Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
Israel is having a parade to celebrate the anniversary of Jerusalem’s miraculous reunification, with music, and children and families walking through the streets of Jerusalem waving Israeli flags. Some Arabs are threatening violence if Israel proceeds. The Biden Administration has interfered with this internal Israeli matter by demanding the Israel’s Jerusalem parade take a certain route to appease the Arab terrorists. This interference by Biden with our ally Israel is unconscionable. The U.S. request is also dangerous, because the U.S. is essentially asking Israel to appease terrorist organizations. Appeasement never works, and only encourages more terror. Yale Professor Don Kagan in his book “On the Origins of Peace and the Prevention of War” wrote that history shows that appeasement always fails. In a recent example, in 2021, Israel changed the parade route to attempt to allay Hamas’ terror threats, but Hamas still fired rockets into Jerusalem. Arab terrorists will always find another excuse for killing Jews – because their goal is the annihilation of the Jewish people and state.
U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are again demanding changes in the Jerusalem parade this year – to try to turn a normal happy national and family event into another pretext for murdering innocent Jews. Terrorists’ threats need to be answered with strength – not appeasement. The U.S. should never push Israel to appease terrorists.
Sadly, the parade route is only the latest in a string of offensive and dangerous intrusions by the Biden administration into Israel’s internal affairs. For instance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides has repeatedly pressured Israel to prevent Jews from building homes in strategic areas of the Jewish homeland, necessary for Israel’s security, such as the E-1 corridor. Nides even called Jews building homes “infuriating” and “stupid.”
It’s time for the Biden administration to show a little respect for Israel as a fellow sovereign nation. The Biden administration’s unconscionable interference with Israeli internal matters needs to stop.
As former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman stated: “Jews cannot compromise their ability to celebrate Jerusalem Day.”