November 1991, Page 91

Publishers' Page

We're Part of Something Big.

Some people who are aware of the cramped quarters, the seven-day work weeks, and the all nighters just before the printer's deadline ask us wonderingly:

"Why Do You Do This?"

But when we show them the mail, if they're our kind of folks, they understand. As one of this month's letter writers put it:

"You Should Feel Magnificent About What You're Doing."

Everyone who's donated subscriptions, introduced the magazine to libraries, newsdealers or other subscribers, joined the AET Angels' Choir, sat at a meeting handing out introductory copies, called in to a local talk show to recommend the magazine on the air, or placed a Washington Report advertisement in a publication should feel magnificent, too.

Another Publication Told Us Why.

Editorials for the informative Washington Jewish Week, which goes to 15,000 national capital subscribers, apparently are written by a good twin and an evil twin. The good guy wrote a sensible piece in the Sept. 26 edition saying, in effect, that the Shamir government had to blame its own "arrogance" and "hubris" for much of its trouble with George Bush and James Baker. We asked permission to reprint it.

They Said No.

The bad guy wrote a nasty little piece in the Sept. 19 edition headlined "Bush's blather." WJW said we couldn't reprint that either. We wish we could because when we read it:

We Didn't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry.

The writer said "one of the most frequent requests you get if you write about Jewish affairs is to 'do a piece on the Arab lobby'. . They point to a glossy publication that goes on and on about Congress being held captive by 'Zionist forces' or tax dollars flowing to Tel Aviv. . . "

Who Could He Mean?

He kept us guessing while he assured his readers: "The influence of the 'Arab Lobby' turns out to be the nonstory of the moment. Despite their four-color propaganda, the millions upon millions of petro-dollars you'd think would be at their disposal, and the occasional flap over a highly publicized Buchanan or Edward Said screed, the pro-Arab forces register as barely a blip on the national radar screen. "

There Followed Some Racist Blather.

The WJW writer digressed to explain that it's "hard to drum up much sympathy for the Arab cause," and "except for Ali Baba and Uncle Tanoose, name an Arab television or movie character who wouldn't just as soon blow up a major airliner as spit in your eye? "

We Guess He's Proud That Hollywood Screenwriters Are Racist Too.

Anyway, the WJW writer continues, all those petro-dollars don't matter because the Arabs are "woebegone" and "the pro-Israel lobby draws its strength from a grassroots constituency of legendary political sophistication ... selling a cause most Americans are inclined to support anyway. " (Talk about arrogance and hubris, but never mind.)

That's What He Thought, He Wrote, Until ...

"Until last week, that is, when President Bush delivered remarks that seemed yanked straight out of the pages of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs or some similar 'America first,' read 'Israel last,' journal ... It, wasn't enough for Bush to bring up the United States $4 billion aid package to Israel; he reminded Israel, its supporters and, most troubling, its enemies that such aid amounts to '$1,000 for every Israeli man, woman and child."'

What Can We Say to WJHP.

"Thanks?" Or, "What's wrong with that?" Or, "Would you repeat the part about 'millions upon millions of petrodollars?...

They Must Have Missed Us.

Unfortunately the guys with the "millions upon millions of petro-dollars" don't seem to rate us as highly as the WJW does. That's why we just had to cut our staff by two positions. We're down to five fulltime paid employees, and some part-timers, young and old, paid and unpaid.

And There You Have It: "The Arab Lobby."

Modesty dictates that we inform our readers that, in addition to mentioning Edward Said and Pat Buchanan (twice), the WJW also asked rhetorically: "Was that Paul Findley we heard chortling when the president of the United States described himself as 'one lonely little guy' who is 'up against some powerful political forces?"'

Now That's an Exposé!

So now everyone knows from whom Bush "yanks" his ideas—straight from Buchanan, Findley, Said and the "pages of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs."

Bush Could Do Worse.

We'd like to believe all of that. But any American who's stayed reasonably well informed will, inevitably, come to the same conclusions we have about US Middle East policy. The publisher and executive editor of the Washington Report just happened to have a 35-year head start.

George Bush Is Reasonably Well Informed, Too.

As member of Congress, chairman of the Republican National Committee, ambassador to the UN, CIA director and vice president over the 20 years leading up to his presidency, Bush probably reached similar conclusions on his own, long before he acted. We might better ask him:

What Took You So Long?

The answer, we think, is that he had to wait for US public opinion to catch up, and that's kind of difficult when the media and the Congress together have cultivated the American people the way a farmer cultivates mushrooms: Keep them in the dark and feed them lots of...

Well, You Know.

Anyway, we and our supporters certainly did play a key role in making the White House phones ring all through the month of August. And in making those phones and the phones on Capitol Hill continue to ring throughout September. That, we think, is what assured the president it was time to make his move.

So For That, We All Can Take a Bow.

US Middle East policy will never again be the same. In September, Bush put a silver bullet into the heart of AIPAC. Now he starts the battle with Likud to drive a stake through the heart of its pernicious, racist vision of "Greater Israel."

Only Then Can Israelis and Arabs Live in Peace.

So take a bow, angels who kept us going, activists who helped us build a huge readership, and the thousands of readers who made those calls, wrote those letters, and who will continue until the job's done.

We Made History!

We made a difference! We should all feel magnificent!

And Now Let's Talk About Us!

All that was about the WJW, not us. Now it's our turn. We've received a very moving outpouring of financial aid after our "going under for the third time" appeal in this space last month.

We're Not Sure Where to Begin.

The New Hampshire legislators got copies of the August-September issue, thanks to additional donations from Silvia Davidson of Belvedere, CA, Robert Anastasia of Monrovia, CA, an anonymous donor of Irvine, CA, and Karen Brothers of Atlanta, GA, with the remainder of their donations applied to subscriptions r legislators. That means all 7,567 legislators in the United States got that issue, and all eventually were paid for. We'd never had a press run over 50,000, and we took a big chance buying so many more copies than we could pay for. It flattened us for a while. Thanks to the donors mentioned here and in the previous issue, however, and some big angels we'll be listing in the final 1991 roll call, we're getting back up off the floor.

We Didn't Get a Big Daddy.

In the last issue that's what we said we needed if we were going to survive for more than a few months longer. But one reader pointed out that what we really need are 10,000 "little daddies." We've got a lot more than that, of course, if you count subscribers. But he meant people who contribute something between the cost of a subscription and the $100 needed to take a place in the AET Angels' Choir. We received a lot of these donations.

We Got People on the Make.

Generals, admirals, and ambassadors sent us contributions. So did retired T-4s, petty officers and communication clerks.

We Got People on the Move.

We got contributions from "snow birds," people who live in a house in the north in the summer and motor homes in places like St. George, UT, Corona, CA, Austin, TX or St. Augustine, FL in the winter. We got contributions from people who don't have the house, just the trailer, and who probably need the money just as badly as we do.

We Got People on the Run.

We got $200 from Israeli-Canadian Victor Ostrovsky, who publicly predicted that if he lives for one year after publishing his tell-all book, By Way of Deception, about his former employer, other disaffected ex-Mossad agents also will dare to speak out.

Yes, Mossad, He Left His Address.

This former Mossad agent is living in Canada, where he has appeared on radio shows. (His book is available at $17 from AET.) He's working for a Middle East where Jews and Arabs are secure and at peace.

There Are a Thousand Other Stories to Tell.

But, unfortunately, there aren't going to be 12 issues in which to tell them in 1992. That's why next month's will be a December-January issue.

We'll Have to Play 1992 by Ear.

But we'll keep publishing—thanks to angels and "little daddies" (and mommies) who accompanied their donations with such unbelievably kind and appreciative messages, and the others who haven't yet contributed this year, but who, we hope, are planning to.

We Still Tear Up When We Open the Mail.

We all love a good movie with a sad/happy ending that makes us cry. Maybe that's how good lives and good works end too.

So We'll Stick Around to Find Out.

So long as our readers stick with us.

And Now a Word About You.

We told you the Washington Jewish Week editorial we cited must have been written by the evil twin.

In It, He Said Some Peculiar Things

For instance: "Buchanan was accurate a well as offensive when he described the choice being put forth by Bush as one between Israel's supporters and the Unite States of America."

Think About That.

It was "accurate as well as offensive." To whom? To people, we assume, to whom the truth is offensive. And, we're forced to say, to whom what the United States of America stands for is offensive.

Well, We Said the Writer Was Evil.

So we don't know whether to be proud or furious about the very last sentence in his editorial. Hark back to that "glossy publication" of the "Arab lobby" so full of "four-color propaganda" called "the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. "

Here's Exactly How He Finished:

"If you had asked us a week ago about the influence of the 'anti-Israel lobby,' we would have scoffed. This week we're not as dismissive."

Don't Be!

Since the evil twin still seems to be talking about us, let's set him straight. Neither we nor our supporters have "millions upon millions of petro-dollars" because we're not an "Arab lobby." We're also not an "anti-Israel lobby." The people we criticize are the worst enemies Israel will ever have, because they are destroying both Israel and its neighbors. In fact, we're not even an "America first lobby." We're a lobby that doesn't find truth "offensive." We're a lobby that stands for the ethics some people associate with Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or other great religions, and others associate with ethical humanism, or just being a decent human being.

Call Us the "Golden Rule Lobby."

We'll all answer to that. And, eventually, racist, bigoted, deceitful evil twin, you'll answer to it too.

Make a Difference.

Readers can make that "eventually" come sooner by keeping up the phone calls to the president at (202) 456-1111, a number staffed during weekday working hours by volunteers; and to their representatives in Congress. For your two senators, just call (202) 224-3121 and ask for them by name. For your representative, call the House switchboard, (202) 225-3121. If you want to write, the president's address is the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500. Letters to senators can be mailed to their names, US Senate, Washington, DC, 20510. To members of the House, the name, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC, 20515. The State Department address is 2201 C St., N.W., Washington, DC 20520.

What to Say.

The president knows the facts. His staff is more likely just to count the letters for and against him, rather than read them. If you support the president on Middle East peace and his dealings with Israel, just say so. Members of Congress need to know whether you do or don't support the president, and they might be more interested in why.

Two Kinds of One-issue Voters.

If you plan to be a one-issue voter on the matter, it might be educational for congressmembers to learn there are one-issue voters on both sides: people who will judge them very negatively if they accept money from pro-Israel PACs, and if they don't support the president on Middle East peace.

The Important Thing Is To Do It.

Polls now show that 86 percent of the American people back the president on the loan guarantees. But it was your calls that convinced him to take the step that drew that backing.

It's the Most Important US-Mideast Event in 44 Years.

Let our leaders know we know it.

Make A Difference—This Month.