Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

African Americans and Israel \\ 359
the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which
appeared precisely at a time when American Jews feared for Israel's continued
existence during the Six Day War. The letter firmly identified
Israel with Western colonialism and oppression of Black and Arab people.
It listed some thirty-two "points of information" that combined
anti-Zionist rhetoric with classic anti-Semitic themes. Its last point, for
example, charged, "That the famous European Jews, the Rothschilds,
who have long controlled the wealth of many European nations, were
involved with the original conspiracy with the British to create the
'State of Israel' and are still among Israel's chief supporters. That the
Rothschilds Also Control Much of Africa's Mineral Wealth." 8
This analysis argues that hostility toward Israel was so ingrained in parts of
the African American community that it surfaced even in disputes about wholly
unrelated issues. One of the flashpoints of the bitter New York City schools strike
in 1968 was a leaflet left in teachers' mailboxes in the Ocean Hill—Brownsville
district claiming that Black schoolchildren could not possibly be taught by
"Middle East Murderers of Colored People." Tenants rights groups asserted that
they would not be pushed out of their neighborhoods in the way that Arabs were
being displaced in the Middle East. 9
The second type of evidence cited by some historians of Black hostility to
Israel focuses not on the nationalistic forces of the late 1960s, but on leaders of
established African American organizations. Statements and actions by prominent
Blacks were less rhetorically sharp than the attacks of the radicals, but were taken
very seriously because they emanated from positions of power in Black America.
A major event in the tendency of many Jews to see Black leadership as problematic
for Israel occurred in 1979 when Andrew Young, a former top aide to
Martin Luther King in the civil rights struggle, who was then serving as U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations, met in New York with the U.N. representative
of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Jewish groups reacted sharply, calling
the meeting a violation of U.S. policy to refrain from negotiating with terrorist
groups. Though they did not call for him to step down, Young resigned
over this controversy, causing African American resentment at what they perceived
as Jewish pressure on one of their most prominent public figures, and
Jewish anger against what many saw as a hostile act toward Israel by a civil rights
leader. 10 A leading historian of the period concluded, "It is impossible to exaggerate
the impact of Young's resignation... .Young's ouster shattered any possible
reconciliation between Jewish and Black leaders." 11
The Young meeting and resignation were soon followed by a series of meetings
led by Southern Christian Leadership Conference head Rev. Joseph Lowery
with PLO representatives in New York and with Lybia's leader Muarnmmar
Qaddafi, a bitter opponent of Israel. The group presented Qaddafi with a
"Decoration of Martin Luther King." 12