of an anonymous accusation without even the opportunity to face their accusers and defend themselves. Supporters of the program answer all criticism with one statement: "National security takes precedence over the rights of the individual." Few will dispute that-up to a point. But the rights of the individual must be protected if we are not to become a police state such as we fought a war to obliterate in Nazi Germany and claim to deplore in Soviet Russia. Their policies of individual subservience to the State and their systems of internal espionage and arbitrary judgments neighbors and friends spying and informing on each other, government officials snooping into the personal lives of citizens and compiling dossiers on each one, wire-

INTERNATIONAL

tapping, eavesdropping, arbitrary dismissal and arrest with no recourse, persecution of minority groups were set up in the name of "national security," too. Aren't all these intolerable practices becoming a little too commonplace here? Of what value is national security if we ourselves adopt and employ the very evils from which we are supposedly striving to keep our nation secure?

History has proven that civil liberties once lost are seldom regained, and unless a line is drawn somewhere in the present "the end justifies the means" philosophy of the party in power, our treasured government "of the people, by the people and for the people" is well on its way to perishing from the earth.

News from other countries; translations and selections from homofile magazines abroad.

(These notes on Israel were sent to us by a resident of that state while those about India and Ceylon were supplied by a correspondent who was, for years, resident in those countries but who is now living in the United States).

ISRAEL

Many people believe that Israel is like the Orient in its reception of the homosexual. In some respects the Orient and East Asia are ideal for the gay element. Nothing is less difficult in Istambul, in Algiers, in Casablanca or in Cairo than to make a friendly acquaintance by a quite obvious approach-and to know at the same time that you do so without danger. At times, it is true, one must pay for his amusement but it is also possible to find a lasting friendship of more permanent worth.

In this way conditions in Israel are very similar to those of the Orient. The country is populated by a remark-

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able mixture of people-many from other places. Its atmosphere is thus cosmopolitan as one might expect. However, the culture of Israel is more Occidental than Oriental and in some ways much like that of the states of Europe.

The laws are very mild against the homosexual-one could say they hardly exist at all. Of course, if a case were to arise involving a minor, such as a boy of thirteen, both parties would be brought to trial.

Except for imports from Europe, there are not many homosexuals living in Israel. For this reason, bars and clubs, exclusively for the gay, cannot exist. What happens in practice is that most natives are either hetero-

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