The Israeli Campaign
Takes A Mean Thrn
Trailing in the polls, Likud has set its sights on
Yitzhak Rabin and accused him of being an alcoholic
INA FRIEDMAN
1,-,,rael Correspondent
ith a month to go
before election day,
the campaign in
Israel has suddenly turned
mean.
r With surveys indicating a
15-seat Labor lead over the
Likud, spirits in the ruling
' party sank so low that there
Nas even talk of asking Yit-
zhak Shamir to step down as
:head of the list in favor of
._Benny Begin (bearer of the
magic family name if not
quite of the famed Begin
mystique).
For a while, both parties'
campaigns seemed to sink
>into the doldrums. The
issues that have long divided
Cihe Israeli public — the
future of the territories, the
I state of the economy, the
growing influence of
clericalism and the order of
>1- ,Tiorities in dividing up the
national pie — seemed to
have evaporated and voters
were bored.
W
-
But suddenly, the Likud
pulled out all stops and
launched a brutal personal
assault on Yitzhak Rabin,
the leader of the Labor Par-
ty. The tactic was an innova-
tion in Israeli politics.
In the past, when the norm
of its purely parliamentary
system was to vote for par-
The rumors of Mr.
Rabin's drinking
are neither new nor
substantiated.
ties (rather than per-
sonalities) on the basis of
ideology (rather than in-
dividual appeal), attacking
candidates on personal
grounds was simply not
done.
But today Israel is in tran-
sition between two electoral
systems — and political cul-
tures. The law providing for
the direct election of the
prime minister was passed
by the outgoing Knesset, as
something of a parting shot.
It won't go into effect until
1996 (or whenever the next
election is held). Yet Labor is
conducting the present elec-
tion campaign as though it
were a dry run for the next
one, emphasizing its can-
didate for prime minister at
the expense of the party's
identity.
It claims to have adopted
this course because it's
essentially the "will of the
people." But the real reason
undoubtedly lies in the fact
that the polls have con-
sistently shown Mr. Rabin to
be more popular than the
party he leads.
The result has been some-
thing of a revolution in elec-
tioneering, Israeli-style. Mr.
Rabin's name, and often his
portrait, as well, tops every
Labor gimmick from posters
and stickers to T-shirts and
hats. The party has even
changed the wording on its
voting slips from simply
"Labor" to "Labor headed
by Rabin," lest anyone
forget who he's really voting
for.
Rabin: trying to keep cool in the face of nasty charges.
Some senior members
balked at the change; after
all, they said, even David
Ben-Gurion's name never
appeared on the ballot itself.
But bitter talk of a per-
sonality cult soon gave way
to pragmatism. To win the
election, Labor will have to
take votes from the Likud.
And since Mr. Rabin is the
real draw for disgruntled
Likudniks, it was decided to
help them along by adding
his name to the slips.
That left the Likud in a
spot. It couldn't fight fire
with fire since the polls have
shown that Yitzhak Shamir
has little appeal to Israel's
voters, even within his own
party. Unable to compete
with Labor's leading can-
didate, the Likud decided to
discredit him. And so a
smear campaign was born.
brother became bar mitzvah
and the other had his bris —
on the same day.
Aharon Yosef Gordon,
grandson of Rabbi and Mrs.
James Gordon (Rabbi Gor-
don was for many years
spiritual leader of Young
Israel of Oak-Woods),
became bar mitzvah April
19. His new brother had a
bris immediately following
services, where he was nam-
ed Hillel.
Among those celebrating
the occasion: the boys'
parents, Rabbi and Mrs.
Shmuel Gordon of
Jerusalem, and three
brothers.
Princess Caroline of Monaco
is about to wed again. Her
fiance is French actor Vin-
cent Lindon. And the really
big news: Monsieur Lindon
is Jewish. But as part of his
prenuptials, he has agreed to
convert to Catholicism.
And now as to how
Caroline made her decision:
"Vincent, 32, popped the
question on Easter Sunday,"
according to The National
Enquirer (it was a friend's
copy; I did not buy it myself.)
"But Caroline had already
made up her mind a month
earlier when she was alone
in her Monaco villa staring
at a smiling photo of her
beloved mother.
"She told a friend: 'As I
looked at a photo of my
mother, her smile seemed to
come to life. I'm absolutely
sure I wasn't dreaming but
my mother was there with
me saying, "Go where your
heart is. You love Vincent.
Marry him." ' "
.
ROUND UP
Drive Will Aid
Jews Of Syria
) B'nai B'rith has launched
a national petition drive on
b ehalf of Syrian Jewry.
Called Flight 4000, the peti-
tion follows the recent an-
'>=nouncement by the Syrian
1 government that suggests
Jews from that country will
be permitted to travel
=abroad. -
‘, " The 4,000 Jews in
Damascus, Aleppo and
Kamishli, living under the
surveillance of the Syrian
secret police, are denied fun-
damental civil and human
(iights," the petition reads.
"More importantly, they are
> deprived of the rights guar-
anteed them in the Univer-
sal Declaration of Human
Rights, which allow for an
individual to 'leave any
country, including his own.'
Therefore, we the under-
'. signed hope the United
States will urge the Syrian
° government to honor both its
recent announcement, in
addition to international
,
D
covenants relating to the
`freedom to leave one's coun-
try. , ,,
Signed petitions will be
submitted to U.S. Secretary
of State James Baker, as
well as the Congressional
Caucus on Syrian Jewry, a
bipartisan caucus compris-
ing nearly 100 congressmen.
To obtain copies of the
petition, contact B'nai
B'rith, c/o Flight 4000, the
Plight of Syrian Jewry, 1640
Rhode Island Ave. NW,
Washington, D.C. 20036, or
call (202) 857-6546.
Conservative Youth
Dedicate Hill 16
During the War of In-
dependence, the Arabs cap-
tured an outpost known as
Hill 16, preventing des-
perately needed supplies
from reaching Jerusalem.
crty-two years later (and
now part of Israel), Hill 16 is
being rededicated — this
time, as a Jewish National
Fund forest.
The new Hill 16.
Participants in NATIV,
the United Synagogue
Youth's year-long program
in Israel, recently restored
the hill, which overlooks
Sha'ar Hagai, with the as-
sistance of 150 new Israeli
army recruits and officers-
in-training.
The Tu B'Shevat (Jan. 20)
ceremonies marking the
completion of the project in-
cluded a recitation of the
Prayer for the Planting of
Trees.
Doubling The Fun
In Jerusalem
Talks about a coincidence.
The grandchildren of some
former Detroiters made for
quite a morning when one
Vincent Converts
For Caroline
Enough with this high-
brow stuff! Can we talk
REAL journalism — really
important news, must-know
news, vital, critical news.
I'm talking, of course, about
the engagement of Princess
Caroline.
Yes, royal watchers,
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11