MEDIA MONITOR
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Why Ozick Won't
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ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
Special to The Jewish News
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34
FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1989
n Harper's magazine,
novelist Cynthia Ozick
explains why she is a Jew
"who does not, will not, can-
not, set foot in Germany."
Ozick's article was an adap-
tation of a letter she wrote to
a German professor who had
invited her to participate in a
conference on current
German-Jewish relations.
Her decision, she wrote, was
based on a "private moral im-
perative." While stating that
she understood the German
desire to memorialize the
Holocaust, she suggested that
"it is something for the Ger-
mans to do, independently, in
the absence of Jews — the
absence of Jews in contem-
porary Germany being
precisely the point."
Ozick asserted that it is
Germans' own problem to
question how they can
achieve relations with Jews in
the absence. of Jews. And that
programs in which American
Jews are surrogates for the
murdered Jews of Europe "are
mistaken at the core and, in
any case, cannot help the Ger-
mans."
Ozick called for Germans to
limit Holocaust conferences
solely to fellow Germans and
for them to confront the
finality of the tragedy by
themselves.
CAMERA Chief
Calls Media
' Anti-Israel
Recent public opinion polls
showing a drop in U.S. sup-
port for Israel were attributed
to "almost constant and un-
fair" treatment of Israel by
U.S. news media, according to
Winifred Meiselman, presi-
dent of the Committee for Ac-
curacy in Middle East Repor-
ting (CAMERA).
Meiselman was responding
to a recent ABC-TV poll
which showed that, for the
first time, a majority of
Americans view Israel un-
favorably and do not consider
the Jewish state to be a
reliable ally.
"Informed people know...
that Israel is a model of
democracy, human rights and
press freedoms in the Middle
East," stated Meiselman.
"But when the American
news media choose to ignore
this and, focus only on the
Arab grievances against
Israel, then, of course, this
will affect American percep-
tions over time."
Seen Any
Jewish Contras
Lately?
"Cheap pandering" was a
New Republic editor's descrip-
tion of former Assistant
Secretary of State Elliott
Abrams' recent fretting that
"many" U.S. Jews were more
concerned "about fighting
[with Ronald Reagan] than
with supporting Jews in Cen-
tral America."
"Sandinismo and The
Jewish Question, again,"
- sniffed Leon Wieseltier in the
New Republic's "Washington
Diarist" column. "Now, I
have met my share of contras,
some of whom are worthy, and
funny, they don't look
Jewish."
Wieseltier also had some
choice words for the religiosi-
ty which seemed to flavor
Abrams' statement that "The
more you care about Judaism,
the more likely you are to
vote Republican."
"Nothing," commented
Wieseltier, "like the neo-
Orthodoxy of the neoconser-
vative who does ABC-TV's
`Nightline' on Shabbat.' "
Liz Smith
Column Big
On Jews
Syndicated gossip colum-
nist Liz Smith has led two of
her recent columns with
items of particular interest to
Jews.
First Smith reported on a
rumor that the United Jewish
Appeal was starting a $100
million fund to repatriate
200,000 Jews expected to
emigrate from the USSR this
year. While UJA officials
dismissed the rumor, they did
not categorically reject the
possibility of such a fund.
Then last week, Smith ad-
vised her readers to "scratch"
the rumor that freed Soviet
dissident Natan Sharansky
will be appointed Israel's am-
bassador to the United
Nations.
- "Tis said," wrote Smith,
"that Israel's prime minister,
Yitzhak Shamir dislikes
Sharansky's bitter blasts at
Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev
and so has decided that
Sharansky might embarrass
both himself and Israel if he
got to that large forum on
Manhattan's East River. Now
Shamir wants a 'more season-
ed diplomat' in the post."
What next from Ms. Smith?
Recipes for challah? Tips on
who's going where for the
High Holidays?