Subject: R&B: "Jews Respond To Clintons Pressure"
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:14:14 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
To: rb@rb.org.il
From: "Root & Branch Association, Ltd." <rbranch@netvision.net.il>
Subject: R&B INFORMATION SERVICES: "Jews Respond To Clintons Pressure
Stop It Now, because Israel Is Not a Banana Republic" by
Susan Rosenbluth
R&B INFORMATION SERVICES: "Jews Respond To Clintons Pressure on Israel:
Stop It Now, because Israel Is Not a Banana Republic"
by Susan Rosenbluth
ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, February 17, Root & Branch: If President Bill
Clinton thought there would be no political fall-out from his efforts to
pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making unilateral
concessions to the Palestinian Authority, he was mistaken. Groups
throughout the United States responded
angrily to what was widely seen as bullying on Americas part of its only
democratic ally in the Middle East. Even Congressmen on recess wrote to
Mr. Netanyahu, telling him to hang tough against the administration.
One of the first groups to call on Congress to act against Bill Clinton's
growing inclination to bash Israel was the National Unity Coalition for
Israel, an umbrella organization representing many Christians and Jews.
"Now is the time for our people to take immediate action and call these
moves what they are: an abandonment of Israels interests, a betrayal of
our solemn promises, a rewarding of terrorism and tyranny," said Coalition
president Esther Levens.
Humiliating America
In a letter to Congress referring to Mr. Clinton's refusal to meet with Mr.
Netanyahu while inviting former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Leah Rabin,
the widow of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to the White House, Mrs.
Levens wrote on behalf of the Coalition, "President Clinton has humiliated
the democratically elected Prime Minister of the Jewish State, refusing to
meet with him, and meeting instead with his political foes. We can recall
no other instance in which the leader of a major ally of the US was so
publicly embarrassed by a US president. In reality, the President is
humiliating the US by betraying an ally and demonstrating the
shallowness of American loyalty."
The Coalition decried the Clinton administration's attempt to blame Israel
for the US Inability to maintain the coalition against Saddam Hussein. In
fact, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, France, and Russia sense US waffling and feel
neither led nor protected by us. The Arab states in particular fear US
weakness and feel the need to appease Iraq. This has nothing to do with
the Israeli peace policy. It has everything to do with Clinton's lack of
resolve. Scapegoating Israel is the most craven sort of cover-up for this
failure, said Mrs. Levens.
In a letter to Mr. Clinton, Israel-supporter David Basch wrote: Not since
the debacle of Czechoslovakia, where the interests of a small nation were
sacrificed in a vain effort to purchase peace from a tyrant, has such an
openly cynical and dubious policy been proposed by the West.
The Hands of Jim Baker
In his syndicated column, Morris Amitay, who is not part of the nationalist
camp, wrote, "Following what bluntly, yet accurately, can be described as
his surrender to Saddam, Clinton is now demonstrating that his oft-spoken
support for Israel, just like his commitment to many other causes is
qualified, conditional, and ultimately suspect. The President, who had been
widely heralded as Israel's best friend in the White House,
is now not even being even-handed."
Noting that former Secretary of State Jim Baker could afford to snub the
Jewish community because so few votes went to the Republicans anyway, Mr.
Amitay said Mr. Clinton does not have that luxury. With the Republican
leadership (notably Speaker Gingrich and Majority Leader Lott) solid in
their support of Israel, and with a moderate wing of the GOP still
fluttering, Jewish-American supporters (as opposed to the Peace Now clique
hovering in and around the White House) do have some place else to
go both with their votes and checkbooks, he wrote.
After reading Mr. Amitay's column, Yoram Ettinger, former liaison to
Congress in the Israeli Embassy, used the words from that week's parsha to
compare Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with Mr. Baker. The voice is
that of Madeleine, but the hands are those of Jim, he said.
Noting Mr. Clinton's domestic problems at home, ranging from court cases
over sexual scandals to the fact that Congressmen in his own party are no
longer supporting him, Mr. Ettinger said Mr. Netanyahu should realize
Congress is much more supportive of Israel than is the President.
If Netanyahu wants to, he need not give into the Clinton-Albright pressure,
because Clinton can only create psychological pressure. He cannot
translate his threats into financial penalties without the support of
Congress, which he does not have on this issue, said Mr. Ettinger.
Congressional Support
As if to emphasize Mr. Ettingers point, more than 20 members of Congress,
including NJ Democrat Steven Rothman, sent a letter to Mr. Netanyahu asking
him not to be swayed by the empty threats of those who cannot understand
the danger that Israel would face by expanding its concessions to the
Palestinian Authority.
"We recognize this danger and ask you to know that Congress will support
you on this critical issue."
The Congressmen told Mr. Netanyahu: We believe that such pressures from
the international community are misguided, dangerous, and harm the national
security interests of both Israel and the US.
Besides Mr. Rothman, the letter was signed by House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
(R-TX) and 19 other Representatives. The organizers believe there would
have been many more if Congress had not been in recess last month.
New York Rabbis
On the heels of the Congressional letter, a coalition of major rabbinic
organizations in New York held a press conference telling Israel to resist
US pressure.
Stressing his support for Mr. Netanyahu, Rabbi Zevulun Lieberman, an
organizer of the press conference who resides in Elon Moreh when he is not
leading the Vaad HaRabonim of Flatbush, said this is the first time in
history that Jews are willfully surrendering parts of the Jewish homeland.
"We urge the American-Jewish community to turn away from our petty
internecine battles and re-direct our energy to the crisis we face as a
people for our brethren in Israel," he said.
Speaking on behalf of Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, world chairman of the
International Council of Rabbis, Rabbi Heshy Reichman said the Rav's
message was not to budge one inch.
The halachic ruling that Israeli soldiers are not allowed to participate in
any withdrawal that endangers Jewish life, still stands, said Rabbi
Reichman, who teaches at Yeshiva University.
Betraying His Pastor
Dr. Joseph Frager, president of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, recalled
Mr. Clinton's often-told story about his pastor warning him, with his dying
breath, never to forsake or harm the land or people of Israel.
Clinton has trampled on the words of his pastor, broken his vow to him, and
his entire Presidency has trampled on the respect accorded that office,
said Dr. Frager.
Herb Zweibon, chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, took the occasion to
congratulate Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK) who organized the Congressional letter
that went to Mr. Netanyahu. We have many friends in high places. We just
have to mobilize them, said Mr. Zweibon.
Rabbi David Algaze, a long-time activist for Jewish causes, recalled
then-UN Ambassador Pat Moynihans words in 1973 when the international body
passed the Zionism-is-racism resolution. Mr. Moynihan called it a dark day
not only for Jews and Zionists, but for anyone who depends on language.
The same holds true for calling the Oslo process a peace process, said
Rabbi Algaze.
Conference of Presidents
After several weeks of sitting on its hands, and trying to reach a
consensus, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations finally wrote to Mr. Clinton a comparatively tame letter,
telling him that anything that diminishes or appears to detract from a
strong and unambiguous mutual US-Israel alliance is counterproductive to
the goals the two countries share.
The letter, which was signed by chairman Melvin Salberg and executive vice
president Malcolm Hoenlein, told the President that differences between
Israel and the US should be dealt with directly, and not through the media.
Israel should not be expected to make new concessions while prior
commitments are not honored by the Palestinian Authority, the letter said,
adding that there can be no hope for enduring peace if the Palestinian
people and especially school children continue to be indoctrinated with
language of hatred, incitement to violence, and holy war.
Finally, said the Conference, its members do not believe it is appropriate
to draw a linkage between the current Iraqi crisis and the status of the
peace process.
No Longer with Israel
Americans for Peace Now and other left-wing groups in the Conference took
as a victory the fact that the letter did not mention Mr. Clintons pressure
on Israel.
"Netanyahu very much wants the American-Jewish community to pull his
chestnuts out of the fire, and that ain't happening," said Mark Rosenblum,
founder and political director of Americans for Peace Now. If there were
those that wanted to take the administration to task for embarrassing the
Prime Minister, they went home disappointed. The government of Israel is
no longer able to get an automatic 'We're with you and we're going to take
on the administration for you.'"
But the nationalist Zionist Organization of America praised the letter for
representing a significant new position staked out by the American-Jewish
leadership. The Presidents Conference has told the Clinton administration,
in no uncertain terms, that American Jewry strongly supports Prime Minister
Netanyahu's position that Yasir Arafat must be pressured to stop his constant
violations of the Oslo Accords, said ZOA president Morton Klein.
Bnai Brith and AJ Congress
The usually mild-manner Bnai Brith, told Mr. Clinton that its members were
deeply disturbed that his administration had suggested Israel is to blame
for the collapse of the Desert Storm coalition against Saddam Hussein.
Bnai Brith national president Tommy Baer accused the Clinton administration
of placing undue pressure on Israel to make further concessions in the Oslo
talks. Reciprocity must be the sine qua non of good-faith negotiations, he
wrote, adding that instead of suggesting that Israel is equally to blame
for the lack of progress in the peace talks, the US should be demanding
that the Palestinian Authority adhere to its pledges made under the terms of
the Oslo Accords, particularly those relating to terrorism and the incitement
to violence.
Even the usually left-wing American Jewish Congress told Mr. Clinton that
putting unilateral pressure on Mr. Netanyahu is bad tactics and bad strategy.
Quite simply, such pressure deprives the Palestinians of any incentive to
negotiate in good faith. Why in the world should they be more responsive
when they can sit back and let the US make their case for them in the
international forum and then apply pressure on Israel on their behalf? said
AJCongress president David Kahn and executive director
Phil Baum.
Israeli Left and Right
The American pressure prompted Mr. Netanyahu's political foes on the right
and left to use the situation to their best advantage. Labor Party leader
Ehud Barak said Mr. Netanyahu was erring by not consulting with the
Americans before making decisions about the final status agreement with the
Palestinians. I am sure President Clinton doesn't trust Bibi, said Mr.
Barak on Israeli Army Radio.
Just a few days later, however, Mr. Barak criticized Mr. Netanyahu for
giving into American dictates on the size of the next withdrawal. I
believe Netanyahu will withdraw from 10.5 percent of the territory
according to American dictates, a very dangerous precedent, he told Arutz 7.
On the right, Rehavam Zeevi, leader of the Moledet Party, attacked the
government for giving into US pressure in deciding to proceed with the next
stage of the Oslo process. This is another step towards the abyss of Oslo,
he said, conceding that the left was opposed to Mr. Netanyahu's actions
also. But thats because they want everything all at once on a silver platter,
he said. I'm against this because I see it as part of the salami process -
first they take one slice, then another, and then another.
When it was suggested that Mr. Netanyahu may not feel Israel is strong
enough to withstand tremendous American and international pressure mounted
against it, Mr. Zeevi said, If that is true, then the world will do that on
the issues of Jerusalem and the right of the Arab refugees to return as
well. Prime Ministers in Israel have had to know how to ignore world
pressure and do what was right for Israel, and the only place where what is
good for Israel can be decided is not Washington, but Jerusalem.
Peace Now and EMUNAH
At a Peace Now press conference, timed to coincide with American pressure
against Mr. Netanyahu, the left-wing group called for an Israeli withdrawal
from 60 percent of Judea and Samaria and for the abandoning of 24 Jewish
communities.
Later Peace Now demonstrators distributed Pesek Zman chocolate bars to
settlers at Alfei Menashe. Pesek Zman is Hebrew for time-out, which, they
said, was what Mrs. Albright and they wanted in settlement activity.
Police broke up the Peace Now demonstration, which was being held without a
permit.
At the first ever meeting between MKs from the National Religious Party and
American diplomats associated with the Embassy, the Israelis protested
against Mr. Clinton's pressure tactics. As mothers, we, of course, want
peace for our sons, but we will not sacrifice our grandchildren for a false
peace, said Rachel Silvetsky, leader of EMUNAH,
who participated in the conference.
Richard Erdman, political advisor in the American Embassy, told her, "We
understand that if Arafat does not fulfill the commitments he made in the
Hebron agreement, Israel will not advance the process."
A Rush
In Yediot Aharonot, Shimon Shiffer said the message the US conveyed to Mr.
Arafat was: You keep quiet and we will pressure Israel to take a decision
which is acceptable both to you and us. In fact, wrote Mr. Shiffer, it was
more than a message; it was a statement. According to the Jordanian
Ambassador, who met with Arafat in Ramallah, Albright told him that
Israel's proposed withdrawal from six to eight percent of the
West Bank was unacceptable to her and that she planned to intervene with
Netanyahu to increase the extent of the withdrawal to double digit figures,
wrote Mr. Shiffer.
In Mr. Netanyahu's own cabinet, reports that Mrs. Albright was demanding
the percentage of land in Judea and Samaria from which Israel would
withdraw and that the Americans had already accepted the Palestinian
position that a third withdrawal must be carried out before the
implementation of the permanent arrangement, were not greeted happily.
Issues that we have not thoroughly discussed for 30 years should be decided
in one day, just to please the American Secretary? said Transportation
Minister Yitzhak Levy (NRP).
Don't hide your head in the sand, retorted Foreign Minister David Levy. We
will soon be isolated in the international arena, and we must make the hard
decisions now.
Demonstrations
The Yesha Council was making plans, too. We must start a full-fledged
campaign to demand that the government not give in to American pressures,
said Yesha Council secretary-general Aharon Domb, explaining the protests
would not be against the Netanyahu government, but, rather, in favor of its
standing strong against Mr. Clintons pressure.
When told by NRP MK Hanan Porat that the thousands of settlers
demonstrating outside his office were there to support you so you will not
be pressured into making the wrong decisions, Mr. Netanyahu said if that
was their goal, I am for it, but can't they please demonstrate in front of
the American Embassy.
Two days later, they did just that. On December 18, demonstrators held a
vigil outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to protest the pressure being
exerted on the Netanyahu government by the Clinton administration.
Protest organizers called on US Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk
to leave the country and stop trying to pressure Israel into a situation
which will leave it vulnerable.
Calling for Jews throughout the country to protest against American
pressure, Nadia Matar of the Women in Green said, If this country could be
closed down by the Histadrut because of some monetary matters, hasn't the
time come to close down the country when they are tearing our homeland into
pieces?
Not a Banana Republic
At one of the protests, organizer Benny Katzover asked David Levy, who has
been the most eager of Mr. Netanyahu's ministers to give away land: Are
you the Foreign Minister of Israel, or the American Secretary of State?
Mr. Katzover then turned on Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai whose map
reveals a willingness to isolate 42 communities in Yesha. Why do you put
Mordechai HaYehudi [from the Book of Esther] to shame? he asked.
In front of the American Embassy, Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman said, We are here
to tell the Americans we are not a banana republic. Clinton is continuing
the policies of [former President George] Bush, who attempted to bring down
an Israeli government by withholding the loan guarantees. Clinton has
grossly intervened in Israeli affairs in the past when he made clear his
preference for Shimon Peres in the previous election. The Americans will
be responsible for a bloodbath if they do not refrain from their
pressures on us.
Backtracking
In the US, the negative picture that was emerging seemed to prompt Mr.
Clinton to try to soften the image, but not before he had signed the
necessary order to reopen officially the PLO office in Washington, which
was closed four months ago when Congress did not approve the necessary
legislation.
The move to reopen the office was only symbolic because the office never
stopped operating, despite the shut-down order. To open it, Mr. Clinton
exercised his right to implement a six-month national-interest waiver to
allow it to operate.
In a memo to Mrs. Albright, Mr. Clinton justified opening the PLO office,
saying it serves to facilitate contacts between the Palestinians and the
US, which impacts on the American efforts to broker a Middle East settlement.
But when asked by the news media about his public snubbing of Mr.
Netanyahu, and thereby the people of Israel, Mr. Clinton denied the charge
and said he planned to meet with Mr. Netanyahu some time in January.
Shalom,
Susan Rosenbluth
Englewood, New Jersey
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SUSAN ROSENBLUTH is Editor and Publisher of "The Jewish Voice & Opinion, Inc."
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ISRAEL
Aryeh Yosef Gallin
President
Root & Branch Association, Ltd. (USA)
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