Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1982 Page: 2 of 24
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1982 PAGE 2
Congress Cautions Reagan On Israel
BY JOSEPH POLAKOFF
WASHINGTON - The
97th Congress in its waning
hours spent two powerful
bipartisan messages to Pres-
ident Reagan that in effect
reinvigorated traditional
U.S. support for Israel and
advised the White House to
re-examine its Middle East
policies.
other a letter signed by
two-fifths of the House
membership warning the
President against commit-
ments to deliver advanced
weaponry to the Kingdom of
Jordan before it subscribes
to making peace with Israel.
One message was the
increase in U.S. financial
assistance to Israel despite
Secretary of State George
Shultz’s intense lobbying
Texas Congressmen who
signed the letter included
Democrats Mickey Leland
and Martin Frost and
Republicans Jack Fields and
Bill Archer.
the Reagan-Hussein ses-
sions. The 52 senators from
41 states included both from
Pennsylvania, New York,
Nebraska, Missouri, Min-
nesota, Michigan, Delaware,
Florida, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Kentucky.
However, Senators from
such states as Texas, Vir-
ginia and Georgia did not
sign.
Besides the pairs from the
11 states, endorsers includ-
ed Minority Leader Robert
The resolution was intro-
duced last May 27 by
Senators Edward Kennedy
(D.-Mass.) and John Heinz
(R.-Pa.) to assure Israel’s
security, to oppose advanced
arms sales to Jordan, and to
further peace in the Middle
East. The full impact of the
resolution, however, came
almost seven months later
when the Senate majority
was achieved just before
Hussein’s arrival.
The Senate majority was
snuitz s intense lobbying reached three days before Byrd (D-W.Va.), Gary Hart
against any boost in military King Hussein arrived in (D-Colo.), Orrin Hatch
Washington for his second (R-Utah), Alan Cranston
visit with President Reagan
or economic aid to Israel
because he sensed keeping
down help to Israel would
encourage Arab states and
the Palestine Liberation
Organization to warm to his
views,)
The other message was in
two parts. One was a
resolution endorsed by more
than half the Senate and the
in 13 months. The timing
was significant since it came
when Kentucky’s senators,
Democrats Wendell Ford
and Walter Huddleston, and
Maine’s Republican William
Cohen joined 15 other
Republicans and 34 Demo-
crats in opposing the expect-
ed arms deal to emerge from
(D-Calif.), Robert Packwood
(R-Ore.), Paul Sarbanes
(D-Md.) Henry Jackson
(D. Wash.), Howard Met-
zenbaum (D.-Ohio), Max
Baucus (D.-Mont.), Bill Brad-
ley (D.-NJ.), Quentin Bur-
dick (D-N.D.), Dennis De-
Concini (D-Ariz), Larry
Pressler (R.-SD.), Jim Sas-
ser (D.-Tenn.).
Begin Defends Policies At
30th World Zionist Congress
The increased aid, the
resolution and the letter
infuriated Administration
leaders who have persuaded
President Reagan to take a
hard line against Israel and
particularly Prime Minister
Menachem Begin to appease
the Arabs and persuade
them to accept the Reagan
peace plan. One senior
administration official, brief-
ing reporters on the Hussein
visit, assailed the Congress
for its “sovereign majesty.”
The official, who cannot be
named because of the rules tense region, alter the
under which he briefed, military balance in the
emphasized the Congress region, and jeopardize the
was embarrasing Hussein security of Israel,
while the President’s guest.
Congressional sources re- Hitting at Hussein’s atti-
torted that far from embar- tude towards Israel, the
rassing Hussein the actions letter urged the President
were cautioning the Presi- not to pursue such a sale as
dent against weakening long as Jordan “continues to
American interests in the reject U.S. policies in the
Middle East. region, refuses to engage in
direct negotiations with
On the day before Hus- Israel and refuses to join the
sein’s arrival, 182 Congress- Camp David process.” The
men from 36 states deliver- letter oncluded “Rejection-
ed a letter to President ism must not be rewarded at
Reagan stating their op- this delicate moment in
position providing advanced Mid-East diplomacy,
arms to Jordan such as the
F-20 A fighter aircraft
except under specified con- The resolution’s ten
ditions. originators were Democrats
John Moakley (Mass.), Ben
“At this critical junction in jamin Rosenthal (N.Y.),
history, such a sale would Clarence Long (Md.), James
undermine the peace pro- Florio (NJ) and Joseph
cess and U.S. objectives in Addabbe (N.Y.), and Repub-
the Middle East,” the letter licans Tom Corcoran and
said, such advanced weap- John Porter of Illinois, and
ons for Jordan would “intro- Hamilton Fish, Benjamin
duce an inherently destabil- Gilman and Norman Lent of
izing factor into an already New York.
Judical Commission Recalls
JERUSALEM [WNS] -
Addressing the dosing ses-
sion of the 30th World
Zionist Congress here last
week, Premier Menachem
Begin used the opportunity
to defend his government’s
settlement policies which
were sharply criticized by
the opposition Labor Party
leader Shimon Peres just
the day earlier.
knowledges that there are
problems in relations with
Egypt but stressed that the
three year old peace treaty
is holding. Israel is now
seeking peace with all of its
neighbors, he said.
the heavily populated Arab
areas on the West Bank.
Sharon For More Questions i
Begin spoke in a moder-
ate, non polemic vein. It was
his first public appearance
outside the Knesset since
the death of his wife Aliza,
on November 14. He offered
rebuttal to charges by Peres
that the government’s set-
tlement policies were lead-
ing Israel toward a “military
future” and that continued
rule over more than a million
Arabs would make Jews
eventually a minority in
their own country.
He expressed hope that an
agreement wfll be reached
soon with Lebanon. Israel
does not want an inch of
Lebanese territory. It sup-
ports Lebanon’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity, he
said. It wants to see all
foreign forces out of Leban-
on. Israel wfll agree to leave
simultaneously with the
Syrians if the Palestine
Liberation Organization
leaves first, Begin said.
The Congress, which
opened December 7, was a
stormy one, marked by
fierce partisanship, and nu-
merous outbursts of heck-
ling and other disorders. But
Leon Dulzin, chairman of the
World Zionist Organization
Executive, expressed satis-
faction with the proceedings
despite the overheated at-
mosphere. Interviewed on
Voice of Israel Radio after
the closing session, he said
he saw the Binyanei Ha’-
ooma convention hall was an
outpouring of love for Israel.
That was certainly sat-
isfying, he said.
JERUSALEM [WNS) -
Defense Minister Ariel Sha-
ron has sent a letter to the
commission of inquiry inves-
tigating the massacres of
Palestinian civilians at the
Shatila and Sabra refugee
camps in west Beirut indi-
cating that he will not
reappear before it to give
further testimony and exam-
ine evidence and witnesses.
But Sharon, said he reserv-
ed the right to interrogate
witnesses and appear him-
self, if necessary in future
times.
recalling Sharon for addi-
tional testimony.
under the law.
Maj. Gen. Yeshoshua Sa-
guy asked to cross examine
Sharon and four others. No
date has been set for this
hearing.
However, according to
press reports Monday from
Jerusalem, the judicial com-
mission said Monday it was
Sharon was one of nine
top Israeli officials, including
Premier Menachem Begin,
who were notified by the
commission in November
that they may be harmed by
conclusions the three mem-
ber panel might reach as a
result of their original
testimony. They were invit-
ed to re appear in person or
by proxy in 15 days, which is
the right of all witnesses
Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael
Eitan and three other
officials who received warn-
ing of possible harm, notified
the commission on Decem-
ber 15 that they would
present fresh evidence on
their behalfs. Eitan is
expected to appear in open
session in contrast to his
original testimony which
was given behind closed
doors. Others who will M
appear before the commis- K
sion are the chief of Israeli ®
intelligence and the head of
Mossad, the Israeli intelli-
gence service.
According to Begin peace
cannot be achieved by giving
up parts of “Eretz Israel.” If
any foreign power were to
control the hills west of the
Jordan Valley, life in Israel
would become “hell,” he
said. “Our right to Eretz
Israel is totally linked to
national security.” Begin
maintained that demo-
graphic forecasts have prov-
en wrong. The number of
Arabs in what he termed the
land of Israel decreased in
the past 15 years whereas
the Jewish population grew
by one percent annually, he
said.
Begin made no reference
to Israel’s relations with the
United States. In the name
of the Zionist Congress he
called on the Soviet Union to
“free the Prisoners of Zion.”
He pledged that Israel
would do everything possi-
ble to aid Jews in the USSR,
Syria, Ethiopia and else-
where. “No one can doubt
we are facing crises today,
but we have done so in the
past and I am confident we
shall overcome,” Begin said.
Boston Area Rabbis Assail
'Beth Din' Excommunication
He insisted that Israel had
a right to settle “all of Eretz
Israel” and said it would
continue to control security
on the West Bank and Gaza
Strip under the autonomy
Also, at the closing of the
Congress, the Congress
plenum, approved a Labor
Alignment resolution critical
of die government’s settle-
ment policies but the Presi-
dium refused to accept it.
This was believed to be the
first time a Zionist Congress
had disapproved of a policy
of an Israeli government.
The resolution opposed con-
SALEM, Mass. [JTA] -
The decision of three Ortho-
dox rabbis in the Boston
area to constitute them-
selves a rabbinic court (Beth
Din) to excommunicate a
number of local Jews,
including all signers of a
June advertisement in The
New York Times critical of
Israel, evoked sharply nega-
tive reactions from other
local rabbis.
Institute of Technology
Prof. Noam Chomsky; and
Nobel Laureate Salvador
Luria. Excommunication is a
rarely used judgment in
modern Jewish life, and the
event attracted widespread
attention in area daily
newspapers.
the “excommunicated”
Jews, adding that, though
he disagreed with the views
of Gendler and of others “as
injurious to Israel and to
American Jews,” he would
not “dream in a million years
that excommunication is the
answer.
Rabbis Marvin Antelman
of Newton, Herbert Gilner
of Long Island, and Jehu
Eaves of Boston, met in a
hotel in Tweksbury and
excommunicated the Jews,
who included Rabbis Ever-
ett Gendler of Andover and
Ira Axelrod of Brandeis
Comment by rabbis on the
excommunication was caus-
tic. Rabbi Sanford Shanblatt
of Swampscott, president of
the North Shore Rabbinical
Association, called the event
“ridiculous" and one which
should not be “a part of our
society today,” according to
the Journal of the North
Shore Jewish Community.
A North Shore Orthodox
leader. Rabbi Samuel Zait-
chik of Lynn, condemned
both the excommunication
and the media for reporting
on it. He told a Lynn
newspaper “Why do you pay
attention to such nonsense?”
He also said that “the truth
of the matter is that nothing
happened and nobody re-
sponsible did anything.”
Brockton, president of the
Massachusetts Board of M
Rabbis, which represents ^
Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform rabbis, said the
board did not support the
excommunication, calling it
“a political means to express
chagrin at the criticism of
Israel.” Axelrod called the
“Beth Din” members “a
small, fanatical extremist
fringe.”
I
plan he proposes. He ac- tinued settlement activity in University ; Massachusetts
Axelrod said he would
never do anything to hurt
Israel, adding, “I believe the
Palestinian people deserve
the right to national self-de-
termination, provided the
entity that results will fully
recognize Israel and will
Shanblatt said he was _____
acquainted with several of, Rabbi David Werb of co-exist alongside Israel."
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1982, newspaper, December 23, 1982; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755619/m1/2/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .