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Publicity-Shy AIPAC Respected
But Not Always Loved

JAMES DAVID BESSER

Washington Correspondent

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n recent months, the pub-
licity-shy American
Israel Public Affairs Com-
mittee (AIPAC) has found
itself increasingly scrutinized
and criticized from a variety
of quarters. Last week's in-
vestigation by Mike Wallace
and the crew of "60 Minutes"
was only the most recent in a
flurry of bad publicity for the
group.
Recently, AIPAC has been
blasted for an alleged pro-
Republican tilt, and for its
inflexible opposition to arms
sales to Arab nations.
Earlier, charges in a Los
Angeles newspaper alleged a
link between West Coast
AIPAC officials and the fund-
ing of a third-party candidate
in a major Senate race.
Growing friction between
AIPAC and the other big-
league groups on the Jewish
political scene has spawned
efforts to pressure AIPAC in-
to increasing consultation
with the groups that have—
in their view—been cut out of
the pro-Israel action.
But any fair analysis of
AIPAC's current difficulties is
complicated by several fac-
tors. Perspective on AIPAC is
a rare thing in Washington;
the gap between ardent ad-
mirers and angry detractors
is a pretty barren place.
For journalists and Jewish
activists, AIPAC is an in-
viting target. The group has
a long history of dismal rela-
tions with the press; its strict
policy against for-the record
comment by staff and officers
tends to intensify the rumors
constantly swirling around
AIPAC's North Capitol Street
head-
quarters.
AIPAC's dominance of the
pro-Israel scene has led to
bruised feelings among other
Jewish groups.
AIPAC has a long list of
disgruntled former employees
with legitimate gripes
against the group. Its lobby-
ing activities have generated
hard feelings on the part of
some legislators and staffers
who have challenged AIPAC
positions.
And AIPAC is an aggressive
player in an area of public life
where ethical and legal lines
are often obscure. Frequently,
AIPAC's tactics provoke
howls from activists ac-
customed to a gentler brand
of political influence, and a
public whose general suspi-
cion of lobbyists may apply

Thomas Dine:
AIPAC's executive director

doubly to Jewish lobbyists.
Often, the debate over
AIPAC's tactics becomes con-
fused with several broader
,,questions. Have we created a
monster of a system of
political influence that works
against the democratic prin-
ciples of the nation?
And while AIPAC itself is
clearly the cause of some of its
current problems, is the
group also serving as a
lightening rod for highly
charged problems that have
been building up for years
within the Jewish political
community?
Groups like AIPAC have en-
joyed a spectacular growth in
recent years. Sophisticated
lobbies have learned new
ways to apply leverage.
Legislators have become
dependent on lobbies—for in-
formation, for grass roots sup-
port and for good approval
ratings that can translate in-
to campaign donations. Lob-
byists play an important part
in the creation of legislation,
as well as its passage.
For good or ill, modern lob-
bying has become part of the
fabric of American govern-
ment, not just a outside force
trying to bend congressional
opinion.

Groups like Common Cause
argue that this symbiotic
relationship suppresses
democratic institutions by
magnifying the role of money
and narrowing input into the
legislative process. But on a
more day-to-day level, it is an
axiom that special-interest
groups that don't play the
game are apt to come out
losers in the dog-eat-dog bat-
tles for influence that define
life in Washington.
The problem of analsyis is
further clouded by AIPAC's
undeniable successes. The
U.S.-Israeli strategic relation-

ship has flourished in large
part as a result of AIPAC's ef-
forts. Israel's $3 billion in aid
is routinely approved almost
without debate. Joint
military projects have become
a major force in the Israeli
economy.
And—the side of AIPAC
most often criticized, but still
an undeniable force in the
endless grind of lobbying—
leaders throughout the
political spectrum think
twice before criticizing Israel.
AIPAC, with its relatively
compact decision-making
structure and its powerful
professional staff, is not
burdened'by the inter-agency
strife that sometimes
characterizes other groups in
the Jewish main-
stream—although conflicts
within AIPAC have
sometimes spilled over into
the group's efforts to make
Israel's case.
But this also opens the
group up to charges that a
relatively small segment of
the Jewish community is
shaping the entire pro-Israel
agenda. Recently, mainline
Jewish groups were angered
by AIPAC's decision to fight
aggressively a possible visa
for PLO chairman Yassir

The problem of
analysis is further
clouded by AIPAC's
undeniable
successes.

Arafat; earlier, the same
groups opposed AIPAC's cam-
paign on behalf of legislation
to close the PLO's New York
office, an effort many felt was
counterproductive.
It's a tricky question: is a
streamlined, fast-responding
group the best possible ser-
vant of Israel's cause? Or is
Israel better aided by a
system with broader input,
but also with a reduced abili-
ty to respond to the fast-paced
political wars of the '80s?
There is also disagreement
about the long-term conse-
quences of the tactics that
characterize the brave new
world of politics and govern-
ment, 1988 style.
Will AIPAC's hardball tac-
tics lead to resentment and
rebellion among legislators
who feel their arms have been
twisted? Will AIPAC, by its
focus on the strategic aspects
of the U.S.-Israeli relation-
ship, deprive Israel of the
moral support that once was
the basis of this nation's sym-
pathy for the Jewish state?

