Veteran pro-Israel activist Herb Zweibon passed away this week in New York. Zweibon was head of Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), an organization dedicated to promoting Israel, Zionism, and the idea of “peace through strength” rather than “land for peace.”
“Herb was a righteous man, and he will be sorely missed,” said David Wilder, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hevron. “Herb's love for Israel, for the state of Israel, for Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel – ed.] knew no limits.”
He praised Zweibon's generosity as well, noting that he continued his financial donations as usual even during the global financial crisis.
Wilder described AFSI as “one of those rare organizations which I can define as pure. Without any hidden agendas, without any need or desire for anything for itself.” AFSI simply helped Israel, Judea and Samaria included, he said.
AFSI, founded by Zweibon in the 1970s, promotes Jewish rights in the land of Israel, and defends Israel's right to Judea, Samaria and Gaza for religious, security, and historical reasons. The group's monthly publication, Outpost, is distributed free to thousands of politicians and other policy makers in the United States.
The goal of AFSI, as explained by Zweibon, was not to support the government of Israel, but rather the land of Israel. “It makes little difference to us whether the government of the United States or the government of Israel believe that they can somehow compromise with the Muslim community. This just will not happen,” he said in a 2007 interview with the Jerusalem Post.
“Everyone has a responsibility to prevent someone else from committing suicide,” he declared.
Zweibon, a veteran of the American army, described himself as loyal to the United States as well as Israel. He kept his organization open to all supporters of Israel, Jewish or not, and worked with pro-Israel Christian leaders as well.
One of his final projects, an essay contest on the philosophy of Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, came to fruition one month ago with the distribution of awards to the winners. The project aimed to instill strong Zionist ideals in high school students.