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Our thoughts are with the people in southern California affected by the terrible fires there. We mourn the lives lost and the painful impact the fires are having on thousands of families. We pray for everyone's safety and for the safety of the first responders fighting to protect their communities.

FEATURED

Republicans Move to Impose Sanctions on ICC

The House passed legislation today sanctioning the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. The RJC strongly supports this bill. According to a report from JTA, the bill passed with support from 45 Democrats. The final tally was 243-140.

 

A similar bill passed in the House in June 2024 with bipartisan support, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to allow that bill to come before the Senate, and it died with the end of the last Congress.

 

Now that Republicans have majorities in both the House and Senate, Republican leaders in the new Congress are bringing this important bill back.

 

H.R.23 - Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, would sanction any individual working to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute American citizens or an official from an allied US country, including Israel. It finds that the ICC's investigation into Israel and the arrest warrants it issued against Israeli officials in November are "illegitimate and baseless and create a damaging precedent that threatens the United States, Israel, and all United States partners who have not consented to the ICC's jurisdiction."

 

Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) sponsored the House bill alongside new Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL). House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise deserve our thanks for ensuring early action on one of our top priorities, which was blocked by Democrats last year.

 

Now the bill will head to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune has promised to bring the measure up for a vote quickly. The Jewish Insider quotes Leader Thune:

"It is long overdue for the US Senate to consider and pass sanctions legislation in response to the ICC's outrageous and unlawful arrest warrants against Israeli officials. I promised this would be a priority in the 119th Congress and am hopeful that this legislation will pass with bipartisan support."

Israel Hayom reports:

President-elect Donald Trump plans to implement devastating sanctions against the International Criminal Court in The Hague immediately after taking office, sources close to the matter disclosed to Israel Hayom. These executive orders could be unveiled as soon as Jan. 21.

 

The sanctions package will target both individual ICC personnel, including judges and prosecutors, and the institution as a whole. The administration intends to classify the ICC as an organization threatening US interests, employing designation procedures similar to those used by the State Department for terrorist organizations globally. This designation will trigger severe restrictions on anyone involved with the court's operations.

 

…The incoming administration's strategy extends beyond unilateral actions, as it plans to secure commitments from US allies to reject cooperation with arrest warrants targeting Israeli officials.

 

…Trump administration officials and Republican senators widely view Israel's situation as a precedent, believing the US could face similar warrants next, leading them to treat these actions against Israeli officials as precursors to targeting American leadership and military command.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate and in the Trump Administration have made this important measure a top priority. The full court press on this issue is a testament to the strong, renewed US-Israel relationship, and to Republicans' determination to defend US interests in the international arena.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Blinken Confesses

Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down last week with a New York Times reporter to defend his record – and that of the Biden administration – on foreign policy. He made some startling admissions about American policy toward Israel.

 

One example: Almost immediately after the October 7 Hamas invasion of Israel, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a complete siege of Gaza. It was an understandable, and legal, military response to the attack.

 

Secretary Blinken indicates in the New York Times interview that when he arrived in Israel five days after October 7, he browbeat Israeli leaders into allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, arguing for hours on end and threatening to stop President Joe Biden from visiting Israel until the aid flowed.

 

As Caroline Glick notes at JNS, by pressuring Israel to feed the people of Gaza, the Biden administration relieved Hamas leaders of the worry that Gazans, suffering as a result of Hamas' attack on Israel, would rise up against the terrorist regime.

 

Another point: Blinken told the New York Times that one of the biggest impediments to getting to a ceasefire and bringing the hostages home is that: "whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we've seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a cease-fire and the release of hostages." [emphasis added]

 

Yet the Biden administration began putting "daylight" into the relationship right from the start of the war. The Wall Street Journal editorial board lists some examples:

On Nov. 30, 2023, Mr. Blinken laid down new rules for how Israel could fight—in short, nothing like how it fought in Gaza City, which is what had forced Hamas into a deal. On Dec. 12 Mr. Biden accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing,” a falsehood belied by the evidence. The message to Israel was to “transition to the next phase” with fewer troops.

 

As pressure on Israel increased in 2024, Hamas reasoned it didn't need to release the hostages; the US would force Israel to end the war anyway. In February the Administration pushed for a Palestinian state, created an anti-Israel sanctions regime, and attached new strings to weapons transfers. Mr. Biden criticized Israel's war effort as “over the top” and deemed Israeli settlements illegal.

 

In March Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Israel's government to fall. Mr. Biden blamed Israel for aid problems, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an “immediate cease-fire” and the President laid down a “red line” that Israel must not enter Rafah, Hamas's southern stronghold. Mr. Biden issued threats not in private but on CNN: “We're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.” He made good on that.

Biden's Egregious Parting Actions

President Joe Biden – or whoever is making the decisions in the Biden administration right now – is taking some parting shots at the American people that should be noted.

  • President Biden gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor to 19 people last week, including Hillary Clinton and George Soros.

  • President Joe Biden is banning new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 625 million acres of federal waters, using his authority under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East Coast, West Coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and gas leasing.

  • The Pentagon said Monday it had transferred 11 Yemeni men with suspected ties to al Qaeda to Oman. The men have been held for more than two decades without charge at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two of the released men are alleged al Qaeda fighters who were bodyguards for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

We Did It!

The RJC raised and spent over $15 million in support of President Trump, turning out Jewish voters with an unprecedented paid media campaign and grassroots engagement effort, deploying thousands of volunteers on the ground in key Jewish communities.

 

THANKS TO OUR EFFORTS, JEWISH COMMUNITIES ACROSS AMERICA MOVED SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE GOP.

 

Read our exclusive report, "2024 Case Study: RJC Delivered"

for details about what we did, how we did it, and the concrete results we delivered.

Click Here for the 2024 Case Study: RJC Delivered

Why Greenland?

President Donald Trump has expressed interest in the US buying Greenland. Why?

Georgi Kantchev explains at the Wall Street Journal:

At more than three times the size of Texas, Greenland's ample deposits in rare earths, oil and gas, as well as its commanding position astride crucial trade and military arteries, have made it a focal point for major rival powers including the US, China and Russia.

 

Greenland's rising profile reflects the larger global scramble for the Arctic as climate change opens maritime routes and reorders geopolitics at the top of the world. Russia reopened dozens of Soviet military bases in the Arctic as tensions with the West worsened over the invasion of Ukraine. China has pursued expanding shipping routes through the region's melting ice and exploiting Greenland's natural resources, including minerals used in everything from phones to electric cars and military equipment.

 

… Control over Greenland and the broader Arctic is valuable for projecting power, monitoring activities of rivals and securing shipping routes, analysts and officials say… Greenland is also part of what is known as the GIUK gap, a crucial naval chokepoint between Greenland, Iceland and the UK that was closely watched during the Cold War. In recent years, Russia has increased its submarine patrols and exercises in the area.

RJC in the News

Windmueller: The Rise of Conservative Jewish Politics: What It Means and Why It is Significant

We are on the cusp of a new age of Jewish political behavior. If the second half of the 20th Century and the first quarter of this century were dominated by Jewish liberal politics, then this moment will be driven by the emergence of Jewish conservatives, bringing with them a new set of political norms, policies, and priorities.

 

Donald Trump's second iteration as US President will further usher in a new wave of conservative Jewish political thought. This moment is being driven by the arrival of a cadre of Trump Jewish appointees, scheduled to take office within the next few weeks and by the support of Jewish conservative policy centers, thought leaders, and activists.

 

…No doubt, the Jewish political engine, essential for supporting the Republican Party, its candidates and policy issues, involves the work of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The RJC's creative and effective organizing strategies in connection with the 2024 election resulted in impacting the Jewish vote in key battleground states.

 

President Trump's share of the Jewish vote rose to 32% in 2024, according to the AP/Fox News Voter Analysis Exit Poll, the highest number for a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

If President Theodore Roosevelt had lived to be 100, as President Jimmy Carter did, he would have died in 1958, with a life spanning from before the US Civil war to the dawn of the space age.

A Young Country, Old Presidents

John F. Harris writes at Politico:

Let's imagine that Franklin D. Roosevelt had possessed the same gift for longevity as Jimmy Carter and lived until he was 100. He would have died in 1982, in Ronald Reagan's second year in office.

 

…It is eye-opening to play this same game with others. John F. Kennedy, who was killed just a couple of weeks after I was born, would have been eulogized by President Donald Trump in 2017. Abraham Lincoln would have lived until 1909, after the dawn of aviation. Theodore Roosevelt, who as a small boy watched Lincoln's funeral procession from his family's New York apartment, would have lived to see nuclear weapons and the early days of the space race before expiring in 1958. If Bill Clinton reaches the century mark, in 2046, he will have an ex-presidency even longer than Carter's, which lasted 43 years and 344 days and is the current record.

 

…The president who lived the longest will be eulogized by President Joe Biden, 82, who was older on his first day as president than the next-oldest, Ronald Reagan, was on his last. In the audience will be President-elect [Donald] Trump, who if he serves a full term will break Biden's record on Aug. 14, 2028.

 

Old presidents indirectly underline an important point about this country: The United States remains a young nation, in which even events that seem long ago are really just one or two degrees of separation from contemporary lives.

Did you see the TRUMP KIPPAH that Matt held up during his GOP Convention speech?

GET YOURS HERE!

Click Here to Help Civilians and Soldiers in Israel

Short Takes

Bryen: Homegrown terrorism in our military is a problem

The US military is under systemic attack by jihadist "influencers" trying to lure them into terror-related activities. Soldiers are not the only targets, but considering that our military contains young, healthy people, trained in weapons use, it makes sense that those wanting to infiltrate and radicalize people would see soldiers as fertile ground for a campaign to undermine American society.

 

…America's soldiers are our guardians; they volunteer to protect and defend us. They put their lives on the line for us. DoD should stop worrying about unvaccinated soldiers and DEI lapses and protect our soldiers by focusing on jihadist networks working to undermine and destroy our country.

Jewish Insider: Israel moves toward 'armament independence' after tensions with US in last year

Israel is beginning to reduce its dependence on the US for weapons after a year marked by repeated tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over the delivery of armaments for Israel to use in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

 

…In a step towards greater independence, the Defense Ministry signed two deals amounting to $275 million with Elbit Systems, an Israeli manufacturer, on Tuesday to provide the IDF with heavy bombs and to build a new facility for the production of raw materials.

 

Heavy bombs are among the weaponry the US delayed shipping to Israel amid the Biden administration's pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. A growing faction of Democrats have recently voted to block or restrict transfers of weapons to Israel.

JNS: Trump names Jewish lawyer Roman Pipko as envoy to Estonia

US President-elect Donald Trump nominated Roman Pipko as US ambassador to Estonia, where the Jewish lawyer was born and raised… Garry Kasparov, the Jewish former world chess champion and activist, wrote that "the next US ambassador to Estonia, Estonian-born Roman Pipko, deserves attention, especially for his remarkable Jewish mother, Simona Pipko, who was a prominent defense attorney in the USSR in political cases and has staunch anti-authoritarian credentials. Remarkable."

 

Pipko's daughter Elizabeth Pipko, a former model, is the national spokeswoman for the Republican Party. (Elizabeth Pipko spoke at the 2024 RJC Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas. Watch the video of her remarks.)

Algemeiner: 'I grew up hating Israel, Jews': former antisemite-turned-Zionist takes on world's oldest hatred in new doc

In a world grappling with a resurgence of antisemitism, a new documentary seeks to confront the issue head-on, positing an unsettling take on the motivations behind the world's oldest hatred through the insights of Rawan Osman, a Syrian-Lebanese antisemite-turned-Zionist.

 

"Tragic Awakening: A New Look at the Oldest Hatred," directed by Canadian-Israeli filmmaker Raphael Shore, interweaves historical analysis with contemporary events through the voices of clerics, historians, sociologists, and cultural commentators, including the late British Chief Rabbi Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, author Yossi Klein Halevi, Israel's antisemitism envoy Michal Cotler-Wunsh, and journalists Bari Weiss and Douglas Murray. It argues that antisemitism stems not from a perception of Jewish inferiority, but rather from resentment of Jewish excellence and moral leadership.

 

Osman — who founded "Arabs Ask," a forum designed to challenge preconceived notions about Judaism and Israel among Arabs, and who describes herself as an Arab Zionist — narrates the movie.

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Republican Jewish Coalition
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