Baker’s Reported Slam at Jews Is Denied

The State Department Friday denied a report that Secretary of State James A. Baker III used an obscene expression to dismiss the views of Jewish Americans during a White House discussion of loan guarantees to Israel.

The story, reported by former New York Mayor Edward I. Koch in a weekly column in the New York Post, “is false, it is outrageous and it’s garbage,” said State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler.

According to Koch, Baker was “criticized recently at a meeting of high-level White House advisers” over the political problems caused by “his belligerent attitude toward Israel” on the loan guarantee issue.

He then responded with a two-word obscenity that generally refers to sexual acts, Koch wrote, and Baker added “they (the Jews) didn’t vote for us.” Koch said that his source was present at the meeting but that he will not reveal the person’s name.

Israel wants the U.S. government to guarantee $10 billion in loans for refugee housing, while the United States insists that Israel must first agree to stop building settlements in occupied territories.

Ordinarily, the Bush Administration might ignore such a flap entirely. A new poll released Friday by the Wall Street Journal indicates that only 15% of Americans oppose the Administration on the loan guarantee issue, while 36% of Americans support the Administration’s position and 49% oppose new loan guarantees under any circumstances.

But with the presidential political campaign under way, and with Bush’s standing continuing to slip in the polls, Baker’s aides lost no time issuing denials. Baker also met with representatives of major Jewish organizations and denied the remark.

“He says this is not true. Why should we speculate that it is on the basis of anonymous charges?” said Malcolm Hoenlein, director of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, who met with Baker.

Others, however, took a less charitable view. One strong supporter of Israel in Congress, Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Friday called on Baker to remove himself from peace negotiations.

“Secretary Baker’s reported comments, combined with his previous statements and views on Israel, make it all too clear that he has lost all ability to be an evenhanded negotiator,” Schumer said in a statement.

Baker has used strong language about Israel’s political supporters in the past, referring to some members of Congress who support Israel’s position as the “little Knesset,” a reference to Israel’s parliament.

White House officials conceded that meetings on the political implications of the loan guarantee issue have taken place in recent weeks. Nonetheless, officials insisted that Baker had not used the words Koch referred to in the column.

“Even if he were to think it, he’d never say it in a room full of people,” said one official.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater responded to the controversy while aboard Air Force One as he flew with Bush from Baton Rouge, La., to Jackson, Miss., on a campaign trip. “Our relationship with Israel is among the longest and strongest of all the countries of the world. Baker is the architect of the peace process. He has worked diligently to get the peace process going. . . . (It is) outrageous to suggest anything other than that. “