Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 5, 1999 Page: 4 of 24
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4 Opitli OH TEXAS JEWISH post, Thursday, august s, 1999-in our S3RD yeari
Washington Watch
ZOA Blasted Over
Jordan Aid
“Interference”
The Zionist Organization of
America, known for its rapid-
fire, aggressive style of political
action, has been rebuked by the
leading pro-Israel lobby group
for turning its sights on Jordan, a
top U S. and Israeli ally.
ZOA recently engaged in a
“gratuitous attack on Jordan's eli-
gibility for U S. assistance,”
according to Lonnie Kaplan,
president of the American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), and executive director
Howard Kohr.
In an unusually stinging letter
to ZOA President Morton Klein,
the AIPAC officials charged that
ZOA actions have been “damag-
ing not only to Jordan itself, but
also to important American and
Israeli interests.”
The rebuke was triggered by a
ZOA campaign to force Jordan to
extradite Abu Daouu, the con-
fessed mastermind of the 1972
massacre of Israeli athletes at the
tfSS&fe Olympics.
Last month. ZOA promoted a
House letter urging President Bill
Clinton to pressure Jordan to
hand over Daoud and warning
that aid “could be adversely
affected" if Amman didn’t com-
ply.
But the Jordanians denied
Daoud was in their country; pro-
Israel lobbyists said that even if
he had been, public attacks on
Jordan do not serve Israel's inter-
ests.
The AIPAC letter accused
ZOA of urging members of
Congress to link U.S. aid to
Jordan to Daoud's extradition
“without bothering to ascertain
whether he is still physically
present in Jordan”
The AIPAC letter cited a state-
ment by the Jordanian foreign
minister that Daoud has not been
in Jordan “for a while.”
This week Klein fired back. In
an interview, he said that the
charge that ZOA didn't check
Daoud's whereabouts was “com-
pletely erroneous; it shows their
careless disregard for the facts.
Dunng the entire time we were
talking about Abu Daoud. there
were numerous news reports cit-
ing (hat he was in Jordan.”
He also challenged the pro-
Israel lobby’s credibility on the
subject.
By James David Besser
TJP Washington Correspondent
agrachM* House wrapped up a foreign aid
“AIPAC’s action
requires them to fight for the
transfer of Arabs who have mur-
dered Americans,” said Klein,
who, as ZOA president, serves on
AIPAC’s executive board. “Yet I
know of no actions AIPAC has
taken to fulfill that obligation.”
In a letter to House Speaker
Dennis Hasten (R-III.), Jordanian
ambassador Marwan Muasher —
a popular figure among pro-Israel
activists — said that if Daoud
does enter, “he will be detained
and brought under the full extent
of the law.”
Muasher also expressed “deep
regret and dismay over attempts
by groups such as the Zionist
Organization of Amenca to tar-
nish Jordan’s record and even to
question its commitment to
peace. In fact, it is we who call
into question ZOA’s motives.”
On Tuesday Klein said the
AIPAC president had apologized
for the strong lone of the letter.
Not so, an AIPAC spokesman
said.
“We apologized for the letter
becoming public, which was
unintentional.” he said, stressing
£2! AIPAC’s strong reaction was
based on the impCTtSHCc of
Jordan, not animosity toward
ZOA. Asked if Kaplan apolo-
gized for the letter’s content or
tone, he said “absolutely not.”
The ruckus appeared to have
little impact on Jordan's aid. On
Tuesday the House passed a for-
eign aid bill that included
Jordan’s regular $200 million aid
request, plus an extra $100 mil-
lion, part of extra aid promised as
part of last year’s Wye River
negotiations — the only part of
the Wye supplemental aid
approved so far.
New Role For
Government Nazi
Hunters?
Two months ago. Rep. Tom
Campbell (R-Calif.) offered
hearty congratulations to the
newly elected pnme minister of
Israel. Ehud Barak In a hand-
written letter, he gushed “1 could
not be happier,” and offered his
help to the new government
"You have only to ask, and I
shall assist in any way I can. with
your path to peace,” he said.
Last week Campbell gave a
hint of what he meant, as the
bill that included $2.88 billion for
Israel, Campbell offered a last-
minute amendment — to cut that
aid.
Citing the high proportion of
U.S. aid that goes to Israel and
Egypt, Campbell said that “I just
do not think that is consistent
with the compassion of the
American people who would
rather see the money go a little bit
more fairly, a little bit more to the
other countries of the world.”
Campbell’s proposed $30 mil-
lion cut reflected the cut request-
ed by the Clinton administration
— and restored by Congress.
A peeved Rep. Sonny Callahan
(R-Ala), chair of the Foreign
Operations Appropriations sub-
committee and himself a some-
times critic of Israel’s aid, com-
plained that Campbell “gives no
credit to the hard work this com-
mittee has done” in working with
the administration and Israel to
work out an agreement for a
gradual reduction in economic
aid.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-New
York), a top defender of Israel’s
aid, agreed that aid to other parts
of the world is insufficient — but
that \l «'0*jld be reckless to
“change the formula that has
been very carefully crafted.”
Campbell’s amendment
crushed by a 414-13 vote.
The $12.6 billion aid
almost $2 billion
less than the
administration *1
requested, cleared
the House on Tuesday
and faces a tough House-
Senate conference process
and the possibility of a
veto if lawmakers do not find
additional money. It includes
$2.88 billion for Israel, a $120
million reduction in economic
aid and a $60 million increase in
military assistance — in line with
the agreement worked out
between the two governments.
was
bill.
Gephardt Tries Again
on Terror Panel
If Congress moves on a pro-
posal by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-
Vt.), the Office of Special
Investigations (OSI) — the per-
petually underfunded Justice
Department Nazi-hunting unit —
could have a new role. Whether it
gets new money to fund that role
is less clear.
Under the Anti-Atrocity Alien
Deportation Act the agency, cre-
ated in 1979 to hunt down Nazis
who entered this country after
World War 11, would expand its
role to seek war criminals
involved in other auGCihes, from
Cambodia and Rwanda to the
former Yugoslavia, who entered
this country illegally or on the
basis of false information.
That formula, which has
worked well in the hunt for aging
Nazis, avoids messy legal battles
over exactly what constitutes war
crimes.
The measure would also for-
malize OSI’s existence; until
now, the agency has existed by
dint of executive order.
“(The expansion) is a good
idea if there’s additional staff and
money,” said a longtime OSI
observer. “If it simply expands
jurisdiction without the bucks, it
will be a disaster.”
And any attempt to increase
OSI’s budget could come at the
expense of other Justice
Department units, this source
said, posing new bureaucratic
problems for the always-precari-
ous agency. .
Neal Sher, a Washington
lawyer and OSI’s first director,
said the proposal “would make it
clear that modern-day war crimi-
nals would be treated the same as
Nazi persecutors — that they are
ineligible come here, and
deportable if they arc here.”
WATCH p. 7
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 5, 1999, newspaper, August 5, 1999; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754705/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .