By Pesach Benson, United With Israel
David Schoen, the lawyer who defended former President Donald Trump during February’s impeachment proceedings, will serve as chairman of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
A veteran constitutional lawyer and Atlanta resident, Schoen has been a ZOA board member for years.
The ZOA board elected him on Sunday, while also re-electing long-time president Morton Klein.
At times, he wore a kippah in the Senate, but photos of Schoen covering his head with his hand — when making a blessing before, for example, taking a drink of water — sparked social media buzz.
Schoen had been staunchly involved in other Jewish initiatives long before he was tapped to represent Trump.
In 2011, he spearheaded legal action against former president Jimmy Carter for publishing “false and misleading statements” in his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” The lawsuit was withdrawn months later over what Schoen said were “jurisdictional issues.”
Schoen also represented American victims of Palestinian terror in some of the earliest legal action in the 1990s to hold the Palestine Liberation Organization accountable for sponsoring terror.
Founded in 1897, the Manhattan-based ZOA is the oldest Zionist organization in the U.S.