Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Director of Research & Special Projects Liz Berney, Esq. released the following statement:
At the White House yesterday afternoon (February 12, 2024), President Joe Biden continued unconscionably betraying, pressuring and inciting against Israel in joint press remarks together with hypocritical Jordanian King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein. After giving lip service to the evils of Hamas’ October 7th atrocities, Biden sought to reward the terrorists by demanding a Palestinian Arab (terror) state; promoted a “deal” that amounts to a ceasefire before Hamas can be destroyed and that includes a Palestinian terror state; demanded that Palestinians must not leave Gaza (even though many want to leave and even though he promotes and facilitates millions of illegals leaving their countries to come to America; 9 million illegal immigrants have entered America under Biden, five times the number of Gazan Arabs); called for constraining and even ending Israeli operations to destroy Arab Islamic terrorist group Hamas; praised vicious anti-Israel Palestinian propagandist Queen Rania; praised Jordan’s role at Jerusalem holy sites (which Jordan uses to discriminate against Jewish worshipers, incite against Jews and to destroy sacred Jewish religious objects and structures); and demanded more aid for Gaza which is being used by Hamas to attack Israel.
King Abdullah’s remarks, with Biden looking on approvingly, were even worse. Abdullah denied and denigrated Israel’s legitimate, lawful right to exist, by referring to Israel as “seven decades of occupation, death, and destruction.” [Seven decades means since Israel’s rebirth.]
Abdullah also demanded an immediate ceasefire (leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza and Israeli hostages in captivity); libeled Israeli “settlers” [Jews living in the Jewish homeland]; made false and misleading claims about Palestinian Arab casualties without acknowledging that even a single Arab casualty was a terrorist; made false claims about Muslims being denied worship rights in Jerusalem – a blood libel that is frequently used to incite terror against Israelis; called for more support for Hamas-infested UNRWA; and hypocritically called for what would be another Palestinian state on Israel’s rightful lands. (Jordan was created on and still occupies 78% of the land guaranteed to the Jewish homeland. Moreover, Jordan failed to create another Palestinian Arab state when Jordan illegally occupied the additional areas that Jordan now seeks to wrest away from Israel.)
Abdullah and Biden Hypocritically Demanded Creating a Genocidal Palestinian State on Israel’s Lawful Lands: Standing side by side, Biden and Abdullah hypocritically called for creating what would be an Iranian-proxy Palestinian Arab terror state on Israel’s lawful lands. Abdullah specifically demanded that such a state must include “East Jerusalem” (the portion of Israel’s united capital Jerusalem which contains the Jewish Quarter and Judaism’s holiest sites, even though Jerusalem is not holy to Muslims; it’s never mentioned in the Koran), Gaza and the “West Bank” (the Jordanian-created name for Judea/Samaria). Abdullah further demanded that Gaza and the West Bank must not be separated (meaning, that tiny Israel must be cut in two to accommodate a contiguous Palestinian terror state). Notably, Jordan, Egypt and four other Arab states invaded Israel in 1948, killed 1% of Israel’s population, and seized and illegally occupied these very same areas for the next 19 years (1948-1967). Jordan illegally occupied Judea/Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, while Egypt illegally occupied Gaza (and no Arab leader (outside of Jordan) visited Jerusalem when Jordan controlled it, really holy to them!) Yet Jordan and Egypt failed to create a “Palestinian state” in these areas during the 19 years when they occupied these areas. It is only after Israel recovered her lawful, holy lands that Jordan and Biden are demanding a Palestinian state there.
The hypocrisy of Abdullah’s demands to carve a Palestinian Arab state out of rightful Jewish lands is also underscored by the fact that 78% of the land guaranteed to the Jewish people under international law (the League of Nations Covenant, San Remo Resolution, and British Mandate for Palestine) was unilaterally carved off by Britain to create Jordan. Jordan is the “Palestinian Arab” state!!
Moreover, during the 19 years when Jordan illegally occupied eastern Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria, Jordan blew up 58 synagogues; murdered, imprisoned or ethnically cleansed every Jew from their ancient homes there; refused to allow Jews to worship at the Jewish people’s holiest sites; employed snipers to shoot at Jewish children walking to school in western Jerusalem; and launched a war against Israel again in 1967 in yet another attempt to destroy the Jewish state. And now – after the horrific October 7th Hamas genocidal attack on Israel, King Abdullah and President Biden have the gall to demand that Israel give up lawful Jewish lands to create a state that Jordan refused to create!
Biden and Abdullah also know full well that the Palestinian Authority terrorists participated in slaughtering Jews on October 7th, that Palestinian Authority leaders continue to reward Arabs for murdering Jews (“pay-to-slay”), and state that Hamas will be part of any Palestinian state; and that such a state violates international law; and is an existential danger to Israel. (See also “ZOA Strongly Opposes Dangerous Biden Plan for Palestinian Authority (Pay-to-Slay) Terror Regime to Rule Gaza & Create a State,” Jan. 10, 2024; “ZOA Agrees – “Worst Betrayal”: Congressmembers Slam Biden Plan to Recognize Palestinian State That Israel Opposes as an Existential Danger,” Feb. 1, 2024.)
Biden and Abdullah Failed to Call for Hamas to Immediately Release the Hostages and Surrender: Instead, Biden discussed efforts to negotiate a “deal” involving a six-week period of calm that would lead to a “something more enduring” (a ceasefire that benefits Hamas and leads to a dangerous Palestinian state). Abdullah didn’t even bother calling for the hostages’ release. Instead, Abdullah demanded an immediate ceasefire. Such a ceasefire would enable Hamas to regroup and rearm to carry out its open threats to repeat October 7th again and again, as Hamas leaders publicly promised, until Israel is annihilated. (See also here.) Both Biden and Abdullah also complained about civilian casualties in Gaza, without mentioning Israel’s extraordinary efforts to avoid harming civilians or Hamas’ war crimes of embedding itself among civilians.
Abdullah Outrageously Demanded Support for Hamas-Infested UNRWA: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has a long, sordid history of perpetuating and expanding Palestinian Arab “refugee” status generation after generation; teaching Palestinian Arab children to hate and kill Jews; hiding weapons for Hamas; using UNWRA facilities to launch rockets against Israel; corruption; and employing thousands of Hamas members and sympathizers. (See, e.g., “ZOA Praises Sponsors Sen. Risch, Rep. Roy and 41 Republican Cosponsors for Reintroducing Bills to Stop Funding Corrupt Terror-Fomenting UNRWA,” Feb. 27, 2023; “UNRWA Education: Textbooks and Terror,” Impact-se, Nov. 2023.)
Recently, UNRWA teachers and staff participated in the October 7th atrocities including kidnapping innocent Israelis. (“Intelligence Reveals Details of UN Agency Staff’s Links to Oct. 7th Attack,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 29, 2024.) Israel uncovered major Hamas operations centers under UNRWA’s main Gazan headquarters and other UNRWA facilities. Fuel lines carry fuel directly from UNRWA facilities to run Hamas’ underground operations. (“ Hamas Military Compound Found Beneath UN Agency Headquarters in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 10, 2024.) Biden’s contributions to UNRWA of over $600 million of U.S. tax dollars is partially responsible for October 7th. Congressional hearings on January 30, 2024 confirmed UNRWA’s terror activities and dangerous policies.
Yet King Abdullah absurdly asserted, with Biden looking on approvingly: “No other UN agency can do what UNRWA is doing in helping the people of Gaza through this humanitarian catastrophe. Its work in other areas of operation — especially in Jordan, where 2.3 million are registered — is also vital. It is imperative that UNRWA continues to receive the support it needs to carry out its mandate.”
The fact that millions of so-called “Palestinian refugees” are being held in UNRWA camps in Jordan demonstrates what is wrong with UNRWA. Jordan should have resettled the small numbers of Arabs who left Israel (at the insistence of Arab nations) in 1948 – just as Israel resettled the close to one million Jews who were violently forced out of Arab lands at the same time. Instead, ever-expanding numbers of Arabs are being kept in UNRWA camps as a genocidal anti-Israel army-in-waiting, and taught to hate and kill Jews, generation after generation. Support for UNRWA must end!
Blocking Arab Civilians From Leaving Gaza: Under the guise of preventing “forcible displacement,” Biden and King Abdullah supported Arab nations’ reinforced fences and other measures to block Palestinian Arabs who want to leave Gaza from doing so. Keeping Arab civilians from leaving Gaza enables Hamas to continue to embed itself among civilians, and to falsely blame Israel for any casualties resulting from these Hamas war crimes. Ironically, Biden praised the King and his family for supposed “humanitarian” efforts. If Abdullah, Queen Rania, other Arab leaders and Biden were truly “humanitarian,” they would open Jordan, and would demand that Egypt and other Arab nations unblock and open their borders to Palestinian Arab civilians in Gaza who wish to leave – instead of containing Palestinian Arab civilians in Gaza under the guise of preventing “forcible displacement.”
Biden Praised Jordan’s Treacherous Role at Jerusalem Holy Sites: Biden stated during his joint remarks with Abdullah that Biden was grateful to King Abdullah and Jordan for their “unique role: custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem.” That is a deep insult to every Jew throughout the world. Jordan has abused its custodial role on the Temple Mount to prevent Jewish prayer at Israel’s holiest site; limit access to the site by Jews and other non-Muslims; allow Arab terrorists to use the site – including Al-Aqsa mosque – to store weapons; foment anti-Jewish terror using blood libels that Jews are endangering the site; and destroy tons of irreplaceable Jewish religious objects and archeological structures. (See, e.g., “The Destruction of the Temple Mount Antiquities,” by Mark Ami-El, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Aug. 1, 2002.)
Indeed, during his White House speech, Abudullah again fomented anti-Jewish blood libels that “extremist settlers” at “Jerusalem’s holy sites” are perpetrating “continued escalations” and “the vast majority of Muslim worshippers are not being allowed to enter Al-Aqsa.” It is despicable that Biden used the White House to enable Abdullah to spew these dangerous anti-Jewish blood libels.
Biden Praised Queen Rania’s Anti-Israel Propagandizing: Biden praised Palestinian propagandist and Israel-basher Queen Rania al-Yassin al-Abdullah as a “passionate — a passionate advocate for the Palestinian people.” Among other calumnies, Rania falsely blamed Israeli “illegal occupation” (meaning, Israel’s lawful existence) as the “root cause” of Hamas’ atrocities, and libelously accused Israel of “war crimes” for pursuing Hamas terrorists and seeking to recover hostages in Gaza.
Biden has reached a new low by inviting Arab leaders to join him at the White House in bashing Israel and calling for measures that threaten Israel’s existence.