To the Editor:

Having been directly involved with the Democratic party, Congress, and Israel since 1969, I am in gen­eral agreement with Gabriel Schoenfeld’s views regarding the growing political nexus between the Democ­ratic Left and Muslim organizations.

Back in the 1970’s, it was leading Democrats like Hu­bert Humphrey and Henry Jackson who personified congressional support for Israel. This has changed today as some left-leaning lawmakers have gradually come to view Palestinians as victims and Israelis as op­pressors. We now find that Israel’s most outspoken champions in Congress are Republicans. In terms of antagonists, there is now a core of 30-45 House De­mocrats and a handful, at most, of Republicans who can be considered un­friendly to Israel. Recent polls also demonstrate a gradual diminution of support for Israel among De­mocratic as opposed to Republican voters.

But while this shift in sentiment among Democ­rats is disappointing, it does not reflect any newfound political clout of American Muslims. The American people continue to side with Israel in its conflict with the Arabs by a margin of as much as four-to-one. Although Muslim groups like CAIR have proliferat­ed in recent years, they cannot compete with the pro-Israel community in providing tangible support to potential congressional allies. One measure of this inequality is the lopsided 30-1 ratio of pro-Israel po­litical-action-committee (PAC) contributions over pro-Arab PAC contribu­tions to candidates in the last election cycle.

The real threat to continued strong American public and congressional support for close U.S.-Israel ties comes from anti-Israel bias in the major media, elite universities, and most im­portantly from ultra-liberal Jewish organizations like Americans for Peace Now and individual Jews who seem to have difficulties dealing with their own Jewishness. These “useful id­iots,” to borrow Lenin’s term, legitimize scurrilous attacks on Israel by its adversaries. We all how who they are, have seen them fawn over the late Yasir Arafat, incessantly criticize Israel for “human-rights abuses,” convene to consid­er a competing organization to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, and, in general, provide aid and comfort to Israel’s enemies. Some of these Israel bashers, going beyond the defi­nition of a liberal in that old saw as “someone so broad-minded he won’t even take his own side in a fight,” ac­tually cheer for the other side.

Unfortunately, many of these Jews are also impor­tant supporters of the De­mocrats because they share views on a host of domestic issues. So we sometimes have a situation where they seek to burnish their liberal credentials at Israel’s ex­pense. The correlation between those promoting a far-Left “progressive” agen­da and those expressing anti-Israel sentiment is palpable. It is fair to say that the dam-age they are doing to Amer­ican support of Israel far surpasses the efforts of Muslim Americans. So before Jews go looking for enemies out­side the fold, it may be more useful to expose the motives and counter the activities of those within their own ranks.

MORRIS J. AMITAY

Washington, D.C.