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CAN IT HAPPEN HERE?
A TIME FOR SOUL SEARCHING
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If A Whole Political Party Is Afraid
To Speak Out Against Anti-Semitism
Shouldn't I Be Afraid of Them?
USING THE JEWS AS SCAPEGOATS
IS SOMETHING HISTORY
HAS TAUGHT ME TO FEAR.
And when I hear silence from The Democratic Party while one of their
would-be candidates calls me "Hymie" and blames numerous problems
on "Jewish control" of labor unions, "Jewish control" of the media, even
"Jewish control" of a President, I become worried. Very worried.
I cannot forget that less than 50 years ago in Germany, the Peoples
Democratic Party stood silently by while the Nazis smashed synagogues
and beat and murdered Jews on 'Crystal Nacht. The silence was
devastating. It was a silence heard round the world. A silence that
allowed a genocide unparalleled in the history of mankind.
I ask myself how can I vote for a party that would compromise religious
freedom for a few votes? A party that refused to pass an anti-bigotry
resolution because it contained the word "anti-Semitism." A party that
would rather placate Jesse Jackson than repudiate him for his anti-Semitic
remark and for embracing Farrakhan who calls my religion "gutter" and
Hitler a "great man."
And even when prominent Black leaders such as Bayard Rustin, Andrew
Young and Benjamin Hooks spoke out against his anti-Semitism, the
Democratic Party did not.
Instead they have embraced a man who despite his fiery convention
speech, did not disavow his embrace of Arafat and the PLO, Castro,
Assad and the Sandinistas.
SO TODAY I FIND MYSELF
BELIEVING IN WHAT
THE REPUBLICANS ARE DOING.
They are standing up to the UN and UNESCO by promising to withdraw
the billions in U.S. funding if the UN continues its anti-American,
anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-western propaganda.
They are standing up in full support of Israel with the first strategic
agreement between the two nations. Secretary Schultz himself in
Morocco recently told the Arabs they had better understand that Israel is
here to stay.
They are standing up for their friends and allies not simply with words
but with deeds which makes me feel secure that if Israel needs help in the
Persian Gulf situation, this administration will act not argue until it's too
late.
They are standing up to the Soviets. President Reagan has started to
rebuild America's defenses. He understands and resists Russia's designs
on the Persian Gulf and Central America. He understands Russia's
ruthless pressure on its Jews and dissidents. He understands the
worldwide anti-Semitic, anti-American propaganda that originates
there. He has not been afraid to speak out even in the face of public
pressure. Naturally, I am concerned about the dangers involved. But I am
more afraid of the dangers of uninvolvement and weakness.
Why am I taking my own personal money to write this message? I am not fund raising. But I feel
that many of you, like me, have traditionally been associated with the right thing to do, the liberal
and just thing to do. And, like me, you have a personal dilemma about how to vote.
So I wanted to share these thoughts. For I realized after watchig the convention in San Francisco that if
the Democratic Party was afraid to stand up against bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism because it was
afraid to lose a few votes, how can I trust it to stand up for me? So this year .. .
Because I Believe In Democracy,
I AM VOTING REPUBLICAN.
Meshulam Riklis
888 Seventh Ave., 44th Flr.
New York, N.Y. 10019
This ad paid for by Harold 'Beznos, David I. Fand, Jay Fishman, Jerry D. Luptak and Michael Mehr.