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Know Thy Enemy?
S
ure it's cynical, but the announcement last
week that the*American Jewish Congress will
host a Sept. 17 forum for Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf to address American Jewish leaders
brings the question to mind: Who's playing whom?
But let's look at it positively first. We have often
asked Muslim and Arab leaders to take public and
very visible steps to normalize relations with Jews
and with Israel. Usually, we are told there is too
much risk because the "street" would rise up and
overthrow them. Or the time is not yet ripe.
But here we have Musharraf, whose country is
vehemently antagonistic toward Jews and Israel, tak-
ing that step. While not worried the Jewish "street"
will rise up against the American Jewish
Congress, we question whether this is the
right time for American Jewish groups to
be providing a forum for Musharraf and
what . is hoped to be gained by it.
Should there be some kind of litmus test for those
who want to appear before a major Jewish audience
or is the fact that they will speak with us in search of
creating a dialogue sufficient? Admittedly, Musharraf
has taken a step toward us, but it wasn't we that had
a problem with Pakistan in the first place.
Pakistan is no friend of Israel or the Jewish people
in the diplomatic arena or in any other way; in fact,
mainstream Pakistani political parties, generals (of
which Musharraf was one before he came to power
in a 1999 coup) and religious leaders encourage
and plan for a holy war to wipe Israel out. Add to
that an abysmal human rights record and that
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-
Defamation League, told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency that Pakistan is a center of anti-Semitic and
anti-Israel propaganda and it has turned a "blind
eye when it comes to terrorism against Israel,
Jews."
Musharraf's theory of "enlightened moderation,"
as outlined by the JTA, urges the West to resolve
all political disputes justly and with an eye toward
the economic betterment of the Muslim world. It
calls on Muslims to shun violence and extremism
in favor "socioeconomic uplift." But why should
we honor with an audience the leader of a country
with no ties to Israel?
Pakistan has a lot of reason to want to
reach out to American Jews. It wouldn't
be the first time that groups or nations
have seen us as a way to improve rela-
tions with the United States. Some of this might is
driven by the anti-Semitic belief that Jews control
the news media, the government and international
institutions; but it also is the type of power and
influence we like to boast about.
Then, of course, there is Pakistan's not-so-little
concern that Israel might sell high-tech military
equipment to its nuclear rival India. But does Israel
have to pay a quid-pro-quo to Pakistan so American
Jewish leaders can applaud and take photos?
In a few weeks time, we will know what it is
Musharraf has to say, and whether it will have any
positive impact in the Muslim world. It will take
longer to determine if his speech is part of some-
thing larger or just a blip on the screen.
Dry Bones DTIENGIVEZ
THEN, THE LOIN 1
CLASH OF THE
EXTREMISTS
EDIT ORIAL
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Vienna's Legacy
I
have just finished re-reading a book that has
haunted me for 25 years; A Nervous Splendor:
Vienna 1888/1889, by Frederic Morton.
It is a portrait of the city in the months leading
up to the murder-suicide of the Hapsburg crown
prince, Rudolf, and his teenaged mistress,
Mary Vetsera, in the royal hunting lodge at
Mayerling.
Morton places this romantic event, cele-
brated in fiction and movies, in its historic
context, amid the empty pomp of a city that feared
it was drifting into irrelevance.
His grandfather, Bernhard Mandlebaum,
opened a costume jewelry factory in Vienna dur-
ing this time, and it always held a fascination for
Morton. It was then a city filled with major
Jewish historical figures.
Composer Gustav Mahler. Writer Arthur
Schnitzler. Dr. Sigmund Freud. The celebrated
music critic Eduard Hanslick.
And, of course, a young journalist and aspiring
9/1
2005
70
We hope providing a Jewish forum for Musharraf
is being done not just because we can do it, or
because of inter-communal Jewish politics, but
because there is some well-thought-out reason. If
you don't expect to gain anything, then gambling is
just throwing your money, or political capital, down
the global drain. ❑
playwright, Theodor Herzl.
Zionist dream. If ever a human being expe-
Rudolf was known to be friendly towards
rienced an epiphany, an awakening to his
the Jewish community. He went so far as to
own identity, it was Herzl.
write anonymous articles for the Wiener
But even in his beloved Vienna, the
Tagblatt, which was owned by a Hungarian
notorious anti-Semitic political leader, Karl
Jew, Moritz Szeps.
Lueger, was starting his rise toward mayor.
But it was the portrait of Herzl at this part
His statue still graces one of the city's
of his life that intrigued me. Here was a
parks.
young dandy about town, earnestly seeking
Lueger's tactics were studied closely by
GEO RGE
assimilation, unconcerned with the
the young Adolf Hitler, who lived in
CAN TOR
persecution of fellow Jews in Russia
Vienna during his tenure as mayor. The
Colu minst
and elsewhere.
book closes, in fact, with the birth of the
On a visit to Germany, he was
Nazi leader in April 1889; a token of the
taunted by local toughs with the cry of "Hep, Hep,"
horrors to come in the next century.
the centuries-old sneer of Teutonic anti-Semites. In
I don't know if I agree that Rudolf's death was
Vienna, however, he experienced little of that, and
quite the history-changing event that Morton makes
on his travels, he was, in fact, highly critical of Jews
it out to be. The fractures that led to World War I,
he encountered. Letters to his parents were filled
the pivotal event of the 20th Century, were too
with nasty snippets cited by Morton.
wide for any individual to have overcome.
"Some 30 or 40 ugly Jews at a grand soiree at
The war brought Hitler, Lenin and Mussolini to
Treitel's (in Berlin). Hardly a consoling sight." And
power. It shattered the Ottoman Empire and out of
from the fashionable beach resort of Ostend, in
its ruins created artificial nations, such as Iraq. But
Belgium: "Although there are many Budapest and
it also resulted in the Balfour Declaration, the first
Viennese Jews here, the rest of the vacationing pop-
step in the realization of Herzl's dream.
ulation is pleasant."
The past, as William Faulkner wrote, is not dead.
Not quite what you'd expect from the man who
It isn't even past. So it is with the Vienna of this .
would become, within a decade, the keeper of the
book. ❑
REA LITY
CH ICE
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com.
www.drybonesproject.com