Jewish groups not opposing Farrakhan plan to visit Israel

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (JTA) — When Louis Farrakhan asked Israel to receive him on an official visit, Israeli officials turned to American Jewish groups — hoping that they would spearhead opposition to any visit by the Nation of Islam leader. But after no group offered to support a total travel ban, Israel agreed to allow Farrakhan make a private visit. And with that, Farrakhan opened a new front in his quest for Jewish acceptance. Now attention is focused on preventing the black Muslim leader from obtaining long-sought Jewish recognition if he follows through with his plans to visit Israel and Palestinian-controlled territories for three days beginning Jan. 7. Farrakhan announced last week that he wants to visit Israel to advance the Middle East peace process, and some Israelis have already hinted that they will meet him to discuss black-Jewish relations in the United States. Others, such as the group Jerusalem Is Ours, have vowed to block Farrakhan’s entry to Israel. One of the group’s leaders, Ross Torossian, is suing police in Washington, D.C., for allegedly evicting him from the area of Farrakhan’s Million Man March in October 1995. For Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress, who have refused to meet with the Nation of Islam leader but are not opposing a private Farrakhan visit to Israel, the issue is one of democracy and free speech. Farrakhan “has the right to visit the democratic state of Israel as a private individual,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL. Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said, “It would appear they fear him if they don’t let him in.” Initially, the Israeli Foreign Ministry would not commit to allowing Farrakhan into Israel. “We cannot forget his unpleasant remarks about the Jewish people,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Effi Ben-Matityahu was quoted as saying. But after the ADL and the AJCongress supported a private Farrakhan visit, Israel decided to let him in, according to sources in Washington. Israel generally allows visitors with U.S. passports to visit, but Israel can “technically and legally” deny anyone the right to enter its borders, according to an Israeli official. But disputes over security arrangements could stop the visit before Farrakhan ever sets foot in the Jewish state. Israeli officials said it would be highly irregular if Farrakhan was allowed to travel with his own armed security force. Aside from a few meetings with Chicago-area rabbis and a collapsed attempt at dialogue with World Jewish Congress president Edgar Bronfman, the organized American Jewish community has succeeded in ostracizing Farrakhan. Now Jewish groups are calling on Israelis to follow their lead. “There is no reason why this longtime, unrepentant racist and anti- Semite should be granted the respectability and status of any official recognition or reception,” said Foxman. The Foreign Ministry decided that no state official will meet Farrakhan unless he apologizes for his anti-Semitic remarks. But already there are signals that Farrakhan may meet with Israeli officials. Knesset member Dedi Zucker, of the left-wing Meretz Party, has asked Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy to invite Farrakhan for an official visit. “Such a visit could open a new chapter with a man who has a very problematic record and has done a lot to increase tensions between blacks and Jews in the United States,” Zucker was quoted as saying. The ADL sent a letter to Zucker urging him not to meet with the Nation of Islam leader. While Farrakhan has not announced an itinerary for his planned Israel visit, the foreign ministry said he has asked to deliver a sermon at Jerusalem’s Al-Aksa Mosque. Denying Farrakhan permission to visit Islam’s third holiest shrine could have raised the ire of Muslims who oppose Israeli control over Jerusalem. Israel would only be one leg of a planned world tour that will bring Farrakhan and his entourage to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and Cuba.