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The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The White House announced on Thursday that Karine Jean-Pierre, a veteran anti-Israel activist who is a partner to CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, will replace outgoing press secretary Jen Psaki, raising potential ethical quandaries.

The announcement drew celebratory headlines in the mainstream press: Jean-Pierre is the first black woman and openly gay person to serve in the role.

…Jean-Pierre’s anti-Israel past—which includes a stint as senior adviser and national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org, a far-left anti-Israel group that advocates for boycotts of the Jewish state—is raising red flags in the pro-Israel community. The selection of an Israel critic is also likely to further strain ties with the pro-Israel community and Israeli government, which already is strongly opposed to the Biden administration’s efforts to ink a new nuclear deal with Iran.

Jean-Pierre has been open about her animosity toward the Jewish state. She has accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and has backed efforts to boycott the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the United States' most prominent pro-Israel lobbying shop, cheering Democrats in 2019 for boycotting the group's annual gathering in Washington, D.C., for "boldly [choosing] to prioritize diplomacy and human rights over the power of a lobbying organization." AIPAC, she claimed, helped the Trump administration "sabotage" the Iran nuclear deal and also "supported the group that's credited with inspiring President Trump to enact the Muslim Ban and has been known to spread anti-Muslim racism." She accused the group without evidence of trafficking in "severely racist, Islamophobic rhetoric."

The Jewish News Syndicate adds:

Republican Jewish Coalition national political director Sam Markstein told JNS that Jean-Pierre had a long and “deeply troubling” history of anti-Israel positions.

“She was the national spokeswoman for a far-left group that advocates for boycotts of Israel, she’s accused Israel of committing ‘war crimes,’ cheered efforts to boycott the mainstream pro-Israel AIPAC conference, and was ‘honored’ to stand alongside anti-Semite Linda Sarsour at a gala in 2017,” said Markstein. “These aren’t isolated incidents; they are a pattern of anti-Israel hostility. Jewish Americans are rightfully concerned that at a time of rising anti-Semitism, Ms. Jean-Pierre is being elevated to such an important position in the Biden White House.”

These recent articles point to several dimensions of threat from Iran:

Rep. Lee Zeldin: Biden willing to enter a nuclear deal with Iran that’s even worse than original 2015 pact

Officials in the Biden administration have indicated they are willing to enter an agreement that doesn’t adjust various sunset provision dates, strengthen the flaws in the verification regime and address Iran’s non-nuclear bad activities. By conceding these points and failing to effectively utilize the levers that bring the Iranians to the table in the first place, the administration is once again unnecessarily operating from a position of weakness and demonstrating a willingness to settle for far less than what is acceptable and attainable. 

Jason D. Greenblatt: A nuclear Iran would unleash a nightmare in the Middle East

European officials are desperate to salvage the Iran deal, no matter the costs, groveling at the feet of Iran in an attempt to break through the current negotiation deadlock. Yet, re-entering the JCPOA, or some version of it, is nothing but "kicking the can down the road diplomacy."

Yoram Ettinger: Iran’s ayatollahs are already in America’s backyard

Since their 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Iran’s ayatollahs have considered Latin America, all the way to the US-Mexico border, to be the soft underbelly of the “Great Satan,” America. Hence, their intense collaboration—along with their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas—with the leading drug cartels of Mexico, Columbia and Bolivia, Latin American terror organizations and anti-US governments in South and Central America: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.

Sean Durns: Iran is willing to fight to the last Israeli Arab

Iran, it has often been said, is willing to fight to the last Arab. The Islamic Republic’s long-standing policy of using Arabs to fight its proxy wars is, it seems, being extended to the Jewish state. And Israeli Arabs are paying the price.

Former Assistant to the President Jason D. Greenblatt writes at the New York Sun:

Among the many obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a culture among some in Palestinian society and their leadership that venerates terrorists who perpetrate violence against Jews. Over the past few weeks we have seen those attacks rise once again on streets throughout Israel, as Israel has lost nearly 20 individuals to terrorists.

One of the expressions of this culture is the apparatus the PA has built to administer cash rewards to Palestinians with Jewish blood on their hands. The PA spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on official payments to “heroes” — incarcerated terrorists — and the surviving family members of those killed in the commission of terrorist acts. PA leaders from Mahmoud Abbas on down insist that these payments will not cease.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has taken an indulgent posture toward a PA resolute about continuing its “pay-for-slay” terrorism rewards. Comments from the PA suggesting that they can discuss how these payments can be changed are a deception. I should know; I took part in those discussions when I worked at the White House. These discussions were intended by the PA never to lead anywhere.

Then, in 2018, came the Taylor Force Act, the law that makes American support for the PA contingent on the PA’s cessation of its “pay-for-slay” doctrine… A more far-sighted [Biden administration] policy would be to … focus on vigorously enforcing the Taylor Force Act so that the PA is presented with a stark choice between rewarding terrorism and obtaining badly needed economic support funds.

...Similarly, the Biden administration should throw its support behind the Taylor Force Martyr Payments Prevention Act, a bill introduced by Senator Cotton. It would block financial institutions from doing business in America if they process pay-for-slay payments to terrorist prisoners or family members. The Taylor Force Act was a critical piece of legislation. The Taylor Force Martyr Payments Prevention Act is a next step...

The passing of Midge Decter

The RJC notes with sadness the passing of Midge Decter, wife of Norman Podhoretz and a member of the Jewish Policy Center Board of Fellows. Tevi Troy has written an excellent remembrance of her at City Journal, here. Abe Greenwald has collected some of Decter’s contributions to Commentary magazine here.

It's time for tough measures against antisemitism

Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman writes: “America is a great nation because of the Judeo-Christian values upon which it was founded. An American nation that is inhospitable to Jews is no longer a great nation. Antisemitism thus poses an existential risk to our country. The question is, what do we do about it?” Click the link above to read his thoughtful response to that question.

PLEASE NOTE: The RJC’s Annual Meeting in Las Vegas is exclusively for current members of the RJC National Leadership. Leadership opportunities start at $1,000. More membership details are available here.

RJC offices are open! Contact information for our offices can be found on our website. 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.