February/March 1994, Page 32

Myths and Facts

By Richard H. Curtiss

(in refusing myths about the Middle East, sometimes one doesn't have to look beyond the mainstream media that help perpetuate them.)

Israel as a Strategic Ally

Myth: "Israel, and only Israel, remains dependable, an ally whose relationship with the United States is built on a solid foundation of shared values rather than the shifting sands of expediency. It is this fact, and the importance of this outpost of pro-Western democracy to our strategic interests in the region, that must govern the U. S. approach to the peace process."

—Former Rep. Vin Weber (R-MN), president of Empower America, a "grass-roots advocacy organization," writing in the Jewish Week, Queens, NY, Oct. 1-7, 1993

Fact: "CIA Director Robert Gates said yesterday that China has obtained technology from the U.S. Patriot anti-missile system and that differences remain within the Bush administration over whether it was secretly supplied by Israel . . . When asked if the State Department, in clearing the Israelis last April, ignored or downplayed intelligence to the contrary, Mr. Gates said only, 'I will say there are differences of view on the issue."'

—Reporter Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Jan. 5, 1993

Fact: "Since the late 1960s, when the program began, the United States and its allies have taken the astonishing position that there is no positive evidence that Israel is, in fact, in possession of nuclear arms. Thus the mere fact that Israel and the United States are talking about The Bomb ends the shabby diplomatic lie that has been enormously damaging to America's ability to persuade Third World nations to forgo development of nuclear weapons . . . There may be as many as 40 nations that could go nuclear in the next generation. They will watch the Clinton administration's treatment of Israel with interest. If there is no significant and continuing effort to defuse the nuclear issue in the Middle East, the post-Cold War peace will be populated by an ever-growing number of nations anxiously arming themselves with nuclear weapons as they grimly take the measure of one another."

—Author Seymour Hersh, writing in the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 3, 1993

Who Wants War? Who Wants Peace?

Myth: "Jeane Kirkpatrick. . . spoke about. . . elements surrounding the peace process that have often gone unnoticed in the press. The first is 'Arab hostility,' which has made 'survival the number one issue' historically for Israelis."

—Excerpt from report on meeting of Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA) by staff writer Sam Skolnik, Washington Jewish Week, Oct. 18, 1993

Fact: "Successful talks in Geneva Sunday between Presidents Clinton and Assad brought an overwhelming sense of euphoria in the Arab world, with both officials and news organizations expressing hope that 1994 will bring a settlement to the Arab/Israeli conflict. Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri of Lebanon called the Geneva meeting a 'turning point' in the two-year old Middle East peace effort . . . The Egyptian foreign minister, Amr Moussa, said. . . the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations . . . 'will yield a comprehensive settlement based on land in return for peace' . . . The Syrian . . . government newspaper Tishrin said the Geneva summit 'has revived hopes and optimism' in the American-sponsored peace effort."

—New York Times, Jan. 18, 1994

Did Pollard Damage the U.S.?

Myth: "I am convinced that a full, fair and open review of the facts will lead to the conclusion that the information provided by Pollard to Israel was largely tactical and regional rather than global and strategic. It related primarily to Iraq's plans for chemical and gas warfare and to Syrian-inspired terrorism directed against civilians. Jonathan Pollard has more than paid his debt to society for engaging in an act of civil disobedience calculated to save innocent lives."

—Attorney Alan Dershowitz writing in the Washington Times, Jan. 2, 1994

Myth: "Nothing Pollard did resulted in one iota of harm to the U.S. "

—Letter in Jan. 4,1994 LosAngeles Times by Irving E. Friedman, Laguna Niguel, CA

Fact: "One document Pollard is believed to have slipped to the Israelis—thought to have landed in Soviet hands, albeit unintentionally—was a huge compendium of frequencies used by foreign military and intelligence services [which] cost the U.S. billions of dollars but Pollard rendered . . . useless [and, by compromising it] may have cost informants their lives."

—Time magazine, Dec. 13, 1993

Was Pollard's Sentence Tainted?

Myth: "There's still a hard core of our co-religionists, some members of which hold leadership positions, whose fear of being branded with the charge of dual loyalty (to Israel as much as to the United States) corrupts their judgment. Otherwise, how might be explained the position on Pollard taken by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council? Unlike virtually every other major Jewish organization, these two have consistently refrained from backing a resolution calling for the president to commute Jonathan Pollard's sentence to time served. Meanwhile, a large number of regional federations and community groups—the new-age rank and file—have broken with the ADL and NJCRAC, recognizing the gross injustice of Pollard's sentence... Theirs is not a call for justice on behalf of another Jew—a righteous enough stance in itself—but a plea for fairness on behalf of another American."

—Kenneth Lasson, professor of law at the University of Baltimore, writing in the Washington Jewish Week, Nov. 11, 1993

Fact: "The ADL carefully investigated the charges made by Pollard supporters that the conduct of federal prosecutors and the sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Aubery Robinson under the plea bargain was tainted by anti-Semitism. We found no basis for such a charge. A special committee of lawyers was appointed to review the record. The issue was exhaustively and repeatedly reviewed by ADL's Legal Affairs and Civil Rights Committees, by its 26 regional boards, by the ADL National Executive Committee and the ADL National Commission. We heard representatives of Pollard, including Alan Dershowitz and Seymour Reich. The decision at each level was clear: there was no basis for our involvement as an organization because there was no sign of anti-Semitism. That also appears to be the basis for NJCRAC's decision . . . If credible evidence of anti-Semitism had been shown, we would have been among the first to join the effort for a review of the sentence . . . Lasson owes both ADL and NJCRAC an apology."

—Letter signed by Meyer Eisenberg, Chairman, National Civil Rights Committee, Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, in Washington Jewish Week, Dec. 9, 1993

Fact: "A Washington source with close ties to the White House, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been 'no groundswell' of letters and phone calls on behalf of Pollard, who is eligible for parole in November 1995."

—Staff writer Lawrence Cohler, The Jewish Week, Queens, NY Dec. 24-30, 1993