BEGINNINGS
BEGGININGS A month ago, in this space, I suggested that times were getting better, that November '75 was a considerable improvement over November '74. The words were written before the General...
...as usual, much more, moment remains committed to a presentation of the full range of Jewish life, which, happily, can never be wholly contained in a political forum...
...Rarely has a cause we share.been so eloquently championed, rarely has a policy of the United States government been so infused and enlarged by personal conviction...
...We do not invest less energy in those concerns when new items are forcibly added to our agenda...
...It therefore becomes important that we engage in continuing discussion of the meaning of Zionism, and moment's pages will henceforward pay explicit and continuing attention to this issue...
...last year Arafat, this year Zionism, next year, no doubt, some new act in this circus of the absurd...
...The distinguished delegate from Mauritius, interviewed the morning after by The New York Times, asserted that "many people voted without knowing what Zionism is," and that their votes in favor of the resolution were based on other considerations...
...we think it deserves to be saved, its author celebrated...
...But it is quite likely the case that most Jews have only a very fuzzy notion of what Zionism is, and if the UN resolution prompts renewed attention to the matter, that is all to the good...
...a description by Ernst Pawel of his recent trip to Egypt...
...Finally, there is comfort to be taken in the behavior of the American Ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan...
...A special eight-page section is devoted to Zionism and its meaning(s...
...three articles on three different generations of Jewish women — and...
...Moynihan spoke out with such passion, conviction and intelligence is therefore doubly welcome...
...And, in our Reaccess column, we reprint an essay on Zionism by Martin Buber...
...The words were written before the General Assembly session had voted its Zionism-racism resolution, and about all that we can say in retrospect is that we'll know better next time...
...Thirty-five nations voted "no," and thirty-five more either abstained or were absent...
...There are some elements of consolation in this sordid affair...
...We are also committed to correcting our own errors: Aharon Yariv, who reviewed two books for us in our October issue, was mistakenly identified as having been Chief of the Intelligence Branch of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the Yom Kippur War...
...In fact, he held that position during the Six Day War...
...It does get tedious, but there's not much choice, unless we prefer to give over complete control of our agenda to our enemies...
...a discussion of the changing nature of Jewish comedy and comics in America by Albert Goldman...
...Perversity has become the annual Fall exercise of the General Assembly...
...we simply accept a longer agenda...
...Further, the resolution, abhorrent though it is, marks the strongest demonstration of pro-Israel sentiment in the United Nations in several years...
...In our special section, we reprint the full text of Ambassador Moynihan's address during the General Assembly debate...
...The delegate, and his colleagues, may well be forgiven their ignorance, though not their behavior...
...In the end, the Arabs won little from the vote, and may have lost a good deal...
...So, this month, we present Henry Sieg-man's reflections on Israeli policy and on the responsibility of American Jews to enter the debate on that policy...
...European nations in particular, so recently spineless in the face of Arab pressure, united in their resistance to this outrage, and a number of African states joined with them...
...In our Tav column, Alan Dersho-witz discusses American policy towards the UN, and proposes a viable way for the United States to withdraw from the UN without sacrificing the important work of some of the UN's specialized agencies...
...In the meantime, we have learned to deal with the kind of diversion from our own concerns the world imposes upon us...
...Elsewhere in these pages, we respond to the proposed equation of Zionism and racism in several ways...
...We've had precious little reason to be proud of the behavior of our government officials these past years, and the fact that Mr...
...Whatever the debate among Jews on Zionism as of November 9, 1975, the General Assembly resolution guaranteed that as of November 10, all Jews had become Zionists...
Vol. 1 • January 1976 • No. 6
