Welcome to the ZOAngel blog

Welcome to the ZOAngel blog.

You may be wondering: what is a “ZOAngel”?

It’s a compound of the words “ZOA,” the acronym for Zionist Organization of America, and “angel”—that spiritual creature with wings. As Executive Director of the Western Region of the ZOA, this will be my informal forum to share news and insights as the ZOA team and I seek to change an intellectual culture that has it out for Israel.

Why is this blog called “ZOAngel”?

As you can tell from the blog banner, ZOAngel hearkens back to Charlie’s Angels, and I’ve always admired those feisty beautiful girls seeking justice. “Angel” also refers to Los Angeles, the City of Angels, my hometown, where the Western Region is headquartered.

But here’s the main reason:  the ZOA is filled with angels—the real humanitarians who fight unrelenting anti-Semitism, who speak out against human rights abuses in the Arab world, and who seek for the highest moral ideal—the love and sacredness of human life—to reign supreme in the Middle East.

For too long staunch Israel advocates like us at the ZOA who denounce the so-called “peace process” and the creation of a Palestinian state for what they are—ploys to undermine and destroy Israel—have been maligned as brutes, warmongers, or—gasp—right wing extremists. Really, we’re the angels in the fight for Israel’s survival and true peace in the region.

So if I’m such an angel, what’s with the gun?

It’s a metaphor for the sharp-shooting posts I intend to write. And as the great Zionist thinker and leader Vladimir Jabotinsky said, “better to have a gun, and not need it, then to need it, and not have it.” So true, I don’t need, but it’s good to have. And if you have a problem with the gun, happy to replace it—with a bazooka.