Regarding your website report about Alan Dershowitz’s talk at the ZOA annual dinner (“At ZOA Gala In NYC, Stephen Bannon A No-Show,” online Nov. 21), Dershowitz is wrong — ZOA is not a conservative Republican group and never took a position or said a word about any candidate in the past election. And ZOA is bipartisan.
As proof, ZOA presented liberal Democrat Dershowitz with its Mortimer Zuckerman award, named after a liberal Democrat. ZOA has given podiums to numerous Democrat leaders, and we have criticized Republicans, including President Bush.
ZOA is a principled, issues-oriented advocacy group that takes strong positions. And we’ve been right on virtually all issues; opposing Oslo, opposing Gaza withdrawal, opposing Arafat and Abbas as peace partners, predicting they would never accept statehood if it meant accepting a Jewish state and ending all claims.
We are not pro-Republican or pro-Democrat. ZOA is simply pro-Israel and pro-Jewish—that’s all.
President, Zionist Organization of America
