INSIDE WASHINGTON STREET WISE With The Jewish News Fashion Magazine You can purchase copies of the Jewish News' colorful, informative Fashion magazine, from these convenient locations: — SOUTHFIELD — Seven-Eleven Franklin Rd. South of Twelve Mile 2000 Town Center Border's Book Store Southfield & Thirteen Mile Efros Rx Greenfield & Ten Mile — W. BLOOMFIELD — Efros Rx Orchard Lk. & Maple Bloomfield Apothecary Drake & Walnut Lake Downing Rx Walnut Lk. W. of Inkster — OAK PARK — Seven-Eleven Lincoln E. of Greenfield Lincoln Rx Coolidge & Lincoln Bornstein Bookstore Greenfield & Ten Mile Oak Park Book Center Nine Mile & Coolidge — BIRMINGHAM — Savon Rx Telegraph & Maple Metro News Telegraph & Maple — FARMINGTON HILLS — Efros Rx Grand River & Drake Seven-Eleven Orchard Lk. & Thirteen Mile Warren Rx Middlebelt & Fourteen Mile — NOVI — Border's Book Store Novi Rd. & 1-96 THE JEWISH NEWS No 30 M' 44 4 la.4411 - / FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1989 JAMES BESSER Washington Correspondent Spitzer's Harvard Row Phil 'B' Pharm. Evergreen & Twelve Mile Pro-Jordanian Lobbyists Find Support For Foreign Aid Pleas ‘,, z74 W hile talk of possible cuts in foreign aid to Egypt and Israel has preoccupied Jewish ac- tivists here in recent days, another foreign aid battle is producing some strange alliances. Lobbyists for Jordan are working effectively to con- vince Congress that an in- crease in aid for the Amman government would be a sta- bilizing force in the Middle East. And so far, there are indica- tions that several Jewish con- gressmen and some of Israel's most vigorous defenders on Capitol Hill are finding no ob- jections to this argument. Last year, Jordan's foreign aid grant suffered drastic cuts, a result of the general pressure on the foreign aid budget for a number of nations. This year, lobbyists for the Amman government, with the unofficial support of many in the pro-Israel community, are gunning for an increase, to a level of $48 million for military aid and $35 million in economic support funds, still a far cry from the $3 billion slated for Israel. Most important, supporters of Jordan's pleas are arguing for "earmarks" on some of that money, which would pro- tect it from expected across- the-board cuts in the foreign aid budget. So far, there are no indica- tions of significant opposition to the aid request. Officially, pro-Israel groups and Jewish congressmen are keeping quiet about the subject; unof- ficially, there is a growing feeling among many pro- Israel activists that the severe economic crisis in Jor- dan poses a threat to Mideast stability. "There is concern that last year's low levels of aid can on- ly make matters worse," said one lobbyist involved in the debate. "The real battle in- volves earmarks; will there be any earmarks besides those for Israel and Egypt?" Of Caribous And The Jews And Alaskan Oil The caribou question came up again in Congress last week, and as usual there was a strange Israeli twist to the story. Congress is chewing on a bill giving the go-ahead to oil exploration in a wild stretch of Alaska along the Arctic Ocean. During the last ses- sion, a similar proposal died when Democratic leaders refused to bring it to the Senate floor. The bill is being strenuous- ly opposed by environmental groups like the Sierra Club, which insist that oil develop- ment threatens endangered species, including caribou, polar bears and wolverines. Where does Israel enter the picture? According to Morris Amitay, Washington's premier pro-Israel lobbyist, there is a direct connection between Israel's security needs and the development of new Alaskan oil fields. "Can you imagine what ad- ministration policy toward Israel would be if the Arab oil producers had their act together and increased the price of oil?" Amitay asked. "The Anti-Defamation League sent up a report show- ing that U.S. policy could be seriously affected by any Arab oil blockade now." At issue, Amitay said, is the potential for up to two billion barrels of oil a day, which could come on-line in about 10 years — when experts predict the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska may begin to run dry. "And in the Jewish com- munity," Amitay argued, "many good friends of Israel simply don't think in terms of these kinds of geopolitical and national security issues." Two years ago, when an earlier attempt to pass the bill was causing a congres- sional ruckus, some en- vironmentalists complained that Amitay's reputation as an effective pro-Israel lobbyist was a kind of unfair advan- tage for pro-development forces. A Supreme Embarrassment For O'Connor Last week's curious ex- change between the Washington Post and the of- fice of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor may have been sparked by the curiosity of a Jewish activist here. The controversy involved a letter from O'Connor to a con- servative activist that listed previous Supreme Court deci- sions "to the effect that this is a Christian nation." The letter was used by con- servatives in Arizona in their drive to pass a statewide Republican Party resolution declaring the United States a "Christian nation." Although the letter generated a few minor news stories, it was brought to na- tional attention through the Sandra D. O'Connor: Mixing with politics. curiosity of Buzzy Gordon, director of media relations for B'nai B'rith International. "When I first heard about all this, I had a sense that this was a bigger story," Gordon said. "I contacted O'Connor's office here and asked • for details of the letter and for a statement from her. But her office indicated that they had no record of any letter on the subject." Gordon -then contacted the Post to reveal this fact: in his conversations with Post editors, Gordon urged a followup story on what legal scholars consider an improper injection of a Supreme Court justice into a political controversy. The result was a major story in last Wednesday's Washington Post, complete with a copy of the O'Connor letter and expert opinion that O'Connor had misinterpreted the previous Supreme Court decisions. The letter was also attacked by groups like the People for the American Way, which regard the "Christian nation" movement as a major force for religious intolerance. Within a matter of hours, O'Connor had issued a state- ment apologizing for the let- ter. "I regret that the letter I sent to an acquaintance in response to her request for in- formation was used in a political debate," O'Connor said in a statement.