|
bLeague of the B’nai B’rith (the group that was to turn over bnames of JDL members to the FBI) and also New York City bCultural Affairs Commissioner, said the Bolshoi cancella- btion was “disappointing.” This more than usually moronic breaction was balanced by a December 15 editorial in the New bYork Daily News, the nation’s largest newspaper. Headlined b“Bye-bye Bolshoi,” it discussed the Soviet cancellation and bstated: b“Reason: activities of ‘Zionist extremists’ in the bUSA—meaning chiefly, the Jewish Defense League and bsuch things as the bombing of the New York office of bAeroflot, the Soviet airline. b“We don’t condone violence. We’re sorry to see impre- bsario Sol Hurok lose this business. . . . However, the bKremlin could stop virtually all Jewish attacks on its agents band properties in other countries by simply adopting a bpolicy of treating the Jews inside Russia with common, beveryday decency and tolerance. Why not give it a try, Red bBrezhnev and Red Kosygin?” bAnd from the JDL? A big grin and the following state- bment to the press: “We will continue to dramatize the plight bof the Soviet Jews in any way we can until they are given btheir freedom and are allowed to leave for Israel.” bAs December moved forward, it was an open secret that bthe trial of the Leningrad defendants would open soon and bthat the death penalty would be asked for at least some of bthem. We therefore turned our attention to a target that we bhad long thought about—a synagogue. bNot just any synagogue, of course, but rather the one that bstood directly across the street from the Soviet UN Mission. bThe Park East Synagogue, at a time when no mass demon- bstrations could be held on the block of the mission, was the bideal base for operations that could drive the Russians mad. bLegally it had every right to serve as an outpost against the bRussians simply by virtue of the fact that it was there. Had bthe rabbi and the trustees the slightest amount of gumption, bnonstop daily verbal assaults could have been directed at the bsensitive Russians—indeed, there is nothing that could not bhave been done. A simple touch of imagination could have b
|
|