November 1989, Page 42, 43

Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

Attack on Jewish Peace Lobby Branded "Jewish McCarthyism"

Robert O. Freedman, a former president of the Maryland chapter of the American Jewish Congress (AJC) has accused Steve Silbiger, the AJC's Washington representative, of practicing "a Jewish form of McCarthyism."

Freedman, now graduate dean of the Baltimore Hebrew University, was reacting to Silbiger's remarks about the newly formed Jewish Peace Lobby, which supports the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The lobby is headed by Jerome Segal, a research professor from the University of Maryland who has met with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Silbiger had called the Peace Lobby "a joke" and Segal "the PLO's man in Washington from the Jewish community [who has] attached himself to the Arab lobby, which pound for pound is the weakest lobby in town." Segal had asked Silbiger to lobby with his group in support of a congressional resolution which called on Israel not to close West Bank schools for political reasons. Silbiger refused.

Segal insisted that the Peace Lobby is "a pro-Israel organization" and that Silbiger's views were his own "and not those of the American Jewish Congress."

Freedman, who is listed by a Jewish Peace Lobby pamphlet as an endorser, defended the fledgling organization in a letter to the editor of the Washington Jewish Week. He wrote that the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state was the only way "to assure that Israel will not begin to look like South Africa because of its continued occupation over a rapidly expanding population of unhappy Palestinians who, together with the Arabs living in pre-1967 Israel, will surpass the Jewish population of Israel sometime after the year 2000."

"Days of Rage"-The Aftermath

Last month Jewish leaders were able to convince public television stations to air "wraparound" programming along with the PBS broadcast of Jo Franklin-Trout's controversial film "Days of Rage-The Young Palestinians." But now, according to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, some of these leaders are worried that their successful campaign may backfire, and that the documentary could be shown throughout the country as the "film the Jews tried to stop."

The 60-minute "wraparound" produced by New York station WNET included a 10-minute segment of Israel's view of the intifada and a 40-minute discussion and was intended to "balance" Franklin-Trout's sympathetic portrayal of the uprising.

Seymour Reich, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and a participant in the panel discussion, said the Jewish community had "no choice but to label the so-called documentary as propaganda." He said "the Jewish community can never hide things under the rug-not anti-Semitism, and not Arab propaganda" and warned B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundations on college campuses that the film would probably be shown there.

Martin Raffel from the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council said the meeting he organized between Jewish leaders and PBS executives, which led to the addition of "wraparound programming," were the most appropriate way for the community to deal with "Days of Rage."

"We didn't launch a campaign to censor the broadcast or encourage members of the community to punish PBS by withholding contributions," he said.

Another negative reaction to the film came from unexpected quarters. Michael Posner, from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York, who was interviewed by Franklin-Trout in the film, wrote her a letter to express his "profound disappointment" with "Days of Rage." He said he wanted to "disassociate" himself from the film because it did not present "a full or balanced examination of the current human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza."

Posner said "Days of Rage" failed to present mainstream Israeli views which are vital to a full understanding of the situation.

Posner told Franklin-Trout: "I support your right to present your views and PBS's right to air them. However I deeply regret that an opportunity for serious and thoughtful discussion of these sensitive and highly important issues has been lost."

Andrea Barron, a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DCm is a member of the Jewish Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.