'Clinton, Bush
Head To Head

--At the B'nai B'rith convention, the
presidential candidates each claimed to
have Israel's best interests in mind.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

T

he battle for Jewish
votes in November
heated up a few
degrees when President
George Bush and Arkansas
Gov. Bill Clinton pitched
their pro-Israel credentials
to delegates at B'nai B'rith
International's 36th bien-
• vial convention in Washing-
ton this week.
The speeches on Tuesday
and Wednesday were almost
• predictable. Mr. Bush,
typically, seemed more com-
fortable discussing foreign
. affairs, while Mr. Clinton
stressed the domestic side.
Both maintained that Israel
would be safer if they were
in the White House.
The receptions given the
- -candidates were about
equal. Both were politely
received, with Mr. Clinton's
reception just a tad warmer.
Still, knots of Bush sup-
porters in the audience
cheered their candidate
loudly.
Some observers suggested
that President Bush scored
some points just by showing
up in person. Mr. Clinton
relied on a satellite televi-
sion hookup, prompting
some suggestions that he
may be taking Jewish votes
for granted.
"It's traditional that can-
• dilates come here and speak
to B'nai B'rith," said Abra-
ham Foxman, director of the
Anti-Defamation League, a
. B'nai B'rith offshoot. "I
think it made a difference
that Bush was here in per-
• son."
However, Daniel
Mariaschin, ADL's director
of International, Govern-
ment and Israel Affairs, said
the two speeches were some-
thing of a draw. "I don't
„ know that any ground was
lost or any ground was gain-
ed . . . The answers to the
key issues were basically the
• same," he said.
Mr. Bush's Tuesday speech
referred to the "miracle" of
the Middle East peace talks,
• and — in language that
echoed the comments of
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin the day before — in-
dicated that the goal of the

talks is to produce some-
thing more than a basic
truce. "Not simply the end of
war, but genuine reconcilia-
tion," he said.
Mr. Bush praised the re-
cent confidence building
measures by the Israeli
government and declared
that Arab participants could
respond by ending the
boycott against Israel — a
theme that has been em-
phasized by Israeli officials
in recent days.
Mr. Clinton, meanwhile,
who spoke Wednesday, em-
phasized that his ad-
ministration would continue
to push hard for a com-
prehensive Middle East
peace. "I want to be very
clear about this. There will
be no hiatus in the current
negotiations," he said. -
Mr. Clinton also praised
the recent Israeli actions in-
tended to create goodwill at
the negotiating table and
urged the Arabs to drop
their "illegal boycott."
In his talk, Mr. Bush re-
ferred to his administra-
tion's leadership in the
repeal of the United Nations
"Zionism as racism" resolu-
tion, and his efforts in lib-
erating Jews in the former
Soviet Union and Ethiopia.
He also directly attacked
his opponent for his

Bush noted his
support for Russian
and Ethiopian
Jewish emigration
to Israel.

lukewarm support for the
war against Iraq's Saddam
Hussein, arguing that
without the massive U.S.
effort, "Israel's very sur-
vival would be at stake, and
we'd be talking about
whether there was any
chance to avoid nuclear Ar-
mageddon in the Middle
East."
The president did not,
however, mention his poli-
cies prior to the Persian Gulf
War when his administra-
tion helped build up the Ira-
qi arsenal that the U.S.-led
coalition found itself con-

Clinton: Strong economy helps Israel.

fronting in the conflict. Mr.
Bush contends that the tilt
toward Iraq was a well-
motivated but failed attempt
to moderate its behavior and
provide a counter-weight to
Iran.
The Clinton campaign lost
no time responding to the
President's remarks. Even
before the Democratic
challenger spoke, his office
released a statement calling
Mr. Bush's support for Israel
"another election year con-
version."
"Less than 60 days before
the election, George Bush is
trying to convince the
American Jewish Commun-
ity he's been on their side for
the last four years. It won't
sell. Since his election,
George Bush has been bully-
ing Israel and offending the
American Jewish commun-
ity."
Mr. Bush also announced
that he sent legislation to
Congress this week au-
thorizing the $10 billion in
loan guarantees. The guar-
antees were the principal
sticking point between the
president and Israel under
former Prime Minister Yit-
zhak Shamir, but the ad-
ministration pledged to back
them after new Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Rabin an-
nounced a partial freeze on
building new settlements in
the occupied territories.

Just days short of a year
after his calamitous news
conference blasting pro-
Israel forces seeking the
loan guarantees, the presi-
dent continued to insist that
he had not meant to hurt the
Jewish community, and he

Bush: Trust me, I'm a friend.

urged Israel's friends to
lobby Congress hard for ap-
proval of the authorizing
legislation.
"In the past, some remarks
of mine were misinter-
preted," he said. "Again, I
want to make it clear, I sup-
port, I endorse, I deeply
believe in the God-given
right of every American to
promote what they believe."

Mr. Bush indicated that
despite reports that the ad-
ministration will soon an-
nounce the sale of 72 ad-
vanced F-15 warplanes to
Saudi Arabia, a final deci-
sion has not yet been made.
Mr. Clinton has already en-
dorsed the sale, a position he
reiterated in his talk to
B'nai B'rith.
For his part, Mr. Clinton
stressed the need for a
strong U.S. economy, how he
was better prepared to
brighten the nation's dismal
financial picture, and how
an economically strong
America would be less
distracted and more able to
help Israel.
"Without a growing econ-
omy, without a strong,
stable middle class,
America's economic prob-
lems will always be a threat
to Israel's security," he said,
without elaborating.
Mr. Clinton also charged
that the stridently right-
wing tone of the recent
Republican National Con-
vention fostered intolerance
and hate crimes, a prime
concern of Jewish groups.
"I was deeply concerned
about the tone of the first
two days of the Republican
Convention, when it seemed

that they were more inter-
ested in dividing the Ameri-
can people . . . than in trying
to unite us in a common
effort to solve our problems,"
he said.
He indicated that he would
support new laws enhancing
penalties for crimes based on
racial, religious or ethnic
bigotry.
Jumping to the Bush ad-
ministration's controversial
Supreme Court appoint-
ments, Mr. Clinton called for
a high court "that will
respect our Constitution,
respect a woman's right to
choose and that . . . will free
us from the need for con-
gregational legislation to
overturn ill-advised deci-
sions."
In response to a question,
Mr. Bush indicated that he
does not believe the church-
state wall has been eroded
by his administration.

"I believe firmly, and I've
said it over and over again,
in the separation of church
and state," he said. "Where
you get into some complica-
tions is when you get into
school choice. I happen to
favor it."
Mr. Bush's proposal for a
choice program that would
allow parents to use
government vouchers in pri-
vate and parochial schools
has drawn criticism from
many Jewish groups, which
argue that it would open the
door to more direct federal
aid to parochial institutions.
The Democratic challenger
picked up on that theme and
suggested that choice pro-
grams be confined to public
schools only. U

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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