• Omri Nahmias at the Jerusalem Post reports on the RJC’s strong public statement blasting the Democrat candidates for Senate in Georgia, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff:
Matt Brooks, Executive Director for RJC, said in a statement that the two campaigned “with anti-Israel Democrat Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA-4).”
“Hank Johnson, Jon Ossoff’s mentor and former boss, enjoys referring to Israelis as ‘termites,’” said Brooks. “He used the phrase when speaking to the group called Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation – a group that supports the antisemitic BDS movement. That Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff rely on Johnson to boost their campaigns is a direct endorsement of Johnson’s bigoted statements about the citizens of the only Jewish country in the world.”
…“Jon Ossoff certainly knows what Johnson has said about Jews from Israel, and Raphael Warnock either knows, or is being purposefully ignorant,” Brooks added. “Today it became even more clear that they will stand with the large anti-Israel contingent of the Democrat Party, ensuring that they will not stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel.”
• The Atlanta Jewish Times reported on the Jewish community’s involvement in the Georgia Senate runoff races, noting the RJC’s recent newspaper ad there:
The RJC took out a two-page ad inside the front cover of the Nov. 30 edition of the [Atlanta Jewish Times]. Atop the left side was an image of an angry-looking Ossoff, tying him to “the far-left pro-Palestinian group J Street,” and below that, a photo of Ossoff’s “mentor,” Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson, from Georgia’s 4th Congressional District.
“That’s right, the same Hank Johnson who called Jews living in Israeli settlements ‘termites.’ Hank Johnson is a vile anti-Semite. And Jon Ossoff worked for him,” the ad states.
• RJC Atlanta Chapter chairs Chuck and Bonnie Berk wrote a letter to the editor of the Atlanta Jewish Times after the paper received criticism for running the RJC ad. They wrote:
It was upsetting to see the AJT receive numerous negative posts about the ad that the Republican Jewish Coalition placed in the last issue, and for some illogical reason, these readers blamed this newspaper for allowing us to pay for and place this ad.
It may not be what these disgruntled readers wanted to hear, but we applaud the AJT for providing the opportunity to share with readers facts, not opinions about Rev. Warnock’s checkered background. The information about Rev. Warnock in the RJC ad were his actual anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements and actions, footnoted and documented. For voters to make an informed voting decision, it is important that they are made aware of this information. And, since the mainstream media is ignoring this side of the Reverend’s past, it took courage for the AJT to print the ad, which demonstrates that Rev. Warnock is, at best, deeply conflicted over Israel.
• Fox News reported last night:
In a 2016 sermon, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a two-state solution for peace in the region.
He called Netanyahu’s stance “tantamount to saying occupation today, occupation tomorrow, occupation forever,” a line similar to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace’s call for, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.”
The RJC fired off a “rapid response” statement this morning, which was quoted in The Daily Wire today:
Rev. Warnock recently told a Jewish group that he supports Israel, but he has a long history of statements that testify to the fact that he does not. His 2016 comparison of Prime Minister Netanyahu to segregationist George Wallace in front of an African American audience was simple hatemongering.
Warnock claims to have recently come to understand that Hamas is a violent enemy threatening Israel. There is a great deal more that he needs to learn about the Palestinians’ goal of genocide and Israel’s history of sacrificing for peace, before the Jewish community could ever begin to trust his newly announced “support” of Israel. The preponderance of anti-Israel statements in his past argues that he will side with Israel’s opponents in the Democratic Party and against Israel at every opportunity. In fact, Linda Sarsour, a close friend of the antisemitic “Squad” in Congress, endorsed Warnock’s comments about Netanyahu, just as “Squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have supported his campaign.
Warnock is the wrong choice for Georgia and for the US Senate. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler is a good friend of Israel and the Jewish community, and we hope the voters of Georgia will re-elect her to the Senate on January 5.
