Percy, target of AIPAC

ILLINOIS GOP SENATOR LOST JEWISH TRUST IN '84

Charles H. Percy, the Republican Illinois senator who was first elected in 1966 as a pro-Israel moderate but whose defeat in 1984 has been attributed to lobbying against him by AIPAC, died in Washington, B.C., on Sept. 17.

He was 91.

In his early years as senator, Percy spoke out against the repression of Jews in the Soviet Union, and urged others to do the same.

He was also a critic of the war in Vietnam, and in 1967 met with an antiwar delegation from Congregation Solel in Highland Park, which travelled to Washington on a "pilgrimage for peace" led by Rabbi Arnold J. Wolf.

In 1970, Percy was honored as Man of the Year by the State of Israel Bonds organization.

But during his second term in 1975, notwithstanding his pro-Israel voting record and reputation as a Mend of Israel, Percy angered Jews with what appeared to be a change in his outlook.

After a visit to Israel and a number of Arab countries, Percy referred to Israeli "intransigence", and termed PLO head Yasir Arafat "relatively apeaking, a moderate" with whom Israel needed to speak, according to JTA reports at the time.

He also said "there are limits to the level of support" by the U.S. for Israel, and that Israel would need to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders.

In Chicago, Maynard Wishner, chair of the public affairs committe of the Jewish United Fund, said Jewish leaders were "shocked and dismayed" by Percy's remarks.

Percy defended himself in, among other places, a lengthy letter to the Jerusalem Post in March 1981. But the damage had been done, and after this, Percy - who had also voted for arms sales to Saudi Arabia - was not able to regain Jewish trust.

In the 1984 election, the senator, who was also head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (an "ineffectual chairman," according to JEWISH STAR columnist Douglas Bloomfield), was defeated by Democrat Paul Simon.

Much of the credit - or blame - for Percy's defeat was claimed by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committe (AIPAC), which built what James D. Besser termed its "fearsome reputation" on that event.

Percy, who had once been considered a possible Republican presidential contender and had been called "the wonder boy from Illinois", left politics after his defeat by Simon, and became a consultant in Washington.

He developed Alzheimer's disease in the late 1990s.

[Author Affiliation]

ByGILAWERTHEIMER

ASSOCIATE EDITOR