Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

As you will see immediately below, we have a number of ZOA events upcoming, plus we are actively participating in some community-wide Israel 70 events.

We hope that you can join us for as many of these events as possible to learn, have fun and participate in pro-Israel activism. Further down in this newsletter are details about each event.

Also, we are looking for volunteers to help out at these events, and for a mailing.

A reminder: When you do your Pesach shopping, BUY ISRAEL!

Click the graphic to donate and support ZOA

Please help us make our upcoming events even more successful by volunteering to help us set up, discuss ZOA with guests and encourage people to fill out our sign-in sheets.

We will also need volunteers for a mailing next Wednesday, afternoon, March 14 at our office.

If you can help out with our mailing or at any upcoming events, please call our Office at 610-660-9466.

 

Please join us on Sunday, April 22, at our informational table at this festive event at the Katz JCC, 1301 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill.

The event begins at 11 a.m. with a parade. Booths, displays, shops and other activities begin at noon.

 

 

Click to enlarge

Register for this free event at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/body-and-soul-plus-naphtali-perlberger-tickets-42481355879

Please join us at our informational table and exhibit on Sunday, May 6, 2018, from  12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., at the

Event Center at the Valley Forge Casino Resort, 1160 1st Ave, King of Prussia.

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Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

We are looking to re-activate and strengthen some of our

Greater Philadelphia ZOA committees.

Consider this an invitation to become more involved

in Greater Philadelphia ZOA and the work that we do.

ZOA’s clear, cogent, principled message is needed today more than ever.

Our committees help the organization tackle the challenges in specific

areas to give us the ability to do even more internally and externally to

help Israel, the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Jewish Community.

Please call Executive Director Steve Feldman at 610-660-9466

if you would like to discuss a deeper involvement in Greater Philadelphia ZOA.

Click on the graphic above to donate.

 

Greater Philadelphia ZOA will be needing several volunteers for a couple of mailings later this month.

Please email us or call our Office at 610-660-9466 if you are able to help. We will let you know the dates, times and location.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

Go to fromisraeltoyou.com and purchase jewelry and Judaica from Israeli artists and artisans. When you make a purchase, please use the code ZOAPhilly at checkout, and we will receive a portion of the proceeds. Thank you! To learn more, click on: http://philly.zoa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/12/from-israel-to-you-jewelry-2.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See just one element of what ZOA is doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYHIjsHL4c&t=12s

 

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/