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-
homeland (whatever that
means).
Americans believe in
dialogue, so they have approv-
ed of the U.S.-PLO dialogue.
At the same time, polls have
consistently shown that
Yassir Arafat is among the
most disliked foreign leaders,
and the the PLO is still view-
ed as a terrorist organization
intent on destroying Israel.
But polls are not the only
objective evidence of the
strength of American support
for Israel. For example:
• People said it would be
difficult to sell Israel in Con-
gress if the intifada con-
tinued, and yet last year's
foreign aid package passed
by a record margin in both
the House and Senate.
• The House recently pass-
ed this year's aid bill by an
overwhelming margin and, if
the Senate goes along, Israel
will continue to receive $3
billion next year.
• Sen. Bob Dole suggested
aid to Israel should be cut,
but 73 Senators wrote to
President Bush opposing his
proposal.
• Congress overwhelmingly
passed resolutions declaring
that Jerusalem is and should
remain the capital of Israel.
• Congress approved $400
million in housing loan
guarantees to help Israel set-
tle Soviet Jews.
• Strategic cooperation con-
tinues to evolve. Defense
Secretary Richard Cheney
told AIPAC's policy con-
ference that Israel will re-
main a strategic asset to the
United States in the age of
glasnost.
If objective measures do not
show that support for Israel
has eroded, where has this
perception originated? It has
come largely from a general
frustration with the seeming
intractability of the regional
conflict.
Because of latent pre-
judices, reinforced by Arab ac-
tions, Americans are not like-
ly to ever sympathize with
the Arabs. But Americans'
support for Israel can be
shaken if Israel ceases to be
viewed as a democracy, like
ours, that seeks peace. This
has not occurred, but the
failure to recognize that it
could would be a mistake. ❑
A Disturbing Defeat
For Religious Liberty
ALEXANDER M. SCHINDLER
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12
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1990
Special to The Jewish News
T
he recent ruling of the
U.S. Supreme Court
upholding the right of
religious clubs to meet in
public schools is deeply
disturbing because it
represents a major assault on
the principle of church-state
separation, threatening
religious liberty and jeopar-
dizing the security of minori-
ty religious groups — in-
cluding the Jewish
community.
American Jews should
resist every effort to attack
the wall of separation, lest it
crumble and turn into a moat
where the sharks of religious
hatred thrash about and
sharpen their teeth for
victims.
The court ruling also is an
assault against the country's
public schools. It means — in-
evitably — enlarging and
deepening the differences bet-
ween children in the schools,
a place where they should be
coming together on a basis of
equality and friendship.
The public school system
has been a basic element of
the American democracy, the
Rabbi Schindler is president
of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations.
one instrument universally
acknowledged for its role not
merely in teaching boys and
girls how to read and write
and add and subtract, but in
stressing self-respect and
respect for others. In the
public school classroom and
in extra-curricular activities,
such as school clubs, pupils
learn to experience
democracy and exercise
freedom — the values that
have made our country great
and our people strong. Here
every child is equal. No stu:
dent is separated from his
fellows because he or she
prays in a different tongue or
to a different God.
The Supreme Court deci-
sion upholding the 1984
Equal Access Act threatens to
change all this. It permits, for
the first time, the use of
public school classrooms by
extremist groups and so-
called "clubs" that bar
membership to some public
school children, or that seek
to convert them to another
faith. In Illinois, Jews for
Jesus established high school
chapters and successfully
demanded the right to meet
in the schools. In California,
the Hare Krishna movement
took advantage of the law. No
doubt the court ruling will
encourage white supremacist
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