Bush Flays Politicians Who Use Spy Case to Question Jewish Loyalty

Vice President George Bush lashed out last night against political leaders who use the Joncthan Pollard spy case “to make generalizations about ‘divided loyalties'” of American Jews. He also criticized politicians who refuse to speak out against Louis Farrakhan, whom he ##ed the “vilest peddler of anti-Semitism.”

Bush spoke at a special convocation preceding Yeshiva University’s pre-centennial Chanukah dinner out which he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the university. Similar degrees were conferred on Meir Rosenne, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, and five business and communal leaders who are benefactors of the university.

Addressing himself to the case of Pollard, a counterintelligence analyst employed by the Navy who was arrested last month for allegedly selling U.S. secret information to Israel, Bush said:

“I’ve heard criticism of the American Jewish community for its vocal support of Israel and of other issues its members believe in. I for one, am deeply disturbed when I hear people in public life speak of American Jews as though they are some sort of monolithic force with improper influence on U.S. policy.”

Bush called on American Jews to continue their political activism. “Citizen advocacy strengthens our country. It gives America vitality. It’s part of why America is so great.”

ANTI-SEMITISM IS A ‘DISGUSTING DISEASE’

The Vice President, who is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, strongly denounced anti-Semitism — which he called a “disgusting disease” — and international terrorism. He affirmed the U.S. determination not to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization until it renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.

Referring to recent incidents of terrorism, Bush asked, “What else but evil can we call the beating and murder on TWA Flight 847 of young Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, or the machinegunning of six young Marines in El Salvador? What else but evil can we call the murder on the Achille Lauro of Leon Klinghoffer, who was confined to a wheelchair, victim of a stroke?”

“The goal of the terrorism we see in the world today,” Bush declared, “is to undermine Western democratic society, to undermine the institutions, values and traditions that are the foundations of our civilization.”

AWARD TO ROSENNE AND JEWISH LEADERS

Rosenne was the featured speaker at the dinner. Recalling his escape with his parents from Nazi-occupied Rumania in 1944, the Ambassador accepted his honorary Doctor of Laws degree “for the Jews of Jassy and for the Jews of all other European towns and shtetlach (townlets) who died because they were Jews.”

The five business and communal leaders who received honorary degrees are: David Berg of New York, J. Morton Davis of New York, Joseph Gruss of New York, Herbert Schiff of Columbus, Ohio, and Leonard Stern of New York. Berg, Davis, Gruss and Schiff are members of the university’s Board of Trustees. Schiff is also chairman of the Board of Governors of the university’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work. The university will celebrate its centennial in 1986.