FALL 2017 www.zoa.org ZOA D.C. Mission 2017 Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) ZOA Delegate with Cong. Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Brad Sherman (D-CA) Dep. Asst. to Pres.; Frank Gaffney, Ctr. Sec. Policy IRIS AND SHALOM MAIDENBAUM, ESQ. THE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS AWARD U.S. SENATOR TOM COTTON JUSTICE DR. MIRIAM AND SHELDON ADELSON DEFENDER OF ISRAEL AWARD LOUIS D. BRANDEIS AMBASSADOR DAVID FRIEDMAN AWARD DINNER DR. BOB SHILLMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DIPLOMACY SUNDAY, U.S. SENATOR JOE LIEBERMAN NOVEMBER 12, 2017 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Grand Hyatt Hotel, NYC CHRISTOPHER RUDDY Tickets at zoa.org/dinner2017 Call 212.481.1500 MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING JOURNALISM Email [email protected] SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY STEVE BANNON AND AMB. DANNY DANON LIZ CLAMAN - FOX TV STAR - EMCEE Table of Contents 15 3 5 ZOA President’s Capitol Hill People: Message Mission Isaac Abraham 20 Government Relations 16 Department Center for Law and Justice 22 Purim Mission 33 Around the Country 29 25 +UTCGN1HƂEG ZOA Campus Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Bart Blatstein, Dan Pollak and Published by the Chairman Associate Treasurer Josh London, Zionist Organization of America Co-Directors, Morton A. Klein, John Rosen, Government Relations Telephone: 212-481-1500 President Executive Vice President Daniel Mandel, PhD., Email: [email protected] Irwin Hochberg, Director, Center for Vice Chair, Board Howard Katzoff, Websites: www.zoa.org Mideast Policy Deputy Director www.campus.zoa.org Dr. Alan Mazurek, Liz Berney, Esq., www.zoa-hebrew.org Vice Chair, Board David Drimer, Director, Special Projects Deputy Director Design: Simone Weissman Henry Schwartz, Debra Benjamin, Esq., Jackie Shafer National Treasurer Susan Tuchman, Esq., Director, Director, Center for Mark Levenson, Esq., ZOA Compliance OfÀcer Law and Justice National Secretary Jeff Daube, Leore Ben-David, Director, ,srael OfÀce Director, ZOA Campus President’s Message JERUSALEM WAS NEVER HOLY TO MUSLIMS It’s time to end the propaganda myth that The Torah commands the Jewish people to make Jerusalem is holy to Muslims. pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem three Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish na- times each year, on Judaism’s three pilgrimage tion under King David and other Jewish kings festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot). for hundreds of years. The Jerusalem Embassy Jews have lived in Jerusalem throughout the Act of 1995 stated: “In 1996, the State of Israel millennia. Since at least the mid-1800s, the ma- will celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the Jew- jority of the people living in Jerusalem have been ish presence in Jerusalem since King David’s entry.” Jews. Theodore Herzl wrote in his diary about Jerusalem was never the capital of any other his arrival in Jerusalem on the evening of Oc- MORTON A. KLEIN nation. After the Arab conquest of Israel in 716 tober 31, 1898: “The streets were alive with Jews National CE, the Arabs made Ramla their capital—not sauntering in the moonlight.” The 1907 presti- President, Jerusalem. gious Baedeker Travel Guide reported that at Zionist Jerusalem is the Jewish people’s holiest city. that time, Jerusalem had 40,000 Jews; 13,000 Organization of America Jerusalem’s Old City (in the eastern portion of Christians and 7,000 Muslims. Jerusalem, the real Jerusalem) contains the mil- In an attempt to create an Islamic religious lennia old Jewish quarter and Judaism’s holiest connection to Jerusalem, Muslims point to site, the Temple Mount where the First and Sec- Koran and hadith passages referring to Mu- ond Jewish Temples stood, long before the birth hammad’s dream (not an actual event) of jour- of Islam. And eastern Jerusalem also contains the neying to heaven on his steed Buraq from “Al world’s oldest (3,000 years old) and largest Jew- Aqsa”—the “farthest mosque.” However, the ish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. (Eastern “farthest mosque” could not possibly have Jerusalem is the real Jerusalem throughout Bibli- meant Jerusalem because the Koran refers to cal and human history; western Jerusalem was Palestine as the “nearest” place, and Jerusalem built in recent years.) was a central crossroads in the Middle East— Jerusalem is mentioned almost 700 times in not a “farthest” place. Moreover, Jerusalem’s the Torah, the Jewish holy books. Jerusalem is eventual “Al Aqsa Mosque” was built long after never mentioned in the Koran—not even once. the Koran and the Hadith were written. The Throughout the millennia, Jews always pray mosque was named “Al Aqsa” after the fact, for Jerusalem 20 times each day, remember Je- to create a myth about the location of Mu- rusalem in holiday and wedding ceremonies, hammad’s dream. During Muhammad’s day, and pray facing Jerusalem. By contrast, Muslims Jerusalem was ruled by Byzantine Christians, pray facing Mecca. There areno Muslim prayers and a Byzantine Christian church stood on the for Jerusalem. Temple Mount. Muslims make their pilgrimages to Mecca; So little did Jerusalem mean to the Muslim Ot- while Jewish pilgrimages are to Jerusalem. One tomans that, during the First World War, they of the five pillars of Islam (the five obligatory abandoned it to the British without a fight and fundamental Muslim practices) is the “Hajj” pil- even contemplated destroying the city entirely grimage to the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. before leaving it. 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE In 1948, six Arab nations invaded Israel, and The same Muslim publication notes on page Significantly, Jordan captured and illegally occupied the eastern 16: “In the west wall of the chamber, a door opens neither the portion of Jerusalem for 19 years (1948-1967). into a staircase descending to Solomon’s stables. This During Jordan’s illegal occupation, Jordan demol- is a vast subterranean chamber…. It dates probably Palestine ished 58-centuries-old Jewish synagogues, killed as far back as the construction of Solomon’s Temple. Liberation or expelled the Jews, pillaged tombstones of the According to Josephus, it was in existence and was 3,000-year-old Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of Organization’s to line latrines and build roads, denied Jews ac- the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 (PLO) cess to their holiest religious sites, and harshly A.D.” (After 1954, all such references to the bib- discriminated against Christians and churches. lical Temples were excised from this publication.) original Jordan prohibited Christian churches and com- Mideast scholar Prof. Francis Peters of NYU National munities from buying land or opening new said that Muslims have always regarded Jerusa- schools, required Christian schools to teach the lem “with careless indifference.” There has never Charter Koran, and refused to allow Christian holidays. even been an important place of Muslim learn- (drafted in Under Jordanian Arab Muslim rule, Jerusalem ing built or established there. became a small isolated town. Arabs abandoned Leon Uris, famed author of “Exodus” wrote, 1964, during Jerusalem and moved to Amman. “Jerusalem has known only two periods of true Jordanian Significantly, neither the Palestine Liberation greatness and these have been separated by 2000 Organization’s (PLO) original National Char- years. Greatness has only happened under Jewish Muslim rule), ter (drafted in 1964, during Jordanian Muslim rule…. Jews have remained constant in their love nor the PLO’s rule), nor the PLO’s 1968 National Charter, nor throughout the centuries. It is the longest and deep- the Fatah (Arafat’s terrorist group) Constitution est love affair in the history of the world.” 1968 even mention Jerusalem, let alone call for its es- It is only by the reunification of Jerusalem un- National tablishment as a Palestinian Arab capital. der Israeli rule since 1967 that the city has been During Jordan’s 19-year illegal occupation of revitalized, enjoyed stunning growth, and finally Charter, nor Jerusalem, Jordan kept its capital in Amman, enjoys full freedom of religion and access to holy the Fatah built Jordan’s first university in Amman, as well sites for people of every faith. This would be as the King’s numerous residences, and made its threatened by its redivision, as is already obvious (Arafat’s Friday prayer radio broadcasts from Amman— in the massive Christian exodus from Palestin- terrorist not from Jerusalem. Arab leaders did not even ian-Arab-controlled Gaza and Bethlehem. bother visiting Jerusalem (with the brief excep- Whatever form a final peace deal may one day group) tion of King Hussein). Jordan allowed eastern Je- take, there is no morally just, religiously or factu- Constitution rusalem to fall into disrepair—to become a slum, ally based, or legally sound reason to dignify the with virtually no water or plumbing or electric- falsified, fabricated Muslim claims to Jerusalem. even mention ity. This is of course not how an Islamic nation The fabrication that Jerusalem is holy to Islam Jerusalem, would treat a city that was really holy to Islam. impedes peace, instigates bloodshed, promotes Tellingly, in the not-so-distant past, Muslims a historic lie, and denies Judaism’s religious, his- let alone recognized the Temple Mount as the site of the toric and legal rights. It’s time to set the record call for its biblical Jewish temples. Thus, the Jerusalem straight. Muslim Supreme Council’s publication, “A Brief establishment Guide to the Haram Al-Sharif” (1925 edition, page as a 4), states about Jerusalem’s Temple Mount; “Its iden- tity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dis- Palestinian pute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal Morton A. Klein Arab belief, on which ‘David built there an altar unto the National President Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offer- capital.