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ressure is mounting on
House Minority Leader
Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.)
to withdraw his nomination
of the president of the Muslim Public
Affairs Council (MPAC) to the gov-
ernment's Commission on Terrorism.
According to the Zionist
Organization of America, which is
spearheadina a major campaign on the
issue, Salam b Al- Marayati is an
extremist" who has "justified future
terrorism against America."
But in a phone interview, al-
Marayati dismissed the campaign
against him as the product of a "fringe
group," and expressed concern that
the flap would impede his group's
active dialogue efforts with Jewish
organizations.
He said that he and his group
"regard terrorism as a social disease
that has to be eradicated. But we have
to explore its causes even while we
bring the perpetrators to justice. There
is no justification for terrorism."
And he said he strongly favors the
Mideast peace process.
"We are in support of any initiative
that would bring peace to the Middle
East and allow Israel and the
Palestinians to live side by side in
mutual understanding."
Gephardt, whose office did not
return calls seeking comment, has
reportedly made the appointment at
the request of Rep. David Bonior (D-
Mich.), who has often been at odds
with pro-Israel groups. There are also
reports he will simply let the appoint-
ment languish until the commission
finishes its work in six months.
ZOA President Morton Klein, in
a statement, said "there is a disturb-
ing and dangerous pattern here —
under the Clinton-Gore administra-
tion individuals who are overtly
antagonistic towards Israel have
been appointed to government posi-
tions, organizations that have
praised Arab terrorist groups have
been hosted at the White House,
and now an individual who justifies
Arab terrorism and accuses America
of being the real terrorists has been
appointed to a U.S. government
commission that deals with terror-
ism-related issues."
As an example, Klein cited a 1997
comment by Marayati in which he
said the MPAC leader justified a
Hamas bombing in Tel Aviv. A ZOA
press release quoted Marayati as blam-
ing former Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu for the killings, and claim-
ing that "because the Palestinian peo-
ple have no avenues to redress their
grievances, some of them have been
pushed beyond the margins of society
and have adopted violent reactions to
express their despair and suffering."
Other voices in the Jewish commu-
nity say that al-Marayati has been a
force for moderation within the
American Islamic community — but
that his appointment to the terror
panel may still be inappropriate
because of his failure to unequivocally
condemn violence by groups such as
Hamas and Hezbollah.
Al-Marayati has "not taken the mini-
mal step of unequivocally denouncing
terrorism and praising the peace process
that one would expect for a nominee to
this panel," said Stacy Burdett, assistant
director of the Anti-Defamation
League's Washington office.
z
Cut With A Twist
1(
Last week, Israeli newspapers cried
over what they said was an unexpect-
ed cut in Israel's big U.S. aid allot-
ment when the Senate passed its for-
eign aid bill.
The facts were somewhat different:
the Senate actually rejected an_admin-
istration request for a bigger cut than
the one mandated by the plan to grad-
ually decrease Israel's economic aid
over 10 years — a plan proposed by
Israel and accepted by both govern-
ments.
The administration, as part of its
budget request, had argued that an
extra $30 million cut was needed
because of a particularly tight overall
budget. But pro-Israel activists said the
administration was simply miffed over
the way Israel and Congress had
worked together on the aid-reduction
formula.
Apparently the Senate agreed; with
strong backing from Sen. Mitch
McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), it restored the $30
million. ❑