1 Friday, kw 1, 1918 THE DETROIT JEWISH ors Purely Commentary All the Notoriety About the Lobbies and the One Labelled 'Jewish' . . . When Human Factors Demand Recognition of Justice in the Defense of Israel A New Daniel (Andrew Young) Come to Judgment and Good Sense of Americans American Jewry recognizes its obligations to assist in jus- tifying the roles that were played by the 44 who included Sen. Riegle. The best interests of the American-Israel relations must Andrew Young, the U.S. ambassador to the United Na - be assured of triumph and American Jewry has an impor- tions, is the newest oracle on the interpretive world scene .- tent role to play. The aim is for courage when there is need He emerges as a new Daniel come to judgment about to challenge even those in the highest quarters and for Egypt's President Anwar el-Sadat, who now has all the dignity in striving for justice in defense of a humane ven- powers of a supreme ruler: he can oust from his midst any ture. one who opposes him, from the Right or the Left. (He claims The role played by the Detroit Round Table, the local arm he had 98.2 percent of a 9,500,000 vote giving him that of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is espe- power, but foreign observers contend that less than cially heartening. The Round Table executive director, 2,000,000 exercised their voting powers at Sadat's com- Charles Benham, would not be silenced. He was among the mand last week). first to register protests against the Nazi presence among What does Young believe? He told the London Middle civilized people. East magazine that Sadat is more popular in the U.S. than Detroit is reacting well. It echoes the spirit of a nation even his boss Jimmy Carter, that his trip .to Israel and his that will not condone haters who would destroy their fellow peace offers (sic!) made him most popular with the Ameri- men because they don't like their origins. can people. Is it the American people who popularized Sadat, or his How the Term 'Lobby' chief lobbyist Jimmy Carter? Is it the American people who Is Abused vis-a-vis Israel glorified Sadat, or the media who have boosted him into "Jewish Lobby" has become a title selected for abuse in unprecedented notoriety? the media and on the American political scene when deal- Here is one guy who says to Andy Young that his views ing with Israel. are full of malarky. Here is a Commentator who says to the Granted: there is a Jewish lobby. This has become neces- American ambassador at the UN that he has more confi- sary in view of the serious issues affecting Israel. They dence in the common sense of the American people than the affect Jews everywhere who will not permit the destruction ambassador who represents them and now assumes to of Israel. Therefore, in matters involving the security of speak for them. 3,000,000 Jews and their 560,000 non-Jewish fellow citi- Ambassador Young's office may have been a bit embar- zens in Israel, every Jew becomes a lobbyist. Is there any- rassed by the sensational story. After all, it belittled thing new in this? Young's boss. His staff says Young didn't mean just what An article in the Wall Street Journal, headed: "Business had been publicized. But the meaning is clear and the Sadat Lobby Gains More Power as It Rides Anti-Government image must be treated in the context of what London's Tide," went into the subject at great length and contained Middle East has published. Therefore, the interpreter of the following: American public opinion must accept the consequences. When business groups began roaming the halls This business of Sadat being the idol of the American of Congress in search of help in killing the labor- people is baloney. Who would maintain that you can pull law-revision bill now before the Senate, they soon the wool over the eyes of Americans who have good horse discovered the wavering vote of Florida's Democ- sense about matters affecting their government's policies? ratic Sen. Lawton Chiles. Sen. Chiles doesn't like Sure, Sadat became popular: it's all our and Menahem the bill, which is designed to ease the way for Begin's fault. We made a hero of him. He went to Israel to unions' efforts to organize workers. But neither demand everything he had been advocating since he as- does he like the filibuster technique, which is the sumed power upon the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the way the bill's opponents aim to kill the measure. would-be destroyer of Israel: making demands that Israel Like about 10 other Senators whose votes are give up everything (just as his predecessor Nasser did), and still considered question marks, Sen. Chiles has Israel was caught in a trap by a foxy politician who makes been the object of an intense lobbying campaign. demands but yields on nothing. At one point, he mentioned to a group of corpo- Sure, it's Begin who is the hard guy at fault, the an- rate executives — "just in passing," according to tagonist who is inflexible because he would not subscribe to an aide — that he had heard from more big- a suicidal pact. It is on this score that many Americans fail business leaders than small-business entrep- to recognize the existing faults — because there is an an- reneurs. The result was immediate. tagonistic set of commentators and news analysts in the "As if by magic"—in the wo'-ds of one business media who, with a very few exceptions, refuse to recognize lobbyist — the big companies stopped sending where the hard line is to be located. their executives to Sen. Chiles's door. In their Did Sadat offer anything flexible, did he make a single stead came a stream of small Florida entrep- offer for continuing peace talks after he had withdrawn his reneurs, appearing in groups of 25 and carrying representatives from Jerusalem, at their surprise as well, dire arguments about the measure's threat to when they were ready to make an accord with Israel? their livelihoods. Has Sadat made a single move in the direction of liberat- ing Arab refugees from camps by settling them in Arab lands that are in dire need of laborers? Has he honestly rejected terrorism? Did he ever condemn hijackings and the murder of children in Israeli schools by terrorists? By BEN GALLOB tion of American Jews The bill of complaint is a long one: if ever there was guilt (Copyright 1978, JTA, inc.) may be only two-thirds of for failure to pursue peace it is at Sadat's desk, and if ever Declaring that there are the present population of there was blame for errors in dignifying him without jus- currently more Jewish 5.5 million to six million. tification it is at our desks. deaths than births in the Rabbi Ofseyer cited data Sure, Sadat is popular: thanks to the media. Are the United States, a Conserva- on the Houston Jewish American people fooled by the wool Sadat has available to tive rabbi has asserted community and on his own pull over their eyes? Please have more confidence in the there is "strong evidence" congregation, Beth El. He American people. that the American Jewish reported that the Houston Meanwhile, here comes the judge, Andy Young, boosting population has started to Jewish community has a Sadat into popularity. He'll have an easier time for success decline "significantly," not fertility rate of 9.4 babies only on a percentage basis, with concessions to the Arab-Soviet bloc at the UN. per thousand population, a "but absolutely as well, rate not only lower than the perhaps by as much as The Battle for Justice national average but also 100,000 per year." lower than that of West in American-Israel Relations During the past 20 years, Germany which, with 10 In the aftermath of a sad situation that was created in a he declared, in the Fall, babies per thousand, "has conflict between Israel and her chief backer, the United 1977 issue of the United the lowest proportion of States, it has become apparent that a stiff refusal on the Synagogue Review, the births in the world." part of the President of the United States to approve con- number of children in He reported that in his cessions to Israel may have been responsible for the 54-44 American Jewish families congregation, membership vote in favor of arms for Israel and her Arab adversaries. dropped rapidly "from a has increased during the The decision, as it is now generally acknowledged, is inter- high point in 1957 to the last seven years at an an- preted as detrimental to Israel's security. current low level of fewer nual average of about 20 It is distressing, of course, that the support for Israel births than deaths." He also families per year, the differ- should have waned, that so much should have been made asserted that the total ence between new members over "the Jewish lobby," that the latter should have been number of children in and those who leave the judged as something sinister. Jewish schools "has fallen community or die. It is not such an overwhelming triumph for the Presi- by 40 percent in the last 12 But duripg the same dent and for the challengers to Israel. The 44 losers are as years." time, he added, though the concerned about American foreign policies and national He cited an estimate by congregation has grown by security as the 54 who created a stumbling block for Israel. Dr. Sidney Goldstein of 15 percent, "the number of Fences will have to be mended. The U.S.-Israel friend- the Population Study children has decreased by ship must be strengthened. Friends like Michigan's Center at Brown Univer- almost 40 percent, the na- Senator Donald Riegle fully understand the issues and sity that the next genera- tional average." By Philip Slomovitz But is wasn't magic that carried those small- business representatives to Washington. It was the corporate jets of Florida's big businesses — which, like businesses large and small through- out the cotintry, are involved in a lobbying cam- paign that is more sophisticated, better coordi- nated and more extensive than any other in recent memory. "I can't remember when we last experienced a lobbying effort like this," a Chiles aide says. "It's so well-structured, so well-organized, and I don't think they missed a single possible opponent of that bill in our state." Sen. Chiles's experience, duplicated in scores of other Senate offices in recent months, focuses at- tention on a business lobbying machine that seems more adept than ever at marshaling its ar- guments, presenting them forcefully to Congress and turning them into legislative victories. Much of business's success results from sophis- ticated techniques that mobilize small-business troops in the hinterlands, riding a wave of anti- government sentiment in the country. Whatever the cause, during the 95th Congress business has scored a number of impressive victories that seemed impossible 16 months ago, when Jimmy Carter moved into the White House and Congress began its work dominated two-to-one by Democ- rats. So, lobbies are common grounds for many and they are not necessarily sinful. As a matter of fact, President Jimmy Carter was the chief lobbyist for his packaged jet sale to the Arab states and Israel. The President is perhaps among the chief lobbyists for Sadat. How are people to judge the Jewish lobby? Let there be a sense of fairness and justice. For the security of Israel, let it be repeated, every Jew is a lobbyist. It is a lobby for decency in the Middle East, for peace and security for Israel. Need anyone apologize for such humane efforts? The Lesson for the Nazis: No Place for Them in the U.S. Detroiters of all classes, all ages, reacted with a firm NO to any effort by Nazis or neo-Naris to establish themselves in this country. They may march in Skokie where they will surely meet their fate with a resounding expression of contempt, in spite of court rulings permitting them to enjoy America's freedoms. But the people's voice asserts that no one has the right to have the freedom to rob others of their freedoms. In this community, the outrage over the emergence of a Nazi gang included a public reaction that will not tolerate barbarism and savagery. The attitude of merchants in areas where Nazis are seek- ing headquarters is especially noteworthy: they and the people in the neighborhoods the Nazis would invade want no part of them. U.S. Jewry Declining by 100,000 Per Year He cited a debate in the ORT Reporter between Mary Gendler, described as a writer on the role of women in Judaism and Rabbi William Berman, a Conservative rabbi who is founder of the Jewish Population Regeneration Union. Rabbi Ofseyer quoted Ms. Gendler as arguing that the real issue was not quantity but quality and that Jews must turn their focus "to- wards improving., the qual- ity ofJewish life. Rabbi Berman, in strong disagreement, rejected ap- plication of the zero popula- tion growth concept to Jews, saying there are now so few Jews — "a tiny fraction of one percent of the world's population" — that the self-elimination of Jews "would do virtually nothing to alleviate the world's over-population problem." Rabbi Ofseyer, comment- ing on the debate, said that "the central fact", is that the issue of Jews having more children than other groups was meaningless because, as a group, American Jews now "are having less chil- dren than practically any other group" in the U.S. He noted that the total world population has doubled since the start of World War II while 'the world's Jewish population, afflicted by the Holocaust, a falling birth- rate and assimilation, "has decreased by more than 20 percent" He declared that to maintain its numbers any group must average about 2.5 children per family — a figure some- what higher than the usual estimate of 2.1 chil- dren as the replacement level — and that the Jewish birthrate is esti- mated at about 1.5, which is lower than the general estimate of 1.7 children per Jewish family in this country at present. Among the results al- ready evident, he declared, "is the trend toward an older population with less resources to provide for Jewish community ser- vices."