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President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the President's address to the Knesset. Photo credit: Office of the Prime Minister.
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A Week of Historic Moments
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This week has seen some of the most historic moments in recent memory: Hostages embracing their families after two years of torment, President Donald Trump addressing a cheering Knesset, the signing of an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war, and more.
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The story isn't over; only nine of the 28 hostage bodies held in Gaza have been returned, increasing tensions around the Gaza deal. The deal required the release of hundreds of convicted Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons, which brought new grief to the families of their victims. And there are still many definitions, details, and plans in the Gaza deal that must be worked out, raising uncertainty about the future. But there is no doubt that things have changed in the Middle East in meaningful ways, and that President Trump played a key role in making those changes happen.
Matthew Continetti writes that President Trump deserves his accolades:
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[T]here’s one place where Trump’s approach has been a straight line for more than a decade. That place is Israel. When dealing with the Middle East, Trump has never wavered. He’s committed to fighting terrorism and to peace through strength—core concepts in [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s statecraft as well. And by siding with Israel and against the militant Islamists who despise the West, Trump has done more to advance peace than the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs could hope to achieve in a million years.
...Perhaps it was inevitable that Trump’s instinct for challenging conventional wisdom found its greatest expression in a region encrusted with liberal guilt, diplomatic pieties, and multilateral claptrap. He won’t succumb to moral equivalence between Israel and its enemies. He won’t pretend that diplomacy without the credible threat of force is useful. “I love Israel,” Trump told the Knesset. “I’m with you all the way.”
It shows. Defending Israel at the UN. Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Acknowledging the Jewish people’s rights in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. Eliminating Iranian terror master Qasem Soleimani. The Abraham Accords normalizing relations between Israel and three Muslim nations. Securing the hostage release earlier this year. Supporting Israel during its 12-day war with Iran. Destroying the Iranian nuclear program. And, most recently, returning the hostages and ending the fighting in Gaza.
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Not everyone is willing to give President Trump his due credit for the tremendous diplomatic achievements of the past week. JNS reports:
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Sam Markstein, spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that Trump deserved a lot more praise from Democrats than he received. "From all corners of the Democratic Party, the response to President Donald J. Trump’s historic peace deal has been embarrassingly muted," Markstein said.
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The Pew Research Center showed that President Trump won 35% of the Jewish vote in 2024!
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Read our exclusive report for details about how the RJC moved voters across America to President Trump and the GOP.
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Clip from Washington Post: "More U.S. Jews shield identity in public amid antisemitism fears, Post poll finds"
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More Jewish Americans Today Say Democratic Party is "Unfriendly" Toward Jews in the US
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The Washington Post released a poll today about Jewish Americans' views on antisemitism and other issues. The poll was taken in early September, before the deal that led to the release of the Israeli hostages.
The Post article on the poll focused on the share of American Jews who say there is a lot of antisemitism in the US (47%), and who avoid publicly identifying themselves as Jewish (42%).
But the Post has buried the most important result of their poll: More Jewish Americans today say the Democratic Party is "unfriendly" toward Jews in the US than in 2020:
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About 3 in 10 American Jews say the Democratic Party is unfriendly toward Jews (31 percent), roughly triple the proportion in a 2020 Pew survey and on par with 29 percent who say the Republican Party is unfriendly.
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President Donald Trump does even better than the GOP generally in the poll: 38% of those surveyed said President Trump is friendly toward Jews in the US, up from 31% in the 2020 Pew poll.
What has changed? The Post quoted one former Democratic voter:
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"I’ve seen the Democratic Party become less and less supportive of Israel and now it seems to have escalated to the point where I don’t feel confident the Democrats are protecting us against antisemitism,” [Joan] Rubin said. “I’m tending towards feeling safer with Trump and the Republicans. It’s just a gut feeling."
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RJC in the News
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RJC CEO Matt Brooks appeared this week on the What’s Right Show with Sam Mirejovsky to talk about Israel, the Gaza peace deal, antisemitism, and more. Watch it here.
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Join the Celebration! RJC at 40
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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.
Thank you!
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Witkoff: How my dad, Steve Witkoff, turned pain into purpose
Alex Witkoff writes about his father, President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, about the family tragedy that led him to turn compassion into action, and about the friendship with Donald Trump that eventually brought him into public service.
"Out of tragedy, he found purpose — to heal what is broken, to comfort those in pain and to prove that love, even after loss, can still change the world."
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Lake: The hostages return home and the lies fall apart
Bitter foes divided on almost everything shared a moment of real elation on Monday. Everyone, it seemed, was happy. Everyone, that is, except for the activists who have been demanding a ceasefire since Hamas began its rampage through southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
...Those protesters are clearly disappointed that the war they falsely claimed was a genocide is ending. Only a few months ago, this crowd set the agenda for the public discourse about the war in Gaza. Their pressure was so great that the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada all formally recognized a Palestinian state last month at the United Nations.
Now that the war is over, their palpable disappointment reveals that they were never against the war at all. They just wanted the jihadists who started it to win.
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Mack: New Yorkers must save the city of dreams from Mamdani’s socialism
New York is about to hand the keys to City Hall to a man whose greatest skill is manipulating algorithms. [Zohran] Mamdani has built a digital propaganda machine that would make any authoritarian proud. He runs on viral moments and manufactured outrage, not results. That might work for influencers, but it’s a recipe for disaster when you’re running a city of over 8 million people.
New York is not ready for his radical experiment. He would dismantle the city’s cultural fabric that has taken 250 years to build. Worse, he doesn’t have the experience. You can’t just go from riding in a plane to flying a 787. He’s too young, too raw, and too naïve about what makes this city work.
...He is far too comfortable in the company of antisemites and he won’t back away from his own calls, using the language of terrorism, to “globalize the intifada. He is bankrolled by a radical network that doesn’t believe in America or the freedoms that made this country great.
That’s not just bad politics — it’s dangerous. Lock your doors, New Yorkers.
His proposals — rent freezes, free buses, city-owned groceries, 200,000 new government housing units on top of the New York City Housing Authority’s more than 177,000 — would supposedly be funded by tax hikes on millionaires and corporations. But this will just drive them all to Florida, leaving the bill for the middle class.
...This is urgent. If you are a citizen of this city, this election matters to you. Sober up, look at the facts — just the facts — and use your common sense and get out and vote. Because if you don’t, what you’ll be left with isn’t just bad governance. It’s an experiment in viral authoritarianism.
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Washington Free Beacon: Mamdani says pro-Israel Democrats aren't welcome in his coalition
Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said there is no room for pro-Israel voters within his coalition, arguing that fellow Democrats should not make "an exception" for people who are "progressive except Palestine."
The Democratic nominee said his long history of anti-Israel activism—which includes founding the Bowdoin College chapter of the extremist and terror-aligned Students for Justice in Palestine organization—informs his belief that pro-Israel liberals should be driven out of the left.
...Mamdani's warning that he does not want the votes of pro-Israel Democrats has not stopped the left-wing group J Street, which describes itself as "pro-Israel, pro-peace," from supporting him.
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Today was Israel's official day of remembrance for the victims of the October 7 attack and the soldiers who fell during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
May their memories be a blessing.
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AZ: Prescott Kickoff Event
Join us for Prescott's first RJC event, featuring State Sen. Hildy Angius and Alan Hedrick, RJC's AZ and NV State Director.
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RSVP
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NV: Women's Gun Safety Training
Back by popular demand! Join us for an in-depth, two-day training designed to give you the knowledge and confidence to safely handle and operate firearms. This course is split over two consecutive Sundays, Oct. 26 and Nov. 16.
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RSVP
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NV: Afternoon Tea Parlor Meeting
Join us for a parlor meeting to discuss "Standing Against Antisemitism: Protecting Our Universities." For RJC Leaders and their guests only.
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RSVP
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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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