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Poll: Majority of New York Jewish voters intend to vote for Trump

A poll of registered New York voters suggests that a majority of Jews in the state intend to vote for former President Donald Trump in the presidential election in November.

New York Jews now favor Trump over US President Joe Biden 53% to 44%, according to the Siena College poll, released on Tuesday.

…Sam Markstein, national political director at the Republican Jewish Coalition, sees things differently. Markstein wrote on Wednesday that the poll reflected a shift among Jewish voters.

"Jewish voters moving towards the GOP is a clear trend, long in the making," he wrote. He cited Lee Zeldin’s comparative success attracting Jewish votes in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election.

RJC endorses Pennsylvania senate candidate Dave McCormick

The Republican Jewish Coalition has called for a change in Pennsylvania’s political leadership.

On Tuesday, the group released a statement from Norm Coleman, a former Minnesota senator and the current RJC national chairman, and CEO Matt Brooks endorsing senate candidate Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania.

"It’s time for a change. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey represents the catastrophically wrongheaded policies that have emboldened our enemies and weakened our allies across the globe," they said. "Bob Casey is no friend of Israel. Where Bob Casey has failed, Dave McCormick will lead."

See the full RJC statement here.

Democratic senator pulls 90% of campaign cash from out-of-state donors

A Democratic senator in the swing state of Nevada is heavily relying on wealthy out-of-state contributors to fuel her 2024 reelection bid, documents reveal.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), who has faced scrutiny from conservatives and watchdog groups for spending major campaign cash at luxury resorts, received roughly 9% of her total year-end fundraising haul, covering October 2023 to December 2023, from Nevada-based donors, according to Federal Election Commission filings. A staggering 45% of the $3.2 million the senator raised came from donors combined in Washington, D.C., California, and New York.

..."Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country and is among the lowest ranked states for education while having some of the worst inflation rates and gas prices nationwide," Sam Markstein, national political director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, told the Washington Examiner. "It’s time for a change, and RJC looks forward to supporting our GOP nominee for US Senate to fire Jacky Rosen this November."

Eli Lake reports that some members of the anti-Israel "Squad" in Congress face serious primary challengers in this election:

The more well-known Squad members, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, are running unopposed in their primaries this year. Ilhan Omar is facing three challengers in a race she is largely expected to win. But three newer members of the Squad—albeit from the JV team—are facing serious, well-funded Democratic primary opponents who could knock them from their seats. They are:

Rep. Summer Lee

Rep. Jamaal Bowman

Rep. Cori Bush

...Polls show the Squad’s harsh criticism of the Jewish state is out of step with voters—even in their own districts.

The Republican Jewish Coalition released the following statement endorsing North Carolina Fifth District Representative Virginia Foxx for reelection.

RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said:

The RJC is proud to endorse Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, who has solidified her reputation as a stalwart friend of Jewish Americans with her exemplary leadership since Hamas attacked Israel last October 7th.

As Chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Foxx was indispensable in bringing necessary attention to the urgent problem of antisemitism on American college campuses. She oversaw the December hearing that brought national attention and accountability to the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT.

In the aftermath of that stunning hearing, Foxx has intensified her committee’s oversight, demanding that these and other universities open the books on how they’ve handled anti-Israel and antisemitic threats to Jewish students. We need her continued leadership in this vital role.

Chairwoman Foxx has also earned the gratitude of pro-Israel advocates by leading the way on measures to demand an end to Palestinian Authority support for terrorism, to block “lawfare” against Israel waged by the International Criminal Court, and to require that the Biden administration be transparent about its dealings with the terrorism-sponsoring Iranian regime.

JNS: Israel’s Democrats Abroad board quits over umbrella group’s hostility

Democrats Abroad Israel’s entire board quit in December over the anti-Israel animus and lack of sympathy displayed by Democrats Abroad towards the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7. In a sharply worded letter, the nine Israeli board members wrote that they made their decision in response to “the hostile environment in Democrats Abroad against Jews in general and … American Jews living in Israel in particular.”

National Review: The brave and great Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny was one of the bravest men of our time. He stood up to one of the most evil men of our time: Vladimir Putin. Navalny has now died, a political prisoner, at 47... [I]n more recent years, his politics were primarily animated by a desire to see the Russian state cleared of corruption. He understood the power of humor, and found creative ways to lampoon Russia’s ruling party as a clique of thieves and crooks. And so it was that Navalny, by the time of his last imprisonment, became the locus around which almost all opposition to Putin revolved.

Free Beacon: J Street founder had 'open door' to deputy secretary of state, internal emails show

The founder of J Street, a leading anti-Israel group, had an "open door" to the Biden State Department and coordinated with top administration officials—including former deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman—to stymie political activity in Jerusalem, according to internal government emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J Street, a group funded by George Soros that has worked to undermine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative government, thanked senior State Department officials for providing him with an "open door" to the administration in June 2021 correspondence. J Street is a far-left group that advocates conditioning US aid to Israel and has bashed the country's "large-scale bombing and ground invasion" in the Gaza Strip, claiming it has "caused an unfathomable level of civilian casualties." The group is pushing for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war to eradicate Hamas, claiming there are "alternative strategies and tactics for removing Hamas" from power.

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