Blind Faith

by Howard Altman

John Street and Giora Becher are two very different men, from very different places with very different worries. But after talking to each, I wonder if they’re not twin sons of different mothers.

Both men are government officials. Both men are embroiled in heated controversy. And both men, it would seem, don't see much opposition to what they are doing and could care little if there is.

A few weeks back, City Paper’s editorial board sat down with Mayor Street for more than an hour and a half as part of his millennial media outreach. Street, who for most reporters is only slightly easier to get a hold of than J.D. Salinger, was his usual charming self and spoke at great length about why this city cannot reduce the dreaded wage tax.

As he spoke, there was a piece of legislation making its way through City Council -- Bill No. 92, introduced by Councilmen Nutter and DiCicco -- that sought to reduce the wage tax by $120 million over five years. There was also an ongoing jihad, called by the Daily News, seeking to chop away as much of the tax as possible.

None of that, however, was registering with Street.

City Paper senior writer Daryl Gale asked the mayor why there was such a groundswell of support for Bill 92.

Street reacted as if we'd just told him he had three eyes.

"There is no groundswell," said the mayor. "I gotta tell you, there's no groundswell. You got one or two people in the [Council] chamber, one or two people, maybe an editorial board in the paper here or there who are splashing it all over the paper ."

Right.

When I pressed him about why there was so much support for the bill, Street again revealed his political blind spot.

"I don't know that there is so much support in Council for it," he said, once again gazing deeply into his cloudy crystal ball.

Weeks later, we have some of the most passionate marching this city has seen this side of the Mumidiots. Only, instead of earnest youth in ripped T-shirts and uninformed Hollywood types, there were middle-aged white men in suits hitting the streets.

And Council? As I write this, late Tuesday night, it looks like not only will Bill 92 pass, but it will pass with enough votes to override any mayoral veto.

The mayor was right about one thing.

This is no groundswell.

It's more like a tsunami.

Giora Becher is the general consul of the Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia. The Israelis, for anyone other than Osama bin Laden who has been living in a cave the last few months, are enmeshed in a controversy that makes Street’s battle with proponents of wage-tax cuts look like a pillow fight.

Though Tuesday's headlines read, "Israelis Leave Two Towns," I couldn't help but finish the thought by adding a mental "in Tatters."

Becher defends Israel's latest West Bank offensive as a "defensive war on terrorism."

"In such a situation, there is no other alternative," Becher said.

When I asked him if Israel was worried about criticism of its West Bank military campaign, Becher sounded a lot like John Street.

"First of all, I am not sure you are right," Becher said when I asked him about the groundswell of criticism about Israel's moves. "When I am talking to many people, I can feel and I can hear support of the state of Israel in its war against terrorists. If you go to the streets of Cairo or Amman, you may not find support. Or support for the American operation in Afghanistan. I do not agree that there is a lot of criticism" of Israel.

He may not agree, but, as in the case of Street and his view of the opposition, reality speaks for itself here.

The Arab street is roiling. Tens of thousands march in Europe. Even Queen Rania of Jordan is protesting. And anti-Jewish violence is on the rise.

If that doesn't constitute "a lot of criticism," then I am not sure what would.

So what is it about the Streets and the Bechers of this world that makes them so oblivious?

Is it arrogance? Is it blind faith? Both?

I don't know Becher, having spoken to him only once so far, via telephone. But if he is anything like his boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- who has no comprehension of the meaning of the word criticism -- then Becher suffers from no shortage of arrogant blind faith.

Street, whom I have known well for years, definitely does not lack for arrogance or blind faith. Though Street can and will go on and on about the mainstream media and how it won't give him a break, his actions -- be it ignoring criticism about the wage tax or his very public embracing of the age-old game of pay-to-play favoritism for campaign contributors -- speak way louder than his whines.

Arrogance and blind faith may have helped Street and Becher get where they are now.

But given what is taking place on the streets of Philadelphia and the streets of Jenin, I have to wonder if arrogance and blind faith will take either man where he really wants to be.




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