Page 4 - The Canadian Jewish News, Friday, January 21, 1977
Editorial
The Canadian jewiainews
An independent Community- Newspaper serving as a forum for "diverse viewpoints.
Directors: Donald Carr, Q.C.. George A. Cohon, Murray B. Koffler, Albert J. Latner, Ray D.Wolfe.
Editor. Ralph Hyman Associate Editor, Lewis Levendel Production Manager, Gary Laforet Advertising Manager, Vera Gillman Office Manager, Edna M.Johnstone
VOL. XVII, NO. 51 (935)
Published by The Canadian Jewish News
(A Corporation without share capital) at 22 Balliol Street, Suite IS, Toronto, Ontario. M4S ICI. 481-6434
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Sanctions needed
The true test
The report issued by the Commission on Economic Coercion and Discrimination is a devastating one. The blue ribbon panel of distinguished Canadians who wrote it have presented facts which the government cannot. in all conscience, slough off as mere interpretation or wishful thinking. In a reasoned and well documented critique, the ■ commissioners demonstrate that Ottawa has facilitated the application of the Arab boycott, and prove beyond a doubt that trade discrimination ultimately infringes on the civil liberties of Canadian citizens.
Indeed, the report makes a shambles of a secret government memorandum — leaked to the press last .August — that the effect of the boycott has been exaggerated, or that it does not involve instances of anti-Jewish discrimination.
The boycott, in other words, is a Canadian issue rather than an Israeli one and for this reason must be fought vigorously.
The question all Canadians should ask themselves is what the government intends to do to ameliorate the situation. The revelations set out in the report are of the utmost seriousness and it will simply not do for Ottawa to ignore the thrust of the commissioners' lucid arguments and prac-
tical recommendations.
In this spirit, we would ask Ottawa to reassess its recently announced anti-boycott program (which to date has not been implemented). If the government is really against the concept of boycotts — and we believe this to be the case — it follows that it should strengthen its guidelines. Or. as the commissioners note, "unless this policy is buttressed by legislation prohibiting compliance and by administrative directives of a specific character (it) stands to be undermined."
There is little doubt that, in theory at least. Canada opposes boycotts. In May of 1975, Prime Minister Trudeau voiced his strong objection to them. And last October, in the presence of Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon. E.xternal Affairs Minister Don Jamieson declared in ringing tones that "any discrimination against Canadian firms or individuals is contrary to Canadian concepts of fairness...."
The statements speak for themselves.
Whether Ottawa is willing and able to back up its apparent intentions with tough anti-boycott policies, containing sanctions and penalties, is quite another matter, ' however.
Crass capitulation
It was a shameless act of appeasement, a cynical capitulation to lawlessness.
France, bowing to Arab pressure, released Abu Daoud. the notorious Palestinian leader who masterminded the infamous Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. Though he cynically denied he was Abu Daoud. Arab officials throughout the Middle East and Western Europe openly referred to him by his real name. The French government knew this. too. President Giscard d'Estaing was under no illusions as to his true identity, either. ,
Of course, it was all a terrible mistake, and heads will roll as a result of the error. If it had been up to France, the terrorist would not have been arrested in the first place. Without so much as consulting their masters. French counter-intelligence agents, with a Ihtle help from Israel, arrested Abu Daoud in his hotel room. When news of his arrest broke. Paris was embarrassed, and angry!
The government was clearly in a bind. Heavily dependent on Arab oil to fuel its economy. France had one of two choices. It could assert its moral authority and thereby set a shining example. Or, it could surrender to Arab blackmail, h chose the latter. It opted out for expediency. But, in doing so. France disgraced itself with its flimsy excuses. Falling back on transparent legal technicalities which any law student could tear asunder. French spokesmen , sought to shift the blame for its spirieless-ness to Bonn.
France said West Germany did not follow up immediately with a request for extraditing the founder of Black September. And a French court ruled that it could not extradite him to Israel because the Munich raid occurred before France adopted a law in 1975 allowing prisoners to be sent to a country other than the, one in which the offence was committed. -
Paris may argue that its release of Abu Daoud was purely an internal matter, and indeed the French interior minister de-
clared: "France refrains from giving lessons to others. Consequently it doesn't receive any. It is content to respect its commitments and its laws."
The trouble with this brand of logic is that it does not stand up to scrutiny. For one thing, terrorism is an international problem and only world-wide efforts will eradicate it, a fact which has not escaped France's attention. At the United Nations recently, France supported a convention against terrorism, and in Western Europe it took a lead in promoting an anti-terrorist agreement. Faced with a test of its sincerity and good will, it faltered, proving that morality plays absolutely no role in French diplomacy. . '
As for "not giving lessons to others", the interior minister should remember that it was France which lectured Israel on the so-called impropriety of its participation in the Six Day War, and it was France which reneged on an arms deal in the wake of that conflict.
It is also France which misses no opportunity to pontificate about the evils of apartheid, and which eagerly sells sophisticated weaponry to Soiith Africa and to all those repressive regimes in the Third World which oppress their citizens.
Most damning of all, France has just announced a $1 billion deal with Egypt to sell that front-line country 200 Mirage jets of the type denied Israel 10 years ago. There is good reason to condemn France for being a merchant Of death.
As the chorus of criticism rises, France ignores it. In Paris, it is business as usual. President d'Estaing is due to visit Saudi Arabia in the coming months, and plans are .afoot to sell more, arms to other Arab countries. As for the scourge of terrorism, well, that is a problem of no concern to France.
The French people have cause to be deeply ashamed of their spineless government.
IS
For reasons which are complex. Jewish life in Europe often flourished in the small town. The shtetl. as we know, was the focal point for much of the Jewish piety and learning that is all too absent in modern Jewish life. Many of the smaller tpwns in Poland and Eastern Europe in general were the homes of famous yeshivas and Talinudic scholars. The,fullness of Jewish life in the Russian-Polish hamlet was complemented by the dynamism of the great Jewish comniunhies in Warsaw. Lublin. Cracow and Vilna.
That was a world ago. In North America. Jewsalso live in small collective* scattered across this continentMn Western Canada, Jewish settlers from the beginning of this century made valiant efforts to establish colonies on the prairies. For the most part they maintained a semblance of Jewish life and practices. But Jewish attempts to settle , in small towns were not restricted to the West. In Ontario and Quebec, and in the Maritimes. many Jewish immigrants from Europe left the metropolitan centres to seek pamasah in the countryside.
Today the descendants of those Who settled the smaller communities look for contact and communication with Jewish centres in the big cities. Problems of assimilatioii. intermarriage and cultural isolation have prompted many to move back to the big cities. Those who remain for business or other reasons have made demarches to the Canadian Jewish Congress on several occasions in order to
request assistance in educational and other areas.
The CJC is to be applauded for the way it has sought energetically to succor these outlying communities. Speakers are frequently dispatched to discpurse on Jewish and Zionist themes for many of these . communities; Information is readily made available regarding kashruth, Jewish music and book months. In the educatiohal sector the CJC makes a sincere effort to see to it that high standards of Jewish learning prevail.
Still, one wonders whether there is any future for Canadian Jews living outside the main population centres. The; shtetl has not: been transplanted to our shores. Its values and mores are found now only in parts of the big city complex. Living in a srnairCanadian town today usually means religious, cultur^ al and national asphyxiation for those Jews who treasure their heritage.
This is not the fault of the small Canadian town; its charms are many and attractive. Jews who.livein these towns haye made, it would seem, a conscious choice about the merits of living outside the major Jewish population centres.
This should be kept in mind when leaders in Congress and elsewhere indulge in planning for small commiinities. It must be recognized that the inhabitants of small town Canada have opted for minimal Jewish life...,
; They must, therefore, be content with minimal Jewish contact from the large Jewish centres.
1^; il
THE COLD AND THE HOT OF IT
Weather-wise, Israelis are luckier than most people. If they hanker for snow, they can can take advantage of the warm, sparkling waters of Ophira in the Sinai Peninsula, always drive up to the Golan Heights and ski (left). If they prefer sunnier climes, they This young lady, suitably attired, beckons us to Promised Land. (IPPA photograph) llllllltllllllllllNIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItlllllinillllllllllllll^
Refusenik's spirit unbroken
of Soviets
By JERRY FAIVISH
Vladimir Slepak is one of the leading Refuseniks in all of the Soviet Union. For the last five years, he has not only tried to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel, but has also been a source of inspiration and strength in encouraging others to do the same. In doing so, he has undergone the hardships suffered by many of the Refuseniks, and suffered additional abuse because of his prominent position.
He is constantly watched and followed by the secret police, when he is not in jail — and those times are becoming rare. Slepak is a veteran of the infamous Soviet 15-day administrative jail sentence, the last one coming after protests in front of the Soviet Presidium in Moscow, in Oqtobet,
Needless to say, after applying for A visa, he, like so many Others, was fired .from his job and has been unable to find employihent since. That would be acceptable if he was granted permission to leave, but so far such permission has been denied more than once. The irrationality of it all makes it that much more difficult for him to endure.
At one interview with a state official, he was told that his refusal was based on his knowledge of state secrets. Incredulously he replied: "But what secrets do I know? I worked in the field of technology. We are TO'years behind the West." The officer in charge responded: "That is the secret." "But everybody knows that," responded Slepak. "Yes. but you know it better than everyone," was the reply.
In isolation, the incident may be amusing, but in conjunction with others of similar ' nature, the effect is unnerving.
Slepak, along with other Refuseniks. was obviously a man of great strength and con-
Letters to the Editor
'Disservice
to tl^^^^^
Dear Editor:
Your writer Mr. J. Salsberg does a disservice to the UJA by intimating in his article that the workingman is only able to contribute $5 Or $10. This works out to either 10 cents or 20 cents per week. This is a sum yoii give the paperboy or the mailman. Surely, a more generous suggestion would be in order.
Robert Baxter, Toronto
Hate messages
Dear Editor:
Having lived through the concentration camps, I am in stroiig disagreement with Alan Borovoy's views and I find him extremely naive.
Thanks to those "little" hate messages, which he is against banning. Hitler could kill six million Jewish people, because people have a strong tendency to believe what they read in newspapers and hear on the radio.
Therefore, the phone messages^hould be banned cpmpletely and Alan Borovoy should not portray himself as^a super liberal.
M. Manner, Downsview
viction. After I had already spoken with him a few times. I asked him the relatively simple, yet complicated question: "Why did you become, and why are you still a Refusenik?" His eloquent answer was very revealing, for it highlighted his life story and unfolded major aspects of the Soviet Union which surrounded him.
"My father was and still is an ardent Communist. In fact, he had been in the United States when the Revolution started and returned to Russia to fight for the Revolution. When I was a little boy I was not told of my Jewishness. Only when I returned to Russia did I discover that. I was a schoolboy on my way to school, when other boys taunted me with the insult: "Zhid". I aiked my father what the word meant and he explained it, but added: Do not worry, the harrassment will go away soon. That is left over from the time of the czar. The Revolution will eliminate all of that.
"Years later. World War II was upon us. After the w ar. I was teased with the shouts and barbs of "Ebreu". I again asked my father what this word meant and why was it being used to insult me. He answered: The Revolution has eliminated all anti-Semitism. What you hear is just a remnant of the German influence. Soon it will all be gone.
"A few.years later, in the early 'SOs. we were in the midst of the infamous "Doctor's Trial". My wife worked in the hosphal and knew many of the Jews who had been accused of anti-Soviet activity. She swore that they hadn't done what they had been charged with. So I asked my father why this was happening. He replied: "Better that 100 innocent people should be found guilty, than one traitor should be allowed to go free."
"It was then, that I knew that I could never be a Communist, and that Russia could never be my homeland. But. at first. I never told anyone about my desire for a new
ts ca
homeland. I was afraid. Not even my closest friends had any idea. Only in the '60s did I begin to vocalize my feelings and. to my, surprise. I learned that many of my friends and colleagues harbored similar philosophies to my own. For years, fear had silenced us all and sheltered us from each other.
"After the Six Day War, things began to change. I was proud to be Jewish and so 1 became an activist and then applied for permission to leave the Soviet Union for my homeland — Israel. I wanted to be able to study my language, learn about my history and practice my customs openly, for I could not do that here. It's already been a few years since I applied to leave, and it may be a few more until I finally live in Israel, but I am determined to live there and I tell you, I will."
Jerry Faivish, an articling law student, recently returned from a visit to the Soviet Union.
or move
to protect privacy o
Spinelessness
Dear Editor:
The government of France has made it clear once more- that it possesses the heart of a crab, the soul of a lobster, and the spine of an escargot:
David Biriuui, Toronto
By NECHEMIA MEYERS
Asher Yadlin. as much as anyone else, was responsible for the breakup of the Rabin-led coalition and the consequent decision to hold early elections.
This is not to say that any of the political parties involved mentioned Yadlin. whose nomination as governor of the Bank of Israel was withdrawn after the police began investigating allegations that he was guilty of fraud and bribery while serving as director of the Kupat Holirn Medical Insurance Fund. But the Yadlin case, and other scandals involving high-ranking offi-, cials, helped to undermine confidence in the . Labor Party and to destroy the cohesion of the coalition which it led.
Despitethis situation, Yadlin'sestranged wife, Dahlia, seems to believe that there was actually an Establishment plot against her husband. In an open letter to Attorney General Aharon Barak, she charged that the police had tried to force Yadlin to confess to crimes that he had not committed, so as "to divert the public's attention from Israel's real and acute problems."
There seems to be scant logic in this criticism, as the Yadlin affair was bound to hurt the Establishment.of which he was a senior member; and focus attention on its shortcomings. However, there is much more substance in Mrs. Yadlin's attack on the way the case wais treated by the police and the.press during the two months that her husband was detained but had not yet been charged.
The police keep leaiCTfrig juicy tidbits to favored reporters and, as Mrs. Yadlin sees it, "the 'free press' then went on a rampage in which any resemblance between its reports and the facts were not even coincidental.
"Can no one," she asks plaintively, "stop these continuous reports of ah investigation ,.reports designed to provide entertainment for the masses?"
As it happens, two Knesset-members — Ehud Ohlmert and Yedidya Be'eri — have presented a bill which, if passed, will ^certainly hinder "the entertainment". The Ohiinert-Be'eri proposal would prohibit the press from publishing the name of a person who had been arrested, but had not yet been charged, unless the detainee himself asked that it be published.
This is the third time that such a bill has come before the Knesset, but on this occasion it has aroused greater interest than : previously because of the widely publicized Yadlin investigatioii, and because of an earlier investigation involving murder-suspect Yoram Bichovsky, who was first
"copvicted" by the press and then released by the police when the real murderer was discovered.
Prominent Tel Aviv lawyer Ram Caspi sees justification for such a law because "publishing the name of a suspect beforehe is brought to trial does a grave injustice to him and his family. It permits him to be tried by the press and TV. thus violating the basic principle that a man is innocent until found guilty by the courts."
As might be expected, the editors and journalists are less than enthusiastic about this proposal. They warn that the law would
be contrary to the interests of the public and also of the suspect himself, whose arrest might be kept a secret if it were passed.
Ifthcreisan injustice to be corrected, the pressmen say. it stems from the fact that a majority of the people which the police arrest are never charged, and hence shouldn't have been-arrested in the first place.
Be that as it may. this controversy is no longer of interest to Asher Yadlin and his family. He has been charged and it only remains to be seen whether he will be found guilty.
Asher Yadlin meets his mistress, Talis Livni, at the entrance of court; (IPPA photo)
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