UP FRONT
- Ross Perot: Is He The
"Least Of Three Evils?
By nature, Jewish voters are wary of Ross Perot.
But they're less than thrilled with President Bush
and Bill Clinton.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
oss Perot, the stealth
presidential can-
didate who has enrap-
tured the nation with his in-
surgent third-party bid, has
apparently failed to win
many Jews to his burgeon-
ing cause.
But that could change
quickly if President George
Bush is unable to reverse his
long, steep slide with Jewish
voters — and if Arkansas
Gov. Bill Clinton fails to
flesh out his somewhat
shallow support in the Jew-
ish community.
"It's not inconceivable
+ that Perot will get Jewish
support," said political
scientist Ben Wattenberg of
the American Enterprise In-
; stitute. "Bush has serious
problems in the Jewish
community; the Democrats
don't seem particularly pop-
+
ular with Jewish voters."
Early indications suggest
that Jewish voters are not
sharing in the general en-
thusiasm for Mr. Perot's
candidacy. "It's going to be
very difficult for him to win
Jewish votes," said political
historian Alan Lichtman, an
expert in presidential pro-
gnostication. "Perot doesn't
offer anything that Clinton
doesn't offer. The Democrat-
Jewish voters are
not sharing in the
general
enthusiasm for Mr.
Perot's candidacy.
is platform will have very
strong positions on Israel;
from what I've heard of
Perot's Middle East policies
— and that's not much
—they're not particularly
appealing."
In fact, the first draft of the
Democratic platform in-
cludes unusually strong pro-
Israel language, along with
criticism of the Bush ad-
ministration's handling of
U.S.- Israeli relations.
Jews, Mr. Lichtman said,
will also be wary of the
alleged "authoritarian"
aspects of Mr. Perot's per-
sonality.
"The Jewish community,
more than most, will de-
mand some solid indication
that Perot does not believe
in extra- constitutional
means," he said.
Mr. Perot could strengthen
his appeal to the Jewish
community through his
choice of a vice presidential
candidate, Mr. Lichtman
said, adding that "so far, he
hasn't defined himself."
But even if Mr. Perot
chooses former U.N. ambas-
sador Jeane Kirkpatrick,
who has been a popular fig-
ure in the Jewish commun-
ity, it would not be enough to
sway the vast majority of
Jews, Mr. Lichtman said.
"At best, I see him getting
15 percent of the Jewish
vote. And most of that would
come from Jews who have
An...b,
Can,. 7992_ tr.,
G. u. AP.,es ,•■•15,6ca.
voted for Republican can-
didates in recent years."
Jewish voters may be at-
tracted to Mr. Perot's can-
didacy in the early days of
the campaign, some
observers suggest — but in
the end, their commitment
to a stable political process
will keep them from actually
voting for the Texan.
"More than most groups of
voters, Jews have at least a
subconscious stake in the
stability of the two party
system," said Stuart
Eizenstat, domestic policy
advisor to former President
Jimmy Carter and a Clinton
supporter. "Someone who
throws in this kind of
challenge to the stability of
the system would have very
high burden of proof to the
Jewish community."
Not surprisingly, Mr.
Eizenstat indicated that
Gov. Clinton's strong posi-
tions on Israel will keep Mr.
Perot from eroding the tradi-
the ancient Jewish kingdom
until it was ravaged in 587
BCE, only to be rebuilt 50
years later. The Romans
destroyed the city in 70 CE
and in 135 CE, when
Emperor Hadrian decreed
that Jews were forbidden to
live in Jerusalem.
Before becoming part of
the British Mandate in 1918,
Jerusalem was in the hands
of the Persians, the
Crusaders and the Arabs.
Since the mid-19th cen-
tury, the Jewish population
of Jerusalem has been in the
majority. The 1931 census
figures showed the city with
a population of 51,222 Jews,
19,894 Muslim and 19,335
Christians. By the time of
Israel's Declaration of In-
dependence in 1948,
Jerusalem's population had
grown to 100,000 Jews,
40,000 Muslim and 25,000
Christians. As a result of the
ensuing Arab-Israeli war,
Jerusalem became a divided
city, until the Six-Day War.
For information about the
commemorative medals,
contact the American Israel
Numismatic Association,
P.O. Box 836, Oakland
Gardens, N.Y. 11364, (718)
224-9393.
ROUND UP
Writer Describes
Secret Meeting
Post-war Germany's
failure to punish murderers
stemmed from a resolution
approved at a secret meeting
of the country's military, po-
litical and business leaders
in the early 1950s, setting
pardons for war criminals as
a condition of West Ger-
many's agreement to play a
military role in the West's
defense against Commu-
nism, according to a new
report.
Writing in the current
issue of Reform Judaism,
Charles Allen Jr., a resear-
cher and writer on the Nazi
era, based his charges on
new evidence uncovered by
German legal scholars.
German researchers
discovered that, during the
1950s, the country's leaders
— many with Nazi ties —
held a secret meeting, the
Himmerode Conference. It
was lead by Hans Speidel,
one of Hitler's generals who
later became a general in
the West German army.
In fact, the entire com-
mand of West Germany's
armed forces from the 1950s
through the early 1970s con-
sisted of members of Hitler's
general staff, according to
Mr. Allen.
Not only was the post-war
German military led by
Nazis, but much of the polit-
ical community was
dominated by former Nazi
officials like Dr. Hans
Globke, the Reform Judaism
article states.
Mr. Globke, who had
prepared the legal basis of
the 1935 Nuremberg Laws,
was wanted by several coun-
tries for crimes against hu-
manity, Mr. Allen states.
But Germany refused to give
him up.
Medals Mark
Reunification
The first mention of
Jerusalem is found in Egyp-
tian texts written in the
18th-19th century BCE. Its
name means "foundation of
peace." After capturing the
city from the Canaanites
Marking the reunification of
Jerusalem.
and defending it from the
Philistines, David made
Jerusalem the capital of
Israel.
This year, the State of
Israel celebrates the 25th
anniversary of the reunifica-
tion of Jerusalem. In obser-
vance of the occasion, Israel
has authorized official state
medals in gold, silver and
bronze. The medal shows
famous landmarks of
Jerusalem including the
Kotel, the Knesset and the
Tower of David. Profits from
the medals, which are being
minted in Israel, will go for
nature preservation and
landscape beautification in
Israel.
Jerusalem was the heart of
Only $25 Bucks
For A Roof Tile
Amsterdam (JTA) —
Amsterdam's Sephardic
community wasn't fiddling
around when it launched a
campaign to put a new roof
on its 300-year-old Esnoga
synagogue.
"Adopt a roof tile," it urg-
ed in large advertisements
which appeared last week in
Dutch newspapers. About
20,000 tiles are needed; they
can be "adopted" for $25
each.
One of the first subscribers
was the Dutch minister of
social welfare, Hedy
D'Ancona, whose father was
a Sephardic Jew.
The community has been
berated for the high costs of
the campaign, which have
gone through the roof.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11