CONTENTS
OPINION
AIPAC Refutes Media Charges
That It Controls Political Funding
BARBARA AMOUYAL
A recent Wall Street Journal article
reprinted in your paper ("Leader Of The
PACs?" July 3) falsely portrayed the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC) as "coordinating" the political con-
tributions of some 51 pro-Israel PACs na-
tionwide. The domestic edition of the Jour-
nal suggested what the overseas edition
declared outright: that AIPAC has cir-
cumvented federal law through alleged "il-
legal coordination" of political spending by
"supposedly independent organizations —
many of them run by people with ties to
AIPAC."
The Journal's allegations against
AIPAC, the only grassroots American
organization registered to lobby Congress
on issues pertaining to Israel, were based
on faulty assumptions that led to complete-
ly erroneous conclusions. The Journal's
evidence for its assertions was that a
number of individuals who are officers of
political action committees (PACs) also hap-
pen to be members of AIPAC's Executive
Committee and National Council. There is
no evidence of AIPAC "coordination" of
PAC giving simply because AIPAC does not
coordinate PACs or their so-called "pat-
tern" of giving.
Overlapping memberships in organiza-
tions are quite common in the American
Jewish community, as well as in the en-
vironmentalist, energy, civil rights,
There is no evidence of
AIPAC "coordination" of
political action committees'
so-called "pattern" of
contributions.
conservative and progressive communities
where politically-active- people of like mind
engage in a myraid of complimentary ac-
tivity. If some officers of PACs are active in
AIPAC, many are also undoubtedly active
in numerous other Jewish and civic organ-
izations and this in no way connotes or pro-
ves the existence of any coordination of
political activity. The Federal Elections
Commission has ruled repeatedly and con-
sistently that individuals who are officials
of an organization may establish or have
membership in PACs which are uncon-
nected to that organization.
Despite its acronym, AIPAC is not a
political action committee (PAC). AIPAC
does not establish, coordinate, control, ad-
minister-or direct PACs and any assertion
to the contrary is patently false and
Barbara Amouyal is media liaison for the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee.
misleading. AIPAC was formed in the ear-
ly 1950s long before Congress created the
political action committee.
The fact that there is tremendous
bipartisan support for Israel in Congress
is not hard to explain. It is, at root, nothing
more than the will of the American people.
In poll after poll, over the past forty years
and continuing to this day, the American
people have expressed their wish for a close
and permanent relationship between the
As the only grassroots lobby
for issues pertaining to
Israel, AIPAC has a
responsibility to its
membership to monitor the
voting records of Members
of Congress on issues
affecting Israel and the
Middle East.
United States and its one reliable
democratic ally in the Middle East. The ac-
tivity of pro-Israel Americans is a reflection
of this underlying consensus, not its cause.
article also
Journal's
The
misrepresented the comparative
magnitude of pro-Israel PAC activity by
concluding that pro-Israel PACs led the list
of PAC giving to candidates in the 1985-86
election cycle with a combined total of $3.9
million. Assuming these figures are ac-
curate, they should be compared to total
PAC giving — approximately $139.5
million, according to the Federal Elections
Commission. The percentage of "ag-
gregate" pro-Israel contributions was pro-
portionate to the American Jewish popula-
tion in the U.S. — estimated at 2.7 per cent.
As the only grassroots lobby for issues
pertaining to Israel,-AIPAC has a respon-
sibility to its membership to monitor the
voting records of Members of Congress on
issues affecting Israel and the Middle East.
Upon request, AIPAC provides its members
with this current — and public — informa-
tion. It is then up to the individual member
to examine the records. Implicit in the
Journal piece, however, is the assumption
that the pro-Israel community is
monolithic and awaits instructions to guide
it in making voting decisions. This is an in-
sult to the intelligence of the acutely aware,
sophisticated community with which
AIPAC deals.
The pro-Israel community engages in
nothing more than the exercise of constitu-
tional rights within the framework of the
federal election laws. To imply otherwise is
fundamentally unfair and factually incor-
rect, and this paper's decision to give pro-
minence to such an accusatory and faulty
journalistic work has rendered a tremen-
dous disservice to the many members of
this community who engage in the political
process.
I--
CLOSE-UP
Caring For
The Caregiver
RUTHAN BRODSKY
Relief is available to
those who care for the
elderly and seriously ill
through a variety of
agencies in the
Jewish and general
communities.
39
SPORTS
Cleveland
Competitors
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Detroiters have a
chance to show their
stuff at the Maccabi
Games next weekend
in Cleveland.
COMMENT
Learning To Appreciate
A Fellow Jew's Beliefs
44
HAROLD M. SCHULWEIS
Rabbi asserts there is a place for
pluralism among the Jewish People.
LOOKING BACK
How I Almost Became
The Messiah
48
ROBERT WEINSTEIN
A father has the highest aspirations
for his youngest son.
53
ENTERTAINMENT
Readers Theater
JUDY MARX
New York inspires Detroiters to
start spreading the news about
Jewish culture.
SINGLE LIFE
All Work And No Play?
74
DONNA RAPHAEL
Leisure time becomes- a precious
commodity to single businesspeople.
DEPARTMENTS
32
36
52
53
68
72
73
101
Inside Washington
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CANDLELIGHTING
August 7, 1987 8:26 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7