Mort Klein Reelected in Landslide as Zionist Organization of America Chief
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Mort Klein has been overwhelmingly reelected national president of the ZOA, beating Steven Goldberg, the first election challenger in Klein’s 20 years at the ZOA’s helm.
Klein won a landslide victory victory in the election held Sunday afternoon at the ZOA’s national convention in Philadelphia, earning 93% of the vote, or 115 votes, to Goldberg’s 9.
The election concluded a bitter campaign in which Goldberg had accused Klein of rigging the election by holding it in Philadelphia, Klein’s hometown, and forbidding absentee voting. But ZOA leadership said that the location was selected long before Goldberg announced his candidacy and that voting from afar was prohibited under the ZOA constitution and New York state law.
Goldberg first emerged as a Klein opponent after the ZOA temporarily lost its charitable status in February 2012. The tax-exempt revocation only received public attention after the publication of a Forward expose disclosing it seven months later.
Goldberg launched his bid to unseat Klein in part because he believes the ZOA is in “steep decline,” due to what he described as falling donations, dwindling membership, and poor employee morale.
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