It does not take much to excite Morty Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America • In an interview with Israel This Week, he shoots an unequivocal and poignant worldview: against the Trump plan;
American Jews vote for Biden out of fear;
BLM antisemitic organization;
And the one who is to blame for the detachment of the youth from Israel is the leadership
"We have the same views of Rabin in 1992."
Small
Photography:
AFP
Morty Klein, 73, has headed the American Zionist Organization for 27 years, a long-established organization with a glorious past that helped greatly in the founding of the state, but has slowly faded since 1948. From the early 1990s, Klein reinvented it to this day. Compromises in his support of Israel.
He himself was born in Germany to Satmar Holocaust survivor parents, and when he was 4 the family immigrated to America.
He is an economist and statistician, worked in the federal government in the 1970s and was a lecturer at UCLA and Temple University in Philadelphia.
"In the late 1980s, my wife told me that I was not doing anything for Israel," he says.
"I did not know anything about Israel and the relevant issues so she told me 'go learn'. I read materials and delved into history and the conflict and started to be active. ".
This activity was reported in the Jewish press and as a result he received a request from the American Zionist Organization to run for its presidency.
"I agreed because of the Oslo Accords. I wanted to oppose them, and this organization gave a platform to increase my influence."
"Right? I recognize reality"
Until the end of the 1940s, the American Zionist Organization was a large and leading organization.
After the establishment of the state, it lost its way and faded until in the late 1980s it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Today the organization's budget is $ 5 million a year.
Klein's first campaign as president of the organization was to oppose the Oslo Accords.
"I attacked the agreement and snatched fire from all directions. They called me, among other things, a whisperer of war."
Didn't you fear that you and the organization would be labeled as chemists?
"To tell the truth about Arafat is not a right-wing position. To say that he is a murderer who does not want peace is not a right-wing position, it is simply the truth and the facts. Our organization will be active in such issues, it is true, but I do not think it is right to say we have become right-wing. Gaza and Hamas are not right.
"We have the same views of Rabin in 1992. Personally, I would be willing to make concessions in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state if there was certainty that it would lead to real peace and not become a platform for the murder of Jews. But unfortunately that is not the case. These are facts. And they are not ready to admit to the painful reality. "
What did you do in this framework?
"I spoke in public all over the country, I wrote articles on a lot of platforms. I was interviewed on countless channels and stations and I made my claims in an orderly and reasoned manner. I spoke in a lot of Reform and Conservative synagogues. They are the left.
How do you explain that?
"Jews who read the New York Times do not know the truth about what is happening. When they heard that the Palestinian Authority called schools by the names of terrorists, that they paid terrorists to prisons and the families of the martyrs, they understood what I was saying and applauded me. The problem is That the Jews are not sufficiently knowledgeable about the conflict. "
I understand that you do not support a two-state solution.
"In the current situation it is clear that not. But even people like Alan Dershowitz who say they support a two-state solution agree with me that in the current situation it is irrelevant, but only in the future, only when the Palestinians change, abandon terrorism and the like. So they do not actually support the two-state vision today. These are just empty words. "
And what about the Trump plan? This is also where the principle of two states actually appears.
"We as an organization have never received the Trump plan and for that very reason. Although we have not publicly criticized it, we have not adopted it. We think we should not discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state at all until they demonstrate the ability to run a civilized society. Because Israel will have control of the border crossings and it will be able to apply sovereignty over part of Judea and Samaria.
So because of these positions I am called a war whiner and an extremist.
This is a scandal.
We are the most rational and sensible organization in America today. "
From your experience, what do you know to say about the situation of youth and students in America in relation to Israel?
"The more elitist and respectable the institution, the more detached the youth there are and the less they understand the truth about the conflict. After I finish speaking, the students usually tell me that what I said can not be true because they do not see it in the newspapers, and do not hear Israeli leaders speak like that. "Tell them the truth, and people are not willing to confront the prevailing and popular mood in the West and in the media. So what do you expect from the youth?"
What is the difference between you and AIPAC? Why is there a need for another Zionist organization?
"AIPAC is a left-wing organization. They support a two-state solution, and they oppose the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.
They destroyed the Taylor Force Act which stipulated that the federal government would stop funding the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays allowances to terrorists and their families.
For a year, AIPAC did not support the law. In the end, they only supported a castrated version of it that included an offset of only a third of the amount.
Netanyahu in AIPAC // Photo: AFP
"What are they right-wing? They need to get closer to J Street to please the elites. We are a rational center, they are left-wing."
The Anti-Defamation League also seems to be undergoing a process of politicization in recent years and is more inclined to the left. How do you explain that?
"This organization hired Jonathan Greenblatt who worked for many years with Barack Obama, the most anti-Israel president we have ever had. So this organization is clearly left-leaning. He supported Congressman Ilhan Omar and he is advertising with J Street against sovereignty. "And so on. We must remember that the Jews in America are basically left-wing. 80 percent of them vote for Democrats."
Making provocation out of peace
In the past year, Klein has been involved in public controversy after attacking the "Considered Black Life" organization, claiming it was anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
In a provocative tweet last summer against the backdrop of the George Floyd riots, he called them "haters of Jews, haters of whites, haters of Israel, instigators of violence, an extremist hate-sponsored group Soros."
In response, the other organizations attacked him with a froth, the New Israel Fund, J. Street, and a number of other left-wing organizations called for the removal of Klein and his organization from the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations.
"It's the truth. There's no denying it," Klein says.
"BLM is an organization that claims that Israel is committing genocide. I attacked this organization and I am not the only one. Because I tell the truth about a racist hate organization, they say I am a racist."
75 percent of Jews intend to vote for Biden and only 22 for Trump. Why American Jews on the Left?
"Most American Jews are secular and Judaism or Israel are not a major part of their lives. When you survey Jews of a different kind - Orthodox for example - they find that 80 percent support Trump.
"The left-wing Jews in the United States are the ones who are most afraid of our enemies.
They therefore support a party that promises the most government programs with the thought that it will please the racist groups.
The Jews say, 'Look, we support government programs that help you, please stop hating us.'
They are more leftist out of fear than out of ideology.
"Same thing about Iran. More Jews from Jewish Congress members voted in favor of the nuclear deal than non-Jews. They send the same message, 'We will help you, we will give you money, stop hating us.' The same goes for a Palestinian state. They are afraid of Palestinian Arabs, so "They say, 'We will bring you money, aid and a state, stop hating us.' This is a Jewish existential fear as a result of two thousand years of pogroms and hatred. Jews want to please their enemies, so they are on the left."
Why do they not support peace agreements with the Gulf states?
"Donald Trump has been Israel's friendliest president ever. The peace agreements with the Emirates take the sting out of Palestinian propaganda because they discover that the problem in the Middle East is not the Palestinians at all and that they can do without them.
And yet too many Jews believe he has upset the Arabs and they are afraid of it.
They condemn the peace agreements with the Gulf states because it upsets the Palestinian Authority.
They think the most important thing is peace with the PA and they see these agreements as a provocation. "
Do you want to give an election forecast?
"The only thing I can say is that it will be a lot tighter than you think."