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LDM

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Dry Bones

AN ISRAELI UNITY
GOVT Is BEING BUILT
TO AVOID AN
ELECTION

Undivided Loyalty

AIPAC. The Post said he told AIPAC
officials that Israeli operatives in
northern Iraq might be in jeopardy,
and they relayed that information to
the Israeli embassy.
Franklin may have been out of line
t is one of the oldest charges brought against Jews, at the first meeting, and the AIPAC
that they are not loyal to the country they live. It officials seem to have erred in giving
has been around in the Western world for 600 the information to the embassy. But
years or so, flourishing as the idea of nationalism the errors are lightweight compared
to the real problem of fighting ter-
replaced the allegiance to the Catholic Church as the
rorism that should be the FBI focus.
dominant force in Europe.
The initial transfer of information in
But it seemed to be different in America. While not
2003 might have been worthy of a
part of the Christian religious majority and despite the
rebuke, even a public one, but it is
fling with socialism, Jews were rarely deemed to have a
hardly the stuff that justi-
primary allegiance to some other nation or
fies an entrapment tactic. It
cause.
might have been dumb,
And that is why it is so distressing to realize
but it wasn't Jonathan Pollard hand-
the loyalty question is an underlying motif in an FBI
ing off military secrets about what
investigation of the American Israel Public Affairs
radio frequencies the Navy uses for
Committee, the powerful lobbying agency. Even if the
its nuclear submarine fleet.
investigation does not result in formal charges — and
The fallout for AIPAC could be
it seems likely not to — Jewish leaders fear it could
very damaging to an institution that
lead to demand that AIPAC be forced to register as a
over the last 50 years has worked
"foreign agent," as if it were the representative of Israel
hard to give Congress credible infor-
instead of the voice to Congress of the American
mation about how American Jews
Jewish community.
feel on policy issues affecting this
For openers, the immediate facts hardly seem suffi-
country's relationship with the Jewish
cient cause for a criminal inquiry.
state. While AIPAC positions have
A defense department official, Larry Franklin, told
generally mirrored those of the Israeli
two AIPAC aides in June 2003 that the Pentagon
government, it has also taken stands
might be developing a plan to destabilize Iran and pre-
in opposition to the Israeli government, very notably
vent its further work on nuclear weapons. He appar-
in 1982 when its director endorsed Ronald Reagan's
ently didn't give them any documents, and the plan
peace plan. More often, the organization serves as a
itself had only the lowest level of secrecy classification.
moderating force, counseling Congress on what it
A year later, however, according to a Jerusalem Post
believes would be best for America and for Israel.
report, the FBI was squeezing Franklin about another
Ninety years ago, Louis Brandeis pointed out that
leak and forced him into a sting operation against

"The work that AIPAC does is a vital part of our demo-
cratic process. You speak out boldly and that's good for
America, its good for Israel and good for the cause of peace
and justice in the world"
— President George W Bush

THE PA IS
PLANNING TO
"STAGE" AN
ELECTION

I

EDITORIAL

Get Over Yourself

O

ne of the dangers of writing a column is that
you start taking yourself seriously and turn into
a common scold. Which is a polite alternative
for the word describing an anatomical cavity.
I'm as guilty of it as anyone. So when Judy Hayes,
the nurse at my doctor's office, told me, "I read your
last column and didn't understand a word of it," I had
to laugh. What else could I do? I never argue with a
woman who has a needle in her hand.
But all columnists need to get slapped down once in
a while.
Several friends pointed out to me that I was severely
chastised in a letter to the editor in this very paper a
few weeks ago. I told them that was great. If I were
writing columns everyone agreed with, I'd be best
advised to get into another line of work.
When I was a columnist at the Detroit News, I was
called far worse. The only thing that bothered me was
that it was by the publisher.
Even my mother, wife and brother vigorously dis-
agreed with most of the columns I wrote about the last
election. I thought that presenting me with a check at

George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor@thejewisimews.com

AND TERRORISTS ARE
KILLING ELECTION
OFFICIALS IN IRAQ !

www.mrdrybones.com

Zionist interests serve American interests and that is
even truer now, with Israel as the model for the kind of
liberal democracy that America wants to encourage in
the Middle East. It would be tragic if Jewish
Americans and the institutions that represent them
come to be labeled as "foreign agents." ❑

they employed. The Republicans' fondest
a Thanksgiving dinner was a bit mean spirited,
hope is that they keep on snarling.
but, hey ... go figure family.
It isn't only the pundits on the left who turn
At the recent opening of his presidential
into self-important blowhards. Ann Coulter,
library Bill Clinton made an excellent speech,
Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh consistently
urging reconciliation between the two parties,
confuse vituperation for wit and ego for
the red and the blue states. It reminded me
stature.
again why he was such a popular president.
What really made liberal commentators
On that same day, New York Times columnist
crazy,
though, were the nominations of Rice
Maureen Dowd ran yet another outburst at
GEO RGE
and
of
Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.
President Bush and his appointment of
CAN TOR
This
is
totally unacceptable. They are minori-
Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.
Re. ality
ties
who
have the gall to be conservative. How
In the space of a few inches, she referred to
Ch eck
dare they?
Bush's appointees as "toadies" and "lackeys,"
One radio talk show host in Madison, Wis.,
called Vice President Dick Cheney "a crusted nut
called
Rice
an 'Aunt Jemima." This brilliant woman,
bar," accused outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft
who came from a segregated background to become an
of "frying criminals and torturing prisoners" and
adviser to presidents was dismissed as a "hack politi-
referred to neo-conservatives as "crazies."
cian."
Somehow, I don't think this was quite what Clinton
Gee, if I didn't know for a fact that it is impossible
had in mind.
for liberals to be racist, I'd almost swear that's what this
When she started writing, I thought Dowd was the
was.
wittiest, sassiest, freshest columnist going. Why did she
But that is what sells these days, and the nastier the
settle for shrill?
better.
Reasoned is out, venomous is in. It makes me
But the election seems to have driven many com-
yearn to hear the measured tones of local radio talk
mentators and show biz luminaries right around the
host David Newman again.
bend. They don't seem to grasp the fact that a good
Ah, well. Maybe I should have followed my dream
deal of the credit for Bush's victory goes to them and
and become a lounge singer after all. ❑
public revulsion at the nasty rhetoric and hyperbole

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