View in Browser

Omri Nahmias profiles RJC PAC endorsee Lisa Scheller in this review of the congressional race in PA-7:

Pennsylvania’s seventh district is gearing up for a rematch of the 2020 elections between incumbent Susan Wild, a Democrat, and Lisa Scheller, a Republican. Although Wild had the edge the last time the two Jewish candidates faced each other, this time may prove different, as the Cook Political Report placed the race at the "lean Republican" column and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball considered it as a toss-up.

… Scheller said that, if elected, she would like to be active against Iran. "It is not only an existential threat to Israel, it is also a huge threat to the region and to the United States," she said. "And I would like to see that Iran would never, ever have a nuclear weapon. The right direction is very, very strong economic sanctions on Iran: maximum pressure on Iran to stop its development of nuclear weapons in order to gain any kind of economic benefit at all.

"Secondly, I believe that the Iran nuclear deal is a very flawed agreement and we should not be getting back into that agreement," she said. "They are in the midst of supercharging their development of this nuclear weapon, which is extremely concerning to me."

She also opposes the Biden administration’s plan to reopen the Consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Lisa Scheller is a member of the RJC Vice Chairman’s Council and is endorsed by the RJC PAC. Support her race by clicking here.

Like the monster in a low-grade horror movie, the Obama-Biden Iran nuclear deal (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) keeps coming back long after it should have died.

Most recently, negotiators were deadlocked after Iran insisted that the US remove the foreign terrorist designation that President Donald Trump had placed on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that President Joe Biden guarantee that no future president would withdraw from a new agreement with Iran.

Now a new round of talks has begun to try to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, based on a draft agreement presented last month by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Politico points out some of the issues that should convince the Biden administration to end its attempt to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran. The first is that after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran over the unexplained presence of uranium particles at three undeclared nuclear sites in the country, Iran switched off IAEA cameras that were monitoring Iranian compliance with the JCPOA. Another is Iran’s continued efforts to enhance its nuclear program; just this week, Iran announced the activation of "hundreds" of new and advanced centrifuges that had previously been installed at the Natanz underground site.

The RJC strongly opposes the Biden administration's efforts to bring the US back into the dangerous JCPOA or any deal like it. We will continue to monitor this issue.

Mastriano distances himself from Gab

After being sharply criticized by the RJC among others, Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano distanced himself late last week from the far-right social media site Gab and its antisemitic CEO, Andrew Torba.

The UN Human Rights Council’s "Commission of Inquiry" goes openly antisemitic

Prof. Anne Bayefsky writes: "The United Nations’ top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, has been caught red-handed promoting antisemitism. The culprits are so-called human rights experts appointed by the council’s president to a 'Commission of Inquiry' that the council established. The perpetrators' response has been to point to their enthusiasm for Holocaust remembrance and to redefine antisemitism. The council's current president’s response has been to pretend it’s all about one bad apple."

Hamas as Tehran's agent

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the author of Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War offers a comprehensive summary of the close and dangerous relationship between Iran and Hamas, "the foremost Palestinian terrorist organization."

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.