RJC Welcomes Release of Alan Gross; Calls Normalizing Relations with Cuba “Unwise”
Washington, D.C. (December 17, 2014) – The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) is happy to know that Alan Gross has been released and is back on American soil after five years of imprisonment in Cuba. On the first day of Hanukkah, Alan Gross was granted light, freedom, and the long-awaited reunion with his family. The RJC joins the entire Jewish community in celebrating his redemption.
Our relief that his long ordeal is over is tempered by our deep concern about President Obama’s decision to begin normalizing relations with the totalitarian government of Cuba. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has said that, “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.” The people of Cuba are still in prison – many literally so. American steps to open diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba while the government continues to oppress its own people and to support terrorism around the world is unwise. We call on Congress will look into this matter when they reconvene.
Brooks: Hagel Likes Ike - For the Wrong Reason
By: RJC Executive Director Matthew Brooks
It turns out that Chuck Hagel is a great admirer of President Dwight Eisenhower. Unfortunately, what Hagel most likes about Ike was arguably Eisenhower's least admirable act--his bullying of Israel and his demarche to Britain and France, all in the service of rescuing of Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
"Eisenhower Republican" is not a label enjoying much currency nowadays, but Senator Hagel "means it" when he describes himself that way, according to Washington Post associate editor David Ignatius in a column of January 27. According to Ignatius, Hagel kept a bust of Ike in his Senate office "for more than a dozen years," a portrait of Eisenhower adorns the wall of his current office, and he purchased three dozen copies of the recent book, Eisenhower 1956, to give to, among others, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the man whose former post he hopes to occupy, ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Ignatius writes.
The book about Ike, written by David A. Nichols, describes how three of America's staunchest allies, Great Britain, France, and Israel, took military action against a pro-Soviet, terrorism-sponsoring dictator, Nasser--and how Eisenhower forced them to end their operation before they could finish off Moscow's client.
For the West, late 1956 was a grim time, just a few years after the Korean stand-off, and in the midst of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. For Israel, the period preceding the October 1956 Mideast war was an agonizing time, with attacks on southern Israeli border towns by Gaza-based terrorists (not so different from events in our own time), armed and financed by Egypt, claiming the lives of about 250 Israelis between 1949 and 1956, and leaving as many as 1,000 wounded.
One of many incidents that left Israel shaken involved young Moshe Dayan, then chief of staff of the Israeli Army. He visited one of the border kibbutzim, Nahal Oz, in April 1956, and was deeply impressed by the courage and idealism of the pioneers, in particular a young couple whom he met, Ro'i and Amira Rothberg. Two days later, Rothberg was ambushed by terrorists--one of whom doubled as an Egyptian police sergeant--who clubbed him to death and gouged out his eyes. At Rothberg's graveside, a somber Dayan declared, "The longing for peace deafened his ears and he failed to hear the voice of the murderer waiting in ambush."
In Nasser's eyes – as in the eyes of today's Hamas rulers in Gaza – the killers were patriots. "You have proven by our deeds that you are heroes upon whom our entire country can depend," the Egyptian leader declared in an address to a terrorist unit. "The spirit with which you enter the land of the enemy must spread."
Nasser's sponsorship of the Gaza terrorists was only one part of the problem. In May 1955, he signed a huge arms deal with the Soviet Union. Egypt would receive MiG 15 bombers, submarines, antiaircraft guns, artillery, several hundred tanks, and more. Nasser's move overwhelmed Israel's previous military edge over the Arab states, and, given the Egyptian government's oft-declared goal of annihilating the Jewish state, posed a grave threat to Israel.
The British and French, too, were becoming increasingly worried about Nasser, and for good reason. A heavily-armed Soviet surrogate in the heart of the Middle East was an obvious recipe for trouble. Nasser's belligerent speeches and sponsorship of terrorism confirmed fears in London and Paris that the Egyptians were on the warpath. The final straw came in July 1956, when Nasser tore up the Anglo-Egyptian treaty providing for a phased British withdrawal from the Suez Canal (to be completed in 1968) and seized the canal.
Throughout this period, Israel repeatedly appealed to the Eisenhower administration and the United Nations to intervene, to no avail. It became "obvious that [the U.S. and the other Western powers] did not intend to make any effort to uphold Israel's rights," the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Abba Eban, later wrote. Eban recalled "many stormy discussions" with Eisenhower administration officials, who insisted that the Egypt-Soviet arms deal was "more promise than fulfillment."
"Embattled, blockaded, and besieged," as Eban put it, Israel found itself faced with a choice not altogether different from what it faces today with regard to Iran: strike first and risk world condemnation, or wait and risk its very existence. In late October, 1956, the Israelis, the British, and the French undertook a three-pronged strike against Nasser. While the Israelis quickly defeated the terrorists in Gaza and captured the Sinai peninsula, the British and French retook the Suez Canal.
But Eisenhower was furious. Hoping to woo Egypt to become pro-American, and worried about Soviet reaction to the attack, the U.S. president successfully pressured the British and French to withdraw by December. The Israelis, however, were reluctant to leave and face a return to the perils they faced before the war. 'Eisenhower 1956' quotes Ike telling Secretary of State John Foster Dulles: "Foster, you tell 'em [the Israelis], goddamn it, that we're going to apply sanctions, we're going to the United Nations, we're going to do everything that there is so we can stop this thing."
Under this pressure, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion finally withdrew from Sinai and Gaza in March 1957, in exchange for a U.S. promise to secure passage for Israeli ships and the stationing of United Nations peacekeeping forces to prevent Nasser from remilitarizing the Sinai. A decade later, Nasser, still a Soviet client, summarily expelled the UN forces, whereupon the White House claimed it could not find Eisenhower's promise about protecting Israeli shipping. Israel learned a bitter lesson from that experience, a lesson it has not forgotten.
And there is a telling postscript to this story. According to businessman and diplomat Max Fisher, Eisenhower privately remarked to him, in 1965: "You know, Max, looking back at Suez, I regret what I did. I never should have pressured Israel to evacuate the Sinai." Likewise, Richard Nixon told Fisher's biographer, Peter Golden, that Eisenhower said he "regretted" pressuring Israel in 1956 and was convinced he had made "a mistake" in doing so.
Sadly, instead of learning from Eisenhower's admitted error, Senator Hagel seems to adore him for it. The senators at Hagel's confirmation hearing may want to consider the danger that if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, Hagel will be in a position to help repeat history, by influencing the current president to pressure Israel into one-sided concessions and extend a welcoming hand to another generation of Gaza terrorists.
Matthew Brooks is the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Brooks: Hagel Likes Ike - For the Wrong Reason
By: RJC Executive Director Matthew Brooks
It turns out that Chuck Hagel is a great admirer of President Dwight Eisenhower. Unfortunately, what Hagel most likes about Ike was arguably Eisenhower's least admirable act--his bullying of Israel and his demarche to Britain and France, all in the service of rescuing of Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
"Eisenhower Republican" is not a label enjoying much currency nowadays, but Senator Hagel "means it" when he describes himself that way, according to Washington Post associate editor David Ignatius in a column of January 27. According to Ignatius, Hagel kept a bust of Ike in his Senate office "for more than a dozen years," a portrait of Eisenhower adorns the wall of his current office, and he purchased three dozen copies of the recent book, Eisenhower 1956, to give to, among others, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the man whose former post he hopes to occupy, ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Ignatius writes.
The book about Ike, written by David A. Nichols, describes how three of America's staunchest allies, Great Britain, France, and Israel, took military action against a pro-Soviet, terrorism-sponsoring dictator, Nasser--and how Eisenhower forced them to end their operation before they could finish off Moscow's client.
For the West, late 1956 was a grim time, just a few years after the Korean stand-off, and in the midst of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. For Israel, the period preceding the October 1956 Mideast war was an agonizing time, with attacks on southern Israeli border towns by Gaza-based terrorists (not so different from events in our own time), armed and financed by Egypt, claiming the lives of about 250 Israelis between 1949 and 1956, and leaving as many as 1,000 wounded.
One of many incidents that left Israel shaken involved young Moshe Dayan, then chief of staff of the Israeli Army. He visited one of the border kibbutzim, Nahal Oz, in April 1956, and was deeply impressed by the courage and idealism of the pioneers, in particular a young couple whom he met, Ro'i and Amira Rothberg. Two days later, Rothberg was ambushed by terrorists--one of whom doubled as an Egyptian police sergeant--who clubbed him to death and gouged out his eyes. At Rothberg's graveside, a somber Dayan declared, "The longing for peace deafened his ears and he failed to hear the voice of the murderer waiting in ambush."
In Nasser's eyes – as in the eyes of today's Hamas rulers in Gaza – the killers were patriots. "You have proven by our deeds that you are heroes upon whom our entire country can depend," the Egyptian leader declared in an address to a terrorist unit. "The spirit with which you enter the land of the enemy must spread."
Nasser's sponsorship of the Gaza terrorists was only one part of the problem. In May 1955, he signed a huge arms deal with the Soviet Union. Egypt would receive MiG 15 bombers, submarines, antiaircraft guns, artillery, several hundred tanks, and more. Nasser's move overwhelmed Israel's previous military edge over the Arab states, and, given the Egyptian government's oft-declared goal of annihilating the Jewish state, posed a grave threat to Israel.
The British and French, too, were becoming increasingly worried about Nasser, and for good reason. A heavily-armed Soviet surrogate in the heart of the Middle East was an obvious recipe for trouble. Nasser's belligerent speeches and sponsorship of terrorism confirmed fears in London and Paris that the Egyptians were on the warpath. The final straw came in July 1956, when Nasser tore up the Anglo-Egyptian treaty providing for a phased British withdrawal from the Suez Canal (to be completed in 1968) and seized the canal.
Throughout this period, Israel repeatedly appealed to the Eisenhower administration and the United Nations to intervene, to no avail. It became "obvious that [the U.S. and the other Western powers] did not intend to make any effort to uphold Israel's rights," the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Abba Eban, later wrote. Eban recalled "many stormy discussions" with Eisenhower administration officials, who insisted that the Egypt-Soviet arms deal was "more promise than fulfillment."
"Embattled, blockaded, and besieged," as Eban put it, Israel found itself faced with a choice not altogether different from what it faces today with regard to Iran: strike first and risk world condemnation, or wait and risk its very existence. In late October, 1956, the Israelis, the British, and the French undertook a three-pronged strike against Nasser. While the Israelis quickly defeated the terrorists in Gaza and captured the Sinai peninsula, the British and French retook the Suez Canal.
But Eisenhower was furious. Hoping to woo Egypt to become pro-American, and worried about Soviet reaction to the attack, the U.S. president successfully pressured the British and French to withdraw by December. The Israelis, however, were reluctant to leave and face a return to the perils they faced before the war. 'Eisenhower 1956' quotes Ike telling Secretary of State John Foster Dulles: "Foster, you tell 'em [the Israelis], goddamn it, that we're going to apply sanctions, we're going to the United Nations, we're going to do everything that there is so we can stop this thing."
Under this pressure, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion finally withdrew from Sinai and Gaza in March 1957, in exchange for a U.S. promise to secure passage for Israeli ships and the stationing of United Nations peacekeeping forces to prevent Nasser from remilitarizing the Sinai. A decade later, Nasser, still a Soviet client, summarily expelled the UN forces, whereupon the White House claimed it could not find Eisenhower's promise about protecting Israeli shipping. Israel learned a bitter lesson from that experience, a lesson it has not forgotten.
And there is a telling postscript to this story. According to businessman and diplomat Max Fisher, Eisenhower privately remarked to him, in 1965: "You know, Max, looking back at Suez, I regret what I did. I never should have pressured Israel to evacuate the Sinai." Likewise, Richard Nixon told Fisher's biographer, Peter Golden, that Eisenhower said he "regretted" pressuring Israel in 1956 and was convinced he had made "a mistake" in doing so.
Sadly, instead of learning from Eisenhower's admitted error, Senator Hagel seems to adore him for it. The senators at Hagel's confirmation hearing may want to consider the danger that if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, Hagel will be in a position to help repeat history, by influencing the current president to pressure Israel into one-sided concessions and extend a welcoming hand to another generation of Gaza terrorists.
Matthew Brooks is the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
RJC: New Poll Shows Republicans Strongly Support Israel's Actions In Gaza
Republicans Say Gaza Action Justified by 74%-12%
RJC Urges All Americans to Support Israel
Washington, D.C. (November 19, 2012) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) noted a CNN/ORC poll released today showing that 74% of Republicans think that Israel is justified in taking military action against Hamas in Gaza. Across the country, 57% of all Americans believe Israel's actions are justified, with 25% saying the Israeli operation is unjustified.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "At this time, Hamas is launching hundreds of rockets a day against civilian targets in Israel and the IDF is using pinpoint strikes to take out Hamas' weapons capabilities with the least possible harm to the Palestinian civilians among whom Hamas is embedded. The RJC joins with the Jewish community and all friends of Israel in expressing our support for Israel's actions and our fervent hope that Israel's operations against Hamas will bring lasting security to the people of Israel.
"We hope all Americans will rally behind Israel. Regardless of one's politics, now is the time for people in both parties to unite in support of America's only democratic ally in the region - Israel."
The CNN poll also showed that Democrats narrowly believe Israel is justified in its action by 41%-36%.
RJC: New Poll Shows Republicans Strongly Support Israel's Actions In Gaza
Republicans Say Gaza Action Justified by 74%-12%
RJC Urges All Americans to Support Israel
Washington, D.C. (November 19, 2012) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) noted a CNN/ORC poll released today showing that 74% of Republicans think that Israel is justified in taking military action against Hamas in Gaza. Across the country, 57% of all Americans believe Israel's actions are justified, with 25% saying the Israeli operation is unjustified.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "At this time, Hamas is launching hundreds of rockets a day against civilian targets in Israel and the IDF is using pinpoint strikes to take out Hamas' weapons capabilities with the least possible harm to the Palestinian civilians among whom Hamas is embedded. The RJC joins with the Jewish community and all friends of Israel in expressing our support for Israel's actions and our fervent hope that Israel's operations against Hamas will bring lasting security to the people of Israel.
"We hope all Americans will rally behind Israel. Regardless of one's politics, now is the time for people in both parties to unite in support of America's only democratic ally in the region - Israel."
The CNN poll also showed that Democrats narrowly believe Israel is justified in its action by 41%-36%.
RJC extends condolences to victims of the Bulgarian bus bombing and their families
By: Shari Hillman, RJC Communications Director
The attack against Israeli tourists boarding a tour bus in Bulgaria has horrified our community and the world.
The RJC extends its sympathies to the victims of bombing, and to their families.
We join with Israel and Jewish communities around the world in condemning this act of terrorism and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.
RJC extends condolences to victims of the Bulgarian bus bombing and their families
By: Shari Hillman, RJC Communications Director
The attack against Israeli tourists boarding a tour bus in Bulgaria has horrified our community and the world.
The RJC extends its sympathies to the victims of bombing, and to their families.
We join with Israel and Jewish communities around the world in condemning this act of terrorism and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Recognize Tragedy as Olympic History
By: Sanford D. Horn
Like most Americans I look forward to the pageantry of the opening ceremonies of the 40th Summer Olympiad that will commence on Friday, July 27 in London – the parade of nations with their flags carried proudly by one of that country’s heroes as well as the various national garbs worn by its athletes and team members.
However, amid all the pomp and circumstance, the cheering, the display of sportsmanship as the athletes take the Olympic pledge, it will be lost that this is the 40th anniversary of the darkest moment in Olympic history. For it was on September 5, 1972, that the Games of the 20th Olympiad in Munich, West Germany shockingly turned from the games of peace to a waking nightmarish tragedy.
Shortly after 4 a.m., eight Palestinian terrorists from Black September, a faction of the PLO invaded the Olympic village kidnapping 11 Israeli athletes and trainers. Upon the initial assault, the Israelis fought back, to the detriment of Moshe Weinberg and Yossef Romano – shot dead instantly.
Over the next 18-plus hours, tensions mounted as the Israelis continued to be held by the Black September terrorists who made the demand of the Israeli government to release 234 prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Ultimately, the Israeli hostages were moved and loaded into two helicopters, where after 10:40 p.m. shots fired outside the helicopters led the terrorists to believe they were under attack.
“A terrorist shot four of the hostages in one helicopter as another Palestinian tossed a grenade inside. The explosion ignited the fuel tank, and the captive Israelis burned. Another terrorist then shot the Israelis in the other helicopter. Germans present at the airfield still remember the screams. Eleven Israelis, five Palestinians and one German police officer died during the Munich tragedy.” (www.independent.co.uk)
The late, great sportscaster Jim McKay, thrust into round-the-clock duty in an era prior to cable television and 24-hour news cycles, reported with his usual aplomb, the events as they unfolded right down to the final shots. McKay said it best: “Our worst fears have been realized… There were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”
The games resumed, hardly missing a beat and for 40 years, the tragedy has been swept under the rug – a permanent stain on the games, permeated by terrorism and rife with perpetual anti-Semitism, largely ignored by the global community.
Once again, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) under the alleged leadership of President Jacques Rogge had denied the numerous requests that this tragedy be recognized with a mere minute of silence during the opening ceremonies in London, on this, the 40th anniversary of Munich.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard wrote to Rogge in hopes of garnering some recognition for the slain Israeli Olympic team at the London Olympics.
“The occasion of the Olympic Games in London this summer also marks the 40th anniversary of the terrible tragedy that occurred in Munich during the 1972 Olympic Games.
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, I am writing respectfully to express support for the observation of a moment of silence to be held at the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony, or at an appropriate time during the Games, so that the Olympic movement can honour, before the world, the memory of those whose lives were lost during that horrific event.” (www.theaustralian.com.au)
As an American, the question must be asked of Barack Obama, sports-fan-in-chief, where was your letter to the president of the IOC? You spent so much time and taxpayer dollars overseas attempting to procure an Olympics for your adopted hometown of Chicago. Did you not want to offend your Arab allies by taking up for 11 dead Israelis? Do you continue to think that little of Israel while continuing to rake in millions of dollars from the Jewish voting community you take for granted?
The 11 slain Israelis:
Officials/Trainers
Yossef Gutfreund
Amitzur Shapira
Kehat Shorr
Andrei Spitzer
Jacov Springer
Moshe Weinberg
Athletes (wrestlers/weightlifters)
David Berger
Zeev Friedman
Eliezer Halfin
Yossef Romano
Mark Slavin
May their memories always be for a blessing.
Recognize Tragedy as Olympic History
By: Sanford D. Horn
Like most Americans I look forward to the pageantry of the opening ceremonies of the 40th Summer Olympiad that will commence on Friday, July 27 in London – the parade of nations with their flags carried proudly by one of that country’s heroes as well as the various national garbs worn by its athletes and team members.
However, amid all the pomp and circumstance, the cheering, the display of sportsmanship as the athletes take the Olympic pledge, it will be lost that this is the 40th anniversary of the darkest moment in Olympic history. For it was on September 5, 1972, that the Games of the 20th Olympiad in Munich, West Germany shockingly turned from the games of peace to a waking nightmarish tragedy.
Shortly after 4 a.m., eight Palestinian terrorists from Black September, a faction of the PLO invaded the Olympic village kidnapping 11 Israeli athletes and trainers. Upon the initial assault, the Israelis fought back, to the detriment of Moshe Weinberg and Yossef Romano – shot dead instantly.
Over the next 18-plus hours, tensions mounted as the Israelis continued to be held by the Black September terrorists who made the demand of the Israeli government to release 234 prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Ultimately, the Israeli hostages were moved and loaded into two helicopters, where after 10:40 p.m. shots fired outside the helicopters led the terrorists to believe they were under attack.
“A terrorist shot four of the hostages in one helicopter as another Palestinian tossed a grenade inside. The explosion ignited the fuel tank, and the captive Israelis burned. Another terrorist then shot the Israelis in the other helicopter. Germans present at the airfield still remember the screams. Eleven Israelis, five Palestinians and one German police officer died during the Munich tragedy.” (www.independent.co.uk)
The late, great sportscaster Jim McKay, thrust into round-the-clock duty in an era prior to cable television and 24-hour news cycles, reported with his usual aplomb, the events as they unfolded right down to the final shots. McKay said it best: “Our worst fears have been realized… There were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”
The games resumed, hardly missing a beat and for 40 years, the tragedy has been swept under the rug – a permanent stain on the games, permeated by terrorism and rife with perpetual anti-Semitism, largely ignored by the global community.
Once again, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) under the alleged leadership of President Jacques Rogge had denied the numerous requests that this tragedy be recognized with a mere minute of silence during the opening ceremonies in London, on this, the 40th anniversary of Munich.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard wrote to Rogge in hopes of garnering some recognition for the slain Israeli Olympic team at the London Olympics.
“The occasion of the Olympic Games in London this summer also marks the 40th anniversary of the terrible tragedy that occurred in Munich during the 1972 Olympic Games.
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, I am writing respectfully to express support for the observation of a moment of silence to be held at the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony, or at an appropriate time during the Games, so that the Olympic movement can honour, before the world, the memory of those whose lives were lost during that horrific event.” (www.theaustralian.com.au)
As an American, the question must be asked of Barack Obama, sports-fan-in-chief, where was your letter to the president of the IOC? You spent so much time and taxpayer dollars overseas attempting to procure an Olympics for your adopted hometown of Chicago. Did you not want to offend your Arab allies by taking up for 11 dead Israelis? Do you continue to think that little of Israel while continuing to rake in millions of dollars from the Jewish voting community you take for granted?
The 11 slain Israelis:
Officials/Trainers
Yossef Gutfreund
Amitzur Shapira
Kehat Shorr
Andrei Spitzer
Jacov Springer
Moshe Weinberg
Athletes (wrestlers/weightlifters)
David Berger
Zeev Friedman
Eliezer Halfin
Yossef Romano
Mark Slavin
May their memories always be for a blessing.