Carter and the Jews XV. Miscellany from a Notebook: Malcolm and the Telephone Call and Other Reflections
CYNTHIAOZICK
XV. Miscellany from a Notebook: Malcolm and the Telephone Call and Other Reflections 1. Malcolm Hoenlein, the 35-year-old Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York,...
...I don't know But it's his Administration and his bureaucracy...
...decisions have to be made about one thing at a time...
...Openness...
...It is so miraculous that he tells it two or three times: One evening he's sitting there, the phone rings, it's the President of the United States...
...Hyman Bookbinder: "You have to think sympathetically...
...Then, out of the blue, Malcolm's tone changes...
...In any case, they are lenient...
...Everything the Administration has done on the PLO is eminently fair...
...In judging a President's performance, try to understand that the man carrying out policy has to do things on a day-to-day basis which seem to contradict the overall view...
...And then: "It's just got to soften you when the President calls you up...
...Miscellany from a Notebook: Malcolm and the Telephone Call and Other Reflections 1. Malcolm Hoenlein, the 35-year-old Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, explains that his "obsessions are creative Jewish survival...
...As one of the students, I feel held in contempt by some of the professors...
...I hark back to Malcolm's disappointments, his worries, his obsessions...
...Asked why there appears to be a difference in tone and response between the Jewish leadership and the grassroots, Brody offers: "Those closer to the scene are in a better position to evaluate...
...He looks at you and addresses you directly...
...Malcolm worries that if Carter is reelected, "we'll have him for four more years, with no other election ahead-he won't need us again...
...What is the real meaning of this phrase, so often repeated...
...He also asks me to call him Malcolm...
...the President asks...
...6. Potpourri quotas, Nazis, bureaucracy...
...2. With several exceptions, Jewish spokesmen who get close to Carter (let the imagination jump from Malcolm's phone call to an invitation to lunch at the White House) tend to support him -or at least to be supportive-though they won't admit this...
...Why would having 12 or 24 issues close to one's heart be better...
...4. Is it true, as Executive Director Bertram H. Gold of the American Jewish Committee painstakingly claims, that American Jews are "not a one-issue constituency...
...5. Can certain events really be "superseded," as my White House Source suggested...
...An approach of sincerity...
...they are understanding...
...Should the massive sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia be overlooked...
...Camp David was a breakthrough, but to judge from Jewish public opinion, Carter has been bad for Israel for a long time...
...It's the difference between a professor and his students...
...Even the Peace Now advocates, scorning the "Jewish establishment" and touting themselves as more flexible, are inclined to characterize their non-followers as "obsolete...
...A telephone call from the President of the United States asking Malcolm Hoenlein for advice...
...Isn't calling something "superseded" an encouragement to overlook it...
...Israel has already made tremendous concessions...
...Malcolm, what do you think...
...He tells a story-a miraculous event...
...They are moved...
...Since the safety of Israel is so central and so absolute for Jews, does the phrase point to some nervous fear of the old dual-loyalty canard...
...Bookbinder "On affirmative action the Administration makes all the proper and acceptable statements, but the bureaucracy, in administering the program itself, is creating de facto quotas ". Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtz-man "The Administration agreed to establish a Nazi War Crimes Task Force -After pressure But before then, the only impoundment of funds that took place in this Administration was of funds earmarked for prosecution of Nazi war criminals Can the President be blamed for the impoundment...
...Do you have any suggestions or advice for us...
...But at the mass level there is no closeness, no sympathy, and anxiety rushes to form judgments less tolerant...
...And we haven't seen him champion all human rights equally...
...He remembers names...
...And at Camp David, when Carter was pressing hard-line Arab positions on Israel that Sadat himself hadn't brought up-should that be overlooked...
...In the light of Carter's anger at the Soviet military move into Afghanistan, should we overlook his own move in 1977 to bring the Soviets-without their having to fire a shot, and by cordial invitation-right smack into the Middle East...
...My obsessions aren't influenced by the call," Malcolm protests, "but my attitude has changed...
...Distance lends disenchantment...
...Should it be overlooked that Sadat's peace overture, in pushing "comprehensiveness" to the back burner, was initially not welcomed m the White House7 If an event can be superseded, can an attitude...
...Carter's bureaucracy has also issued visas to convicted terrorists, allowing them to tour, lecture and raise funds Should the top be held accountable for its own high-middle...
...He could apply more pressure on Israel for concessions...
...A reasonable American commitment...
...On the positive side," he says gloomily, "Carter has a vested interest in seeing that what was started at Camp David succeeds...
...Bernice Tannenbaum's early impression of the President: "Intelligence...
...you couldn't want anything better...
...3. "Oh, I know Fritz Mondale," the Anti-Defamation League's man in Washington, David A. Brody, makes sure to tell (and then makes sure "Brody" gets spelled the right way...
Vol. 63 • June 1980 • No. 12
