FROM OUR ARCHIVES
50 YEARS AGO
November 1, 1967
A gastronomic crisis halted a Boeing 707 jet about to take off from London’s Heathrow Airport. Instead of hurtling down the runway, the Pan American plane turned back to the terminal because 57 Israeli musicians and singers of the Israeli “Music Hall” group changed their minds about what they wanted to eat on their eight-hour flight to Philadelphia. The kosher food was unloaded and an ordinary English menu substituted. Rabbi Menachem Hacohen of the Mapai religious circle sent a cable to prime minister Levi Eshkol and education minister Zalman Aranne , “We regard this as a disgrace to the Jewish people.”
A World Jewish Cooking Queen would be crowned in a year’s time, in conjunction with the International Gastronomical Congress. She would be chosen from world Jewry for her ability to make baked goods, gefilte fish and cholent.
Traffic watchers – members of the National Road Safety Council – would be on the lookout for courteous drivers as they would stage various “breakdowns” to test motorists’ response to appeals for aid. Outstanding acts of courtesy would be rewarded at the end of the campaign with prizes, including gold Jerusalem medallions and key chains.
25 YEARS AGO
November 1, 1992
Hundreds of police in full riot gear continued to patrol the streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, three days after the acquittal of Lemrick Nelson, a 17-year-old black man accused of stabbing to death Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, an Australian yeshiva student, in 1991. The evening of the acquittal, several thousand hassidim and blacks threw bottles and punches in a night of controlled violence. Observers agreed that the acquittal hinged on the reluctance of a predominantly minority jury to believe the testimony of white police officers. Throughout the four weeks of turbulent and often conflicting testimonies, Nelson’s defense attorney repeatedly cautioned the jury to “weigh carefully” the words of the officers, conjuring up an image of hassidim conspiring with city police to frame Nelson.
15 YEARS AGO
November 1, 2002 The Palestine Liberation Organization might be forced to reconsider its support for the two-state solution, Dianna Buttu, its legal adviser said. It was the first time since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 that senior PLO representative had spoken openly about the abandoning the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. In effect, her proposal meant merging the Palestinians into the state and granting them citizenship. A month earlier Buttu surprised American and Israeli officials when she announced in Washington that Israel would eventually have to consider giving Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip citizenship. A spokesman for the State Department dismissed the idea, saying it threatened Israel’s Jewish character. “That is not to say that we are not committed to the two-state solution; the PLO has been committed to that since 1988,” Buttu said. “But given the facts on the ground, given the way that things have changed, one cannot unscramble an egg.” Buttu’s views deviated from the PLO’s official policy over the previous eight years. Whether her statements reflected a new trend in the organization remained to be seen.
– Daniel Kra