SPECIAL COMMENTARY

A Beacon For Xenophobics?

cism and Nazism up close. We never
had death camps on our soil. We were
he Atlantic Ocean seemed
never occupied. It's all foreign to us.
to yawn wider this week
Besides, most of us scarcely com-
than it has in years.
prehend
Europe's system of propor-
Europe was in turmoil,
tional
elections,
with its legions of
haunted by the specter of a radical
small
ideological
parties holding big-
right rising to power in Austria,
ger parties hostage. Where we live,
Hitler's birthplace. Americans
winning takes 51 percent,
watched sympathetically.
and loonies finish last. We
Austria last week became
couldn't imagine a xenopho-
the first Western democracy
bic, anti-immigrant right-
since World War II to bring
winger
as a partner in an
a far-right party into its
American
government. At
government, when Jorg
most,
maybe
chairman of
Haider's Freedom Party was
the Senate Foreign Rela-
sworn in as junior coalition
tions Committee.
partner to the conservative
And so we watched with
People's Party. Haider's
concern
as our allies raged
party originated as a post-
J.J. GO LDBERG
and Vienna rioted. A few
war coven of ex-Nazi sym-
Spec ial to
politicians and Jewish orga-
pathizers, and it's not clear
the Jew ish News
nizations issued statements
how far it's come. Austria's
'condemning Haider's
president and chancellor say
extremist views. Our newspapers ran
it has become mainstream under
-the crisis on Page One for a day or
Haider, abandoning onetime racist,
two before pushing it inside.
pro-Nazi views. But the 15-nation
Then we returned to our own
European Union isn't buying. The
affairs, which, in this case, meant
union this week slapped fellow-
watching our Republican presiden-
member Austria with punitive sanc-
tial candidates prepare for the piv-
tions unprecedented in postwar
otal South Carolina primary. It takes
intra-Europe relations.
place Feb. 19 in the shadow of the
In truth, all this sturm and drang
Confederate battle flag, which flies
left Americans a tad bewildered. We've
proudly over the South Carolina
never experienced the traumas of fas-
statehouse and has become some-
thing of a silent issue in the primary,
J.J. Goldberg is a national Jewish
columnist and author of "Jewish Power" putting candidates in the awkward
position of having to endorse the
He can be reached via e-mail at
flag of slavery or risk offending
jjg@compuserve.com

New York

T

Republican voters. Each to his own
war-crime denials, you might say.
There's much that's disorienting
about the Austrian crisis, and not
just their electoral system. For one
thing, there's that European quaran-
tine, imposed on Austria after
Haider's party was sworn in Feb. 5.
Many observers call it a historic dis-
play of unity and moral backbone by
a European community seldom
known for either. More remarkable,
some Europeans make it a point to
say they're following Israel's lead.
When was the last time that hap-
pened?
"I'm pleasantly stunned by the
moral backbone the European Union
has demonstrated," says American
Jewish Committee executive vice pres-
ident David Harris. "It doesn't happen
all that often."
To be sure, there's self-interest
involved. European leaders are desper-
ate to ensure that Haider's success
doesn't become a beacon to other
European rightists who share his xeno-
phobic platform, like Germany's
Republicans or Jean-Marie LePen's
National Front in France. Ostracizing
little Austria, population 8 million, is
one way to draw a line in the sand,
says Andrei Markovits, professor of
politics and German studies at the
University of Michigan. "Now, if
something like this should happen
down the line in a country that mat-
ters, like Germany or France, a prece-
dent has been set."

Not everyone supports the boycott,
though. Chris Patten, European
Union external affairs commissioner
and former governor of Hong Kong,
warned this week that ostracism could
strengthen the extremists "by making
their xenophobia look as though it's
justified." And the British newsweekly
The Economist warned that the Euro-
pean Union was stumbling "into the
treacherous realm of morality." The
editors wondered who might be the
next target.
Even the American Jewish com-
munity, which ought to see things
clearly, was unsure how to respond.
Two of the community's most
important spokesmen were split,
with AJC'S Harris endorsing the
sanctions and Anti-Defamation
League national director Abe Fox-
man opposing them.
Foxman worries that ostracizing
Austria could drive the 70 percent
who voted against Haider to rally
around him out of spite. That's what
happened in 1986, when United
Nations 'Secretary-General Kurt Wald-
heim was revealed to have hidden a
Wehrmacht war record. Worldwide
protests ensued. Austria responded by
electing Waldheim president.
"We should have learned something
from the Waldheim experience," Fox-
man says. "The Austrians have spent
50 years denying their past. There's a
lot of anger there now We have to be

the diplomatic and political conse-
quences if the Freedom Party is given
sanctuary in the governing coalition.
One would have hoped that at the
beginning of a new century, Austrian
leaders would launch an effort to
guide their country to finally con-
fronting their past. Austrian President
Klestil can lead the way by rejecting
the proposed coalition.
Sharona Shapiro
Michigan area director,
American Jewish Committee
Bloomfield Township

imply that nobody cares who wrote
the Bible.
Actually, the question is very dis-
turbing because the Torah, is not
some old book, crumbling with age.
It is the crystallized word of God,
the cornerstone of the Jewish faith.
Its antiquity testifies to its authen-
ticity. The Torah tells us it was writ-
ten by Moses (Exodus 19). If that is
not true — if the Torah is caught in
one prevarication — there is no
Judaism. All it takes is one misrepre-
sentation and the Torah loses credi-
bility. If one single concept, com-
mandment or teaching of the Torah
is wrong, there is no reason to keep
the Sabbath, observe the dietary laws
or circumcise our children. Every-
thing is lost; 4,500 years of Jewish
history, philosophy and religion are
flushed down the drain.

BEACON' on page 37

LETTERS

ors Spoke
heir Own

Editor's Note: This is with refer-
ence to the Feb. 4 letter to the
editor titled `Mew' Zionists
Aren't Helping" from Ezekiel
Leikin and Dr. Leon Warshay.
The linkage of this letter with the
Michigan Region/Zionist Organi-
zation of America was in error.
The views expressed in the letter
are strictly those of the writers.

Setback
In Austria

It is simply unconscionable that more
than 50 years after the Holocaust, an

2/11
2000

34

openly racist political party would be
invited to join the Austrian govern-
ment ("Austrian Crossroads," Feb. 4).
The rise of the Freedom Party,
whose leader Jorg Haider is antisemit-
ic and xenophobic, is deeply disturb-
ing, especially in a country that has
yet to fully come to terms with its
wartime past. Only in the past decade
has Austria finally begun to engage in
a measure of soul-searching and moral
and historical reckoning.
That Haider's party could win more
than a quarter of the national vote last
October was a serious setback for Aus-
trian society; and the likely prospect
that the party may be part of the next
government should be opposed by the
international community.
The other 14 European Union gov-
ernments have taken a laudable step in
issuing a stern warning to Austria of

Bible's Author
Not In Question

In Neil Rubin's column ("Who
Cares Who Wrote The Bible?", Jan.
28), the title question seems to

