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The Southen
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jevv
'Since 1925'
Vol. I.XII Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, March 28, 1986
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No.
Kreisky sees backlat
in Austrian controversy
AIPAC withdrawing
arms sale opposition
by Joseph Polakoff
rSTs Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON—The Ameri
can Israel Public Affairs Commit
tee has decided not to wage strong
opposition to President Reagan’s
proposed $354 million sale of some
2,500 missiles to Saudi Arabia.
The lobby’s decision was based,
informed sources told the The
Southern Israelite, to avoid fric
tion with the administration over a
relatively small arms deal and con
siderable opposition among impor
tant Jewish communal leaders to
engaging in a contest with the pres
ident at this time of intense con
troversy abroad. Another factor
cited was the view that the commit
tee should reserve its mobilizing
strength for conflicts ahead and
delivery of AWACs to Saudi Ara
bia and arms to Jordan later this
year.
The sources said that while
A1 PAC’s decision on the missiles is
alleged to follow the lead of Israel’s
government which has indicatecrit
w'ould not strenuously object to
the sale, the decision as usual was
based on American considerations.
Important Jewish communal lead
ers have indicated objection to
opposing the administration when
it is heavily engaged in Central
America and the Arab world.
Eight Jewish congressmen voted
for Reagan’s proposed $100 mil
lion in aid for the Contras clashing
with the Sandinistas. Nineteen lead-
See AIPAC, page 27.
by Reinhard Engel
VIENNA (JTA)-The heated
controversy over Kurt Waldheim’s
alleged Nazi past reached a new
pitch here Tuesday when former
Chancellor Bruno Kreisky de
nounced as “monstrous meanness”
charges brought against Waldheim
by the World Jewish Congress and
wider circles in the United States.
WJC officials, meanwhile, vowed
to pursue their investigation of
Waldheim even after he becomes
president of Austria, assuming he
is elected.
Kreisky, who is Jewish and a
Socialist, came to the defense of
Waldheim, a Catholic conserva
tive, in an interview published in
Die Presse. Waldheim, the presi
dential candidate of the conserva
tive Peoples Party, who served two
terms as secretary general of the
United Nations, has been accused
of concealing for 40 years alleged
membership in the Nazi SA (Brown
Shirts) and a Nazi student organi
zation before World War II. He is
also accused of possible complicity
in the deportation of Greek Jews
while a lieutenant in the Wehr-
macht during the German occupa
tion of Greece.
Kreisky warned of a backlash in
Austria against Jews abroad who
Nomination of LaRouchies
has Chicago in political fog
by Edwin Black
Lyndon LaRouche won in Illi
nois March 18. From all indica
tions, he will continue to win
throughout the nation unless Jew
ish organizations, civil rights
groups and the media adopt a
completely new strategy for deal
ing with sophisticated political ex
tremism.
Most people already know that
LaRouchies Mark Fairchild and
Janice Hart won Illinois’ Demo
cratic nominations for lieutenant
governor and secretary of state
respectively. They did so not by
rabblerousing and winning hearts
for LaRouche, but by silently in
vading the political process. As
such, they owe a debt of gratitude
to the media, Jewish organizations
and regular political forces, all of
whom were asleep at the switch.
But apparently, even if Jewish de
fense organizations had been aler
ted to their candidacy, a catch-22
in the law restricts them from
speaking out.
First, the explanation of why
they were elected. Nobody knows.
Chicago has been reeling with
Wednesday morning political ana
lyses, and nearly everyone is point
ing at the other guy. The truth is,
few outside of Chicago can possi
bly comprehend the bizarre char
acter of Chicago politics. Phony
candidates, Democrats posing as
Republicans, phantom populations,
firing shots into and burning down
one’s own campaign office—all
this and more is so commonplace
here, most people laugh at the very
idea of elections.
More importantly, Chicago is
notorious for negative voting. In a
city where Mickey Mouse regu
larly scores a respectable write-in
vote, and where the Communists
give a helluva fight for trustees ot
the Metropolitan Sanitary Dis
trict, many people have been raised
since childhood to blindly vote
against candidates —especially can
didates slated by political rivals.
In the absence of any real infor
mation about a candidate, primary
election voters often vote their
ethnicity. Hence Polish, Irish, Jew
ish and Italian names are carefully
sprinkled throughout the ballot.
And the opposite occurs. People
vote against ethnics.
LaRouche strategists undoubt
edly understood that if Mickey
Mouse could run an effective can
didacy in Illinois, so could Mark
Fairchild and Janice Hart. In a
state where whole stables of dark
horses flourish, the LaRouchies
could trot right into office without
anyone noticing. And right here is
See Chicago, page 26.
■
Kurt Waldheim being interviewed by NBC Television about his activ
ities during World War II.
are seen as trying to dictate who
will be Austria’s next president. In
that connection, he referred to an
interview in the Austrian magazine
Profil with Israel Singer, secretary
general of the WJC, and Elan
Steinberg, its executive director.
Singer was quoted assayingthat
if Waldheim is elected, Austria
would have to bear the consequen
ces. “I can tell you that the next six
years with Waldheim (as presi
dent) will not be easy years,” Sin
ger said.
Profil is the magazine which first
published documents indicating
that Waldheim joined the S A and a
Nazi student group shortly after
the Anschluss in 1936. Waldheim
had denied these charges. But he
did serve during the >var on the
staff of Gen. Alexander Loehr who
was hanged in 1947 for war crimes.
U.S. Army documents released
last week listed Waldheim as a
“suspected” war criminal at the
time.
Steinberg told Profil that the
WJC would not end its inquiries if
Waldheim is elected. “We will con
tinue to research, together with
specialists in the U.S., in Germany,
Yugoslavia, in the Soviet Union
and in Austria,” he said, adding,
“Until now this has been a matter
of Mr. Waldheim. Then it will be
an Austrian problem.”
Ivan Hacker, president of the
Austrian Jewish community, warned
Tuesday that the election of Wald
heim would bestow legitimacy on
Brown shirts and anti-Semites. In
an apparent response to Kreisky,
he said the community condemned
language that disqualifies docu
mented evidence as defamation,
criticizes the researchers and
makes Jews scapegoats. He men
tioned “certain Socialist politicians”
who play down any kind of docu
ments.
Michael Graff, a spokesman for
the Peoples Party, warned Mon
day against “emotions none of us
want to rise.” So far, the Freedom
Party, a coalition partner in the
Socialist-led government, with a
strong rightwing, has refrained
from comment on the Waldheim
affair. But one of its members
broke ranks Tuesday to warn of an
anti-Jewish backlash.
Mario Ferrari-Brunnenfeld, sec
retary of state in the Health Minis
try, said the Jewish community
should have remained silent at
least until a link between Wald
heim and the deportation of Greek
Jews is proven. If there should be
any anti-Semitic feelings in Aus
tria, it would be the fault of the WJC
which has interfered in Austria’s
internal politics, he said.
Meanwhile, a straw poll taken
by the Peoples Party showed
Waldheim ahead of his Socialist
rival, Kurt Steyrer, by a 43-32 per
cent margin.