The plaintiffs told me they were disgusted by Goldberg and Arfa’s action. They felt betrayed. They had struggled for years with the emotional and financial burdens of a major lawsuit, and yet those two ZOA representatives swooped in at the end of the struggle, riding the coattails of the anti-Semitic pain endured by Zionists in the trenches, and publicly forgave the perpetrator to benefit themselves.
The plaintiffs were most disturbed by what was framed by Goldberg and Arfa as an acceptance of an apology where no apology was ever made to those who were harmed by Adaya’s crude and humiliating anti-Semitic behavior.
“Adaya was given a pass, essentially, for something she had done, and had done with malice,” one of the plaintiffs told me, “They benefitted at our expense. And they did that, and tried to justify it, in the name of furthering the mission of the ZOA? That is antithetical to what the ZOA should stand for.”
Another plaintiff recently spoke with me about his experience. He said, “What was most hurtful, most insulting was Goldberg’s behavior. He was offensive, he attacked me.”
“I told Goldberg that none of us [the plaintiffs] asked him to do a rally, that he had misjudged the situation, and that Adaya was buying them off.”
That was the trigger that set off Goldberg’s infamous dark side. “He became bullying and nasty,” the plaintiff said. “I responded by telling Goldberg I was never going to donate to ZOA again, and I was going to tell other people they shouldn’t donate, either.” This was the email the plaintiff received back from Steve Goldberg:
[Plaintiff’s name deleted], I want to thank you for the e-mail below and your other illiterate and bizarre e-mail rants today. I was able to circulate them among friends and colleagues, and the response was gales of laughter. It was apparent when I saw you at the event at [name deleted]’s house last year that you suffer from some kind of emotional disturbance. I don’t know what childhood traumas you must have experienced, but they must have been severe. In any event, I was not aware you have ever been a “supporter” of the ZOA, but if you have been, please stop. We really don’t need you. As for your threats, please try your best to carry them out. We can all use the amusement. It is apparent you have no intention of donating the profits you achieved from the lawsuit to the FIDF. Instead, I expect you’ll line you pockets. I would suggest you spend at least some of the money on some Thorazine. Perhaps one day we’ll have the opportunity to meet in person again some day. i’d like that. Steve (emphasis added)
How is it possible that one human being wrote that to another, let alone a Zionist leader sending it to a victim of gross anti-Semitism?
Another of the plaintiffs told me: “we suffered through the experience of being rounded up and thrown out of a public place solely because we were Jews. We banded together and brought a lawsuit because this should not happen in the United States of America. We financed the litigation ourselves, and we endured hardships to see it to the end. Then, when we were vindicated in a court of law, when there was a public statement from the U.S. government that what Adaya did to us was not just wrong but terribly wrong, egregiously wrong, a fellow Jew claiming to represent a Zionist organization took away our moment of vindication, and gave Adaya a Zionist certification of forgiveness. That was wrong.”
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Just two more examples of Goldberg’s intemperate behavior.