The president of the Zionist Organization of America said that Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison must not be allowed to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee due to "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Israel" views.

Morton Klein issued the statement, saying that philanthropist and Democratic donor Haim Saban stated his case against Ellison at the Brookings Institution's Saban Forum.

"If you go back to (Ellison's) positions, his papers, his speeches, the way he has voted — he is clearly an anti-Semite, an anti-Israel individual. Words matter, and actions matter more. Keith Ellison would be a disaster for the relationship between the Jewish community and the Democratic Party," Saban said at the forum, according to CNN.

Klein's statement pointed to comments Ellison made in 2010 at a fundraiser for his reelection. The Investigative Project on Terrorism's transcript of the event showed that Ellison said he went to a meeting of the American Israel Political Action Committee and said:

"I always go and I am going to tell you why I go. Because I want to know what's going on . . . you should know that they only got one issue — and that is to try to say that whatever Israel does is just fine. But I want you to know there is a growing awareness in the U.S. Congress and in the executive branch that everything anyone does, including Israel, is not fine."

In the transcript, Ellison demanded that the U.S. stop military aid to Israel.

"We can't allow another country to treat us like we're their ATM."

The New York Times reported about Jewish groups and unions speaking out against Ellison. The Anti-Defamation League's Jonathan A. Greenblatt said Ellison's 2010 speech was "disqualifying."

Ellison wrote an open letter to the League, in which he said that the release of the audiotape was an "attempt by right-wing interests to drive a wedge between longstanding allies in the fight for equal rights."

He posted the letter on Twitter:

An open letter to the Anti-Defamation League. pic.twitter.com/bCDQ5Y8UPq — Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) December 1, 2016



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