The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s meeting Sunday with Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad fell well short of pleasing leaders of American Jewish organizations, according to two of those leaders.
One went as far as charging Jackson with “sleight of hand” and “grandstanding” in his comments on anti-Semitism and what is perceived by the leaders as his continuing reluctance to meet with American Jewish leaders.
Jackson initiated the meeting with Arad, who is Israel’s ambassador in Washington. Discussions centered on the Middle East. But Jackson also said the session was planned to establish “some kind of conduit for communications for blacks and Jews” and “some commitment for ongoing dialogue.”
Late Monday, Morris Abram, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued a statement calling the meeting “appropriate.” But he said the conversation “is not a substitute for a meeting of Rev. Jackson with representatives of the American Jewish community.
“The U.S. Jewish community is represented by the national Jewish religious and secular groups that constitute the conference,” said Abram.
INVITATION ‘REMAINS OPEN’
He added that an invitation to meet with the umbrella group that Jackson turned down in April “remains open.”
In a more sharply worded statement, Seymour Reich, international president of B’nai B’rith, called on Jackson to “refrain from dodging the real issues and meet the American Jewish leaders in a sincere effort to resolve the serious problems between blacks and Jews that remain outstanding.”
Reich said that organizations such as his are “the more natural and logical address for airing” concerns about black-Jewish relations and the Middle East, and should have been consulted or invited to the meeting with Arad.
Reich also took exception to the way Jackson responded after the meeting to a question from reporters about recent manifestations of anti-Semitism perpetrated by blacks in Chicago.
The question referred to the controversy triggered by remarks made by Steve Cokely, an aide to Mayor Eugene Sawyer who was subsequently fired. Cokely charged that Jews are involved in a worldwide conspiracy and that Jewish doctors routinely inject black infants wit the virus that causes AIDS.
Jewish leaders have been disappointed in what they perceive as a reluctance on the part of black leaders, including Chicagoan Jackson, to repudiate Cokely.
KOCH REMARKS RAISED
Questioned on the subject, Jackson compared the situation in Chicago with remarks made about him by New York Mayor Ed Koch in April, during the New York state Democratic primary.
Koch said at the time that Jews and other supporters of Israel would be “crazy” to vote for Jackson, because of his support of a Palestinian state.
“It’s not just Chicago and the aide to the mayor,” Jackson told reporters. “It’s the mayor of New York saying that any Jew who would vote for me ‘would be crazy.’ That statement traumatized many people, hurt many people,” he said.
But according to Reich of B’nai B’rith, “it is unacceptable for Rev. Jackson to try and equate the vicious anti-Semitism of a Cokely in Chicago with the political hyperbole of the mayor of New York.
“It is also inexcusable sleight-of-hand to try to gloss over manifestations of anti-Semitism with simplistic and grandstanding efforts at international diplomacy,” the B’nai B’rith leader added.
Reich was referring to Jackson’s offer to play an intermediary role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, based on his close contacts with Palestinian and Arab leaders.
Arad politely rejected such a role, saying negotiations must be carried out by the parties involved, with the help of the U.S. government.
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