NEWS U.S. Jews Are Wrong To Criticize Israel • A Fundraiser for Children's Hospital of Michigan Friday, April 10 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM • Fashion Show Entertainment • Refreshments • Silent Auction • Raffle 0 ®® WEST BLOOMFIELD • MICHIGAN All proceeds from raffle & auction to benefit Children's Hospital of Michigan 30 FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1992 Orchard Lake Road • North of Maple . 851-7727 Washington (JTA) — Is it wrong for U.S. Jews to publicly criticize Israel on issues of security or political ideology? Yes, said Thomas Dine, executive director of the American Israel Public Af- fairs Committee, in a debate with Leonard Fein, founder and former editor of Moment Magazine, a U.S. Jewish monthly, and now a colum- nist for the weekly Forward. Mr. Dine's views drew no public support during a subsequent hostile question- and-answer session with 55 members of the New Israel Fund, which sponsored the debate on Jewish dissent. The group is a rarity among pro-Israel Jewish groups in that it donates money direct- ly to programs in Israel rather than through the United Jewish Appeal. Mr. Dine was partly echo- ing a standard policy plank of the Conference of Presi- dents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which claims that U.S. Jews should not publicly criticize Israel on security issues. But Mr. Dine goes further than the Presidents Con- ference in also making Israeli political ideology a taboo subject. Political ideology basically refers to those tenets of the Labor or Likud parties that drive their policies, such as Likud's policy of ac- celerating Jewish set- tlements in the West Bank. Mr. Dine argued that to air Israel's faults in public would be as insensitive as a marriage partner going public and saying something bad about his or her spouse. He also cited how the an- cient Greek kingdom of Athens fell to Sparta be- cause of "internal strife." Continued public airing in the United States of criticism of Israel will create "splits among ourselves," Mr. Dine argued. Mr. Fein retorted by accus- ing Mr. Dine of formulating a "corruption of public discourse." If U.S. Jews followed Mr. Dine's model, then they would lose their "credibility" for refusing to acknowledge the "ugly along with the pretty." That is the difference between be- ing advocates and apologists, Mr. Fein argued. Mr. Fein also accused Mr. Dine of challenging the motives of critics of Israel by saying that some do so to "get their name in certain newspapers." Frank Fisher, treasurer of the New Israel Fund, pro- tested Mr. Dine's position on political ideology, saying an issue such as settlement policy "does not move out of the realm of debate because the (Israeli) government feels deeply about it." Mr. Dine advised that in- stead of criticizing Israel publicly, U.S. Jews should do so privately. "ml LOCAL NEWS hi Sidney Bolkosky Detroit Jewry Is Program Topic Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, pro- fessor of history at the University of Michigan- Dearborn will deliver the con- cluding lecture at the B'nai David Cultural Forum 10:30 a.m. April 5 at B'nai David. He will speak on "History of Detroit's Synagogue Com- munity, 1892-1967" as part of an ongoing series of programs commemorating B'nai David's centennial anniver- sary in 1992. Professor Bolkosky received his degrees from the Univer- sity of Rochester, Wayne State University and the State University of New York at Binghampton. He has taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Concordia Universi- ty and at the University of Michigan-Dearborn since 1972. Dr. Bolkosky published a history of Detroit Jewry en- titled Harmony and Dissonance for the Jewish Welfare Federation and Wayne State University Press. Dr. Bolkosky's lecture will be preceded by a continental breakfast at 9:45 a.m. and the community is invited to at- tend at no charge.