Jackson Does It Again

The tense relations between the American Jewish community and the Rev. Jesse Jackson have been further strained in the last few days by an alleged slur by the Democratic Presidential hopeful to Jews as “Hymie” and to New York as “Hymietown,” as well as to his call on Jewish leaders to repudiate the tactics of some Jewish groups that he said had tried to disrupt his election campaign.

Jackson’s remarks about “Hymie” or “Hymietown” were reported by The Washington Post last week. But in a meeting yesterday with editors and reporters at the Post, Jackson said he had “no recollection” of making these statements.

But the Washington Post said it stood by its story that Jackson made his remarks in a conversation with its reporter Milton Coleman in a cafeteria at the Washington National Airport on January 25 during a discussion of foreign affairs. “At least one senior member of Jackson’s staff has since acknowledged to a reporter hearing Jackson occasionally use the term ‘Hymie’,” the Post reported today.

Nathan Perlmutter, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said today that the term “Hymie” is “a derogatory term” and it is hoped that Jackson did not say it, as he now claims. “Words are the clothing in which thoughts come and that (Hymie) is an ugly thought,” Perlmutter said.

‘SWINGING AGAINST IMAGINARY JEWISH ENEMIES’

As for Jackson’s call on Jewish leaders to repudiate disruptive tactics by some Jewish groups, Perlmutter said: “Jackson is once again swinging at imaginary Jewish enemies. ” He noted that an advertisement by “Jews Against Jackson” in various newspapers, sponsored by the Jewish Defense League, “was deplored by a broad spectrum of Jewish organizations.” Jackson “is either distorting the truth or doesn’t know what he is talking about,” Perlmutter said.

Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said in a statement issued here today: “Jackson’s charge that Jewish leadership has been reluctant to condemn extremism by the JDL is manifestly unfair. The UAHC, along with responsible Jewish leadership, has rebuked the JDL, now as in the past, for tactics which do violence to the democratic process and thus harm all Americans, including Blacks and Jews.”

Continuing, Schindler said: “If we have been timid, it is rather in our failure forcefully to repudiate Jesse Jackson’s inimical views, lest we fan the flames of a Black-Jewish confrontation on the American scene. We desire no such group conflict. We react rather to an individual candidate who happens to be Black but whose expressed words and deeds are injurious and offensive to us.”

Howard Friedman, president of the American Jewish Committee, said: “We have repeatedly over the past several years condemned in unequivocal and unconditional terms those undemocratic tactics that have been used by some to interfere with the political campaigns of various people including Jesse Jackson.”