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Continued from Page 7

6698 ORCHARD LK. RD.

IN THE W. BLOOMFIELD PLAZA

851-5840

HORA AVIV in DANCE CONCERT
Saturday, March 28, 1987
*
8:00 P.M.
1

at the Jewish Community Center

6600 West Maple

West Bloomfield, MI

661-1000

$6.00 Non-Members
$5.00 Members
co-sponsored by: The Michigan Council for the Arts

to a Dynamic, Outstanding Leader

7:00 p.m. Dinner

6:00 p.m. cocktails

Guest Speaker

Martin Agronsky

Distinguished Journalist and
National Television Commentator

Proceeds to be used for the
Maurice and Lillian Cohan Auditorium
Amal Regional High School
Safed, Israel

Alan E. Schwartz

Dinner Chairman

This posed a problem for
Jewish partisan Democrats.
How could they convince
their fellow Jews to continue
to support a Democratic
Party increasingly influenced
by radicals such as Jesse
Jackson while the GOP was
becoming ever more pro-
Israel?
One solution was to argue
that American Jews should
not be a "single-issue" com-
munity, that mere support for
Israel by Republicans should
not justify a realignment of
Jewish voting patterns. But
this raised more problems
than it overcame. On a wide
range of issues — from
affirmative-action quotas, to
domestic anti-Semitism and
Soviet Jewry — the Reagan
Administration pursued
policies beneficial to Ameri-
can Jews.
At the same time, the
Democrats were making
headlines by refusing to con-
demn anti-Semitism at their
1984 convention. Opposition
by Democrats to the
President's foreign policies
was undermining America's
commitment to democracy
around the world. And Demo-
cratic attempts to force the
President to accede to Soviet
demands on arms control re-
duced the Kremlin's incentive
to compromise either on arms
control or on Soviet-Jewish
emigration.

But then came the Iran-
"contra" affair. And as the
country scrutinized the arms
sales and the alleged transfer
of funds to the Nicaraguan
"contras", the Israeli gov-
ernment was found to have
played a role. As this role
continues to be investigated,
partisan Democrats interpret
Administration statements as
attempts to blame the mess
on Israel.
Among some Jewish Demo-
crats, the crisis was quietly
welcomed as an issue that
would dispel what they con-
sidered to be a myth: that
Republicans could be friends
of the Jewish community. As
a result of the Administra-
tion's response to the Iran
crisis, they claimed, ties be-
tween the Reagan White
House and Israel would be ir-
reparably harmed, a fact that
would be reflected in Jewish
political support in 1988.
Recent Administration per-
sonnel changes seemed to
reinforce this claim. Writing
recently, Jewish columnist
Wolf Blitzer suggested that
the departure of such friends
of Israel as CIA director
William Casey and national-

44I 4 I

For information and reservations, phone 967-4720

Israel Histadrut

25900 Greenfield Rd. Suite 205B
Oak Park, Michigan 48237

18

Friday, March 20, 1987

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Detroit financier and
national Jewish leader Max
Fisher is honorary chairman
of the National Jewish
Coalition, an organization of
Jewish Republicans.

security advisor John Poin-
dexter confirmed that U.S.-
Israel relations are at a low
ebb.
Hence the smugness. In the
view of partisan Democrats,
an Administration bereft of
its most pro-Israel figures
and resentful of Israel's al-
leged role in bringing about
the Iran crisis, could not pos-
sibly continue to pursue pro-
Israel policies. As a result,
they believe, the Democratic
Party will benefit hand-
somely, attracting Jewish
support in 1988.
But reality is different. To
begin with, the White House
has made clear that it does
not hold Israel accountable
for the Iran-"contra" affair.
The warm welcome given by
President Reagan, Vice
President Bush and Secretary
of State Shultz to Israel's
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir on his recent visit to
Washington confirms this.
The Administration also reaf-
firmed its confidence in U.S.-
Israel ties by conferring on
Israel the status of "major
non-NATO U.S. ally."
Moreover, the President
has ensured that today's
closer, stronger U.S.-Israel
relationship, no longer de-
pends on the presence in the
Administration of certain
personalities. It survives on
its merits. And like any close
relationship, it will overcome
crises such as the Iran-
"contra" affair and the Pol-
lard spy scandal, and emerge
stronger than before. This
news will be reassuring to all
Jews for whom the commu-
nity's interests and Israel's
security take precedence over
partisan politics.

Hungarians
Seek Ties

Jerusalem (JTA) — A
semi-official organization, the
World Federation of Hunga-
rians, has offered to act as in-
termediary between Hungary
and Israel in the absence of
formal diplomatic relations
between the two countries.
According to the report,
Janos Rande, secretary-
general of the Federation
who is visiting Israel as guest
of the foreign ministry, made
the offer to Yosi Beilin, polit-
ical director-general of the
foreign ministry.
Hungary, along with the
Soviet Union and all other
eastern bloc nations except
Rumania broke diplomatic
ties with Israel during the
1967 Six-Day War. But Israel
maintains commercial rela-
tions with Hungary, more so
that with any other eastern
bloc country, and these have
expanded in recent years.

