Special Interview Klutznick; the Board View of Events

Philip M. Klutznick of Chicago, a leading Jewish industrialist, chairman of the Policy Committee of the Committee on Economic Development, past president of B’nai B’rith, and on Sunday elected chairman of the World Jewish Congress’ Governing Board, was as surprised as anyone at Sen. Charles Percy’s sudden flurry of statements warning Israel that U.S. aid was not bottomless and urging recognition of Palestinian aspirations. “I broke my party line to support Percy for re-election,” Klutznick recalled in a special interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.

He was attending the WJC’s Sixth Plenary Assembly when the furore which followed the Senator’s pronouncements really began mushrooming. He was thus not among the 100-odd Illinois Jewish leaders who met with Percy in a reportedly unsatisfactory clarification discussion in Chicago.

Klutznick has his reservations about how the Jewish reaction to Percy’s statements was handled. He feels that a smaller delegation of top Jewish leaders would have achieved much more and certainly in a much better atmosphere–than the massed ranks of the entire leadership of the Chicago Jewish Public Affairs Committee did. But he well understands, he says, the very intense feelings that the lawmaker’s remarks provoked, and the desire of all Jewish representative leaders in the town and the state to take part in the meeting.

Klutznick, with solid experience in U.S. Administration policy-making as a one-time Ambassador to ECOSOC, took a broad view of the Percy affair. He stressed first that Percy was not alone: Sen. James McLure (R.Idaho) made similar public statements in Israel, and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D.Hawaii)–here at the head of an Appropriations Committee team–reportedly uttered similar sentiments in private.

PART OF A GENERAL ATMOSPHERE.

These phenomena are part of a general atmosphere in Washington, an atmosphere which, Klutznick firmly believes, is going to make Israel’s efforts to secure aid and support in the U.S. capital harder than ever. The burgeoning disputes now shaping up over President Ford’s budget are, he said, a clear indication of the Congress’ extreme wariness, in this period of economic recession, in relation to federal spending in general, and overseas aid in particular.

There will be “one helluva fight,” Klutznick prognosticated. “And in this atmosphere you will find dear friends of Israel taking positions that might seem unfriendly to Israel.” He stressed, though, that Percy’s recent pronouncements do not mean that he will necessarily oppose Israel’s aid requests when they come before the Senate. On the contrary, Klutznick still is convinced that the Illinois legislator will back these requests. Klutznick is to join David Blumberg, B’nai B’rith national president, in a private meeting with the Senator in Washington later this month.

Klutznick cited other factors which, together, go towards creating this newly difficult atmosphere. The U.S., he said, traditionally passes through phases of introspection and neo-isolation, and one of these seemed to be developing currently. President Ford himself has hinted this in his State of the Union message.

Moreover, the Arab oil lobby was becoming ever more noticeable. Finally, there was a general weariness with foreign imbroglios in general, and with the seemingly never-ending Mideast conflict in particular. The country was still in a process of recovering from two shattering crises–Vietnam and Watergate–and was in the unique situation of having both a President and a Vice-President who had not been elected by the people.

“Against that backdrop, Israel’s request for $2.5 billion for next year will have a much tougher time passing than it would have had two years ago,” Klutznick summed up. Klutznick strengthened his general assessment with the observation that people in the U.S. in general might tend to blame Jewish and Israeli interests for the Soviet reneging on the Trade Bill. This, too, could rebound adversely on Israel’s efforts in Washington. he feels.

The role of U.S. Jewish leadership, in backing Israel in its relations with the American government, Klutznick observed, is invariably and inevitably made easier at times when Israeli and U.S. Mideast policies harmonize–as has been the case since the Yom Kippur War.

STEP-BY-STEP OR GENEVA?

Would an Israeli decision to break away from U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s stage-by-stage method and favor a return to Geneva (as WJC President Nahum Goldmann advocates) hasten a worsening of Israel-U.S. relations? Klutznick answered carefully.

This would depend very much on how this came about. If it was felt in Jerusalem that this change of direction was necessary from Israel’s stand-point, this need not necessarily be engineered in contravention of the Secretary’s wishes or in diminution of his prestige. Kissinger was uniquely capable of shifting gears swiftly and silently and creating a new situation as though he himself has initiated it. The situation could conceivably arise whereby all parties returned to Geneva–and the impression was that it was Kissinger’s own idea, Klutznick mused.

Last Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet reiterated its support of the stage-by-stage approach “at this time”–a reference which was not lost on political commentators here. The intention apparently was to hint that Israel did not see the Geneva option as a disaster if no satisfactory partial settlement could be achieved.

NEED FOR COHESIVE JEWISH LEADERSHIP

Klutznick became active in WJC affairs only recently, having devoted many years to B’nai B’rith, because he perceived “that there is no alternative….The Jewish people must be united together, and must look outward, towards the world as it is around us, otherwise we are sunk…” There was no point in “ignoring the problems because we don’t like them.”

The WJC, with the new, more cohesive leadership structure that had been decided upon by the Plenary Assembly, “offers the hope of cohesion in Jewish leadership….Fifteen years ago I felt differently….But now I feel WJC can answer world Jewry’s desperate need to get together despite inter-organizational differences,” Klutznick said. He foresaw closer contacts between such movements as his own B’nai B’rith and the WJC as the result of constitutional changes made at this Assembly in the WJC charter.

Interviewed before his election as chairman of the Governing Board, Klutznick would only say that questions as to his possible future assumption of the mantle of presidency after Dr. Goldmann were indiscreet. The Israeli press had been speculating throughout the Assembly that Dr. Goldmann was effectively grooming the Chicago industrialist and philanthropist for this office. Klutznick himself was full of admiration for Dr. Goldmann’s personality, experience and achievements. He has urged the veteran leader, he revealed, to devote more time to “recording the great events which he had a hand in creating,” to write more and publish more.

Dr. Goldmann himself has indicated that he may well step down before the end of his four-year term–at a moment of his choosing–and there were reports here that this had in fact been informally agreed between him and the Labor Zionist movement. When that time comes Philip Klutznick will be the man to whom many Jews, and many prominent WJC figures will look to for leadership of the international Jewish body.