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Staff and members of the RJC from around the country were among the 300,000 people on the National Mall on Tuesday to rally in support of Israel, to call for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, and to stand against antisemitism in the US.

It was a remarkable day of unity and solidarity, determination and courage, love and hope. The speakers had clear messages for the world: "Israel, you are not alone," "Bring the hostages home," and "Antisemitism will not be tolerated: Never Again is Now."

We are particularly grateful to Republicans House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Joni Ernst, Sen. James Lankford, and Rep. Chris Smith, who spoke beautifully, and to the many other Republican Senators and Congressmen who stood with us at the rally.

A local DC news station livestreamed the entire day. You can watch it here.

The Washington Free Beacon draws attention to the sharp contrast between two demonstrations that took place in Washington, DC this week:

Two very different groups of protesters marched on Capitol Hill this week: (1) Israel supporters who sang and prayed for the victims of Hamas terrorists and (2) Hamas supporters who chanted anti-Semitic invective and assaulted a police officer—injuring several others—while attempting to barricade the Democratic Party headquarters.

See the video here.

• The Voice of America (VOA) reported on the March for Israel:

Sam Markstein, 30, of Washington participated in Tuesday's march. He serves as the political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which co-sponsored last week's Republican presidential debate in Miami.

"The message is, the Republican Party and Jews from across the country stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel, and we're going to keep doing that until Hamas is defeated and obliterated," Markstein told VOA.

• RJC Political Director Sam Markstein was the guest of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee for a discussion of the challenges facing the US and the American Jewish community since the Hamas attack of October 7, including the Biden administration's cozying up to Iran and the rise of radical antisemitism in this country. You can watch it here.

• RJC CEO Matt Brooks was interviewed by Loman Henry at American Radio Journal, where he presented solid information about Hamas, Israel's response, and the role of Iran. Listen here.

There are many opportunities to help Israeli soldiers and civllians. We encourage you to consider giving your support to the following organizations:

This week, the Israel Defense Forces found clear evidence confirming that Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza as command posts and weapons depots. At the al-Rantisi children's hospital, the IDF found evidence that hostages had been held in the hospital basement, although they had been moved before the troops arrived. At Al-shifa Hospital, IDF troops found weapons tucked behind an MRI machine.

See the proof for yourself:

• EXCLUSIVE: Inside Hamas Terrorist Tunnel Under Rantisi Hospital in Gaza

• EXPOSED: Weapons in Gaza's Shifa Hospital's MRI Building

• IDF ‘found clear evidence’ of Hamas operation out of Al-Shifa hospital, says spokesperson

Notably, hospitals are protected under international law, unless they are used for military purposes. The Times of Israel reports:

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says hospitals in the Gaza Strip risk losing their status as protected under international law due to Hamas’s use of their premises for military activities.

“In recent weeks we have stressed, again and again, that because of Hamas’s use of hospitals for military purposes, [the hospitals] will lose [their] special protection in the international court,” Hagari says in an evening press conference.

“We are forced to operate in a focused and careful manner against Hamas’s terror infrastructure in the hospitals,” he continues.

...The IDF has also accused Hamas of maintaining its main command center under Shifa Hospital; believes the terror group held hostages under Rantisi Hospital; says the terror group has a tunnel network under the Indonesian Hospital, and that it opened fire at troops from the Sheikh Hamad Hospital.

“Hamas uses the hospitals, and the patients there, as a human shield for terror. The world must know what it does in the hospitals, and we will continue to expose its crimes,” he says.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The Biden administration on Tuesday reapproved a sanctions waiver that will allow Iran to access upward of $10 billion in frozen assets, the State Department confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.

The sanctions waiver, which was set to expire today after first being authorized for a period of 120 days in July, allows Iraq to transfer payments for multibillion-dollar electricity imports from Iran into accounts outside of the country that can be used by Tehran. This is the first time the Biden administration has renewed the waiver since the Iran-backed terror group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that was reported to have been planned with Tehran's support.

...While Iran can only use the funds related to the sanctions waiver for the purchase of humanitarian goods, critics of the administration's policy argue that by freeing up this cash, Iran can allocate other financial resources to its global terrorism operation, which has been in overdrive since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren writes at The Free Press that US appeasement of Iran has failed; it's time for a new course:

While Washington claimed that the JCPOA would block Iran’s path to the bomb, Israeli leaders feared that the deal, which expired after seven years, would result in a fabulously wealthy, nuclear-armed Iran. A few years passed and Israel’s predictions tragically proved right. Instead of investing in schools and hospitals, Iran spent the JCPOA’s windfall on rockets and terror cells. Its hegemony spread over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Iranian proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq—surrounded Israel with many tens of thousands of rockets. America’s hopes to transform Iran into a “responsible power” had clearly failed.

...The [October 7] heinous attacks of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad—the first funded and trained, and the second wholly owned and operated by Iran—exposed America’s folly.

...Israel admitted the error of its misconception about Hamas and it’s time for America to follow suit about Iran. It was wrong to keep allies at arm’s length and supremely wrong to bolster Iran’s influence both in the Middle East and beyond. It was foolhardy to think that an appeased Iran would allow the US to detach itself from the region; on the contrary, a coddled Iran only dragged it back in. The belief that America, Israel, and other friendly states could grapple with Iran’s terrorist tentacles while leaving the leviathan unscathed was misguided. Admit, finally, that as long as Iran remains unvanquished, the next war and the next are inevitable...

The hatred that begins with antisemitism threatens the whole world

Elisha Wiesel, son of Eli Wiesel, writes: "We must reject the gaslighting. Israel could turn Gaza into dust from the air, but she is sacrificing her precious heroes in a ground war precisely to avoid civilian casualties. Meanwhile, Hamas seeks to maximize those casualties by hiding its military equipment and personnel in hospitals, stealing resources meant for civilians, opening fire during civilian evacuations through humanitarian corridors... We will likely not convince the skeptics that we deserve the same rights as every other people: to secure our borders and defend our citizens. And yet today we will march, regardless, several hundred thousand of us coming together resolutely on the National Mall."

The nine big lies against Israel and what they really mean

Gil Troy writes: "This primer picks nine of the most popular New Big Lies Palestinians and their enablers propagate. Let’s leave the number 10 for more godly commandments, while stressing that despite being debunked repeatedly, these lies have countless lives."

Israel, Iran and the Biden administration: If America does not win, its enemies do

Guy Milliere writes at the Gatestone Institute: "The Biden administration has held no one accountable: not Iran, not China, not Russia, not North Korea, not Hamas, not Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Yemen's Houthis. The only people he has held accountable have been American parents, whom he has called "domestic terrorists" for wanting to know what their children are learning in public schools, and American Catholics, whom he called "violent extremists". Biden has carefully not said a word about Iran's involvement in the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7: Iranian weapons, planning, training and funding..."

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