July/August 1993, Page 114

Publishers' Page

Thuuunk! The Second Shoe!

You may recall that last year we got tired of chasing financial donations instead of paying our bills. For an issue or two, we played Hamlet. To Be or Not to Be.

And We Decided, NOT.

In the February issue we wrote our own epitaph in what was to have been our last issue. Predictably, we were deeply touched at our own eloquence in describing our unique role in bringing the whole truth about U.S.-Mideast relations to journalists, elected officials, teachers, clergy and everexpanding cross-sections of the U.S. and Canadian public ever since 1982. So, happily, were many of our readers.

Kind Words From Kind Hearts. . .

Poured in, as did a lot of gift subscriptions and some pretty hefty checks. We rethought the matter. . .

And Opted To Be!

And to publish through 1993, and think about 1994 tomorrow!

Which Suddenly is Like. .

The day after today. Reviewing the past 12 months, we noted two things. A year ago, when we said we were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, donations came in but subscriptions fell off.

GENEROUS READERS.

Didn't Want to Lose Us!

CAUTIOUS READERS. .

Didn't want to lose their subscription money! Well, we need both kinds! So here's our latest existential scheme. We've made the magazine bigger. . .

Because Bulky is Beautiful!

Really! This issue is gorgeous as well as indispensable! But the flip side is that we're going to skip an issue this fall, meaning readers get about the same number of pages this year, but we save postage.

Next Year is Election Year. . .

When we're needed even more. It's when we tell voters continuously exactly how much every candidate for Congress anywhere in the U.S. has taken from proIsrael PAC donors since 1978. And, since the laws are changing and the directors of those PACs already are up to some new tricks to hide their tracks in 1994, we'll describe both tricks and tracks.

So, CAUTIOUS READERS. . .

You can safely renew your subscriptions, even though we'll be putting out issues only every two months for the rest of this year to make very sure that. . .

We'll Still Be Around Next Year.

How often we'll publish next year depends on you, GENEROUS READERS. Please don't be like one very long-time donor whose family foundation's contribution is a basic building block in our annual budget. This week he called especially to say the magazine is "a jewel," the "most important thing I'm associated with" and he's proud and grateful for the opportunity . . .

"To Play a Role in Helping You!'

We were gurgling with pleasure until he added: "That's why I hate to tell you my family is reducing its help to you by 25 percent. We're having a bad year."

Well, Golleee! Now So Are We!

However, by cutting the frequency again next year, if absolutely necessary, we will hold the line on subscription prices. A gift opinion molder subscription remains $12.50, a stripped-down full-rate subscription is $19, and a deluxe full-rate subscription with a $12.50 book purchase certificate applicable to the price of any book or video in the AET catalog is $29. That's an announcement we thought we could never again afford to make. But with subscriptions rising rapidly again, we're convinced that holding down prices is the key to reaching 50,000 full-rate subscriptions by the end of 1994!

One Way or Another. . .

You can help us get there! We thank you in advance for your past, present and future actions to. . .

Help Us Be!

Make a Difference!

A lot of our readers enclose in their letters to editors and to elected officials the table of U.S. aid to Israel which first appeared in our February article on "Israel's Untouchable Entitlement Programs." One reader said, however, the table might photocopy better if it were in black and white instead of under a colored screen.

So Here is the truth. . .

In black and white, about 1993 fiscal year U.S. aid to Israel, which President Clinton has promised Israel will not be reduced in the 1994 fiscal year, which starts next Oct. 1. White House mail has dropped from 48,000 letters to 38,000 letters a day, but we expect that before it did a few copies of the chart already had reached the president. Therefore, a. . .

Better Investment of Your Time. . .

Might be to send copies of this table to talk show hosts, newspaper editors and, of course, your own three representatives in Congress (see box on preceding page). All together they have the power to make sure that's another promise the president will, and should, break.

Our Readers Differ. . .

About the "new world order," which we interpret as a chance, at last, to inject some ethical conduct and international law into human affairs. We're losing that chance because of Clinton administration inaction on two issues on which we think most of our readers can agree:

Level the Playing Field by. .

Lifting the U.N. arms embargo that keeps Bosnian government forces from defending their own people against murder, rape and "ethnic cleansing," and, if the Serbs continue shelling civilians, lead international air strikes against artillery.

And tie All Further Aid to Israel. . .

To full Israeli compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 242's land for-peace formula, starting with the Palestinians, since none of the other Arabs can sign until the Palestinians get a fair deal.

If You Write the President. .

You might also point out that if he does not halt the genocide in Bosnia and if he lets Middle East peace slip away this year, not only is the "new world order" dead, but so is his reputation. He will go down in world history as the man who killed Bosnia, Middle East peace, and the hope everywhere of peace with justice in our time. Tell it and. . .

Make a Difference, This Month!