THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Candidate Jesse Jackson, the Arabs anct the PLO
By RICHARD YAFFE
(Editor's note: The wri-
ter of this article is as-
sociate editor of the
Jewish Week in New
York and diplomatic cor-
respondent for the Lon-
don Jewish Chronicle. In
a 50-year career, he
has worked for CBS,
been a correspondent in
Europe, Africa and the
Middle East, and worked
for the New York Post,
Journal-America, Times
and Philadelphia In-
quirer.)
NEW YORK — The Rev.
Jesse Jackson has thrown
his hat into the presidential
ring and thus presented the
American Jews with some-
thing that has become
familiar to them through all
these years — a dilemma.
Not one dilemma but a
double one: They cannot
support a man whose hostil-
ity to Israel is well-
documented, although he
now denies this is so; and
Jews who oppose his nomi-
nation will face the charge
once again that they are
anti-black, regardless of the
fact that they would oppose
any candidate with
Jackson's record.
confidential
In
a
memorandum to his organi-
zation, a national Jewish
leader who asked that his
name not be used because
his organization has not yet
taken an official position on
r
Jackson's candidacy, put it
this way: Jackson, he said,
"has always struck me as a
hustler, a con man and a po-:
tentially dangerous de-
mogogue."
This memo quotes the
Rev. Ralph Abernathy,
who succeeded Dr. Mar-
tin Luther King, Jr., as
head of the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference, as calling
Jackson a "fast buck ar-
tist" and a "publicity
hound."
Jackson's negative views
on Israel and the Jews were
more suggestive than blat-
ant until the controversy
that followed Andrew
Young's meeting with a
PLO representative while
he was the American per-
manent representative at
the United Nations. The
controversy caused Young
to resign his post, and this
brought an outcry among
American- blacks. Among
the most strident voices al-
leging Jewish complicity in
Young's departure,
Jackson's was the loudest.
He charged that Young's
resignation represented a
"capitulation" to Jewish
pressure.
While claiming he was
not an anti-Semite, and say-
ing that "blacks are the
moral support of Jewish in-
terests," and that "blacks
have never been anti-
Semitic; that's the white
1
To: The Jewish News
17515 W. 9 Mile Rd.
Suite 865
Southfield, Mich. 48075
WEI JUST
From
To:
NAME
Effective Date
Here, Jackson, ignor-
nantly or not, mistakes
the Jewish position on af-
firmative action. Jews
favor affirmative action,
but not the quotas that
blacks think must be a
concommitant part of the
program. That is, Jews
favor the opening of op-
portunities and training
of blacks, but not their
employment and educa-
tion strictly on the basis
of color. Jews have had
enough of quotas
throughout their history.
That "Jews openly fought
our interests" is equally off
base, because it does not add
the vital qualifying phrase:
that Jews fought only those
programs that the blacks
thought were to their in-
terest but would have ne-
gated the generally democ-
ratic interests of seniority
and skills.
Jackson has charged that
Jewish slumlords and mer-
chants victimize blacks — a
hoary, long-exploded ac-
cusation, as anyone who vis-
its a black neighborhood
today can see. He also has
said that the Jews exert
undue influence in the
media, and that most of the
criticism he has received
has come from journalists
"who were all Jewish" — a
colossal misstatement of the
facts. Opposition to Jackson
in the press has been wide-
spread, and has included
black journalists, among
them the syndicated black
columnist Carl Rowan.
Jackson has blamed
"politics" for American
Middle East policy, charg-
ing that "Federal officials
worry about alienating at
most five million Jews" be-
cause of "political and
economic fear" of the "or-
ganized Jewish commun-
ity" and "its media." That
the Jews "control the
media" has been a favorite
litany of the anti-Semite.
Jackson undertook a
self-appointed "peace
mission" to Israel and
Lebanon in 1979, during
which he met Arafat.
During his visit to
Jerusalem, he met Teddy
Kollek, who he told
that 15 million black
American voters would
not support pro-Israel
policies that might lead to
U.S. involvement in a
Middle East war or di-
minish Arab oil supplies
to America, because in
both cases, "blacks
would be the first to die
... or go cold in the
winter."
Paste in old label
L
peoples' mess," Jackson's
major themes include a list
of complaints against Jews
collectively as a threat to
black progress.
On black-white relations,
he has contended that "once
we began to move up, the
Jews who were willing to
share decency were not wil-
ling to share power" and
that "Jewish resistance to
affirmative action and
quotas helped to resurrect
white resistance to our in-
terests . . . Jews openly
fought our interests."
J
He visited Yad Vashem,
the Martyrs and Heroes
Memorial in Jerusalem,
and said he comprehended
the "persecution complex"
the Jews have that makes
them "overreact to their
own suffering." The suffer-
ing, he added "is atrocious
but not really unique to
human history." This is a
bit of bad Jacksonian his-
tory: The Holocaust was un-
ique — the first attempt to
wipe out an entire people.
Jackson is alleged to have
said privately that he is
"sick and tired of hearing
about the Holocaust and
having the U.S. put into the
position of a guilt trip."
Jackson has picked up the
widespread anti-Semitic
habit of hiding an anti-
Jewish statement by assert-
ing a "distinction" between
Zionism and Judaism, and
he has characterized
Zionism as a "poisonous
weed that's choking the
flower of Judaism."
Jackson's advocacy of
the Palestinian cause has
paid off financially —
with support of his or-
ganization PUSH (People
United to Save Human-
ity) from Libya and from
the Association of
Arab-American Univer-
sity Graduates, Inc. The
AAUG contribution was
obtained at a closed
meeting with 150 Arab
businessmen at PUSH
headquarters in Chicago,
where Jackson makes his
base, in 1979. Jackson
denied after the meeting
that the Arab organiza-
tion's gift bought his
support saying that "we
have never put ethnic re-
strictions on "money"
and "we have received
money from Jews, Ita-
lians, labor and busi-
ness."
However, he is quoted in a
series Of articles by Roger
Simon as stating that if the
•
Arabs want to be part of the
human rights struggle.
"they must join it with dol-
lars and money." Simon also
reported that an Arab who
was present at the meeting
said that Jackson promised,
"We can give you help in
areas you can't help your-
selves in. We will give
Arabs a voice in Chicago."
Previously, the Chrifian
Science Monitor quoted
Jackson as telling a local
Chicago businessman rep-
resenting the League of
Arab States and the Libyan
Embassy that "if there is
not an immediate infusion
of funds into the black
community from Arab
states, we will all learn to
recite the alphabet without
three letters — P-L-O."
Recently, Jackson
criticized the Democratic
Party, whose nomination he
seeks, for not denouncing
Israel's invasion of Lebanon
and charged that the party's
positions are perverted by a
reaction" to the "Jewish
element within the party.
In July of last year,
Jackson and two other
PUSH members signed
an advertisement in the
Monitor calling for a sus-
pension of aid to Israel,
and in January of this
year, he told a dinner of
100 Arab-American
leaders to "come out of
the closet and assert your
identity."
There is general agree-
ment that Jackson cannot
get the Democratic nomina-
tion, but many believe,
blacks included, that
Jackson can be the "spoiler"
and insure President
Reagan's re-election. Those
opposing Jackson say that
the blacks who will flock to
his side before the conven-
tion will be so disappointed
by his defeat that they will
stay home on Election Day.
(See Purely Commen-
tary, Page 2)
Friday, November 18, 1983 85
Cuban Jews
Get NJC Aid
MONTREAL (JTA) —
The Canadian JewiSh Con-
gress (CJC) will send
$30,000 worth of religious
articles and supplies to the
Jewish community of Cuba,
the World Jewish Congress
has announced here.
Ever since the United
States severed relations
with Cuba in 1960, the CJC
has looked after the needs of
Cuban Jews.
Among the items to be
sent are kosher meat, tea,
matza and prayer books.
Rose said the religious
supplies will leave by ship
from Montreal and will
reach Havana before Pas-
sover next April.
In recent years, Spanish-
speaking rabbis and
educators have visited the
community which has five
synagogues and a Jewish
public library. The Jewish
community, most of whose
members reside in Havana,
is organized under the Com-
ision Coordinadora de las
Sociedades Religiosas Heb-
reas de Cuba, which main-
tains its full membership
with the World Jewish Con-
gress.
Library Journal
NEW YORK — The As-
sociation of Jewish Lib-
raries is seeking articles
and news items for its new
journal, Judaica Librarian-
ship.
Articles should deal with
acquisitions, cataloging, re-
ference, automation, rare
books, media and children's
literature.
Material can be submit-
ted to the editors, Drs. Mar-
cia W. Posner and Bella
Hass Weinberg, Judaica
Librarianship, 19 Brook-
field Rd., New Hyde, Park,
N.Y. 11040.
Benjamin Kubelsky be-
came famous as Jack Be-
nny.
. +440- A47-44'.4.0n
the perfect gift.
• •
a subscription to
JEWISH NEWS
17515 W. NINE MILE ROAD
Suite 865
Southfield,. Michigan 48075
ORDER TODAY
Please send gift subscription to:
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
FROM
OCCASION
❑
$18 enclosed
ZIP