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This Week:

• 200 Days of Winning

• Speaker Johnson Visits Israel

• The (Non-military) War Against Israel

• Democrats Continue to Distance Themselves from Israel

• Republicans are NOT Split on Israel

• Short Takes

• Week's Best Tweets

• Upcoming Events

200 Days of Winning

Friday marks the 200th day of President Donald Trump's second term. The pace of activity of this administration is amazing and the policy wins are almost too many to count. In an op-ed for the Washington Reporter, RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman and RJC CEO Matt Brooks look at the wins regarding some of the top priority issues for the Jewish community:

President Trump has renewed the US-Israel strategic alliance and brought it to a new level. His decision to work with Israel and commit the US military to take down Iran's nuclear weapons program changed history…While Presidents of both parties said they would stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, President Trump did it.

..The legislation that President Trump dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB) included a historic school choice provision of particular importance to Jewish families… [It] provides a mechanism to raise and distribute billions of dollars in charitable donations to fund scholarships for children in non-public schools.

…The horrifying rise in antisemitic and anti-Israel attacks against American Jews is a top concern for our community. These 200 days have also seen many Executive Orders, House and Senate hearings, robust actions by the Department of Justice, and other efforts to protect the rights and security of Jewish Americans. Antisemitism on college campuses and in our neighborhoods will not be tolerated, and Republicans are leading the charge against it.

The White House compiled the highlights of the first 100 days back in May, and there is a new compilation for the second 100 days now as well. We look forward to seeing more wins – more promises kept – in the months ahead.

The (Non-military) War Against Israel

This past week saw the release of two horrifying videos of starved Israeli hostages in terrorist hands in Gaza. In a video made by Hamas, Evyatar David is clearly emaciated and unwell, and he is seen digging what he says will be his own grave. A video of Rom Braslavski, published by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, showed the starved and distraught hostage begging for release. The terrorists of October 7 continue to use propaganda as a weapon. As Coleman Hughes writes at The Free Press:

Hamas released this video because it wants to increase its leverage in negotiations. If the Israeli population becomes so heartbroken that they demand a hostage deal on any terms, then Hamas can go back to ruling Gaza, building up its forces using stolen aid, and preparing for the next October 7.

Another way to put it is that the terrorist group is running a highly effective campaign of information warfare, and Western media outlets are falling for it.

Falling for it or abetting it. The videos of the starving hostages came not long after the New York Times ran an article on hunger in Gaza with a prominent front-page photo of a mother holding a skeletal toddler. The image went viral, but it was fake: the child is not the victim of starvation; he suffers from a chronic muscle disorder. And the child's healthy and not-starving brother, standing nearby, was cropped out of the photo.

Meanwhile, the images of the emaciated Israeli hostages didn't make the front page of a single US news outlet (other than the Israel-friendly New York Post). Instead, in recent weeks public opinion has surged against Israel, blaming Israel for the terrible conditions in Gaza that Hamas has intentionally caused.

Hamas knows that they are in a terrible position militarily and that popular support for Hamas among Gazans is falling, according to Palestinian polling, so they are doubling down on the war of public opinion.

And it's working, at least in some places. France, the United Kingdom and Canada have stated that they will recognize a Palestinian state next month, in response to the suffering of Gazans. The editors of the Wall Street Journal responded bluntly:

The leaders of France, Canada and the United Kingdom think they're doing a good deed by saying they'll soon recognize a state of Palestine at the United Nations. Maybe they should listen to the response from Hamas, which thinks this recognition is a reward for slaughtering Jews.

That's the only way to interpret comments Saturday by Hamas Politburo member Ghazi Hamad on Al Jazeera. "The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on Oct. 7 has yielded three very important historic achievements. First of all, it brought the Palestinian cause back. Why are all these countries recognizing Palestine now?" he asked.

Good question. "The overall outcome of Oct. 7," Mr. Hamad continued, "forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause, and to act forcefully in this respect."

Massacre as a political strategy has long been Hamas practice, but it's still remarkable to hear it stated with such unvarnished aplomb.

Further reading: Mor: How the West handed Hamas a win and killed the ceasefire

Democrats Continue to Distance Themselves from Israel

After two anti-Israel resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) failed last week despite support from most Democrats, the New York Times wrote that:

Support for Israel's military action in Gaza has plunged into the single digits among Democrats. Across the country, local Democratic officials are pushing for embargoes on military and financial support of Israel. And long-boiling anger over the Gaza war among the party's activists is manifesting in striking new ways in the halls of Congress.

… Nationwide, a Gallup poll released this week found that approval of Israel's military actions in Gaza had plummeted to 8 percent among Democrats. By contrast, 71 percent of Republicans said they approved of the country's military action in the enclave.

Even those Democrats already on the left are moving farther left under the pressure from radicals to abandon Israel. Jeremy Ben-Ami is the president of J Street, a progressive group that we have long described as "anti-Israel" for its demands that Israel make concessions to the Palestinians without getting any movement in return toward a real peace. Last week, Ben-Ami was a guest on POD Save America, where antisemite Mehdi Hasan attacked him for being too pro-Israel. A few days later, Ben-Ami gave in and agreed with his hosts and Hasan to the lie that Israel is "committing genocide in Gaza".

Progressives are redefining what is acceptable discourse in the Democratic Party and they are demanding a full rejection of Israel as a basic principle. The weakest Democrats are falling in line.

Republicans are NOT Split on Israel

Jonathan Tobin wrote in his JNS column this week:

It's the break they've been waiting for. Liberal news publications like Axios, Politico, The Economist and Time magazine, among others, all more or less ran articles with the same headline trumpeting "MAGA's disenchantment with Israel" and a "Republican divide over Gaza." These pieces heralded what was described as a seminal shift in opinion on the right…

While there has been some slippage among some of the most extreme, as well as some of the youngest, GOP voters, the notion that there is a genuine split on the right on this issue is nonsense.

… Far more representative of conservative opinion are people like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who, during a visit to Israel this past week, made clear the GOP's devotion to the US-Israel alliance.

…The headlines also failed to fully take into account the fact that, despite the hopes of left-wing critics and right-wing antisemites, [Donald] Trump has maintained his historic support for the Jewish state.

The New York Times reports:

Matt Brooks, who leads the Republican Jewish Coalition, acknowledged worrying about [some younger GOP voters having negative views of Israel], but said his organization was proactively pushing back.

"We are committed to ensuring that what happened on the Democratic side does not take hold and fester and metastasize on the Republican side," he said. But he declared, "Today, there is only one pro-Israel party, and that's the Republican Party."

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) was in Israel this week with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional Republicans. He did an interview there with the Jerusalem Post:

Fine rejected claims that Republican support for Israel was eroding, especially after several right-wing commentators and influencers, including Tucker Carlson, voiced skepticism about US backing for Israel.

"Look, there are 220 Republicans in the House," he said. "Two of them are antisemites. The rest? They love Israel. In the Senate, all 53 Republicans have stood with Israel. So, yes, the haters are loud, but they're a tiny minority."

RJC is Celebrating 40 Years!

From our start in 1985 to today, the RJC has been a unique, outspoken, and trusted voice for Jewish Republicans, bringing our message to Republican decision makers and the broader Jewish community.

We support a strong America, and that includes a strong US-Israel alliance. We don't hesitate to call out antisemitism, no matter which side of the political aisle it comes from. Republicans who support American security and prosperity, and who are friends of Israel and our community, know the RJC has their backs - in the policy fights in Washington and in their election battles.

All of this is possible only through the dedication and support of our members and leaders.

Please consider making a gift to the RJC today in honor of our 40 years of growth and success.

We need your support to keep moving forward!

Thank you!

Short Takes

Tratt: Emmanuel Macron's surrender to Islamism is a five-alarm warning to the West

France is undergoing a profound demographic transformation. The influx of millions of migrants from Africa and other parts of Europe is stripping the Western European country of its cultural particularities and transforming it into a nation where leaders cave to the interests of a growing and emboldened Muslim population.

…With [Donald] Trump at the helm of reshaping our immigration system, America is, at least for the foreseeable future, equipped to blunt the flood of unsavory foreign actors. But make no mistake, the Democratic Party is filled with Macron-like figures, individuals who crave attention and are desperate to consolidate power by aligning with forces intent on unraveling the Western ethos.

Elections have consequences. France is paying the price. America doesn't have to.

Jerusalem Post: 'Just win, stop apologizing': Florida rep. Randy Fine urges Israel to ignore global critics

US Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida), a staunch pro-Israel voice, has been visiting Israel this week, and his message to the government is crystal clear: Stop apologizing and trying to please international critics; instead, focus on winning the war in Gaza.

"Wars must end," he told The Jerusalem Post. "Someone has to win, and someone has to lose. That's how World War II ended. That's how World War I ended. Israel's problem is it stops wars without finishing the job."

JNS: Oct. 7 happened because 'we cannot ask Palestinians to be perfect victims,' Mahmoud Khalil says

Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia who had been a leader in the school's anti-Israel protests, was interviewed by Ezra Klein at the New York Times.

In the interview, Khalil … said the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, were "a desperate attempt to tell the world that Palestinians are here, that Palestinians are part of the equation."

"We cannot ask Palestinians to be perfect victims after 75 years of dispossession, of killing people in Gaza, being under siege," he said.

Tweets

Events