Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA is appalled by ADL featuring hostile-to-Israel speakers at its “Never is Now” conference this week. These speakers include:
-
Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn’s extreme demonization of Israel has included accusing Israel of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing” and “daily violations of human rights,” and calling Israel’s lawful Nation-State law “horrific.”
Hirschhorn also condemns “denial of Palestinian sovereignty.” In other words, she views Palestinian Arab demands for a 23rd Arab nation-state as valid; but condemns Israel for identifying as a Jewish state.
In response to widespread condemnation of having Israel-demonizer Hirschhorn speak at ADL’s “Never is Now” event, ADL “doubled down” and issued a statement supporting Hirschhorn’s appearance, falsely claiming that “any casual look through her social media feed, will reveal a thoughtful and active voice speaking out against antisemitism.” ZOA looked through Hirschhorn’s twitter posts, and found that Hirschhorn continues to frequently wrongly and harshly condemn Israel.
For instance, Hirschhorn tweeted that Israeli official Ayelet Shaked was pitting Druze Israelis “against Palestinian citizens of Israel” when Shaked praised a Druze town becoming a Druze city. Hirschhorn also retweeted that an Israel demonstration flyer was wrong to emphasize preserving Israel’s “Jewish” values over Israel’s “democratic” values. (The flyer sought to preserve both Israel’s Jewish and democratic values: “Jewish” was simply in slightly larger type – which is perfectly appropriate for the Jewish state.) Hirschhorn also frequently accuses “settlers” (Jews) of “terrorism” against Palestinian Arabs (a rare to non-existent occurrence), and falsely criticizes Israel for not taking sufficient action against “settler terrorism.” Meanwhile, Hirschhorn is silent about the hundreds of Palestinian Arab attacks against Jewish Israelis, including in Judea and Samaria.
