15 0'
"
'^ ^
^
•^fr^^^rt
11ttri V7VV JI SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920
Vol. LXIII No. 34 Omaha, Neb.
30 Niaan, 5746 Friday, May 9,1986
The Cutting Edge:
fe
American Jews cancel visits to Israel
By Edwin Black Terrorism is finally winning in its battle against Israeli's tourism, and industry sources pinpoint American Jews as leading the wave of cancellations. Tourism is arguably Israel's leading industry, yielding more than a billion dollars in needed foreign currency, and providing jobs to 24,000 Israeli families. Terrorists, of course, know the economic and moral importance of Israeli tourism. Hence, air massacres and hijackings carry a special efficacy — a strike against both the Israeli economy and its accessibility to the world. So threatening is this tactic that on his recent trip to America, Prime Minister Shimon Peres made a public appeal on television for Americans to stand firm in their travel plans. But in the face of the Libyan crisis, the traveling public melted. The Easter and Passover tourism decline hit Israel very hard. Sitting at the telex machine of the Jerusalem Hilton one can just watch the business evaporating. "Montreal group failed to materialize, please cancel." "Unable to complete plans for Los Angeles group tour, regret cancellation." One hotel staffer remarked, "we're almost afraid to turn on the telex machine. All it tells us is cancellations." While the cancellations are coming from around the wdrld, Israeli tourism sources observe that European cancellations are in the minority: "They live with terrorism on their continent day in and day out." Likewise, Christian pilgrims from both America and Europe are holding fast in their travel plans. European budget travelers and Christian pilgrims customarily patronize three star establishments. And indeed, three stars report that while their waiting lists are gone, they are still operating near capacity. It's the four and five stars such as the Hilton and Sheraton which employ the most people, that have suffered.
That's because they depend upon an American Jewish clientele, mostly groups. And the American Jewish community is leading all other market segments in abandoning travel to Israel. The manager of one major hotel declared, "In February 1985, this hotel had 1899 Americans. This February we had 447. That's a 76 percent drop." So severe is the cancellation crisis that the. King David Hotel recorded only half its customary occupancy rate in February. In March, other five stars expected a seventy and eighty percent occupancy, but were compelled to limp along with forty and fifty percent rates. "We're just watching the headlines," said Sam Witkin, sales manager of the Jerusalem Hilton. "Groups are canceling and rebooking and then canceling again. We don't know from day to day." The night before Pesach, management sources at the Tel Aviv Sheraton reported, "Normally at this time our hotel is more than 100 percent occupied -^ that is, we have a waiting list. Now, it's down to 68 percent." The Tel Aviv Hilton and Jerusalem Plaza suffered similar losses. The assistant manager of one Jerusalem five star confessed, "For the Passover dinner itself — usually totally sold with Americans — we have only 45 percent. But most of that group is Israelis. If you count the foreigners, it might be down to 10 or 20 percent. These losses do more than hit big hotel corporation and national currency reserves. They affect individual Israelis in a deeply personal way. Most Israeli hotel employees are paid a mere token wage, and derive the bulk of their salary from a share of the 15 percent service charge assessed every guest. When hotel rooms are vacant, paychecks go down. A Tel Aviv front office manager admitted that she would bring home a paycheck only half as good s last Pesach. Thus far, most hotels have resisted any thoughts of lay-
offs, according to Gideon Efrati, front office manager of Sheraton's Jerusalem Plaza. "Instead," says Efrati, "we're trying to save in every way, avoid any spending. And the extra hiring we usually do at this time of the year was out of the question." But other managers are not so sure. Abraham Kotzer of Israel's Ministry of Tourism declares that American Jews are "playing into the hands of terrorists by not coming to Israel. Instead of Americans besieging Libya, Libya has besieged the Americans." Ironically, adds Sam Witkin of the Jerusalem Hilton, "While the newspapers give the impression that Israel is like Beirut, the. reality is that the country is tranquil and perfectly safe." And of course anyone who has been'in ISrael during the Libyan crisis knows that the country is perfectly at ease. Indeed, you can still walk through Jerusalem's Independence Park at midnight. You can still laze on a Tel Aviv beach sipping a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Israel is more beautiful than ever, more equipped for tourism than ever. And no one is there to see it. But abandoning Israel during this crisis is more than just a missed sunset. It's a direct reflection on American Jewish commitment to Israel. If American Jewry accepts the notion that Israel is still struggling to survive, and if American Jewry wants to be part of that struggle, it shouldn't fight by hiding in its house and tearing up flight coupons. Israel was created by transportation. People hugged the rusted bellies of leaky cargo ships after the Holocaust just to get in. Until just a few years ago, tourists were riding buses in Tel Aviv still equipped with racks for bullet-proof steel window guards. American Jewry must ask itself if Mpammar Kaddafi is determining its travel plans, or is it their continuity to the Jewish State.'It can't be worth ways. This is the one time the injunction "Next year in Jerusalem" is a cop out.
Creighton honors Milton Abrahams
Ethiopian art This clay aculpture was created by an Ethiopian Jew who emigrated to Israel in 1985. It ia one of many new artwork* by Ethiopian Jewish artists to be displayed at the Jewish Community Center as part of "Expressions '86. Over 70 artists of Israel will be represented In this art show and sole which will open Sunday May 18 as part of the activities and exhibits presented for Yom Ha'Atsmaat, Israel Independence Day. A listing of BchMnled events appears in the centerfold of this issue of the Jmvith Prta*.
Omaha attorney Milton R. Abrahams and Haroid W. Anderson, chairman and chief executive officer.of the Omaha World-Herald Co., will receive honorary doctor of laws degrees during Creighton University's 1986 commencement ceremonies, May 17. Mr. Abrahams is a past president of Temple Israel and the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Mr. Abrahams, a 1927 Creighton School Abrahams of Law graduate, and fellow attorney Ben E. Kaslow founded the firm which bears their names in 1944. They were joined by Frederick S. Cassman in 1956. , Mr. Abrahams has served numerous community organizations, including the Joslyn Liberal ARts Society, the Metropolitan Arts Council, and the city's Human Relations Board. He has served Creighton as a member of the President's Council. Mr. Abrahams also has given his time.and talent to professional organizations. He is a director of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation. Among honors and awards conferred on Mr. Abrahams are the Brotherhood Award of the National Council of Christians and Jews, the State of Israel Heritage Award, and the Anti-Defamation League's Torch of Liberty Award. In addition, Creighton has given Mr, Abrahams its Distinguished Citizen Citation (1956) and its Alumni Merit Award for the School of Law in 1983. Among Mr. Andersen's honors and awards are the Henry Monsky Lodge B'nai B'rith 1972 Americanism Citation for Meritorious Service, the Nebraska Press Association's 1979 Master Editor-Publisher Award, and the 1984 National Society for Park Resources Award for Excellence.
YomHaShoah Memorial candles were'lighted Monday night at St. Margaret Mary's Church of Omaha to commemorate the death of six miUion Jews during the Holocaust. An estimated 120 Jews and Gentiles attended the interfaith Service in Remembrance of the Holocaust. Coverage of area Yom HaShoah services will appear in next week's paper.
TTie sheriff and the viqilantes By David E. Lowe
AMiiUiit ditMtor of tiM Fact Fbidiiif Dtputmmt of ti» AatiDifuMtioii VuMff ot B'nai B'rith.
Thit Mtkk it nprintcd Iroia tbi Maitb, 19M, imw of th* ADL BalMla, lutiaiul publiotian of tb* Anti-DtfiuMtioii I>«|u* of B'mi B'rith. A few months ago, while preparing to evict a Cochran, Georgia, farmer whose properQr had been foreeloMd by a local bonk, Bbckley Coun^ Sheriff Ed Coley was alerted to the proqiect of extraordinafy danger awaiting him. Mere than 60 armed men from six states, many of them combat veterans sporting fatigues and Bemi-automatic weapons, had gathered at the hog farm of Oicar Lorick in central Georgia to prevent Sheriff Coley from carrying out the eviction.
Signs placed on the Lorick property by the armedzealota denounced the Federal Reserve System and "ZOG" — "Zionist Occupied Government," a term hate group memliers have coined ror the federal government. On the day of the anticipated eviction, demonstrators at the farm began firing their weapons at bales of hay. One declared: "We won't fire until fired upon, but if we are filed upon, heaven help the men on the other side," Badly outmanned, the Sheriff decided not to allow himself and his dsputies to be drawn into an armed confrontation. At a press conference on the evening of the proposed eviction, he announced that a deal had been struck allowing Oscar Lorick more time to raise cosh to maintain his loon and remain on the property. Sheriff Coley soys later-that' he had learned several days prior to the event that a number
of the demonstrators wanted to provoke law enforcement officials into opening fire.
At a time when hate groups are seeking to capitalize on the farm crisis by recruiting fanners in distress, the significance of the action at the Cochran farm is underscored by the key role pUgred by two far-right extremists and the support provided by a paramilitary organisation in southem Oklahoma which colls itself the Heritage Library. The demonatraton' local qwkesmon was Toonniy Kersey, a fanher in ncarii^ Unadilla, who hsii openly expieuwd his sympathies for the POSM Comitatus, a rural-based vigilante organization which espouses hatred for Jews, Blacki, and virtually all government officials. (Poss ComiUtus means "power of the county" and claims to recognize no govem(continued on page 5)