More than 700 RJC leaders from around the country are gathering in Las Vegas for the start of the RJC Annual Leadership Meeting. We are delighted to be holding this event in person once again, and the weekend is just packed with great programming.

David M. Drucker reports at the Washington Examiner:

[Former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo is among several GOP 2024 contenders set to address the RJC conference… [T]he RJC attempted not to play favorites at the first major in-person conference it has hosted since the onset of the pandemic and to accommodate schedule constraints. So instead of anointing keynote speakers to address attendees during daytime and evening festivities Friday and Saturday, the RJC arranged to have the various prominent Republicans at this year’s conference speak in groups.

[Drucker lists the speakers and panels here.]

…In recent years, the RJC has begun staggering invitations to its annual conference to ensure attendees and donors hear from a variety of party leaders and politicians planning to run for president. This move also was necessary because access to the RJC has become so coveted, the group could not accommodate all of the high-profile Republicans seeking speaking slots at every event.

Ron Kampeas at JTA sets the stage for the meeting's start tomorrow:

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2020 conference was one of the last Jewish conferences to be canceled as the pandemic set in: The group had gone so far as to order branded hand sanitizer.

Now, it’s one of the first to resume, and it’s doing so amid a great deal of change relevant to the group’s agenda.

...Brooks said the conference would offer a masterclass in how to win back Congress next year, taking its cue from [VA Governor-elect Glenn] Youngkin... “Americans care about jobs, America’s weakness after Afghanistan, COVID, they want to be involved in their children’s education,” he said. “Education is a critical hot-button issue in the Jewish community.”

Several major news outlets will cover the event (including Fox News) and you can follow the hashtag #RJCinVegas on Twitter to keep up with what’s happening during the weekend.

This week saw an election night to remember! Republicans swept the three state-wide races in Virginia and won the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. Republican Jack Ciattarelli very nearly unseated New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, which put a serious scare into the Democrat machine in that state. In other states, many Republican challengers prevailed - and some lost by only narrow margins in deeply Democratic areas.

Virginia is considered a key bellwether state by analysts looking at how the 2022 elections might shape up. One interesting note: an exit poll by the American Jewish Congress showed that 37% of Jewish voters in Virginia voted for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks had this to say about Youngkin’s victory:

Glenn Youngkin showed that it can be done – even in a “blue” state that went Democrat by 10%+ just a year ago – and we look forward to seeing and supporting many, many more Republican victories next November as well.

Brooks also commented on what this week’s results mean for 2022:

Republicans outperformed expectations in yesterday’s off-year and special elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and other places that were considered Democratic strongholds, and we congratulate the GOP winners in all of them. Their victories are the first indications of what could be a historic wave of Republican victories in the midterm elections next year.

…Virginia is just one example of how Democrats are paying a price for the clearly growing influence of woke leftists in their party. Voters understood that education policy in Virginia, defunding the police in Minneapolis, and nominating a self-described socialist for mayor of Buffalo demonstrated that leftist power in the Democratic Party is growing. And those very issues galvanized voters to reject Democrats and their policies in this election. We saw it in New Jersey, in Ohio, in Minnesota, and elsewhere.

Will Democrats learn the lesson from last night’s results and reconsider their agenda of massive social welfare spending, kowtowing to union bosses, defunding the police, and imposing higher taxes? The President’s party traditionally loses seats in Congress in the first midterm election, but if leftists in Congress continue to hold infrastructure hostage and to press for massive new taxes to fund their agenda, the Republican victory in 2022 will be of historic proportions.

Last week we told you about a bill introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and cosponsored by dozens of Republicans in the Senate that would block the Biden administration plan to reopen a consulate serving Palestinians in Jerusalem. This week, Republicans in the House took action with a letter to President Biden, signed by over 200 Republican House members. The letter was led by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and argued cogently against the Biden administration plan. RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks made this statement:

We applaud [the Congressmen] for pointing out that reopening the consulate would be inconsistent with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which recognizes Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and established our embassy in Jerusalem. Under the Biden administration's planned action, the US would have two separate diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, one to Israel and one to the Palestinians, giving implicit support to the idea of redividing the city.

Such a move would represent a serious change in US policy toward Israel. It would also be a significant reward to the Palestinian Authority, which to date has not stopped inciting hatred and violence against Israel and paying salaries to terrorists and their families.

The RJC worked actively to build support for this letter, and we are grateful that so many of the members we reached out to endorsed this statement of unwavering support for Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Like their Republican colleagues in the Senate who cosponsored Senator Bill Hagerty's bill to uphold the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, they are demonstrating the strong, principled, Republican support of our ally Israel and of the vital US-Israel alliance. Truly, the pro-Israel party in America today is the GOP.

Further reading:

Elliott Abrams and Amanda J. Rothschild: Biden should reconsider planned reversal of bipartisan US policy on Jerusalem

Republicans warn Iran: Biden nuclear deal will be out when GOP retakes power

Iran should consider any nuclear deal inked by the Biden administration as dead on arrival when Republicans retake control of Congress, GOP members of the House told the Washington Free Beacon. President Joe Biden promised Iran this week that the United States will not pull out of any new nuclear agreement reached between the countries and that all sanctions relief granted as part of that deal will be permanent. Republican congressmen, speaking to the Free Beacon, said they want to send Iran a direct message: Biden has no power to promise that sanctions will be lifted forever.

New York pension fund joins exit from Unilever over Israel restrictions

New York's $268 billion state pension fund on Thursday became the latest to restrict its holdings in Unilever Plc in response to sales limits imposed by the company's Ben & Jerry's ice cream brand in the West Bank… The New York State Common Retirement Fund has total Unilever equity of $111 million, the spokesman said. The fund is the third-largest US public pension fund.

Watch Now: Replay of Past Virtual Events

You can see recordings of many past RJC virtual events. Go to the RJC homepage and scroll down to the "RJC Live" section. There's a drop-down menu there to select the video you want to see.

RJC staff have returned to their offices for in-person work. Contact information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please visit us online for the latest RJC news, to see details of upcoming events, and to donate to the RJC. Read past editions of this newsletter here.