January 21, 2016 

Dear ZOA Friends:

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro lambasted Israel at a conference in Tel Aviv, questioning Israel’s peaceful “intentions,” condemning “settlement growth” (which is in fact virtually non-existent and is not the cause of the lack of peace) and falsely claiming that Israel has a double standard with “too many attacks on Palestinians” and unchecked “vigilantism.”    

Ambassador Shapiro stated:  “We are concerned and perplexed by Israel’s strategy on settlements. . . . continued settlement growth raises honest questions about Israel’s long-term intentions. . . . Israel must develop stronger, more credible responses to questions about the rule of law in the West Bank…too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities; too much vigilantism goes unchecked; and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.”

Ambassador Shapiro’s false allegations maligning Israel have led to the following:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a (rare) rebuke, saying: “The Ambassador’s statements on a day when a pregnant Jewish woman is stabbed are unacceptable and wrong.   Israel enforces the law on Israelis and Palestinians.  The onus for the stalemate in their diplomatic process is on the PA [Palestinian Authority], which continues to incite and refuses to negotiate.”
• Congressman Peter Roskam (co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus) wrote an eloquent letter yesterday, asking Secretary of State John Kerry to reject Ambassador Shapiro’s misguided remarks on Israel.  Among other things, Congressman Roskam wrote: 

 As Ambassador Shapiro was wrongly castigating Israel on the world stage, Palestiniain leaders were unabashedly praising Dafna’s killers and further inciting Palestinians to continue the “Intifada of Knives.”  Perpetuating falsities and placing undue and disproportionate blame on Israel for the stalled peace process is a harmful distraction from ongoing Palestinian terrorist attacks, which, ultimately, make peace harder to achieve.

At their most basic level, the ambassador’s comments are inaccurate.  Since its founding, Israel has consistently agreed to painful concessions in the name of peace, only to be met with swift rebuke from Palestinian and Arab leadership.  [See Congresman Roskam’s letter here for a list of Israeli concessions, which were met with Arab terror attacks.]

• ZOA withdrew its 2011 qualified support for Shapiro to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel.  See ZOA’s detailed statement here
•  The Anti-Israel group “Americans for Peace Now” blasted out an email asking its members to thank Ambassador Shapiro for his remarks!  

Please help us make sure that Ambassador Shapiro hears from American Jews and Zionists of all faiths who love and care about Israel.   Please tell the Ambassador that his remarks were unacceptable, insensitive and false, on his facebook and twitter pages.   A sample letter is below.

Ambassador Shapiro’s Facebook Contact Page:https://www.facebook.com/AmbassadorDanShapiro/

Ambassador Shapiro’s Twitter Contact Page:https://twitter.com/AmbShapiro

Ambassador Shapiro’s U.S. Embassy Page: http://israel.usembassy.gov/ambpage.html

Please Also Ask Secretary of State John Kerry to Publicly Reject Amb. Shapiro’s Remarks, Demand a Retraction and apology From Amb. Shapiro

Letters can be addressed to:

The Honorable John KerryUnited States Secretary of State

2201 C Street NW

Washington D.C., 20520

Please Also Thank Congressman Peter Roskam (R-Illinois) for his Eloquent Letter Condemning Ambassador Shapiro’s Remarks:

Congressman Peter J. Roskam’s Twitter Page:

https://twitter.com/PeterRoskam

Please also send a copy of your letter, posting or tweet and any response to liz@zoa.org.  Thank you!

____________________

Sample letter:

Dear Ambassador Shapiro:

Your comments on the same day as the burial of an Israeli mother of six children, who was murdered by a Palestinian Arab terrorist, and the stabbing of a pregnant Israeli woman by another Palestinian Arab terrorist were insensitive and wrong.

“Settlements” are not an obstacle to peace.  The Arab war against Israel existed long before any settlements were built.  The settlements comprise only 2% of Judea/Samaria, and the little new building being done are within the boundaries of the existing Jewish communities in historic Jewish land that will remain part of Israel under any conceivable final peace agreement. 

In fact, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership is solely to blame for the lack of peace. Palestinian Arabs have persistently refused to accept any final peace agreement (including over-generous agreements offered to them in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2001, 2008, and 2015) that calls for the Arabs to relinquish their claims to destroy all of Israel.   Instead of negotiating, the PA continues to incite deadly attacks on innocent Jews.

Sincerely,