MEDIA MONITOR teachwood Inn Borden Court Why Ozick Won't Go To Germany ARTHUR J. MAGIDA Special to The Jewish News I AFFORDABL XCIL \C - Assisted Living 24 hour basic and skilled nursing care Occupational and Physical Therapy Recreational, Social and Religious Programs Respite Safety and security in beautiful surroundings Accommodations begin as low as $65.00 per day which includes all meals, linens and housekeeping Inn Borden Court ileaChWOOd Hotel Style Health Care 3500 W. (SouL1-1 Boulevard Qochaster Hills (313) 852-7800 Call Renee Mahler for information 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?