• Paul Miller, president and executive director of the Haym Salomon Center, writes at the Washington Examiner about the Left’s mainstreaming of antisemitism. He notes:
Politicians and media outlets talk a good game about condemning anti-Semitism. But when it’s propagated by a vocal, influential minority in the Democratic Party, anti-Semitism is tolerated and covered up by the Left’s power structure.
…In Congress, there is Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and the poster child for liberal anti-Semitism... If Omar had an “R” next to her name or attacked the African American or gay community, she would have been out of office in a heartbeat. But attacking Jews is acceptable in academia, the Democratic Party, and the press, as long as it comes from a left-wing source.
…Across the aisle, conservatives and Republicans actually police their own. After flirting with white supremacists, now-former Rep. Steve King of Iowa was stripped of his committees in 2018 and thrown out by Republican primary voters in 2020.
Leading the charge against King was the Republican Jewish Coalition. By contrast, the Jewish Democratic Council of America recently campaigned heavily in support of Georgia Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock, who has a history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric as well as supporting [Louis] Farrakhan. The RJC, unlike its Democratic counterpart, won’t hesitate to call out anti-Semitism by anyone carrying the GOP banner.
• Omri Nahmias reports at The Jerusalem Post on the legislative agendas of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Democratic Council of America:
Neil Strauss, a spokesperson for RJC, told The Jerusalem Post that one of the priorities for the organization would be the Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act. The Act, which passed the House of Representatives during the Trump administration but did not pass the Senate, would sanction individuals and entities that support Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and affiliated terrorist groups. Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida sponsored the bill together with Democrat from New Jersey Josh Gottheimer, and it is one example of bipartisan work.
Strauss noted that RJC “support[s] the strict implementation” of the Taylor Force Act, “and oppose[s] the efforts trial-ballooned by the Biden administration and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman [Gregory] Meeks to dilute or circumvent the law.” Passed in 2018, the law freezes State Department funds to the Palestinian Authority unless it ends its longstanding practice of compensating the families of terrorists convicted in Israeli courts.
Another piece of legislation that is being considered, Strauss said, is having to do with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). “We expect to support efforts in Congress to prevent a resumption of funding without major changes in the way the organization works,” he said. The Trump administration cut all funding to UNRWA back in 2018, questioning the organization’s “fundamental business model” of servicing an “endlessly and exponentially expanding community” of declared Palestinian refugees.
Finally, said Strauss, the organization supports efforts to maximize funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant program, which provides funds for security enhancements for Jewish organizations. Multiple Jewish organizations advocated raising the grants from $180 million to as much as $360m. annually.
