'GET THE JEWS'

A Jewish News Editorial

The taped conversations, even if viewed as symptomatic of Nixon's personal paranoia, are offensive to Jews and non-Jews alike for their bald use of power to intimidate and control.

Today, so-called Jewish power is under siege from a different quarter -- an ongoing lawsuit brought against the Federal Election Commission that alleges the FEC erred in using the "major purpose test" in ruling that the Israel-American Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, is not a political action committee. The claimants assert that the political affairs committee, whose mandate is to educate and lobby on behalf of Israel, is instead a political action committee, a conduit for funds raised for pro-Israel candidates.

While Nixon and his cohorts apparently were out to diminish financial clout that would benefit opposing candidates, the current offensive clearly is trying to muzzle political speech.

The attack on AIPAC through the FEC suit is being waged by a cast of characters known to be staunchly opposed to Israel, including former U.S. Information Agency Chief Richard Curtiss and former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley. Curtiss heads the American Educational Trust, whose publication, The Washington Report, routinely refers to activities of pro-Israel supporters as "subversion." Findley is a founding member of the Council for National Interest, which has expressed concern about "the excessive political power (Israel) has over America."

Curtiss, Findley and others of their ilk spread their anti-Israel propaganda freely under U.S. constitutional protections. By targeting AIPAC, the plaintiffs put at risk not only pro-Israel advocates, but thousands of individuals and groups who seek to disseminate information in the political arena.