16 Pages
Friday. July 1. 1977
Tamuz 15,5737
Rabbis concerned over impaGt of proposed religious laws
It's an emotional moment after the signfaig of the coaUtJon agreement between religioas parties and the Likud.
Premier Menachem Begin (cenire) embraces his number two man. Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich. At right is Josef Burg, head of National Religious Party. Agreement has stirred much discussion, both in Israel and Diaspora.
Israel must yield occupied lauds Carter says in blunt statement
Bv SHELDON KIRSHNER
In his bluntest and possibly most significant policy statement on the Middle East since he assumed the presidency. Jimmy Carter this week spelled out part of the terms Israel must abide by in an Arab-Israeli settlement. Neither the Israelis nor the Jewish communities in the Diaspora will like it.
President Carter instructed the State Department to make it absolutely clear that Israel must withdraw from the bulk of the occupied territories, in return for a durable peace that would include steps toward normalization of relations with the Arabs.
Taking issue with the new Israeli government's policy that it must retain the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for reasons of security and national-religious sentiment. Washington declared that no territory was sacrosanct in Arab-Israeli negotia:tions.
"To automatically exclude any territory under dispute would be contrary to the principles of negotiating without preconditions." the State Department spokesman said in a statement cleared by the White House.
Though the American position will startle and- anger many supporters of Israel. the fact of the matter is that Carter's statement contained little that was substantially new. Its significance is that the United States — Israel's chief benefactor — has officially dredged up the old 1969 Rogers Plan, which called for an Israeli withdracwal from the occupied lands, with only minor rectifications,
Long before Carter won the presidency, he briefed 75 Jewish communal leaders about his Mideast policy. He told them that "a final solution may very well entail a withdrawal of Israel basically to the 1967 boundaries." And he asserted that "the Palestinian people have to be recognized as a nation with a terri-
tory assigned to them on the east or west bank of the Jordan."
Carter has not deviated from that stand. However, he has confused his listeners ^ intentionally or unintentionally — by declaring that he would not yield control of the Golan Heights if he were premier of Israel, and by stressing that his administration would never impose a settlement on the Jewish state.
Just 10 days ago. Carter conferred with' Shlomo Goren. the chief rabbi of Israel. Rabbi Goren told him that God had chosen him to lead the Middle East to peace and "to accomplish a prophetic vision without dividing the Middle East" — in other words, not force Israel to relinquish the West Bank. The rabbi also said it had never been suggested to him that Israel should return to the pre-Six Day War borders.
And yet. just one day after his meeting with Rabbi Goren. Vice-President Walter Mondale — a strong supporter of Israel — said in a well publicized speech that Israel's security would be enhanced if it agreed to return to "approximately" the borders that existed prior to the 1967 war.
The inevitable Israeli-American showdow-n over the contours of k'seftfefiTeti^ has been brewing since the Six Day War. It is bursting into the open now because of the energy crisis, the Arab-American rapprochement forged by Henry Kissinger and the almost universal European, Asian and African view that an Israeli withdrawal to the 1%7 lines is imperative.
Clearly, the worst fears of the American Jewish community are coming to pass — an imposed settlement — and Prime Minister Begin will be powerless to change the drift of American policy when he meets Carter on July 18. As Henry Kissinger used to say. the U.S. is committed to guarding Israel's pre-1967 frontiers, not its expanded ones.
gnmnniiwuininniwimiuiiuuuiiiiiiiiimiinimtiittimiunuiiiininnninmniinniiitimiiii^^
I TORONTO [Staff] -
S The president of the Toron-
= to Board of Rabbis. Rabbi
= Michael Stroh, warned here
H last week that "a violation of
s modern democracy" would
S occuriflsrael's Law of Return
= is amended and non-Onho-
S dox conversions to Judaism
S are thereby not recognized by
^ the rabbinate in Jerusalem.
= Spiritual leader of Temple
= Har Zion, a Reform LX)ngre-
S gation. Stroh said it was "un-
S healthy to legislate people's
S religious behavior." The rab-
S bi emphasized he was speak-
S ing in a personal capacity.
S He asserted that respect
= for the integrity of religion in
= Israel would diminish if the
= Knesset passed such a bill.
S The Canadian Jewish News
= solicited comments from oih-
= er rabbis and various heads of
E communal organizations.
S With the exception of one
= Orthodox rabbi and a local
S Herut leader,, all were con-
S cerned about the possible
S impact of the proposed legis-
g lation. and some expressed
= fear over the new govem-
= ment's foreign policy.
S Last   week,   the World
= Council of Synagogues, the
= international organization of
S Conservative Judaism, voic-
= cd "deep concern" over the
S reported  capitulation by
= f*rime Minister Menachem
= Begin to the religious de-
E mands of the /!*ra-Otihodox s-'Agodat Israel pd:itic3l ra>
= tion.
= Begin reportedly agreed to
= abide by those demands as
= the price for Aguda's agree-
S ment to support the Likud
= coalition govemmeiit.
= Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, the
M president of the Central Con-
S ference of American Rabbis
= (Reform), also attacked the
= Begin-Aguda deal. He de-
= plored what his movement
S considers the lack of religious
= pluralism in Israel, and discrimination against the non-
Israel enters Gommon Market
m
TORONTO —
July 1 marks the official entry of Israel into the European Common Market this year as a member of its free-trade area, and Toronto Isra^ el Bond supporter have an important stake in the celebration.
Years of painstaking negotiation went into the agreements now coming into effect, and their impact on Israel's economic future has been heralded as nothing short of "decisive" by economic experts.
Today. Israel becomes a member of free trade area of European Economic Community. Among industries Israel displays technological expertise in, is telerominuiucations. This is a $2Q million international ^tellite syistem.
To benefit from the agreement. Israel must accelerate development projects geared to increased export production. In this context. Bonds have played a significant role in supporting every facet of Israel's economic expansion since 1951.
This has amounted to more than S3.6 billion over the past 26 years, enabling Israel's development budget to build the infrastructure for industrial growth — roads, housing, factories, exploitation of natural resources, electric power, and the like.
On July 1, all customs barriers will be rernoved from every industrial product Israel exports to the nine countries of the European Economic Community. This represents the final; stage in eliminating all duties on goods manufactured in Israel.
Israel will now be able to ship its manufactured goiods duty-free to the EEC, and will also continue to benefit from a protected home market, since the pact allows Israel to maintain customs tariffs on imports from EEC countries for a number of years.
•   The fi^ee trade agreement . thus expands Israel's access to an enormous market of
-close to 300-miilion inhabitants of the Cominon Market countries. It also provides Israel with a new'means of encouraging investments in Israel by North Americin companies which have substantial trade with Western Europe. By establiishing plants in
Israel to produce the products they export to Common Market countries, these companies could derive considerable trade advantages by shipping their Israel-made products duty-free to the members of the Common Market.
In addition. Israel also offers American companies the benefits of highly skilled labor at a lower cost than the wage scaleis prevailing in Europe and other generous incentives for investment and the establishment of branch plants.
schools ui^e
increase of French
MONTREAL IStaff]—
The Jewish day schools in Montreal have proposed in a submission to the Ministry of Education that French iii-struction be increased to 11 hours per week next yiear from the present nine hours in grades one through three.
The government had asked on March 15 that French-^ instruction be increased to 14 hours where those grades are subsidized 60% and to 17 hours where grants amount to 80% of the cost of educating a student. Grades one, two and three are under Bill 56, the private education act. The remainder have associate status with the Protestant school board.
The Association of Jewish Day Schools began negotiations with ediication officials after the March IS directives and met w ith Education/Minister Jacques Yvan Morin in April. The Association was then asked foir a brief outlining its goals in firancizatioh^
over the next couple of years.
The brief w as considered unsatisfactory, even though it did favor tlie principle of more class time devoted to French; ,
A meeting was held three weeks ago between ministry officials and representatives of the Association and AJC-Sr
The schools were assured that subsidization to the kiii-dergartens would not be withdrawn as earlier indicated and removal of francophone students from the day schools would be in accordance with Bill One and not on a separate basis.
Association president Carl Laxer said a reconciliation had not been reached yet and negotiations will continue. '
Meanwhile, in an appendix to the interim report of the Jewish work group to the Interconfessional and Inter-cultural Affairs Committee of the Superior Council of Edu-
Cont'don 1^15
Orthodox there.
In his comments to The Canadian Jewish News. Rabbi Stroh said that if the proposed amendment to the Law of Return becomes law. Reform and Conservative converts would not be considered Jews by the government. They would not be permitted to immigrate to Israel as Jews, according to . the Law of Return, and they would be unable to matry in an Israeli synagogue, he explained.
Rabbi Stroh said that when he attended the Central Conference of Am'erican Rabbis convention in New York state recently. Begin's personal emissary. Shmuel Katz. informed the gathering that the
prime minister's assurances to Aguda were personal, and that the party was not necessarily bound by them.
W. Gunther Plant, a leading Canadian Reform rabbi, was reluctant to speak for attribution, saying that the subject "doesn't lend itself to quick telephone conversations."
However, the spiritual leader of Holy Blossom Temple said he felt the amendment would not pass the Knesset. "They won't muster a majority." he commented. Asked what might happen if the amendment became law. Rabbi Plant replied: "It would lead to great disunity.
Rabbi Plant, who is national president of the Canadian
Rabbi Michael Stroh
Jew ish Congress, said he was speaking as a rabbi rather than as a community leader.
Rabbi Gedalia Felder. a well known Orthodox rabbi, said the amendment, if passed, would not constitute discrimination against the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism.
"There's only one way of Judaism, as it has been ftom time immemorial. All other waj-s are fake," he said. Rabbi Felder heads Shomrai Shaboth and is chairman of the Rabbinical Vaad K^hash-ruth. Congress. Central Region. He accused most Reform and Conservative rabbis of "not living up to traditional Judaism."
Cont'd on Page 15
Library with anti-Zionist bias receives funds from crotvn agency
By TOBA KORENBLUM
TORONTO —
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), a crown corporation, is funding a learning resour-- ces centre here which includes in its Mideast library collection a preponderance of strongly anti-Zionist material.
Since the inception of the Development Education Centre in 1971, CIDA has provided the group — housed in St. Paul's Avenue Road United Church.— with close to SI 20.000 of taxpayers money to expand the multi-media library. For the fiscal year of 1976-77. the crown agency paid S32.000 or close to 20% of the centre's operating budget of 5170,000.
The centre has a comprehensive library of books, periodicals, pamphlets and films devoted to social and political issues. Its publicity literature defines DEC as "a non-profit, independent group of people committed to ■ critical education on Canada and the Third Worid."
Its section on the Mideast, .which does contain some balanced material on the political issues in that part of the world, is largely pro-Palestinian. Samples include pamphlets on Yasser Arafat's speeches. Fatah.resolutions, rnaterial from th^ Institute for Palestine Studies in B;einit ("To Whom Dbes Palestine Belong"); books like Israel A Colonialist Settler State and The Disinherited, on Palestinian reffugees.
Employing some half-dozen staff, the centre is engaged in research, prepares multi-media kits for classrooms and opens its libraries to high school and university students, teachers, social action, community and research groups, trade unionists and so forth. DEC staff have also worked with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
When contacted repeatedly by The CJN for information On their work or sources of funding, several staff members refused to comment. Though details are sketchy, the group-has received a Wintario grant of $2,275 and has reapplied this year for additional funds. OXFAM has proyided money in the past for specific educational programs.
(Over the; phone, one staffer balked at talking about mbney and suggested a face-to-face interview which was scheduled vrith another staff member, after yet another call. But that DEC worker became tied up and when^ questions were put to a third spokesman, she phoned back to say "nobody can talk to you. You'll have to go with
what you've got.")
A CIDA spokesman in, Ottawa explained that the group's grants were authorized to expand the centre's developmental films availa-" ble for piiblic use, education-
al material for schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multi-media kits for the classroom. The money was not necessarily directed toward Mideast projects.
In its submission guide for organizations seeking aid, CIDA stresses it will not grant public funds to groups whose activities "present a politically partisan viewpoint."
Cont'd on Paga 15
neacticai to
win
mcxlerate, Cotler says
By MARCU KRETZMER
JERUSALEM^
Some of the most moderate reaction to the Begin victory in the Israeli elections has come, paradoxically, from the Arab world. Prof. Irwin Cotler told The Canadian Jewish News last week, on his return to Israel after a 12-day visit to three Arab countries.
Prof. Cotler. currently on leave from McGill University, said reasons for Arab equanimity regarding the election results were spelled out to him in a series of wide-ranging discussions with senior government officials, top mil-itar>- personnel, journalists and academics in Cairo, Damascus and Amman. He is currently a guest lecturer at Hebrew University's faculty of law.
The purpose of Prof. Cot-ler's visit, assisted, he stressed, by Canadian embassies abroad, was to write a series of articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict for the Canadian press.' and also to gather material for a study of his own which will focus on Canadian foreign policy in the Mideast. He travelled with 35 members of ian American Professors for Peace in the Middle East group, which included several other Canadians.
Prof. Cotler declined to identify- for the time being the officials with whom he met. But he singled put a discus'-sion with a top Egyptian official, which, he said, exemplified the sophistication with which the Arab world now assesses the situation irT Israel:Theofficialin question relayed to Prof. Cotler the following points in a memorandum he had prepared on the implications of the Israeli election results for Egypt and the rest of the Arab world:
— Israeli policy would be clear and unambiguous for the firs;t time:^ there is no essential difference between Begin and Allon — both are expansionist. But while Allon is a "closet annexationist," Begin is an open one.
— Nonetheless it might be--possible for the Arab world to reach a deal with Begin: Nixon made a deal with Red
(Carol Gooter photo) Prof. Irwin Cotler
China. DeGauUe made one in Algeria. On the same lines. Begin, despite his public pro-npuncements, might be prepared to make a settlement. — The U.S. might be able to -pressure Begin and the Likud in "a manner which it could not. or would not do with the Alignment. The problem of domestic restraints which had previously inhibited American pressure on Israel would now; be disposed of.
— The image of Israel would now be that of a government led by a terrorist, pursuing reactionary, extremist, and clericalist policies. Israel would therefore suffer appreciably in terms of public opinion, particularly in constituencies, on which she had hitherto drawn for a favorable image: the Western social democracies,.the liberal press in the U.S., academics, intellectuals, and other opinion leaders.
— The Arab world anticipated a split in North American Jewry, which up till now has spoken w ith a unified voice on behalf of Israel. The American administration could capitalize on this spHt. and further drive ^^a wedge into support for Israel.
— A polarization w ithin Israel itself is anticipated, with internal divisive factors coming to the fore, especially w ith respect to religion and state and foreign policy.
Cont'd on Page 15
TORONTO (Staff] -
Herut Hatzohar appears to be divided over a decision by its parent body, the Canadian Zionist Federation, not to hold elections for delegates to the World Zionist Organization — leaving the whole issue, now, up in the air.
President of the organization, Ben Milner,_notified CZF President Phil Givens that his group (formerly Zionist Revisionists) found the resolution u.iacceptable.
The decision not to elect the 17 Canadian delegates to the Congress in February was reached unanimously at a CZF=national executive meeting last month. Louis Shain-house, a Toronto executive member of Herut, agreed at that time with the resolution.
If the group holds to its decision, says Givens, "then there's got to be an election." He was surprised by Herut's 'tiioye because of their vote in support at the executive meeting^along with the approval for the resolution from
Herut Women.
"1 don't know if it's a difference of opinion between the president and other members of the executive." said the CZF head, "thatcouid be straightened oiit."'He had told the national executive elections would be too costly and a waste of energy.
Louis Silver, former president of the Zionist Revisionists in Toronto, said Herut, will abide by the decision taken in Israel that elections rnust be held in each area. "The fact is that decision has been taken," he saidT-"and having been taken we wilL abide by it."
Givens said it was unlikely that the constituent group would have a chance to increase its representation at the Congress in any case. He is still hoping for unanimity behind the resolution. One loosely-formed group, the United Zionists for Canada (formerly Zionists for the '70s) has not yet answered the CZF's resolution.
>