We are thrilled to announce the location of of next Greater Philadelphia ZOA quarterly meeting taking place on March 7. It will be at the Congregations of Shaare Shamayim, 9768 Verree Rd., Philadelphia.

Topic: “Iran: What You Need To Know”

Learn from one of America’s leading experts all the details about the Iran deal and the dangers to America and Israel from the
Islamic Republic of Iran.

Featuring a presentation by Omri Ceren, managing director for press and strategy at The Israel Project, during the quarterly meeting of the

Zionist Organization of America Greater Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m., at the Congregations of Shaare Shamayim, 9768 Verree Rd., Philadelphia.

Free and open to the public

Tickets are free, but pre-registration is required. Register at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoa-meeting-iran-what-you-need-to-know-tickets-32053414626

Omri Ceren is a writer, and academic who has been involved in Middle East issues for almost two decades. He has been described by the Associated Press as “well-known in Washington” for expertise on the Iran nuclear deal. Ceren has written for dozens of outlets including Commentary and “The Daily Beast,” and he appears regularly as an analyst on cable and radio, and has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the major wires, CNN, Fox News, and others.

 Volunteers wanted

For more information, call the Greater Philadelphia ZOA Office at 610-660-9466 or email us at:
[email protected] _▀  Visit us on the Web at www.philly.zoa.org

 

Action Alert from Greater Philadelphia ZOA:

This is a multi-prong action alert related to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. The resolution is a danger to Israel and the Jewish People.

There is a detailed two-page fact sheet about the lies in the resolution. See the text of the fact sheet and the two jpegs below.

In addition, there is a Senate bill related to the UNSC 2334 that we want to see passed: S 11, the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act. We are asking you to contact each of your two senators. See details below.

Finally, there is concern that the Security Council may take up another anti-Israel resolution before President Obama’s term expires, and so we are asking you to contact the UN Missions of the Security Council member nations now, before a resolution is put on the table.

Please share this action alert with all of your email contacts and please post on social media. Consider printing out the fact sheets and handing them out to people. Information in the fact sheets can be used as the basis for a letter-to-the-editor in your local newspapers, calls to talk-radio (local and national) and to post in talk-backs on Web sites or as comments on blogs.

ZOA supports s 11, the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act.

Sen. Pat Toomey is the only senator from our region thus far who has become a co-sponsor. Please call him to thank him. Pennsylvanians: Please call Senator Bob Casey; those in Delaware and New Jersey: Please call each of your senators and ask them to co-sponsor S 11. You can use details in the talking points to explain why it is urgent that they co-sponsor this bill. Please see phone numbers for the senators below along with the text of S 11.

Pennsylvania Senators:

Robert P. Casey — Democrat

393 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224-6324 fax: 202-228-0604

Pat Toomey — Republican

248 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4254 Fax: (202) 228-0284

New Jersey Senators:

Cory Booker — Democrat

141 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-3224

Fax: 202-224-8378

 Robert Menendez — Democrat

528 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

202-224-4744 Fax: 202-228-2197

Delaware Senators:

Thomas Carper — Democrat

513 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

202-224-2441 Fax: 202-228-2190

 Christopher Coons — Democrat

127A Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

(202) 224-5042 Fax: (202) 228-3075

Here is the text of the fact sheets:

THE UN’S RESOLUTION 2334 – ITS LIES ABOUT ISRAEL

1. The UN says: Israel has no legitimate claim to Judea and Samaria because the land was acquired by force.

Facts:

• Israel has a legitimate legal claim to Judea and Samaria, which pre-dates the 1967 war. The 1917 Balfour Declaration recognized the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land of Israel, and explicitly called for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people.  This declaration was incorporated by the Allied Powers in a resolution at the 1920 San Remo conference. A Jewish national homeland, including Judea and Samaria, was enshrined in the League of Nations’ British Mandate for Palestine. (Palestine was a region, never a state) and later recognized in Article 80 of the UN Charter.
• Israel acquired Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”) in a defensive war, against an illegal occupier – Jordan.  Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria in a war to destroy the fledgling Jewish State in 1948 and illegally annexed it in 1950 with no prior legal title to the territory; the annexation was recognized by only two countries, Britain and Pakistan.  Since no internationally recognized sovereign control previously existed, the territory cannot be considered “occupied” by Israel.

2. The UN says:  Israel does not abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention which states (in Article 49):  “An occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

Facts:

• Israel is not an “occupying power” for two reasons. First, it is legally entitled to the lands it controls per the parameters established by the 1920 San Remo Conference.  Second, since the lands were never the sovereign territory of any country prior to 1967, Israel cannot be considered to be “occupying” them.
• Jews are not being coercively deported or transferred from Israel to Judea and Samaria.  They are moving there of their own free will, nor has there been a coercive deportation of Palestinian Arab populations.

3. The UN says:  Jewish communities (“settlements”) imperil the viability of a Palestinian State Solution based on the 1967 lines.

Facts:

• Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are not an obstacle to peace. These built up areas comprise less than 2% of the territory of Judea and Samaria. Further, approximately 20% of the population of Israel is comprised of Palestinian -Arabs who live there freely and safely.  Jews live freely and safely in countries throughout the world. Why can’t Jews live freely and safely in Judea and Samaria? If one claims it wouldn’t be safe for Jews to live in a Palestinian Arab state, why would anyone want to establish a terrorist Judenrein state?
• The true obstacle to the viability of a Palestinian State Solution is the Palestinian-Arab commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel, and murder of its inhabitants. It is evidenced by their maps showing all of Israel as Palestine, and by their daily violence against Jews and their promoting the murder of Jews in their schools, media, and speeches.  The Palestinian Liberation Organization was formed in 1964 – three years before a single Israeli-Jew lived in Judea and Samaria. And the 1964 PLO charter which is still on Palestinian Authority websites, as well as the Fatah and Hamas Charters, call for armed struggle against Israel.

4. The UN says: Israel is obligated to freeze building in Judea and Samaria due to demands of the international community.

Facts:

• There is no provision in the Oslo Accords which required Israel to “freeze” construction within existing communities. Prime Minister Netanyahu did completely freeze all construction in Judea and Samaria for 10 months in 2010, a precondition set by the Palestinian Authority to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel.  But the Palestinian Authority leadership refused to sit down with the Israeli delegation until the freeze was nearly over and then refused to come back to the table after the freeze concluded, even though there has been a defacto freeze ever since.

5. The UN says:  eastern Jerusalem is Arab land, and its Jewish inhabitants are “settlers” who are in violation of international law.

Facts:

• For all of recorded history, with the exception of the illegal Jordanian occupation from 1948-1967 recognized only by Pakistan, Jerusalem has been a united city. The city has had a majority Jewish population since the end of the 19th century.
• The eastern part of Jerusalem houses the holiest places to the Jewish people, including the Kotel (the Western Wall) and Har Habayit (The Temple Mount) and the Mt. of Olives. It is incomprehensible and a denial of history that this resolution would deem these places to be in “occupied Palestinian territory.”

6. The UN says:  Reaffirming its relevant resolution, including resolutions 242 (1967)…

Facts:

• UNSC 2334 violates UN Resolution 242 and the Oslo Accords, which require that a final agreement must be obtained by negotiations between the two parties.

There are reports and speculation that before President Obama’s term expires, there may be another anti-Israel/anti-Jewish resolution placed before the United Nations Security Council.

It may be beneficial to begin calling the UN Missions of the Security Council nations now, preemptively, to ask them to support Israel and therefore to veto or vote against any such resolutions that reward terrorism or harm the Jewish state of Israel or that restrict our ability to get to our holy sites or that restrict where Jews can live. Under international law, the Jewish People are encouraged to have “close settlement of the land” and Israel is not obligated to leave all of the land obtained as a result of the defensive Six-Day War.

Remind the Security Council nations of the need for peace to be hammered out through direct negotiations; remind them that Jews should be able to live anywhere, and especially in the heartland of the Jewish Homeland; remind them of the constant violence, threats and incitement directed against Israel and Israelis by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority/PLO. Ask what their country would do if another people was attacking them. Ask if the people of their nation should be restricted as to where they are able to live.

Please remember to be polite and respectful.

Please share this Action Alert with your email and social-media contacts.

United Nations Security Council – Current Members:

Permanent Members (Who have veto authority):

China: 212-655-6141

France: (212) 702-4900

Russia: 212 861-4900

United Kingdom: 212 745 9200

United States (212) 415-4000

Rotating Members:

Bolivia: (212) 682-8132

Egypt: (212) 503-0300

Ethiopia: (212) 421-1830

Italy: 212) 486-9191

Japan: 212-223-4300

Kazakhstan: (212) 230-1900

Senegal: (212) 517-9030

Sweden: (212) 583-2500

Ukraine: 212 759-7003

Uruguay: (212) 752-8240

Text of the “Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act”:

S 11

To recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, to relocate to Jerusalem the United States Embassy in Israel, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 3, 2017

Mr. Heller (for himself, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Inhofe) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, to relocate to Jerusalem the United States Embassy in Israel, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act”.

SEC. 2. Recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem.

(a) Statement of policy.—It should be the policy of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel, both de jure and de facto.

(b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected as they have been by Israel since 1967;

(2) every citizen of Israel should have the right to reside anywhere in the undivided city of Jerusalem;

(3) the President and the Secretary of State should publicly affirm as a matter of United States policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the State of Israel;

(4) the President should immediately implement the provisions of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–45) and begin the process of relocating the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem;

(5) United States officials should refrain from any actions that contradict United States law on this subject; and

(6) any official document of the United States Government which lists countries and their capital cities should identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

(c) Definition.—In this section, the term “United States Embassy” means the offices of the United States diplomatic mission and the residence of the United States chief of mission.

(d) Amendment of waiver authority.—The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–45) is amended—

(1) by striking section 7; and

(2) by redesignating section 8 as section 7.

(e) Restriction on funding subject to opening determination.—Not more than 50 percent of the amounts appropriated to the Department of State for fiscal year 2017 under the heading “Embassy Security, Construction, and Maintenance” may be obligated until the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the United States Embassy in Jerusalem has officially opened.

(f) Funding.—

(1) FISCAL YEAR 2018.—Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated under the heading “Embassy Security, Construction, and Maintenance” for the Department of State for fiscal year 2018, such sums as may be necessary should be made available until expended only for construction and other costs associated with the establishment of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

(2) FISCAL YEAR 2019.—Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated under the heading “Embassy Security, Construction, and Maintenance” for the Department of State for fiscal year 2019, such sums as may be necessary should be made available until expended only for construction and other costs associated with the establishment of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

SEC. 3. Implementation report.

Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to Congress that—

(1) details the Department of State’s plan to implement this Act;

(2) includes estimated dates of completion for each phase of the establishment of the United States Embassy, including—

(A) site identification;

(B) land acquisition;

(C) architectural, engineering, and construction surveys;

(D) site preparation; and

(E) construction; and

(3) includes an estimate of the funding needed to implement this Act, including all costs associated with establishing the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

Sen. Heller of Nevada introduced the bill.

Co-sponsors as of Thursday afternoon:

Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX]*	01/03/2017
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL]*	01/03/2017
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR]*	01/03/2017
Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]*	01/03/2017
Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]	01/04/2017
Sen. Toomey, Pat [R-PA]	01/04/2017

Please see below jpegs of the two ZOA facts sheets.

Thank you in advance for your activism!