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THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE - DETROIT CHAPTER

PRESENTS

THE EMANCIPATION OF JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES

A BICENTENNIAL LECTURE CELEBRATING
THE CONSTITUTION'S 200TH ANNIVERSARY

GUEST SPEAKER

DR. PAUL FINKELMAN

Professor of Legal and Constitutional History
at the State University of New York. Binghamton,
author of Slavery in the Courtroom and currently
writing a History of the American Constitution.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1987

7:45 P.M.

CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK
27375 Bell Road, Southfield

American Jews, drawn from our own history as
an oppressed minority, share a special commit-
ment to religious liberty for all. Tradition has
demonstrated that Jewish life is best able to
survive and flourish in a healthy, pluralistic
environment.

The Constitution has served to prote'ct the ideals
of a liberal democracy, human rights and funda-
mental liberties so very important to Jews and
Jewish values. American Jews have served to
protect the Constitution by defending it on the
battlefield and in the courts.

Co-sponsors:
B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation, WSU • Congregation Shaarey Zedek
and in cooperation with
The Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit

PUBLIC IS INVITED

This lecture was made
possible by a gift from
JOYCE & AVERN COHN

16

FRIDAY, OCT. 16, 1987

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4111101 7

erusalem — Two weeks
ago, a major American
Jewish organization
broke the mold and smashed
a tradition. In a formal policy
statement, the national gov-
erning council of the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress declared
its support for an interna-
tional peace conference on the
Middle East and called for an
end to Israeli rule over the 1.2
million Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza.
The substance of the state-
ment in itself was not revolu-
tionary. Such sentiments do,
after all, reflect the main-
stream position of Israel's
Labor Party. However, the fact
that a major American
Jewish organization went
public with a partisan posi-
tion defied the unwritten
rules of the Israel-Diaspora
game: that American Jewish
organizations do not publicly
take sides on security issues,
particularly when they are
the subject of acute political
controversy in Israel itself.
AJC President Theodore
Mann justified the ground-
breaking event by declaring
that "American Jewry must
take part in the historic
debate [on the peace process]
because on its outcome hangs
the future of Israel and world
Jewry."
The key word here is "de-
bate," a word that implies
dialogue, a two-way exchange
of views, a discussion, the
give-and-take of ideas—in this
case, between American
Jewry and Israel's policy-
makers and opinion-shapers.
Without doubt, the AJC ex-
pected to be taken seriously.
And it was—by Egyptian
Foreign Minister Esmat
Abdel Meguid, who hailed
the statement as "very en-
couraging" and "a pleasant
surprise."
Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres also addressed the issue
belatedly last week before a
meeting of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, calling
on all American Jewish
organizations to take a stand
on the peace issue.
But in Israel itself? Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir,
whose Likud Party adamant-
ly opposes any suggestion of
an international conference,
predictably deplored the AJC
initiative as a "clear-cut
violation of the long-held
truth" that Jewish organiza-
tions in the United States do

j

not intervene in Israeli
disputes."
The State of Israel, he
declared, had the right to de-
cide on security and political
matters, while "American
Jews are required to under-
stand this and to support our
struggle and our efforts."
Not much potential here for
debate. Media coverage of the
statement was equally cur-
sory.
A story on page four of the
Jerusalem Post, a brief men-
tion on radio and television,
a supportive editorial in the
Herew-language daily

Ha'aretz.
But compared with the time
and space devoted to the other
issues of the moment—secret

"Israelis don't give
a damn what
American Jews
think."

contacts between the Likud
and the PLO, relations with
the Soviet Union and China,
the terrorist murder of an
Israeli soldier, a doctors'
strike, the summer road toll,
Sylvester Stallone flexing on
a Tel Aviv beach—the AJC in-
itiative virtually sank with-
out trace.
All of which begs the ques-
tion: What effect does Amer-
ican Jewish opinion have on
Israel and Israelis?
According to Dr Gabi Shef-
fer, a specialist in Israeli-
American relations at the
Hebrew University of Jerusa-
lem, "Israelis don't give a
damn what American Jews
think."

"Partly it's arrogance and
insensitivity," he says, "partly
it's a philosophy which insists
that Israel is at the center of
everything and Diaspora
Jews should know their
place."
The Israeli public has
grown up with the "myth"
that Washington helps and
supports Israel because of its
strategic importance, says
Sheffer. "They are blind to the
vital role played by American
Jewry and, therefore, see no
reason to give serious con-
sideration to American Jew-
ish views on anything."
In his Tel Aviv office, Ido
Dissenchik, editor-in-chief of
the respected Hebrew-lan-
guage daily Ma'ariv, is more
circumspect, but the message
is much the same.
Dissenchik says he takes
American Jews seriously and
that his paper regularly