose upon itself a code of self-
discipline. Emcr.son • advised.. . . He said thai, in terms of coluiiin inches. .Middle East news is allotted more room than any. other foreign policv issue facine the U.S:
From 1948 to 1973. he continued, the American press was generally pro-Israel. And this was partly the case because a disproportionate number of publishers, editors and reporters are Jewish.
But in the wake of the Arab oil embargo, following the 1973 Vom Kippur War, the press adopted an even-handed stance toward Israel and the Arabs. •'
Jewish publishers, editors and reporters, he suggested,   bent over _ backwards to be balanced.'
Emerson speculated that the curi-ent oil glut has weakened the Saudi lobby in the U.S. Proof of that is Congress' reluctance to approve the sale of $354 million worth of mi.ssiles to Saudi Arabia.
John Barei. a University of Toronto professor, presented a study showing the extent to which the Middle East has become important on Canadian TV newscasts.
T.A. Keenleyside, of the University of Windsor, .said the Canadian press tends to emphasize violence and conflict in the Middle East.
He said that foreign wire services provide Canadians with most of their news about the Middle East.
Another University of Windsor academic. B.E.. Burton, noted that the coverage of Canada's role. in the region has been disappointingly sparse.
He said that, in the absence of major disturbances in the Middle East, the press is likely to be reasonably balanced in the presentation of the Arab-Israeli >dispute.
Living ma village just outside Bratislava in Czechoslovakia, her family had managed to avoid deportation because, her father Was considered ah economically important Jew. Along with some well place bribes, that managed to keep the Nazi talons off the family.
But it all changed in 1944 when Germany took over from the local puppet regime and all exemptions from deportation became void. To avoid the Nazis the family sent Mira and her younger sister, Lili, to live with a peasant family.
That farnily saved their lives, Koschitzky recalls, and she commends their valor, since by hiding Jews — even those who had te'm-porarily converted to Christianity as her family did — they risked execution.
From late summer to Decernber 1944. Mira and her sister lived a life of deception, until her parents, who had obtained false papers. collected them and with the girls, moved in with other "righteous Gentilics."
That life lasted until . the liberation of Czechoslovakia in March. 1945, and in 1947. the family, having been sponsored by relatives, emigrated to Canada.
Living in fear of the Nazis, leading a double life, having to convert to Christianity, left an in-delibje mark on Koschitzky.
"The Holocaust made me a much more committed Jew," she say.s. "It may sound phony, but (to me) it's one way of proving Hitler wrong: by being a committed Jew."
For Koschitzky. a warm, and unassuming woman. her commitment to things Jewish started relatively early. From her university days as a member of the Student Zionist,Organiza- ; tion and Hillel to her current position . as chairwoman of the national ex^ ecutive of Canadian Jewi.sh Congress. Koschitzky has made her commitment to Jewish concerns tangible and real.
Her latest achievement, winning election at the recent Congress plenary assembly, would have sur-
prised her back in the days in Calgary when she and her husband Saul were concerned with raising their three children in an Or- : thodox environment and making . a life for themselves. \
At first, her involvcinent in Jewish communal activities was limited to the synagogue sisterhood, where she acted as vice-president, and as president of a Hadassah chapter.
It was Saul who was involved in building . the Jewish .Community Council of Calgary back in the mid-60s, but his involvement iri such activities became limited after undergoing open heart surgery 11 years ago, after the family moved to Toronto.
issue priority
Mira's. involvement in local community affairs started at a modest.level as president of the PTA of Associated \Hebrew . Sch(X)ls, which her three children. David. Joel and: Tamar. attended.
From there she became a member of the board of a . V- a r i e t y o f J .e w i s h organizations and ho.spiials and was active on (he Congress activity concerned with Soviet Jewry.
In, 1980. she was offered the task of being CJC plenary chairwoman, a position her sister-in-law Julia Ko.schitzky held at the recent plenary, and that year also saw her elected chairwoman of CJC Ontario Region.
Now, holding a position that puts her among the chief fkilicy makers of Congress. Koschitzky plans to bring her life experiences to bear when it comes to setting priorities. Having lived in Calgary, a small Jewish community by Toronto standards, has ' ■ made me sensitive to the concerns of small communities," she says. "People don't realize how dif-
ficult It IS to remain Jewish in smaller communities;,''
Pointing to the high intermarriage rate in Calgary (about 50%), Koschitzky voices concern over the phenomenon of "the disappearing Jew." : Her solution is "support for Jewish education, not only for children, biit for adults too."
If you don't know what being a Jew means, then you won't be committed or knowledgeable enough to remain Jewish, she says.
Get Jewish adults involved in issues of concern to the conimunity. whether it be ■ oppressed Jewry, Holocaust memorials, law and social action, and they will be educated through their involvement, she argues.
Koschitzky says her involvement won't be limited to the so-called motherhood issues. She wants to get involved in controversial matters too.
"I think Congress has a role to play on issues of social injustice," she says, but it must pick and choose them with care.
Concern over Canadian  policy, vis-a-vis
refugees is hear the top of her list, since "having been in a position of not being allowed in, we should push the issue."
Supporting visible . minorities in their fight against discrimination is a second    priority for Koschitzky.
But she disagrees with Congress* recent resolution to take a position against the reimposition of capital punishment iii Canada. It's "too divisive" an issue within the community, .she says. ; ■ Working to .see Nazi war criminals prosecuted, is high on her.agenda, though .she says we mUst wait and .see the Deschenes Corti-:mission's report before deciding on a course of action such as political lobbying.
And involving youth in communal activities, including leadership roles, is a good step to en.sure Jewish continuity, she .says.
With Koschitzky's commitment and initiative following her harrowing early years, little woiider she has been named a "Woman of Valor."
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