The Canadian Jewish News, Friday; October 22, 1976 - Page 5
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Nechemia Meyers
HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES
= Throughout the Jewish world, celebrations took place to mark Simchat Torah. Thisis a festive scene in Jerusalem; (El-Baz) =
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war crimes was ex
Commission after heated discussion
By A. J. ARNOLD (Second of two parts)
The Moscow Declaration of 1943 set the stage to go beyond the limitation of trving only the Nazi leaders and President Roosevelt soon came to support Herbert Pell, the U.S. member of the War Crimes Commission, in his efforts to widen the classification of war crimes.
Pell took up the definition advanced by the American-Jewish conference which called for: ^
"Detention of all persons charged with crirnes against international law and humanity. Such crimes are to be understood to include all acts committed by the Nazis and their followers designed to de-spdil, degrade and destroy civilian populations under their control.
"Arrangements should be completed for the trial of such persons immediately following the cessation of hostilities in accordance with procedures agreed upon by the governments of the United Nations."
In spite of his involvement in drafting the Moscow Declaratibn, Cordell Hull believed that the War Cinmes Commission should not be more than a fact-finding ' body which gathered evidence and identified the war criminals but did not.get directly involved in the trials.
Pell sought to expand the scope of the commission so that atrocities against nationals of Axis countries (those allied whh Nazi Germany), and particularly against the Jews of those: countries, would also be considered as war crimes.
President Roosevelt now supported Pell arid backed up his efforts to have the inass murder of the Jews regarded as a "crime against humanity." In spite of the State Department's reluctance to take a hard line on this. Pell took the lead in persuading the commission to accept this view and to consider as war crimes any atrocities committed "against any persons because'of their race or religion."
The U.S. delegate's view was that all gl6r>- must be taken out of war and that harsh punishment could be justified if it reduced the possibility of such atrocities being repeated in the future. He also felt that punishing subordiriates who just ''followed ordiers" would reduce the possibility of a future Hitler being able to recruit followers.
There were differences of opinion among the members of the commission. These were resolved by the end of May. 1944, and the War Crimes Commission agreed unanimously that Na|zi crimes against Jews, regardless of location or nationality, were properly within its jurisdictibri. Because of his strong advocacy of this View the commission named Pell chairman of its committee on enforcement.
The U.S. State Department did not go along with Pell on this question. In fact, at one point in 1944, the Acting Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius refused to endorse the proposal that all "persons who commit crimes'against Axis jfew-s are war criminalis," in spite of the urging of the U.S. War Refugee Board.
Pell's differences with the State Department led to his dismissal from the War Crimes Commission early in Jaiiuary, 1945. This brought a strong public reaction in the U.S., and a month later the State Department announced acceptance of the essence of the very policy on war crimes for which Pell had campaigned so vigorously.
The consideration of just soine of the events that led to the concept of"crimes against humanity" entering the lexicon of international law should explain why charges arising from Worid War II are still
being brought to court.
Canada is. understandably, in an embarrassing position in regard to Canadian citizens accused of war crimes in Eastern Europe, who were not questioned about their Nazi background when they first settled in Canada.
If Canadian Jewish Congress is serious about its intention to press for action against people in Canada charged with war crimes, they should search for precedents elsewhere. There is the case of the Austrian-born American citizen, Hermine Braunsteiner Ryan, who was extradhed to West Germany in 1973 to stand tri^l for war crimes.
Canada, however, does not have extradition agreements with the. East European countries where the alleged offenses by Canadians were committed.
Another possible course might be to inquire to what extent Canada bfecame a party to the international agreements by which the war crimes procedures were originally established.
Perhaps a more careful study of the entire body of experience in war crimes trials may yet lead to the meansoJF bringing to justice the very fewpeople charged with such crimes who are living under the pro-lection of Canadian citizenship.
By NECHEMIA MEYERS LOS ANGELES —
"Who does Israel favor, Ford or Carter?" was the question I was asked time and again by American Jews as I travelled across the U.S. these past few wedcs.
While they are^bf course, concerned about a host of other issues, ranging from infiation and unemployment to busing and crime, it is the fate of Israel which concerns them most of all.
And in the absence of any clear guidelines from Jerusalem (or the,kind of hints that then Israeli' Ambassador Rabin gave in .1972), they are trying to figure out for themselves which candidate will , be "good for the Jews and for Israel." Both parties h a v e made great efforts to win Jewish votes, holding special meetings to woo them.
The Republican gathering 1 attended recently at the Beyeriy Hilton Hotel attracted some 1,200 Los Angeles Jews, most of them registered Democrats, who came to hear Senator, Jacob Javits and Jewish Agency bigwig Max Fisher explain why they should vote for Ford this year.
Perhaps because of the special character of the audience, the appeaf was distinctly low key, dwelling primarily on what Ford has done for Israel as compared to what Carter only promises to do. Javits talked about the billions that Israel has received during the Republican administration, naturally not mentioning the fact that the money had been appropriated by a Democratic Congress. And while he expressed disagreement with the president's stand on the Arab boycott, he said he "understood" the fact thait Ford had to take economic as well as moral issues into consideration, particularly at a time when unemployment was.still serious and a loss of Arab orders could mean a loss of American jobs.
Ouestibned at the end of the meeting, most of the erstwhile Democrats to whom I spoke defined themselves as still- being "on the fence." A few, queasy about Carter's background, said that they could not bring themselves to vote either for a "bom-again Baptist" or a Republican and would therefore stay home on Nov. 2 (as apparently will a record number of other Americans).
There are no specifically "Jewish issues" on the domestic scene, though some are certainly of special interest to Jews. For example, there is significant Jewish opposition to the regulations which accord preferential treatment in universities and elsewhere to "disadvantaged minorities." But so far this question has been dealt with largely by the courts, with the California Supreme Court recently declaring iincon-stitutional the University of California's policy of admitting to its medical schbols blacks and chicanos who were less qualified than white applicants (many of them Jews).
Uni^strained siQ^
has no
without safeguards
By I. L. KENEN
WASHINGTON (JCNS)—
The ill-fated skirmish over Maverick missiles for Saudi Arabia must inevitably lead to a broad inquiry into American arms policy when the new Congress convenes in January.
To put across its arms sales program, the administration acted just 30 days before adjournment, and foes of the program could not possibly veto it because of the absence of many Congresmen from the capital oh their campaigns for re-election.
Thus it was impossible to secure a quorum on the House side, and even if the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had persisted on the veto of the Mavericks for Saudi Arabia, they could not have won a similar vote in the House.
It is possible, of course, to justify the arms sales to Iran because that nation has a 1,200 mile frontier with the Soviet Union, and its ability to resist a Soviet threat or a threat from Soviet-armed Iraq is of significance to the Western world. Thus Iran guards the Strait of Hermuz, a most strategic area, through which oil flows to
OFCHRIST
in-
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A group of youthful demonstrators, members of Concerned Jewish Youth and Betar, staged a sue-hour occupation of National Council of Churches (NCC) offices in New York in protest against Romanian Orthodox Archbishop Valerain Trifa's membership on the NCC gbvetning board. Archbishop is accused of being member of Fascist organization during World War II. (Religious News Service photo)
the West. Moreover, Iran is not an Arab state, it has de facto relations with Israel, and it did not participate in the oil embargo against Israel in 1973.
But many questions can be asked about the massive arms supply to Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states in the Persian Gulf.
Critics point out that there is nothing to prevent Saudi Arabia from becoming the arsenalj^ior the confrontation states, and that it may transfer its Mavericks and other missiles to Arab governments which are still in a state of war whh Israel.
It was Saudi Arabia which led the.oil embargo against the United States in 1973, and the administration has been asked why we fail to insist on conditions;
Should we not get some commitments from the Saudis to-stop threatening another embargo, to promise nbt to transfer the weapons to other states without our consent, and to help solve the Palestinian issue by facilitating resettlement of the Arab refugees.
The administration has argued that Saudi Arabia has helped to promote a settlement in the Middle East by using its influence with other Arab countries. Yet there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is one of the most anti-Semitic states, and that it has never advocated peace with Israel, under any circumstances.
The inordinate supply of weapons to Arab governments is not only a military threat to Israel; it is a costly blow to her economy, for she musfcontiriue to strengthen her own defences, as we tend to upset the balance.
One of the astonishing aspects of this ongoing effort to fill the vacuum created by the withdrawal-of the British from the Persian Gulf area, is the faihire to distinguish between Iran and her Arab neighbors. A few years ago, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made a speech in which he presented statistics showing that _ILS. arms shipments to the Arabs wer^^uclT^ greater than to Israel. When he wa^s asked tirclarify his figure, it was discovered that he included the sales to Iran ^^iih the Arabsi'iihder the impression that Iranians were Arabs.
The presidential candidates have skirted that issue as they have, insofar as they could, the much more explosive issue of busing. Despite what it looks like from a distance, busing is really more of a class than a racial question. A Jewish mother from an upper-middle-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Angeles made it quite clear to me that she had no objections to her children going to school with the offspring of high-income black families from their own neighborhood. But she rejects the plan to bring in biis loads-of boys and girls from black slums 30 miles away to the local school, thus threatening, so she believes, both academic standards and social tranquility.
If proof is required of the problem's basically economic roots it can be found in Washington D.C.. where middle-class black pareiits are pulling their kids out of substandard District schools and fleeing to the suburbs as fast as middle-class white parents.
Older Jews have quite different problems on their minds during this presidential election year. If theiy own property, they are appalled by the rise in property taxes, which are going up this year in Los Angeles, for example, by nearly 100%. The taxes hh everyone hard, but they hit hardest.at older, retired people; whose
fixed intomes cannot be stretched much further. ^ .
Worse off yet are the' elderiy Jews without property. They can be seen by the hundreds wandering listlessly up and_down the streetis of Los Angeles' Beverly-Fairfax district (which is also the home of many ybrdim). Instead of the usual signs found in the shops of more prosperous neighborhoods, here one sees notices advertising liver scraps at 39c a pound and announcing that food stamps given by the government to the very poor are accepted in. lieu of money.
Yet even these Jews will be thinking more about the future of Israel than about their own personal problems when they enter the polling booths, and they remain cbnfused.
Should they support Carter, who is running on an extremely prorlsrael platform and is surrounded by Walter Mondale and a host of other devoted friends of Israel? Or should they support Ford, whose policies on some issues — like the Arab boycott and arms supplies to the Arabs — have not been to the liking of the Jewish community, but who has given Israel unprecedented military, economic and diplomatic support?
In another few weeks we will know what decision they have made.
By SHELDON MRSHNER
[Third of a series on federal senior civil servants.]
OTTAWA —
Office equipment. Yarn and wool. Absorbent materials. Cars. Food. Ballpoint pens. Contraceptives.
These are some of the thousands of assorted items Gerald Bergef buys for the federal government. As assistant deputy minister, commercial supply, in the Department of Supply and Services, he is the government's chief purchasing agent, the man who spends hundreds of millions of dollars every: year to satisfy' the needs of the bureaucracy.
With entrepreneurial pride, he displays the bulky catalogues, listing 18,000 commonly used items, that are available throtigh the department's supply centres across Canada and in Europe. Everyone in the public service — from soldiers to diplomats — are in a sense beholden to Berger, for he supplies condoms to troops and limousines to globe-trotting envoys, jiist to name two of his myriad functions.
But Berger, at 39, one of the youngest assistant deputy ministers in Ottawa, has other responsibilities as well.
His department — a common service agency whose activities support program departments at all levels of the sprawling bureaucracy — chums put an array of• publications (Hansard, The Canada Gazette, and numerous reports), moves household effects of government employees and pays freight bills for all departihents.
He provides professional advice and assisitance on security matters and also contracts for guard service; Last but riot least, he arranges travel and accommodation for civil servants on the move. Says Berger with a grin, "travel agents hate us!." . .
Although he appears to run his department as tightly as a ship's captain, the Toronto-born civil servant is not without his problems. "I try to manage the department like a business," he says in an inter, view, "but certain restraints are placed on you that inhibit this kind of achievement."
7 don V appreciate the abuse given dvil servants'
He is reluctant to explain, but after further questioning, he discloses that misunderstandings between his department and others may arise, for example, over the cost.of a given item in one or more of the 300,000 annual transactions over which he presides. -
Because he works so hard, Berger has no patience for critics who perpetuate what he calls the myth about indolent, high-living^ civil servants who enjoy the luxury of banker's hours.
"People who say that are stupid," he exclaimed. "I get very angry when 1 go to Toronto and hear people say, 'you go home \at 4 p.m.* " Berger rose from the couch and pointe;d a finger. "You see that in the in-basket?" he said, referring to a thick sheaf of folders and documents. "You can get a hernia ifrom it. Ask my wife, she.
Gerald Berger — senior civil servant.
knows. All I know is that we are not underemployed.
"I also resent people who say I'm in the civil service because 1 couldn't get iiito the . private sector, "he added. "I don't appreciate the abuse." Has he ever thought of leaving the government and striking out on his own? "I thought of h in business school at Columbia University. There's nothing wrong \vith thinking of a second career at a point in time."
Berger is the son of Louis and Salome. Louis, 80i an immigrant from Russia, is a retired dress manufacturer. He and his • brother Earl — a management consultant — and sister, Dorothy, a real estate agent, grew up in the Forest Hill: neighborhood.
He joined the civif service in 1961 after taking degrees at the University of Toronto and Columbia.. "It seemed like a very challenging thing to do," he said. After a stint with the Departrhent of Trade and Commerce, he went to the Department of Defence Prodiiction and then to the Department of Industry. He also worked for the Treasury Board and the Prices and Income Commission.
Four years ago, he joined the Department of Supply and Services as director-general; arid was appointed to his present position in February of 1974.
While he is reticent to discuss his career ambitions, he does concede that he would not be adverse to reaching the rank of deputy minister. "I wouldn't be dissatisfied if the prime minister deemed I could be helpful. My attitude is that government has been good to me so far." Indeed it has. He earns an annual salary , of between $35,500 and $47,500.
Berger is married to the former Ruth Cohen of Ottawa, who heads the local Group of 35 organization. They have two children, Michael, six, and Lisa, four. He is a member of the board of trustees of thie Conservative Agud'ath Israel congregation, belongs to the Jewish Community Council and is "turrently vice-chairinian of the Ottawa UJA campaign.
Among his hobbies are reading biographies and thrillers, playing tennis and squash and swimming. Unlike a substantial number of civil servants who dislike the provincialism of the capital, Berger is keen ori Ottawa. "It's great for having a family," he noted^Sure, it lacks lots of things, but it's /convenient city."
The final artici dent of TelestaI
will be on David Golden, presi-\Canada.
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