ZOA Joins Right-Wing Attack On Center For Jewish History Chief

Image by zoa

By Josh Nathan-Kazis September 19, 2017

Zionist Organization of America national president Mort Klein has joined in the right-wing attack on the new president of the Center for Jewish History.

Since early September, a network of little-known right-wing advocacy groups have pushed a campaign launched by a former chief of staff to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding the resignation of David Myers, the newly appointed head of the Manhattan-based CJH.

The ZOA’s entry into the effort marks the first involvement in the campaign by a large Jewish organization. The ZOA is heavily funded by Sheldon Adelson, a major donor to American Jewish causes and Republican candidates.

Klein’s Monday statement calls for Myers’ firing, based on a litany of allegations about his political activities. It also repeatedly suggests that Myers has ties to the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace. The CJH told the Forward in early September that Myers “has never been involved with JVP in any way.”

Myers is a leading scholar of Jewish history. In early September, 500 Jewish studies professors signed a petition supporting him.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO