November 20, 2003 Contact: (212) 481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

Checking for Bombs Is Not "Humiliation"

ZOA PROTESTS BUSH'S FALSE ALLEGATION THAT ISRAEL ENGAGES IN "DAILY
HUMILIATION OF THE PALESTINIANS"

NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly protested
President Bush's erroneous allegation that Israel is guilty of "the daily
humiliation of the Palestinian people."

Webster's Dictionary defines "humiliate" as: "To reduce to a lower position
in one's eyes, or in the eyes of others." The ZOA points out that checking
travelers for bombs at security checkpoints does not "reduce them to a lower
position" any more than U.S. airline security personnel checking airplane
passengers for bombs before they board a plane.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein, Chairman of the Board Dr. Alan
Mazurek, and Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Chairman of the National Executive
Committee, wrote in a telegram to President Bush: "People who want to pass
through security checkpoints, whether at Dulles Airport or in Judea and
Samaria, should be checked for bombs. That's not 'humiliating'. It's a
reasonable and ordinary part of our post-9/11 world. Anything less would
risk the lives of innocent people, whether in Israel or America."

President Bush made the remark in his speech in England on Nov.19,2003. He
also reiterated his call for the creation of a "viable, independent"
Palestinian Arab state; criticized Israel for building "walls and fences" to
protect itself from terrorism; and demanded that Israel "freeze settlement
construction [and] dismantle unauthorized outposts," but did not mention the
much more widespread Arab illegal construction activity in the territories.

The President said that the Palestinian Arabs "should adopt peaceful means,"
but he did not mention either Yasir Arafat or the Palestinian Authority by
name or acknowledge their role in terrorism. He said "Arab states should end
incitement in their own media" and "cut off public and private funding for
terrorism," but he did not mention the names of the Arab regimes that engage
in incitement and support for terror.

* * *

The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest
pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen
U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the
dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on
college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice
Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.