The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly praised President Trump for backing off from support of the creation of a Palestinian Arab state, affirming in his joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is not seeking to impose any solution, including establishing a Palestinian state, and that he will work towards crafting an agreement that is acceptable to both parties.
The ZOA also praised President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their forthright statements about the vital need to end Palestinian promotion of hatred and murder of Jews, as well as non-acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state, before there can be any possibility of an Israeli/Palestinian Arab peace agreement.
At their joint press conference yesterday, on the occasion of their first meeting together as heads of their respective governments, President Trump, said:
…I think the Palestinians have to get rid of some of that hate that they’re taught from a very young age. They’re taught tremendous hate. I’ve seen what they’re taught … it starts at a very young age and it starts in the school room. And they have to acknowledge Israel — they’re going to have to do that. There’s no way a deal can be made if they’re not ready to acknowledge a very, very great and important country.”
Similarly, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that long-standing two prerequisites for peace are:
“First, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state. They have to stop calling for Israel’s destruction. They have to stop educating their people for Israel’s destruction … they continue to call for Israel’s destruction — inside their schools, inside their mosques, inside the textbooks. You have to read it to believe it … They fund –– they pay monthly salaries to the families of murderers, like the family of the terrorist who killed Taylor Force, a wonderful young American, a West Point graduate, who was stabbed to death [in March 2016] while visiting Israel” (‘Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel in Joint Press Conference East Room,’ February 15, 2017).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We strongly praise President Trump for not demanding, or even preferring the so-called ‘two-state solution, meaning establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. We also praise him for forcefully and cogently demanding an end to promoting Jew hatred and murder in Palestinian schools, media, and speeches. No previous administration has taken these positions or been more clear about them. This may well be the beginning of a sane, rational new era in the the U.S. approach to the Arab/Islamic war against the Jewish State of Israel.
“And unlike Obama, President Trump made no demand that Israel indefinitely freeze building homes for Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria/Jerusalem. This is only fair, moral, and just. As Netanyahu proclaimed in a point I’ve made in most of my own speeches, ‘Jews are called Jews because we’re from Judea, just as Chinese are from China and Japanese are from Japan. Judea/Samaria is the Jewish people’s ancient homeland.’
“Despite this truth, President Trump knows that not a single new community has been built since Oslo was signed in 1993, and that these communities comprise a mere 2% of the whole territory of Judea/Samaria. President Trump also knows that Prime Minister Netanyahu has maintained a de facto freeze in the region for over three years in an attempt to broker a peace deal. “Trump’s policy to no longer actively promote a Palestinian State is an important step away from the ideological dead end of seeing Palestinian statehood as the panacea, especially since it will surely be a Hamas PA terrorist state.”
“In fact, Palestinian Arabs remain uninterested in statehood that does not entail Israel’s eventual elimination. Had it ever been otherwise, there could have been a Palestinian Arab state long ago –– in 1937 when the Peel Commission recommended two states; or in 1947, when the UN General Assembly did; or in 2000–1, when President Clinton set out his parameters for a Palestinian state; or again in 2008 when then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert laid out his plan for one.
“President Trump is evidently aware of Palestinian rejection of peace proposals in 2000–1 and in 2008 encompassing Palestinian statehood. He is aware that statehood on terms that do not entail Israel’s elimination and an end to claims and conflict do not interest Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA).
“The ZOA also commends both leaders on their clear, important statements focusing on the paramount need for the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Arabs to cease indoctrination and incitement to hatred and murder in Palestinian society, in their mosques, media, schools and youth camps. This is a PA that pays salaries to jailed Jew-killers and stipends to families of terrorists.
“This is a welcome change. Without genuine sustained and successful Palestinian Arab action on this front, no peace is conceivable. Both leaders are to be commended for not only raising the subject, but for explaining how toxic and pervasive incitement to hatred and murder of Jews is within Palestinian society.”