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Since Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel last Saturday, the Republican Jewish Coalition has been loud and clear about our support for Israel and our insistence that the US provide security assistance to Israel in her time of need. Our statements have received widespread media attention, as in the two examples below.

Times of Israel: GOP, Democratic Jewish groups issue joint statement condemning Iran attack

The Democratic Majority for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition have issued a joint statement condemning last night’s missile and drone attack by Iran against Israel.

The two groups say they "rarely see eye to eye. But today we are united in condemning Iran’s unwarranted, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attack against Israeli civilians—Jewish and Arab."

They call on Congressional leadership to approve a security aid package for Israel. One has been held up on the Hill for months due to Republican opposition to its provisions regarding Ukraine and immigration.

"History will not forgive the failure of Congress to act. Let’s get it done!" the two Jewish groups say.

Read the joint statement here.

Jerusalem Post: US Jewish orgs urge House to pass foreign aid bill

Political and community Jewish organizations are urging members of the US House of Representatives to pass the highly anticipated series of aid bills that will help Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific.

…[Aid] will be provided to Israel in its effort to defend itself against Iran and its proxies and to reimburse US military operations in response to recent attacks, according to a breakdown of the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act from the House Appropriations Committee.

…The Republican Jewish Coalition said it applauds House Republicans for moving forward on the urgently needed legislation.

In a statement, RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said they are particularly appreciative of Speaker Mike Johnson whose "perseverance and determination" made the legislation possible.

"We urge members of the House to swiftly move the bills forward by supporting adoption of the rule governing debate, rejecting amendments that would have the predictable effect of derailing the bill, and voting 'Yes' on final passage," Coleman and Brooks said.

Read the full statement here

On Saturday, Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel. The IDF used planes, Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow II and Arrow III systems to intercept them. Israel said that 99% of the projectiles were shot down, an unimaginably high level of success. US Central Command forces, supported by US European Command destroyers, intercepted more than 80 attack drones and at least six ballistic missiles fired from Iran and Yemen at Israel on Saturday night. The UK and France assisted. So did Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which lie between Iran and Israel and oppose the mullahs’ regime. According to an Israeli report, a daughter of the Jordanian king who is serving in the military was involved in downing five Iranian drones.

One analyst noted: "Over the weekend the Iranian attempt to bomb Israel drove home starkly the effectiveness of the Abraham Accords that Donald Trump pushed through during his term between Israel and a number of its Arab neighbors… Jordan denied Iran permission to use its airspace, and then followed this up by first opening its airspace to Israel and American fighter jets. All three then proceeded to shoot down Iran’s missiles and drones, preventing almost all from even reaching Israel. The support Saudi Arabia gave to Israel this past weekend suggests once again that it does want to sign the accords as well."

Recommended reading:

• Oliner: Following Iran's attack, more US aid is needed for Israel

• Harsanyi: Blame Barack Obama for Iran’s attacks on Israel and their bloody global price

• Oren: How Did the War Begin? With Iran’s Appeasers in Washington

• Carmon: Washington sold out Israel’s deterrence to save Iran’s

RJC Vice Chairman’s Council member Kenin Spivak writes in an op-ed at the American Mind:

The global hypocrisy in which countries that vigorously engage in military action against aggressors condemn Israel for doing the same is rooted in racist oppressor ideology and antisemitism. The consequences include Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel.

Spivak details Israel’s right to defend itself after the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s unprecedented efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. He writes:

Against this backdrop, within weeks support for Israel declined. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators denied that Hamas had committed atrocities, ignored its targeting of Israeli civilians, holding of hostages, and indifference to civilian losses among Palestinian human shields. Progressives argued that as a powerful white supremacist nation marginalizing Palestinians, Israel was the aggressor, cited the inflated Hamas casualty numbers, and accused Israel of genocide.

…Discussions of aid, civilian deaths, and physical destruction are red herrings. Progressives hate Israel for two reasons. The first is the same reason they hate the United States—the belief that Israel is a powerful, Western democracy and as such has suppressed and subjugated purportedly marginalized minorities. Because it is an oppressor nation, facts are inconsequential. The second is antisemitism. When pro-Palestinian demonstrators chant "from the River to the Sea," or that the only good Jew is a dead Jew, they are being transparent. They want to see all Jews, whether they reside in Israel, or elsewhere, dead.

US Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, released a new report this week quantifying the dozens of time President Joe Biden and Democrats have abandoned Israel since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7.

Chairman Barrasso said:

The day Hamas attacked Israel, President Biden said, "The United States stands with the state of Israel." The Biden Administration’s actions in the six months since have proven otherwise.

"Joe Biden abandons our friend Israel at every possible turn," said Chairman Barrasso. "Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, Biden and Democrats have intentionally undermined Israel dozens of times."

See the full report here.

The Jewish Insider reports:

Forty-four House members — 43 Democrats and one Republican — voted against a resolution describing the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" as antisemitic. The final vote was 377-44-1.

The resolution by Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) says the slogan, used widely in anti-Israel protests as well as by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), is "outright antisemitic and must be condemned."

The "no" votes came largely from progressive Democrats, as well as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a frequent opponent of measures supporting Israel and condemning antisemitism.

The RJC responded to the vote, as quoted by Kylie Ora Lobell in her Jewish Journal report on the "no" vote by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37):

Update from Sam Markstein, RJC national political director on April 18:

Let’s be clear: calling for the elimination of the Jewish state "from the River to the Sea" is antisemitic. It is a call to deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination through removal from their ancestral homeland. The 44 lawmakers who voted against the legislation should be ashamed, as should House Democratic leadership who refuse to hold these Members of Congress accountable.

Andrew Tobin at the Washington Free Beacon reports:

Days after the Biden administration gave its blessing to a newly formed Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, the PA handed out dozens of bonus payments for security forces who were involved in attacks on Israelis.

According to the PA's official news outlets, the Palestinian General Intelligence Service on April 4 provided a grant to 36 families of agency officials who died or were imprisoned as a result of their involvement in anti-Israel security crimes.

"The United States is undermining its own goals by funding the PA," Itamar Marcus, the director of Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group that flagged the grant, told the Washington Free Beacon. "And when you look at the security services, you see the perfect example."

Marcus noted that US funding of the PA security services—reinstated by Biden after being nixed by former president Donald Trump—helped pay not only for the grant but also for arming and training the intelligence agents who carried out the attacks for which their families were rewarded. In the past few years, PA security forces were behind dozens of attacks on Israelis, mostly soldiers but also a number civilians.

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RJC Leader Adam Kwasman on Israel and the 2024 Election

RJC Arizona Leader Adam Kwasman spoke to ABC15 about Jewish voters and

"This is a war of Jewish survival and so we take this extremely seriously. And I think it will be the determining factor of the Jewish vote in Arizona in 2024." Watch his appearance here.

Progressives are gearing up for a platform fight on Israel at the Democratic convention

Progressive Democrats already have identified a list of issues where they hope to influence the party platform, including calling for filibuster reform in the Senate, declaring a national climate emergency and ending private funding of elections. But the war in the Gaza Strip and potential conditions on future U.S. military assistance to Israel is poised to be the most contentious as Democrats prepare for their convention this August.

Prominent Reform rabbi to Democrats: Don't take American Jews for granted

Two weeks ago, we shared a stirring sermon by Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York, given shortly before he left on a synagogue mission to Israel. Now back in the US, Rabbi Hirsch had some words for the Democratic Party: "Allow me to express a non-partisan word to all our friends in elected office from the Democratic Party from one who is finely attuned to the American Jewish sentiment: Do not take American Jews for granted. Be careful: The results of the upcoming election do not only depend on Michigan."

Iran’s cash support for Hamas documented in secret letters

Documents discovered by the Israeli military in Gaza reveal regular Iranian payments to Hamas in recent years, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ex-US ambassador gets 15 years for acting as Cuban spy

A former US diplomat was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday after admitting to acting as an agent of Cuba in what the Justice Department has called one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government… [Victor Manuel] Rocha, 73, secretly supported Cuba’s ruling Communist Party and aided the country’s intelligence gathering against Washington for more than four decades, including during a 20-year career in the State Department, according to US prosecutors… Rocha worked for the State Department from 1981 to 2002, including as a member of the White House’s National Security Council from 1994 to 1995, according to court documents.

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