On Tuesday, February 20th, Republican presidential candidate, Patrick J.   Buchanan stunned the nation and rocked his own party, by winning the New Hampshire primary. Although politcal analysts say he eked out a razor- thin victory by defeating Senator Robert Dole of Kansas by only 2,469 votes, his victory in the nation's first primary carries enormous significance for American Jews and all those who are opposed to his controversial "neo-conservatism" From his campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire subsequent to announcing his victory, Buchanan said, "This is a crucial moment in the political history of the country. We can reshape the party. Nothing like this has happened in the Republican Party in my lifetime."

Indeed, in the 44-year history of the New Hampshire primary, no Republican has won the White House without winning in the Granite state.   The phenomenal rise of Pat Buchanan from the midst of this year's pack of Republican presidential hopefuls has stirred great concern in the minds and hearts of American Jews due to Buchanan's history of vocal opposition to the foreign policy influence of the American-Jewish pro-Israel lobby, and his forthright and enthusiastic defense of Nazi war criminals. Moreover, Buchanan's campaign has become a virtual magnet for right wing extremists, racist and anti-semites of all kinds.  Just recently, Larry Pratt, Buchanan's campaign co-chairman caused an uproar after it was disclosed he attended several meetings and appeared on radio shows hosted by anti-semitic white supremacists.

In lieu of these revelations it is imperative that American Jews know the true facts behind the man that may be President.

Buchanan told Elie Wiesel that President Reagan must not surrender to "Jewish Pressure" against visiting a German cemetary (Bitburg) where SS men were buried.

Buchanan has called Hitler a "man of great courage and extraordinary   gifts."    

On ABC Nightline, March 11, 1992, Buchanan told anchorman,   Chris Wallace: "I'm one of the few people in this city, Chris, who's had  the guts to stand up to the agenda of the special interests, whether it's the civil rights lobby, and say that their agenda is not in the interest of a good society and not in the interest of my country."

In a March 13, 1991 syndicated column Buchanan called Israel "a strategic albatross draped around the neck of the United States."

In an interview in Present Tense magazine, Buchanan stated that "if my friends in the Jewish community feel Pat Buchanan, a traditionalist Catholic, owes some kind of apology for the record of the Holy Father during World War II, they can wait, because it's not going to be forthcoming."

In the Chicago Sun Times of March 1989, Buchanan criticized the West for ostracizing Kurt Waldheim. Buchanan rationalized, "like others in Hitler's army, Lt. Waldheim looked the other way."   (Previously, as Secretary General of the United Nations, Waldheim had been an object of Buchanan's scorn)

On the McLaughlin Report, August 26, 1990: "There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in the Middle East, the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen corner in the United  States."

In Newsweek, December 23, 1991, Jonathan Alter writes that in 1983 Buchanan criticized the United States government for expressing regret over its postwar protection of Klaus Barbie.

In 1985, Buchanan advocated restoring citizenship of Arthure Rudolph, an  ex-Nazi rocket scientist.

In 1987, Buchanan lobbied to stop deportation of Karl Linnas, accused of  Nazi atrocities in Estonia.

In a 1989 column, Buchanan wrote that it was impossible for 850,000 Jews  to be killed by diesel exhaust fed into the gas chamber at Treblinka.

On March 2, 1992, at a campaign rally in Marietta, Georgia, where Rabbi  Avi Weiss called out, "Your anti-semitism makes America last," Buchanan   shot back, "this rally is of Americans, for Americans and for the good 'ole USA, my friends."

Buchanan has written that people who claim to have survived the Holocaust suffer from "Holocaust survivors synfrome" and experience "group fantasies  of martyrdom and heroics."

Buchanan was a featured columnist for The Spotlight, a parently  anti- semitic and anti-black publication that championed David Duke.    

Buchanan repeatedly referred to Capitol Hill as "Israeli occupied   territory." (McLaughlin Report, June 1990)

On February 4, 1987, in The Washington Post, Buchanan wrote: "But apartheid is not the worst situation facing Africans today. Not remotely. If it were, they wouldn't be pouring into South Africa from such "liberated" zones as Mozambique."

In 1990, before the Gulf War, Buchanan wrote that if the United States went to war, "the fighting would be done by kids with names like McAllister, Murphy, Gonzales and Leroy Brown." The National Review of December 30, 1991 commented that "There is no way to read that sentence without concluding that Pat Buchanan was suggesting that American Jews manage to avoid personal military exposure even while advancing military policies they (uniquely)   engender."

While most Jewish newpapers have unequivocally condemned Buchanan as a   "pure Nazi", "rabid anti-semite" and "virulent racist" who is of extreme danger to the Jewish people, not all Jews have taken this position.    

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn is on the campaign board of Pat Buchanan and has a different version of the candidate. "I think Pat Buchanan is good for America. He's a tough conservative who will  take a law and order stance that we desperately need. His authoritarian and disciplinarian approach to lawlessness will pay off and his commitment to a conservative social agenda is in accordance with Torah Judaism. I think our children will be in a safer moral public square with Buchanan than any  other candidate."    

When asked about Buchanan's statements regarding Israel, Nazi war criminals and Jewish power in America today, Rabbi Levin said, "I don't think Pat Buchanan is anti-semitic at all. He's a God fearing man. I have known him for four years. I have spoken at his conventions and participated at his press conferences. At best, he is somewhere in the middle of being non-educated and not-sensitive about Jewish concerns. He's a hard boiled traditional Catholic, who like many Christians become annoyed at Jewish "pushiness"  particularly when it comes to rubbing their noses in what their ancestors did during the holocaust. They don't want to hear it."  

Moreover, Rabbi Levin said, "It is not wise for Jews to attack Pope Pious the XII and his role during World War II. It antagonizes many Christians and it strikes at the pinnacle of their religious beliefs." Remember, we Jews are still in Galus (exile) and we cannot go around blocking presidential motorcades to Bitburg or attack Christian beliefs."