Smithsonian Scraps Joint Lecture Series

The Smithsonian Institution, under attack from conservative critics, has dropped plans to co-sponsor a lecture series with the New Israel Fund, a Washington-based group that supports religious pluralism in Israel and promotes better relations between Arabs and Jews.

The lecture series, which was intended to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, came under fire from some Jewish groups and Rep. Michael Forbes, a New York Republican, who argued that the program would “unjustly heap abuse on America’s most trusted ally in the Middle East.”

David Umansky, director of communications at the Smithsonian, said that the institution would go forward with a program to mark Israel’s anniversary, but without the co-sponsorship of the New Israel Fund. He said the decision was based not on any evaluation of the New Israel Fund so much as on a desire to carry out the program independently. “It was naive of us to accept a co-sponsor of this in the first place,” he said.

Norman Rosenberg, executive director of the New Israel Fund, expressed disappointment in the Smithsonian’s decision, saying the institution caved in to the first hint of Congressional criticism out of fear that its government support — representing 70 per cent of its budget — would be put in jeopardy. “We had hoped they would hang tough,” he said.

Mr. Rosenberg said that his organization plans to forge ahead with its plans to offer the lectures.