A Victory for Arab Americans

By Joseph Zogby

In the last several weeks, I have been the target of a vicious smear campaign conducted by a small group of right-wing, pro-Israeli partisans. They have demanded that the State Department dismiss me, the only Arab American in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, from my position as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk, due to what they charge is my "anti-Israeli bias." They have unfairly branded me "an Israel hater," "anti-American," and "an anti-Israel extremist."

Recently, I concluded my one-year appointment at the State Department, and I now have the opportunity to respond to these allegations. An examination of these attacks reveals that they are baseless, and that the goals of my critics are to impose a rigid ideological litmus test on Middle East policymakers and to exclude Arab Americans from government service.

The Zionist Organization of America, columnist Sidney Zion and the New York Post spearheaded the campaign against me, mischaracterizing my past work and selectively quoting from articles that I wrote before I entered government service. Notably, my accusers did not assail my work at the State Department, nor contest Assistant Secretary Indyk's characterization of my service as "exemplary." Rather, they based their conclusion that I was unqualified for my position solely on views that I expressed in private life.

What were the opinions that they found so offensive? I have never advocated or supported violence. I have been a strong advocate of coexistence between Arabs and Jews and a consistent participant in Jewish-Arab dialogue efforts. I am not an extremist, nor a hater of anything or anyone. Before I entered government service, I did criticize American Middle-East policy and Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As an American, I have the constitutional right and moral responsibility to speak out when I believe our government's policies are faulty. This must not be grounds for disqualifying me from government service.

However, that is exactly what my critics want. Abraham Foxman, National Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, explained their views: "There is no room at a U.S. government agency, the State Department, for individuals who publicly advocate antagonistic views of Israel and our policy regarding an ally." In short, they believe that the litmus test for government service should be whether one has criticized American government policy or the policies of a foreign nation. We must reject in the strongest possible terms this attempt to silence dissenting voices by excluding them from public service.

Fortunately, it appears that the smear campaign has failed. The State Department rejected the calls for my dismissal. Assistant Secretary Indyk, my supervisor, dismissed the "scurrilous attacks and inaccurate claims" and defended me: "[He] has been thoughtful, intelligent and very hard working ... Joe Zogby does not have extreme views, as anybody who knows or has worked with him will attest."

In fact, it appears that the efforts to oust me have backfired. The controversy served as the catalyst for a debate about the need to include more Arab Americans in the Middle East policymaking process. As a result, the State Department and the White House have committed to hiring more Arab Americans. Assistant Secretary of State Jamie Rubin explained: "We do want to see Arab Americans in the Near East Bureau . Secretary Albright is determined to create diversity in the State Department in a number of ways, including through having Arab Americans in the State Department. That's a commitment she believes in ... We're working to achieve that commitment."

This is a major victory for civil-rights defenders and for Arab Americans, who have historically been underrepresented in government, especially in Middle East policymaking positions. Now the Clinton Administration should follow through on its commitment to hire more Arab Americans. There must be room in the American government for those expressing dissenting viewpoints, and for people of all ethnicities, including Arab Americans. It is vitally important that the legacy of this controversy is greater inclusiveness, rather than the successful imposition of another ideological litmus test for public servants.

Joseph Zogby is an attorney and was a founding director of the Palestine Peace Project before he accepted a one-year assignment as special assistant to the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. This article first appeared in the Detroit Free Press for June 3, 1999. His article “An American’s Attempt to Bridge the Gap Between Perceptions and Reality in Palestine” appeared in the Oct./Nov. 1998 issue of the Washington Report.