Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1991-10-03

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VOLUME 69
NUMBER 41
OCTOBER 3,1991
25 TISHREI 5752
DEVOTED O-O- AMERICAN   AND   JEWISH   IDEALS
Journalist to speak at
Agudas Achim Oct. 12
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Anti-Israeli sentiment among
Americans appears to be
growing by almost alarming
proportions. A recent nationwide poll, conducted by Wall
Street Journal/NBC News,
• showed a large number of voters favored President George
Bush's hard line stance on Israeli aid. .     „
By a margin of better than 3
to 1(69% to 18%), voters sided
with Mr. Bush who wants to
delay, for 120 days, consideration of granting Israel $10
billion in loan guarantees,
which are needed for humanitarian efforts to resettle hundreds of thousands of Soviet
Jews.
The poll also showed that
46% of voters opposed any
U.S. economic aid to Israel.
By contrast* voters by 58% to
32% favored economic aid to
the Soviet Union and by 55% to
29% to Poland.
Voters' "discontent with
Israel was made clear when
the poll found more Americans regarding Israel as a big-
ger impediment to a Mideast
peace settlement than Arab
countries by 34% to 33%. And
by 49% to 31%, they believed
Israel should give up occupied
Arab lands in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and Golan Heights
in return for a peace settlfr-
ment.
The following responses to
this poll by eight prominent
members of the community
show divergences, as well as
similarities, regarding such
issues as the poll's findings,
the Bush Administration, the
stance of American Jews
toward the loan guarantees,
the Israeli government's position and the conditions for a
peace conference.
Both Columbus Jewish
Federation's Executive Director Alan Gill and Director of
Community Relations Samuel
I. Horowitz believed that
public opinion polls can have
major swings on domestic and
foreign issues and that the
results shouldn't be read as a
long-term trend.
"We have to be cautious not
, to overreact and to bel careful
in surmising that any one poll
truly represents the American
people," said Gill. "On the
other hand, we must realize
the popularity and power of
. this President as substantial
and that most Americans will
support Bush's position on
delay of loan guarantees to
Israei just because he says it's
warranted."
Horowitz added that it's an
uphill battle to make America
understand that Israel wants
loan guarantees, not loans
from the U.S. Government.
He noted that any money
raised in the U.S. commercial
markets will ultimately
benefit American people,
since Israel will be purchasing
many products and equipment in this country. He also
stated that Israel has never
reneged on a loan.
Horowitz quoted The
Jerusalem Post, which called
the issue of loan guarantees
"a $10 billion dollar
misunderstanding." He said
that an accommodation, not a
confrontation, must be
reached with the President.
And he still believed there is a
core of support among
Americans for the State of
He answered when asked
why a large number of voters
favor economic aid to the
Soviet Union: "Americans
became very scared by the attempted coup, so right now,
there is the element of immediacy to provide help."
Larry S. Pollak, chairman
of Americans for a Free
Israel, said polling has much
to do with how the questions
are asked, citing biases in the
•recent poll. "If Jewish people
themselves don't understand
the loan guarantee question,
then how can other
Americans?" he asked.
He said that Jews have to do
a better job of "hasbara" —
circiMinJi their side of the
story to the general public. He
added that the elected Israeli
government should be able to
select what concessions it
should make for its own national security interests.
Rabbi Howard Apothaker of
Temple Beth Shalom and
Rabbi Bradley Bleefeld of
Temple Israel expressed their
dissatisfaction with the Bush
Administration. "The current
administration provides humanitarian aid to many people, recently it was the Iraqi
Kurds, but when it comes to
the Israelis, they don't get it,"
said Rabbi Apothaker.
"there's so much duplicity
and hypocrisy in this Administration, including illegal
cash transfers, such as arms
for hostages," he noted. He
see $10 BILLION pg. 4
UPDATE
The Loan Guarantees
Foreign Minister David Levy of Israel and Secretary
of State James A. Baker agreed in a meeting in New
York last week to defer the decision on absorption loan *-
guarantees. There had been a rising concern regarding
the climate of U.S.-Israeli relations after the Presi-
dent's request for a four month postponement of con- •>
sideration of the loan guarantee legislation.
Senator Robert Kasten, Republican of Wisconsin,
and Daniel K. Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii, who are
sponsoring the Israeli loan guarantee request, were expected to announce that they have a two-thirds majority of the Senate prepared to pass the legislation, but
will only bring it to a vote in four months, after the
Arab-Israeli peace conference is Supposed to be well
•underway.       ■ - .   __.       . . '•.
American insistence on linkage of settlements to the
absorption loan guarantee request has been vehemently rejected by Israel. The loan guarantees are seen as a
humanitarian »ssue involving the welfare of hundreds
of thousands of Soviet Jews arriving daily in Israel..
The Administration's position is seen as a contradiction of U.S. efforts on behalf of those^e Soviet Jews,
whose cause the United States, and President Bush,
personally has championed for over three decades.
; Meanwhile, the focus in the weeks ahead will be on
the peace conference, being brokered by the untted;
States and crafted by Secretary of State Baker. There,
is apprehension in Israel but also hope that the peace
conference may yield some positive results. Israel has.
always maintained that direct face-to-face negotu*-;
, ijons between Israel and its neighbors were necessary
to resolve disputes. It will be this process, and not the
spectacle of the conference's inaugural session, where
the true intent ot the parties will be tested.,      .; ., „,
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