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On Tuesday, the RJC was proud to host a terrific event (video here) in Hallandale Beach, Florida, featuring Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. Over 1,000 people attended the Florida Blueprint event, a fireside chat to discuss the principled policies that Governor DeSantis has brought to life in Florida. Under his leadership, Florida is the place people want to be; more people moved to Florida than any other state in the country in 2022. Governor DeSantis has laid out his ideas more fully in his new book, The Courage to Be Free.

You can watch video of the full event here.

The RJC thanks Governor DeSantis and Ben Shapiro for joining us for this great event. We look forward to working with them again.

Palestinian terrorists murdered Elan Ganeles, an American citizen, near the Dead Sea on Monday. Ganeles, who grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, lived in Israel after high school and served in the IDF as a “lone soldier” for two years. His duty involved working as a computer programmer on financial monitoring systems. Ganeles returned to the US and was an undergraduate student at Columbia University. He was in Israel to attend a friend’s wedding when he was killed. Thousands of people attended his funeral in Ra’anana on Wednesday.

The day of Ganeles’ funeral, Israeli security forces found and arrested the men who murdered him. The Jerusalem Post reports that: "The IDF captured the suspects in a joint operation with the Shin Bet and Border Police… Shin Bet intelligence led to locating the terror cell, including finding a variety of terror weaponry."

The terrorists were found in Jericho, a city under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The PA continues its "pay for slay" program, paying families of Palestinians killed, injured, or imprisoned while carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. In 2021, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act, which "takes aim at foreign banks involved with the PA’s so-called 'martyr payments' by restricting banks that facilitate such payments or provide services to Hamas from doing business in the U.S. or with U.S. dollars." According to the Jewish Insider, Sen. Cotton’s office said yesterday that Cotton plans to reintroduce that bill next week.

Jimmy Carter’s mixed foreign policy legacy

Stephen Bryen and Shoshana Bryen write: "Former President Jimmy Carter’s declining health has prompted widespread review of his one-term presidency. It was a decidedly mixed bag." His major foreign success, the Camp David Accords, happened because Israel and Egypt did an “end-run” around Carter’s diplomatic efforts.

Zeldin launches new PAC

Politico reports that Jewish Republican and former Congressman from New York Lee Zeldin is launching the Leadership America Needs Political Action Committee. The new PAC is "designed to aid GOP candidates in appealing to first-time Republican voters like those who turned out for him during his closer-than-expected gubernatorial bid… Zeldin plans to support those who work on winning over younger, first-time voters including Millennials and Gen Z. He also wants to support GOP candidates who are working to reach Jewish, Asian American, Hispanic and African American communities."

Halpern: Yes, states can prohibit boycotts

As governor of South Carolina in 2015, Nikki Haley signed the first-ever law preventing state contractors from boycotting Israel and those who do business with it. State laws against BDS, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, are often challenged on First Amendment grounds. Legal expert Josh Halpern argues that those laws are on solid historical ground.

Related: The US Supreme Court announced this week that it would not hear Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip, a case challenging an Arkansas law that prohibits public contractors from engaging in boycotts of Israel. That law still stands.

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.