Right-Wing Rabbis Condemn Forward For Calling Mort Klein ‘Threat’

Image by zoa

By Daniel J. Solomon August 14, 2017

A group of right-wing rabbis has denounced the Forward for publishing an opinion piece ripping Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein as a “bigger threat” than Muslim civil rights activist Linda Sarsour.

“The public defamation of Morton Klein is a repugnant violation of Jewish law and evinces a gross disregard for Jewish values,” said Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, in a press release for the Coalition of Jewish Values, which claims the support of hundreds of rabbis.

He added: “The Forward has a skewed agenda in which support for Israel and the Jewish people, to which Mort Klein has dedicated his life, is somehow a vice, while indulging our mortal enemies is somehow a virtue.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values in its mission statement denounces “liberal Jewish movements” for having “abandoned” Jewish tradition to advocate “positions at odds with the Bible itself.”

The Forward published an op-ed on by opinion fellow Steven Davidson on August 3 titled “19 People Jews Should Worry About More Than Linda Sarsour.”

It faulted Klein for his defense of controversial Trump administration officials like Steve Bannon, saying that he was “cozying up to anti-Semitic forces if it advances the ZOA’s ardent Zionist goals.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO