This Week

Washington Watch

Capitol Notes

Protecting Israeli trade, flag-waving, and a
warning from Albright.

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THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

7-4

JAMES D. BESSER

Flag-Waving

Washington Correspondent

Vice President Al Gore used his
appearance before the annual meeting
of the Anti-Defamation League here
to get in some digs against his oppo-
nent in the presidential contest, Texas
Gov. George W. Bush, on the issue of
the confederate flag.
"When the Confederate flag flies
over a state capitol it should concern
us all," Gore told the ADL delegates,
referring to the GOP candidate's insis-
tence that it's up to the people of
South Carolina to decide whether to
continue flying the controversial sym-
bol over its statehouse. "This is not
complicated. We know it is wrong not
only to support it, but to find it
impossible to summon the moral
courage to speak out about it."

n today's burgeoning global
economy, every new trade agree-
ment has the potential to affect
old pacts — a fact that sent
pro-Israel lobbyists into overdrive in
recent weeks.
At issue is a trade bill to benefit
poor Caribbean Basin and African
countries. The agreement could
adversely affect the U.S.-Israel Free
Trade Area Agreement, and in particu-
lar Israeli manufacturers who make
yarn used for pantyhose.
Members of a House-Senate confer-
ence committee who were hammering
out a final version of the big trade bill
somehow omitted promised language
that would protect Israeli manufacturers.
"I thought it was in the conference
report, but I woke one morning and
found it wasn't," said Rep. Ben Cardin
(D-Md.), acclaimed by pro-Israel lob-
byists as last week's hero.
The lawmaker said than more was
at stake than just the competitive dis-
advantages Israeli manufacturers
would face in producing a product for
the U.S. market. Failing to protect the
integrity of the U.S.-Israel trade pact
"would serve as precedent that the
agreement is subservient to other
agreements, which it shouldn't be,"
Cardin said.
Cardin, aided by Rep. Charles Rangel
(D-NY), Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY)
and Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.),
engaged in some "very heavy lobbying"
and won a last-minute change spelling
out Israel's protection under the act. The
Senate was expected to accept that lan-
guage this week or next.
The U.S-Israel Free Trade Area
Agreement, signed in 1985, was the
first in a series of U.S. pacts with
international trading partners. It was
designed to eliminate all duties on
trade between the two allies; since it
was signed, U.S.-Israeli bilateral trade
has gone up fourfold.
Despite a number of major trade
agreements since then, "the U.S.-
Israeli agreement is special," Cardin
said. "We wanted to make sure it
stayed that way."

Albright Warning

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
had been scheduled to appear at last
year's American Jewish Committee con-
vention, but the war in Kosovo kept her
away. She made up for her absence at
the big AJC dinner last week at Union
Station, praising the group for its
`unwavering and visible support" for the
U.S. effort in Kosovo last year, and for
its efforts to monitor and counter anti-
Semitism around the world.
Albright also used the speech to
send a warning to the government of
Iran about the 13 Jews currently being
tried on charges of spying for Israel.
"Governments from around the
world are right in telling officials in
Iran that what happens in the trial of
the 13 Jews will have repercussions
everywhere, and that if you want to
earn international respect, the way to
begin is by respecting the dignity of
your own citizens," she told the group.

Restitution

Jewish activists are quietly working on
legislation to make sure reparations
and restitution payments to Holocaust
survivors don't end up in the coffers of
the Internal Revenue Service.
There's widespread support on
Capitol Hill for the idea — but not a
lot of time to get things through the
shortened, election-year Congress.

