Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 4, 1998 Page: 4 of 24
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Opinion TEXAS JEWISH post, Thursday, june *, 199s - in our 52nd year!
Washington Watch
By James David Besser
TJP Washington Correspondent
New Controversy at Holocaust
Museum:
Once again, the U S Holocaust
Memorial Museum is under attack,
this time because of a ten-year-old
op-ed article by the man recently
appointed as head of the muse-
um’s new Center for Advanced
Holocaust Studies.
In an article in the Los Angeles
Times in I988, John K. Roth—a
widely respected Holocaust schol-
ar with 20 books and hundreds of
scholarly articles to his credit—
attacked the ascension of the
Molcdct party in Israel, which ad-
vocated the “transfer" of Pales-
tinian Arabs from the West Bank.
Roth drew an analogy between
Krislallnacht in Na/i Germany,
which happened “because a polit-
ical state decided to be rid of peo-
ple unwanted within its borders,”
and the movement in Israel that
secs transfer as the only option for
guaranteeing Israel’s security.
Then, he compared the Pales-
tinians to German Jews who had
no place to go to escape Hitler.
“As much as any other people
today, (the Palestinians) arc being
forced into a tragic part too much
like the one played by the Europe-
an Jews 50 years ago," he wrote.
That led Morion Klein, presi-
dent of the Zionist Organization
of America, to insist that "unless
Professor Roth publicly and ex-
plicitly disavows his comparison
of Israel to the Nazis, and apolo-
gizes for having made such odi-
ous remarks, he should be consid-
ered unfit to serve in a prestigious
senior position on the staff of any
institution that seeks to memori-
alize or study the Holocaust.’’
This week. Roth’s story was
being faxed—anonymously—to
Holocaust Memorial Council
members.
But Roth, while using an unfor-
tunate comparison, was "attack-
ing an extreme voice in Israel, not
Israel itself.” said Deborah Lips-
tadt, a Holocaust scholar at Emory
University in Atlanta and a mem-
ber of the board that runs the mu-
seum. “I wouldn’t have used that
particular analogy because it’s too
often used in an abhorrent way by
people who compare Israel and
the Third Reich But there is noth-
ing here to suggest that he was
anti-Israel, or that he was compar-
ing the Israelis to the Nazis."
She pointed to Roth’s long
record of Ho-
locaust schol- -ffflU
arship, and
added that his
comments were not
significantly different
from charges made by
mainstream Israeli
leaders about Moledet, a move-
ment many considered overtly
racist.
“To attack a man on two para-
graphs written a decade ago, and
not on the reams of scholarship
he’s produced, is outrageous,” she
said.
Roth’s appointment as first head
of the Center, created to expand
the museum’s scholarly role, has
been widely applauded by Holo-
caust scholars and museum staff-
ers. This week, museum insiders
were angry about the attacks on
Roth, although several indicated
discomfort with the way he had
phrased his arguments in the con-
troversial article.
Several Museum sources ex-
pressed concern that a series of
recent controversies—including
the ouster of former director Walter
Reich and the abortive visit by
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—
might make members skittish about
Roth’s appointment.
“He’ll be tarred and feathered
see WASH WATCH p. 24
What’s Behind “Playing With Fire
By Morris J. Amitay
In order to try to understand
why the Clinton Administration
seems to be so frustrated in its
efforts to promote peace and sta-
bility in the Middle East, it might
he well if U S. policy makers pon-
dered some of the following ques-
tions.
For instance, w hat lessons could
be learned from Palestinian threats
of violence if visiting U S Con-
gressmen to Israel had stopped at
the proposed site of a new Amer-
ican Embassy in West Jerusalem?
It the Palestinian Authority ’s max-
imum demand is for all the territo-
ry occupied by Israel in the Six-
Dav War. why would the P.A.’s
J w m
leading spokesman warn of "play-
ing with lire" in an area within
prc-1967 Israeli borders, and not
in "East” Jerusalem ’ Or. why does
"President” Aralal continue to re-
fer to the Oslo Accords as being
similar to a peace treaty that the
Prophet Mohammed decided to
violate when it suited him later
on? And why could the following
offer be made w ith little expecta-
tion that a winner will step for-
ward ’ "Anyone who can produce
a recording or document in the
Arabic language where Aralat or
any representative of the Pales-
tine Authority declares that their
purpose remains a Palestinian state
wInch will only comprise the west
bank. Gaza and “East . Jerusalem
will be awarded a full course din-
ner at the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem, courtesy of the Israel
Resource News Agency. ” One
need not be overly paranoid to
draw some unsettling conclusions
from the above.
Another issue often raised by
the Arab media is the religious
backgrounds of the U.S. peace
team Citing the Jewish anteced-
ents of the Secretary of Slate. Na-
tional Security Adviser. Assistant
Secretary for Middle East. etc.,
they; rhetorically ask how can U.S.
policy possibly be “even-hand-
ed” in its treatment of Arabs and
Israelis? Actually, they have it all
wrong. The record would show
that Jewish Americans officially
involved in the Arab-Israeli con-
flict rarely seem to give Israel a
break Whether this is because of
sensitivity to changes ol built-in
bias or a sincere desire to "save
Israel despite itself the results of
their efforts save invariably been
mixed at best. Or. to put it another
way. after the Administration's
recent “take it or else" ultimatum
to Israel, it is fair to ask whether
Israel would have been better of
dealing with former Secretary of
Stale Warren Christopher and
National Security Adviser Tony
l ake than Madelame Albright and
Sandy Bergercurrently in the same
positions. While a movement
among Israel’s friends to "bring
back the Gentiles" has not yet
begun, the question remains - are
Jews always good for the Jews?
Further afield, what does the
cooperation agreement just signed
between Saudi Arabia and Iran
say about the "moderate" Saudis
friendship toward the United
States and their opposition to ter-
rorism? This pact, following on
the Saudis public denial of any
Iranian involvement in the Khobar
Towers bombing, which killed I9
U.S. servicemen, raises disturb-
ing questions - particularly when
Israeli intelligence officials have
positively fingered Iran in the
bombing. And, speaking of Iran,
how serious will anyone take the
U .S. policy of containment of Iran
after the President’s issuance of a
waiver to the Iran Libya Sanctions
Act for a huge Iranian gas deal?
For that matter, what signal was
sent to all our Arab friends when
we announced the reduction by
one-half of all our forces in the
Persian Gulf? This coming on the
heels of our non use of force against
Saddam during the last "crisis" says
a great deal about U.S. resolve -
and how America acts as the
world’sonly remaining superpow-
er.
And then, there is the most basic
of questions recently raised by
Steven Plaul. an astute Haifa Uni-
versity professor. He asks why is
Oslo based on the perception that
Arabs behave like Jews and share
the same agenda? His answer is
that Arabs are not Jews and do not
consider peace to be a higher value
than liberating of all of Palestine.
He concludes that this is why Oslo
cannot possibly succeed. This con-
clusion, of course, leads to yet an-
other query. If the current peace
process is so fatally flawed - what
is the alternative? The answer to
this question requires more imag-
ination, courage and acknowledg-
ment of reality than our current
policy-makers seem to have. So. a
final question - could it be time
for a change?
Texas Jewish Post
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 4, 1998, newspaper, June 4, 1998; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754468/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .