1994 MODEL CLOSEOUT
•
The Great Purge
of 1994
JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
p
SC300 2 Door
Coupe
WE MUST MOVE OUR '94's
'95's COMING IN
LEXUS OF LANSING
The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection
For a personal showing:
Call 1-800-539-8748 OR 1-800-LEXUS-4-U
Exit 104 off 1-96 • 5709 S. Pennsylvania, Lansing • 517/394-8000 (CALL COLLECT)
• 36 month closed end lease. $3,000 down. 12,000 miles allowed, 15t per mile overage.
The
Julius
Chajes
Concert
Series
1994-95
presents
Zvi Plesser
"Within five minutes of the first move-
ment, Plesser proved equal to the task
of soloist . . . Plesser drew out the
poetry with delicate definition."
— The Washington Post
r SEASON TICKETS STILL
L
AVAILABLE
General Admission: $10.00
Senior/Student $8.00
Call 967-4030 for more information
and reservations.
Zvi Plesser, cellist
Robert Kulek, piano
Performing the music of Beethoven,
Schumann, DeFalla and Shostakovich
Sunday, November 20
4:00 p.m.
The concert will be performed at the
Jewish Community Center
fmimy Prentis Morris Building
15110 West Ten Nfile Road
Oak Park, MI
This concert funded in part by:
the Irwin and Sadie Cohn Fund, the Boaz Siegal Culture Fund and Co-sponsored by The Jewish News.
Next time you feed your face, think about your heart.
Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated
fat and cholesterol. The change'II do you good.
V American Heart Association
olitics and government are
more than just mathemat-
ics: The numbers that add
up on election day produce
far-reaching consequences that
often take years to measure. That
will be particularly true as the
political earthquake of 1994 —
and the unexpectedly deep fault
lines that created it — begin to
shake American domestic and
foreign policy. For the Jewish
community, there was ominous
news in both areas.
In the realm of foreign policy,
last week's upheaval can be
summed up in one word: Helms.
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., that
is, a master of parliamentary ma-
neuver. The senator already is
making noises about how he
plans to handle his new job as
chair of the Foreign Relations
Committee. Mr. Helms, a fierce
opponent of foreign aid, expects
to force sweeping cuts in Ameri-
can assistance — and, particu-
larly, in this country's
commitment to reinforce the Mid-
dle East peace process with fi-
nancial help.
But the change will go beyond
simple slash-and-burn budget-
ing. It is no secret that Mr. Helms
and other conservative legisla-
tors are not happy about Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's
land-for-peace policies. Cutting
American aid to the new Pales-
tinian autonomy area is a way of
undermining that process. So is
signaling that new assistance to
Israel will not be forthcoming to
help that country maintain its se-
curity after any additional land-
for-peace deals.
The Republican sweep provid-
ed instant momentum to the ef-
fort to prevent using American
troops as monitors of a Syrian-Is-
raeli deal, a key component of Mr.
Rabin's strategy for reassuring
nervous Israelis that relinquish-
ing the Golan Heights will not
compromise their country's se-
curity.
The newly minted Congress
may also be inclined to use legis-
lation to hold Yassir Arafat's feet
to the fire, something the ad-
ministration prevented in the last
Congress because of Israeli con-
cerns that it would jeopardize the
experiment in Palestinian self-
rule. And a badly crippled ad-
ministration may invest less time
and energy in complex negotia-
tions that are unlikely to pay po-
litical dividends in 1996.
The election also confirmed a
message that George Bush
learned the hard way two years
ago: In the isolationist 1990s,
WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
even foreign policy triumphs don't
score points with voters. In the
short term, the Rabin govern-
ment will need to prepare for a
possible cooling of American ef-
forts to mediate the Syrian-Israel
talks as the Clinton White House
adjusts to its radically narrowed
horizons. And since the chances
plummeted last week that Amer-
ican troops will help guarantee
the peace if Israel withdraws
from the Golan, the Rabin gov-
ernment will have to change its
political and diplomatic calcula-
tions accordingly.
Yet, there are several potential
bright spots for pro-Israel groups.
President Clinton's nascent efforts
to fight state-sponsored terrorism
may be one area where he can find
some common ground with the
new congressional foreign policy
elite. And although American
world leadership will not be a pop-
ular concept in the 104th Con-
gress, many Republican leaders
do see a need for more American
leadership in the anti-terror fight.
In the isolationist
1990s, foreign policy
triumphs don't score
points with voters.
Also, the Republican takeover
will mean more money for the
American military. This could
help ensure that Israel gets the
advanced weapons systems it will
need to guarantee any peace.
But overall for the Rabin gov-
ernment and its supporters in
this country, last week's midterm
elections represent an ominous
development in the high-stakes
peace process.
Domestically, the changes for
the Jewish community will be
just as profound. Despite the con-
tinuing pleas of Jewish Repub-
licans, the Jewish community
remains largely committed to the
kinds of activist government pro-
grams that the voters resound-
ingly rejected last week.
Jewish groups continue to be-
lieve in strong federal interven-
tion to protect the rights of
minorities. But with Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill., running the House
and Senate Judiciary commit-
tees, Congress will now be a ma-
jor obstacle to such intervention.
The workplace religious free-
dom act, introduced in the last
days of the 103rd Congress to
protect the on-the-job rights of
Sabbath observers and other re-
ligious people, will be harder to