“When people found out I was meeting with Cube, some said ‘you better check yo self before you wreck yo self,'” said ZOA President Morton Klein.
By Josh Plank, World Israel News
Rapper Ice Cube will be a featured speaker at this year’s Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) Virtual Superstar Gala on December 27, the ZOA announced Thursday.
“‘I gotta say it was a good day’ when my friend Cube readily and happily agreed to speak at our ZOA Gala,” said ZOA President Morton Klein, quoting Cube’s 1992 hit.
Cube and Klein had a four-hour personal meeting last month at Cube’s hotel suite in Washington, D.C.
Klein said that Cube told him to tell anyone and everyone that he unequivocally rejects and condemns all anti-Semitism and affirms that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.
“When people found out I was meeting with Cube, some said ‘you better check yo self before you wreck yo self,'” Klein said, quoting another of Cube’s hits.
“But I got to know Cube as a man, a leader, a talented entertainer, and as a good friend,” he said.
Klein said that he and Cube have a lot in common. “We are both committed fighters for civil rights and an end to racism and discrimination. We are also both unapologetic – and sometimes outside the mainstream – advocates for our communities,” he said.
Their friendship began earlier this year when Cube and Klein had a two-hour phone conversation following tweets by Cube that were viewed as anti-Semitic.
“Shout out to Mort Klein who had the courage to seek the truth and speak with me and see for himself I am obviously NOT an anti-Semite or racist,” Cube tweeted after the July phone call.
“I admire him for the advocacy of his people and look forward to talking more on how Black and Jewish communities can work together,” he said.
In an August interview, World Israel News reporter Joseph Wolkin asked Klein about Cube’s stated support for Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam.
“He rejected [Farrakhan’s] anti-Semitism. I asked him if we can put out something formally saying exactly that. He said he would seriously consider it,” said Klein.