December 1989, Page 27

California Chronicle

"California Loves Israel": An Idea Whose Time Has Passed?

By Pat McDonnell Twair

In early October the Los Angeles office of the National Association of Arab Americans began receiving complaints about a media campaign, entitled "California Loves Israel," that was recruiting listeners for a trip to Israel.

Contents of an expensive information pamphlet pronounced promoter Phil Blazer as the organizer of "California Loves Israel."

Blazer, who initiated the "Tear Up Your Standard Oil Credit Card" campaign in reaction to the company's anti-Israel stance in 1973, and took Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Peter Strauss to Israel during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon to boost the morale of Israeli troops, introduced his latest campaign with the following statement: "This is the most important project I have undertaken for Israel. After 25 years of broadcasting and publishing I have never seen the people of Israel so abandoned as now because of recent media coverage."

The promoter called for 1,200 Californians to travel to Israel in November so that their presence in Jerusalem would "dispel many of the notions which are currently gaining popularity."

The brochure also identified both California senators, Democrat Alan Cranston and Republican Pete Wilson as honorary chairmen of the campaign.

James Lee of Wilson's Los Angeles office stated the senator agreed to lend his name to the "California Loves Israel" campaign months ago. It was a different story at Cranston's Los Angeles office. Cranston recalled that months earlier Blazer had asked him to go on the trip and he declined. A Cranston aide said the senator had heard nothing more of the matter and that he did not authorize Blazer to use his name.

Juliet Ristom, a board member of the Los Angeles chapter of NAAA, stated: "It is shocking that Sen. Wilson is offering one-sided support to Israel at a time when Palestinians are being shot, beaten and imprisoned daily by Israeli troops."

Casey Kasem Accepts Award

The first week of October was a blockbuster for Arab-American broadcaster Casey Kasem. He and his actress wife Jean raised more than $100,000 for the homeless at a Lawn Circus Festival attended by more than 2,000 guests Oct. 1 at their Holmby Hills Estate. Before he participated in the Oct. 7 housing march on Washington, he also was a recipient of an award for community volunteerism at an Oct. 5 awards luncheon of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

In accepting the award for his efforts to promote better understanding between groups, Kasem stated:

"Hope is when you want something to happen; belief is when you know it will happen. We must believe things will change and that with commitment we will have a world of peace, especially in the Middle East where the fuse is the shortest."

Kasem, who is a board member of the Foundation for Mideast Communication, said it has brought Jews and Arabs together in conversation 25 times locally and 70 times internationally.

Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles.