Please Vote! With Whom Do You Most Nearly Agree?
SHANKS, HERSHEL
PERSPECTIVE Please Vote! With Whom Do You Most Nearly Agree? On July 6, 1990, the Jerusalem Post quoted Henry Siegman, the executive director of the American Jewish Congress, as stating that...
...In short, "they say things the Israeli government wants them to say...
...Do mainstream Jewish organizations really represent American Jews and their thinking...
...20008...
...According to Foxman: American Jewish responsibility lies not in telling the Israeli body politic what it ought to do with regard to decisions of life and death...
...Jewish leaders, he said, should not "just whisper in Cabinet ministers' ears...
...AJCongress's membership, the editorial says, is "meager...
...Because each person's answers will tend to cluster in this way, we can meaningfully ask whether you more nearly agree with the Siegman-Kollek view or the Jerusalem Poj<-Foxman view...
...Said Foxman: "Henry Siegman has sounded the wrong note at the wrong time...
...We believe the moment readership is a representative sample of concerned Jews...
...What their views are is of special significance to the Jewish community...
...If you don't want to sign your name, that's okay...
...So please let us have your view: Siegman-Kollek or Jerusalem /to-Foxman...
...Should American Jewish leaders criticize Israel publicly...
...When they have criticisms of Israel's policies, they voice them "to Israeli officials, privately and without publicity...
...Soon after reporting Siegman's statements, the Post proceeded to castigate him and the American Jewish Congress in an editorial...
...opinion toward Israel, but make clear where we stand and what we are going to do to help...
...H.S...
...They simply "buy [their] way to the presidency of impressive-sounding organizations...for as little as $25,000...
...Foxman charged Siegman with falsely attributing base motives to American Jewish leaders...
...We must understand our limits as brothers and sisters to Israelis, yes, but kin who have not taken the ultimate decision to make aliyah...
...Speaking at the 25th Annual America-Israel Dialogue, sponsored by the AJCongress, Kollek called on Diaspora Jewish leaders to "tell the truth openly" about perceptions of Israel around the world...
...He [Siegman] knows better...[But] we have tried generally to communicate our feelings in private...
...Siegman and the AJCongress—because they accuse the Conference of Presidents of being "reckless and irresponsible" for, as the editorial puts it, "allegedly lying to Israeli leaders about Israel's standing in America—should be relegated to [their] rightful place as true heirs to the late and unlamented [American] Council for Judaism [a virulently anti-Zionist group...
...Equally Important, "They do not attempt to interfere in policy decisions which affect Israel's security, knowing that only those whose lives are on the line have the moral right to do so...
...Conversely, if you believe that only Israelis whose lives are on the line should determine Israel's stand on issues affecting her security, you will tend to believe that American Jewish criticism of Israel's policies should be expressed privately, so as not to give outsiders a stick to beat her with, etc...
...The editorial accuses Siegman of using "vindictive language" in criticizing the real American Jewish leadership, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, headed by Seymour Reich...
...Do people become leaders of these organizations in significant part by making substantial financial contributions...
...And we have to think how we are perceived in the larger American society if we seem to be distancing ourselves from Israel...
...Moreover, says Foxman, "Siegman falsely gives the impression that concerning the state of U.S.-Israel relations, American Jewish leaders have simply been telling Shamir what he wished to hear...
...Unfortunately," the editorial continues, some people who call themselves Jewish leaders "have little background in Jewish community activity or support for Israel...
...We'd like to know what our readers think...
...His assessment, Siegman notes, was given to the Israeli media, not to the New York Times...
...Tell them the objective facts of U.S...
...We're curious, as we think you will be, how the vote will come out...
...According to the Post editorial, the American Jewish Congress is "one of the most deleterious of Jewish organizations today" because it "has now joined the trendy bash-Israel crowd...
...In a response that the Post printed, Siegman also defended himself...
...Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek soon came to Siegman's and AJCongress's defense...
...Siegman's attack on American Jewish leadership was, said Foxman, "an intemperate outburst...
...We are therefore planning some more scientific studies of our readership's views—on significant questions that have never been asked before...
...American government officials, "sensing that these 'leaders' can be easily manipulated, have showered them with attention in the hope they will replace the real leadership and help pressure Israel...
...On July 6, 1990, the Jerusalem Post quoted Henry Siegman, the executive director of the American Jewish Congress, as stating that American Jewish leaders who fail to tell the Israeli people that the U.S.-Israel relationship is in the "process of being undone" were being "reckless and irresponsible...
...Yet, although these and other issues are involved, people's answers tend -to cluster...
...The results are likely to have international implications...
...He commended Siegman for openly saying that American support for Israel has been eroding recently...
...Siegman's "accusation that the mainstream [American Jewish leaders'] support for Israel stems from the desire for a personal sense of power and privilege is wrong...
...Should American Jews who have not made aliyah take a stand on issues involving Israel's security, i.e., matters of life and death to the Jewish state...
...Moreover, legitimate Jewish leaders "proudly associate themselves with Israel in good times and bad...
...Real Jewish leaders, those who, according to the editorial, "earn this appellation legitimately," lead "active organizations with large memberships...
...Its leaders are not really leaders, the editorial implies...
...The next and final chapter in the exchange was a reply to Siegman's response, written by Abraham Foxman, national director of B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation League...
...Do Israeli officials co-opt American Jewish leaders by giving them access to high government officials in Israel...
...We American Jews must stick with Israel in these hard times...
...According to Siegman these ties are "beginning to erode...
...The editorial praised the real Jewish leaders for giving the Israeli government "their sober and brutally frank assessment of the situation...but...in private...
...Finally, he praised the AJCongress for its "important and original work in promoting political support for Israel and tourism...
...Charging the American Jewish leaders—specifically the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations—with failing to tell the Israelis "the truth," Siegman suggested they did so because they wanted to preserve their close access to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir...
...He called the Jerusalem Post's editorial "scurrilous...
...Because we take our Zionist convictions seriously...we speak out when we believe those Zionist principles to be jeopardized by a provincial, ideologically rigid and exclusivist reading of the Jewish and Israel situation....We are not mindless cheerleaders," Siegman wrote...
...What triggered the Posti criticism, he said, was his differences with those American Jewish leaders who "regularly" bring to Israel "soothing assurances" that, despite tensions, the fundamental ties between Israel and the United States remain unimpaired...
...A number of different issues are involved in this contretemps...
...In the meantime, we'd like to take this informal vote...
...Siegman and the AJCongress fit this mold, according to the Jerusalem Post editorial...
...Send your response to: moment Poll 3000 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 300 Washington, D.C...
...So please drop us a postcard or note to express your view—Siegman-Kollek or Jerusalem ftwC-Foxman is all you need to write...
...If you believe Jewish leaders should, when Israel's interests demand it, criticize Israel publicly, you will tend to believe that American Jewish leaders are not really representative of the Jewish people as a whole or that these alleged leaders often obtain prominence by making substantial financial contributions...
Vol. 15 • October 1990 • No. 5
