Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1990 Page: 4 of 32
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Opinion
4 TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, DECEMBER 6, 1990, HANUKA ISSUE
WASHINGTON WATCH
By James David Besser
TJP Washington Correspondent
Cult Policy Lurches
Again
Last week’s announce-
ment that Secretary of
State James Baker would
travel to Baghdad for a
last-ditch effort at diplo-
macy represented another
major shock for pro-
Israel forces here.
Once again, there were
deep stirrings of unrest
over the fact that a major
change in American Mid-
dle East policy was not
preceded by consultation
with Israel.
And once again, there
was anxiety that the ad-
ministration’s lurching,
unpredictable policy
might leave Israel high
and dry.
“Leaders in Jerusalem
were just as surprised as
people here who heard it
on the radio,” said the
Washington represen-
tative of a Jewish
organization. “This is just
another indication that
Israel’s interests are not
being taken into account
as this country stumbles
from one policy to
another.”
Despite presidential
promises that the propos-
ed Baker-Hussein talks
will not include any dis-
cussion of “linkage” bet-
ween the Kuwait occupa-
tion and the state of
Israel’s occupied
territories, there was
widespread concern that
any negotiated settlement
would come at Israel’s ex-
pense.
“The administration
has said all along that
there is no linkage,” said
Seymour Reich, chair of
the Conference of Presi-
dents of Major American
Jewish Organizations.
“But there is strong con-
cern that if they try to ac-
commodate Saddam, it
could result in some kind
of linkage. So it may be
inappropriate for the ad-
ministration to even be
talking with him.”
Saddam made just such
a declaration early this
week, in response to the
president’s surprise an-
nouncement.
But it is the lurching,
eratic quality of American
policy the Gulf crisis that
worries pro-Israel activists
the most.
“We’re seeing a policy
without any clarity,” said
the leader of one of the
nation’s most influential
pro-lsrael organizations.
“They keep changing
their focus; they don’t
seem to know how to
resolve this. What con-
cerns us is if they’re so
flexible, will they cut a
deal detrimental to Israel?
Last week’s announ-
cement only increases our
misgivings on this score,
because it highlights the
inconsistency of
American policy.”
Other analysts warn
that it is too early to judge
the effect of Bush’s dra-
matic announcement.
“This raises some very
troubling possibilities,”
said Jess Hordes,
Washington director for
the Anti-Defamation
League. “But if the end
result is that the adminis-
tration simply makes clear'
their resolve to imple-
ment the United Nations
resolution, and if Saddam
is unwilling to budge, this
will not run counter to
Israel’s interests.”
The risk, Hordes war-
ned, is in some kind of
murky middle ground.
“The danger is that on-
ce you get involved in a
negotiation of this kind,
you may find AD-
DITIONS to the United
Nations resolutions that
could give Saddam a kind
of diplomatic victory,” he
said. “This is where the
danger lies for Israel.”
German-American
Exchange Program
Produces Unexpected
Results
With the unification of
Germany an accomplish-
ed fact, Jewish groups
here are seeking ways to
solidify German-Jewish
ties.
But one recent ex-
change convinced some
Jewish activists that even-
ts in Poland, where anti-
Semitism was a major
element in the recent
presidential campaign,
have an even greater
urgency for the Jewish
community here.
Earlier this year, B’nai
B’rith International and
the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation, an offshoot
of Helmut Kohl’s Chris-
tian Democratic Union,
developed an exchange
program that takes young
American political leaders
POSTORIAL
Hanuka And Human Rights
By Marc H. Tanenbaum
Copyright 1990, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.
Eight lights lor human rights. No more appropriate theme could be found for
Hanuka 1990.
Hanuka, which begins on Dec. 11, commemorates the victory of Judah the Mac-
cabce over the massive invading armies of the Syrian Empire, and the rededication
of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which the Syrians had defiled. The story of
Hanuka is a superlative Bible narrative and its meaning today is profound and
universal.
I jowi the perspective of history, the Maecabean victory was the first successful
ii iuhiptmi the struggle for human rights, particularly for freedom of conscience and
pluralism in the history of mankind.
Had the Syrians defeated the Maccabees in the epic struggle for the right of every
group to be itself, on its own terms, Judaism might have perished, and quite con-
ceivably, Christianity and Islam would never have emerged. That’s how fateful
Hanuka was for the whole human family.
Hanuka 1990 hopefully will heighten the consciousness of the Jewish people and
thai of many others, to rekindle the Maecabean spirit in today’s troubled world—to
refuse to stand by idly, to resist capitulation to modern-day tyrants, the fanatic Sad-
dam Husseins of the world. These fanatics desecrate the dignity of human beings
created in the sacred image of God by denying religious and political freedoms. In-
stead of cursing the darkness, Hanuka is a time to light a candle for life and hope.
It,thin \tare II I anenhaiinr is tlw /(inner micnnrlional relations director In the American Jewish
l ninnmicc ami is iniinediaie pasi chairman ol the Intel national Jewish ( oinmillee lor Intcrrcligioiis
( nnslill,moils.
to Germany—and young
-German leaders to Wash-
ington.
The first group of
Americans recently retur-
ned from Germany, where
they met with an assort-
ment of top government
officials. The American
delegation included state
and local officials from
around the country, as
well as several figures on
the Washington political
scene.
Leslie Goodman, press
secretary to former
Republican National
Committee Chairman Lee
Atwater and a participant
in the first exchange, said
that the Germans appear-
ed too busy working out
the myriad details of uni-
fication to worry much
about Jewish concerns.
“Everybody is busy
trying to figure out what
the new Germany will
look like,’’ she said.
“They don’t have time to
sit back and worry about
these other issues. So.
there’s an urgent need to
bring focus, to make sure
that as re-unification
proceeds, there will be a
continuing recognition of
Germany’s special respon-
sibility to the Jewish
people.”
The German Jewish
community, she said, ex-
pressed concerns that
their own political power
might decline as the
nation mobilized to cope
with the tremendous
economic and social
challenges of unification.
Another participant, a
Washington - based
foreign affairs specialist
who has visited Germany
a number of times,
suggested that the attitude
of the Germans to
Americans was noticeably
different in the wake of
unification.
“In previous years,
there was a sense in Ger-
many that the United
States held the predomin-
ant position in the
Western Alliance,” he
said. “I didn’t feel that
way this time; I felt like a
Third World person might
feel in coming to New
York for the first time.”
The Germans now view
Americans as equals, this
young activist said —
something that was dif-
ficult for the American
politicos to accept.
“We have achieved the
vision of 1945—a multi-
polar world,” he said.
“And the irony is, now we
don’t like it.”
But the big lesson of the
first exchange may have
been the one the group
learned in a two-day
swing through Poland,
where they encountered
some of the anti-Semitism
that swirled around the
recent presidential cam-
paign.
“It was clear to us that
the American Jewish com-
munity has to direct more
of its attention to
Poland,” said Dan
Mariaschin, B’nai B’rith’s
director of public policy
and the person respon-
sible for the exchange
program. “In Germany,
there are individuals who
are seeking to come to
grips with their past, with
their responsibility. But in
Poland, we have to force
that sense of accoun-
tability. We learned that
we have a tremendous
task ahead there.”
But the Polish officials
who met with the group
made it clear that they are
hoping that anti-Semitic
outbursts will not poison
their new relationship
with Washington.
“They need our good-
will,” Mariaschin said.
“They tried very hard to
leave us with that
message. And that gives
us, as American Jews, an
opening.”
Family Medical
Leave Redux
Jewish groups haven’t
given up on legislation de-
signed to provide unpaid,
job-guaranteed leave for
workers with newborns,
newly adopted children or
ill dependents.
But for now, the focus
has shifted to ■ state
capitols in the wake of
President Bush’s veto of a
family and medical leave
bill earlier this year.
“Several states—in-
cluding New York and
Connecticut—now have
bills pending,” said Susan
Banes Harris,
Washington representa-
tive for the New York
UJA Federation. “These
bills are patterned after
the federal bill that the
president vetoed; like the
federal bill, these exempt
small employers.”
Jewish groups are part
of a broad coalition that is
currently discussing
see WASH. WATCH page 29
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1990, newspaper, December 6, 1990; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754102/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .