Former U.N. Envoy Says Israel Faces Its Gravest Peril

Siding strongly with Israel in its current conflict with Palestinians, former United Nations Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick told more than 400 Los Angeles Jews on Sunday that the survival of their religious homeland has never been more threatened.

“Israel’s life is more in danger today than it has ever been since its founding,” she told members and guests of the Women’s pro-Israel National Political Action Committee at a reception in her honor at a Van Nuys home.

Kirkpatrick said Americans rarely hear the whole story of the continuing Middle East struggle, which she said began with Palestinians and other Israeli foes plotting to make Israel appear racist and brutal.

Instead, international news coverage often “begins when Israel shoots back,” she said, making that country appear to be the obstacle to peace in the Middle East, when “Israel is the peace-seeker--is, has been and will be.”

Generally a self-assured and forceful speaker, Kirkpatrick briefly appeared uncomfortable when her mention of the assassination of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Khalil al-Wazir drew enthusiastic applause from some audience members. PLO sources have blamed his death on Israeli agents.

After her speech, Kirkpatrick said she does not condone violence by Israel, which over the weekend resulted in the shooting deaths of at least 17 Arabs in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nor did she condone the killing of al-Wazir in Tunis.

“I believe that Israel should obviously use the minimum violence compatible with maintaining its security and some degree of order in the territory,” she said.

Kirkpatrick did not limit her criticisms to Israel’s Arab neighbors and the media. She also accused the United Nations of turning its back on the country’s problems in deference to the pressure of volatile Arab delegates.

Both Kirkpatrick and Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) criticized Secretary of State George Shultz’s plan for an international conference on the plight of the Middle East.

Wilson, who introduced Kirkpatrick, said such a forum would be “hopelessly stacked against Israel,” leaving it with “far less secure boundaries.” Kirkpatrick said she doubted that the forum would ever occur because various countries would base their decision on whether to attend on the attendance of other nations.

The purpose of the Women’s pro-Israel National Political Action Committee, formed about a year ago, is to give women a larger role in political decisions, said spokeswoman Rosalie Zalis. The group, which has endorsed Wilson’s reelection, gave him a $10,000 campaign contribution Sunday.