THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 25, 1982 21
Writer Links Anti-Semitism With Swings in U.S.-Israel Relations
By VICTOR BIENSTOCK
A new phase in the
American foreign policy de-
bate in which anti-
' Semitism plays an unmis-
takeable role was opened in
earnest by last year's debate
on the sale of AWACS sur-
veillance planes to Saudi
Arabia. This debate, says
Stephen S. Rosenfeld, is
"quite possibly the har-
binger of things to come."
The Washington Post
columnist and editorial
writer expresses his concern
over this development in an
article in the current issue
of Foreign Policy, the world
irs quarterly published
the Carnegie Endow-
__
ment for International
> Peace. He points out that
while opinion polls show
"increasing general
tolerance of Jews among
Americans, events have
demonstrated a growing
tolerance of specific ex-
pressions of anti-Semitism"
— a condition he attributes
to the fact that "the texture
of public life is becoming
coarser.'!
Between Americans and
Jews, Rosenfeld finds, and
within "those of us who are
both American and Jewish,
there exists a range of ten-
sions and uncertainties that
future events will surely
stir."
President Reagan him-
self, probably unwit-
tingly, the writer
; suggests, legitimized the
anti-Semitic approach in
the AWACS debate when
he declared that "it is not
the business of other na-
tions to make American
policy." Reagan, Rosen-
feld asserts, "seemed al-
together innocent of ul-
terior intent and un-,
aware of the mischief he
was so casually spring-
ing."
Noting the role other
countries and the represen-
tatives have played here in
seeking to influence Ameri-
can policy, Rosenfeld warns
that "a country such as the
United States, composed of
different ethnic and reli-
gious groups, must be ex-
ceedingly careful not to
penalize collectively any
one group if its members
exercise, however vigor-
ously, their democratic
rights."
But Reagan, he points
out, "changed the rules to
penalize one country (Is-
' rael) and its American sup-
porters for a lobbying ac-
tivity that otherwise goes
on continuously without
challenge."
The Washington com-
mentator took sharp issue
with Sen. Charles Mathias,
Maryland Republican, who,
in an article in Foreign Af-
fairs, scolded ethnic groups,
•icularly American Jews
members of the Ameri-
can Greek community, "for
taking advantage of the
American political process."
Mathias, Rosenfeld
points out, excluded the
Anglo - Saxons, number-
ing less than a third of the
population, who "played
a large part in drawing
the United States into two
great wars in this century
to rescue their ancestral
communities" and whose
influence helps keep
more than 300,000 U.S.
troops in Western Europe
as a security commitment
that costs us $100 billion a
year.
The core of the Mathias
position is that "the prob-
lems of the modern world
and their solution have
broken past the boundaries
of ethnic group, race or na-
tion" and, says Rosenfeld,
"this view is now politically
ascendant. It defines the
framework in which ethnic
groups with foreign con-
cerns must operate."
It may therefore be a serv-
ice to the ethnic groups, he
says, by reminding them
that "their freedom of action
is broad but not without
limits" — an important fac-
tor for American Jews who
are now "easily the most
demanding ethnic or racial
group seeking the larger
national community's sup-
port for a foreign cause."
Rosenfeld finds an "in-
ternational dimension" to
anti-Semitism here as well
and stresses the importance
of pointing out that "anti-
Semitism still exists in the
post-Holocaust world." He
raises the questions that
have long engaged obser-
vers and participants:
Why is the expansion of
national territory
through war in the Mid-
dle East only regarded as
inadmissible when Israel,
does it when "for Jordan
in 1949 and Iraq in 1980 it
was not a major issue"?
Why does shooting by Is-
raeli soldiers of a handful of
West Bank protesters stir a
frenzy whereas "shooting by
Syrian soldiers of thousands
of their fellow citizens
evokes a yawn"?
Why do UN General As-
sembly resolutions "so
rarely and grudgingly ac-
knowledge a legitimate Is-
raeli security concern"?
Rosenfeld answers by ex-
pressing doubt that the in-
ternational community's
manner of objecting to Is-
raeli policies is simply
"hardball politics."
"There is a gross ele-
ment of anti-Semitism in
it reflected by an interna-
tional double standard
that demands of Israel
concessions asked of no
other country — conces-
sions that if granted
could conceivably impair
or even end Israel's exist-
ence as a sovereign state.
It is hard to look at the
General Assembly's
Zionism-is-racism resolu-
tion of 1975 and the cur-
rents flowing to and from it
"without believing that
anti-Semitism is near its
core."
Rosenfeld believes that
former Assistant Secretary
of State Harold Saunders is
more right than wrong in
his contention that there is
"a rising tide of resentment
in this country . . . that Is-
rael seems to expect limit-
less support from the
United States regardless of
what it does, without regard
for the interests of the
United States."
The prevailing truth is,
he says, as Henry Fairlie,
the political commentator,
has pointed out, that "an
impatience with Israel,
even when it is justifiable, is
all too easily translated into
anti-Jewishness . . . The
most reasonable criticism of
Israel brings in its train all
the code words by which it is
translated into anti-
Zionism and then into
anti-Semitism, with each
step barely recognized."
Anti-Semitism, Rosen-
feld declares, is a "politi-
cal poison that has pro-
ven terribly persistent
over the years." He
warns that "although the
United States has es-
caped the worst of it,
Americans cannot afford
complacency as they
enter the difficult domes-
tic and international
straits ahead. Jews and
non-Jews alike have
their separate respon-
sibilities to dilute the
poison."
Anti-Semitic manifesta-
tions in foreign policy de-
bate, Rosenfeld says, follow
the ups and downs in
American - Israeli rela-
tions. He points out that
there was no anti-Semitic
reaction during the 1973-
1974 Arab oil embargo be-
cause the embargo came
during a period of American
- Israeli harmony. Its man-
ifestation last year in the
AWACS debate, however,
was at a time when U.S. pol-
icy was dominated by an ef-
fort to reconcile our interest
in Israel with our expand-
ing interests in the Arab
world, a task complicated by
the Israeli - Palestinian dis-
pute.
That disagreement "pro-
vided or at least
rationalized a basis on
which to choose sides on the
issue."
Such situations could be-
come increasingly common
in the future, -Rosenfeld
says, and as a result, "Jews
and other Americans who
argue what is considered
the Israeli side of close and
complex questions such as
the AWACS sale will have
to confront the charge that
they are in effect agents of a
foreign power whose inter-
ests are opposed to those of
the United States."
Harmony between the
United States and Israel,
he says, "will not always
keep anti-Semitism from
surfacing in the country
but the damage is greater
when the two countries
are at odds, as during the
AWACS controversy."
17546 CHESTER
DETROIT, MI
48224
(313) 882-6078
The writer warns the
Jews there is a latent form
of anti-Semitism in this
country "that certain forms
of advocacy may stir" and
that by "indiscriminate
support" of the short-term
goals of any Israeli govern-
ment, American Jews may
lose a certain credibility
and "reinforce some of the
uglier tendencies in U.S.
society."
Non-Jews, particularly
political leaders, have their
responsibilities too since
their attitudes set the tone
and define the bounds in
which "respectable debate"
proceeds. He faults
President Carter for having
waited too long before ex-
plaining that he had fired
Andrew Young, not to ap-
pease the Jews, but because
Young had violated ad-
ministration policy.
Similarly, he asserts, Re-
agan waited too long before
offering his denuniciation of
the anti-Semitism that
flourished in the aftermath
of the AWACS debate.
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