Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein, Chairman Mark Levenson, Esq., and ZOA Director of Special Projects Elizabeth Berney, Esq. released the following statement:
The ZOA is dismayed to read that AIPAC’s lobbying agenda this week includes asking its thousands of activists to lobby for: (1) House Resolution 246, which includes a call for negotiations leading to a Palestinian-Arab state (sure to be a terror state), and (2) a “robust” foreign aid budget to other nations – which would likely include funding countries such as Lebanon, where aid dollars end up in the hands of designated terrorist organization Hezbollah.
AIPAC should focus solely on its important lobbying for aid to America’s strongest ally Israel, and should not muddy the waters by also lobbying for foreign aid that could fall into the hands of the enemies of Israel and America.
H. Res. 246 is being pitched as a resolution condemning anti-Israel Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS), and indeed has some good language to this effect. Unfortunately however, a paragraph calling for a Palestinian-Arab state was inserted into this resolution. A Palestinian-Arab state, on historic Jewish land legally designated for the Jewish homeland, is sure to be a Hamas-Fatah-PFLP Iranian proxy terror state. It would be Gaza on steroids.
As we write these words, Israel is under severe rocket bombardment from Gaza. Thousands of Israeli families throughout southern and central Israel are trembling in bomb shelters. A Hamas rocket hit a home in Kfar Sava, in central Israel, this week, injuring seven people including two Jewish babies and another young Jewish child. Isn’t it enough that Israel is being bombarded from Gaza in the south, and faces the threat that Hezbollah will unleash its 150,000 rockets on Israel from the north?
A Palestinian-Arab state would mean that all of Israel – including her largest population centers and airport, will be subject to terror rockets from Israel’s longest border on the east, making normal life virtually impossible.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) – the proposed predecessor to a Palestinian-Arab state – is still paying terrorists hundreds of millions of dollars a year to murder Jews.
The PA is continuing its practice of glorifying Jew-killers, by this week naming a street after the terrorist who murdered Rabbi Ettinger (father of 12 children) and young Israeli Sgt. and musician Gal Keidan. The PA – and any state that may emanate from negotiations with it – is clearly not an entity that is willing to live in peace with Israel.
House Resolution 246 also contradicts the 2016 Republican platform, which does not endorse the creation of a Palestinian state. Accordingly, the resolution should not be deemed to be bipartisan.
ZOA furthermore pleads with AIPAC to heed the wishes of the Israeli people. The majority of the Israeli people oppose a Palestinian-Arab state. AIPAC should not be lobbying for a Palestinian-Arab state against the wishes of the people who would have to live with, and be attacked by such a state.
The Haaretz poll released this week reveals that only 34% of Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) favor a so-called “2-state solution” (an euphemism for creating a Palestinian-Arab terror state). The Maagar Mochot poll showed that Israelis oppose a Palestinian-Arab state by a margin of 10 to 1.
ZOA is also concerned that a House resolution condemning BDS will end up serving as an excuse for the House of Representatives to avoid passing a federal anti-BDS law with real teeth in it. We need strong action and strong actual laws to combat antisemitic anti-Israel boycotts-not merely a toothless resolution!