Disclaimer: The ZOA does not endorse or renounce any political party or any candidate for political office.
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA recently reviewed the past eighty years of presidential nominees’ acceptance speeches at the two major parties’ nominating conventions. We found that Kamala Harris was the first presidential nominee of a major political party to promote in her nomination acceptance speech “working for” a so-called Palestinian Arab “right to self-determination” – meaning, a Palestinian (terror) state on Israel’s rightful land – the historic Jewish land guaranteed to the Jewish people under international law.
Such a Palestinian Arab state would render Israel indefensible, leaving Israel with a 9-mile-narrow waist, and place all of Israel within close rocket range from the elevated Judean hills. A Palestinian Arab state would be dominated by Hamas and other Iranian terror proxies – particularly now that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah (the Palestinian Authority’s governing party) and other Palestinian factions entered into a unity agreement last month. Israel would be threatened with more October 7ths from all sides.
Unfortunately, Harris’ welcome statement about standing for “Israel’s right to defend itself” will be rendered meaningless by the policy of working for a terror state that threatens Israel’s existence, on what would become Israel’s longest border.
Indeed, on July 17, 2024, Israel’s Knesset overwhelmingly passed a resolution — 68 to 9 — totally rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, as an existential threat to Israel and a reward for terrorism. Israeli Arab-communist and Arab-Islamist parties casted the only nine votes against the resolution. The resolution explained:
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region. It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a radical Islamic terror base, working in coordination with the Iranian-led axis to eliminate the State of Israel. Promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.”
Israeli polls likewise overwhelmingly reject creating a Palestinian state in Israel’s heartland.
It is also deeply troubling that Harris spoke of working for a Palestinian state as part of working for a deal to “end the war in Gaza” – meaning a ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power and able to rebuild. (Harris used the terms “ceasefire” and “ending the war” interchangeably, when she demanded that Israel needs to agree to such a ceasefire deal, the day after Harris boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress. See Harris’ July 25, 2024 remarks.)
A ceasefire or end to the war that does not eliminate Hamas’ terror army will leave Israel subject to more October 7ths.
Moreover, a Palestinian state and ceasefire should not be a quid pro quo for Hamas releasing the hostages. Under international law, Hamas is obligated to release the hostages now. We urge VP Harris to adopt or copy President Trump’s demand for the hostages’ release. In his 2024 nomination acceptance speech, Trump warned: “to the entire world, we want our hostages back—and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price.”
As Richard Nixon stated in his 1960 nomination acceptance speech, “we have already paid a terrible price in lives and resources to learn that appeasement leads not to peace, but to war.”
Interestingly, the current and past presidents (i.e., Biden and Obama) who supported creating a dangerous Palestinian Arab state were more circumspect in their nomination acceptance speeches. Obama and Biden shrewdly avoided mentioning this dangerous policy during their nomination acceptance speeches – and instead pushed for a Palestinian Arab terror state policies in their other speeches, after being elected.
For instance, during his 2012 nomination acceptance speech, Pres. Obama merely spoke about the “pursuit of peace” – an innocuous phrase open to many interpretations. But in his infamous “new chapter” speech on May 19, 2011, then-President Obama called for a Palestinian Arab state on the indefensible pre-1967 “Auschwitz lines” with “mutually agreed swaps” (meaning no swaps).
And President Biden’s 2020 acceptance speech said nothing about Israel, Iran, the Middle East or Palestinian Arabs. But on July 15, 2022, while standing together with Palestinian Authority dictator Mahmoud Abbas (who continues to pay “pay to slay” payments to Arabs to murder Jews), President Biden likewise called for a Palestinian Arab state on the indefensible pre-1967 “Auschwitz lines” with imaginary “mutually agreed swaps.”
It is also concerning that Harris’ nomination acceptance speech did not refer to Israel as a close American ally, as a number of past nominees’ acceptance speeches did.
For instance, President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 nomination acceptance speech referred to Israel as our “staunch Middle East ally” and took the Jimmy Carter administration to task for betraying Israel at the United Nations, by voting for anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution 465 (Mar. 1, 1980), which called for Israel to dismantle settlements in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, and then claiming that the vote was a “misunderstanding.”
Reagan stated: “Critical decisions are made at times almost in Marx Brothers fashion, but who can laugh? Who was not embarrassed when the Administration handed a major propaganda victory in the United Nations to the enemies of Israel, our staunch Middle East ally for three decades, and then claimed that the American vote was a mistake, the result of a failure of communication between the President, his Secretary of State and his UN Ambassador?”
And in his 1984 nomination acceptance speech, Pres. Reagan stated: “We shall always maintain our pledge never to sell out one of our closest friends, the State of Israel.”
Pres. Donald Trump’s 2016 nomination acceptance speech called Israel “our greatest ally in the region.”
Governor Mitt Romney, in his 2012 presidential nomination acceptance speech, noted: “President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus.”
And liberal Democrat George McGovern proclaimed in his 1972 presidential nomination acceptance speech: “We will do that [keep our defenses strong and alert] not only for ourselves, but for those who deserve and need the shield of our strength — our old allies in Europe and elsewhere, including the people of Israel who will always have our help to hold their Promised Land.”
Instead of working to carve up the Jewish people’s land to create a Palestinian Arab terror state, we urge VP Harris to borrow a page from George McGovern: to vow to always help America’s staunch ally – the people of Israel – to hold their Promised Land.