WORLD vs. ISRAEL
Ir
U.S.
Gulf Role
Prompts
Some
Second
Guessing
American public support for the
continued presence of U.S. forces
in Saudi Arabia appears to be
wavering,
IRA RIFKIN
Special to The Jewish News
T
he broad domestic
support for the
United States mili-
tary build-up in the
Persian Gulf showed indicat-
tions of weakening this week.
One sign of that was a
Washington Post-ABC opi-
nion poll released Tuesday
that turned up a sharp
decrease in the American
public's support for the con-
tinued U.S. military
presence in Saudi Arabia.
According to the poll, just
60 percent of those surveyed
favored maintaining the
military pressure on Iraq
until Saddam Hussein
withdraws his forces from
Kuwait. Five weeks ago, 75
percent of those surveyed
agreed with that position.
The findings appear to
support the predictions of
those analysts who argue
that Americans generally
lack the political patience
necessary for a long-term
commitment in the Gulf.
That lack of resolve, accor-
ding to this school of
thought, plays directly into
Saddam Hussein's waiting
game.
Moreover, some pro-Israel
observers, and even Saudi
Arabian and Kuwaiti corn-
mentators, have maintained
that any U.S. pullout that
leaves Iraq's military power
intact will only embolden
Saddam Hussein and result
in another confrontation
down the line. Jewish
leaders have expressed fears
that an isolated Israel could
be Iraq's next target.
Second thoughts about
U.S. actions have also been
voiced by a growing number
of social justice-oriented
Christian religious groups,
putting them at odds with
the prevailing mood among
American Jewish organiza-
tions.
At a Washington news
conference, Jim Wallis,
editor of the liberal Protes-
tant evangelical magazine
Sojourners, said "the alleged
national consensus of sup-
port for U.S. policy must be
disrupted."
The presiding bishop of the
Episcopal Church, Edmond
L. Browning, was among the
Roman Catholic, United
Methodist, World Council of
Churches and other Chris-
tian leaders who joined Mr.
Wallis at the news con-
ference.
The general emphasis of
the statements issued by
Christian groups has been a
moral one; concern has been
expressed for the human and
social costs of the massive
military deployment and
possible war.
However, statements tying
the invasion of Kuwait to
Israel's occupation of the
territories have also surfac-
ed, particularly from groups
that have in the past sided
with the Palestinian posi-
tion. Both Israeli and
American Jewish leaders
have steadfastly insisted it
is unfair to link the two
situations.
For example, Pax Christi
International, a semi-official
Catholic peace group, said
that the West's "failure tc
confront longstanding Pales-
tinian and other questions,
including Israel's occupation
of Jordan's West Bank," was
an underlying cause of the
Iraqi invasion.
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton of Detroit, presi-
dent of Pax Christi's U.S.
branch, said he believed
"the thinness of support" for
the American military
presence in the Gulf is
becoming increasingly ap-
parent. "I think a lot of peo-
ple are willing to pay a lot
more for oil than are willing
to go to war," he said.
American Jewish leaders
interviewed generally down-
played such statements as
valid expressions of long-
standing theological and po-
litical differences. However,
Jewish spokesmen also voic-
ed concern that their bottom-
line support for Israel made
it falsely appear that Jews
were unconcerned with the
moral dimensions of the Gulf
crisis while Christians were.
"Immorality is in the eye
of the beholder," said Arthur
Abramson, director of the
Baltimore Jewish Council.
"It's also immoral not to
take action that insures your
survival."
"We've made it quite clear
that we're not happy with all
that Israel has done," added
Rabbi Alexander M.
Schindler, president of the
Reform Union of American
Hebrew Congregations. "We
try to never lose sight of the
moral issues."
Supporters of Israel could
take a measure of comfort
from the Post-ABC poll,
however. Although nearly
two-thirds of those polled
supported the U.S. condem-
nation of Israel for its handl-
ing of last week's Temple
Mount incident, 47 percent
also said the Palestinians
were "more to blame" for
the violence. Thirty percent
said Israel was more to
blame. ❑
Why This
U.S.-Israel
Clash
Is More
Serious
Washington and Jerusalem have
a long history of crises, but the
current one could be more
long-lasting,
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
H
ow is this U.S.-Israel
split different from
all other previous
clashes between the
two allies?
After all, since the State of
Israel was founded in 1948,
there have been stormy
periods in virtually every
U.S. administration. In re-
cent years, there was the
Ford-Kissinger
"reassessment" and the
Carter criticism of Israeli
settlements, the Reagan
anger over Israel's war in
Lebanon and the Pollard spy
case.
In the Bush administra-
tion, there have been clashes
over Israel's alleged reluc-
tance to move forward on
peace talks with the Palesti-
nians.
But there is reason to sug-
gest that the current dis-
agreement between Wash-
ington and Jerusalem is
potentially more dangerous
than past experiences, and
that it may not blow over so
quickly.
That's because the world
has changed dramatically in
the last year, and the
Mideast equation has
changed, perhaps forever,
due to several key factors:
• With the collapse of
Communism, Israel is no
longer the democratic, stra-
tegic ally serving as a buffer,
or front man, between the
United States and the Soviet
Union.
• The Iraqi aggression in
Kuwait and Washington's
creation of a coalition of
Arab states to oppose
Saddam Hussein has
brought the U.S. into direct,
positive contact with part of
the Arab world as never
before.
• The economic crisis in the
United States is growing in-
creasingly worrisome, and
the possibility is stronger
now that the U.S. will cut
back on foreign aid, in-
cluding Israel.
• The United Nations, which
has long been a thorn in
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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