stupid reaction from Jewish organizations re Khatami

Hi folks, back in NY and back in the saddle...Since returning have been working on a piece trying to explain my decision to return to live in Israel; which feels like an idee fixee even after a week on what must be one of the loveliest coastlines on earth--the Crimea. While there I considered putting some money into buying a house there, as it seems to me that the likeliest way for me to make some money right now is to buy some property in a place where real estate prices are soaring. But the consensus here is that Crimea, like the rest of Ukraine is still politically dicey--not to mention issues of corruption and mafia--in terms of considering buying land or a home there. So perhaps I will invest instead in Israel as a step to reestablishing a foothold there.

Anyway, I was stunned now to read an item in JTA concerning opposition by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington to the Washington Cathedral inviting the former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to speak there. I read somewhere else today that national Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, opposed the decision by the State Department to grant Khatami a vsa to visit the U.S. at all.The Washington JCRC says that Khatami, who was Iranian President from 1997-2005, was a fraudulent reformer, asserting, "His reign, like that of his sucessor, has been repressive, intolerant and autocratic," and added that Khatami's supposedly moderate reign gave cover for the Iranians to continue their efforts to encourage terrorism against Israel.

Well, I met Khatami several months ago in Qatar, where he was taking part in the deliberations of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and where he held discussions with among others, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who is hardly in the business of cottoning to people with an agenda to destroy Israel. I heard Khatami's speech, which was a thoughtful appeal to keep open lines of communciation between the world's great faiths and between Islam and the West. Frankly, I haven't heard such ecumenical language from many American Jewish leaders lately. Instead, it appears that some of the principle ones seem to be plumping for thought control; trying to prevent Americans from hearing the words of Khatami, for fear that if he is allowed to speak at prestigious American settings like the National Cathedral, he might cause Americans to rethink the premise that Iran is an extremist monolith that should only be dealt with by embargoes, or preferably, with a military strike. Its a damn shame to see a body like the JCRC trying to get the Washington Cathedral to temper its tradition of offering a forum to prominent religious figures from various religions.

Khatami may be out of power for the moment, but to spurn his outstretched hand--to take the line that there is no difference between him and the Israel denying and Holocaust denying Ahmedinijad---represents a policy of absolute blindness. The JCRC and Presidents Conference are leaving the distinct impression that it is the Jews who are trying to close off any communication between the U.S. and even moderate Iranians like Khatami. Where did we get "leaders" like this? And who decided that the likes of Malcolm Hoenlein ought to be in a position to speak for the rest of us?