Steve Feldman, Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), released the following report:
The Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Zionist Organization of America paused from our tenacious educational, advocacy and outreach work and initiatives to show our gratitude to four outstanding pro-Jewish/pro-Israel advocates and to come together as a community for the rich camaraderie that ZOA is known for at our annual Night of Appreciation event on Sept. 17 at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue.
Almost 300 Zionists came together to celebrate Patriotism and Zionism and to strengthen the mutually beneficial bond between the U.S. and Israel.
Almost 300 Zionists – from those not even in their teens to those in their 90s – came together for our gathering to celebrate and advance Patriotism and Zionism and to strengthen the mutually beneficial bond between the United States and Israel. Since our event coincided with Constitution Day, we also celebrated one of America’s most important documents and the blueprint of our nation. We gave out copies of the Constitution on each table, and as part of our ceremony and presentations, we featured a live reading of the Preamble to the Constitution.
The highlight of our Night of Appreciation is to show our appreciation to some of our region’s leading pro-Israel/pro-Zionism advocates. This year we honored Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity with our Defender of Israel Award; Dr. Victoria Coates, Former Deputy National Security Advisor in the Trump administration and Vice President of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., where she directs the Esther Project to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda, with our Ben Hecht Award for Outstanding Journalism; and communal leaders Steve and Elaine Crane with our Pillars of the Community Award.
Each honoree shared why they support Israel and about the importance of the mutually beneficial U.S.-Israel relationship, the fight against Jew-hatred, and the importance of ZOA.
Each of our honorees had an opportunity to speak and to share why they support Israel and their individual insights and observations about the importance of the mutually beneficial U.S.-Israel relationship; the fight against the scourge of Jew-hatred; and the importance of ZOA.
“I stand strong with Israel and the Jewish People in the face of violence and aggression, and as Pennsylvania’s treasurer it’s been my duty and my honor to continue our commonwealth’s commitment of supporting Israel, our country’s greatest ally in the Middle East,” Garrity affirmed.
Noting that treasurers from both parties have been investing some of the commonwealth’s funds in Israel since 1988, Garrity asked rhetorically: “And you know why: Because it’s smart. And Pennsylvania will always stand with Israel.” Today, the commonwealth has about $65 million invested in Israel bonds.
“We continue to fight for a strong, independent Israel and you know what: for the safety and respect of the Jewish People in our great commonwealth and across the globe,” the treasurer said.
Noting the key role ZOA plays in fighting for the safety and respect of Jews throughout our region, Garrity said: “The education and advocacy work of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Zionist Organization of America is needed now more than ever to combat anti-Jewish activities at increasing levels which go directly against the values our nation and our commonwealth were founded on.”
Coates, who was also the keynote speaker, combined elements from her recent book, The Battle For The Jewish State: How Israel—And America—Can Win, and her wealth of foreign policy and national security experience, to review questions adversaries raise and her essential answers about the Middle East, America’s alliance with Israel and Islamism here in the United States.
One question she said she is asked is: “Why (support for) Israel?” – to which she answers: “It goes back to our Founders, and it is so life-affirming to go back to what George Washington said about Jews, about Israel; what John Adams said, and the profound nature of that connection, and we need to remember: We are both the nations founded on Judeo-Christian values. And these things are real. Our enemies in academia: They’re going to tell you no such thing even exists – ‘There is no such thing as Judeo-Christian values.’ Guess what? There are. That’s why both of our countries are thriving, successful, prosperous democracies – while so many of our enemies are literally dying in darkness.”
Coates said, by telling the Palestinians they will be rewarded with a “state,” it “perpetuates the situation.” Instead, to achieve actual peace, “There has to be a victory [for Israel] in this war.”
Coates noted that the question that often follows the previous question is: “What’s the alternative if we don’t partner with Israel, who do we have?”
“There are two alternatives,” she said, referring to suggestions by those who oppose or question the U.S.-Israel relationship: “The Palestinians and the Iranians. There is a long, unfortunate bipartisan series of attempts to partner with the Palestinians, and to try to make them into an equivalent of Israel.”
Of that, Coates noted: “… They have no trappings of modern statehood; they don’t have anything that you could define as a state, and they have failed for 50 years to build anything that looks like that. So, it’s just not realistic.” Coates added that, by telling the Palestinians that they will be rewarded with a “state,” it “perpetuates the situation,” referring to the Palestinian war against Israel. Instead, Coates said, to achieve actual peace, “There has to be a victory [for Israel] in this war.”
As for Iran, Coates said: “It has been unfortunately a bipartisan issue to try to see the Iranians as the alternative to Israel in the region, but it has ended disastrously every time – not because of the Iranian people, who are wonderful … but this [current Iranian] regime can’t be part of it, and they have proven it so demonstrably since the seventh of October.” Coates said she believes that were the Iranian regime to fall, and were it to be replaced by a moderate regime, that there could be peace between Israel and Iran.
Coates addressed efforts by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, to get Congress to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and that this effort has been ongoing for a dozen years. “As Mort [Klein] said: You have to call these people what they are – they are terrorists.”
Coates described the current process as a “bottom-up approach: You designate the splinter groups that everybody knows are terrorists, and then you designate the umbrella groups for material support for terrorism.”
The most famous entity of the Muslim Brotherhood is Hamas. At first Coates indicated that she was startled at the support Hamas has gotten among younger Americans – especially since its deadly and savage attack against Israel on Oct. 7 – and she was moved to do a deep dive to find out why and how this happened.
“How did we get here (after October 7)? How after October 7 did we see in literally the next hours and days the pro-Hamas folks flood into the streets and start menacing our students on campus, start spreading their propaganda, start telling their lies in the New York Times – How did this happen?” Coates said she found that for the past 10 to 15 years and longer, faculty taught young Americans that “Israel is illegal, immoral, bigoted – and the big one though is illegal.”
She continued: “Not just Israel. Next on the list is the United States for all the same reasons. … That’s what our kids have been imbibing for at least the last 10-15 years. Of course you’re against this” – referring to what they have been made to believe Israel and America are – “regardless of what you are being told what happened on October 7.”
Coates clearly was moved to be honored by ZOA, and she noted her family’s love for Israel. “The ZOA in Philadelphia is deeply close to my heart. … [T]hanks [for] welcoming somebody who obviously isn’t Jewish to ZOA to receive this award – I think it’s really profound. It speaks to the fact that this is an issue – support for ZOA – which is an American issue. That’s why it is the Zionist Organization of America. This is for all Americans of whatever faith, who understand that hating Jews is wrong. It’s just a fundamental truth.”
Honorees Steve and Elaine Crane also lauded the work of ZOA in their remarks:
Steve Crane reviewed the history of the modern state of Israel – the target of wars, terrorism and efforts to eradicate Israel’s Jewish and Christian populations – and yet so many pressed Israel to make concessions to its enemies who threatened it. But not all exerted pressure on Israel or demanded that Israel make concessions. “Those few voices of caution and warning were ignored and belittled and you know those voices were accurate,” Crane reminded the audience. “No voice was more accurate and more consistent than that of the Zionist Organization of America.”
Elaine Crane took it a step further, expressing anger over the way that Israel, which has given the world so much, is treated – especially by the media.
“How can it be that the world; that the vast majority of the media has turned this utterly amazing country into the pariah of the world. This makes my blood boil.” Because of this, she noted, “To be a supporter of Israel today can be terribly lonely.”
But then, she said, there is the ZOA: “ZOA has always looked the harsh realities squarely in the face, unapologetically vindicated Israel’s right to exist, and has fought fearlessly to defend the Jewish People here and abroad. It is an organization that is essential in history; our time in history.”
But then, she said, there is the ZOA: “ZOA has always looked the harsh realities squarely in the face, unapologetically vindicated Israel’s right to exist, and has fought fearlessly to defend the Jewish People here and abroad. It is an organization that is essential in history; our time in history.”
No one better exemplifies ZOA’s work than our national president, Morton Klein. It has become a tradition for Mort to give an annual address at our annual event, and he did so again this year.
After recalling fondly and with reverence his friend Charlie Kirk, who was recently assassinated, Klein focused his remarks on what he correctly called “the Arab-Islamic war against the Jewish state. I will never say ‘Arab-Israel conflict’ – it is not. It is an Arab-Islamic war against Israel and the West.”
Klein noted how this war has manifested in the West, including in America, and how it has done great harm to American Jewry – and what American Jewry and our friends and allies must do to fight back.
No one better exemplifies ZOA’s work than our national president, Morton Klein. It has become a tradition for Mort to give an annual address at our annual event, and he did so again this year.
“We have the horrors of enduring the relentless propaganda lies against Israel concerning the war against the Islamic Arab Hamas terrorists. These lies and a lack of pushback by journalists, by commentators, by Israeli officials, by Jewish leaders and rabbis helps promote the surge of anti-Israel and antisemitic attitudes.”
Klein prescribed: “We must begin not only to push back on these lies, but we must demonize the demons. We must make it clear that Israel is fighting a monstrous group of people – the Gaza Arabs, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas – we have to demonize them and that’s not happening – not by Israel and not by people in America. We have to make it more uncomfortable for people to be supporting the Arab war against Israel by making it clear what monsters these people are.”
As for those who fail to speak up, Klein quoted a verse from Midrash on the Scroll of Esther: “If you keep silent now; if you refrain from protesting on behalf of your brethren then woe to you on the Day of Judgement for you had the opportunity to act but did not.”
To that, Klein pledged: “I promise you: ZOA will act. We will fight with all of our heart and soul against the lies and the dangers that Israel is under.”
Greater Philadelphia ZOA Executive Director Steve Feldman said, “We cannot behave as though it is July 1967. Our enemies seem hungrier. They corrupt and twist and incite hatred against us always. We have serious work to do. … Everything is at stake.”
In his remarks, Greater Philadelphia ZOA Executive Director Steve Feldman noted that the American Jewish community – which has been contributing to America since before the American Revolution – and largely overcame Jew-hatred and worked to garner American support for a re-established Jewish state of Israel – risks losing all of those gains due to a lack of what he termed creative, wise, impactful and pro-active advocacy.
“We cannot behave as though it is July 1967. Our enemies seem hungrier. They corrupt and twist and incite hatred against us always. We have serious work to do. … Everything is at stake.”
Other highlights of the event included remarks by event chairwoman and chapter Co-President Lynne K. Lechter; a reading of the Preamble to the United States Constitution by Larry Steinhouse; an introduction of honoree Stacy Garrity by chapter Board member Phil Rosenzweig; renditions of the national anthems along with “G-d Bless America” and “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav” by Allen L. Rothenberg and Cantor Adam Gilbert; and prayers by Rabbi Yosef Zarnighian of Congregation Mikveh Israel for the United States, Israel, the IDF and the Israeli hostages held by Palestinian-Arabs. Board member Gary Erlbaum did his customary great role as master of ceremonies.
The evening began with a moment of silence for slain IDF service members, murdered hostages and friend of Israel Charlie Kirk, who had recently been assassinated.
Greater Philadelphia ZOA’s Night of Appreciation offers Jewish and Christian Zionists an opportunity each year to be inspired and to be invigorated and to gain chizuk (strength) for the constant struggle to support and defend Israel, Zionism and the Jewish People. Our thanks to local and national staff and more than a dozen volunteers who make this event possible.