Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, spoke at the IHF Arutz Sheva event in Manhattan and strongly condemned the antisemitism program presented by the Biden administration.
“The horrific anti-Semitism program that President Biden presented to us this week, which every single Jewish group but the ZOA has fervently endorsed, this terrible antisemitism program by Biden says that we welcome and appreciate as a valuable tool the nexus definition of anti-semitism. That definition says if you oppose Israel's very existence, it's not antisemitism. That definition says if you support BDS, it's not antisemitism. We will have a much more difficult time fighting BDS on campus as an antisemitic movement, or condemning CAIR and others on campus that oppose Israel's right to exist now. It'll be difficult to call them anti-semites.”
Klein called on other organizations to retract their support for the plan: “It is shocking that every single Jewish group except the ZOA endorsed this. I'm talking about the ADL, the AJ Committee, B'nai Brith, the Reform movement, the Conservative movement, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, they all endorsed it. I urge the government of Israel - which I don't think read through this very carefully - to retract their endorsement of this terrible program which enables antisemitism and legitimizes antisemites.”
Klein listed other organizations who had backed the proposed plan: “We must fight against this. CAIR - the Council of American Islamic Relations - helped work on this project! J Street said this is a wonderful plan! If Not Now, a viciously antisemitic group, said it's a wonderful plan. Bend The Ark, a terrible group of anti-Israel people who insult and demonize Israel, said it's a wonderful plan. That's all you need to know what a terrible mistake it was for Jewish groups and even some people in Israel to have endorsed this plan.”
Klein offers a chance to learn more about the plan in question: “You should all know the truth. If you want to learn more about it you can go to my organization's website, zoa.org, where I have a whole description in detail about this plan. I am so sorry that Deborah Lipstadt, the anti-Semitism Czar in America, has said this is a wonderful historic step. It is a historically bad thing, something that will hurt the fight against antisemitism.”