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November 19, 2004/Kislev 6 5765, Vol. 57, No. 12
ADL focuses on Bush's second term
DEBRA MORTON GELBART
Special to Jewish News
Renewal of the Patriot Act and U.S. policy toward Europe and the Middle East are two of the top concerns of the Anti-Defamation League as President Bush begins his second term and the new session of Congress gets underway.
"One of the issues that's particularly important to us as we look toward the 109th Congress is the Patriot Act," said Jess Hordes, the ADL's director of government and national affairs, who spoke to a group of ADL members and supporters in Scottsdale on Nov. 15. "We as a community have a real interest and an expertise in terrorism legislation," he said, noting the Jewish community understands the dangers of government abuse but also has been targeted by terrorists. "We understand the impotance of balancing two frequently competing interests: national security and (protecting our) civil liberties," he said.
When Congress passed the USA Patriot Act after Sept. 11, 2001, Hordes said, lawmakers postponed debating the issue by establishing Dec. 31, 2005, as the expiration date for many provisions in the legislation. When the Patriot Act is reviewed for re-enactment, "we need to come together as a country (and) recognize that there are competing interests and find a way to balance them in a reasonable manner," Hordes said.
Another area of concern, Hordes said, is "to what extent is the administration going to reach out to the Europeans and to what extent is its policy in the Middle East going to change? Reciprocally, are the Europeans going to try to exert more pressure on the Bush Administration? How will that pressure be exerted and who will pay the price? That has a particular relevance when it comes to questions relating to Israel."
Hordes said a modern turning point in Europe's and the world's perceptions of Israel and Jews occurred at an international human rights conference in Durban, South Africa, during the week before the 9/11 attacks. Ironically titled "World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance," the meeting was a "hate-fest against Jews," he said.
Its impact was overshadowed by the events of 9/11 just four days after the conference adjourned, Hordes said, but what happened at the conference was significant. "The Jewish participants were isolated, derided and physically abused on occasion," he said. "There were a lot of nongovernmental organizations that (Jews) have supported that not only sat silently; some of them actually participated in resolutions that demonized the Jewish people (and) Israel. "
The conference came at a time when the intifada was growing and European reaction was "just abhorrent," he said. "More and more voices in Europe were questioning Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Who would have thought that 50 years after the Holocaust we would be spending the amount of time we spend trying to persuade people that this is a problem (they) need to pay attention to?"
Hordes said he doesn't anticipate a backlash against Jewish interests or Israel among American lawmakers now that Republicans have increased their majority in both houses of Congress. "The groups that in general are not supportive of Israel are the mainline Protestant churches," he said. "They're generally not supportive of Israel, but they are with us on church-state separation issues." Evangelicals, on the other hand, are very supportive of Israel - "but they're not with us on church-state separation. We're happy with evangelical support for Israel as long as they don't tell us what to do about church-state, and we try to work with the mainline Protestant churches on Israel, but we certainly work with them on church-state separation."
Debra Gelbart is a free-lance writer based in Phoenix.
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