Jackson Seems to Be Defusing Jewish Issue : Polite Exchanges in N.Y. Seen as Vindication of Strategy of Insulation

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his campaign came to New York expecting to encounter open hostility from Jewish voters outraged by his views on the Middle East and offended by what they perceived as ethnic slurs.

So far, however, the tone of his exchanges has been strikingly polite.

A gentle question served up Monday morning by a business leader at a breakfast in New York City was a case in point:

“There is a New York City Jewish issue, whatever that may mean. I would like to hear your views.”

The subject is potentially explosive, conjuring up images from Jackson’s past--an embrace with Yasser Arafat, an association with black Muslim firebrand Louis Farrakhan, a slur referring to New York as “Hymietown”--that could be devastating to a candidate’s prospects in a state where about one Democratic voter in four is Jewish.

Projects Moderation

But in more than a week of active campaigning in New York, Jackson has succeeded in projecting a tone of moderation and a presidential bearing on an issue that has plagued him for most of his political life.

It is a seeming vindication of Jackson’s strategy of insulation, in which--against the advice of many close to him--his top advisers have ruled out a Jackson appearance before any major Jewish group, an encounter that was widely expected to be hostile.

Jackson had already apologized publicly--with his prime time mea culpa at the 1984 convention--for his “Hymietown” comment, Gerald F. Austin, his campaign manager, argued Monday, and added that Jackson “was not going any place to be put on trial.”

Instead, Jackson has faced his interrogators at convivial events, such as Monday’s breakfast, where Jackson’s answer was typical of the style he has adopted for New York.

He began by calling attention to the Jewish backers around him, including labor leader Barry Feinstein and R. Peter Straus, a former head of the American Jewish committee, who sat with Jackson at the dais.

Expresses His Thanks

“I want to express my thanks for a growing body of Jewish leaders who respect my leadership and my influence,” Jackson said. “And the numbers continue to grow.”

He contended that even without a formal meeting, his “outreach” to Jews was “obvious.”

He jabbed at his critics, aiming clearly at New York Mayor Edward I. Koch, whose declaration earlier this month that Jews would have to be “crazy to vote for Jesse” has allowed Jackson by contrast to exhibit comparative restraint.

“It is unfortunate in a city that is working on healing for a leader to cry fire in a theater and therefore to rupture that delicate relationship,” Jackson said. “We deserve better leadership than that.”

Finally, Jackson turned to the heart of the question, acknowledging his support for a Palestinian homeland but--continuing to clarify his positions on the Middle East in a way that makes them appear more moderate--emphasizing that the first obligation of the United States was to ensure the security of Israel.

But he quickly moved on, seeking yet again to broaden the focus from what his advisers feared would become a single-issue campaign.

‘Multicultural Capital’

“In this city there must be some interest in Caribbean people,” Jackson said. “There are more Caribbean people in New York than there are in the Caribbean. There must be some interest in Africa . . . . There must be some interest in Italian people and Irish people. This is the multicultural capital of the United States--indeed of the whole world.”

The multifaceted answer appeared to satisfy most of those at the breakfast, but even Jackson’s aides acknowledged that they would not satisfy his critics within the Jewish community.

“If you go on bashing your head against the wall,” said Austin, describing what he said would be the likely form of a meeting between Jackson and Jewish voters, “people will say you’re a masochist.” Those Jackson critics have not been completely silent.

A group chaired by Dov Hikind, a state assemblyman who supports Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr., took out a large advertisement in Sunday’s New York Times castigating Jackson for being “pro-Third World and anti-American, pro-Arab League and pro-PLO, and, therefore, anti-Israel.”