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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
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February 6, 2012
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Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
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January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
May 5, 2008
/ 30 Nissan 5768
Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective
By
Jonathan Mark
Exchange happened long before "settlers", Israel's control of Jerusalem or the West Bank
JewishWorldReview.com |
Fifty years ago on the cusp of Israel's 10th birthday, not its 60th, Abba Eban, then Israel's ambassador to the United States, sat down for an interview with CBS.
"I'm Mike Wallace," says the newsman. "The cigarette is Parliament."
It was a time when journalists almost had to smoke, a haze drifted between the talking heads on an unadorned stage, draped in black.
The primitive black and white kinescopes of Wallace interviews from the late 1950s were recently made available by the University of Texas at Austin, where they've been archived.
The interview on that night takes us back to a simpler time, before settlers, before Israel's control of Jerusalem or the West Bank, a time when "little Israel" was David, not Goliath. It was the year "Exodus" was published. Israel was a teen idol, or so we remember. But the young Wallace (40 years old) was tough and Eban was, well, Eban.
Here, condensed, is some of their exchange.
WALLACE "Mr. Ambassador, in its ... 10 years as a nation, Israel has been involved in repeated violence... "
EBAN "Well, Mr. Wallace, the last 10 years have not only been years of violence. They have been incomparable years of joyous creation, of sovereignty restored, of the people gathered in, of a land revived, of democracy established, but there has also been violence imposed by the hostility of our neighbors."
WALLACE "... You called Egypt's President Nasser, Israel's most perilous adversary. Now today Colonel Nasser would seem to be even stronger..."
EBAN "Well, at present, Nasser's policy is one of acquiescence towards us, and there has been a relative tranquility on our frontier with him. Perhaps the memories of the Sinai expedition [in 1956] have had a salutary effect in causing him to avoid his previous belligerent provocations, but basically we have not changed our views on Nasser and Nasserism."
The word "Palestinian" is not heard on the broadcast. The West Bank was Jordan in those days; Gaza was Egypt.
WALLACE "... Arnold Toynbee has said, 'The evil deeds committed by the Zionist Jews against the [refugee] Arabs are comparable to crimes committed against the Jews by the Nazis.' How do you feel about that?"
| VIEW THE INTERVIEW … |
| in all its glory by clicking HERE. |
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EBAN "Well, about Professor Toynbee's statement I can only repeat what I've written, that it is a monstrous blasphemy. Here he takes the massacre of millions of our men, women and children, and he compares it to the plight of Arab refugees alive, on their kindred soil, suffering certain anguish, but of course possessed of the supreme gift of life. This equation between massacre and temporary suffering which can easily be alleviated is, I think, a distortion of any historic perspective."
WALLACE "Of course, the problem of the refugees is allied with the problem of territorial expansion on the part of Israel. A major Arab spokesman here in the United States ... says, 'The area of the territories held by Israel today exceeds by about 40 percent the area of the territories given Israel by the United Nations. Most of this added area,' he says, 'was taken by force and should therefore be relinquished by Israel.'"
EBAN "Well, I think this gentleman need not to lose any sleep at night worrying about whether the State of Israel is too big. Really there is nothing more grotesque or eccentric in the international life of our times, than the doctrine that little Israel, 8,000 square miles in area, should become even smaller in order that the vast Arab Empire should still further expand."
WALLACE "Well, as a member of the Judaic faith, which cherishes social justice and morality, do you believe that any country should profit territorially from violence?"
EBAN "Mr. Wallace ... I am not going to analyze how the frontiers of countries which I have seen or in which I have served were achieved [but it is the Arabs] who decreed the method by which the present frontiers were achieved. They rejected the 1947 recommendation."
WALLACE "Now then, Mr. Eban, regarding the American Jew and the State of Israel, the anti-Zionist rabbi, Dr. Elmer Berger [a Reform rabbi, not Satmar or Neturei Karta] has written, 'the Zionist-Israeli axis imposes upon Jews outside of Israel, Americans of Jewish faith included, a status of double-nationality,' a status which he deplores. What's your answer?"
EBAN "Well, Mr. Wallace, I have so many pressing duties that I don't follow the wisdom of this gentleman perhaps as closely as I should. I will only say this, that we ask no allegiance, we seek no loyalty from anyone who is not a citizen of Israel. There is a kinship of spirit, of emotion, of historic memory between us and those who share our faith throughout the world ... We believe that Israel's emergence is the greatest collective event in the history of the Jewish people, and that there is no pride and no dignity for a Jew such as those to be found in giving aid and sustenance to Israel in the great hour of her resurgence."
Let us now return to 2008, to a new Jewish cable station, Shalom TV, where one can hear Israel's current defenders, albeit without the cigarettes. Shalom TV in recent weeks has become newly available in New York on Time Warner as a free video-on-demand service. The station, based in Fort Lee, N.J., had previously been available in smaller markets only.
Shalom TV offers Israeli films and documentaries; presentations from the 92nd Street Y; and what Mark Golub, president of Shalom TV, calls, "Jewish C-Span," coverage of prominent newsmakers speaking at AIPAC, UJC General Assemblies and other conventions and public events. There have been expert roundtables with analysts and journalists swapping inside information with the likes of Mort Zuckerman, Malcolm Hoenlein, Elie Wiesel, David Brooks, and hosts such as Sidney Zion. Abba Eban would've loved it.
Online video clips can be seen at shalomtv.com
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Jonathan Mark is Associate Editor of the New York Jewish Week. Comment by clicking here.
© 2008, NY Jewish Week
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