Armenian Genocide Affirmed
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CHICAGO’S OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED INDEPENDENT JEWISH NEWSPAPER FREE THROUGHOUT METRO CHICAGO js VOL. XVII, NO. 400 © Star Media Group, Inc. — “USEFUL INFORMATION FAITHFULLY RECORDED” — By Mail: $30 AUGUST 24 - 30, 2007 Saudi airline: No Bibles, crucifixes, starsof David ANALYSIS: TIME TO SEND A SIGNAL TO THE DESPOTS OF RIYADH JTA — VIA GENOCIDE OR MASSACRE? — Armenians are marched to a By DANIEL PIPES nearby prison in Mezireh by armed Turkish soldiers, April, 1915. MIDDLE EAST FORUM Saudi Arabian Airlines (known as Saudia) de clares on its English-language Armenian web site that the kingdom bans “Bibles, crucifixes, sta - tues, carvings, items with Genocide religious symbols such as the Star of David.” Until the Saudi govern- ment changes this detest - Affirmed — ISRANET PHOTO — ISRANET able policy, its airline should MORE STREET ART — Cows, globes, horses, kassam missile fragments — cities have deco- be disallowed from fly ing IN REVERSAL, ADL SAYS OTTOMAN TURKS COMMITTED GENOCIDE rated their streets with all sorts of art in recent years (Jewish Star, Aug. 10). Jerusalem has into Western airports. now added bears. Michael Freund brought ASSESSING EVENTS OF 1915-1918 The “United Buddy Bear” exhibition, which opened there at the beginning of this month, fea- this regulation to interna- tures 133 identical fiber glass figures of bears, each decorated by a different artist in the style tional attention in a recent ADL HAD FIRED CRITICAL DIRECTOR; of his or her country. It’s been a big hit in Jerusalem, having arrived there after being exhib- Jerusalem Post article, THE BERNARD LEWIS FACTOR ited in Berlin, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Vienna and Cairo. “Sau dis might take Bibles The motto for the exhibition —- “The Art of Tolerance” — was penned by the exhibition’s cre- from tourists,” in which he CHICAGO JEWISH STAR AND JTA ators, Eva and Klaus Herlitz, of Germany. At the end of the world tour (which is to include points out that a section on In a dramatic rever- Beijing and Buenos Aires), the bears will be sold at auction for UNICEF and other organizations the Saudia web site, “Cus - sal, the Anti-Defam - helping needy children throughout the world. To date, nearly $2 million has been raised. y toms Regula tions,” lists the ation League’s na tional forbidden articles above director issued a gPLEASE TURN TO PAGE 2 statement August 21 WHEN THE LAND RESTS using the term “geno- cide” to de scribe the EVERY 7 YEARS, AGRICULTURAL LAND IN ISRAEL IS TO LAY FALLOW; IT’S CALLED SHEMITTAH massacres perpetrat- PROTEST ed by the Ottoman By BATSHEVA POMERANTZ Empire against the It comes about every TO CCHR Armen ians. The ADL and its — ANDREW TARSY / ADL PHOTO seven years, and this Rosh — BERNARD LEWIS / ALAN KOLC PHOTO Hashanah is one of them: CITY OFFICIALS TALK WITH national director, Ab - Andrew Tarsy (right) was fired as the start of the shemittah JUF LEADERS ABOUT raham Fox man, have head of the ADL’s Boston office af - (or sabbatical) year in the ARAB FESTIVAL COMPLAINT faced mounting criti- ter publicly challenging the group’s Land of Israel. cism in recent weeks refusal to call the 20th Century Ar - The word shemittah for refusing to use the menian massacres “genocide”. vyna By DOUGLAS WERTHEIMER genocide lab el, and (Hebrew, ) means “let EDITOR Professor Bernard Lewis (left) has fall” or “let rest”. It begins essentially opposing a called the 1915 Ottoman Turkish on - this year on September 13. A meeting to discuss proposed congres- slaught a “terrible slaugh ter”, but has In modern-day Israel, anti-Israel activity at a re - sional resolution that refused to characterize it as genocide. only about 3% of the popu- cent City of Chicago Arab would do so. lation works in agricul- festival went well, and in - The controversy Fox man fired Andrew ture, where advanced tech- cluded an assurance that intensified last week when Tarsy, the director of the nology is used to yield an the City opposed the promo- ADL’s New England region, abundance of produce dur- / JTA —BRIAN HENDLER PHOTO tion of such “political posi- Apology from for de noun cing the organi- ing the shemittah year. GUSH KATIF METHOD — The “detached” method of agricul- tions”, participants have zation’s position in an in - Contrast this with Bib lic - ture was pioneered and fine-tuned in the Israeli-populated told the Jewish Star. Wiesel attacker terview with the Boston al times when society was Gush Katif communities, until their des t ruc tion by The Aug. 7 meeting — Globe. 100% agrarian: fields and Palestinians during Israel’s Gaza Disen gagement in 2005. be tween the Chicago Com - WIESEL: “I EXPECTED IT. “In light of the heated orchards had a hef qer status Above: Cucumbers grown in a Neveh Dekalim green- mission on Human Rights’ I’M A NOVELIST. I IMAGINE controversy that has sur- (that is, they were ownerless house in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. (CCHR) chairman Clar ence rounded the Turkish-Arm - property), and crops became Wood, its First Deputy Com- SITUATIONS ... IT’S CLEVER” enian issue in recent weeks, available for all (as the ered holy and is traded in a During the 40-year ex - mission er Kenneth Gunn, and because of our concern Torah mandated). special way. ile, the few remaining and the Jewish Fe d eration’s Eric Hunt, the man who for the unity of the Jewish During the shemittah The first shemittah foll - Jewish inhabitants were Jay Tcath and Michael Kot - accosted Elie Wiesel in a community at a time of in - year plowing, sowing, plant - ow ed the conquest and divi- not obligated to observe zin — was call ed by the Fed - San Fran cisco hotel on Feb - creased threats against the ruary 1, apologized in court. ing, reaping and harvesting sion of the land of Israel by gPLEASE TURN TO PAGE 3 eration and took place at its Jewish people, ADL has de - are forbidden. Fruit that Joshua, until the Baby lo n- downtown office. Wiesel, 78, a Holocaust cided to revisit the tra gedy survivor, Nobel laureate, grows (by itself, so to speak) ian exile following the des - Tcath is executive director that befell the Ar m enians,” and famed author, was on during this year is consid- truction of the First Temple. Holocaust NGO of the Jewish Community Foxman said in his state- Re lations Council and Kotz - the witness stand in San ment. Fran cisco Superior Court YAD VASHEM GETS in is the JUF/Federa tion’s “We have never negated INSIDE executive vice-president. Aug. 13 recounting what he UN RECOGNITION describ ed as his most har- but have always described The impetus was the dis- the painful events of 1915- ——U—— rowing ordeal since World Yad Vashem, Israel’s na - covery of anti-Israel litera- War II, when Hunt blurted 1918 perpetrated by the Editorial: Giuliani’s insight.........4 tional Holocaust museum, ture distributed at the first- out, “I’m terribly sorry about Ottoman Empire against ever Chicago Arabesque fes- By the numbers........................4 was accredited Aug. 9 as a what happened.” the Armenians as mas- tival, held in June at Daley sacres and atrocities," Fox - DC: New pragmatists.............. 5 non-governmental organiza- Wiesel said he wasn’t sure tion by the Unit ed Nat ions. Plaza (Jewish Star, July 13). the apology by Hunt, 23, of man said. Anti-Semitic state.....................6 The accreditation will per- In 2003, a Jewish Star New Jersey, was sincere. “On reflection, we have Elvis’ yahrzeit ...........................7 mit the museum to partici- investigation revealed that “I expected it,” Wiesel said. come to share the view of DVD: “Les Misérables”............ 8 pate in U.N. deliberations Chi cago’s Arab Heritage “I’m a novelist. I imagine situ- Henry Morgenthau, Sr., Community Calendar .............10 ROSH HASHANAH CARD, 1945 / JTS PHOTO — V-MAIL and enhance collaboration Month had become a source ations. This is something a that the consequences of Our Annual Synagogue on issues of Holocaust re - of anti-Israel activity — to character would do. It’s clever, those actions were indeed Torah: Spiritual witnesses ......11 Guide, pages 8-10. membrance. y JTA gPLEASE TURN TO PAGE 2 very clever.” y JTA gPLEASE TURN TO PAGE 3 2 AUGUST 24 - 30, 2007 CHICAGO JEWISH STAR N E W S ploy ee identified only as portal to the world, offers a Saudia (slogan: “We aim to “Gladys” confirmed that this pressure point for change. please you”) from its run- Saudi airline rule really is applied. To take advantage ways, thereby com- e “Yes, sir, that is what we of this vulnerability, pelling the kingdom FROM THE FRONT PAGE religions other than Islam.” have heard, that it is a prob- Western govern- to permit infidel Freund followed up by lem to bring these things ments should de - religious items, under the rubric, “Items calling the Saudia office in into Saudi Arabia, so you mand that unless mono theistic and and articles belonging to New York, where an em- cannot do it.” the Saudi govern- polytheistic alike, An unnamed official at ment at least per- into its territory? YOU BE THE JUDGE the Saudi consulate in New mits “that stuff” in, Where are you Ath - “200 Jews still live York further confirmed the Saudia faces exclusion ens, Frankfurt, Gen e va, secretly in Karachi regulation. “You are not al- from the 18 airports it Hous ton, London, Ma drid, [Paki s tan], all that re - low ed to bring that stuff into presently services in Europe, Mála ga, Man chester, Milan, mains of a community the kingdom.