ZOA Strongly Praises Pres. Trump for Appointing Superb Friends of Israel: Sen. Rubio, Gov. Huckabee, Cong. Stefanik, Cong. Zeldin, Gov. Noem, Cong. Waltz, Peter Hegseth, John Ratcliffe
News Press Release
November 13, 2024

ZOA Also Strongly Praises PM Netanyahu for Appointing Fabulous, Talented Ministers Israel Katz, Gideon Sa’ar, and Ambassador Yechiel Leiter

Three ZOA Gala Honorees Named to Important Posts

New Amb. to UN Elise Stefanik (center-right) with Dr. Miri Adelson (center-left) at ZOA Gala with ZOA President Morton & Rita Klein

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:

ZOA strongly praises President Trump for his superb recently-announced nominations and appointments of truly great Americans, respected public servants and extraordinary friends of Israel and the Jewish people, including Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State; Governor Mike Huckabee for U.S. Ambassador to Israel (who received ZOA’s Adelson Defender of Israel Award, presented by Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson); Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (also received ZOA’s Adelson Award presented by Dr. Miriam Adelson) for U.S. Ambassador to the UN; Congressman Lee Zeldin for head of the Environmental Protection Agency (who received ZOA’s Myron Zimmerman Award); Governor Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Secretary; and Congressman Mike Waltz for National Security Advisor; Peter Hegseth for Defense Secy; Stephen Miller for Deputy Chief for Policy; and John Ratcliffe for CIA Director. ZOA strongly congratulates all the nominees and appointees.

We are proud to call most of these appointees/nominees our dear personal friends. (Our apologies to anyone else whom we didn’t mention here. President Trump’s excellent appointments are coming so quickly!)

There are so many good things to say about all these nominees/appointees – much, much more than we can say in this brief congratulatory note. The nominees/appointees are all brilliant and have the right pro-American, pro-Israel ideology and uncommon common sense.

For instance, just recently, in relation to ZOA President Mort Klein’s tweet about Biden’s devastating threats to place an arms embargo against in Israel, Gov. Huckabee wisely tweeted, “Why on earth aren’t we putting the pressure on Iran and their stooges who are still holding AMERICANS hostage? We need to tell Iran if they don’t get those hostages out, we will supply Israel with enough arms to reduce Tehran & their oil fields and nuclear facilities to dirt.”

Governor Huckabee has also correctly explained: “There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.” Huckabee referred to ZOA as the “premiere Jewish organization fighting for Israel and the right of Jews to live in Judea/Samaria.”

This is a tremendously welcome sea change from Biden’s first U.S. Ambassador to Israel, who called Jews building their homes in Judea/Samaria “stupid” and “infuriating.”

Senator Rubio is a longtime champion of the Israel-U.S. relationship in the Senate, with numerous accomplishments, including correctly calling the recent leak of U.S. intelligence documents about an impending Israeli attack on Iran “an act of treason”; calling on Pres. Biden to provide Israel with the support it needs to defend itself from Iran even before October 7; co-sponsoring an important amendment during the Biden administration to keep the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem; making clear that any civilian deaths in the Israeli war against Hamas is the sole fault of Hamas, and much more.

Congresswoman Stefanik has been a great champion of the rights of Jewish students to safe college campuses; and a leading fighter against antisemitism in the U.S. and across the world. Her brilliant questioning at Congressional hearings demonstrated the failures of college presidents to even acknowledge that genocidal threats against Jews violated campus codes of conduct. Cong. Stefanik recently was honored with the “Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Defender of Israel Award” at the ZOA Florida Gala.

Peter Hegseth and John Ratcliffe are strong friends of Israel who strongly promote defending Israel while taking an appropriate hard line on Iran to insure that they never get Nuclear Weapons. Hegseth especially urges to stop kicking the can down the road and threaten Iran’s oil facilities, etc. if they don’t stop their nuclear ambitions endangering both America and Israel. Hegseth also proclaimed: “Zionism and Americanism are in the forefront in the fight for Western civilization and freedom.”

We could go on and on singing the praises of all these nominees/appointees.

ZOA also strongly praises Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his recent excellent appointments of dedicated, talented, strong defenders of the Jewish nation and of Jewish lands including Israel Katz as Defense Minister; Yechiel Leiter as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States; and Gideon Sa’ar as Foreign Minister. Mort Klein has known Leiter and Sa’ar as friends for over 25 years and Katz for over 10 years. We are proud to also call them our dear friends.

Center for Law & Justice
We work to educate the American public and Congress about legal issues in order to advance the interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
We assist American victims of terrorism in vindicating their rights under the law, and seek to hold terrorists and sponsors of terrorism accountable for their actions.
We fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses.
We strive to enforce existing law and also to create new law in order to safeguard the rights of the Jewish people in the United States and Israel.