Focus on Arabs and Islam

Grassroots political action will be the focus of the 14th Annual Convention of the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) scheduled for June 22-24 in Washington, D.C. Workshops will cover lobbying, chapter-building and running for office. On the last day of the conference Arab Americans will get some hands-on lobbying experience by visiting the offices of their congressional representatives. Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) will be the keynote speaker at the conference banquet and Sen. Robert Dole (R-KS) and Rep. David Obey (D-WI) will also participate. More information is available from NAAA's convention secretary at (202) 467-4800.

For the Haagen Dazs Ice Cream people, this may turn out to be a long, hot summer. Normally that would be good news, but some of the heat will be coming from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which has organized a "consumer protest" because the company's chairman has given financial support to the Jewish Defense League (JDL).

ADC announced its action at a June 6 press conference and promised to continue the protest until Haagen Dazs chairman Reuben Mattus "offers a public apology to the Arab American community for his stated support for the JDL and publicly repudiates the activities, aims and beliefs of that group and its founder Meir Kahane."

Mattus' support for the JDL came to light in a November 12, 1985 article in the Village Voice by Robert I. Friedman. In a section describing the strong support given the JDL and Gush Emunifn extremists by right-wing Jews in the United States, Mattus is quoted as saying "if they [the JDL] needed money, I gave it."

In mid-March ADC spokesman Faris Bouhafa sent a letter to Mattus asking him to denounce "the racist policies of Meir Kahane and the violent activities of the JDL." Mattus did not reply. A month and a half later ADC sent another letter, this time asking for an apology by May 15. Weeks later ADC received a letter dated May 15 from Mark Stevens, president of Haagen Dazs. Stevens tried to brush the affair under the carpet by noting that the ice cream company, which was founded by Mattus, had been sold to Pillsbury and that Mattus no longer runs the firm.

Instead, Bouhafa reminded Stevens that Mattus has stayed on as the company's chairman and principal spokesman, and that an apology was still expected. Since Pillsbury and Haagen Dazs executives haven't been forthcoming, ADC began distributing leaflets on June 7 in front of Haagen Dazs ice cream stores. The leaflets read "Haagen Dazs Chairman Supports Domestic Terrorism" and describe attacks against Arab Americans in which, ADC alleges, the JDL has been implicated. ADC is urging members and supporters to send protest letters to Mattus and Pillsbury President Jack Stafford.

On another front, ADC is "encouraged" by member response to its nationwide petition campaign on behalf of the American hostages held in Lebanon. Former hostages Benjamin Weir and Jeremy Levin have expressed support for the effort, and to date several thousand signatures have been gathered. In addition, ADC sent letters to Muslim and other religious leaders and to over 100 U.S. newspapers soliciting support for the petition drive.

The Arab American Institute (AAI) held a seminar in mid-May at which over 100 Arab-American politicians and activists discussed nuts-and-bolts details of politics. Workshops dealt with running political campaigns, establishing a power base and Arab-American involvement in 1986 elections. Speakers included Hodding Carter 111, chief correspondent for the PBS series Capitol Journal; Luis Acle, an Arab American who is Associate Director for Public Liaison at the White House; and James Akins, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

—Anthony B. Toth

Anthony B. Toth, of Arlington, Virginia, is a freelance writer specializing in U.S. relations with the Middle East.

Focus on Israel and Jews

Did the American Jewish community ever stop lobbying against the Reagan Administration's proposal to sell $354 million in arms to Saudi Arabia? (The sale had been reduced to $265 million by the time it passed the Senate by one vote on June 5.)

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) had decided not to lobby actively against the sale, preferring to concentrate its energies on a more crucial battle ahead—preventing the Administration from delivering the first of five AWACS, planes to the Saudis later this year. But that did not mean the rest of the Jewish community would stay out of the battle over the arms sale.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), with 120,000 members nationwide, took out ads in the New York Times opposing the sale. And according to Walter Ruby of the Long Island Jewish World, representatives of Haddassah (Women's Zionist Organization) and many Jewish political action committees (PACs), strongly urged Members of Congress to vote against it.

Despite AIPAC's low profile on the arms sale, everyone on Capitol Hill knew where the major pro-Israel lobby stood on the issue. Ruby quoted an aide to a Democratic Congressman from Minnesota saying: "AIPAC sent out a blitz of material against this sale before their decision to back off it. Then they came in and said 'We are not going to oppose it actively.' And in fact I never heard a peep from their people after that."

Possible proof of AIPAC's power on Capitol Hill? All but four of the 27 Senators seeking reelection this year voted against the arms package, while five of the seven Senators retiring at the end of the year supported it.

The Jewish community was virtually united in opposing the missile sale, In fact, those few Jews who publicly supported the sale were strongly criticized by their co-religionists.

One of these Jewish supporters, Republican Senator Chic Hecht of Nevada, arranged a meeting last month between 14 prominent Jews and President Reagan, to give the President a chance to convince the Jewish group that the arms sale would not hurt Israel. Only three of the 14 reportedly ended up backing the President: New York financier Ivan Boesky; Martin Hecht, the brother of Senator Hecht; and Steven Katzman, the Senator's nephew.

Following the meeting with the President, Boesky, who is General Chairman of the New York United Jewish Appeal (UJA)-Federation Campaign, was quoted in the Washington Post saying: "As a Jew I cannot in good conscience be at ease with the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, but as an American I support and urge support of the President's decision to offer arms to Saudi Arabia as in the best interests of the U.S., Israel, and Jews around the world."

Ernest Michel, Executive Vice-President of the New York UJA-Federation, made a point of immediately insisting that Boesky did not represent the UJA at the meeting, and that his views were entirely his own.

As for Senator Hecht, one of the 14 Jews who attended the meeting with the President (which also included Secretary of State Shultz and other top Administration officials) told Walter Ruby: "I am ready to support whoever runs against him (Hecht) without even knowing who that person is. . ."

Hecht apparently tried to "make-up" for alienating the Jewish community on the arms package issue by asking the President to consider reducing the interest Israel pays on its military loans from the U.S. But it remains to be seen whether Chic Hecht will escape the wrath of AIPAC and the Jewish PACs when he comes up for reelection in 1988. In fact, Hecht may end up being "punished" even more than non-Jews who supported this or any other arms sale to Jordan or Saudi Arabia.

—Andrea Barron

Andrea Barron, a PhD Candidate in International Relations at the American University in Washington, D. C., is active in Washington Area Jews for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace and writes frequently about the Middle East.