ZOA Meeting on March 7 Focusing on Iran
Note: pre-registration is required for the meeting (see image below — click to enlarge) even though it is free.
Eventbrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoa-meeting-iran-what-you-need-to-know-tickets-32053414626
Please let you friends, colleagues and social media contacts know about our ZOA meeting featuring this important guest speaker!
Greater Philadelphia ZOA Has Op-Ed in Phila. Daily News
Greater Philadelphia ZOA leaders had an op-ed published in the Philadelphia Daily News on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 regarding an anti-Israel speaker invited to Friends’ Central High School and it also addressed inaccuracies in an earlier Daily News editorial on the subject.
Please click on the image below to read the op-ed.
Let us know what you think about the article.
Location announced for March 7 meeting
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
Save the Date! Reserve Your Seat Now For Our Annual Washington Mission!
ZOA to School Officials: Uphold Rules Against Politics in the Classroom, Cancel Israel-Hating “Black Lives Matter Action Week”
National ZOA and Greater Philadelphia ZOA have issued news releases announcing our opposition to a planned “Black Lives Matter Action Week” that will be foisted on Philadelphia public schools next week. We are concerned that anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric and materials could be interjected into the Philadelphia schools. We have also send a strong, detailed letter to Philadelphia School Reform Commission members, other education officials, Governor Wolf and Mayor Kenney asking that the initiative be cancelled because it violates school district regulations and our concerns about anti-Semitism.
See below our news release as well as the letter:
ZOA to School Officials: Uphold Rules Against Politics in the Classroom
Cancel Israel-Hating “Black Lives Matter Action Week”
Concerned that a “Black Lives Matter Action Week” being planned by a group of School District of Philadelphia educators would politicize learning in violation of district policies and possibly inject anti-Semitic and anti-Israel materials into classrooms, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has called on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to prohibit the proposed week of Black Lives Matter activities, in a letter to commission members, other education officials, the mayor, the governor and the teachers’ union.
In the letter signed by national and local ZOA leadership, ZOA noted: “We were deeply troubled to learn that a group called the Caucus of Working Educators is organizing a week to bring the Black Lives Matter movement into Philadelphia public school classrooms. The Caucus is urging educators to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts and buttons, and to use Black Lives Matter curriculum resources for daily lesson plans and activities for the week beginning January 23rd.”
ZOA has called for the School Reform Commission to “issue a district-wide directive prohibiting educators from carrying out the Caucus’ plan.”
In the letter, ZOA noted the School Reform Commission and Philadelphia Board of Education “alone has the authority to control course content and teaching methods in district classrooms” based on District regulations. Further, ZOA noted, “Black Lives Matter is a political movement. District policies specifically prohibit political activities on school property and on school time.” Finally, noted ZOA, “the fact is that the Black Lives Matter movement has adopted a platform that is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, which has no place in any classroom.”
Regarding this latter point, ZOA noted in its letter that “more than 50 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement formed the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)” and that M4BL “released a detailed platform … which includes demonizing lies about Israel and the United States.” This platform “falsely and outrageously claims that the Israeli government is committing ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian Arab people, with the complicity of the U.S.” It also “falsely and outrageously identifies Israel – where all people have equal rights – as an ‘apartheid state.’”
ZOA is calling for the School Reform Commission not only to prohibit this activity but also to “make it clear in the directive that violators will be held fully accountable and subject to reprimand, penalty or dismissal pursuant to the school district’s policies.”
The Zionist Organization of America is one of America’s largest pro-Israel educational, advocacy, and outreach organizations. ZOA fights anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias as part of its mission.
For more information about this matter or ZOA, contact Steve Feldman Greater Philadelphia ZOA, executive director, at 610-660-9466 or [email protected] or contact Susan Tuchman, Esq., Director of ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice at 212-481-1500 or [email protected]
ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA
Greater Philadelphia
