January 1996, pg. 69

Jews and Israel

Most National Jewish Groups Support U.S. Deployment to Bosnia

With the exception of the Jewish War Veterans of America, most U.S. Jewish groups offered their support to President Bill Clinton's commitment to send 20,000 U.S. troops to enforce the peace agreement for Bosnia negotiated in Dayton Ohio and signed Nov. 15 in Paris. In their statements of support, most groups cited the parallel between the "ethnic cleansing" practiced by the Serbs in Bosnia and the racist policies of Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II.

"If we ever meant the words 'never again,' we need to back the president," said Hyman Bookbinder, former Washington representative of the American Jewish Committee who now serves as a founding member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council's Committee on Conscience. As Jews, we have a special responsibility and cannot be absent from this next chapter," Bookbinder said.

Mike Klein, spokesman for the National Jewish Democratic Council, said before the Dec. 13 votes on the issue in the Senate and House, "We believe that there will be strong support from the Jewish community for this initiative." He said the NJDC would call on congressional Democrats to support sending American troops.

Director Jason Isaacson of the American Jewish Committee's Washington office told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that use of American force to build a framework for peace "fits into the definition of the appropriate role of the United States.

However, strong dissent from the Jewish consensus in support of President Clinton's initiative was offered by Howard Metzger, national director for public relations for the Jewish War Veterans, who said the U.S. had not vital national interest in Bosnia.

—Nathan Jones

Shimon Peres Addresses 14,000 Supporters in New York

Major American-Jewish groups rented Madison Square Garden in New York City for a Dec. 10 rally to launch Shimon Peres' first visit to the United States since he succeeded assassinated Yitzhak Rabin as Israeli prime minister. The New York appearance was planned to strengthen Peres for his meetings in Washington, DC with President Bill Clinton, members of Congress and the national capital press corps. Because Congress in particular has been buffeted by conflicting lobbyists for Israel's Labor party government and the Likud opposition, mainstream U.S. Jewish organizations considered a major turnout to hear Peres an important indication that he has the support of a majority of American Jewry.

The Sunday morning event was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, the State of Israel Bonds and the World Jewish Congress. Also featured at the rally was Leah Rabin, widow of the assassinated prime minister.

Sponsors debated intensely over whether to make the rally an affirmation of the peace process, and risk a boycott by New York's huge Orthodox Jewish population, or turn it into a show of unity and support for Israel by also inviting speakers who support Likud and oppose any land-for-peace settlement.

The sponsors implored President Bill Clinton to attend, but he was unable to. Had he been able to attend, they felt, they could count on a full house and therefore could make the rally more partisan on behalf of peace.

In the end they tried to have it both ways by eliminating any references to "the peace process" in advertising the event, instead calling the rally a show of support for "the pursuit of peace." They invited Likud supporters to attend but not speak. The compromise angered Jewish activists at both ends of the political spectrum, but resulted in an estimated turnout of 14,000, including 40 members of Congress, who filled the Garden despite freezing cold, snarled traffic and tight security that resulted in long delays in seating the spectators.

Leah Rabin's remarks attracted the most attention. Although she said that "nothing could be more important in this time of Jewish crisis" than unity, her words also echoed the unforgiving theme she has struck ever since her husband's funeral. "We do not want to forget who killed and who was killed," she told the audience. She reminded her listeners that in the turbulent months prior to Rabin's death, "the voice of the silent majority was not heard."

The turning point, she said, was the Nov. 4 peace rally in Tel Aviv at which her husband was killed. "The state of Israel is crying, the world is crying," she said, "but friends, beyond all of the tears I see he bequeathed peace, he bequeathed solidarity, he bequeathed Jewish unity."

Peres paid tribute to his predecessor's courage in the face of fearsome opposition. He said that Rabin had walked through "streets of hatred, squares of chaos, avenues of accusation" in his pursuit of peace.

Israel's new prime minister drew heavy applause when he called for broadening the circle of peace to include Syria and Lebanon and for Jewish unity. "When you have two views, you don't have to become two people...We do recognize the right of the opposition to oppose us," he said, but Jews should "be united against murder, against violence, against ourselves. Let's argue, not hate."

U.S. Vice President Al Gore, perhaps the most consistent proponent of Israel among non-Jewish members of the Clinton administration, delivered an emotional address to members of the Rabin family. He said that Americans "have been and are attempting to lift you up and say to you, 'We respect you and we love you.'"

Attempting to cast the rally as a unifying event, the master of ceremonies announced the names of three Likud members. Although they apparently had been invited, in fact none were in attendance. One of them, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval, later confirmed that he had not attended because he was not invited to speak.

"I thought it was a wonderful occasion to have a unity rally and for someone very senior in Likud to have said a few words in memory of Yitzhak Rabin for the sake of unity," Shoval told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. However, he said, he was unwilling to attend just to "be a decoration."

The Zionist Organization of America and the National Council of Young Israel, two groups that oppose the peace process, ran a full-page advertisement in the Nov. 8 New York Times calling the event partisan. Jewish opponents of the peace process also threatened a massive counter-demonstration during the rally. However no more than 200 showed up, perhaps because of the inclement weather. Their signs proclaiming "Peres Is a Traitor" seemed only to remind those attending the rally of the hatred and disunity that had opened a chasm in Israel and among American friends of Israel, and led directly to Rabin's assassination.

—Richard Curtiss