By Rivka Sonts
(June 18, 2026 / Jewish Link) One hundred fifty Jewish Americans from across the country converged on Capitol Hill last week for the Zionist Organization of America’s annual Washington Mission. Community leaders and everyday citizens, representing communities from coast to coast, came with one agenda: Demand action on Iran, confront antisemitism on both the left and the right, and stand up for the rights of Jews to live in Yehuda and Shomron.
The mission opened with a reception featuring Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Department of Justice Task Force on Antisemitism, who announced a 15-city national tour to prosecute antisemitic incidents at the local level. “Antisemitism is local—it’s a failure of prosecutors to prosecute,” Terrell told the crowd. “Either they prosecute, or we will file a lawsuit against them.” ZOA Director of Government Relations Dan Pollak called Terrell “a true American patriot” and said the organization was honored to have him open the mission.
Antisemitism: A Warning From Both Sides
The next morning’s panel brought a bipartisan group of members of Congress who spoke candidly and without hesitation. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned that antisemitism has taken hold in both major parties. “The Democratic Party thought it would just go away, but today there is a real contingent of antisemitic sentiment,” Cruz said. “It also pains me that we are seeing antisemitism grow on the right. I could not have imagined that two years ago, but it is happening, and it must be stopped.” The audience gave him a standing ovation when he added, “Antisemitism is a gateway drug that, unless eradicated, will ultimately erode the democratic values we cherish.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) was equally direct: “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism. It is rooted in Jew-hatred. We are living in a moment that at times feels like 1930s Germany. But not on my watch,” he said, pledging to sponsor new legislation.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) echoed him from across the aisle: “I don’t care if you are Jewish, Christian or Muslim—all of us have to stand tall and call out the antisemites and the Jew-haters in both parties.”
Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), the first member of Congress to wear a kippah on the House floor, brought a deeply personal note to the discussion. He described taking his teenage son to the Holocaust Museum and his son’s observation afterward: that photographs of 1930s Germany, translated and colorized, could pass for scenes from New York City today. “In 1932 Germany, there were two kinds of Jews: those who left, and those who died,” Fine said. “In 2026, we need a new kind of Jew—one who is willing to fight.”
Iran: Forty-Seven Years of Terror, Answered
On Iran, there was a palpable sense that something had shifted. ZOA National President Morton Klein was unequivocal: “We must stop Iran’s aggression, its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its funding of Islamic terrorist groups.” Fine put recent U.S. military action plainly: “For 47 years, someone finally came along and said, ‘Enough.’ That gentleman’s name was Donald Trump.”
Gottheimer pointed to Iran’s willingness to negotiate as evidence of what decisive force can achieve: “For the first time in 47 years, this regime is actually willing to negotiate—and they would not have been willing but for decisive action.”
Yehuda, Shomron and the Fight Against BDS
The mission also addressed the rights of Jews to live in Yehuda and Shomron—a region ZOA refuses to call the “West Bank,” arguing the term erases its Jewish historical identity. ZOA is nearly alone among major American Jewish organizations in making this a stated priority, and it makes no apology for that. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), founder of the Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus, warned of new BDS measures advancing across Europe and pledged to push the Treasury to enforce U.S. anti-boycott laws against any country that moves forward.
After the formal program, participants spread out across Capitol Hill for individual meetings with their senators and representatives. Participants pushed for legislation to force changes on the Iranian regime, prevent terror-linked groups from blockading synagogues, and hold China and Qatar accountable for corrupting American universities. They did not avoid the difficult conversations either—members who have failed to support critical efforts like funding the Iron Dome heard directly from their own constituents.
Pollak called the day’s work “the embodiment of the virtues expressed in the Constitution,” adding: “The participants in our event give the only answer possible to Jew-haters on the left and right. We are Americans, we love our closest ally, Israel, and we will not allow bogus charges of dual loyalty to prevent us from exercising our duty as American citizens to petition our lawmakers.”
As ZOA National President Morton Klein put it: “Coming to Washington as proud Jews and Zionists sends a powerful message. We are right; the antisemites are wrong. We are truthful and just, and our enemies are full of lies.”
Rivka Sonts is a communications strategist, journalist, and founder of 613 Media Group.
This op-ed was originally published by the Jewish Link and can be viewed here.