ZOA letter in Bost. Jewish Advocate about the ADL
ZOA in the news
January 8, 2010

 http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/logo.gif

 

ZOA: ADL was MIA

 

When it comes to fighting Muslim intimidation of Jewish students, the Anti-Defamation League’s leadership has not merely been lacking; it has undermined the Zionist Organization of America’s legal effort to fix the problem (Charles Jacobs’ “Where’s Our Leadership?,” Dec. 31).

For years, a Muslim group at the University of California, Irvine, has promoted hatred of Jews and Israel, displaying signs equating the Star of David with the swastika, and sponsoring events like “Ethnic Cleansing, Israeli Style” and “Zionism: America’s Disease.” Jewish students have been assaulted. At least two transferred and others have feared wearing anything identifying them as Jewish or pro-Israel. Students sought the ADL’s help, but the situation didn’t improve.


Then, with students’ support, the ZOA filed a legal action with the US Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It sought to enforce students’ right to a campus without anti- Semitic harassment.


Instead of supporting the ZOA, the ADL publicly disparaged us, accusing us of acting with “all guns blazing.” Despite the fact that civil rights litigation has achieved landmark legal protections for minorities and others, the ADL criticized our effort, commenting that “changes occur not through lawsuits.”


The ADL’s actions went beyond indifference. They were damaging.


MORTON A. KLEIN
National President,
Zionist Organization of America
New York


 


 

Center for Law & Justice
We work to educate the American public and Congress about legal issues in order to advance the interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
We assist American victims of terrorism in vindicating their rights under the law, and seek to hold terrorists and sponsors of terrorism accountable for their actions.
We fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses.
We strive to enforce existing law and also to create new law in order to safeguard the rights of the Jewish people in the United States and Israel.