LETTERS

LETTERS from page 37

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Confusion
About PACs

I understand the Jewish News ran an
article ("For The Record," Oct. 27,
page 14) attacking the record of Sen.
Spencer Abraham and quoting "the
National Political Action Committee"
as saying that Sen. Abraham "has one
of the worst voting records on Israel
of any U.S. senator." The article also
says that NatPAC is a "small pro-Israel
PAC run by Morris Amitay."
I am the founder and chairman of
the National PAC, called NatPAC for
short. Morris Amitay does not run
NatPAC and has never been involved
with NatPAC. I believe he runs a
PAC called the Washington PAC.
NatPAC is the largest pro-Israel
PAC and it contributed $5,000 to
Sen. Abraham's current campaign pre-
cisely because of his supportive record
on issues of interest to the Jewish
community, including those issues
that involved Israel.
Marvin Josephson

New York

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42

Know The Facts
About Abraham

In response to your article on Sen.
Spence Abraham's re-election bid
("For The Record," Oct. 27, page 14),
here are the facts:
• Norman D. Tilles, president of the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
(HIAS), wrote to Sen. Abraham " .. .
You have resisted the anti-immigra-
tion, the anti-refugee forces in our
country and we cannot thank you
enough."
• Sen. Carl Levin, in front of a
Detroit Jewish audience, praised
Abraham's work on Middle East
issues. Vice-presidential candidate Joe
Lieberman has said the same.
• Abe Rosenthal of the New York
Times called Abraham "a much-
admired advertisement for the State of
Michigan" for his courage in battling
anti-immigration forces.
What do these respected Jewish
voices know about Michigan's junior
senator?
• Sen. Abraham helped reverse the 40
percent decline in refugee admissions
to address anti-Semitism in the for-
mer Soviet Union.
• Sen. Abraham successfully fought to
secure special residency status for the
Swiss bank guard who exposed the
Swiss-Nazi gold connection.
• Sen. Abraham has repeatedly played

a key role behind the scenes on the
Senate Budget Committee in preserv-
ing Israel's foreign-aid package.
• Sen. Abraham was an early champi-
on of imposing tough sanctions on
Iran for its proliferation of terrorism
to Israel.
Sen. Edward Kennedy commended
Abraham for beating back an anti-
immigration wave, saying: "I think
Senator Abraham has played a very,
very important role in that, and I
think all of us who are concerned
about these issues are very, very grate-
ful for the very important and states-
manlike leadership."
This "statesmanlike leadership" is
the reason hate-mongers have excori-
ated Sen. Abraham in nearly $2 mil-
lion in anti-immigrant advertising in
Michigan. The Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit
described these ads against Sen. Abra-
ham as employing "the same type of
ugly rhetoric that stimulated ethnic
cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, and
was used by the Nazis throughout
Europe."
Almost every Jewish organization
in Michigan has come to Abraham's
defense.
Yet in the years Abraham has been
battling anti-immigrant forces, the
Jewish News has been virtually silent
on the subject.
Even more disturbing was the Jew-
ish News' decision against seeking veri-
fication or comment on a blatantly
false claim it printed last week — a
claim made by one of the supporters
of Rep. Debbie Stabenow [Abraham's
Democratic opponent] — that Nat-
PAC believes Abraham "has one of
the worst voting records on Israel."
A simple phone call or quick Inter-
net search would have shown that the
exact opposite is true: NatPAC
strongly supports Sen. Abraham's re-
election.
NatPAC contributed to his first
campaign in 1994 and doubled its
contribution this year. For the record,
NatPAC did not give a penny to Rep.
Stabenow in this race.
Nothing will please anti-immigrant
and anti-Semitic xenophobes more
than to see Sen. Abraham defeated in
the upcoming election. On which side
is the Jewish. News?

Dan Senor
former communications director
for Sen. Spencer Abraham,
Boston, Mass.

LETTERS on page 44

