Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1980 Page: 4 of 28
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1980 POSTORIAL PAGE 4
A
oostoriQl
Evangelicals and Jews
Many Jews are perplexed over how to consider
Evangelical Christians, particularly those who are now
so vocal on right-wing-issues. Their call for a “Christian
America” threatens the Constitutional guarantee of
separation of church and state — a necessity for a
pluralistic democratic society which has permitted the
American Jewish community to flourish. Yet their
position on “moral” issues such as abortion,
homosexuality and the Equal Rights Amendment, while
opposed by the majority of the Jewish community, are
not so different from that espoused by Orthodox Jews.
At the same time, the Evangelicals are the very
Christians who support the drive to convert Jews to
Christianity. Orthodox Jews and Jews living in small
towns are the ones most upset by these activities.
But we have another anomaly. Evengelical Christians
are among the most ardent supporters of Israel, partly
for religious reasons since it is an element of their
doctrine that Jews must be in control of Israel before
there can be the Second Coming. The Rev. Jerry
Falwell, head of the Moral Majority, supports Israel,
including its statement policies on the West Bank.
This support was dramatically shown recently when
Evangelical Christians from 20 countries dedicated a
“Christian Embassy” in Jerusalem. It was established
as a reply to the withdrawal of the 13 embassies from
Jerusalem in the wake of the Jerusalem law.
Perhaps the response to Evangelicals by Jews should
be to act toward them as they act towards us: join with
them when there are grounds for agreement and oppose
them vigorously on the issues where we differ.
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
monitor For Zion's Sake I Will Not Be Silentl f
ALLENBY BRIDGE
[WNS] - Some 4700 Israeli
Moslems began crossing this
bridge over the Jordan
River Oct. 8 for the annual
religious pilgrimage to Mec-
ca. Several dozen Iranian
buses decorated with pic-
tures of the Ayatollah
Khomeini waited for the
pilgrims on the Israelis side
and took them to Jordan for
the first leg of the trip to
Saudi Arabia.
Editor’s Note: The follow-
ing is the text of I.L.
Kenen’s statement on Oct.
12 when he received the
Isaiah Award of the Wash-
ington chapter of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee:)
BY I. L. KENEN
Israel today is a state
besieged on the edge of
nowhere. She is threatened
by a plutocratic cartel
preoccupied with profit rath-
er than peace, by power-
hungry communists and
fascists, by venomous anti-
Semites.
As often in the past, Jews
in Israel and everywhere
else are menaced by intoler-
ant forces that have decried
Jewish existence for many
centuries. They have re-
newed the call for the holy
war, reinforced by the
weakness and disunity of the
democratic world.
But Israel is not alone. We
American Jews share her
danger. We have learned
that what happens to Jews
anywhere affects Jews ev-
erywhere. We are an inter-
dependent people — and we
witnessed this in many lands
as Hitler rose to power.
We remember Fritz
Kuhn’s Nazi Bund, the
Pelley Silver Shirts, Gerald
L. K. Smith, the Ku Klux
Klan, and the frenetic
anti-Semitism of Father
Coughlin.
It is happening again in
many lands — in Iran, where
Jews live in a matchbox; in
Ethiopia, where Jews are
caught in cross fire in Syria;
where they are trapped
between the violent Assad
government and the militant
Moslem Brotherhood; in the
Soviet Union, which is
slashing Jewish emigration.
Anti-Semitic terror has
declared war against the
Jews in France. Ironically,
that land gave birth to
contemporary Zionism —
founded by Theodore Herzl,
who was shocked by the
infamous Dreyfus trial.
Elements who conspired to
entrap Dreyfus are alive —
and vile again.
In 1947, we won an uphill
battle for partition. But our
foes moved to scrap the plan
and to establish a UN
trusteeship. We defeated
them but Israel’s enemies
have never abandoned their
struggle. They are still
determined to treat Israel as
a UN ward, to be supervised
and circumscribed by UN
instruments.
The UN has become a
mosque, sounding the call to
deny Israel sovereignty and
survival — to treat her as a
pariah, to deny her legiti-
macy — while Islam trum-
pets the ancient shibboleth
for Israel’s disappearance.
The oft-quoted George
Santanyana has warned us
that those who forget
history are condemned to
relive it. We may freely
discuss and debate the
policies of the United States
and Israel and the disagree-
ments that divide us. But
that must not divert us from
dangers which confront Is-
rael and Jewish communi-
ties everywhere. We must
close ranks — for we live on
the front line here in
Washington.
On this day, it is the
prophet Isaiah to whom we
offer reverence. He was
passionate in his denuncia-
tion of the exploiters and
mercenaries and in his
devotion to their victims.
But, above all, he told his
people that Torah shall come
from Zion, the word of God
from Jerusalem.
While I bear Isaiah’s
name, I am not a prophet.
Events now move so rapidly,
there is great risk in
prophecy. For today’s per-
ceptions and prophecies
swiftly become tomorrow’s
postmortems.
On Yom Kippur, many
rabbis throughout our coun-
try devoted their sermons to
Jerusalem, and, while the
media failed to take note of
it, there is little doubt that
American Jews — Reform,
Conservative and Orthodox
— join in the defense of
Jerusalem to continue as an
undivided city serving all
religious faiths — safeguard-
ing all shrines and access to
them.
My rabbi, Eugene Lipman
spoke with eloquence and
devotion at Temple Sinai.
He quoted Isaiah 62: “For
Zion’s sake I will not be
silent, for the sake of
Jerusalem I will not be still.
Till her victory emerge
resplendent and her triumph
like a flaming torch ....”
Gene’s own reminiscent
language:
“Every time I drive up
that seemingly unending hill
to Jerusalem, it is as if I am
coming to my spiritual home
for the first time. Every
time I wake up about dawn
and run to the balcony of our
little hotel and look across to
Mt. Zion, it is an inexpres-
sible thrill ... I see Zion —
as it was, is and shall be,
indissolubly united on that
tiny spot of rocky space. I
can almost see the proclama-
tion of the Messianic king-
dom on that hill, and once
again I strengthen my own
determination that the day
will come ....”
f
I
r
r
i
i
The Iraqi-Iranian War: New Tinder For A Volatile Region?
I
BYALONBENMEIR
Regardless what the an-
tagonists choose to call it,
the hostilities between Iraq
and Iran have become a
full-scale war. While the
direct consequences of the
war will be shaped by the
military strength both sides
can muster, the psychologi-
cal war between them will
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continue to haunt the loser
for many years after the
guns have been silenced.
The conflagration, though
ostensibly caused by a
dispute about the sovereign-
ty over the Shat-El-Arab —
the only Iraqi access to the
Persian Gulf and to impor-
tant Iranian ports — stems
from a rivalry that goes back
for centuries. Initially, the
conflict was between the
Ottoman and Persian em-
pires for dominance in the
Mesopotamian region. More
recently, since 1958, both
Iraq and Iran have sought to
be the dominant power in
the area, and each has been
motivated by a national
fervor almost inevitably
bound to clash with that of
the other.
Iraq’s military move
against Iran was obviously
taken in full consideration,
not only of Iran’s current
internal chaos, but of the
entire Middle East balance
of power, and in particular,
the economic political, and
strategic environment in
which the superpowers cur-
rently find themselves. In its
effort to establish itself as
the leader of the Arab-Isla-
mic world — which might
well be the underlying
motive behind the Iraqi
move — Iraq apparently felt
that the time was ripe to
assert that leadership and
that the potential gains
would definitely justify the
risks involved. Iran, the
Iraqis concluded, was per-
fect prey, one which would
not only provide the Iraqi
military hierarchy a means
to settle the age-old feud,
but also to teach other Arab
states, especially those in
the Persian Gulf, the appro-
priate lessons about Iraq’s
strength and resolve.
First: Since the fall of the
Shah, Iran has suffered from
severe socio-economic dislo-
cations. The failure of the
clergy to establish its moral
authority and its inability to
deal effectively with the
country’s mounting social
problems have more or less
rendered the Khomeini re-
gime helpless in the face of
increasing dissent against
government policies and
rising public disenchant-
ment. A decisive military
victory, in Iraqi eyes, could
so worsen Iran’s internal
situation that the regime in
Tehran could find it impos-
sible to rule.
Second: Iran’s armed
forces are in disarray, Iran’s
ability to strike by air deep
into Iraq and wage credible
naval operations notwith-
standing. Since the depar-
ture of the Shah, Iran’s
military capability has ser-
iously eroded. The army has
almost disintegrated — tens
of thousands have deserted,
and much of Iran’s military
equipment is no longer
operational. A lack of spare
parts and effective logistical
support have caused chaos
in many Iranian military
units. Iran’s success in
repelling or resisting some
of Iraq’s attacks are not at
all indicative of Iran’s ability
to sustain a prolonged war.
Third: Iraq correctly rea-
soned that neither the U.S.
nor the Soviet Union would
intervene as long as the
Straits of Hormuz remained
open. The Soviet Union,
with its problems in Afghan-
istan and strained relations
with the U.S., would find
direct or indirect interven-
tion against or on behalf of
either side contrary to its
interests. The U.S., on the
other hand, has been trying
to overcome its differences
with Iraq, especially since
Iraq has shown an interest
in improved relations with
the U.S. Add to this the
American hostage situation,
which in large measure has
prevented the U.S. from
taking any action that might ■
anger Iran’s clergy, as well I
as the fact that the U.S. is in *
the midst of its quadrennial
national elections, a situa-
tion that effectively inhibits
the President from taking
any drastic action.
I
Fourth: Because of its
sound economy — with close
to thirty billion dollars in
reserve — Iraq can afford to
manage the country’s finan-
cial affairs for more than a
year without additional re-
venues. Unlike Iraq, Iran’s
reserves of foreign currency _
are very meager, and I
depend on the day-to-day I
revenue from oil. This
situation is further aggra-
vated by the U.S. freeze of
Iranian assets. Iran’s inabil-
ity to export oil as a result of
the continued hostilities
could, and probably would,
bring the country to the
brink of economic disaster.
Though one of the pipelines
to the Mediterranean was
apparently damaged by Kur-
dish guerrillas, Iraq should
be able to effect repairs and
resume at least half of its oil
shipments to the West.
I
I
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 43, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1980, newspaper, October 23, 1980; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753172/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .