Israel-PLO Peace
One would expect that an Israeli journalist who is criticizing American Jewry would at least be familiar with the names and sizes of major American Jewish organizations. Yet Yossi Melman (Opinion, Oct. 1) misstates the name of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) as “Zionists of America,” and falsely characterizes the ZOA as “a small and, until recently, obscure organization.”
In fact, the ZOA is the oldest, and one of the largest, Zionist movements in America, and its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis. The ZOA brings together a cross-section of men and women of all religious affiliations, and all political leanings, who share a growing concern about Yasser Arafat’s “jihad, via deaths” speeches, his praise of terrorists as “heroes,” his refusal to disarm or extradite terrorists and the PLO’s numerous other serious violations of the Israel-PLO peace accords.
The most recent American Jewish Committee public opinion survey (released Sept. 12) confirmed that Jews of all religious and political affiliations share these concerns; 63% of U.S. Jews oppose further U.S. aid to the PLO, 71% believe that Arafat cannot be trusted to honor agreements and 91% say that Arafat is not doing enough to stop anti-Israel terrorism.
MORTON A. KLEIN, National President
Zionist Organization of America
New York
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