President of the Zionists Organization of America Mort Klein recently issued statements at a House Judiciary committee meeting regarding several aspects of white nationalism and hate crimes, ranging from proposing the removal of Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar from her seats on various congressional committees to commentary on the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, to the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to other related issues.
The hearing was held in response to recent FBI statistics indicating an increase in the number of hate crimes and incidents pertaining to white nationalism, along with the role of social media in fueling some of these incidents, C-SPAN reported.
Born to Holocaust survivors at a displaced persons camp outside Günzburg, Germany, Klein’s family immigrated to America when he was four years old where he was raised in the southern suburbs of Philadelphia. Klein’s career included roles as biostatistician, mathematics and statistics professor, and economist under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter.\
Klein became involved in the pro-Israel work after the 1993 Oslo Accords, which was a treaty renouncing Israel's right to exist in peace and attempting to establish a Palestinian Authority with certain governing rights in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, saying, "I only went into the work because I thought Oslo was a disastrous mistake and I wanted a podium to express that. I did not intend to do it for more than a year or two, make my case and then go back to normal life. But things kept getting worse, not better.”
The statements Klein made in the House Committee meeting pointed out FBI statistics that Jews are targeted in upwards of 60 percent of religiously motivated crimes in this country.
“Jew hatred is the canary in the coal mine,” Klein stated.
Written by Erin Parfet
