Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 20, 1981 Page: 4 of 20
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1981
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postorial
Flight From Justice
A flight from justice is always a precarious but still
defiant symbol when acted out against a repressive
regime. Faced with kangaroo court sessions in the
Soviet Union, Jewish activists have been sentenced to
labor camps and internal exile for seeking a free flow of
ideas and movement, but especially emigration rights.
In short, the Soviet Jewish population has been
subjected to the most overt and consistent
anti-Semitism that prevails in the world today.
Usually these dissidents remain around long enough
to be sentenced on trumped-up charges of hooliganism
and parasitism. The sentences are harsh, sometimes
years of labor camps and other times sentences to
internal exile. Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Ida
Nudel, for one example, has been languishing in exile in
Siberia and will most likely remain there until 1982
when her sentence expires. Her crime: aiding families
of imprisoned Jewish dissidents.
But the recent flight from Moscow by Boris
Chernobilsky, a prominent Jewish activist, was
unprecedented by Jewish activists in the Soviet Union.
It was in direct defiance of Soviet authority warnings as
he awaited his impending trial for “resisting a
representative of authority.” But, moreover, it
underscored the belief by many in this country and by
Jewish activists in the USSR, that the trials in Soviet
courts are a travesty of justice.
We all know that Chernobilsky’s real crime, like
many others, has been the desire to emigrate to Israel.
But in the case of Chernobilsky, again like other
dissidents, visa applications are refused for reasons of
“state security.” Dissidents in Russia apparently know
too much. Too much of the truth.
The repression continues within the Soviet regime.
For the month of July, the number of Jews who arrived
from the Soviet Union in Vienna was 779, the lowest
figure in nearly a year. There remains a carefully,
calculated allotment of exit visas distributed to Jews,
perhaps to propagandize that the Soviet Union is not as
repressive as others may perceive.
The United States can act before that figure drops
out altogether. By the continued scrutiny of Soviet
emigration policies, persistent pressure on Soviet
authorities and the injection of human rights as part of
this Administration’s foreign policy, the flight from the
Soviet Union may not be from Moscow into hiding, but
from Moscow to the free world.
TEXAS JEWISH POST
Dedicated to Truth, Liberty and Justice
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MffiHA SPOTUGHT
MONITOR
One Search For Peace
BY DAVID SILVERBERG
It was a small pocket
calculator lying in the
middle of a Beirut street, a
natural object for a young
schoolboy to pick up. But
when he picked it up and
pushed one of the calcula-
tor’s buttons, it exploded in
his hand killing him. Stand-
ing next to that schoolboy
was Tony Nader, 14, who
lost an eye and his left hand.
The accident so moved
George Nader, Tony’s older
brother, that he began
working in his own way to
bring peace to the Middle
East.
The result is a magazine,
International Insight, dedi-
cated to presenting a bal-
anced, objective, scholarly
look at the Middle East.
Nader has already seen
the magazine into its second
year of publication, conduct-
ed interviews with people
such as Sol Linowitz and
William Quandt and created
a national distribution from
mainly local effort centered
around Cleveland, where the
magazine was founded.
Nader was attending
Cleveland State University
when he started Internation-
al Insight and he dropped
out to manage the magazine.
He collected money from
individual contributors, as
well as small grants from
foundations and used a high
school print shop to turn out
the first issue.
He is a native of Lebanon
who came to the United
States at the age of 16.
Always interested in the
United States, he listened to
radio broadcasts by the
Voice of America and read
publications distributed by
the American embassy.
Once in the United States he
quickly overcame a language
handicap and become active
locally, organizing a game
room for area teenagers.
The latest issue deals with
Egypt and features an
exclusive interview Nader
conducted with Husni Mu-
barak, Egypt’s Vice Presi-
dent who, says Nader, “both
privately and in the inter-
view described the PLO as
terrorists.” He also found
the Egyptians very relaxed
and confident in their course
of action despite the rejec-
tion of much of the Arab
world. However, he also
reports feeling a profound
sense of the religious fer-
ment in the country. “You
can just feel it in the air,” he
says, “It’s growing all the
time.”
The trip, “deepened my
belief that what is going on
between Egypt and Israel
should be deepened and
broadened to include more
moderate countries,” he
notes. “I’m trying to explain
to other Arabs what Egypt
is trying to do.”
Nader was invited to
Israel for an interview with
Prime Minister Begin and
was there when the PLO
began lobbing shells over
the Lebanese border. With
the government concentra-
ting on the crisis, he never
got his interview. But he
hopes to try again and he
says he has lined up
exclusive interviews with
other important figures in
Middle East politics.
“The American people are
a smart people,” he states.
However, the Arabs are
always propagandizing. He
has no quarrel with them
presenting their point of
view, but sees a need for
more objective voices. “I’m
trying to present an impor-
tant point of view. You keep
hearing in the media that
Israel is the problem.”
International Insight he
hopes, will correct some of
this.
International Insight is
published six times a year
by International Insight Inc.
a non-profit corporation
formed by Nader. A year’s
subscription is $10 and can
be obtained at P.O. Box 723,
Cleveland, Ohio, 44107.
“We have gone a long way
in one year,” Nader wrote in
an editor’s note in the June
issue. “Our purpose in
creating International In-
sight has been fulfilled: to
serve as a clearing-house for
a variety of accurate and
timely information on the
Middle East which will add
up to an impartial and
objective view.” But he adds
that he still has a long way
to go.
Begin's Image And Middle East Reality
BY ALON BEN-MEIR
Sadly, many world leaders
and political observers,
including some U.S. officials
and a growing number of
Jewish community spokes-
men, have gradually come to
view Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin as a
ruthless troublemaker. I
have a theory that if Begin
resembled actor Gregory
Peck and spoke like Abba
Eban, he would be perceived
in an entirely different light.
However, when one sees Mr.
Begin and hears his accented
English, and when no punch
line, wit and laughter follow,
resentment and indignation
become the natural re-
actions. A world filled with
hypocrisy, double standards,
and moral decadence is not'
likely to tolerate a blunt Jew
who not only speaks with a
heavy accent and lacks
warmth and humor, but who
also stands up to his
adversaries and challenges
his enemies.
How many Middle East
observers or world leaders
truly understand the emo-
tional and psychological con-
frontation that separates
and perpetuates the intract-
able political situation in the
Middle East? No one advo-
cates the killing of hundreds
of innocent women and
children, many of whom do
not know why or who is
responsible. Yet has any
world leader, who condemn-
ed Begin and rushed to pass
judgment on his agonizing
decision to bomb the PLO’s
headquarters, guaranteed
the safety of Israeli citizens
or the security of Israel’s
borders? Six Israelis were
killed and scores were
injured as a result of the
PLO’s recent long distance
artillery barrages. However,
while the PLO chooses to
hide behind innocent chil-
dren and women’s skirts;
while the international com-
munity continues to wear
blinders and refuses to see
the bitter reality of the
Middle East; while political
observers continue to speak
of PLO moderation and
Arafat and his colleagues
continue to declare open
season on Israel and Israeli
lives; while our liberal
Jewish leaders succumb to
hypocrisy and disdain; while
the Arab states continue to
cash in on American vulner-.
ability in the region; and
finally, while the Lebanese
government and the Syrian
occupation forces are unable
to restore some modicum of
peace and dignity to this
shattered country, Begin’s
choices remain few and far
between.
Israel will and must
protect its sovereignty and
its citizens at whatever
price. The question remains,
not how many died in
Lebanon from the Israeli
raid, but how many will die
in the future if the PLO
continues to deny Israel’s
right to exist? True, Begin is
a maximalist on the West
Bank and the Gaza District.
Yet how can Begin moderate
his position when the Pales-
tinians, who are under the
PLO’s guns, still deny
Israel’s right to exist and
reject U.N. Resolution 242,
the Camp David peace
accords, or any other state-
ments that implicitly or
explicitly endorse Israel’s
legitimate existence? Those
who find it convenient to
condemn Begin should ask
themselves: What are the
alternatives? The tragedy is
not of Begin’s making, but
the work of the PLO and its
Arab supporters. Unless
there is a basic change in the
PLO/Arab position, thou-
sands of Palestinians will die
on the altar of the PLO’s
blindness and self-aggran-
dizement. Thousands more
will die because the PLO
allows itself to be exploited
by the Arab states who
wage a proxy war against
Israel and who lack the
courage to face the Israelis
themselves. Many more
Palestinians will die because
the Soviet Union will size on
every opportunity to further
its interests in the region at
the expense of innocent
women and children. And, of
course, many Palestinians
will perish because some
fools among the PLO contin-
ue to believe that they can
destroy Israel through arm-
ed struggle. Finally, there is
the brutal cynicism of those
willing to wade through the
blood of their Palestinian
compatriots to achieve po-
litical power, when peace is
available to them over the
conference table.
Although Begin may
neither resemble Gregory
Peck nor be as eloquent as
Abba Eban, he is the best
leader that Israel can offer.
On June 30th the Israelis
voted and gave Begin a
mandate to govern. Those
who disagree with his
politics and ideas have every
right to do so, but Begin
must continue to face maim-
ed victims and the parents
who lost sons and daughters.
It is Begin who must try to
stop the senseless killing
and to take all the risks such
action entails, including the
sacrifice of his personal
popularity. Does the United
States (as W7illiam Rasperry
recently asked in the Wash-
ington Post) have a “Mad-
man for an Ally”? Admitted-
ly, Begin is not very
loveable, but he is certainly
no “madman.” This prickly,
outspoken, blunt “madman”
has not only made peace
with Egypt, but extended
the hand of peace to his
other Arab neighbors with
only one precondition: that
they recognize and respect
Israel’s right to exist, and to
exist in peace. The PLO and
its Arab allies still refuse to
take that first step. Where,
then, are the “madmen”?
And why must Begin be
continually abused for doing
what any responsible leader
must do: protect his people
from indiscriminate attacks
and senseless killing?
THE CONCEPTS of
morality too are subject to
fashion;, and he who cannot
incline to the ideas in vogue
in his century is
misunderstood and decried
by his contemporaries. M.
Mendelssohn.
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 20, 1981, newspaper, August 20, 1981; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754567/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .