ZOA urges other Jewish & Christian groups to protest

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has written to President George W. Bush, criticizing him for having again invoked a waiver to prevent the transfer of the American embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (The letter was signed by ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Chairman of Executive Committee Dr. Alan Mazurek, and Treasurer Henry Schwartz). This waiver has been utilized by President Bush twice a year for six years now, ever since he became President. He has completely violated his repeated and public presidential campaign promise in 2000 to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem on the day he is inaugurated, January 20, 2001. During his presidential campaign during the year 2000, he made numerous speeches before Jewish organizations, promising to move the embassy, for which he received wild applause and standing ovations, including one before thousands of AIPAC delegates in Washington, D.C. in May 2000. The legislation mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem became law in 1995 and was approved by over 90% of both Houses of Congress ( Reuters, December 18).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “President Bush’s waiver on implementing this law is deeply disappointing, as he once again reneges on his long-standing commitment and promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. We find it quite perplexing that a White House official said that, ‘Moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem now would complicate our ability to help Israelis and Palestinians advance toward peace and the president’s two-state vision.’ The U.S. hasn’t moved the embassy since the law was enacted in 1995, which has not in any way improved the possibilities of peace. In fact, we’ve only gotten the worst terror war in Israel’s history and the terrorist group Hamas in power. It is not moving the embassy that would ‘complicate our ability to advance towards peace,’ it is the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel’s existence as a Jewish state within any borders and with any capital and their promotion of hatred and murder of Israelis in every organ of their culture.

“The refusal of President Bush to move the U.S. embassy to Israel’s capital in Jerusalem actually harms the cause of peace by sending a message to Palestinian Arab terrorists and other Islamist terrorists — that their use and threat of terrorism pays and even intimidates the United States into submission to their demands. This only encourages more terrorism, because they see it works. This policy is detrimental to our international war against Islamist terrorists. It also harms Israel’s long-standing position that Jerusalem is its capital.

“We are also deeply disappointed that American Jewish organizations have been frozen into silence about this important issue. We also urge pro-Israel Christian groups like Reverend John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel to speak out. Such failure may send another harmful message — that American Jewry does not care sufficiently about Jerusalem as Judaism’s holiest place. We strongly urge other American Jewish organizations to make their voices heard, loud and clear, in criticizing this failure by President Bush to move the American embassy to Jerusalem. We also strongly urge President Bush to immediately implement his six-year old promise and not give a victory to the forces of terror, which simply indicates that America is not acting with the type of strength it needs to face this Islamist terrorist onslaught. We dare not be intimidated by and appease these terrorist bullies.”