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Washington Watch
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ZOA Blasted
On Jordan Aid
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
T
he Zionist Organization of
America, known for its
rapid-fire, aggressive style of
political action, has been
rebuked by the leading pro-Israel lobby
group for turning its sights on Jordan.
ZOA recently engaged in a "gratu-
itous attack on Jordan's eligibility for
U.S. assistance," according to Lonnie
/
Kaplan, president of the American-
Israel Public Affairs Committee, and
executive director Howard Kohn
In an unusually stinging letter to
ZOA President Morton Klein, the
AIPAC officials charged that ZOA
actions have been "damaging not only
to Jordan itself, but also to important
American
and Israeli interests."
\___ ,
The rebuke was triggered by a ZOA
,-
campaign to force Jordan to extradite
Abu Daoud, the confessed master-
mind of the 1972 massacre of Israeli
athletes at the Munich Olympics.
Last month, ZOA promoted a
House letter urging President Bill
Clinton to pressure Jordan to hand
over Daoud and warning that aid
> "could be adversely affected" if
Amman didn't comply.
But the Jordanians denied Daoud
was in their country; pro-Israel lobby-
ists said that even if he had been, pub-
lic attacks on Jordan do not serve
Israel's interests.
Klein, who as ZOA president
serves on AIPAC's executive board,
fired back this week. In an interview,
(-' he said that the charge that ZOA
didn't check Daoud's whereabouts
was "completely erroneous; it shows
their careless disregard for the facts.
During the entire time we were talk-
ing about Abu Daoud, there were
numerous 'news reports citing that
he was in Jordan."
In a letter to House Speaker Dennis
,---lastert (R-Ill.), Jordanian ambassador
'-Hastert
Marwan Muasher — a popular figure
among pro-Israel activists — said that
if Daoud did enter, "he will be
detained and brought under the full
extent of the law.
On Tuesday, Klein said the AIPAC
president had apologized for the
strong tone of the letter.
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Not so, an AIPAC spokesman said.
"We apologized for the letter becom-
ing public, which was unintentional,"
he said. Asked if Kaplan apologized
for the letter's content or tone, the
spokesman said, "absolutely not."
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Jordan Aid Clears
Despite the ruckus over Jordan aid,
something the pro-Israel community
generally favors, all seems clear for the
money to go to the Mideast kingdom.
The House passed a foreign aid bill
Tuesday, which included Jordan's regu-
lar $200 million aid request, plus an
extra $100 million. The extra aid was
promised as part of last year's Wye
Agreement negotiations — the only
part of the Wye supplemental aid
approved so far.
Israel, the largest recipient of U.S.
foreign aid, received $2.88 billion.
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Boost For Christian Coalition
In June, the Christian Coalition —
the tottering political powerhouse cre-
ated by the televangelist Rev. Pat
Robertson — took it on the chin
when the Internal Revenue Service
denied its application for tax-free sta-
tus because of what were deemed its
partisan activities.
However, this week the group got a
big boost in another critical case. The
Federal Election Commission ruled
that the Christian Coalition's contro-
versial voters' guides — which critics
say put a Christian imprimatur on
partisan Republican politics — do not
violate federal election law.
That frees the group to distribute
more than 70 million voters' guides in
churches around the country as the
2000 election cycle begins.
Jewish groups that oppose the con-
servative group on a host of issues
were disappointed with a ruling that
they said can only boost its political
clout.
But, ironically, some Jewish politi-
cal groups will benefit. Organizations
such as the National Jewish
Democratic Council and the
Republican Jewish Coalition will be
able to strike a more partisan note in
their own voters' guides without run-
ning afoul of federal authorities. P1
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Detroit Jewish News
8/6
21