By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — There are sins of commission, and, especially in the eyes of the Zionist Organization of America, there also are grave sins of omission. The ZOA on Monday, May 19, faulted President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for what he didn’t say when he participated in the opening of the 9/11 Museum at Ground Zero. The organization also criticized New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, for what was missing from a recent speech to a “Jewish Values Dinner” sponsored by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
On President Obama and his 9/11 Museum speech, The ZOA’s President, Morton Klein, commented: “To the surprise of many, he did not name the perpetrators, identify their ideology or reiterate a determination to defeat them. The words ‘Al-Qaeda,’ ‘Islamism,’ or ‘jihadists’ never passed his lips. His silence on global Islamist terrorism was deafening, not least because 9/11 has profoundly affected the lives of all Americans — long lines and frisking entering government buildings, office buildings, sports arenas, football games, taking off shoes, belts and jackets, creating long delays in airports, and so on.”
Klein continued: “Can one imagine a commemoration of D-Day where an American president would not refer to the scourge of Nazism in the cause of whose defeat these servicemen died? Indeed, when President Obama spoke in Normandy in 2009 on the 65th anniversary of D-Day, he referred to Hitler, Nazis, Germans and ‘the clarity of purpose with which this war was waged.’ He went even further, ‘It was a competing vision of humanity. Nazi ideology sought to subjugate and humiliate and exterminate. It perpetrated murder on a massive scale … It was evil.’
“The questions this poses are obvious: is Islamist totalitarianism not a ‘competing vision of humanity?’ Do Islamists not seek to ‘humiliate and exterminate,’ to perpetrate ‘murder on a massive scale,’ from the genocide in the Sudan, the kidnapping and torture of non-Muslim women in Nigeria, the slaughter of tens of thousands in Syria — and the slaughter out of a clear blue sky of 2,977 men, women and children on 9/11? This was surely evil. How does all this pass unmentioned at dedication to memorialize its victims and heroes?”
On the same day Klein issued his Op-ED, he also utilized a ZOA press release to express “disappointment and shock” that Christie “never even mentioned Israel” at the Jewish Values Dinner.
Said Klein: “Even a few small words of praise for Israel would have been welcome. For instance, because this was a Jewish values dinner, Governor Christie could have mentioned that Israel exemplifies Jewish values, because, among other reasons, Israel promotes women’s equal rights; provides full rights to its Arab citizens (Israeli Arabs vote, hold Knesset seats, serve as judges, ambassadors, and doctors in Israeli hospitals, and even have affirmative action preferences for attending Israeli Universities); abides by the rule of law; protects freedom of worship and holy places for all religions; and provides medical, agricultural and humanitarian relief throughout the world (such as Israel’s acclaimed, prompt, extensive medical assistance to earthquake-stricken Haiti).
“When Governor Christie stated during his speech that “we must always support our allies,” Christie failed to mention that Israel was one of America’s allies – although this was an opportune time to say so. Governor Christie could have of course condemned Secretary of State Kerry’s outrageous recent apartheid comment. Christie would have received a standing ovation if he had done so.”
Who says silence is golden? Certainly not Morton Klein.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com