John Fetterman Receives Defender of Israel Award from Zionist Organization of America

Senator John Fetterman (Democrat, Pa.) accepts the “Defender of Israel” Award from the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) on Wednesday.

Fetterman, a Democrat, has unconditionally supported Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. This stance put him at odds with progressive members of his party who criticized Israel’s military response.

In the event invitation, Fetterman was called a “visible and outspoken supporter of Israel” and praised for his visit to the country.

The award will be presented to Fetterman during the group’s gala. Night of Gratitude in Philadelphia on Wednesday night. Fetterman will accept the award remotely, via video, due to a scheduling conflict, according to the group.

ZOA stands with Israel and opposes a Palestinian state in the belief that this would threaten the existence of Israel. The annual award honors individuals the group believes are contributing to closer relations between the United States and Israel.

Group honored former president donald trump With another prize in 2022

The organization, founded in 1897, has been in crisis for years, and two of its board members recently asked a judge to remove its longtime leader, CEO Morton Klein, over alleged financial misconduct and needy leadership. Reported by the Forward. Many of the group’s leaders turned away from Klein, and the group shrank significantly over the past two decades, with a “brief resurgence during the Trump administration,” according to the report. The group’s former executive director sued Klein in 2022. accusing racist and sexist behavioraccording to The Forward.

Klein faced public criticism in 2018. for calling a Palestinian who killed an Israeli-American a “dirty Arab”.” He apologized at the time, saying he had meant specifically “the murders of Arabs” and not all Arabs, but did not withdraw the insult.

In 2016 He expressed support for Trump’s proposal to profile Muslims in America. AND, in a 2022 New Yorker interviewdefended Trump for promoting a conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama’s birth, although he later said he believed Obama was born in the U.S.

Fetterman and Klein were unlikely allies before Israel’s war with Hamas began, when Fetterman gained a reputation for trolling Republicans like Trump. But in the months that followed, as protests erupted across the country over the Palestinian death toll, Fetterman became known for picking fights with members of his own party over the issue.

Even Gov. Josh Shapiro, an outspoken supporter of Israel, publicly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Fetterman, who is not Jewish, visited Israel for the first time in June. He met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu, who said, “Israel has had no better friend than Senator John Fetterman.”

» READ MORE: Fetterman removes Harvard hood in protest during Yeshiva University commencement speech

Fetterman was also honored for his support of Israel in May during the commencement ceremony at Yeshiva University, an Orthodox Jewish school in New York. His award, the Presidential Medallion, was given to Daniel Gold, inventor of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, last year. He was hailed as a “hero of Israel.”