August/September 1996, p. 3

Letters to the Editor

Thanks From a Candidate

I wish to sincerely thank you and the readers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs for your wonderful and generous response to my candidacy and campaign.

On a daily basis, contributions have been arriving from your readers as well as letters of encouragement. It is amazing and encouraging that—regardless of party affiliation—so many of your loyal readers have come on board behind the important issue of U.S. foreign aid.

The aforementioned letters and contributions serve to keep the campaign solvent and viable during these hectic days of fund-raising and campaign appearances. These same letters and contributions also reaffirm my commitment to doing what is right for the American taxpayer by working—as a member of the 105th Congress—for the elimination of all aid other than humanitarian.

Again, I thank you and your readers for your generosity and commitment. I have enclosed a letter I received recently from Mr. Waheed Khalid. Mr. Khalid was good enough to do some fund-raising on behalf of my campaign after reading the Washington Report. Some very generous contributions were included with the letter.

God bless you all!

John V. Flores, Flores for Congress ’96, P.O. Box 7381 Alhambra, CA 91802

Thanks for your letter. It proves to us that our readers don’t really enjoy sitting around complaining about how powerful the other guys are, but in fact want to start winning. We think this is the year they can.

Another One-Issue Mideast Voter

I enjoyed Richard Curtiss’ article, “Why Bob Dole Will Get My Vote in 1996, In Spite of Himself.” I may very well go the same way!

I, too, didn’t vote for president in 1984, for the same reason he stated. (I also voted for John Anderson in 1980—because Maryland was one of the few certain Democratic states and I wanted to help him—another ex-foreign service officer—get 5 percent of the vote so he could receive federal election funds.)

President Bill Clinton’s problem seems to be an obsessive need to be “liked”—probably stemming from an insecure childhood. (My parents took me through a bitter divorce, beginning when I was seven years old, and “lasting,” on my mother’s side, until I was old enough to sort things out for myself! So, I have some understanding of what makes him “tick”!)

As for his deathbed promise to Israel, I am a believer in the Jeffersonian principle that each generation must adopt its own rules, and that anything less is government from the grave! (Each generation may—and probably will—keep much that has gone before—but everything must be, as they say, “on the table” for careful examination in light of subsequent knowledge!)

During the 1984 campaign, Madeleine Albright acted as Walter Mondale’s foreign policy adviser, and when she appeared at the Secretary of State’s Open Forum in that capacity I asked her the candidate’s “rationale” for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

In reply she glared at me and snapped, “Mr. Mondale believes that a country has the right to put its capital anywhere it pleases in its own territory!”

Not wishing to further jeopardize my career with AID , I didn’t pursue the matter! (But I did relay the incident, by letter, to Warren Christopher when he became secretary of state. I was retired by then.)

Finally, I believe, having "watched” the Middle East for many decades, that U.S. support for Israel will only delay—but not prevent—a fair resolution of the Zionist-caused problems.

The Arabs are aware that it took a century to get rid of the last of the “Crusader kingdoms”—and Israel has only been in existence for half that long.

Finally, I believe the way to a fair solution will be significantly aided by many enlightened Jews—who have outgrown the past!

By the way, this coming July 22nd will be the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, by Jewish “terrorists,” in which 91 people—including 8 Jews—died.

We Americans are great on 50th anniversaries, so I’m waiting to see how the media will handle this one!

Roger D. Leonard, Bowie, MD

Thanks for a Great Issue

Your July issue was one of the finest issues I ever perused! I want to tell you how much I enjoyed Richard Curtiss’s segment on Netanyahu, “The Death of the Peace Process Endangers Both Israel and the U.S.” and his “One-Issue Voter” article, “Why Bob Dole Will Get My Vote in 1996, In Spite of Himself.” Paul Findley had a great one in Speaking Out (page 22).

By the way, do any of our congressmen/senators receive the WRMEA, or are they aware of the great journalism produced in your pressroom? I often wonder how much influence the WRMEA has on the acts of Congress?

I should also like to tell you that I firmly believe that the bombing at Dhahran was the work of the Mossad—yes, I really believe this, as I look at the geopolitical damage being done already to Saudi Arabia! Blaming them for security distances, etc. Of course, I’m one who believes that old story about Mossad knowledge of the impending ’83 truck bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon. (If Israel, through its Mossad, could have notified the U.S. of the impending bombing, but didn’t, it certainly is capable of allowing its Mossad to do a job on us in Arabia, just to destroy the existing relationship!)

Then, too, we knew who the terrorists were on the afternoon of June 8, 1967, when Israel tried to sink the USS Liberty! What a cover-up that was, too. That story, as told by Jim Ennes, is unequaled!

Maybe you’ll have an article or two about the possibility of the Mossad being involved at Dhahran; of course, by that time they’ll have some Islamic group held at fault.

Walter Koehler, Littlefield, TX

We’re told a lot of Saudis believe Mossad is behind the bombing or bombings too—but at several protective steps removed by the funding and manipulation of dumb and gullible Arab groups to do the dirty work—just as Palestinians as a whole were discredited by the aircraft highjackings and other actions against civilians in the 1970s. On the other hand, we think it’s also possible that Iran or Iraq had a hand in the bombings in Riyadh and Dhahran. Hopefully the investigators will do an honest and thorough job.

As for your other questions: We use undesignated gift subscriptions to ensure that every senator and representative gets at least one subscription to the Washington Report in his or her Washington office. Some members of Congress also get it at home. Some congressional offices also get additional copies addressed to specific staff members and some copies also go to congressional committee staffers. How many subscriptions go to a member and his or her staff depend on how many are provided by his or her constituents. We just act as traffic cops, making sure no one is overlooked and preventing unnecessary duplication. As to how much influence the magazine has with Congress, the answer is virtually none until people on our side of the Middle East equation decide to vote and donate as a bloc—exactly as the other side does. Maybe that will happen in this election. Maybe not.

Epiphany in Bethlehem

Wow! Just days after the election of Netanyahu, a back issue of a certain remarkable publication arrived in our mailbox, sent by a good friend who was recently able to visit us and see for herself the way things are. I am an American citizen married to a West Bank Palestinian Christian. We have resided in Bethlehem (my husband’s birthplace) since we were married nearly five years ago and, needless to say, we have witnessed many amazing and infuriating things—beginning with the confiscation of my husband’s family farm (over 100 acres in the infamous Gush Etzion corridor) the same week of our marriage, and ending, most recently, with the strictly enforced closure preventing thousands of Palestinians (including my husband) from getting to work and earning their modest salaries. For more than three months now, we have been without a source of income and without any plausible options (since the West Bank economy is at a virtual standstill and employment opportunities in towns like Bethlehem are practically nonexistent), and although we have heard announcements indicating that the closure has been lifted, we do not find that to be the case. Apparently these rumors are for the benefit of the international community and, indeed, many of the friends with whom I correspond were happy to presume that George had been permitted to return to work. It is this kind of media manipulation which has caused us so much frustration and despair over the previous five years, and with Netanyahu now in the driver’s seat, it is sure to get worse and more insidious.

But...lo and behold! As I read this April ’96 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, I can scarcely believe my eyes. Perhaps you cannot imagine just how meaningful and invigorating it is to realize that there are people out there who are aware of what is going on here and who do sympathize with what Palestinians must endure on a daily basis. Reading your magazine made my husband happy for the first time since March 3. Many thanks to my good friend Barbara, and many many thanks to WRMEA.

George and Alison Nassar, Jerusalem, Israel

P.S. We are always on the lookout for opportunities to publicize the land confiscation as well as other relevant details of the West Bank Palestinian experience, and would be more than willing to provide additional information to anyone interested enough to want it.

A Source of Balanced TV Coverage

In his article “Remembering Both Qana and Oklahoma City Massacres,” which appeared in your July issue, Jack Shaheen cited the unbalanced coverage of events in the Middle East by the American media. For more balanced coverage, I highly recommend ITN news from Britain as broadcast by WHMM (Channel 32) in Washington, and available to me via cable.

One example of ITN’s coverage was during the recent bombardment of south Lebanon. The reporter noted that the Israelis claimed that they were doing precision bombardment of military targets. He then pointed out a village house that had been hit by the Israelis, killing a mother and her children. He commented that the Israelis were either lying or incompetent.

During the same period, ITN’s Washington reporter was explaining why Israel had such firm support from the United States. A major factor, he specified, was the strength of the Jewish lobby. I cannot imagine such frankness in a TV news program originating in the United States.

If your readers can receive ITN news on a local station or cable system, they should watch it. An additional advantage is minimal, rather than exhaustive, coverage of the Unabomber or Newton Gingrich. A disadvantage is that it tells me more than I want to know about the “Mad Cow” plague.

James Hudson, Professor of Geography (retired), Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

More on Holocaustomania

Your riposte to Paul Grubach in the July 1996 issue of WRMEA aroused my interest.

It is entirely proper for you to reject Holocaust revisionist literature in your journal. You have the right to decide what will and what will not appear in your publication.

There is, however, a related phenomenon that, I think, is your duty to consider for inclusion. I mean the control that Jews seem to have over what the American people should see or hear, particularly regarding events even remotely associated with the Holocaust.

I am not one who thinks that Jews control America. Aside from the White House, Congress, the CIA, the FBI, the Federal Reserve, major newspapers, most TV and radio stations (particularly publicly owned ones), Hollywood, and the entertainment industry, Jewish control is minimal.

I would like to draw your attention to a few recent incidents which should clarify what I mean.

David Irving, a British historian, had a contract with St. Martin’s Press to publish a biography of the Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels. I do not know if it contained any revisionist material, but Jewish groups raised such a hue and cry that the contract was cancelled just before publication.

Curiously enough this matter was discussed on the ABC program “This Week With David Brinkley.” The entire panel—Brinkley, Donaldson, Will and Cokie Roberts—agreed that suppression of the book was the right thing to do. (Of course it is well known that the Brinkley gang is sympathetic to Zionism.) The same evening, Jeff Greenfield chimed in with a hearty approval of the suppression of the book on the same ABC station.

I have little doubt all these pundits are horrified at the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses.

Contrast this with the reception given to The Bell Curve by Herrenstein and Murray, which purports to show that Blacks are intellectually inferior to Whites. The book was widely discussed both on TV and in print.

As another instance consider Hitler’s Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen, which says the Germans were all too willing to exterminate the Jews. In other words the entire German nation was guilty of genocide. This was hailed as a breakthrough casting new light on the Holocaust. The praise was deafening.

On a somewhat different level, Marge Schott, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds, is supposed to have opined that Adolf Hitler was “good at the beginning” but degenerated later, or words to that effect. For this she was removed from managing her own team by groups spearheaded by Jews. Does Marge Schott have First Amendment rights or are these reserved for Jews?

The truth is that the Holocaust is now part of the Judaic faith, and adverse comment is considered equivalent to blasphemy. According to Mosaic law, blasphemers should be stoned to death. This might yet happen.

My point is that while you need not publish Holocaust revisionist material, discussing such material as the above is legitimately part of your very excellent journal. It is because of the pervasive censorship that Zionists exercise in this country that the truth about Israel and the Palestinians and other Arabs very rarely reaches the mass media.

Thein Wah, Ph.D., San Antonio, TX

Hard Times for Middle East Peace

Bless you! These are hard times for people who have worked for many years for Middle East peace and the rights of Palestinians which are an essential part of achieving it. Blow after blow falls on the Palestinians and on those who suffer with them even if we know it can only be in a small part.

But to watch what is happening and to realize how few Americans have any conception of its reality and its causes—this is just about unbearable!

I was overjoyed to receive the July issue of the WRMEA today. Truth is therapeutic. I must help you spread it as widely as possible. I enclose $100 to be used for subscriptions to libraries, political people or wherever you think it will do the most educating! Thank you! Salaam. Shalom.

Margaret G. Holt, Amherst, MA

Your check will pay for five subscriptions and welcome, again, to the AET Choir of Angels.

Inflicting Misery in America’s Name

The Washington Report represents for me a small hope (beacon, voice in the wilderness) that, in spite of the censorship and opinion-manipulation exercised in the U.S. by Zionist Jews, the American public will become aware of the realities of the Middle East. In doing so, the public will undoubtedly insist on disengaging our country from the monster that we created and have sustained contrary to all human values that we profess to be sacred.

I am very concerned about two things related to Palestine and the surrounding area: 1) Our democracy as a government of the people, along with our free press, a prerequisite for a democracy to survive, have been subverted by Zionist Jews in this country in this century; 2) The arrogant, inhuman disenfranchisement, abuse and misery inflicted on three generations of Palestinian Arabs (not to mention Lebanese, Egyptians and many others in the region) by Israel with the full, unwavering support of the U.S. government. (And we had the temerity to call the Soviet Union the evil empire.)

You may conclude that I don’t need your publication to stay fired up and angry. In fact, I would be delighted to hear from you, as one of the few credible authorities, that I am overly paranoid on the subject.

Earl G. Watkins, Kingwood, TX

Unfortunately, paranoids, too, have enemies.

Any Terrorists in Hamas Are Too Many

I am writing this letter in response to your recent article by Geoff Lumetta about political attacks on American Muslims. Mr. Lumetta points out that Hamas is a humanitarian organization which builds schools, hospitals and helps feed Palestinians who live in the occupied territories by raising money around the world through organizations such as the American Muslim Council.

I have no reason to dispute the above claims by Mr. Lumetta. However, what is more important is what Mr. Lumetta considers to be a small faction of Hamas called Izzadine Al Qassim, who have claimed responsibility for much if not all of the recent suicide bombings in Israel. These attacks were designed to derail the peace process by creating fear and chaos inside Israel. Just as they have many times before, these cowardly acts resulted in the loss of many innocent civilian lives.

I am an Iranian who has been and always will be outraged by actions taken by the current Iranian government against the peace process and its support of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. I would also like to point out that a recent comment made by the owner of the Cincinnati Reds offended millions of people, myself included. She believes that Hitler was a good man because he did so many good things for his country, he just went a little too far concerning his racist beliefs.

Izzadine Al Qassim (as small a group as you want us to believe it is) is still a part of Hamas. This organization has caused a great deal of grief and sorrow for innocent Israeli civilians through its most despicable and cowardly acts of violence. AMC’s failure to recognize these acts and its unwillingness to denounce Hamas has led to television programs such as “Jihad in America” by Steve Emerson, whose bigotry toward non-Jewish Middle Easterners is as clear as the Nation of Islam’s dislike for Jews and Whites.

My dear sir, thousands of new hospitals, schools and full stomachs cannot and will not be worth anything in the eyes of the Lord and civilized societies when or if a cent of these donations goes to spilling a drop of blood of an innocent person. When we stand by and ignore the fact that some of our support is going to fund these activities, regardless of how small they may be, we are just as guilty as those who perpetrate these senseless acts upon innocent people.

Mark Shapur Nazemzadeh, Huntsville, AL

No Other Publication Tells the Truth

The Washington Report is the most wonderful publication in the country. No other media outlet tells the truth. Mainstream papers like the Boston Globe assign a biased, usually Jewish, reporter to cover not only Israel but also the Palestinians, Lebanon and the other Arab states. The current Boston Globe reporter is not objective. I’ve complained to no avail. When Curtis Wilkie covered the area with courage and honesty, members of the Jewish community of Brookline forced the Globe to recall him. He now travels the U.S. sending occasional features—a reporter silenced. Andrew Killgore and Richard Curtiss are men of courage and I bless them. I’m sure God will bless them, too.

Anne Thomas, Brookline, MA

Add an “In Memorium” Category

Enclosed is my check for $100, which should cover the enclosed invoices plus a donation to your publisher, the American Educational Trust.

Also, please consider adding an “In Memorium” category to the “Choir of Angels” listing for those of us who would care to make a donation to AET in memory of departed relatives and friends. Thanks for your consideration.

Saad Assad, Ketchikan, AK

Actually any reader can do this. We had a very large bequest several years ago from the late Gerda Styles of New York, and we of course will list donations in memory of an individual, and the name of the donor, under the proper category. This also seems an appropriate place to offer our condolences to Mrs. Ralph Barner of Randolph, Nebraska on the death of her husband, a long-time supporter of the Washington Report. Mr. Barner already had made his 1996 contribution to the American Educational Trust this year when he suffered a stroke in May. He was recuperating in the hospital when he suffered a second fatal attack later in the same month.

Thinking About November Elections

Last night I finally got to the “Publishers’ Page” of the May-June issue. During the night I woke up and decided what I would do with the “names and addresses of the opponents to the candidates who are scaring the professional lobbyists for Israel.”

I intend to write to each of these “dangerous opponents,” and probably send them a photo copy of the information you publish about the incumbent. I am going to suggest they attack their opponent on the basis that his acceptance of contributions from pro-Israel PACs and his devotion to Israel in Congress results in the U.S. supporting Israel’s actions which are in direct conflict with the Ten Commandments and the principles upon which the United States was founded, as defined by The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

I will have to give more background information because undoubtedly the “opponents” are as Mideast illiterate as the general public. I don’t know exactly what that will be until I sit down to write. However, a letter to Mortimer Zuckerman I am mailing today will give the idea.

U.S. policy in the Mideast will not change until Congress is more afraid of the voters than of AIPAC. The only way this will happen is if the voters are convinced the U.S. is supporting actions contrary to our most cherished beliefs.

The only way this will happen is if we hit them between the eyes with true statements such as the head of an article which I am proposing to the Seattle Church Council monthly newspaper, which I will also enclose. Who knows if they will publish it? However, this “pitch” by the Washington Report might spread the “Gospel.”

John S O’Connor, Seattle, WA

We don’t have room in this issue for your proposed statement for the Seattle Church Council monthly newspaper (but will find room in a future issue if it is accepted).

Buffeted by Two Extremes

A short time ago I wrote a letter to the Fargo Forum newspaper in North Dakota, criticizing the billions in foreign aid America gives to Israel. I also wrote that I was upset with the American tax loopholes available to American Jews who send donations to Israeli organizations and then deduct them from their U.S. income tax. I also expressed my extreme displeasure at the president’s offer of an additional $100 million in aid to fight terrorism in Israel shortly after that nation killed over 100 civilians in Lebanon.

The reaction to my letter floored me. One does not criticize Israel around here. There were letters and columns in the paper condemning my opinions as bigotry. One woman from Fargo wrote in her column, and I quote, briefly: “Mr. Kovach’s claim is an ignorant, bigoted lie. There is room for honest disagreement about the Middle East, but there is no room for misrepresentation, distortion and bigotry.”

As your publication points out, there is no secret as to the amount of money being sent to Israel from America. I fail to see how mentioning that amount, and disagreeing with the purpose of sending it there, constitutes bigotry. But I’ve learned now that I’d best be careful of how I express my opinions, lest I end up making powerful enemies who can ridicule and distort honest opinions.

Ironically, I also received offers from a right-wing hate group to join their organization. Obviously, my thoughts on Mideast policy were misinterpreted by all parties.

Tom R. Kovach, Park Rapids, MN

Don’t be intimidated. We’re absolutely convinced that, if they weren’t already, your views about wasting U.S. tax dollars on a bigoted, racist and fundamentalist Israel are shared, since the Israeli election, by a majority of the Americans who have opinions on anything. Most of the people who express opinions to the contrary are Jewish bigots or Christian ignoramuses who have been brainwashed by rogue televangelists. Three such are Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell, the first two of whom have spent time in the slammer and the third of whom accepted the gift of an airplane from the Israeli government for use in his propagandizing. Their attempt to apply some fifth century B.C. biblical prophesy to our era, rather than the one in which it was written, is very convenient for fund-raising since it implies that the end of the world is at hand, and their followers will have no further use for their money. The lady from Fargo who saw “misrepresentation, distortion and bigotry” in your letter must have been looking in the mirror.

A Sea of Platitudes

Enclosed is a letter I wrote to President Clinton and his answer. Have you ever seen such a sea of platitudes? Still, I suppose it’s something to have an answer—they’ve been ignoring my letters lately, which possibly you will say is just as well. But I think I am quite restrained, considering what I would like to say.

Will it ever end over there? With Sharon as minister of infrastructure the settlers will be in clover, but that’s better than defense minister which the ultras wanted for him. I think President Clinton realizes they’ll have to go carefully as it’s all likely to blow up. Did you hear Warren Christopher saying he had no argument with Israeli soldiers staying longer in Hebron? Don’t they realize that it’s such things that infuriate people?

Marion A. Fitch, Washington, DC

To give ammunition to other readers we’re printing in “Other People’s Mail,” starting on p. 49 your letter to the president and his response. We also enjoyed printing your “Seeing the Light” article on p. 49 of our July issue. We think it will give reassurance to others among our activist subscribers who must wonder if they are all alone as they labor in the vineyards. From our vantage point we can name any number of activists of widely varying backgrounds, ages, material circumstances and talents, all soldiering on like you for human rights for Palestinians and others without any thought of recompense or recognition. So we’ll presume to speak for the Palestinians, Kashmiris, Bosnians and all the other still persecuted, dispossessed and disenfranchised peoples of the world and say, “Thanks, together we shall overcome.”

Zionist Censorship in France

As a French subscriber to the Washington Report, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your magazine, and how I need it, since I want to keep informed on what is going on in the Middle East.

I am a female writer, and I have published four books, three of them on the Israel-Palestine issue.

The first one, Les Deux Coeurs du Monde, du Kibboutz a L’Intifada (Both Hearts of the World, from Kibbutz to Intifada) tells my personal story, from my enthusiasm regarding the kibbutz when I was 22 years old, to my total involvement with the Palestinians. It was published during the Gulf war, and I could feel the pressure of the Zionist lobby. However a few thousand persons read it until my publisher, Flammarion, decided to destroy 1,500 copies, without telling me! Now, there still are 70 copies in stock, and no bookseller can obtain any of them, since they are told that “the book is out of print.” It is a lie, of course. But when there are only 50 left, I can get my copyright back and try to be published somewhere else. Of course I asked a lawyer to deal with it, but it takes money, and I don’t have any at the moment. This is how they can “kill” a book.

My second book was Russes Errants Sans Terre Promisé, (Wandering Russians Without a Promised Land), published at L’Harmattan, 1994, telling about the incredible wandering of some poor Russian Jewish immigrants, who lost everything in Russia when anti-Semitism started again, in the late ’80s. After they reached Israel they were mistreated because they were mixed couples. Their story is also mine, since I met them in Holland where they tried to hide in churches. One day after I met them the Israelis, with the help of Dutch police, deported them early in the morning back to Israel. The book is their story, and also the story of what I did to find them, to gather separated families, and to get them refuge in France. (I rescued about 16 of them, most of whom are still in France.)

It goes without saying that the Zionist lobby has been effective in preventing the book from becoming known. Not a line appeared in the press about it! It has been total censorship. I even had to change publishers. The first one with whom I had signed a contract told me, “I like you, but I have a wife and children.” And he gave up. It took me one whole year to find another publisher. That one is known to do nothing for promotion (do it yourself, they say). I don’t know if I sold 200 copies.

The third book is called Libres Femmes de Palestine, (Free Women of Palestine), l’Atelier 1996. It tells of the wonderful work of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees based in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem. I published this one with the help of an NGO, the French Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development (CCFD). The only journals that reviewed it are Catholic publications. (I don’t consider myself a Catholic, although I was educated in that religion.) Even the radio stations that previously interviewed me, like Radio France International and France Inter, told the publisher they would not invite Marion Sigaut.

I spoke recently with a Jewish television producer who read my last book and wanted to make a film about it. He said it was beautiful, and that the image I gave of Palestinian women was very interesting: they were not shown as victims of machismo nor of Islam, but as joyful fighters against ignorance and poverty, free in their minds and in their souls. He asked me to write a script, and I did so. He accepted the script, and then went to French television to propose the production.

One week later he asked me to “arrange” the script, and to show more about the Islamic pressure, about their suffering from male violence, and their despair. If you show the Palestinians as miserable victims pushed to violence by pressures within their own society, you are welcome. If you show them as a positive population, educated and optimistic, rewrite the script.

As a matter of fact, everything I write now suffers from the pressure of the Zionist lobby. In America, you now have new forces to fight the lobby and try to get the information through. Here we do not.

Of course there are lots of books published here about the truth in Israel and Palestine. But none of them are written like mine. I speak to a large public, telling lively stories, speaking about myself and the people I love (I speak Hebrew and Arabic, and I have friends on both sides). This is why I am considered as dangerous. For instance, I helped Jewish families, so nobody will ever be able to call me anti-Semitic...And I am not Jewish, so I cannot be called a “self-hating Jew.”

Would you be interested in knowing about my books? If yes, do you have anybody who reads French enough to give you an idea? Could I consider being published in America?

The more I read the Washington Report, the more I think I would like to collaborate.

Marion Sigaut, Lainsecq, France

When we talk to Canadians, we always end up trying to top each other’s anecdotes illustrating the incredible influence of the Zionists in the mainstream media and publishing. It sounds like you could enter the contest with stories of your own. Small as we are, we’re probably not the right place to turn to for help. We suggest, however, that you might consider a very short version of the story of your evolution from admirer of the kibbutzniks to admirer of the stone throwers for our “Seeing the Light” series. It might arrive in time for inclusion in our book Seeing the Light, coming out at the end of the summer. As for your major question, we have had people who wrote for us in French, and whose work then was translated into English by volunteers, usually their own friends or relatives. The problem is that volunteers able to translate that well generally are skilled writers themselves, and have to decide how their time is best invested. We suggest that you send us a copy of one of your books, which we in turn can pass on to anyone offering translation services, or possibly for a review for our French-speaking readers. We’ll also pass on to you any letters from such volunteers.

All Was Not Lost

I was disappointed that Hanan Ashrawi could not make The World Affairs Council of Orange County meeting on June 11, 1996. All was not lost, however, as I had the privilege of listening for the first time to a talk by your executive editor. He was succinct and to the point. I thoroughly enjoyed his honesty. Instead of saying “the craniated vertebrates exhibited a 100 percent mortality response,” he chose to say “all the fish died.”

One item I picked up on relates to aid to Israel. In the document section (pp 151-157) of its Winter 1995 issue, The Journal of Palestine Studies discussed and showed foreign aid to Israel since 1949. The aggregate total for the 45 years was $61.188 billion. Being a finance major and practitioner, the value of the aid, since it is interest free and the principal never repaid, is $163.2 billion at an 8 percent cost of capital, or $141.4 billion at 7 percent. Shock treatment at its best. I attach schedules to support my calculations. They are based on CRS numbers shown in the journal mentioned above.

Taking it a step further, if the average population of Israel was 1 million during the 45 years, the subsidy amounts to $3,627 per person per year for 45 years. This equates to a total of $163,215 per person.

When can I become an Israeli citizen?

I wish you continued success and keep up the great work.

Robert J. Pisapia, Westlake Village, CA

Our executive editor is seldom at a loss for words, particularly with an audience the size of that one of some 600 people, preceded earlier in the day by an audience of 200-plus at the University of California, Irvine.

Your aid to Israel calculations are impeccable but we think that they proceed from a too-conservative base. Our own calculations, presented in the April 1996 Washington Report, put that base at $77.726 billion in grants, loans and loan guarantees through fiscal year 1996. We’re presenting that table again on this page. Of course it will be another $5.5 billion or so higher when we next present it after the beginning of the 1997 fiscal year on Oct. 1, 1996.

Hit By a Bucket of Cold Water

When I started this note, I thought I had some very hot news for you. Then I called the State Department for verification, and they hit me with a bucket of very cold water.

Your executive editor’s presentation at the Orange County World Affairs Council in June was magnificent. What a treat it is to see the expressions of revelation come over the faces of people who are hearing something from a credible source that is totally the opposite of what they’d been conditioned to believe over the years. If we could clone another 51 of him and assign each to cover a different state, it wouldn’t be long until public opinion stopped the tail in Jerusalem from wagging the puppy in Washington.

When he said that Israel costs the U.S. $5.5 billion a year, I flashed on an item from the Wall Street Journal’s “world wire” of July 6, 1995, reporting on a speech by Martin Indyk in which he said that “Israel gets a total of $13 billion a year in U.S. loans, grants, and loan guarantees as an incentive to buy U.S. products.” Indyk also said that the previous year (1994) we had a $1 billion trade deficit with Israel, while Israel had a $7.5 billion deficit with the European Union. He demanded that Israel abolish its trade barriers and spend more in the U.S.

So I called the Department of State’s Israel desk and spoke with an economics officer who said Israel has cleaned up its act, is spending more on U.S. goods, and has not been defaulting on the loans that we guarantee. In sum, he says, Israel is now costing us just $3,100,000,000 a year. Is the Israel desk slipping me through the grease?

Donald S. Bustany, Los Angeles, CA

The original Wall Street Journal report on U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk’s statement seems to have been the newspaper’s error. Presumably Indyk was referring to $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees over five years and $3 billion in annual military and economic assistance from the foreign aid budget. (As you know, Israel also gets $550 million in additional assistance from other parts of the U.S. budget for such projects as the Arrow missile and from special arrangements which allow it to collect its entire foreign aid payment at the beginning of the fiscal year instead of in quarterly installments as do all other foreign aid recipients.) The State Department officer’s statement that Israel is not defaulting on the loans we guarantee doesn’t make sense since so far as we know none of them are due for repayment in less than 10 years. Only time will tell whether the loans we’ve guaranteed are fully repaid, partially repaid, or not repaid at all.

As you know, Israel’s advocates claim it never has defaulted on a U.S. loan. In fact it never has repaid a U.S. government loan. All eventually are forgiven by Congress. Meanwhile, under the Cranston Amendment, which has been attached to every U.S. foreign aid bill since 1984, annual U.S. economic aid cannot go below the amount that Israel owes in interest on its outstanding loans. So, in a nutshell, Israel’s credit history with the U.S. has been that the U.S. pays all the interest on all outstanding U.S. government loans to Israel until the U.S. Congress eventually forgives the loans themselves. It would be nice to think that the U.S. loan guarantees to Israel eventually will cost the U.S. taxpayer nothing, as one of the questioners at the Orange County meeting maintained. History, however, shows the opposite—that once the money goes to Israel, it doesn’t come back. The loan guarantees were dreamed up as a solution to that dismal credit history, so that Israel’s lobbyists (and apparently the State Department officer) can say, “But this is different—these are not U.S. loans but U.S. loan guarantees.” However, since the record shows that a loan to Israel is the same as a grant to Israel, so, we fear, will be the loan guarantees.

By our calculations Israel received $3,505,300,000 ($3.5 billion) in military and economic assistance and $2 billion in U.S. loan guarantees in fiscal year 1996 for a total of $5,505,300,000 ($5.5 billion).

We assume your suggestion for 51 clones is so that one can stay in Washington and edit this magazine. Or is it so that there will also be one for Israel—the 51st state?

Speaking the Unspeakable

I was pleased to hear your executive editor speaking at the Orange County World Affairs Council Dinner, along with Dr. Nasser Aruri and former Congressman Pete McCloskey. The total impact of all the remarks from the head table made it an extraordinary, memorable evening, an event that just came together to make a “blockbuster” impact, which I think arose from saying the unmentionable, and speaking the unspeakable.

Your executive editor’s comments, that the future might see a decreasing amount of U.S. trade in the Middle East, and world-wide, as a result of America’s pro-Israel servitude, is a situation that has been long in progress, I believe. I hope that you might focus on that in the future.

How to measure the amount of trade that would have gone to the U.S., but was lost to U.S. companies because of an international antipathy to America, because of its sponsorship and cover-up of the Israeli occupation and terrorism? How to measure the unknown, the potential, and the unspent money?

I think it is done all the time, and modern businessmen call it “market share.” My own “gut feeling” is that most probably the “lost” trade is far greater than the $200 billion-total subsidy (including interest on money the U.S. borrowed to provide gifts to Israel) that Israel has received.

If that concept could be gotten across to the American public it would be a major step in creating interest and understanding of the political issues, I believe.

It has to be mentioned, and this is hearsay as I was not there, that in one of the preparatory meetings between local Jewish and Arab American leaders for this memorable evening, the Jewish participants did not show up. The reason given was that the Jewish leadership in New York had told the Orange County Jewish leaders not to meet with the “terrorists.” This was in April, I believe.

Thanks again to all who made it a very rare evening indeed, for which I am most appreciative.

Patrick F. Flynn, Yorba Linda, CA

The negotiations that preceded the Orange County World Affairs Council program are touched upon in Pat and Samir Twair’s “California Chronicle” column on p. 66 of this issue.

We understand that one of the next speakers before the Orange Country World Affairs Council will be Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who supposedly will “redress the balance.” We think if guests listen carefully, they will find in his remarks vindication for the gloomy predictions concerning the fate of the “peace process” presented by the speakers you mentioned.

Eluding Vigilant Turkish Customs

Yesterday I had the very pleasant surprise of receiving the three cups that you had sent as a thank you to 1994 members of your “Choir of Angels.”

I had read about you sending these out in one of your issues and I had thought that I would be in big trouble if you sent them to me. Everything here in Turkey is charged ‘customs duty’ except for books and magazines. Anyway, I completely forgot about the cups as the months passed and then yesterday, there they were. All in perfect shape (thanks to the excellent packaging) and lo and behold, NO customs tax. It was really a wonderful surprise and an excellent thank you.

I can only say, “You’re welcome.” I sincerely appreciate your “thank you” and have been using the cups since last night.

Linda Thain-Ali, Malatya, Turkey

We’ve recently discovered they’re not dishwasher-proof because of the images of Arab banknotes embossed on them. We’re now dreaming up a surprise for our 1995 angels. Meanwhile, for any 1994 angels who received any of their Arab currency mugs broken, we still have some replacement mugs in the warehouse.

Palestinian Photographic Studies

For the last four months I have been photographing elderly Palestinians living in Chile since 1948 and the loss of their homeland. Some of them included small personal items they were able to take with them.

I would like to photograph elderly Palestinians living in Jordan this autumn if I can get a $2,000 grant to pay my airfare and living expenses for 10 days. My intention is to show the Diaspora after 1948 in the form of an exhibit in 1998 and entitle it “Memories of Home.” Each of these persons have told me their personal circumstances in leaving Palestine in 1948 and I will include these comments below the photos.

Please give me an idea who can sponsor this exhibit and who/which organization could provide me with this small grant. Thank you for any ideas you can provide. I’m stumped.

Maymie Eschwey, 4716 Wilford Way, Edina, MN 55435, Tel. (612) 922-8826

If we knew someone with $2,000 to spare, we’d probably try to beat you to them. By publishing your letter and address, we’ll give you an even start.