Right-Wing ZOA Scores First Jewish Meeting With Trump Officials
Morton Klein Image by ZOA
By Nathan Guttman January 23, 2017
Signaling new priorities in dealing with the Jewish organized world, the new Trump administration made the Zionist Organization of America as the first Jewish group it will formally engage with.
According to Axios White House aide Anthony Scaramucci, who serves as assistant to the president, will meet in New York with Morton Klein, president of the ZOA, a right-leaning group supportive of expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The ZOA’s major funder is Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who was also one of Trump’s largest campaign donors, and who received prime seating at Friday’s Inauguration Day ceremony.
Klein told Jewish Insider that he would discuss with Scaramucci issues relating to Israel, terrorism and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
“They have told me that they realize that ZOA is the Jewish organization that most promotes and reflects their views about the Arab-Islamic war against Israel,” Klein said of Trump administration officials he had already spoken with.
The ZOA’s positions on the Israeli – Palestinian conflict differ significantly than those held by the main pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. The ZOA does not support a two-state solution and advocates for American support for increasing Israeli building in West Bank settlements.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
