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Iran has enhanced its relationship with Venezuela, a fellow oil-producing dictatorship that is also under US sanctions. The two countries signed a 20-year cooperation plan last weekend, which includes cooperation regarding oil, petrochemicals, defense, agriculture, tourism, and cultures, according to news reports.

Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon notes that an Iranian tanker carrying crude oil docked in Venezuela during the weekend while the Iran-Venezuela cooperation agreement was being signed in Tehran. He writes: "Iran's presence in American waters is about more than just supplying an anti-US regime with resources. Making the trek from Iran to Venezuela demonstrates that Iran is capable of long-haul operations into America’s backyard."

Further reading on Iran:

Jonathan Spyer: Israel's shadow war with Iran goes nonnuclear

Matthew Continetti: The Iran crisis is here

Jonathan Tobin: Iran gave Biden a reason to abandon appeasement. He still won’t do it.

Sarah N. Stern: A potentially fatal missed opportunity on Iran

Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and one of two Jewish Republicans in the House, has been a vocal opponent of the Biden administration proposal to reopen the consulate in Jerusalem to serve Palestinians. The Biden administration recently moved Palestinian consular affairs to an Office of Palestinian Affairs that reports directly to Hady Amr, deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, rather than to the US Ambassador in Israel. Zeldin condemned this move, saying:

Having a separate US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem violates the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which is federal law, and was reaffirmed in recent years with overwhelming bipartisan support. Palestinian Authority leadership has made it abundantly clear that their push for this action is for the purpose of dividing Jerusalem, which the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 was crafted to specifically prevent. This law states that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel and remain undivided. Furthermore, the United States unilaterally making this concession to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for no concessions in return has been proven to be a failed policy time and again.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas insisted to Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf in a recent meeting that the US action is not enough. He wants the consulate for eastern Jerusalem to be reopened. He told the American delegation: "Our goal is to get rid of the occupation on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy. East Jerusalem is and will remain forever the capital of the State of Palestine."

Dmitriy Shapiro at JNS reports on the latest RJC PAC endorsement:

The Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt for the US Senate on Wednesday. He will face off against incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in the fall.

… "For too long, Nevadans have been underserved by current Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto," RJC executive director Matt Brooks said in a news release on Wednesday. "She is weak on crime, refuses to enforce the law at the border and has failed miserably on lowering inflation and the skyrocketing costs of living—from the gas station to the grocery store—for Nevada families. Cortez Masto also supported the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from far-left, anti-Israel group J Street."

… Other Republican candidates for Senate so far endorsed by the RJC include J.D. Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Russia is punishing European countries that side with Ukraine, cutting off gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Holland, and Denmark, according to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Now, the European Union wants to help fund two projects to bring Israeli energy resources to Europe: a gas and hydrogen pipeline to be laid in the eastern Mediterranean, and an underwater power cable to link Israel with Cyprus and Greece. However, the Biden administration wants Israel to bypass EU member Greece and run the pipeline through Turkish territory instead.

Along similar lines, the Washington Post reports that on Wednesday, Israel, Egypt, and the EU signed a trilateral natural gas agreement that will “enable Israel to streamline and increase the export of its natural gas through already existing pipelines to Egyptian ports, where it can be pressurized and liquefied, then transported to Europe.”

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We are actively reviewing resumes on a rolling basis for RJC Field Representatives in key battleground states like Georgia and Pennsylvania. Field Representatives work directly with the Political Director and RJC Victory Team volunteers to identify, persuade, and turn out Jewish voters to support Republican candidates up and down the ballot this November – work that is absolutely critical to winning back the US Senate and House of Representatives.

Click here for details and information on applying.

Why have negotiations?

Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, examines Israel's rebuff of an American-proposed 5-way summit involving Israel, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, and the US.

The UN vs. Israel, yet again

Daniel S. Mariaschin and David J. Michaels of B’nai B’rith International denounce the biased report issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry, which puts all the blame on Israel and ignores Palestinian violence against Israel, their consistent rejectionism, and facts.

NOTE: Jewish Insider reports that legislation seeking to disband the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry has gained support in recent weeks, and now has 34 cosponsors. Read more here.

Miss Iraq: Grotesque antisemitic Iraqi law demands strong response

Sarah Idan represented her native Iraq in the Miss Universe pageant in 2017 and famously posed for a photo with Miss Israel, Adar Gandalesman. Now, Idan writes, Iraq has outlawed all communication between Iraqis and Israelis on pain of death. She asserts: "It is important for Westerners to understand what kind of Iraq is being built on the rubble of years of oppression, hope, and then further war. The new Iraq is so tightly under Iran's thumb that it will bend the truth and initiate a witch hunt against the long-expelled Jews — and any who dream of peace — even as the region as a whole bends decisively in favor of establishing ties with Israel."

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.