July/August 1994, p. 65

Jews and Israel

By Sheldon Richman

ZOA Accused of Undercutting Rabin Regime

Much of the American-Jewish community is disturbed by activities of the Zionist Organization of America that are increasingly seen as designed to undercut Israel's Labor government and sabotage the peace process. According to the weekly Jewish newspaper Forward, the American-Jewish groups suspect that ZOA is pursuing a pro-Likud strategy that includes making it difficult to carry out the accord under which the Palestinians have assumed control of the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

Forward reported that ZOA president Morton Klein was responsible for the decision by several members of the U.S. House of Representatives to form the Peace Accord Monitoring group to keep an eye on PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. The group has 15 members and is co-chaired by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and James Saxton (R-NJ). A Senate counterpart will be formed when a Democratic co-chair is found. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has already agreed to be the Republican co-chair. Specter recently condemned Arafat on the floor of the Senate for violations of the peace agreement.

Klein's critics regard his high-powered lobbying as reprehensible meddling, Forward reported. Seymour Reich, executive director of the American Zionist Movement, said, "It is for the Israelis to monitor compliance with the DOP [Declaration of Principles], not Congress." State Department monitoring of PLO compliance has been criticized by friends of Israel in Congress. Sens. Connie Mack (R-FL) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) wrote Secretary of State Warren Christopher that one State Department report "reads more like a defense of the PLO's lapses than a constructively critical guide to better behavior."

At least one tried-and-true Senate FOI has vowed not to join the monitoring group. A senior aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) was quoted by Forward as saying, "This is not an effort to monitor the PLO, this is an effort to embarrass the state of Israel." The American Zionist Movement was the only opposing organization named by Forward.

ZOA was praised by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel's principal Washington, DC lobbying group, although AIPAC is not participating in the monitoring effort.

Forward noted that in the "current topsy-turvy world," Congress is taking a tougher line on Arafat than most American-Jewish organizations and "Israel itself is seeking to hush up transgressions by the PLO and is directing American Jews not to make waves." The newspaper pointed out that last March, when a United Nations Security Council resolution referred to Jerusalem as "occupied territory," American Jewish groups withheld comment "in deference to the Rabin government." At the request of the Israeli government of Yitzhak Rabin, the United States abstained from voting on the portion of the resolution containing that wording rather than vetoing it.

Klein will not back down. He accused the other Jewish groups of refusing to see the PLO's transgressions. Forward noted that Klein has had opposition within his organization. Local chapters in Baltimore and Pittsburgh initially refused to pay dues to the national office when Klein became president. That problem apparently has been resolved.

Under Klein's command, ZOA also led an unsuccessful effort to oppose the nomination of Strobe Talbott as deputy secretary of state because of his published criticism of Israel.

More on Talbott

Talbott met recently with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The meeting, which came at the invitation of the conference, was viewed as an effort to establish better relations between the American Jewish community and a potential secretary of state. During the confirmation process for his appointment as the number-two official at the State Department, Talbott was harshly criticized for what were described as anti-Israeli writings while he was an editor at Time magazine. At his Senate hearing, Talbott said he had changed his views about the Jewish state.

Conference chairman Lester Pollack said he had complete confidence in Talbott and had invited him " because a lot of people in the community still do not know him."

State of Israel Bonds: Boon or Burden?

A pillar of the American pro-Israel establishment is coming under intense criticism. Critics say the State of Israel Bonds organization, which has played the leading role in selling bonds to American Jews for 43 years, harms Israel with burdensome interest costs and what Forward called "bureaucratic bloat." The critics object, moreover, to the organization's approach to selling bonds, which they regard as begging for charity. Forward says the critics would like to see the organization abolished eventually.

The newspaper noted that some Israelis, such as Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, scorn American-Jewish charity. But Forward quickly added that there is a feeling that the growing Israeli economy needs the money less than the troubled Jewish Diaspora in the United States. The bonds have traditionally been sold in the United States at fund-raising dinners, with many bonds sold in smaller denominations and given as gifts. Such "retailing" of bonds increases the interest costs, according to critics. It would be more economical to raise money in the capital markets, economists say. Forward cited an authority on foreign debt-purchasing who said Israel Bonds pays 7 to 8 percent of its take in fees, sales charges, overhead, payroll, and underwriting expenses. If a Wall Street broker sold the bonds, such costs would fall to between one-half and 1.25 percent. Israel may already have gotten the point. The Israeli Foreign Ministry is capping Israel Bond sales at $1 billion this year.

Still, the old method has its defenders, who point to the political value of the outreach work done by the bonds organization. "Israel recognizes the value of the network that Israel Bonds has with Jews worldwide—and I think it's worthwhile to pay a premium for it," says Nathan Sharony, the new president and chief executive of Israel Bonds. "If there is an additional cost here and there, the fact that we're communicating with Jews worldwide makes it invaluable."

But those who criticize the organization counter that Israel Bonds is showing the classic signs of a bureaucracy dedicated to its own self-preservation at nearly any cost. They point to the high salaries and executive privileges, as well as the junkets it makes possible for members of Israel's Knesset. Israel Bonds has 45 offices in the United States and a payroll of 450 people. "Pity the poor Israeli taxpayer," said Alvin Rabushka, a free market economist associated with the Institute of Advanced Strategic and Political Studies in Jerusalem. "If Israel Bonds were to stop selling bonds tomorrow, it would have no discernible impact on the economy. But it would have a profound impact on the organization— and that, in turn, would have a great benefit on the Israeli taxpayer."