When US President Biden comes to Israel on Wednesday, he will be awarded Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor by President Isaac Herzog. 

The government’s website cited the reason for the reward as being “in recognition of his true friendship with the State of Israel, the People of Israel, and the Jewish People; his uncompromising decades-long commitment to Israel’s security; his contributions to deepening, strengthening, and enhancing the strong and unwavering alliance between Israel and the United States of America; and his struggle against anti-Israeli and antisemitic hatred around the world.”

The medal was first awarded in 2012 to those who have “made an outstanding contribution to the State of Israel or to humanity, through their talents, services, or in any other form.” The medal has been awarded to 26 people, including many cultural figures. The list of US presidents who have received the medal reveals a disturbing trend: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama received the medal despite Obama heading a markedly anti-Israel administration. No Republican politician has ever received the medal.

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein came out against the award.

“This award makes no sense,” Klein said in a statement. “A ‘true friend of Israel’ and fighter against antisemitism would not pursue the numerous policies undermining Israel’s sovereignty and security that President Biden and his administration are pursuing, including 100’s of millions of U.S. tax dollars financially aiding and abetting Palestinian Arab terror against Jews.”

It should be noted that the Biden administration has reinstated financial aid to the PA and Hamas in Gaza despite admitting that even humanitarian funds have ended up funding terrorism.

On Saturday, The Washington Post published an op-ed by the president saying that his administration had “reinstated nearly $500 million in aid” to the PA.

The ZOA alleged that this funding allows the PA to continue its policy of paying terrorists jailed in Israel, which should prevent the Biden administration from giving aid to the PA.  

The funding is in violation of the Taylor Force Act. Passed in 2018 and named after an American veteran slain by a Palestinian while visiting Israel in 2016, the Taylor Force Act requires the government to cut US funding to the Palestinian Authority if it does not stop paying salaries to terrorists and their families.

The ZOA claimed that the Biden administration is “blatantly violating and/or circumventing” US law by reinstating funding to the PA.

The ZOA also criticized Biden for opposing the right of Jews to live and build in “the lawful Jewish homelands in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria” throughout his entire political career “while saying nothing about massive illegal Arab building.”

In addition, the ZOA criticized Biden’s insistence on reinstating the Iran deal, which would greenlight an Iranian nuclear weapons program. 

“Giving Biden this major award will only encourage Biden to continue his hostile policies toward Israel, for it will send the message that Israel is comfortable with Biden’s wrongheaded policies,” Klein said.