Washington Watch

Political Access

White House introductions; Latino-Jewish ties;
God, politics and Joe.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

View Spring
2001 Co llection

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I is a veritable diversity festival at
the White House this week.
The Jews were due to get their
turn with President George W.
Bush and his top advisors on
Wednesday afternoon.
Surprisingly, the first session at the
Bush White House,_described as a "get
acquainted" session, was called to
focus on domestic issues, not the
explosive situation in the Middle East.
But first, Bush met with leaders of a
community that —unlike the Jews --
turned out in force for the GOP ticket
in November.
On Monday, a group of 30 Islamic
leaders were feted at the White House;
according to Islamic Institute director
Khaled Saffuri, one purpose was to
"thank the community for its support
during the 2000 presidential cam-
paign." The session also marked the
Islamic holiday of Eid-ul-Adha, or the
Feast of the Sacrifice.
The delegation discussed issues such
as secret evidence, racial profiling that
targets people of Middle Eastern ori-
gin and U.S. Mideast policy.'
Some Jewish officials said they
would use the meeting to express their
concerns about Bush's faith-based ini-
tiatives — although the Orthodox
Union, which supports the President's
plan, was invited.
Most major Jewish groups involved
in domestic affairs were on the guest
list, including the American Jewish
Congress, the American Jewish
Committee, the Orthodox Union, the
United Jewish Communities, B'nai
B'rith and the Anti-Defamation
League.
Other major groups, including all
the Jewish women's groups, the Jewish
Council for Public Affairs and the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, were excluded. The
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel
lobby giant, was not on the list,
reflecting the overwhelmingly domes-
tic focus of the meeting.

Latino-Jewish Ties

American Jews and Hispanics have a
lot in common. But forging political

3/9

2001

20

and social alliances between the groups
will take work by leaders in both com-
munities.
That was the bottom line at a
groundbreaking conference this week
sponsored by B'nai B'rith, the New
American Alliance, the Foundation for
Ethnic Understanding and the
National Association of Latino Elected
and Appointed Officials.
"Even though there have been rela-
tions between Jewish and Latino
groups for a long time, this is the first
time the communities have met at the
national level," said Dina Siegel-Vann,
B'nai B'rith's Latin American Affairs
director. "In the past our communities
have worked together on an ad-hoc
basis; the goal this week is to start cre-
ating permanent, systematic relations."
That relationship is particularly
important because "the Latino corn-
munity is becoming increasingly influ-
ential, as well as more numerous —
and because it shares a number of core
values with the Jewish community,"
she said. And 450,000 Jews scattered
throughout Latin America and up to
100,000 Latino Jews in this country
provide another link between the corn-
munities, she said.
Participants agreed to work together
on a-number of issues, ranging from
education to support for each other's
special foreign policy interests —
Israel for the Jews, Latin America for
the Latinos.

God, Politics And Joe

The next presidential election is still
more than three years away, but Sen.
Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) may already
be laying the groundwork for what a
prominent political scientist called a
"new electoral coalition."
And he's making it clear that part of
the mix will be his blend of faith and
politics, which played well with main-
stream America, but upset some
• Jewish groups.
That was the underlying message in
a speech last week to the Pew Forum,
a group that probes religion in poli-
tics.
"When Al Gore broke a barrier by
asking me to be his running mate, the
fact of my faith seemed happily to be
cause for celebration," he said. "But
once I opened my mouth and actually