By Jared Feldschreiber
(July 16, 2025 / Queens Jewish Link) Mort Klein, a German-born American economist, statistician, and president of the Zionist Organization of America for three decades, has been praised as a voice of sanity for the Jewish community. While other American Jewish leaders have often been perceived as “emotional” and playing politics, Klein leaves little to the imagination. He’s a pragmatist and remains one of the most prominent Zionist leaders in America, especially at a time of great existential dangers facing Israel and the Jewish diaspora.
Born to Holocaust survivors in a displaced persons camp in Ginzburg, Germany, Klein and his family immigrated to the U.S. Growing up in South Philadelphia, Klein blossomed as a pioneering economist, which led him to work with successive presidential administrations throughout the 1970s.
Klein was elected national president of ZOA in 1993 after serving as its Philadelphia chapter president. Since then, as national chairman, Klein has never shied away from controversy in defending Israel’s security. He has oftentimes taken more ardent views on Zionism than many who claim to be its standard bearers.
During Donald Trump’s first term, it was the ZOA that uniquely bestowed the then-45th President with its coveted Theodor Herzl Award, “for his meaningful work in helping the State of Israel,” Klein tells the Queens Jewish Link.
“[Trump] came there and got a five-minute standing ovation [as] he is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he adds. “We have an obligation as Jews, as human beings, to thank those who help us. We felt we needed to thank Donald Trump for moving the embassy to Jerusalem, for recognizing the Golan Heights, and for so much more.”
Klein spoke exclusively to the Queens Jewish Link in the aftermath of Israel and the United States’ successful launch of strikes against Iran this summer.
Queens Jewish Link: You have said in the past that “President Trump faces a historic opportunity to succeed where others failed.” This is most relevant regarding the destruction of Iran’s nuclear threat and reshaping Middle East security and prosperity. How can Trump best achieve even greater success moving forward?
Mort Klein: It’s a miracle from G-d what’s happened in the last two years. Two years ago, there was an enormous danger of Israel attacking Iran as they were developing nukes. [Back then], Hezbollah had 200,000 missiles; Hamas had 150,000 missiles. Missiles would rain into Israel if they attacked Iran. It was a terrible situation.
I could never fathom how we could get out of this awful situation, and yet two years later, Hamas has been degraded substantially, as has Hezbollah. Iran is, too, degraded substantially with no defensive weapons. Israel destroyed them all. It is a miracle. To me, this is like the splitting of the Red Sea. It’s that extraordinary.
QJL: Who and what do you point to for achieving this level of success?
Mort Klein: Of course, the talent and the courage of the IDF were just remarkable – remarkable is not a strong enough word. It’s just extraordinary.
But I am disappointed that President Donald Trump made it clear that Israel should stop the war. The war against Iran should not have stopped until [Ali Hosseini] Khamenei or this regime was rendered ineffective and destroyed. As long as they’re in power, they will continue to do what they can to develop nukes, even if it might take two more years instead of two weeks, all the while promoting hateful propaganda against Israel.
Things are now much better, but I’m disappointed that Israel didn’t finish the job.
QJL: Why would Trump push for Israel to end the war? He’s not the type to submit to pressures from advisors or any international agency. Have you personally spoken to him about this?
Mort Klein: When I had dinner with the President this past year, he seemed to be – understandably – interested in being considered a peacemaker and overall interested in the Nobel Peace Prize. He may be thinking that the world should view him as doing positive things for peace. I’m concerned that his strong and appropriate desire to be viewed as a peacemaker will have an impact on his judgment with respect to these issues. That’s my speculation. I don’t know if it’s true or not, as I never asked him.
QJL: Previous administrations have clearly been naive and feckless with regard to dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran, wouldn’t you say?
Mort Klein: No, not naive. Barack Obama gave us this horrific, insane deal with Iran, which allowed the regime to develop nuclear weapons 13 years after signing it. It also ended all sanctions. They gave them billions of dollars in specific aid.
Nobody is naive enough to think that by acting nicely to Iran, anything good would happen. When you act nicely to Nazis, they don’t change. They have a vision and a goal [to annihilate] us. I believe that Obama intentionally wanted to strengthen Iran, and this evil to strengthen Iran was meant to harm Israel and the West. I don’t think it was naive or feckless in the case of Obama.
As for President Biden, I believe he did what he was told. I’ve known him for 30 years, and he was scared to death that his son was going to go to prison, and that was on his mind all the time.
Every person that Biden appointed was a friend of Obama’s. He felt compelled to go along with them. So, I do not call Obama or those people feckless or naive. They intentionally wanted to strengthen Iran to harm Israel. There is no other explanation. That’s why Trump got rid of the nuclear deal.
QJL: Does it concern you that just a few weeks prior to this successful military operation, Trump met with Arab countries in Saudi Arabia? Perhaps, to put it more succinctly, are you wary of the Abraham Accords and its pending expansion?
Mort Klein: I talked to [former U.S. Ambassador] David Friedman, who’s my friend, before the Abraham Accords were announced [in 2020], and I was told then that there were statements [within the agreements] that [uniformly] support a Palestinian state. I told David then that this is unacceptable.
Outside of that, I believe that minor relations with these Arab countries are better than they were before, and Trump, I believe, talked to Saudi Arabia about joining the Abraham Accords. It didn’t bother me that Trump met with these countries’ leaders, no matter what he may have said to them.
All of these Arab states have been scared to death of Iran. They won’t say it publicly, but they supported Israel’s military actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
QJL: What must happen next?
It’s a miracle from G-d and the IDF and their intelligence agencies to achieve all that they’ve accomplished. No one thought this was possible. I certainly didn’t think it was possible. We have to get rid of the regime.
After 12 days of war – of being destroyed by Israel – the Iranian regime still had press conferences and news articles lying that they destroyed the US and Israel. They just lie to their people. So, I wonder what their people even know if they only see the news inside Iran.
Until this regime is eliminated, there can be no possibility of Israel resting and stopping their deep concern about Iran [likely 1-2 years]. It’s important that we get rid of this regime, and that hasn’t happened.
QJL: What pieces of advice about this chapter in the US-Israeli alliance would you offer President Trump if you spoke to him tomorrow?
Mort Klein: I would tell Donald Trump to let Israel defend themselves and do what they must do to protect themselves. I would tell him not to pressure Israel to stop the war before the war is over. We’re dealing with a terrible enemy, so I would urge him to make speeches exposing the reality of the Arab-Islamic war against Israel. That would be most important to me.
This article was originally published in the Queens Jewish Link and can be viewed here.