- NEW YORK - House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), the keynote speaker at the Zionist Organization
of America (ZOA)'s annual Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner at the
New York Hilton on November 16, said at the dinner that when he recently
stood on the Golan Heights and looked out across the region, "I didn't
see any occupied territory, I only saw Israel."
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- Congressman DeLay said that "the ZOA speaks the
simple truth that others are afraid to utter," and that ZOA's efforts
on behalf of America-Israel relations are "indispensable." Congressman
DeLay also called for "expanding military and economic relations between
Israel and the United States," and said that there must be "complete
economic, social and political reform" among the Palestinian Arabs.
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- Rep. DeLay also said, "[ZOA National President]
Morton Klein and I have something in common--the State Department has pictures
of both Mort and me to use as a dart board."
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- U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who also
spoke, said "The ZOA is the clarion voice on Capitol Hill when it
comes to Israel-related issues." Congressman Weiner also called for
an end to America's $215-million in annual aid to the Palestinian Arabs.
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- ZOA president Klein, in his address to the dinner,
said that the remarks by DeLay, the leading Republican in the House, and
Weiner, a prominent Democrat, "demonstrate the broad and deep bipartisan
support for Israel on Capitol Hill, and the ZOA is proud to have played
a role in educating Members of Congress about Israel's war of self-defense
against Arab terror and the constant Palestinian Arab violations of the
Oslo accords and the Bush Road Map."
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- The ZOA recently initiated a letter, which was signed
by 70 Members Congress, urging President Bush to stop "discussing
further concessions from Israel" and to instead insist that the Palestinian
Authority take "concrete, decisive action" against terrorists.
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- At the dinner in New York, the ZOA's Ben Hecht Award
for Outstanding Journalism was presented to Joseph Farah, the Arab-American
syndicated columnist who is one of the most eloquent and principled pro-Israel
voices in the world of journalism today. In his address, he gave numerous
specific examples of anti-Israel bias in the media.
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- This year's Brandeis Award recipients were Nina Rosenwald
and Dr. Ben Chouake, who have been at the forefront of pro-Israel advocacy
in Washington and beyond. Rabbi Moshe Zwick received the Zionist Educator
Award for his extraordinary efforts to teach young Jews a deep and abiding
love and knowledge of the Land of Israel. The dinner co-chairs were David
Steinmann, former chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs (JINSA) and Sylvia Freyer, the prominent Jewish activist and philanthropist.
The Master of Ceremonies was Dr. Alan Mazurek, chairman of the ZOA national
board.
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- The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897,
is the oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works
to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress
about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the
media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme
Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.
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- <>http://www.zoa.org/pressrel2003/20031117a.htm
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