EDITORIAL I Political Skeletons The Bush campaign has its Nazi sympathizers and the DuLkis campaign has Jesse Jackson's PLO sympathizers. Welcome to the wonderful world of Election '88. The great, sudden interest in anti-Semitism and the Jewish vote is a mixed blessing for the Jewish community and the American electorate. While this week's allegations by Max Fisher (See Charge And Countercharge, Page 25) about anti-Semitic Democrats are old news, they may serve a purpose. Now that both sides have been smeared with the same brush, maybe we can get on to the real issues in the campaign, the dif- ferences in "guns and butter" philosophies that should be the decisive factors in casting a ballot. While not belittling the issue of alleged anti-Jewish and anti- Israel sentiments in the Republican and Democratic camps, we have seen no proof that George Bush or Michael Dukakis are sympathetic to those views. On the contrary — both have repeatedly denounced anti-Semitism and voiced their strong support for Israel. The votes of Jewish individuals cannot be so easily bought. late 1960s, the General Assembly has become increasingly anti- Israel. In 1974, it not only invited PLO chief Yasir Arafat to address the world body; it greeted him with all the protocol reserved for heads of state. In 1975, 75 nation-members of the United Nations voted for a resolution equating Zionism with racism. Only 35 opposed the measure. (Another 35 abstained.) Since 1981, the General Assem- bly has overwhelmingly approved military and economic sanctions against Israel and severing diplomatic and commercial ties with the Jewish State. The General Assembly is now in session in New York. Once again, the Middle East is a burning issue, mostly because of the Palesti- nian intifada. Once again, Yasir Arafat is slated to address the Assembly. The vitality and integrity of the U.N. depends on whether it can adopt — for the first time in a long, long while — even-handed resolutions on the Middle East. And on the sort of reception it will give Arafat. One can hope that the Nobel Committee's commenda- tion of the U.N.'s Peace-Keeping Force will spur the world organiza- tion toward introspection and reassessment — with the end goal of treating all nations fairly, equitably and without pandering to fiery rhetoric or rewarding callous terrorists. N 1 1 1 1 1 A New U.N.? Last week's award of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to the 10,000 soldiers of the United Nation's Peace-Keeping Force was certainly just. From Afghanistan to the Iran-Iraq border, from the Golan Heights to the Indian-Pakistan border, the U.N. force has tried to keep political brushfires from turning into military conflagrations. 9b be sure, it has not always succeeded, such as when it acceded to the 1967 request of Egyptian President Gamael Nasser to remove its forces in the Sinai as a prelude to the Arab attack on Israel. But when it has succeeded, the U.N. forces have surely kept the lid on military adventurism. Beyond the single issue of its Peace-keeping Force, the United Nations has other reasons to celebrate the Nobel Prize. The award is indicative of the recent resuscitation of the U.N. In recent years, the world body was dismissed as ineffective, irrelevant and anachronistic, three qualities repudiated by the Nobel Committee. Whether the entire United Nations, and not just its Peace- Keeping Force, is enjoying a return to its original, noble mission will emerge from the events of the current General Assembly. Since the •EIHNic iNnmiDATI oN •RACIAL HAllitt• A Skewed Vision Of 'Betrayed' The film Betrayed is cur- rently showing in movie theaters. It was produced by the radical, anti-American producer, Costa-Graves. This film is very loosely based on recent, successful prosecution by Ed Meese's Justice Department of the fascist, fringe group "The Order?' The film goes on to portray a fascist conspiracy extending to the highest echelons of the U.S. govern- ment and to the CIA. There is absolutely no evidence that "The Order" had any such connections, or that any such conspiracy ex- isted. Indeed, a recent Washington Post story reported that membership in organized, racist groups is at its lowest level in 14 years .. . That this over-wrought film 6 FRIDAY OCTOBER 7, 1988 Dr. Herschel L. Schlussel _ Southfield Sherwin Wine Article Criticized As an Orthodox person, I was offended and outraged by the editorial that appeared in The Jewish News on Sept. 16 by Sherwin Wine. The article included a photograph of some "quaint queeries"in Mea Shearim, over a caption echoing one of Wine's more inflammatory statements. Sherwin Wine has nothing but the utmost contempt for the entire observant com- munity, as well as for the non- Orthodox who are, in his opin- ion, too wimpish to stand up GECGRAPI1Y-YOU'Re MIN ABLE TO RM BUT YOU APPEAR TO Excel. to the "fanatics." His article in The Jewish News showed little tolerance or understan- ding of the opposing point of view, but merely called upon the readers to "stand up and show the fanatics who is boss." My point in writing this let- ter is not to argue the side of Halachah in the "Who is a Jew" controversy, but to point out that most observant members of the Jewish com- munity (including many non- Orthodox) find Sherwin Wine's views to be inimical to Jewish values and traditional beliefs, and to give him the honor of writing an editorial in your paper is more than many of us can stomach. If the rationale behind granting this article was a desire to allow free expression of all points of view within the Jewish community . . . I look forward to reading Meir I 11 If( (I" biearmo rowa SVAMGC6VE VANDAL-ISM LETTERS should be promoted in your newspaper, in an editorial, no less (Sept. 23), is a reflection of the skewed vision of reali- ty that prevails at The Jewish News. van ritED 11E11 ME ;II WiTN TMT AT HOME!` ,11 1- Kahane's rebuttal to Sherwin Wine in a future issue of The Jewish News. Lynn M. Berkowitz Oak Park Who Is Being Narrow Minded? I find it personally offensive and extremely narrow- minded for Lawrence Loewen- thal to infer that members of the Birmingham Temple are ". . hastening the destruc- tion of the Jewish people . . ." (Letters, Sept. 30). Quite frankly, his bigoted, self-righteous approach to who is a Jew denies Jewish identity of millions of Conser- vative, Reform and Human- istic Jews worldwide. So who is hastening the destruction of the Jewish people? Linda Goudsmit West Bloomfield Debating The Basics On Israel And Arabs Joseph Borrajo is right (Sept. 30) and I was wrong (Sept. 2): There are currently only 21, not 22, Arab coun- tries in which anti-Israeli Arabs can settle. With or without Judea, Samaria and Gaza, Israel is a tiny country that cannot long afford to grant citizenship's benefits to those who reject Continued on Page 12 Let Us Know Letters must be concise, typewritten and double- spaced. Correspondence must include the signa- ture, home address and daytime phone number of the writer.