The Canadian. Jewish News, Thursday, October 12, 1989-Page 3
Communal leader campaigned to move Amchwitz convent
in
BRUSSELS (JTA) -
Belgian Justice Minister Melchior Wathelet affirmed Thursday that all indications point to terrorist motivations for the murder of Dr. Joseph Wybran, the leader of the Belgian Jewish _commun who was fatally shot on the evening of Oct.; 3.
It appears that Wybran, who was killed by an unknown assailant in a hospital parking lot, was targeted simply because he was a Jewish leader, the minister said in a television interview.
A Palestiiiianlterrorist group has somewhat belatedly claimed respon-
The Israeli news agency rriM reported that an
anonymous telephone caller, speaking Hebrew with an Arabic accent, said the Brussels murder ivas the work of a group called "Direct Revenge."
The same group said it was responsible for setting . the forest fire that devastat-^ (2d the Mount Carmel Na-' tiohal Park near Haifa last month.
Palestinian activists aire believed to frequently claim credit for anti-Israel acts they had nothing to do with, in order to gain prestige and credibility in Arab circles. , ~ A group in Beirut call-ii^ itself "The Soldiers of Righteousness," released a statement through Agence France Presse in Paris claiming it had
"executed the death .sentence against Professor Wybran, known for his activities as a lieader of Mossad," the Israeli intelligence agency.
Wybran. 49, was chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium, the umbrella organization of Belgium's 30,000 Jews.
Justice Minister Wathelet told the Belgian RTL television network that ^according to the evidence we have so far, we can say that this is a terrorist act;"
He said that "the assassination is not linked to any private motives but rather to the role of Joseph Wybran as head of the CCOJB "
The minister extended
condolences to Wybran's family and to the Jewish community, and expressed concern over what he called ."the spread to Belgium of terrorist acts against men of dialogue -an4 peace." . ' Wybran was shot in the head " with a .22-calibre revolver in the parking lot of Erasmus- Hospital, where he headed the department of immunology, hematoigy and blood transfusion.
He died^-the following morning while undergoing surgery.
Prime Minister Wilfried Martens of Belgium called Wybran's murder an "ignoble and revolting act."
Robert Devriese, Consul-General of Bel-
BONN (JTA) -
The extreme right-\v;irig Republican Party made new inroads last week in local elections, in North Rhine-Westphalia. West Gerrna-ny"s mo.st populous state, much to the dismay of those iwho". consider the party neo-Nazi.
The Munich-based party. headed by former SS official Franz Schoenhuber, did best in the large cities.
In Colpgne, the Republicans won eight per cent of
. the p<ipular vote, taking seatS' in the city council formerly held by the Free Democratic Party-, a niein-ber of the federal governing coalition.
In Dusseldorf, the state capital, the; Republicans scored six per cent .which gives them imfX)rtant lever-
■ age considering the delicate balance of power there be-
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl sent New, Year greetings to the Jewish community on Sept.
30. Here is an abridged version of his speech.
•*■■■*■. * ■ ■ '
In more than 40 years we have built up a society in which peace, freedom, affluence and a high degree of social justice prevail. The Federal Republic of Germany is a country in which peojple are able to feel at ease. We must see to it that this is not lost as a result of radicals on the right or on Vthe-left.,\
For me one thing is .certain: democrats must never work together with radicals. They must reso-lijtely reject any agreement on political cooperation and any coalition with right-wing or; left-wing parties.
It is the duty of all democratic forces in this country to engage in an uncompromising fight against those who openlv or clan-d^tihely spread anti- Helmut Kohl Semitk; prejudice — auid be this under the general heading of 'anti-Zionism' — who slander the Jewish religion and religiosity, who queistion the right of the Stale of Israel to exist, and who support Israel's enemies.
Next year the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel will belooking back on 25 years of successful diplomatic relations. In the course of this time oUr relations with Israel have attained an intejisity and density at all levels that can be described as exceptional given the horrible past. - The economic ties between our two countries have grown increasingly dose. Today the Federal Republic *6f Germany is Israel's second-most-uhportant supplier and, conversely, Israel has expanded its position as a reliable and-im-portantrrading partner for us.... I would like to wish you and your families a hap-Tpy.'peaceful and blessed New Year 5750.
tween the governing Chris-. tian Democratic Union and opposition Social Democratic Party.
Leaders of the mainstream parties jn Dusseldorf and elsewhere promptly vowed never to enter coalition with the Republicans. But observers wonder how long that resolve will last if the alternative is to reUhquish power.
The Republicans followed a shrewd strategy, fielding candidates onlyjn those localities where they could muster sufficient ; inahpower and resources to build organizations to . mobilize ;Support.
Statewide, they did poorly, winning a mere 2.5 per cent of the votes cast. But in most of the cities and townsthey managed.to win the five per cent minimum ■ required for seats in local
legislatures.
They won 7.2 per cent in Dortmund and 7.4 in Gel-senkirchen.
But the Republicans missed by a hair entry into the city council of Bonn, the .. national capital. Thei-e, the party scored 4.9 per cent of the popular y_ote^_____^
To the surprise of many, the Republicans did better in urban localities than in the generally more conservative rural areas. • They were helped by a low turnout — 65 per cent, of the eligible voters, which is low by West Genhan standards.
But other factors aided them as well. According to Johannes Rau, the popular . prime mjnister of the state, the Republicans rnade the severe housing shortage a major campaign issue.
The party pUysskillfql: ly on fears of working^ class Germans who may have to compete for housing and jobs with the Influx of East German immigrants and ethnic Germans from Eaistern Europe.
The Republicans have al'-" ways campaigned on an anti-foreigner platform and on something vaguely called "democratically purified patriotism." U Rau conceded that they
look votes at the expense of his own Social Democratic Party in Germany's largest .stale. ':
The North-Rhine Westphalia elections were part of a series of local refer-endums that may forecast" the outcome' of national elections scheduled to take place in December 1.990. '
gium in Ontario, Mani- • toba and Saskatchewan, issued a statement from his Toronto office to The CJN, expressing his condolences 'Ho the entu-e Jewish community and to all Jewish organizations in these provinces on the brutal killing" of Wybran.
Canadian Jewish Congress reacted with shock to thie murder. "In the post-Holocaust age, it is appalling that Jews are being killed because they are Jews," said CJC President Les Scheininger.
In a cable sent to CCOm Scheininger conveyed condolences to Wybran's family and to the Belgian Jewish community.
The primate of Belgium, Go.dfried Cardinal Daneels, also sent condolences to the Belgian Central Jewish Consistory and to the CCOJB. J^s;leader_of the Jewish,
.community. Wybran was active in the campaign to remove a Carmelite convent from the grounds of the former Auschwitz death camp.
While he organized and led protests, especially against the anti-Semiticre-marks of the Polish pri-
"mater" Cardirial Jozef Glemp. Wybran also sought actively' to defuse ■ the issue which has
devastated Catholic-Jewish relations.
Wybran had returned only a week before his murder from a trip to Poland, where he had conferred with government and church officials. _ Last March, four months after taking office as chairman of the CCOJB, Wybran was received by the mother superior of the convent and they talked for more than 90 minutes.
The superior reportedly told him "she was glad to sit with a Jew and talk quietly with him instead of those people yeUing outside."
She was referring to Jewish demonstrators protesting the chiirch's failure to honor a two-year-old commitment to relocate the convent.
According to the report.: the; superigr; informed Wybran she was prepared
to leave the Auschwitz cour vent, as soon as a new convent was ready.
The Israeli Embassy in Brussels said the killing of Wybrairdoes not appear to be the work of a common criminal but part of a new wave of anti-Jewish violence.
David Susskind, vice president of the CCOJB and heaci of the secular Jewish community centre in Brussels, described Wybran aS; "a moderate and pacifist in all he did and said."
Markus Pardes, the lawyer Wybran succeeded as chairihan of the CCOJB in December 1988, said _the victim, had ho enemies and had received no death threats.
"He may have been killed as a symbol because he was leader .of the Jew: ish community," Pardes said.'
MISSING
Leora Brummer (Dayan)
Age 9V2. Born Dea 20. 1979
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