Thursdoy, July 17, 1975--THE BULLETIN~-13
Situation All Around the World
N.Y-. POLICE SlUR BEAME
NEW YORK—Officials of the New York police department are investigating charges that anti-Semitic remarks against mayor Abraham Beeme were broadcast over the police radio.
Beame was said to have been referred to as a "kike" and as "Abie baby." The complaint was made to the police department by a resident of the upper East Side of Manhattan, who said he heard the broadcast on his police band radio. The police have not disclosed his name. A police spokesman said that if those responsible for the anti-Semitic slurs were identified, they could face punishment including suspension or dismissal. The anti-Semitic remarks were believed to be the result of Beame's announced plans to lay off policemen, among thousands of other city workers, because of the city's deep financial crisis. JCNS
Cairo community in last stoges of docay
NEW YORK — A number of Jewish and non-Jewish j(Nimalists who recently visited Egypt, including the eminent author Robert St. Jdtm, offered revealing assessments of the Jewish condition extant in Egypt.
Several noted that there are no weddings, no Bar-Mitzvahs, no ritual circumcisions.
Several also noted that the use of synagogues and of Jejvs in its precincts for propaganda and tourist attractioas and the tokenism of a Jew in a high position are presented in Egypt just as they are presented in the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia vdiere Jewry and Judaism are also enroute to extinction.
Mr. St. John, in a series of reports fnrni Cairo written exclusively recently for The Jewish News of Detroit, had this to say about the Jewish condition in general and synagogues in particular:
"Before Israel became a State Egypt had approximately.100,000 Jews. (No two authorities agree on the precise figure. Some say 80,000; others put it as high as 150,000.)
"Fifteen years ago, when I was last there, although Egypt had twice gone to war against Uie Jewish State there were still a great many Jews left and many of the 20 Cairo synagogues were still functioning.
"Today there are 200 Jews left in Cairo and about the same number in Alexandria." (This figure also is not precise, for there are some Eoptian Jews who for years have not identified and have gradually vanished hito the polyglot population, just as had happened in New York and
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Anti-Semitic terror continues in Argentina
other large cities.)
"About the synagogues. . . Travel brochures issued by the Egyptian government list the Synagogue Ben Ezra in the area called Old Cairo as one of the 10 or 20 most important sites for tourists to visit. Surrounded by 20 Coptic churches and 29 mosques and close beside the great Coptic Museum, it is the only one of Cairo's synagogues now in presentable condition."
But, St. John continued, the "real shock" came when he walked "down a narrow, twisty street, extremely filthy, even for Cairo, called ShariM<^ssaralKnachab, the Street of the Wood Cutters. This is the way into the heart of what was once one of the most congested Jewish quarters anywhere in the world. These shc^s, these houses, this whole area was 100 percent Jewish.
"Now all trace of Jews and Judaism is gone. The small shops are owned by Egyptians now. There's not a Mogen David anywhere until you come to the ruins of the Maimonides synagogue. Ruins? The walls stand but last Rosh Hashonah the roof caved in. . .
"A young Orthodox rabbi from Boston says he is trying to persuade the Egyptian government to do something to save buildings like this before it is too late. The cultural attache of the American Embassy says maybe the Smithsonian Institution could be interested. Someone speaks of a demoralized community.
"It's more than that. It is a community in the last stages of utter decay. Just 15 years later. Pity the 200!," St. John concludes. -
BUENOS AIRES—Amid Argentina's political and economic difficulties anti-Semitic elements are only too eager to denigrade. Jews.
The Jewish conimiipity of some 475,000 remains on guard.
Three groups, two on the extreme Left and one on the extreme RiS^t, appear to be mainly involved in the campaign of kidnappings and assassinations which claimed more than 200 victims last year and about 40 in the early part of 1975.
Hie People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) and the Montoneros, on the extreme Left, are close to the Chinese Maoists, who are aiming to topple the Government and rule in its place.
Members of these groups will murder anyone they "belTeve to be against them. Tliey are not fighting Jews or other groups in particular.
Similarly, to obtain mtmey, they will kidnap or murder any wealthy people, irrespective of their religion or origin. They have also killed Jewish and other doctors reluctant to treat wounded people specified by the terrorists.
The third group, the so-called Anti-Communist Alliance, also known as the three A's in the extreme Right, is rabidly anti-Semitic, and it is actively supported by Arabs and fascist and Nazi groups, both at home and abroad.
Under these influences, the atmosphere is debilitating, and there is the added factor that the
34,000 Aum
Anmim KHoois
BUENOS AIRES — A total of 34,377 children and young people are attending Jewish schools in Argentina this year.
This represents nearly 20 percent of the Jewish pupils and students in the country.
Between 475,000 and 500,000 Jews live in Argentina. The community ranks fifth in size in the world after the U.S., the USSR, Israel and France in that order.
trade unions, the Government's main supportive force, are restive because of the relentless inflation.
Daia, the representative council of Argentine Jews, is conscious of all these trends, but it is determined to stand up for the rights of the community.
In denouncing the anti-Semitic campaign, Daia has pointed out that certain overseas oil interests, with the co-operation of local groins are only too ready to denigrate the Argentine Jewish community and its image overseas.
Daia feels that such a campaign damages Argentina's national interests and for this reason it ought to be stopped by the Government.
There is also concern that ad-
vertisements from Government departments appear in outspokenly anti-Semitic magazines, which are thereby helped financially.
Dr. Nehemias Resnizky, Daia's president, met Dr. Alberto Roca-mora, the Interior Minister, who promised a study of all the matters under review.
It is also understood that Jose Lopez Rega, the Minister of Social Welfare and one of the most influential members of the Government, recentiy received Ram Nirgad, the Israeli Ambassador, but the topics they discussed have not b^en disclosed.
Argentina'^ iJfewish community is estimated to be the fifth largest in the world after the United States, Israel, the USSR and France.
JCNS.
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