“When it comes to the question of peace we are all doves, but when it comes to the question of our security we are all hawks,” Simcha Dinitz, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, declared to the prolonged applause of some 1000 persons attending the American Zionist Federation’s Independence Day celebration last night at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.
The Israeli envoy affirmed that the Jewish State will not “forfeit the right” to determine the needs for its own security. He said Israel demands defensible borders as part of a peace agreement and will not give up this point to receive a few favorable editorials in major newspapers in the U.S. “The press is looking to write editorials. That’s their job. Our’s is to write a page, a chapter in the history of the Jewish people,” he declared.
Dinitz also stressed that out of the present domestic difficulties Israel will “emerge stronger and more united among ourselves” and with the Jewish people everywhere “our best allies.”
ISRAEL-USSR TIES SEEN UNLIKELY
At a press conference prior to the official celebration, Dinitz said there is no indication that renewed diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Israel are in the offing. Responding to a reporter’s question about recent reports from Washington that the Soviet Union and Israel are likely to renew diplomatic ties, Dinitz said the Russians are interested only in creating “an impression that they can talk to both sides” in the Mideast conflict.
The USSR, he charged, “wants to appear neutral and establish its credentials as co-chairman of the Geneva peace conference.” The Israeli envoy noted that the Soviets have stepped up their harassment of Jews and that anti-Semitism is on the rise in the USSR. These developments also show that the Soviet Union is not interested in renewing ties with Israel.
As to the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border, Dinitz said Israel considers it with “great gravity” and views as “intolerable” any movement of Syrian troops closer to the Israeli border and a takeover of southern Lebanon by the Palestine Liberation Organization to renew forays into Israel.
ZIONISM IS UNIFYING FORCE
AZF President Faye Schenk told the Independence Day audience that Zionism is “the central unifying force in Jewish life.” She urged all who are publicly criticizing Israel to concentrate on the “common ground” of support for the Jewish State rather than picking Israel apart for the sake of scoring points for their disparate views.
Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak and Mayor Abraham Beame praised Israel’s accomplishments in its 29 years and said that the American people will continue to support the Jewish State. Beame said that two pledges must be made: “There will never be another Holocaust…there always will be an Israel.” Mrs. Krupsak read a proclamation from Gov. Hugh Carey declaring April 21 Israel Independence Day in New York State.
The highlight of the evening was the performance by Anachnu Kan (We Are Here), a group of more than 100 Israeli singers, dancers and musicians, originally from the Soviet Union. They performed songs in Hebrew and Yiddish. Rabbi Israel Miller, the AZF’s honorary president, offered a memorial prayer for those who gave their lives for Israel from the pre-State times to the present and a prayer for the State of Israel.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
