MORT KLEIN OF THE ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA SAYS HE REGRETS USING PHRASE 'FILTHY ARAB,' ACCUSES PRES. JOE BIDEN OF FUNDING TERRORISM. KEY TO PEACE IS ‘REFORMATION OF ISLAM,’ HE SAYS EGYPT’S LEADER TOLD HIM IN SECRET PALACE MEET.

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The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is the oldest Zionist organization in America, founded in 1897 as the Federation of American Zionists. Future Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis became a champion of Zionism in 1912 and helped lead the group until 1921. He barnstormed across America spreading the Zionist gospel, popularizing it, building alliances and raising funds.

"The highest Jewish ideals are essentially American in a very important particular," he proclaimed. "It is Democracy that Zionism represents. It is Social Justice which Zionism represents, and every bit of that is the American ideal of the twentieth century."

Brandeis often added, with little apparent thought to America's native population: "Zionism is the Pilgrim inspiration and impulse all over again." 

To Brandeis, Zionism was "a movement to give the Jews ... the land of their fathers where the Jewish life may be lived normally and naturally, and where the Jews can govern themselves and may in time hope to constitute a majority of the population and look forward to ... home rule."

Pres. Woodrow Wilson nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court and the Senate confirmed him in 1916. By then he'd grown the organization ten-fold. A year later, Great Britain announced its intention to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in the Balfour Declaration. The French objected, citing a treaty.

Justice Brandeis wrote to Pres. Wilson and asked him to lean on the French to withdraw their objection.

"The Balfour Declaration, which you made possible, was a public promise," Brandeis wrote on Feb. 4, 1920. "I venture to suggest that it may be given to you at this time to move the statesmen of Christian nations to keep this solemn promise to Israel."

Today, the ZOA says it has about 25,000 members, including campus chapters in 40 states. It also engages in legal advocacy. For example, it filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court defending then-Pres. Donald J. Trump's so-called "Muslim Ban." Among other things, the ZOA brief argued: "The six affected Muslim majority countries are marked by combat zones and infested with terrorist groups and sympathizers. “

Its website says ZOA is "the leading major American Jewish organization courageously defending Israel and the Jewish people." Its' "bold, unapologetic voice has a significant impact on public discourse and policy."

The Supreme Court upheld the Muslim Ban, by a 5-4 vote.

Klein has been ZOA president since 1993. He's made a number of spicy public comments since, including using the phrase "filthy Arab" in a social media post in 2018. His group is sponsoring a permitted rally in Times Square on Monday, May 13. 

The Free Lance originally intended to speak with Klein about the rally and his "filthy Arab" comment. But the voluble Klein offered commentary on so many timely subjects his interview captures a snap-shot into the Zionist mind, at this crucial moment. It's been edited for length and clarity.

Mort Klein, President, Zionist Organization of America: 

This is what happened with that statement. My dear friend Ari Fuld, a husband, a fine man with five children, was murdered by a 15-year-old Arab or 16-year-old Arab who stabbed him in the back outside of a shopping center. He was my dear friend.

And I was, of course, in enormous grief. His brother actually called me. And I put out, I said that a “filthy Arab murderer” killed Ari Fuld. I never said anything like that again. 

And you have to understand. I said this, filthy Arab murderer. Because there were hundreds, even thousands, actually, of Jews being murdered by Arabs. Not being murdered by other peoples. Arabs were murdering them.

The charter of Arafat and Abbas's Fatah, Charter calls for Israel's destruction and armed struggle, meaning violence against Jews. Hamas's charter, Article 7, calls for the murder of every Jew explicitly, of every Jew in the world.

So, yes, I, in a moment of grief, called him a filthy Arab murderer because Arabs were killing Jews regularly at that time. 

The Free Lance: You're saying you never used that phrase again?

Mort Klein: Never used it before, never since. This is my dear friend. Never used it before, never since. Imagine if one of your closest friends were murdered. You'd be in misery and grief.

The Free Lance: It's happened. I know how it feels. 

Mort Klein: I'm a child of Holocaust survivors. Both of my parents were in Auschwitz. I lost all my aunts, uncles, I grew up without grandparents. They were all murdered by Hitler. I was born in Germany. I came to this country when I was four. My parents were left without any family. This is my life experience.

The Free Lance: Horrible.

Mort Klein: My dear friend was murdered by an Arab, a 16-year-old Arab, as the Arabs were murdering Jews every day. In a moment of grief, for me to say a filthy Arab murderer, I was angry at the Arabs for trying to kill us every day, ramming cars into us, shooting us, stabbing us.

So this is not racist. This is a fact that the Arabs were killing us to this very day. Look what they did on October 7th.

And Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, praised it. Praised it and bragged that some of his people from Fatah, his party, were in there as well, killing Jews. He bragged about that. This is a terrible culture. I don't understand it. I don't understand them.

The Free Lance: Do you regret saying it? 

Mort Klein:  Yes. I regret, I regret saying it because I don't want to imply, I don't want anyone to think that I'm implying that every Arab is a murderer. Because this Arab was a murderer. It was an Arab. And he killed a Jew as an Arab. And so I called him a filthy Arab murderer.

I regret it because people misconstrue it as if I'm indicting every Arab. Look, I have Arab friends. I've been to many Arab countries and hosted by Arabs.

I don't feel that way about all Arabs. But you know, a recent poll showed that 93% of the Palestinian Arabs support October 7th. Is that an astonishing number? 93% support it.

The Free Lance: Here's my question as a New Yorker, who has grown up with Jews, has worked with Jews, counts Jews among his friends, has loved Jews ... 

Mort Klein: I've also grown up with Jews and worked with Jews.

The Free Lance: That's like a Zionist joke I think.

Mort Klein: (laughing).

The Free Lance: As it all is right now, then what do you, what are you going to do with the Palestinians? How do you handle that? How do you fix it? How do you stop it? What do you do? 

Mort Klein: As the Egyptian President El-Sisi said to me, and then he said it publicly. He said it to me in his palace in Cairo. I had a meeting with him. He says, “The only way to solve this is we need a ref”—these are his words, not mine—”We need a reformation of Islam.”

The leading Imams and the leading scholars at Al- ... What was the name of the, Al-... ? 

The Free Lance: Al-Azhar. 

Mort Klein: No, no, the major Islamic university in Cairo. In the world ... It's in Cairo.

The Free Lance: It's called Al-Azhar.

Mort Klein: I think you're right. Al-Azhar. He said that the leading figures in Al-Azhar and the head of Al-Azhar, who he called, is really the “Pope of the Muslims.” Private conversation. Have to call for reformation, that we abandon any of the phrases in the Qur'an, that are negative towards Jews and Christians. That call for violence against Jews and Christians.

We need a reformation to say that we reject that, we will no longer abide by those phrases. He said that's what we need. Because the source, he says, is, are some of the horrible phrases that are taught in Islam. But that hasn't happened yet. 

And the Imams all over America, we have the videos by people who took them, are still calling to kill Jews and Christians, by the way, and Christians.

In fact, Mohammed Al-Zahar, Mohammed Al-Zahar, who's the co-founder of Hamas, two months ago, did a video on the internet, where he said, “I want everyone to understand, first we're going to kill all the Jews. But after we kill all the Jews, we're going to kill all the despicable Christians. And then we're going to set up a caliphate to Islamize the world.”

That's two months ago, Mohammed Al-Zahar, on the Internet.

This is a problem. What we need is we need people to be speaking out that you need a reformation, as Al-Sisi demanded, in Islam, that these phrases against Jews and Christians in the Qur’an have to be rejected as no longer valid.

And by the way, we should not reward any of this. The Palestinian Arabs should know terrorism, this massacre, will get them nothing. They'll get nothing. There'll be no reward for this type of terrorism. 

Biden is making a horrible mistake on the world by demanding a Palestinian state.

That just sends a message that murdering Jews, murdering people, pays. It's a terrible mistake. Especially now, one should never talk about a Palestinian state because you're rewarding terrorism.

And who will head this state? I asked one of the top people in Biden's administration. You would know the name. I said, who's going to run it? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Abbas? These are all terrorists.

Tell me, who's going to run this state? I said, the Palestinian Authority hasn't had an election since 2005. And neither has Hamas in Gaza. 

The Free Lance: That's when they elected Hamas. 

Mort Klein: And I said, Gaza, free, free Gaza. What is this free, free Palestine? Gaza had no Jews, no Israel Defense Forces. They had their own sovereignty in Gaza. And look what they did. It became a terrorist dictatorship. 

The Free Lance:  It wasn't really a free country. It was contained by Israel behind a wall.

Mort Klein:  I'm sorry, sir.  What you're saying is not true. First of all, you've got Egypt on one side, Israel on the other. Israel allowed 200 trucks a day with supplies. 200. This is one of the great lies and myths that are being perpetrated about it. 200 trucks with supplies. And on the other side was Egypt. They're the ones who closed it off completely.

The Free Lance: That's true. 

Mort Klein: Well, why the hell is they closing off? This is their own people. Their own fellow religionists, co-religionists. 

The Free Lance: They're afraid that Israel is just going to push the Palestinians in Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula.

Mort Klein: Well, I don't know. If this was a Jewish area, would Israel be upset that Jews might come into their country? We'd welcome them with open arms. Look, I don't know the reason why either. I just don't. I don't know. 

The first thing they should demand is to publicly abrogate your charter that calls for the murder of every Jew in Israel's destruction. It's the first thing you've got to do.

The Free Lance: I think they've disavowed that part during negotiations with Israel, no? 

Mort Klein: I don't want any 'I think.' I want a public statement. This is a monstrous, heinous document.

The Free Lance:  I'm not arguing with you about that. 

Mort Klein: Look what they did, October 7th. By the way, it didn't start with October 7th. 35,000 rockets since 2005. 35,000. It's a miracle by God that very few people were killed. It made me believe in God.

The Free Lance: But you're a Zionist, right? What does Zionism mean? 

Mort Klein: All it means is, just like the Muslims have 51 states, the Arabs have 22 states, a Zionist is someone who supports one Jewish state, that the Jews should have one state. That's all it means. It's not complicated. 

The Free Lance:  Does the Jewish state that you, as a Zionist, believe in, include Gaza and the West Bank? 

Mort Klein: First of all, it's Judea and Samaria. It was known as Judea Samaria until the late 60s. This is the biblical term for it.  No. The state at this time in history does not include that. 

Look, Israel's already given away Gaza. They've given away 40% of Judea and Samaria. That's where the Palestinian Authority rules. They have their own parliament, schools, textbooks, police, TV, radio, newspapers. They run their own lives in Judea and Samaria except security. 

And in Gaza, they run everything, including security. 

And they were offered a state. Do you know this? They were offered a state four times in the last 20 years.

The Free Lance:  You and I can't solve this in one conversation. But let me ask you a question. You said you spoke with someone in the Biden administration?

Mort Klein: Yes, I did. 

The Free Lance: When was this? 

Mort Klein: In the last few months. It was recent.

The Free Lance: And they said that they're going to push for a Palestinian state? 

Mort Klein: They've been pushing for a Palestinian state since the second day after the massacre. When Biden flew to Israel, on the tarmac, where he said, “I have your back, you're not alone, I'm a Zionist.” People forget that he said, “But we have to establish a Palestinian state.”

Is that what you say two days after a massacre? You reward them? So he said it immediately, and I met with people in his administration of concern that this is no time to be promoting a state. This is a time to be concentrating on destroying Hamas.

Because if you don't destroy Hamas, no Israeli will live in southern Israel. They'll be afraid. They'll be afraid of another massacre. You've got to get rid of Hamas. To get rid of Hamas is like saying we've got to get rid of the Nazis after World War II. 

The Free Lance:  What about the rally in New York tonight? 

Mort Klein: I thought we should have a public display of support for Israel, since the whole world, especially on the campuses, are attacking Israel with incredible lies and incredible statements. “F the Jews,” ”Gas the Jews” and such.  It's important to show some public support. So we decided, let's do a rally.

The Free Lance: How many people do you expect? 

Mort Klein: I have no idea. You never can tell. Because, you know, whoever shows up, shows up. And people are afraid. They're afraid of being at a pro-Jewish, pro-Israel event because of what's going on. Just like synagogues have had a reduction in people going to synagogues. Some people are nervous. That's why every synagogue now has a guard. I can't believe it. Whoever shows up, we'll have a rally.

The Free Lance: What do you say to Americans who say both these sides are insane and we need to get in there and separate them, give them time to cool down and make sure the Palestinians have a real country?

Mort Klein: Their charter calls for Israel's destruction and violence against Jews. The U.N. charter says you can't be voted to have a state unless you're a peace loving people. They are not peace loving.

The Free Lance: They're locked in a war with Israel for 76 years. 

Mort Klein: When they controlled Judea and Samaria and Gaza and Eastern Jerusalem they were still in a war with Israel. It has nothing to do with anything except refusal to accept a Jewish state. It has nothing to do with land or a state. They've been offered a state eight times in the last 80 years. The Peel Commission in 1937 offered them a state on 95% of the rest of Palestine that Jews get five. And they said no because they will not accept a Jewish state. 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered them 97% of Judea and Samaria, 3% of Israel half of Jerusalem billions of dollars in aid and Abbas said "No." I called Olmert, who I knew as a Prime Minister. I said "How could he have turned down your insane offer?"

And he said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told him "You gotta get rid of the clause that says we accept Israel as a Jewish state. We'll never do that" and "You gotta get rid of the clause where you limit us to the number of Arabs we bring into Israel. I will never accept limiting the number of Arabs."

And Olmert said to them "Well if you don't accept Israel as a Jewish state and you want to bring in millions of Arabs to Israel you'll destroy Israel so what kind of a deal is that for us?"

They've been offered a state. The issue is not statehood. It is not land. It's Israel's destruction.

That's why nothing has worked. By the way Sisi told me he offered Abbas a state in the Sinai. He said "Come to the Sinai. We'll set up a major city. This will be your country and stop this nonsense."

And of course Abbas said absolutely not because the war is against Israel. It's not about statehood. They could have had a state 8 times in the last 80 years. 

The Free Lance: Big picture. What's going on now? What's going to happen tomorrow? What's the foreseeable future, in your view? 

Mort Klein: Israel as any country would have no choice but to destroy the Hamas Nazis or else no Jew will live in southern Israel.

By destroying the Hamas Nazis they have to send a message that this type of horrific terrorism doesn't pay. You will be destroyed. I hope after they achieve this they'll set up some sort of reasonable moderate government in Gaza.

I'm not hopeful that'll happen. That's what I hope will happen. I'm not confident it will but I hope it will. 

Once the rest of the Arab world sees that Hamas got nothing out of the nightmare, maybe they'll begin to consider going along with the UAE and Bahrain and make peace with Israel. Saudi Arabia next. But if they don't destroy Hamas then the Arabs will start leaning toward Iran. They'll see they're the stronger party. 

And Biden has helped make this happen by giving Iran who funds Hamas as well and other terrorist groups. We have given Iran $26 billion dollars from Day One of his administration and ignored sanctions which has given them another $50 to $100 billion. Iran has gone from $4 billion in reserves when Biden took over to $100 billion in reserves.

We helped fund Hamas by funding Iran. Biden has been a disgrace as a president. He has helped fund terrorism.

Also every single person he's appointed that affects Israel is somebody extremely hostile to Israel. Everyone. They're all hostile to Israel. 

The Free Lance: Is Secretary of State Antony Blinken hostile to Israel? 

Mort Klein: Yes he's very hostile to Israel. Always has been. Always. He's an extreme Leftist who has been hostile to Israel. Yes he's never been a friend of Israel.

The Free Lance: I saw him after the horrendous October 7th Hamas attack stand next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and say something like “America will always defend Israel. As long as America exists, Israel will too.”

Mort Klein:  I'm not interested in his words. I'm interested in the fact that two days after the massacre he put out a Tweet demanding that Israel not retaliate. That's his Tweet demanding Israel not retaliate. Two days after 1,200 Jews were massacred, 5,000 injured he put out that Tweet.

And now he's saying don't go into Rafah—that's a friend of Israel?

Why doesn't Biden or Blinken ever say one word in any significant way, one about the hostages, but number two maybe more importantly in some sense about the fact that the Palestinian Authority spends $400 million dollars a year paying Arabs to murder Jews? Why haven't they stopped this? 

They think no civilians should be killed even though it's a war. They make an issue out of that. And by the way these are not innocent civilians, they support Hamas. They're not totally lovely human beings.

The Free Lance: OK, but, we're talking about like, 7,000 dead Palestinian babies though?

Mort Klein: One that number is totally exaggerated. It's been shown by a number of statisticians who I happen to know that the numbers are fake. The UN yesterday halved the number yesterday of children and women who've been killed. They realized that Hamas has been lying about these numbers. 

But most importantly in any war civilians are killed. Israel has the lowest ratio of civilians to combatants killed in the history of warfare one-to-one in Iraq and Afghanistan our ratio was ten-to-one we killed 400,000 civilians in those wars. No one said a word. In a war innocent people die. I know it because my family has died.

The Free Lance:  How do you respond to people who say Israel has some responsibility for this because they created an open-air prison for Palestinians in Gaza?

Mort Klein: It’s the Arabs who refuse to make a deal. Who refuse to have peace. It's the Arabs’ fault. The Israelis have done everything to try and resolve this but they will not accept it. Because the issue is not about land or statehood. It's about Israel's existence so the only way they can solve it is for every Israeli to say tomorrow we're all moving to Miami. 

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