Fighting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish racism

Bradley Burston’s piece criticized the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) for our campaigns against the Israel-bashing Boycott, Divestment,and Sanctions (BDS) promoting groups like Americans for Peace Now, Partners For a Progressive Israel, New Israel Fund (NIF), Open Hillel, J Street, and others. But Burston wrongly claims ZOA opposes these groups because they are “liberal, Democratic-voting, two-state advocating” liberals. In addition, he never mentions that ZOA opposes their marching in Israel Day Parades or participating in the World Zionist Congress elections solely because they support BDS against the businesses and 700,000 Jews who live and work in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. We never mentioned their positions on Palestinian statehood or Jewish communities past the 1967 Green Line. J Street also honors, features and brings leaders of the full BDS movement to college campuses and its conventions. It also has a website video touting BDS. An Ameinu subsidiary also calls for international sanctions against certain Israeli officials, while NIF finances groups that built the BDS infrastructure. Open Hillel not only hosts pro-BDS speakers from Students for Justice in Palestine, but also hosts speakers who call for Israel’s destruction.

Burston also chastises ZOA for complaining about Lufthansa’s discriminatory policy of allowing only one free bag on flights to Israel, while allowing two free bags on flights to every Arab/Islamic country in the Middle East. ZOA initially wrote to and called Lufthansa, but they simply falsely responded, “We don’t discriminate against Israel,” without explaining this policy which did. Only then did we publicize this troubling disparity, which provoked a large response to our offices thanking us for alerting them. At ZOA, we believe in fighting even small anti-Israel or anti-Jewish actions before they become even worse.

Mr. Burston – ZOA fights against anti-Israel and anti-Jewish racism – shouldn’t you?

Morton A. Klein
President, Zionist Organization of America
New York