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Times of Israel: In tight Virginia primary between hardline candidates, Republican Jews focus on Israel

The Republican Jewish Coalition is taking sides in a Virginia congressional primary race between two candidates with links to the party's hardline right — citing their differences over Israel.

The RJC's preferred candidate in Virginia's fifth district, State Sen. John McGuire, is challenging incumbent Rep. Bob Good, who rallied a group of colleagues this year to vote against aid to Israel. The district encompasses a chunk of central Virginia, including Charlottesville. The primary is on June 18.

The endorsement is a departure of sorts for the RJC, which has become a standard-bearer for a type of Republican increasingly at peril: the robust foreign policy moderate. In several other primary races this year and in past elections, the group has endorsed moderate candidates against those with ties to the far right whom it describes as "extremists," such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

…What is driving the RJC's backing of McGuire is another one of its priorities in intra-party fights this year: support for Israel. RJC Director Matt Brooks said in February that the group was taking aim at neo-isolationist trends in the party and has spent in races against other Freedom Caucus members.

Discussing the McGuire endorsement, Brooks said that he doesn't "look at it through the prism" of what took place on January 6. He said McGuire's record in the Virginia legislature marked him as a team player who would not disrupt Republican legislative efforts.

"McGuire's going to be a powerful voice, a consistent voice for support for Israel," Brooks said in an interview. "I'm looking at 'who's going to be value added.' You know, elections are binary choices. He's going to be a significant improvement over where we are with Bob Good."

JNS: Virginia primaries: Bob Good race too close to call

The Republican Jewish Coalition, which backs pro-Israel Republicans, took the unusual step of endorsing McGuire after Good voted in April against the supplemental foreign-aid bill that included billions of dollars for Israel. Good was one of just 21 Republicans who voted against the measure.

"Congressman Bob Good shamefully voted against this critical support for the Jewish state, abandoning Israel as it continues to fight for its very survival after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust," RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in his endorsement of McGuire. "This vote showed who Israel's true friends are, and exposed those like Congressman Bob Good who are not."

MARYLAND SENATE RACE: Alsobrooks visits the heart of Baltimore's Jewish community — and Hogan country

…Sam Markstein, national political director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, said Republicans this year are poised to do even better in national elections than they traditionally do — and Hogan is no exception — due in part to the Democrats' mixed messaging on Israel.

"The days when the Democrats would get 80 or 85% of the Jewish vote — those days are over," he said. "This year will be a reckoning for those on the other side of the aisle who think they can take the Jewish vote for granted."

A poll released last week by the American Jewish Committee found 61% of Jewish voters supporting President [Joe] Biden for reelection. But if those numbers hold, it would be the lowest level of Jewish support for a Democratic White House nominee since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan won a 49-state landslide.

The poll also showed that 87% of American Jews believe that antisemitism has gotten worse, while 90% believe antisemitism is a problem in the country. Eighty-five percent said support for Israel should be a US policy priority.

"The Republican Party is unequivocally the pro-Israel party and the Democratic Party has a lot of work to do," Markstein said. "In Maryland, the people know Larry Hogan, the Jewish community knows Larry Hogan, and they trust him."

KTRH: Poll: US Jews still back Biden

While Joe Biden continues to drop in almost every poll, (his 37% approval rating is the lowest of his presidency) a new survey published by the AJC (American Jewish Committee) shows that the majority of Jews in America still back Joe Biden.

"I think overall it's really just a habit" said Sam Markstein, with the Republican Jewish Coalition, "The older generation of Jewish voters have voted Democratic their whole life."

Despite his continued support for Hamas, Jewish Americans favor Biden over former president Donald Trump 61% to 23%. But those numbers are a little bit misleading.

"That would actually be the lowest national Jewish vote percentage for a Democrat for president, since 1984 and Walter Mondale 40 years ago" Markstein told KTRH, "So there's no doubt that Biden and Democrats are losing Jewish support."

So while Biden may still have the edge, we could see a record number of Jewish voters support Donald Trump.

"I've heard from lots of folks across the country, and they have told me that this is the first year they're seriously considering voting Republican for the first time in their lives" noted Markstein, "And I think you're going to see a lot of that."

The survey also found that 93% of Jewish voters think that Antisemitism is a problem in the US

Audio here.

Seth Mandel writes at Commentary:

Hamas's desire to maximize Palestinian suffering is well known, but there's an easy way to tell whether supposed pro-Palestinian advocates share that revolting instinct: How do they react to good news?

For example, thanks to a report issued quietly earlier this month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's Famine Review Committee (quite the name), we now know there is no famine in Gaza. Yet you will only see this discussed among pro-Israel Jews online. The vast digital army of Twitter martyrs is quiet. Western media appear to be experiencing a self-imposed blackout. The Palestinian cause seems nothing less than deflated at the news that children will not be dying of hunger.

The Jerusalem Post corroborates this, reporting on an independent study:

Columbia University Professors Awi Federgruen and Ran Kivetz have analyzed available data and conducted research whose "findings demonstrate that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza," they noted in a summary of their findings presented to The Jerusalem Post.

They note that it is "a myth that Israel is responsible for famine in Gaza." They argue that the International Criminal Court and UN have joined Hamas in blaming Israel for a "famine that never was, hoping to stop the war [in Gaza]."

The two professors spoke to the Post in early June and they provided an abstract and details about their findings regarding the issue of famine in Gaza. Professor Awi Federgruen is the Chair of Columbia University Business School's Decision, Risk and Operations Division. He is an expert in supply chains, logistics, and data science. Ran Kivetz is the Philip H. Geier Professor at Columbia University Business School. He is an expert in decision-making, including the intersection between behavioral economics and political science.

Further reading: Jonathan Tobin - The Gaza famine that wasn't is being used against Israel

This week saw a back-and-forth between US and Israeli officials over whether the US is actually delivering weapons purchased from the US by Israel. According to The Times of Israel on Tuesday: "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would remove all restrictions on weapons transfers to Israel in the coming days." That implies that such restrictions were in place, which fits with other reports, such as one saying that the White House was holding back delivery of a fleet of F-15 jet fighters to Israel. Congressional leaders signed off on that sale in May, but the State Department has not followed up with next steps, according to JNS.

Also on Tuesday day, PM Netanyahu posted a short video in which he said: "It's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel. Israel, America's closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies… During World War II, [UK leader Winston] Churchill told the United States, 'Give us the tools, we'll do the job,'. And I say, give us the tools and we'll finish the job a lot faster."

The White House took offense at this and reportedly canceled a high-level US-Israel meeting on Iran that was scheduled for Thursday. The White House later issued a denial, saying that the meeting was being rescheduled because of a scheduling conflict.

The conclusion to be drawn from this is simple: the Biden administration is not delivering on its promises to our ally Israel.

Washington Free Beacon: Washington Post foreign desk, accused of pro-Hamas bias, teems with Al Jazeera veterans

Hostility to Israel has been a thread throughout the [Washington Post's] reporting. But there's another pattern among reporters on the Post's foreign desk. At least six members of the Post's foreign desk previously wrote for Al Jazeera, the Doha-based news outlet bankrolled in part by the government of Qatar, which is now sheltering Hamas's top leaders, a Washington Free Beacon review found.

They include the paper's Middle East editor, Jesse Mesner-Hage, who spent more than a decade as an editor at the outlet's English edition, London correspondent Louisa Loveluck, investigative reporter Evan Hill, visual enterprise editor Reem Akkad, WaPo Live host Libby Casey, and breaking news reporter Adela Suliman.

The Al Jazeera-Washington Post pipeline raises ethical questions for an American newspaper that prides itself as a bulwark against threats to "democracy."

Bryen: The White House plan to exclude Israel from Gaza

Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, writes: "According to Politico, in a piece largely overlooked, 'The Biden administration is considering appointing a US official to serve as the top civilian adviser to a mostly Palestinian force when the Israel-Hamas conflict ends, four US officials said—a sign that the US plans to be very involved in securing a post-war Gaza.'

"The article added, 'The civilian adviser would be based in the region and work closely with the commanding officer of the force, who would be either Palestinian or from an Arab nation, the people said.'

"How this plan actually plays out—whether American troops become involved or not—remains to be determined, but it explains the ongoing and very expensive debacle of the Gaza pier…"

NY Post: Trump trails Biden by just 8% in NY — surge of support among black, Jewish voters

Donald Trump is within striking distance of President [Joe] Biden in a new poll of New York voters — with the former president boosted by big gains among black and Jewish Empire Staters.

If the election were held today, Biden would receive 47% of the vote to 39% for Trump, Siena College found in a survey of 805 registered voters.

The poll’s margin of error — 4.1% — means the race could be even closer.

…Biden narrowly leads Trump among Jewish voters with 52% support, while the former president has 46% backing in the demographic — following months of vacillation by Biden over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Trump secured just 30% of the Jewish vote nationwide in 2020 after getting 24% in 2016, according to exit polls.

Who's a true friend of the Jewish community?

We know one when we see one. Compare and contrast how the Republican mayor of Miami and the Democratic congressman from NY-16 interact with their Jewish constituents:

JNS: When Holy Bagels & Pizzeria, a kosher restaurant in Miami was vandalized, Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami, was one of several city officials who helped clean up the graffiti.

JNS: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a member of the progressive congressional "Squad," tried to bolster his image among Jews by soliciting "pics of us" from a rabbi, a screenshot of a spring 2022 text exchange provided to Jewish Insider reveals. The representative, one of the most vocal in condemning Israel even before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, had requested via text: "Do you have pics of us? So I can show the world I'm friends with Jewish people."

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