Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, on Nov. 17, 2024. Courtesy of ZOA
By Jacob Kornbluh
May 6, 2025
Mort Klein, the longtime president of the Zionist Organization of America, celebrated the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by two former board members alleging financial misconduct and poor leadership.
In a news release, the ZOA quoted the ruling Monday of Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court as finding “gaping holes in the plaintiffs’ case” against Klein, 78, who has served as the organization’s national president since 1993.
The lawsuit filed last year by former board members Brian Grodman and Paul Tartell alleged that Klein received unauthorized pay raises and had “effectively clipped the wings of the ZOA for his own self-interest,” turning the organization into “at best, an irrelevancy, and, at worst, a joke.” The lawsuit sought the removal of Klein as ZOA president.
Tartell and Grodman had previously called on the board to remove Klein, but he was reelected to a 12th term last October.
The organization’s financial management has faced scrutiny since at least 2012, when the ZOA temporarily lost its tax-exempt status. Many of the allegations in the 2024 lawsuit echoed claims made in earlier legal actions. John Rosen, who was dismissed as ZOA’s executive director in 2020, filed a separate lawsuit in 2022, accusing Klein of creating a toxic work environment and engaging in racist and sexist behavior.
Klein said in a recent interview that the allegations were false and intended to harm his credibility and noted that previous lawsuits were from people he had fired. “Every single one is a complete fraud,” he said. “I’m proud of everything I’ve done at ZOA.”
The ZOA, with an annual budget of approximately $5 million and holding over $40 million in assets, has undergone a renaissance in its relevance since President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January.
The organization’s alignment with the Trump administration’s policies on Israel and the Middle East has strengthened its influence within conservative pro-Israel circles. It is one of a number of right-wing Zionist groups that have reduced the influence of the mainstream Jewish organizations that have long held sway in Washington.
In February, Klein exulted over Trump’s controversial plan to “take over” Gaza, relocate its 2 million Palestinian residents and develop it into a “Riviera on the Middle East.” Trump has not spoken in public about the plan in recent months, though it was adopted by the Israeli government. “Hashem exists — there is a God,” Klein said of Trump’s plan. “This is too miraculous.”
Trump is no fan of Engoron, who presided over the then-former president’s civil fraud trial, culminating in a ruling last year levying $355 million in penalties against Trump and suspending his right to do business in New York. Trump appealed the ruling.
One of the ZOA’s lawyers in this case, Marc Kasowitz, previously represented Trump.
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