Dornan Apologizes to Rabbis for Remark About Soviet Jew

At a hastily called news conference, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) apologized Friday for calling Soviet commentator Vladimir Posner a “disloyal, betraying little Jew” and said he had telephoned all the rabbis he could reach in his district to ask their forgiveness, “if I brought them any hurt.”

Dornan made the remark about Posner Thursday in a brief statement on the House floor in which he attacked the Soviet official, a former U.S. resident, for appearing on ABC television news to counter President Reagan’s address on the need to maintain the U.S. military buildup.

Now a ‘Turncoat’

He attributed the intemperate tone of his remark to carelessness, explaining that speakers were limited to one minute and he was in a hurry. He said he has had the Congressional Record amended to make the expression read, “betraying little turncoat.”

Several Jewish leaders appeared with Dornan at his news conference to vouch for his support of Jewish causes, and Dornan made available a press release from Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) urging that the remark not be taken as an indication of anti-Semitism.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center, said in an interview: “Bob Dornan is not an anti-Semite. He apologized for what he recognizes is an ethnic slur.”

Exemplary Record

Cooper pointed to what he called Dornan’s exemplary public record on issues important to the Jewish community and said: “Actions speak louder than words.” He said that Dornan was one of two congressmen who led a 25-member delegation to West Germany in 1979 to urge the German government to abolish the statute of limitations on prosecuting Nazi war criminals. He also praised Dornan’s efforts to liberate Soviet Jewry.

The White House assailed ABC television, which aired the Posner interview, for giving time to “a trained propagandist.” The network conceded that it had erred in giving the Soviet spokesman time to present his views virtually unchallenged.

Critic Howard Rosenberg discusses dispute. Part V, Page 1.