PERSPECTIVE ON POLITICS : Jews Have the GOP All Wrong : American Jews can vote Republican with confidence that no one could have done better on Middle East issues.

American Jews have never accepted the Republican Party. Even after the Reagan/Shultz team had proved its bona fide support for Israel, only 30% of Jewish voters supported the Republican ticket in the 1984 election. Support for George Bush was lower in 1988 (25%), and some polls have indicated an even smaller percentage of Jewish voters prefer Bush over Clinton. In a political system in which presidential elections are usually determined by less than 5%, this disparity of support is astonishing.

Jewish voters, like other Americans, vote on the full range of issues, not just Israel. But the security of Israel is a major issue to most of American Jewry, and the relatively low level of support for President Bush stems in part from a seriously distorted view among Jewish-American voters of the Republican record on Israel. By every objective standard, the Bush/Baker team has done exceptionally well.

-- Economic assistance . The Bush Administration increased economic assistance for Israel to the highest level ever ($1.2 billion in grants), provided $400 million in loan guarantees in 1990 and now will make available $10 billion more. Following the Gulf War, Israel received emergency assistance of $650 million.

-- Political support . The Bush Administration undertook in 1988 to reverse the U.N. resolution that Zionism equals racism. Secretary of State James A. Baker III succeeded in achieving what for years U.N. and U.S. diplomats claimed was politically and legally “impossible.” Baker also held firm to commitments to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state, and to terminate the dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization if it resumed support for terrorist acts against Israel. His insistence that any state wanting a role in the peace process must establish full, diplomatic relations with Israel is helping to overcome the last vestiges of Israel’s political isolation.

-- Military assistance. The Bush Administration continued $1.8 billion of all-grant military support for Israel, with important modifications, including early disbursement (worth $90 million per year) and the allowance of $475 million per year in purchases from Israeli companies. The United States has financed two-thirds of the Arrow anti-missile program ($188 million) so critical to Israel’s security. Joint exercises continue, and this Administration has created a $100-million stockpile of arms in Israel for use by either country.

-- Israel’s security . The Gulf War contributed enormously to regional security and led to the destruction of Iraq’s capacity to harm Israel for many years to come. Even though the use of force against Iraq was both legally and morally beyond doubt, most Democrats and virtually all Jewish Democrats in Congress voted against authorizing the President to act. This anti-war Jewish contingent would have had enormous influence on a Democratic President, and would have provided such a President political protection from criticism by Israel’s supporters. Had the Democrats succeeded in preventing war against Iraq, the consequences for Israel could have been catastrophic.

-- Saving Jews . The Bush Administration helped save hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews, and are continuing that process. Bush also personally worked to save thousands of Ethiopian Jews, both as vice president and President.

--The peace process . The Bush/Baker team succeeded in bringing most of Israel’s enemies to the peace table without any compromise of its security. Many Jewish leaders and commentators attacked the Administration and predicted that it would never succeed in moving the peace process forward. Much remains to be done, which is why it is so important that the same leadership be continued.

Instead of focusing on this record of support for Israel’s well-being, critics refer repeatedly to those few instances where the record could have been even stronger. The President admitted he was wrong to suggest that Israel’s supporters are too powerful. Supporters of Israel are entitled like other Americans to work for what they believe is right. Furthermore, U.S. support for unbalanced resolutions against Israel in the U.N. Security Council is unfair.

But these shortcomings cannot justify disregarding how much was done. Furthermore, one cannot reasonably assume that the Democrats could have matched this Republican record. Have Democrats said fewer nasty things than Republicans about Israel or American Jewry? Was the Carter/McHenry team any more balanced in the Security Council? Should we expect more from Clinton? As for Iraq, the Democrats would have done less than President Bush to stop Saddam Hussein, not more. Unquestionably, the Bush/Baker style differs from that of Reagan/Shultz; but the results of their efforts are at least equally deserving of support.

How could this record then evoke so negative a reaction from so many Jewish Americans? Max Fisher says that American Jews--normally serious people--are irrational when it comes to politics. They welcome promises of more spending, though they know that more spending will be socially irresponsible. They want to be uplifted with rhetoric, when they know Americans need to be brought down to earth. The source of these attitudes is a complex story, reflecting our compassion based on long periods of suffering and injustice. But we do our country, ourselves and Israel a great disservice by such indulgence.

It is time to evaluate that record fairly, and to vote with the clear realization that each of us is responsible for the consequences of his or her vote. And in terms of Israel’s interests, a vote for Bush ensures continuity of the peace process and of the close and constructive relationship between him and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.