Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 5, 1987 Page: 4 of 20
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1987
Opinion
POSTORIAL
Wall Street and Noah
There is an extraordinary irony in the stock market
crash of 1987 taking place during the week that the
Torah portion dealt with Noah and the flood.
Rabbinic commentators could well have had the
Wall Street debacle in mind when they explained why
the flood wiped out most of mankind and left only
Noah and his family in the ark. The Bible asks why the
flood descended. Because, the Book of Genesis an-
swers, "the earth was corrupt before God and the ear-
th was filled with violence."
The commentator Rashi said that the generation of
Noah was steeped in immoral behavior, that robbery
was widespread, and such corruption sealed their
fate.
I know that sounds terribly fundamentalist, but it
does tell us something about the culture of Wall
Street and the American economy. There is something
immoral about a society that encourages consuming
and spending far beyond genuine human needs. There
is something indecent about an industry that
celebrates greed and encourages people in their 20s
and 30s to play God with millions of dollars in
people's savings and pension funds. How many
schools, hospitals, synagogues and churches will be
savaged by these excesses?
Noah was saved in an ark, the Bible declares,
because in the midst of a corrupt generation he was a
righteous, modest, humble man who earned his weath
by honest means. Somewhere in the Wall Streets of
the world there surely must be some Noahs who will
help build the moral arks of responsibility to
withstand future fiscal floods of Black Monday.
— By Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum
Swiss Ban French Rightist
GENEVA OTA) - The
authorities of the can-
ton of Geneva have
banned Jean-Marie Le
Pen, the president of the
rightist French National
Front Party, from
fulfilling a speaking
engagement on Nov. 26.
Le Pen was expected to
speak at a dinner given
at the Hotel Intercon-
tinental by the Inter-
national Circle of
Economic and Political
Studies. The authorities
said his presence would
be a threat to public or-
der
According to a local
source, 200-250 guests
were invited to the din-
ner. This is the second
time that Le Pen was
barred from speaking in
Geneva. The first time
was in January, 1986,
when he was invited by
Swiss Television.
BY MORRIS J. AMITAY
Every few months,
some newspaper "rein-
vents the wheel" by
running a story, or even
a series centering on the
"powerful Jewish lob-
by," the political ac-
tivities of American
Jews, and their negative
effects on U.S. foreign
policy in the Middle
East. About once a year
a news weekly usually
follows suit — with or
without a cover story.
And about once every
three or four years, a
book is written with the
same theme. Usually
the writers, with little or
no background in the
American Jewish com-
munity, Israel, or the
Middle East, try to get a
crash course in some
very complex subjects
— and inevitably flunk.
Ignorance alone can be
excused, but when it is
accompanied by a
demonstrable bias
against Israel and her
American supporters
you have a very
beatable combination.
These characteristics
are abundantly demon-
strated in a recent "ex-
pose" called The Lob-
by, by journalist Edward
Tivnan.
This particular work,
which has been widely
(and for the most part
negatively) reviewed, is
also characterized by
an inordinately large
number of unnamed
sources and "confiden-
tial interviews." In fact,
this columnist who is
extensively commented
upon and quoted dir-
ectly in Tivnan's book
never met him until a
very recent joint ap-
pearance before the
Washington Council on
Foreign Relations, and
the only previous con-
tact was a brief
telephone call, whose
significance was lost on
the "interviewee"!
The book's main
thrust is aimed against
the lobbying activities
m Washington of the
American-lsrael Public
Affairs Comm ittee
(AIPAC).
Tivnan, who is not
Jewish, claims that
AlPAC's efforts to mar-
shall strong support for
Israel in the Congress do
not represent the views
of a majority of
American Jews. In addi-
tion, AIPAC is charged
with stifling dissent
among Jews, and using
intimidation and threats
in order to get its way
with Congress.
These arguments run
up against some very
simple facts of both
Jewish and political life.
If there is a single com-
mon denominator for
American Jews whether
they are liberal or con-
servative, Democrats or
Republicans, it is near-
unanimous support for
the security and well-
being of Israel. This has
been borne out in coun-
tless polls, and more
importantly, in the fer-
vent loyalty demon-
strated by the American
Jewish community to
the Jewish State in times
of international tension
and political crisis. As
for stifling dissent and
presenting a distorted
view of the American
Jewish community, the
New York Times
reviewer of The Lobby
put it this way:
"Silence is surely not
the precise word for the
uproar that continually
enlivens Jewish public
life, and no politician
who reads the polls can
believe that most
American Jews are
neoconservative."
With regard to the
book's description of
AlPAC's lobbying
techniques, they are no
different than those
used by hundreds of
other interest groups
located in Washington.
The keys to being ef-
fective in this town are
the same for all — good
organization, attention
to detail, accurate in-
formation, adequate
funding, and perhaps
most importantly, hav-
ing a sound case to sell.
With regard to the lat-
ter, making the.
argument that a secure
Israel serves the in-
terests of the United
States in the Middle
East is not a very dif-
ficult task. This is par-
ticularly so if one com-
pares Israel's
democratic form of
government, shared
values with the United
States, stability, and
military capabilities to
those of its Arab neigh-
bors. It is because the
American public at
large recognizes (albeit
with varying degrees of
sophistication) these
basic differences bet-
ween Israel and the
Arab states that the
Congress, elected by the
same public, has been
consistently pro-Israel
in the Arab-lsrael con-
flict.
However, there is
another vital ingredient
contributing to AlPAC's
lobbying success. That
is the passion and con-
viction with which the
case for Israel is made
with elected officials.
This depth of feeling
and commitment is not
lost on politicians who
are sensitive to what is
really a high priority for
those seeking their help.
It is the combination
of concern, nationwide
activism and a strong
case that backstop
AlPAC's lobbying suc-
cess. That is the passion
and conviction with
which the case for Israel
is made with elected of-
ficials. This depth of
feeling and commit-
ment is not lost on
politicans who are sen-
sitive to what is really a
high priority for those
seeking their help.
It is the combination
of concern, nationwide
activism and a strong
case that backstop
AlPAC's talented lob-
byists in Washington
which give the lobby an
edge. While such con-
clusions about the pro-
Israel lobby may not
make very titillating
reading, they are cer-
tainly much more
believable than the
dubious assertions of
writers who reach their
own conclusions out of
either ignorance or
malice — or in Tivnan's
case, both.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 5, 1987, newspaper, November 5, 1987; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753843/m1/4/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .