Despite being burdened with a particularly cruel medical syndrome for a public speaker – Tourette’s Syndrome – Mort can bring crowds of people to their feet, screaming and clapping, moved by his rhetoric, his self-deprecating humor, and his exhaustive recall of facts and details about Israel and its enemies.
So back to Goldberg. With respect to his Zionist credentials: there can be no doubt that the positions Klein has championed are ones Goldberg does and would, loudly and with fervor, as well. He has offered some very worthwhile suggestions in his campaign material. The person at the ZOA helm should seriously consider implementing several of them as the organization moves forward in the twenty-first century.
There are many examples of problematic behavior on Goldberg’s part – many of which are on display on his own election website – but only a few will be addressed here, and only one at length.
I dealt directly with Steve Goldberg in a situation that revealed a shocking side to the man. A side that has reared its head repeatedly throughout his campaign to unseat Klein. A side that makes me fear for the soul of an organization which has been the American stalwart defender of the Jewish people and the Jewish State since its rebirth.
What I witnessed revealed what I understood to be, and others directly involved confirmed, Goldberg’s selling out of Jews and a Zionist organization which had been severely harmed by a vicious hater of Israel, in order to promote himself and his own interests.
GOLDBERG EXONERATED HOTEL OWNER WHO EXPELLED ‘THE [EXPLETIVE] JEWS’ FROM HER POOL In July of 2010, Tehmina Adaya, a Pakistani Muslim owner of a swanky Santa Monica Hotel expelled a group of Jews who were having a pre-planned and approved Friends of the IDF fundraiser at her pool by yelling to her employees: “Get the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Jews out of my pool!”
Being identified as Jews by the wristbands they wore, and rounded up and herded out of the pool and surrounding area was a shattering experience for several of the people thrown out of the pool that day. Eighteen of them got together, hired a lawyer, and sued the hotel and its owner under the California anti-discrimination laws.
After a two year court struggle, the plaintiffs prevailed, and they did so decisively. On August 15, 2012, the jury found Adaya liable for dozens of acts of egregious – the government’s word – anti-Semitic discrimination. It also ruled against her on charges of negligence, malice, fraud and oppression.
The Western Region ZOA office at that time had two leaders: its paid staff, Orit Arfa, and its lay leader, Steve Goldberg. The two – who never offered support to the plaintiffs before or during the pendency of the trial, but after the verdict was in they publicly announced they were going to lead a rally outside of the Shangri-la Hotel on August 26th. Arfa said the protest was planned as part of the ZOA’s mandate – “to take stands against anti-Zionism.”
But following publicity about the protest, a representative of Adaya’s hotel met with Goldberg and Arfa. The two agreed to a deal with Adaya. In exchange for making her hotel available, at her expense, to Goldberg and Arfa for an event of their choosing, and donations to two Israeli charities, the ZOA representatives issued a statement absolving Adaya of her bad conduct, and certifying her contrition. This was part of that statement:
Although, based on a finding of clear and convincing evidence, the jury held that Ms. Adaya and the Hotel acted with malicious intent in evicting the group of Jewish young professionals, we believe that her statement exhibits the Jewish value of teshuva, repentance. Thus, the main purpose of the protest, which was to express outrage at anti-Semitism as well as Jewish pride, has been sufficiently addressed. We look forward to working with the Hotel to hold a Jewish community event that also expresses Jewish pride and support for Israel. (emphasis added)
Adaya condemned anti-Semitism in her statement, but also claimed she had not said and done what the jury had conclusively determined she had done. What’s more, in that statement Adaya mischaracterized what the jury said and found in a way that was an intentional distortion of reality.