8 January 24 • 2019
jn

I

t was inspiring. The Zionist Organization 
of America’
s (ZOA) 120th Brandeis Award 
national dinner in NYC treated 1,200 attend-
ees to speeches by honorees National Security 
Adviser John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to 
Germany Richard Grenell, TV 
and radio host Mark Levin and 
ZOA President Morton Klein, 
who received ZOA
’
s Theodore 
Herzl award for 25 years of stellar 
leadership. Also speaking or intro-
ducing honorees were Israel’
s U.N. 
Ambassador Danny Danon and 
Harvard law professor emeritus 
Alan Dershowitz. 
Addressing the event by video, Israel’
s Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded ZOA saying, 
“The ZOA wages a fearless battle for the truth … 
and never flinches from defending Israel from its 
detractors.
” 
Danon addressed the massacre of 11 Jews at 
prayer in Pittsburgh’
s Tree of Life synagogue. 
“They were murdered only because they were 
Jews,
” Danon said. “We will not stop fighting until 
the source of anti-Semitism is eradicated.
” 
John Bolton, who received ZOA
’
s Dr. Miriam 
and Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award, 
talked about the relocation of the U.S. embassy, 
the June withdrawal from the U.N. Human Rights 
Council and the recent U.S. withdrawal from the 
International Criminal Court (ICC), calling it “an 
illegitimate, unaccountable, and unconstitutional 
foreign bureaucracy that has the audacity to con-
sider asserting jurisdiction over American and 
Israeli citizens without their consent.
” 
Bolton also mentioned cutting aid to the 
Palestinian Authority, as mandated by the Taylor 
Force Act, which President Donald Trump signed 
into law. He then focused on the administration’
s 
Iran policy stating: “Over the decades, Iran has 
kidnapped, tortured and murdered American and 
Israeli citizens. It has attacked our embassies and 
targeted our service members. The Mullahs proud-
ly chant ‘
Death to America’
 and ‘
Death to Israel.
’
 
This brutal dictatorship can never be allowed to 
obtain a nuclear weapon.
” 
Bolton shared details of Iran’
s increased aggres-
sion and said the administration responded by 
re-imposing sanctions lifted under the deal, add-
ing: “The sanctions have already had a devastating 
effect on the Iranian economy.
” 
During his speech, Klein focused on ZOA
’
s role 
at vital points in the history of Zionism and Israel, 
including Justice Louis D. Brandeis’
 role in per-
suading President Woodrow Wilson to support the 
1917 Balfour Declaration.

“ZOA was the only major Jewish group that 
opposed the Oslo Accords, correctly predicting 
it would lead to disaster. For this, we were con-
demned by our detractors as extremists, as war-
mongers, as enemies of peace. We were also the 
only major Jewish group to oppose the 2005 disas-
trous unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which has 
led to the firing by Hamas … of more than 20,000 
rockets from Gaza into Israel.
” 
Klein made a powerful appeal for unity of the 
Jewish people in the wake of Pittsburgh’
s syna-
gogue massacre. “Despite our achievements and 
the work of other Jewish groups, the scourge of 
anti-Semitism is still with us. 
“We have to realize that anti-Semites do not care 
about the level of any Jew’
s religious observance,
” 
he continued. “We Jews have to realize that we are 
all in this together. We must unconditionally love, 
support and respect one another, no matter what 
our differences.
”
I recalled the day I met my friend Mort Klein. 
It was ZOA
’
s 1993 Washington, D.C., convention 
when he ran for ZOA president as an unknown. 
I attended Mort’
s parlor meeting with my mom, 
ZOA Michigan delegate Anne G. Silver, and was 
so impressed I asked if I could speak on his behalf 
before the vote. “Israel needs better PR and media 
coverage in this country because it shapes public 
opinion and public policy,
” I said. “Mort Klein 
already got millions of eyeballs on the facts versus 
the lies about Israel with his op-eds in the New 
York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer — and he did 
it without an organizational title. He’
s the kind of 
leader Israel needs at ZOA
’
s helm. We need to elect 
him president.
”
After Mort won, he asked me to be a ZOA offi-
cer. His knowledge and determined advocacy for 
Israel enabled him to quickly make an impact — as 
he’
s now done for 25 years. 
He’
s had critics, but I’
ve always felt helping Mort 
Klein become ZOA president was a mitzvah for 
Israel and the Jewish people. Am Yisrael chai! ■

Sheryl Silver is a lifelong Temple Israel member and former 

national officer of ZOA.

guest column
ZOA’S National Brandeis 
Award Dinner Does Not Disappoint 

views

W

hile Women’
s March Inc. was 
established in opposition to 
President Donald Trump’
s views 
and policies, its leadership has come under 
scrutiny by many Jewish organizations and 
LGBTQ groups for its anti-Semitic and its 
anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. 
 Due to this controversy, the Board of 
Directors of National Council of Jewish 
Women, Michigan (NCJW | MI) voted not 
to participate in its march, which took place 
across the country on Jan. 19. 
While many of the policies of the 
Women’
s March Inc. are in line with the 
policies of NCJW, the spouting of anti-Sem-
itism by the leaders cannot be overlooked.
The national organization of NCJW is 
no longer endorsing this march, and many 
sections of this national organization across 
the country also chose to pull out of this 
march for the same reasons. 
NCJW | MI will continue to strive for 
social justice by improving the quality of life 
for women, children and families as well as 
continuing our work to safeguard individu-
al rights and freedoms, including the right 
of every person to live safely in a world free 
from bigotry, hate-speech, racism and intol-
erance. 
Trying to “clean up” its image and repu-
tation of anti-Semitic leadership, Women’
s 
March Inc. has expanded its steering com-
mittee to include three Jewish women as 
well as a transgender woman, a Palestinian 
Muslim woman and others. 
Unfortunately, the damage has been done, 
and NCJW | MI cannot associate with this 
group unless it disassociates from a known 
anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam. 
Because it has shown no interest in dis-
tancing itself from this individual, we will 
refrain from participating in its marches.
NCJW | MI is at the forefront of many 
civil rights issues, and our efforts to advo-
cate for every individual, regardless of race, 
religion or ethnicity will be pursued. We 
encourage everyone to join us as National 
Council of Jewish Women, Michigan con-
tinues to educate our community on the 
issues of prejudice and racism. ■

Sandi Matz and Jennifer LoPatin are co-presidents of 

National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan.

guest column
Why NCJW | MI Pulled Out 
Of Women’s March Inc. 

Sandi Matz

Jennifer 
LoPatin

Sheryl Silver

John Bolton and Mort Klein

