Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

As you are keenly aware, Jerusalem has been in the news a lot lately, from a week or more ahead of the “Trump Declaration,” up to the moment with the ugly United Nations General Assembly vote yesterday.

The propaganda war against Israel and the Jewish people is at one of its peaks in this period, and as has been said in a variety of ways over the years: The truth is one of the first victims when there is a war. When it comes to Jerusalem, the truth has been butchered this past month. Journalists and pundits have created a new entity called “East Jerusalem” and they have parroted the Arab and Muslim claim that it is Arab or Palestinian, or should be the capital “of a future Palestinian state” — without any supporting evidence to back-up these claims. They are also quick to point out that Israel gained the area in a war in 1967, or that Israel annexed it, but they nearly never note how Israel came to be in control of the eastern neighborhoods or who controlled it previously.

This is also the time of year when the big lie: That Israel and Jews have driven the Christians from Bethlehem —  is front-and-center in both print- and electronic-media.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Trudy Rubin has long been a local foe of Israel’s. In a recent column she managed to get in both the Bethlehem slander and the half-truth about eastern Jerusalem. Greater Philadelphia ZOA responded with a letter-to-the editor. We have yet to be notified if our letter will be printed, but here it is for you to read:

“Trudy Rubin notes (“Trump has only made the Jerusalem divisions wider,” Dec. 17) that Israel annexed eastern Jerusalem in 1967, but curiously omits how Israel came to control those neighborhoods.

Jordan illegally occupied them beginning in 1948 when it attacked Israel after Israel declared its independence. Jordan attacked Israel again in 1967, but this time Israel — in another defensive war — repelled the Jordanian forces out of Jerusalem, thus liberating and re-unifying the city.

Under Arab control, the Old City and Judaism’s holiest sites: the Temple Mount and Western Wall, were inaccessible to Jews. Jerusalem has never been under Palestinian-Arab jurisdiction.

Rubin quotes a cleric who falsely claims Israel is responsible for Christians fleeing Bethlehem. Before Israel handed Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, 80% of the town was Christian. Now Bethlehem is less than 20% Christian. Robert Nicholson, executive director of the Philos Project, a nonprofit that promotes “positive Christian engagement in the Middle East,” noted last year in providencemag.com: “Christians are fleeing [Bethlehem] for the same reason they are fleeing Iraq, Egypt, and Syria: the rise of Islamic intolerance and violence against anyone who denies the revelation of Muhammad.” Nicholson added: “Inside Israel proper, the Christian population has been growing steadily for decades.”

Let the facts be known to all.

Lee Bender and Kevin Ross, co-presidents

Steve Feldman, executive director

Zionist Organization of America

Greater Philadelphia Chapter”

When you see or hear an act of media malfeasance, it is important to respond to set the record straight. Please consider a polite phone call, letter or email to the media outlet pointing out the mistake and offering a correction. If you need help or would like Greater Philadelphia ZOA to respond, please contact us by email or by phone at 610-660-9466.

 Please see below how you can support Greater Philadelphia ZOA as the year draws to a close, and also please see our Christmas greeting later in this newsletter.

We Had a Great Balfour/U.N. Partition Celebration . . .

More than 100 people came out for a joyous, upbeat and informative program last Sunday that we held in conjunction with the Israel Advocacy Committee of Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El. We are grateful to the congregation for hosting it.

You can watch all of the presentations on YouTube by clicking on the graphic immediately below, and watch the interview that we did with Lord Roderick Balfour by clicking on the graphic below that.

Enjoy and benefit from them both. Please share the links with your email and social-media contacts so that they, too, call enjoy and benefit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please consider making a donation to support Greater Philadelphia ZOA’s work.

Click on the “Donate” icon above.

Please click to enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

Please see our special Chanukah banner later in this email.

Click on each image to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

As regular readers of our Greater Philadelphia ZOA emails and Web site know, the education system has become starkly anti-Israel, yet there are places where one might think there is a haven from the lies, slanders and indoctrination efforts. One might include a suburban free library or a course within a Jewish studies program as among the vestiges where enemies of Israel and the Jewish People have not yet gained a platform. One would be wrong.

Last week a local library showed a “documentary” about the “Golden Age of Spain” where Jews and Muslims and Christians all allegedly co-existed in harmony. Of course there was no mention in the film of “Dhimmitude” or the persecution of Jews and Christians by the Muslim ruling class, and the film concluded with a segment that was both virulently anti-Israel and attacked Orthodox Jewry. The film was made by someone who now works for the Council on American Islam Relations. ZOA leaders were at the screening and exposed the lies and bias in the film and let the audience and library officials know about CAIR’s history and the government’s conclusion that CAIR has direct ties to Hamas. We are working diligently to have a program at this library that discusses Zionism and Israel’s story in an honest, positive way. One of our members let us know about the above event and we were able to be present at it and discuss the matter with library officials prior to the screening.

Meanwhile: Who would expect a brutally anti-Israel film made by an Israeli to be a highlight of a course focusing on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism? Probably not pro-Israel students who take the course nor their tuition-paying parents. ZOA is working with a student who was assigned to watch such a film.

We will let you know about any updates with each of these situations. If you see or know about any anti-Israel or anti-Jewish activities in the region, please contact us via email or call us at 610-660-9466. Vigilance and challenging our enemies while informing those who are unaware of what our enemies are doing are two hallmarks of ZOA’s mission and our work.

Upcoming:

Out & About:

The Algemeiner Publishes Our Article on Muslim Jew-Hatred:

Read the article at: https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/11/20/yes-muslim-antisemitism-exists-in-the-us/

Click the graphic to learn more!

Greater Philadelphia ZOA is looking for volunteers to make phone calls.

 There is no soliciting involved.

 Calls can be made from your home or office.

 If you are able to lend us some of your time and talent, please call us at 610-660-9466.

 Thank you.

 

Want to Help Inform Others About Israel, the Broader Middle East and the Peace Process?

Greater Philadelphia ZOA maintains an active speakers bureau, suitable for both large events (such as congregations) or parlor meetings. Help ZOA educate others. For more information, see the link:

http://philly.zoa.org/about-zoa/host-a-zoa-speaker/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

Today is the last day for you to be a part of National ZOA’s spectacular Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner.

There is a great lineup of honorees and other speakers listed below in this email, plus an opportunity to go to and from the dinner by bus with Greater Philadelphia ZOA.

Please note below an Action Alert with corrected phones numbers for the embassies. Please read the Action Alert and make the calls and let your email and social media contacts also know about our Action Alert.

Co-President Lee Bender had an important letter published in The Wall Street Journal. It is included below.

Finally: If you are not already a member of our organization, please consider joining ZOA and strengthening our organization. See below.

 

Click the link below to join

http://philly.zoa.org/join-zoa-philly/

To learn if you are due for renewal, please call our Office at 610-660-9466.

Want to Help Inform Others About Israel, the Broader Middle East and the Peace Process?

Greater Philadelphia ZOA maintains an active speakers bureau, suitable for both large events (such as congregations) or parlor meetings. Help ZOA educate others. For more information, see the link:

http://philly.zoa.org/about-zoa/host-a-zoa-speaker/

Greater Philadelphia ZOA is looking for volunteers to make phone calls.

 There is no soliciting involved.

 Calls can be made from your home or office.

 If you are able to lend us some of your time and talent, please call us at 610-660-9466.

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Greater Philadelphia ZOA is planning a special event on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 17 to commemorate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration.

Details to be announced shortly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Ambassador Daniel Shapiro has it exactly backward (“Move the Embassy to Jerusalem and Promote Peace,” (op-ed, Oct. 25). The U.S. should move its embassy to Jerusalem because the U.S. Embassy Relocation Act mandates it. Additionally, a united Jerusalem has been the heart of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years and is the actual capital of the state of Israel—not Tel Aviv where our embassy is now. The U.S. has its embassy in the capital of every other country.

Moving the embassy won’t hinder any “peace process.” The Palestinian Arabs have rejected a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel six times since 1938. Their goal has been explicit and was reiterated yet again in a recent tweet from the PLO: “Our goal is the end of Israel. . . . We don’t want peace. We want war and victory.” The PLO is headed by alleged moderate Mahmoud Abbas, who also leads the Palestinian Authority and Fatah. It’s a pipe dream to believe that without a wholesale change in attitude from the Palestinian Arabs, who are mired in a cult of hatred, violence and death toward Jews, that genuine peace and security for Israel will emerge anytime soon.

Lee S. Bender

Ardmore, Pa.

 

 

 

Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

When it comes to Israel, the Arab and Muslim war against the Jewish People and the broader Middle East: There is so much misinformation, partial stories, twisting of history both deliberate and unintentional — it is enough to either make you want to throw your hands up or cry. But we who are both advocates for Israel and advocates for truth cannot afford to cry nor throw our hands up.

ZOA is a source of honest, factual, up front, rational information. Those of you who are active in a congregation – Jewish or Christian, or an organization, club, civic group or any other regular gathering can help others in that group (and beyond) learn the truth and be a more discerning consumer of news by inviting a representative from the Greater Philadelphia ZOA Speakers Bureau to speak to your group or congregation. We discuss a wide variety of topics in both formal and informal settings. We will custom-fit a program to suit your needs. You select the topic or topics and we will be there.

A presentation from ZOA doesn’t even have to be before a large group – you can host a parlor meeting for friends, neighbors and family. We will explain as much as we can and answer all of your questions about these critical subjects. These events benefit those who attend, and the State of Israel and the Jewish community.

To learn more, please click on the graphic below.

Want to Help Inform Others About Israel, the Broader Middle East and the Peace Process?

Please check your mailbox for a special letter from Greater Philadelphia ZOA that some of you will be receiving this week and next week.

Click the link below to join

http://philly.zoa.org/join-zoa-philly/

To learn if you are due for renewal, please call our Office at 610-660-9466.

For bus information and to reserve, special pricing and other questions:

Please call our Office at: 610-660-9466.