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This week, President Donald Trump repeatedly showed his unwavering support for Israel.

The Trump administration expedited $4 billion in military assistance to Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement: "The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump."

The RJC applauded President Trump and Secretary Rubio for this action. RJC CEO Matt Brooks said:

Let there be no doubt: President Donald J. Trump is the most pro-Israel President in US history… Since taking office, the Trump administration has approved nearly $12 billion in major FMS sales to Israel. As the Jewish state continues to defend itself in a seven-front war against Iran and its terrorist proxies, President Trump's continued support for Israel is truly unprecedented, and deeply appreciated by pro-Israel Americans across our country.

The US gave its support to Israel's announcement last Sunday that it was suspending all humanitarian aid to Gaza after Hamas rejected a ceasefire extension proposed by Washington. Israel accepted the US proposal to extend the ceasefire for 50 days over the Ramadan and Passover holidays. Under the proposal, half the remaining hostages, living and deceased, would be freed on the first day, with the rest to follow if a "permanent ceasefire" were agreed to.

International human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky writes that Israel's actions in halting aid are entirely just and legitimate under international law.

President Donald Trump met with eight freed hostages on Wednesday. Noa Argamani, who was rescued by the IDF last June, joined released hostages Doron Steinbracher, Eli Sharabi, Naama Levy, Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, and Keith and Aviva Siegel in the Oval Office. They shared personal stories of their brutal captivity, thanked the President for giving them hope, and asked for his help to secure the release of the rest of the hostages. Watch video of their meeting here. Noa Argamani and family members of American hostages were the President's guests at his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

There are 59 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Learn more about them here.

After meeting with the freed hostages, President Trump posted to social media a warning to Hamas to release all the hostages now:

"Shalom Hamas" means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose. Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you…I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas members will be safe if you don't do as I say… Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!

International law expert Eugene Kontorovich says that President Donald Trump's plan for redeveloping the Gaza Strip is not precluded by international law. He writes:

The legal basis for the proposal is straightforward. Gaza is one of the very few pieces of land not under the sovereignty of any nation, a status known as terra nullius in international law. Such situations are rare because in the postwar era local populations can win recognition for a new sovereign state with relative ease. Once established, sovereignty is hard to extinguish. But because of a confluence of circumstances, Gaza has a sovereignty vacuum.

… The sovereignty gap doesn’t determine what should happen to the territory, but it does make a US bid legally feasible. Israel, having taken parts of the territory in a war of clear self-defense, should be able to claim sovereignty over all or part of the territory, as it did in the Golan Heights. Or Washington and Jerusalem could work out a condominium—not the kind envisioned for Gaza’s beaches, but an arrangement in which two nations share sovereignty, like Spain and France in Andorra and many countries in Antarctica, or the erstwhile Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

… Mr. Trump’s offer to enable Gazans to leave has also been criticized as "ethnic cleansing" in violation of international law. But he has never suggested a violent or forcible removal. Rather, he seeks to ensure that Gazans are free to leave—which they currently aren’t. Egypt and Hamas together maintain a violent system that treats Gazans as serfs, tied to the soil to serve as human shields. This violates international law, in particular Egypt’s duties under refugee treaties. Mr. Trump seeks to lift an iron curtain from Gaza, letting people escape tyranny and destruction.

Elbridge "Bridge" Colby has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be undersecretary of defense for policy. After speaking with him and examining his position on Israel, the RJC urged his swift confirmation.

In an op-ed at the Washington Examiner, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) expressed his support for Colby's nomination. Banks, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an Afghanistan veteran, wrote: "Standing with our great ally Israel, Bridge has been a steadfast defender of the Jewish state, both in its war against the brutal terrorists of Hamas and in its struggle against an Iranian regime hellbent on its destruction. He fully backs military support for Israel and the president’s strong pro-Israel stance. Bridge understands that Israel’s fight is America’s fight and that when Israel wins, America becomes more secure."

In his confirmation hearing this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Colby clarified his views on Iran. Jewish Insider reports that "he now views a nuclear-armed Iran as an 'existential' threat to the United States homeland and said he would provide military options to the administration to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon if necessary."

Video of his hearing before the Armed Services Committee is here.

This week saw the first Senate hearing devoted solely to the problem of antisemitism since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent surge in antisemitism on college campuses and American streets. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was held yesterday. JNS reports:

Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, was one of the witnesses to testify on Wednesday.

She told JNS after the hearing that "the Republicans who asked me questions seem to recognize that we need to increase the pressure on the university to make sure that they take adequate steps to protect the Jews."

"I was gratified by that," she told JNS.

You can watch the full hearing here.

On the passing of Dore Gold

The RJC notes with sadness the passing of Dore Gold, a former senior Israeli diplomat and adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The American-born Gold held key positions in Israeli diplomacy, including two years as Israel's ambassador to the UN. He headed the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), formerly the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, from 2000 until his death. He was a close advisor of PM Netanyahu and contributed to the development of the Abraham Accords. RJC CEO Matt Brooks described Gold as "a terrific guy, brilliant, and a difference maker." You can read more about his work here. May his memory be a blessing.

On Jewish voting, the survey says….

JTA reports that 31% of Jews in a recent Pew Center poll say they are Republicans or lean Republicans. This corroborates polling after the 2024 election, which saw the Jewish vote for Donald Trump reach 32%. Also, as noted in this post-election JTA article, three different election polls showed that the gap between the Democratic and Republican candidates among Jewish voters narrowed significantly between 2020 and 2024.

In another recent analysis of the Jewish-American vote, Jacob Rosewater and Adrian Elimian the rightward swing of Jewish voters in 2024. They write: "Even if small in number, this demographic often plays a key role in primaries, low turnout races, and in elections otherwise defined by educational polarization."

The Jewish vote is important, and the work of the RJC is vital to the continued movement of Jewish voters in key battleground states to the GOP. Watch your email for information about how you can have an impact by helping us turn out Jewish voters in 2026!

Mike Huckabee should harmonize US Jews

RJC Vice Chairman's Council member Martin Oliner criticizes Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), after Pesner sent a letter last week to all 100 US senators criticizing President Donald Trump’s appointment of former Arkansas Govorner Mike Huckabee as America’s next ambassador to Israel. Huckabee's views, Oliner writes, are much more aligned with those of mainstream American Jewry than Pesner's.

Israel rescues 10 Indian laborers being held in Palestinian West Bank village

Ten foreign workers from India were rescued overnight from a West Bank village where they had been held for over a month, the Population and Immigration Authority says.

Palestinians had lured the workers to the West Bank village of al-Zaayem with promises of work and then taken their passports and tried to use them to cross into Israel, the authority says. The workers have been transferred to a safe location until their employment status is determined. The IDF had identified the illicit use of the passports and later returned them to their owners.