NEW YORK – The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has expressed its strong disappointment at the Bush administration’s vote in favor of a U.N. Security Council Resolution demanding that Israel withdraw the troops it has sent to pursue Palestinian Arab terrorists in Ramallah. The U.N. resolution made no reference to the Passover massacres, in which Palestinian Arab terrorists slaughtered 45 Israelis during the first four days of Passover week.

The Bush administration’s action at the United Nations is especially disappointing in view of the fact that President Bush himself said on March 30, 2002: “I fully understand Israel’s need to defend herself; I respect that. It’s a country that has seen a wave of suicide bombers coming to the heart of their cities and killing innocent people. And that country has a right to defend herself.”

At the same time, it is troubling that both President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have repeatedly warned Israel to “carefully consider the consequences of its actions”—implicitly pressuring Israel to refrain from taking the military action it deems necessary to protect itself from terrorists, just as the U.S. is taking whatever action it deems necessary against terrorists in Afghanistan.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “While we appreciate President Bush’s statements in favor of Israel’s obvious and fundamental right to active self-defense against terrorists; yet with the other hand, his representatives at the U.N. support a resolution pressuring Israel to stop defending itself. If the United States can go 10,000 miles across the world to fight terrorists in Afghanistan, Israel has the right to go across the street to fight terrorists who murder its citizens every day. Yasir Arafat is Israel’s enemy, just as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are America’s enemies. All three are mass murderers, and they deserve to be treated as such.”