The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is gratified that rational sanity has prevailed at JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council)/Boston. We are grateful for the overwhelming majority of the JCRC Council which refused to take inappropriate actions against ZOA and who stood with us and defended the truth, such as the gentleman who stood up and said that ZOA and Mort Klein are “fighting for the soul of the Jewish people and the defense of the Jewish state.” We are especially pleased that the mainstream Boston Federation and the JCRC Board supported ZOA. JCRC chapters around the country have called us and asked ZOA to join them now.
Only the most radical hostile-to-Israel groups like J street, New Israel Fund (NIF), Workers Circle, and Keshet (founded by a NIF leader) slandered ZOA and Mort Klein.
Our radical adversaries condemned ZOA based on a set of distortions, absurdities, and blatant lies.
The extremists wrongly condemned ZOA as “racist” for criticizing the Black Lives Matter organization which called Israel an apartheid genocidal state and fights to “dismantle Israel,” and for retweeting a major Black intellectual, Thomas Sowell, who said racism is waning. The extremists condemned ZOA as “Islamophobic” for criticizing Rep. Omar and Tlaib who support BDS, ending U.S. aid to Israel, and calling Israel “evil” and racist; condemned ZOA for criticizing HIAS who defended Israel-hater Linda Sarsour, works with Islamic Relief—which is on Israel’s terrorist list, and resettles unvettable people from Syria that ADL polls show are overwhelmingly antisemitic; called ZOA “white supremacist” for appearing on Zionist Sebastian Gorka’s radio show, a calumny stemming from the extremists’ false accusations that Gorka is a white supremacist. The extremists even made the insane charge that ZOA inspired the Pittsburgh monster who murdered 11 Jews.
The community can no longer afford to ignore true threats to Jewish and Israeli interests. It’s time to speak out about J Street honoring Israel-bashers Jimmy Carter; Mahmoud Abbas, who pays Arabs to murder Jews; and Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, who opposes Israel’s existence. J Street supported anti-Israel UN Res. 2334 which states all land past the ‘67 lines are occupied Arab territory, and opposes sanctions on Iran who calls for Israel’s destruction. J Street brings in pro-BDS leaders, and also themselves support BDS in Judea/Samaria and restricting aid to Israel. For years they lied that anti-Zionist George Soros was one of their supporters. JCRC and the Jewish community cannot afford to ignore this real, anti-Israel, antisemitic travesty. We cannot afford to ignore NIF’s funding of groups that defame Israel and provide lawyers for Jew-hating terrorists.
And we cannot allow anti-Israel groups to tear apart the community with false attacks on Israel’s defenders.
ZOA appreciates the clear majority of JCRC members who saw through the obvious, breathtaking lies. We must and we will continue to fight to prevent the far-left from trying to divide the Jewish community by attempting to censor opinions they disagree with.
We dare not allow the radical anti-Israel left to impose “cancel culture” on the Jewish community by their ascribing false and ugly labels on their ideological opponents, or silencing or diminishing the credibility of pro-Israel opinions they disagree with.