February 1993, Page 95

Publishers' Page

Ahem!

Apparently, last month, um. . .

Ding, ding, ding. . .

May we have your attention? Apparently . . .

Hey! You! Reader! Yo. . .

Look, this is really important. So...

May We Have Your ATTENTION?

That's better. This won't take long, but. . .

IT'S VERY, VERY IMPORTANT!

Last month we said, too casually we fear, that we still needed nearly 3,000 opinion molder subscriptions for 1992 in order to get. . .

The $78,000 Matching Grant. .

We needed to stay in business. We'd like to repeat that because, with our customary, and obviously misplaced, bravado, apparently we didn't make ourselves. . .

Completely Clear! We MUST. . .

Have those donated subscriptions. . .

TO STAY IN BUSINESS!

We're talking EXISTENTIAL here. You know, Hamlet.

To Be or Not to Be.

Well, we got about half of those needed subscriptions. But, meanwhile, it's 1993. So we asked for a stay of execution. . .

From Our Donors—And Got It!

We'll still get the grant, but only when we come up with the remaining needed opinion molder subscriptions. To do so, we'll have to slip over and draw upon donated opinion molder subscriptions for 1993 (see the form following the "Publishers' Page" in this issue). Which means we'll cut down the total for 1993 and, thus, there almost certainly won't be another matching grant for the coming year.

So What's the Use. . .

Of staying in business now—if we're going out of business a year from now? Don't ask. Like Scarlet O'Hara. . .

We'll Think About That. . .

Next year. But to help us sort it out, question number one is. . .

Where Were You Guys. . .

When we needed you? In exactly the same time frame in which we didn't get those last, desperately needed 1,500 subscriptions, we got over 300 responses to our reader survey.

We're Grateful.

Most readers went to a lot of trouble and gave us very thoughtful answers.

We're Flattered.

When it came time to fill out the few lines explaining exactly what the Washington Report means to them, many had to attach an extra piece of paper for very eloquent statements of everything that came to mind. You'll find a few condensed versions among this month's "Letters to the Editor," and we hope you'll be able to read others in the future.

We're Also Overwhelmed.

Some said without us they still would have been in the dark, 180 degrees wrong, about the Middle East.

Virtually All Said. . .

Without us they would have no way to stay informed or be effective. And many who already knew the truth said that without us they would have given up, done something very destructive, or...

Gone Crazy. We Saved Their Sanity!

But as we read those. . .

Truly Touching Testimonials.

We thought, if each had given us only five more opinion molder subscriptions, we would have been saved ourselves.

Well, Some Did. . .

And some can't. They told us so. When we had three kids in college at the same time we couldn't even pay the utility bills. And we had good salaries. So, for readers who can't help financially, we understand. Many work very hard in other ways. One woman in the Northeast whose letter we'd like to have run pointed out that she'd gotten us more than 60 paid subscribers over the years.

Another Worked Selflessly. . .

And got us an incredible $13,000 in individual donations in less than two years.

They've Paid Their Dues.

And so have a lot of others, who tirelessly circulate articles from the magazine, and give away their own copies to potential subscribers. We told you about the old friend and one-time Reagan White House staffer who subscribed to three copies when the Washington Report was a newsletter. He always read it on the bus so he could give his copy to anyone who asked what it was. He's no longer. . .

In the White House. . .

But he reads the 100-page Washington Report from cover to cover while riding the bus to his Washington, DC public relations firm. And now he pays for 13 subscriptions.

And Sometimes He Still Runs Out.

We're sure he, too, has brought us many subscriptions in the power corridors of the nation's capital. So, each reader can help in his or her own way. But right now. . .

#. @='#*&#+ *

And DANG It! We need 1,500 more opinion molder subscriptions, with names and addresses. . .

IMMEDIATELY!

Or, if you prefer, leave the selecting to us. (It will be libraries, with a few to new faces in Washington.) Send the checks to the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment.

The Terms of the Grant Are. . .

That we show the donors the letters and checks from real people for opinion molder subscriptions, and of course the names and addresses of the beneficiaries. So what. . .

We Need to Get From You. . .

Is $18,750 in donated opinion molder subscriptions at $12.50 each to get the additional $78,000 we need to operate in 1993. And if we don't. . .

And We're Very, Very Serious. . .

This will be our last issue. So we hope, this time, WE'VE MADE OURSELVES VERY CLEAR. If we haven't, as John McLaughlin says to the NBC audience and his televised "group" every Sunday...

It's "Bye-Bye."

Please do think about that today so that we'll be around next month to think about next year. Only with your help, RIGHT NOW, can we change that bye-bye into haste la vista, a bientot, auf Wiedersehen, Illa badain inshallah or. . .

Until We Meet Again!

We WERE Going. . .

To use this space to discuss your responses to the readership survey. That was before we found ourselves staring oblivion in the face. Now there's not enough space left. So readers...

Will Get a Calendar. .

With this issue to remember us by. And we have more on hand at $2 each (or one free with book orders over $50, if you ask) in our book department, which we'll keep open for a while longer, regardless of what happens to the magazine.

If We're Resuscitated. .

We hope readers will hang the calendar prominently so that people will ask about us and maybe consider subscribing. It's another, long-term way individuals can help.

Meanwhile, We Were Pleased. . .

To learn that in geographical coverage we seem about on target. In subject mix, readers seemed much more partial to political and political action information than to cultural or educational matters. We'd like to tell you more when we can. The compilation of responses is extremely useful for us, and this issue reflects some of that reader input. We think our subscribers would also find it interesting. . .

Like Looking in a Mirror.

You'll see there are more people who think like you. . .

Than You Think.

Our Next Issue, If There Is One. . .

Will have a list of members of the 1992 Angels' Choir. Whatever happens, we hope to send them two books from our library donation packages (page 79) or from the list at the bottom of the reader survey in our Dec. '92/Jan. '93 issue. So, if you were a $ 100 or higher donor in 1992 and have a preference, let us know. Otherwise, we'll just pick two, as we did for previous angels a year ago.

Our Next Issue, If There Is One. . .

Also will have the complete list of how much every candidate for Congress anywhere in the U.S. took from pro-Israel political action committees in the 19911992 election cycle. It will be similar to the brief compilation of information concerning Arab-American PACs in this issue. The difference, of course, will be that instead of covering $38,313 in donations to 29 candidates, it will cover between three and four million dollars in donations to more than 400 candidates.

The Contrast Illustrates.

Better than anything we can say. . .

Why Congress Votes. .

The way it does. It also illustrates, however, that few legislators vote that way from conviction (or they wouldn't have to be bribed). If the carrots and sticks were removed, most would be as eager to pursue real American interests, based upon good relations between the U.S. and the rest of the world, as any of our readers.

Our Next Issue, If There Is One. . .

Will talk about the campaign finance reforms that could neutralize the Israel lobby. And, just in case the worst happens, all of these things will be in the fourth edition of Stealth PAG: Lobbying Congress for Control of U. S. Middle East Policy, which we're going to bring out this year under our own imprimatur or, if that's not possible, via a commercial publisher.

Even If It's Bye-Bye...

For the Washington Report, it won't be for the cause. . .

Of Peace and Justice. . .

In the Middle East.

A Couple of Final Thoughts. . .

But we hope not too final. We aren't able to come up with the list of $50 to $100 donors for 1992, as we promised earlier. We didn't program our computers that way, and now we can't tell who donated $50 or more, and who just bought books for themselves for those amounts. Sorry. We know how to do it for 1993 if. . .

But We've Said All That.

When we started AET, a decade ago, people asked, why can't all the people in the peace-and-justice camp. . .

Just Work Together?

Well, we believe we did our part. As individuals, our executive board members helped launch other groups. As AET, we jump-started other groups—setting them up within our offices until they could find space and funding of their own. Two have gone belly up, and two others also are thinking existentially.

On the Other Side. . .

Besides Jewish community relations councils in every major city and, of course, the JNF, there are AIPAC, ADL, AJC and AJC (yep, two of them), COPMAJO (if you don't know who they are, never mind—they're big and bad and all over Bill Clinton) and, as the. . .

King of Siam Said to Anna. . .

"Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera." On our side, well...

Let Us Tell You a Story.

The other day the president of a Middle East-related organization congratulated us on getting a huge endowment. When you hear something like that there's a giddy moment of joy before you realize. . .

IF WE HAD, WE WOULD KNOW.

So we asked who had told him that whopper. It tracked back to an employee who had left us years ago. Unfortunately, it was floated just about the time that members of a grants committee that meets under the Middle East-related organization's auspices was considering a grant request we had submitted.

Needless to Say, We Didn't. . .

Get the grant. The grant we had sought was for 1,000 opinion molder subscriptions. Makes you think, doesn't it? With things like that going on in our trench. . .

No Wonder We All Get Buried.

Two Important Books.

New in the AET Book Club Catalog are George and Douglas Balls' The Passionate Attachment (list: $24.95; AET: $18.95 for one, $24.95 for two). See page 25. Also With Friends Like You: What Israelis Really Think About American Jews, by Matti Golan, former editor of Ha'aretz (list price $19.95; AET: $16.95). See page 61.

Make a Difference. . .

What we wanted done in Somalia is done. We discuss Bosnia on the inside front cover. By the time this reaches readers, things may be clearer there. So. . .

Please Write the Right Thing.

Also, by the time this reaches readers, the U.N. Security Council should be considering a resolution imposing sanctions on Israel for its illegal deportations of Palestinians, if they haven't been allowed back.

If the U.N. Votes to Sanction. . .

Israel but the U.S. vetoes it, you may wish to write to President Clinton with a copy to Secretary of State Christopher and tell them what you think of the shameless double standard observed in punishing Iraq, but absolving Serbia and Israel for the same land-grabbing and/or ethnic cleansing crimes.

It Seems International Law. . .

Applies when the violator is Muslim, but not when the victims are.

As Long as You're Writing. . .

You might also tell them what you think of the Bush administration's cave-in on loan guarantees (see page 7), which were supposed to be tied to a freeze on settlements. We have to assume the new administration wants to do the right thing, but won't unless you. . .

Tell Them What It Is.

Write them and make a difference. . .

This Month.