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Is The Jesse Jackson Gap
Too Wide For Jews To Bridge?

JAMES D. BESSER

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Washington Correspondent

I

t can't be ignored any
longer: Jesse Jackson is a
major force in American
politics, and is likely to re-
main so for years to come.
Some political analysts now
see a real possibility that he
will win his party's nomi-
nation; even the skeptics
agree that his impact on the
body politic has just begun.
Even if he loses in the cru-
cial New York primary, Jack-
son will go to the convention
this summer with a sizable
block of delegates — and a
significant amount of power
in the party that has been the
traditional home of most
American Jews.
A growing number of ana-
lysts are taking note of the
fact that Jackson has defied
the predictions of just about
every political expert. So
there is less and less confi-
dence in the notion that
Jackson will be denied the
nomination because he is
"unelectable," or that the
Jackson phenomenon will
burn itself out after a few
dramatic and unrepresenta-
tive caucus victories.
So the question needs to be
faced squarely: Can the pro-
Israel community reach out
to the Jackson organization,
in the same way that they
successfully reached out to
candidates as diverse as
Walter Mondale and Ronald
Reagan? What should the
dimensions of that process be?
How can the pro-Israel com-
munity mitigate Jackson's
ties to the Arab community
and his predisposition to the
Palestinian point of view?
The pro-Israel community
has a long tradition of cover-
ing every base in important
electoral battles. Activists for
groups like the American
Israel Public Affairs Commit-
tee (AIPAC) typically fan out
across the political spectrum,
working at the top levels of
just about every campaign.
This has held true in the
crazy 1988 race, with one
notable exception — the cam-
paign of Jesse Jackson. In the
Jackson campaign, the
mainline pro-Israel move-
ment is out in the cold.
Can that gap be plugged?
Should it? Or has the es-
trangement gone too far?
Some Jewish activists think
the gap is simply too large to
bridge. "I just don't see any
outreach as feasible," said one
analyst with a Washington

Jesse Jackson: Negative
symbolism.

political action committee.
"Feelings are too strong;
nobody is able to forget his
ties to Farrakhan, which he
still refuses to repudiate; very
few people in this communi-
ty, in my view, have either the
desire or the ability to get
close to the Jackson cam-
paign. Again in my view,
there's very little confidence
that such a process would
even work."
This analyst argues that
the recent indications of a
new moderation in Jackson's
stance on the Middle East are
a matter of style, not sub-
stance. He points out that
Jackson has talked about the
"specialness" of the U.S.-
Israeli relationship without
spelling out what he means,
and that the candidate has
not entirely clarified his posi-
tion his position on the PLO
— although last weekend,
Jackson announced that he
would not meet with Yassir
Arafat until the PLO
acknowledges Israel's right to
exist within secure borders.
"It's all so late," this analyst
says. "This is something we
should have • been an-
ticipating. We made a real
mistake in not taking him
seriously a whole lot earlier?'
It was a mistake shared by
most of the American politi-
cal establishment. But the
Jewish community —
separated from Jackson by
both pOlicy disputes and a
more fundamental and emo-
tional problem revolving
around the candidate's alleg-
ed anti-Semitism — may
make this failure a particu-
larly costly one.
The recent triumphs of
Jesse Jackson are rife with
negative symbolism for the
pro-Israel movement. For the
first time, a serious contender
for the presidency is putting
together a coalition that is

not heavily dependent on
Jewish support. For the first
time, a successful campaign is
being waged without an ac-
tive effort to gain the blessing
of the pro-Israel community.
There is a sense in Jewish
political circles that Jackson
is playing by a whole new set
of rules — rules that seem to
exclude the processes that
have always been at the heart
of the pro-Israel movement's
power in Washington. There
is apprehension about what
this bodes for the future — an
apprehension that makes it
all the more difficult for
Israel's loyalist supporters in
Washington to seek contact
with the Jackson crusade.
And there are the lingering
resentments within the Jew-
ish community that go well
beyond the ideological dif-
ferences of everyday politics.
Mark Siegel, the longtime
Jewish Democratic activist,
argues that the weight of
Jackson's past puts the onus
of rapprochement on him.
- "We have done nothing as a
community to Jesse Jackson,"
Siegel says. "But he has done
a great deal that's substan-
tively offensive to American
Jews and to Israel. He has
done things that would have
destroyed any other politi-
cian. So I don't think it's
necessary to approach
Jackson as a way of covering
every political base; we
choose candidates who reflect
traditional Jewish values,
and to do otherwise would be
morally irresponsible?'
Siegel suggests that those
who are urging increasing
contact with Jackson are do-
ing so out of fear. "Are we so
insecure? In my mind, that's
something we'd expect from a
different generation?'
Siegel is also offended by
some of the controversy
centering on Jackson's refusal
to meet with the Conference
of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organiza-
tions this week. The meeting
was nixed by Gerald Austin,
Jackson's campaign manager
after considerable debate
within the campaign
organization over what
Jackson stood to gain by go-
ing before the important
group — and what he stood to
lose.
"Bert Lance, who's support-
ing Jackson, urged him to
meet with the President's
Conference as a parallel to
John Kennedy meeting with
Houston ministers who ob-
jected to a Catholic in the

