I INSIDE WASHINGTON
Critics say the American
Israel Public Affairs
Committee is too
aggressive. But a
supporter counters: "The
meek may inherit the
earth, but they'll never
get anywhere in
Washington. And overkill
is always better than
underkill."
JAMES DAVID BESSER
Washington Correspondent
▪
•
_
6
32 FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1988
ashington — It is impos-
sible to talk about the mechanisms of
Jewish influence in Washington without
focusing on the American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC), by far the most
active and visible group on the pro-Israel
front.
AIPAC is the constant focus of rumor,
speculation and outright hostility in
Washington, both among groups opposed
to American support for Israel and among
some Jewish activists. Anti-Israel groups
portray it in sinister, conspiratorial terms;
there are strong echoes of age-old anti-
Semitic notions of secret Jewish control of
the government, the media and economic
institutions of the nation.
A more cautious kind of criticism comes
from the staffs of Senators and Con-
gressmen who have disagreed with AIPAC
on major issues and who fear the influence
of the group with the Jewish community.
Part of AIPAC's image problem is un-
doubtedly professional jealousy; the big-
gest and most successful group is always
the target of hostility by the groups that
have been surpassed in power and
influence.
The chief criticism is of AIPAC's style,
which offends some practitioners of an
older form of lobbying as too aggressive,
too dependent on the implied threat of the
withdrawal of political and financial
support.