Hillary, Pay Attention

In today's NYTimes:

A Demolition in Jerusalem

To the Editor:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized as anti-peace the demolishing of part of the home of the wartime pro-Nazi Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, which was legally bought by an American Jew, ahead of a recently announced plan to build residential units on the site in eastern Jerusalem (“Bulldozers Move In on East Jerusalem Landmark,” news article, Jan. 10).

But Mrs. Clinton’s criticism makes sense only on the untenable assumption that peace requires racist zoning laws that perversely prohibit Jews — and only Jews — from living in certain neighborhoods of their capital, Jerusalem. Such laws and practices would not be tolerated here, and they have no place in Jerusalem, irrespective of any future peace arrangements.

Morton A. Klein
National President
Zionist Organization of America

Do you think Hillary and her advisors grasp the deeper meaning of that?

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Klein Cuts the Cake (and eats it, too)

Seems the ZOA's Mort Klein, or is that Mort Klein's ZOA, did well at the AIPAC Conference, according to this report:-

The annual debate over the Aipac Action Agenda — the pro-Israel powerhouse's lobbying platform — took a turn to the right this year, with the leader of the Zionist Organization of America introducing 14 amendments that were approved as official Aipac policy.

Most of the changes pushed for by the ZOA's president, Morton Klein, were minor, but each gave a right-wing tint to the platform. The action agenda is produced by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's executive committee, which includes representatives from major Jewish groups, as well as Aipac board members.

...The other major change that Klein successfully pushed deals with the American embassy in Israel, which pro-Israel activists have long wanted moved from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Jewish state's capital. Congress passed legislation in 1995 requiring the move, but administrations since then have utilized a clause allowing them to delay relocating the embassy if necessary for reasons of national security.

In the Monday meeting, Klein proposed adding quotation marks to the term "national security" and opposing the government's use of this waiver to prevent the relocation of the embassy — language that was reflected in his amendment.

Aipac's leadership opposed the amendment, arguing that it would put the pro-Israel lobby on record as contradicting the government's reasoning on issues of national security. Nevertheless, the change passed with the support of an overwhelming majority of the committee.

Morton Klein said after the meeting that he believes the amendments gained support because "15 years after Oslo, people are finally realizing that the [Palestinian Authority] has no real interest in peace."

...Klein did propose a number of changes that were rejected, including a call to drop the word "peace" when referring to negotiations with the Palestinians and to support the right of Jews to settle in the West Bank, even if the areas are under Palestinian rule.

From Mort Klein's Thinking

Morton A. Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, tells Ehud Olmert a thing or two about Jerusalem:-

...We agree that Israelis alone have the right and obligation to decide what Israel should do in life-and-death questions of national security and defense. In fact, we would strongly oppose anyone other than Israelis deciding Israel's future.

But this does not mean that Diaspora Jews cannot contribute by debate and criticism to the evolution of the decisions that Israel takes. On the contrary, the onus is upon those who disagree to explain why Diaspora Jews, on matters of vital importance to the future of Israel and the Jewish people, should suddenly be struck dumb.

The legitimacy and importance of Diaspora Jewish participation in Israeli debates is all the stronger when the subject is Jerusalem. Here we are not only talking of Israel's capital but about the central inheritance of all the Jewish people.

Jerusalem is our holiest city..."Next year in Jerusalem."...rituals refer to the historic old city with the Temple Mount in eastern Jerusalem -- precisely the areas that Palestinians are demanding that Israel give up -- not the modern suburbs of western Jerusalem.

...Any division of Jerusalem not only carves out part of the heart of the Jewish people but would also endanger Israel by introducing terrorists within rocket and rifle range of the western half of the city. Just as Sderot near Gaza has been subjected to years of incessant missile and mortar fire from territory handed over to the Palestinian Authority (PA), resulting in almost half its citizenry leaving for safety, the rest of Jerusalem could share the same fate if the eastern half of the city were given to PA control.

And, of course, if concessions are made over the Jerusalem's holy sites, one can only imagine -- after witnessing the torching and destruction of Joseph's Tomb and the Jericho synagogues once Israeli forces were withdrawn -- what fate would lie in store for Jewish sites once the PA obtained control.

Actually we do not even need to imagine: The Muslim waqf, which controls Jerusalem's Temple Mount, has undertaken renovations and construction programs that have already destroyed priceless Jewish antiquities on that site. Various PA officials over the years have also denied the Jewish religious and historical connection to the city...