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RJC volunteers head out for door knocking.
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We're Under 40 Days to Election Day!
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Republicans Lead on Fighting Antisemitism
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Republican governors joined together this week to demand that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer take action on legislation to reinforce the civil rights of the Jewish community. In a letter to Sen. Schumer, the governors wrote:
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Action needs to be taken now to reinforce the civil rights of our Jewish ... We ask you to take immediate action to pass H.R. 6090, the Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA), codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and its 11 accompanying examples. In May, this legislation passed with an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in the US House with a vote of 320-91 and there is no reason for it to languish in the Senate without a vote. In fact, the companion legislation in the Senate, S.4127 already boasts 30 bipartisan cosponsors. The passing of this legislation is critical to combatting violent acts of antisemitism that are taking place across America.
"Republican governors across the nation have unanimously supported the adoption of the IHRA working definition at the state level, and now we call upon the US Senate to show support for our nation's Jewish population at this time of growing attacks against their religion. Our nation was founded on freedom of religion, and this legislation reaffirms our commitment that people can live, learn, and prosper safely. There is no place for hate in our great nation."
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The signatories include: Governor Kay Ivey (AL), Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK), Governor Sarah Sanders (AR), Governor Ron DeSantis (FL), Governor Brian Kemp (GA), Governor Brad Little (ID), Governor Eric Holcomb (IN), Governor Kim Reynolds (IA), Governor Jeff Landry (LA), Governor Tate Reeves (MS), Governor Mike Parson (MO), Governor Greg Gianforte (MT), Governor Jim Pillen (NE), Governor Joe Lombardo (NV), Governor Chris Sununu (NH), Governor Doug Burgum (ND), Governor Mike DeWine (OH), Governor Kevin Stitt (OK), Governor Henry McMaster (SC), Governor Kristi Noem (SD), Governor Bill Lee (TN), Governor Greg Abbott (TX), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA), Governor Jim Justice (WV), and Governor Mark Gordon (WY).
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The Algemeiner reports:
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US Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) have introduced a new bill that would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to cover antisemitic discrimination on college campuses and codify in law a policy that was previously enacted via executive order during the Trump administration but not followed through by its successor.
Coming nearly a year after Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel prompted an explosion of antisemitic hate incidents in US higher education, most notably at the country's elite schools, the "Preventing Antisemitic Harassment on Campus Act" would levy "escalating penalties" on colleges repeatedly found to have ignored antisemitism, empower the US Department of Education to "monitor private lawsuits" filed by Jewish students against their colleges, and ensure that colleges respond to antisemitic discrimination as rigorously as other hatreds.
…In 2019, former US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on combating antisemitism that enforced civil rights protections for Jewish students and recognized Zionism's centrality to Jewish identity. Since taking office in 2021, the Biden administration has continuously delayed strengthening the order with all of the necessary Department of Education guidance that would enforce it.
If passed, the Rubio and Scott bill would make the Civil Rights Act's applicability to antisemitism explicit.
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Did you see the TRUMP KIPPAH that Matt held up during his GOP Convention speech?
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GET YOURS HERE!
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In PA, Dave McCormick is Making Inroads with Jewish Voters
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The Jewish Insider reports on Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick's outreach to the Jewish community:
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Dave McCormick's ongoing outreach to Jewish voters in his campaign to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has been yielding some notable results, according to interviews with disaffected Jewish Democrats now pledging to back the Republican nominee in November.
…McCormick has been particularly proactive in his efforts to court Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, who represent about 3% of the state's population and could make the difference in a close election. The former hedge fund executive and military veteran has been outspoken in his support for Israel as it fights Hamas and other Iran-backed proxies in the region, while raising alarms about antisemitism on college campuses.
…Steve Rosenberg, a pro-Israel Democrat who lives in Philadelphia, said that he too is planning to vote for McCormick in the November election, arguing that the Republican candidate has demonstrated more meaningful engagement with Jewish voters on key issues.
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Israel hit Hezbollah targets in Tyre, Lebanon on Monday.
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US-Israel Relations: Fraught Now, Worse to Come
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Let's take a look at some of the recent news stories about Biden administration efforts to rein Israel in while it fights on multiple fronts and about what a potential Kamala Harris administration would do with regard to Israel.
Senators: Biden administration delaying bombs, tractors, helicopters from Israel
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Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wrote to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday alleging that his administration is withholding additional arms to Israel.
The Biden administration has acknowledged delaying the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns, it says, that the Jewish state will harm civilians. But the senators wrote that they have "reason to believe" that the administration is also pausing delivery of Apache helicopters and tractors to Israel.
…In addition to the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, the senators said that the administration is "holding up" Caterpillar D9 tractors that the Israel Defense Forces use to clear improvised explosive devices.
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Pentagon says US not providing intel help for Israeli operations against Hezbollah
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The US military is not providing intelligence support to Israel for its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Asked about whether the United States was supporting Israel's operations in Lebanon, including with intelligence support, [Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina] Singh said: "No. No support."
… It was unclear whether Singh's remarks applied to the sharing of any real-time US intelligence on Hezbollah missiles that might be heading toward Israel.
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Call from US, EU, nine states for 21-day, Israel-Lebanon ceasefire doesn't mention Hezbollah
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The United States, Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar called jointly on Wednesday night for an "immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement."
Minutes before the statement went out, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron stated that "it is time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that ensures safety and security to enable civilians to return to their homes."
Neither of the two statements referred to Hezbollah, a US-designated terror group, which has launched thousands of rockets at the Jewish state since Oct. 8. Israel has targeted launch sites and missiles tied to Hezbollah and has not declared war on Lebanon.
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UN, US tell federal court UNRWA staff immune from prosecution
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The United Nations has argued in a US federal court case that staffers who participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre of some 1,200 people in southern Israel enjoy legal immunity, a position supported by the US Department of Justice.
…"Because the UN has not waived immunity in this case, its subsidiary, UNRWA, retains full immunity, and the lawsuit against UNRWA should be dismissed due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction," the Department of Justice said.
…An internal UN probe concluded last month that nine UNRWA staffers "likely or very likely" participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. The Israeli government insists that this is merely the tip of the iceberg.
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Anti-Israel protesters 'speaking out for all the right reasons,' Walz says in Michigan radio interview
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Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz said in a radio interview on Thursday that anti-Israel protesters are "speaking out for all the right reasons" and that more pressure should be applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state.
…"We can't allow what's happened in Gaza to happen," Walz said. "The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves. We need to continue to put the leverage on to make sure we move towards a two-state solution."
…He did not mention Hamas.
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US officials weighing steps Biden could take to preserve two-states after election
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US officials have been deliberating steps that the administration could take during the lame-duck period to curb the effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to expand Israel's footprint in the West Bank, a current and a former senior US official told The Times of Israel this week.
The nearly three-month period from the November 5 presidential election to the January 20 inauguration will come with additional "political flexibility," which will allow space for more confrontational policies vis-a-vis the Israeli government, said the current US official.
The list of steps US President Joe Biden could take would be longer if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election since she is less likely to reverse them, a former senior US official explained. The official added that Harris would also be shielded from any political backlash of such moves due to them being seen as part of her predecessor's legacy.
…One move that has not received as much public attention, but the former senior US official said could prove effective, would be for the US to threaten to change a clause in the Memorandum of Understanding on US security assistance to Israel that allows Jerusalem to spend up to 25 percent of the aid on weapons made in Israel.
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Support President Trump via the RJC PAC Portal
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With Donald Trump and JD Vance, we have a great team on the GOP ticket - the next President and Vice President of the United States!
Let's show them that the Jewish community is behind them all the way!
Please show your support by donating to the Trump-Vance campaign via the RJC PAC Portal. They will know that you are a member of the RJC and that you support their agenda of a more secure and more prosperous America, and a strong US-Israel alliance!
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DONATE TODAY >>
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Congratulations, Noam! Thank you for your outstanding efforts to advance our Jewish voter outreach. Your work has a real impact!
We are proud to celebrate and thank this outstanding volunteer for contacting the most Jewish potential voters through our phone banking and door knocking programs.
Click here to sign up and join our efforts.
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RJC in the News
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President Donald Trump made remarks this week about the importance of the Jewish vote that riled up many Trump critics. The RJC responded, as the New York Times reports:
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Matthew Brooks, the longtime head of the Republican Jewish Coalition, staunchly defended the former president's comments, calling them "Trump being Trump."
Mr. Brooks said his organization had been saying all year that in an extremely tight election, Jewish votes for Mr. Trump in swing states could secure victory. All Mr. Trump was doing was stating the converse, he argued: that Jewish voters could cost him the election.
"At the end of the day, you can't look at Donald Trump and believe he endorses or supports any antisemitism," Mr. Brooks said.
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Stefanik: If the United Nations continues its antisemitism, the US must withdraw support
The UN has proven again and again that it is a cesspool of antisemitism that has completely turned against Israel in its darkest hour. Nearly one year ago, the world witnessed in horror the most vicious, brutal attack on Israel and the Jewish people since the Holocaust, a barbaric terrorist assault committed by Hamas that claimed more than 1,200 innocent lives. Israel's women, children, and elderly were ripped from their homes and massacred, raped, and beheaded.
Despite these atrocities, there is an abject failure within the UN System to hold Hamas or its pro-terrorism puppet masters in Iran accountable.
…The world is looking to the US for moral leadership. As Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran and its terrorist proxies such as Hamas create a dangerous axis of evil that threatens the shared global commitment to peace, prosperity, and freedom, the US must boldly defend our principles at every opportunity.
As the largest financial contributor to the UN, the US must present the UN with a choice: reform this broken system and return it to the beacon of peace and freedom the world needs it to be, or continue down this antisemitic path without the support of American taxpayers.
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Mead: Biden's Diplomatic Magical Thinking
As tensions escalate and bombs fall across the Middle East, President [Joe] Biden's emissaries continue to urge all parties to calm down and dial back the violence. No one is listening, and this brings us to the central paradox of a troubled presidency stumbling toward an inglorious close. Mr. Biden may love diplomacy, but diplomacy doesn't love him back.
No administration in American history has been as committed to Middle East diplomacy as this one. Yet have an administration's diplomats ever had less success? Mr. Biden tried and failed to get Iran back into a nuclear agreement with the US He tried and failed to get a new Israeli-Palestinian dialogue on track. He tried and failed to stop the civil war in Sudan. He tried and failed to get Saudi Arabia to open formal diplomatic relations with Israel. He tried to settle the war in Yemen through diplomacy, and when that failed and the Houthis began attacking shipping in the Red Sea, the ever-undaunted president sought a diplomatic solution to that problem too. He failed again.
For nearly a year Team Biden has given its all to the diplomatic effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas… But senior officials are conceding privately that the chances of a cease-fire deal during Mr. Biden's remaining months in office are slim… For the past few weeks Washington has been frantically trying to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah from escalating dramatically.
…The metastasizing conflicts across the Middle East that Mr. Biden hates are the natural and inevitable consequence of his own policies. As America withdraws, or attempts to withdraw, from the region, its influence over the relevant parties diminishes. The less reliable America looks, the less value anyone attaches to promises of American support. The more obviously America looks toward the exits, the less anyone fears American power.
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PA: Door Knocking
In the morning, join RJC volunteers for a short training followed by door knocking to get out the Jewish vote in PA.
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RSVP
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PA: Jewish Community at a Crossroads
In the evening, hear Special Guests Dave McCormick and Sen. Lindsey Graham discuss the critical issues facing the US and Israel in 2024.
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RSVP
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GA: Jewish Community at a Crossroads
Join Special Guests Gov. Brian Kemp and Sen. Lindsey Graham to discuss the critical issues facing the US and Israel in 2024.
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RSVP
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NY: Rep. Lee Zeldin on "Election 2024: The Jewish Vote"
Community event in Manhattan with former NY Congressman Lee Zeldin in conversation with RJC Board of Directors member Brad Rose to discuss what's at stake for our community in 2024.
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Details & RSVP
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GA: Door Knocking
Join us for a day of door knocking and help us reach voters in Atlanta.
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RSVP
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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.
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Republican Jewish Coalition 50 F Street, N.W., Suite 100 | Washington, DC 20001
202.638.6688 | [email protected]
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