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Jewish World Review /June. 26, 1998
Jonathan Tobin
The Holocaust Museum and Mort Klein
WHEN THE UNITED STATES MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM IN Washington D.C. chose to name
someone as the new research director who had written articles in which
comparisons were made between Israel and the Nazis and Ronald Reagan and the
Nazis, what did most of the organized Jewish world do?
They blamed the man who had brought these inappropriate writings to light,
calling him, among other things, a "McCarthyite" and a person seeking to
create a Jewish "thought police."
Welcome to the upside-down world of American Jewry.
So rather than reconsider the appointment of Prof. John Roth to the post of
research director at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, the Museum's council and
others concentrated their efforts on attacks on Morton Klein, the president of
the Zionist Organization of America.
Why? Because of politics, personalities and above all, a fervent loyalty to
the chief characteristic of organized Jewish life: the cult of consensus. Woe
betide those who step outside it or point out embarrassing things about the
inner circle or their institutions.
As for the Museum, I can't say I'm tremendously interested in the details of
who is or isn't filling specific posts at this wildly popular and very
successful institution. Although I think the finished product on the Mall in
Washington is an outstanding representation of European and Jewish history
about which I would change nothing, I was skeptical about it from the outset.
The only real memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and the European Jewish
civilization that was destroyed in the Shoah, is the state of Israel. The blue
and white flag flying over Jerusalem or the sound of Jewish children at play
or study is worth more than all the monuments of stone and concrete in the
world.
As long as the Museum is there, I say, long may it wave. It has done a
marvelous job educating Americans about the Holocaust and the dangers of
intolerance and hatred. Yet the hybrid nature of its governance as a federal
institution with Jewish overtones is unsettling and ultimately dangerous.
As long as the Museum is a federal institution, it will always be vulnerable
to politicization. Proof of that was the desire of the U.S. State Department
to use the Museum as a prop for an Arafat photo op earlier this year. Miles
Lerman, the chair of the Museum, was only too happy to acquiesce to this
abomination and ultimately fired the man who tried to stop it: Museum Director
Dr. Walter Reich. When the Museum is used against the interests of Israel and
the Jewish people, such as the proposed Arafat visit, then we all should be
wondering whether the enormous funds which have been put into it (in a time
when Jewish resources were and are so scarce) were well spent.
Even worse, many fear that the Museum will fall into the hands of those who
wish to de-emphasize the specifically Jewish tragedy of the Shoah and distort
its lessons into more universal themes which are more palatable to the
politically correct crowd.
That's a danger which some of those involved in the museum recognize. Rabbi
Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, one of the founders of the Museum and a member of the
panel that selected Roth, spoke to me at length and assured me that despite
the disasters of the past year, the Museum was not moving towards more
"universalizing" as opposed to Jewish content. If so, that's good news.
The
Museum needs to stay out of political controversies. But those who wish to
stifle dissent against the follies of the Museum's leadership because it may
damage support for the place among American Jews are worshiping a false idol.
The Museum and its leadership are not sacred. The ideals for which it is
supposed to stand are what is sacred.
As for Roth, his defenders have gone overboard in trying to justify his
appointment. While he may be, as Rabbi Greenberg insists, a good friend of
Israel and the Jewish people, there is clearly a pattern of troubling
statements. Roth's "paper trail" in which inappropriate references to the
Holocaust exist, has dismayed many survivors. Even Abe Foxman, the executive
director of the Anti-Defamation League, who has carried out a bitter public
feud with Mort Klein, voted not to "re-endorse" Roth when the Museum's
national council met last week.
Unfortunately, rather than re-examine the appointment, the Museum's supporters
thought it more important to save their own reputations and savage Klein and
ZOA. And by trying to isolate Klein, they have committed an injustice.
Contrary to his critics, Mr. Klein has played an important role on behalf of
Israel in the past few years. Without Klein, the campaign for forcing the
Palestinian Authority to abide by the Oslo agreement and to cut off U.S. aid
if they did not, would not have happened. Though now a belief in the
importance of reciprocity on the part of the Palestinians is widespread, in
the post-Oslo euphoria of 1994, when Klein began that fight, it was an
unpopular. Klein took a ferocious beating in the Jewish world when he stuck
his neck out on that issue. But in his own inimitable and sometimes abrasive
style, he persevered and won.
Similarly, his willingness to play hardball with Israel's critics such as
Under Secretary of State Strobe Talbott was the right thing to do. Without
Klein's campaign which brought to light, Talbott's numerous anti-Israel
writings, 33 votes would not have been mustered against his confirmation. That
strong message of disapproval ensured that Talbott will never be nominated for
even higher office which is good news for Israel.
Some of his fights have been ill advised, but he is almost always right on the
details. In the Roth case, Klein did no more than point out the facts that no
one else was interested in uncovering or discussing. Would the Museum would
have asked Prof. Roth to account for his writings, if the ZOA had not been
willing to speak up?
Those who claim that the offending articles were taken out of context or were
just aberrations in a long and distinguished career, may have a point. But so
what? Our Jewish defense organizations have done the same thing to others we
don't like with no one batting an eye. Roth said what he said. The promiscuous
use of Holocaust analogies is the thin edge of the wedge in the universalizing
of the Shoah.
Whether people liked his tactics in the Roth case or not, the loose charges of
"McCarthyism" against Klein that are being put about by Roth's defenders are
inappropriate and inflammatory.
Some strong supporters of Israel just can't stand Mort but I cannot help but
believe that behind some of the vicious attacks on Klein are resentments
against his aggressively pro-Israel stance at a time when many American Jews
-- and their leaders -- are distancing themselves from the government of
Israel. This makes a noisy Zionist like Klein, who is an enthusiastic
supporter of the Netanyahu government, distinctly unpopular in some circles.
Mort Klein is not always correct in the fights he picks (Who is?) and has some
rough edges, but Klein's main "fault" remains his willingness to break with
the cult of consensus that afflicts the organized Jewish world.
He is not a "go along to get along" kind of guy. That can be tough to live
with, but when the American Jewish world or Washington needs a kick in the
pants, it often takes a Mort Klein to supply the boot. That makes him a
valuable and scarce
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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