!MEDIA MONITOR

Affording the best is not the
question...finding the best is.

Letters Skewer
Evans & Novak

ARTHUR J. MAGIDA

Special to The Jewish News

R

A first ...
Apartment living in a
Skilled Nursing Facility

For the discriminating person
requiring an elegant environment

Bortz
Health Care

Medicare approved

Family owned and operated for over 33 years

CALL 363-4121

For our limousine to pick you up for a personal tour of our facility.

6470 Alden Drive, Orchard Lake

BROKEN WINDSHIELD

$50 OFF
WHEN YOU PAY
WITH CASH OR $50 OFF
YOUR DEDUCTIBLE
WITH CASH

1111.11.11111U,,...11.11/1

Domestic cars only

Call for your appointment

Offer Expires 3/15/92

4It SIMONS
m
) IMITED STATES OFAMEEPLICIL
19' r7:71, vIIIMICIP_IIIIVIIIE311104111.1111LIffiragik'Mr471-9 r'

(

1

mom

PURITAN AUTO GLASS SERVICE CENTER

rminirumnmimimmi

21545 Telegraph (Between 8 and 9 Mile)

355-1200

Tables • Desks
Wall Units
Bedrooms
Dining Rooms

For
Appt.
can

ARTHRITIC
FEET

13 Years' Experience & Expertise in the Design
of Affordable Laminate, Lucite & Wood
•
Furniture

Muriel Wetsman 661-3838

Comfort, Quality, Fit and Service
for 75 years

J

26221 Southfield Road

(Between 10 and 11 Mile Roads)

CALL 557-4230

32

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1992

ecent writings by

syndicated columnists
Rowland Evans and
Robert Novak have rankled
some rival columnists and
mainstream Jewish groups.
First came their report last
November that an
eyewitness said Israel knew
it was attacking an Ameri-
can vessel when it downed
the U.S.S. Liberty during
the 1967 Six Day War. The
attack killed 37 Americans.
New York Times' columnist
A.M. Rosenthal charged that
the columnists had inten-
tionally "reversed" what the
"eyewitness" had told them.
Three weeks ago, morning
papers around the country
printed an Evans & Novak
column that stated that Sec-
retary of State James Baker
had told Israeli Ambassador
Zalman Shoval "in an an-
nounced session this week"
that the White House want-
ed Israel to receive its re-
quested $10 billion loan
guarantee, but "our hands
are tied until the set-
tlements (in the West Bank)
stop."
The peculiar thing was
that the Baker-Shoval
meeting did not occur until
the afternoon of the day the
column appeared.
Two Jewish groups have
sent letters about the pre-
mature column to the Wash-
ington Post, which carried it.
One, from Jess Hordes,
Washington representative
of the Anti-Defamation
League of the B'nai B'rith,
chuckled that the Evans-
Novak "scoop" "outdoes
even . . . (their) own special

standard of reporting Israel-
related stories."
The other letter, which the
Post hasn't published yet,
charged that the Jan. 15
column had "reached a new
low — even for them — in
fictionalized writing as
`opinion-based-on-fact." This
epistle came from William
Rapfogel, executive director
of the Institute for Public Af-
fairs of the Union of Or-
thodox Jewish Congrega-
tions of America.
Mr. Rapfogel also por-
trayed as:
• "Pure fantasy" Evans
and Novak's charge that
"hard-line American Jewish
leaders" arranged a session
with White House Chief of
Staff Samuel Skinner and
excluded Henry Siegman,
head of the American Jewish
Congress, because of his
"moderate views."
• "Ludicrous" their
claims that an American
satellite had been positioned
for reconnaissance over the
West Bank to scout for in-
formation on Israeli set-
tlements. Mr. Rapfogel
asserted that a State
Department official had told
him, "We can get the infor-
mation easily on the
ground."
Mr. Rapfogel sent his
letter to the Post's publisher,
Donald Graham, who passed
it along to the paper's edito-
rial page editor, suggesting
that it be published as a
letter to the editor.
Publisher Graham also
sent Mr. Rapfogel a hand-
written note saying he
would "share" his letter
with Meg Greenfield, whom
he said, "reviews the Evans-
Novak column."

Ode To
Pat Buchanan

Calvin Trillin has come a
long way from writing the
funniest pieces in the world
about food for the New
Yorker. He now writes dog-
gerel about politics for the
Nation. Sometimes it
rhymes; sometimes it
chimes; always it lands on a
slightly-left-of-center dime.
His latest poesy pokes an
iambic finger at GOP
challenger, Pat Buchanan:

I'll say the things you really
think — just try me.
Conservatives who loathe
this Bush all buy me.

Complaints that I'm a bigot
mystify me.
I'm not like Duke whose
thoughts and past are slimy.
In point of fact, no trueborn
Yanks decry me.
No, those opposed are all,
by chance, named Hymie.

How will Mr. Buchanan
respond? Free verse at 40
paces, with the duelists'
seconds reciting couplets?
Limericks at sundown? Pen-
tameter at sunrise? Or just a
very, very conservative slap
in the face?
Stay tuned.