is not known as a passionate ideologue but rather a
leader who places great emphasis on diplomacy.
Mrs. Cardin's tenure at the Conference has coin-
sided with a period of unprecedented turbulence in
the U.S.-Israeli relationship, making her job partic-
ularly important and difficult. Though criticized now
by some in the Israeli press for having been too pro-
Likud during Mr. Shamir's tenure, Mrs. Cardin dis-
misses these charges, explaining that her role is not
to speak for the government of Israel, but about the
government of Israel, regardless of which party is in
power.
"Whether the government is Labor or Likud is im-
material," she said. "I would imagine that if Prime
Minister Rabin stays in office for his full term, at the
end of that term, the people in these [American] or-
ganizations will be accused of being very dose to the
Labor government"
There is a bit of irony in the fact that some now ac-
cuse Mrs. Cardin of having been in Mr. Shamir's pock-
t during his tenure. She notes with a trace of a smile
that they did not always see eye to eye on issues, and
she did not hesitate to tell him so.
"There were issues of major concern — the settle-
ments and the economy — and there were times when
would tell him, 'you're not helping.' He was always
cordial, and he trusted me. But he is a man who makes
up his mind — and once that happens, it makes no dif-
ference what people say."
Without saying so directly, Mrs. Cardin makes it
dear that she is more comfortable with the style of the
jiew prime minister, Mr. Rabin.
She noted that the management style of the two
men is very different, with Mr. Shamir giving far more
latitude to his cabinet ministers. "Mr. Shamir allowed
his ministers to create their own fiefdoms. I don't think
Mr. Rabin operates that way," she said. "He will be
the prime minister. The actions that will be taken will
'follow the priorities and objectives he has identified.
He will not pass the buck. It will stop at his desk."
Some observers suggest that with Mr. Rabin at the
helm in Jerusalem and the improvement of U.S.-Is-
rael relations, the role of American Jewish leadership
in the revived peace talks will be diminished. But
thers maintain that Mr. Rabin places great value on
American Jewry, having served as ambassador in
Washington, and that Mrs. Cardin's role may become
even more critical.
N
Unusual Term
of that Mrs. Cardin's role has been muted un-
til now. Far from it. In fact, since January,
1991, when she became chair of the Confer-
ence of Presidents, she has been involved in
some extraordinary events.
Two weeks after she assumed her post, the Persian
Gulf war began and, within 10 days, she led a dele-
• ..,:iseetu
re
yttan
gation of Jewish leaders to Israel as a tangible display
of solidarity.
"Everybody knew precisely what the risks would
be," she said. "There was no hesitation. It was a re-
markable response."
Mrs. Cardin presided over the Conference as Jew-
ish activists worked to guarantee a fair U.S. stance on
James Baker's Middle East peace process — and to
staunch the apparent hemorrhage in relations be-
tween Washington and Jerusalem as the Shamir gov-
ernment resisted Mr. Baker's plans.
And then there was the protracted loan guarantee
melee, a pivotal moment for American Jewish activism
whose impact is still playing out.
Mrs. Cardin's long association with the Soviet Jew-
ry movement — she is president of the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry — and her firm conviction that
the ultimate goal of that movement was aliyah, may
have played a key role in the decision by the Presi-
dents Conference to make loan guarantees a top pri-
ority for the American Jewish community.
"The issue of the loan guarantees was greater than
Israel alone," she said. "It was an issue that affected
potentially two to three million Jews in what was then
the Soviet Union. For me, it was a responsibility that
needed to be carried forward — and whether the pres-
ident and the prime minister got along was immate-
rial to the subject."
Throughout the battle, Mrs. Cardin was forced to
walk a precarious line, advocating for the guarantees
in Washington while warning Israeli leaders that
their settlement policies were jeopardizing the loans.
"I was not Pollyanna-ish or myopic,".she said. "I was
aware of the veil,' difficult stresses in both countries
over what the prime minister was committed to in his
own mind, as a matter of principle — and over what
the president was committed to in his own mind as a
direction for American policy. What I did not expect
was the rhetoric and the tone of voice on September
12," she said, referring to the day Mr. Bush went pub-
lic in his criticism of Jews lobbying for the loan guar-
antees.
Despite last year's setback, she is convinced that
the Jewish community's basic strategy regarding loan
guarantees was sound.
"The emphasis was entirely appropriate," she said.
'We were, as Americans, acting within our rights. The
aftermath — in which some American Jews felt that
perhaps it was the wrong issue, or perhaps that one
should not confront a determined president — con-
cerned me, because I think that is a regression. As
American citizens, we have a right to advocate for those
issues that are important to us."
Mrs. Cardin fully intends to keep on advocating in
the coming months for the loan guarantees, American
aid to Israel and freedom for Jews in oppressed Arab
lands. She says she has no regrets about the past and
never feels that she has pushed too hard in advanc-
ing Jewish causes.
One of her successes came when, as chair of the Na-
tional Conference on Soviet Jewry, she persuaded then-
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, during an
unprecedented meeting last October, to go on nation-
al television and issue the first-ever statement from
a Soviet leader denouncing anti-Semitism — using al-
most the exact words she suggested.
"For me to ask Gorbachev to denounce anti-
Semitism, when he had refused everybody else, in the
way that I did — someone else might have regarded
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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