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This Week:

• Shabbat 250 Starts Tomorrow
• GOP Lawmakers Back Trump on Israel
• RJC in the News
• Help Our Senate Candidates!
• NYT's Kristof v. The Truth
• Celebrating Three Historic Milestones on May 14
• Short Takes
• Week's Best Tweets
• Upcoming Events

Shabbat 250 Starts Tomorrow

In his proclamation of Jewish American Heritage Month in this year marking America's 250 years of independence, President Donald Trump encouraged Jewish Americans to observe a national Sabbath from sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, calling it a day to "recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty." No previous US President has ever issued such a call.

The RJC encourages our members to take this opportunity to celebrate "Shabbat 250" with family and community, to experience the warmth, joy, and beauty of the holy day that has united the Jewish people through the centuries.

We are blessed to celebrate our distinctive faith, heritage, and culture as citizens of this extraordinary country.

Further reading:
Tevi Troy: A National Sabbath for American Jews

Daniella Greenbaum Davis: I've kept Shabbat for 32 years. Trump is onto something.

GOP Lawmakers Back Trump on Israel

Matt Foldi at the Washington Reporter reports that Republican members of the House and Senate "are with President [Donald] Trump on one of his signature policy achievements" --  support for Israel:

For Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas), John Rose (R., Tenn.), and Rich McCormick (R., Ga.), the question about GOP support for Israel is simple: "Yes, there is a tremendous amount of support for Israel," Van Duyne said.

Republicans are "absolutely" with Trump on Israel, both Rose and McCormick added.

Reps. Jeff Crank (R., Colo.), Randy Fine (R., Fla.), and Craig Goldman (R., Texas) pointed to Democrats becoming increasingly anti-Israel as a contributing factor.

"It used to be a nonpartisan issue to support Israel but it seems more partisan," Crank said. "Democrats have raised a lot of money trying to convince supporters of Israel that they are supporters of Israel, but when it comes down to it, they cut and ran. This is an easy one, to support Israel after October 7, when they were attacked by proxies of Iran. The Republican caucus is very strongly in support of Israel."

"I don't sense any issue, any daylight," Fine said. "We are becoming more pro-Israel, not less, because frankly Jews are leaving the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party is mainstreaming Jew hatred."

Unlike the Democrats, Republicans are "one-thousand percent" behind Israel, Goldman said. "It astounds me that they can take these votes and express their anti-Israelism, if you will. Israel is a tremendous ally."

RJC in the News

JNS: Virginia high court blocks new Democratic-backed congressional map

Democrats suffered a setback on Friday as the Virginia Supreme Court blocked a new congressional map from taking effect, bolstering Republican hopes of retaining control of the US House in November.

…Sam Markstein, national political director and spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, derided recent comments by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who had warned Republicans that aggressive redistricting efforts in other states would backfire.

"Nobody has more egg on his face than Hakeem Jeffries, who, after mocking Republicans with 'F*ck around and find out', watched the Virginia Supreme Court torch the Democrats' unconstitutional gerrymander scheme," Markstein told JNS.

He also praised the National Republican Congressional Committee's support against the Virginia effort.

"After prematurely popping all of that champagne, one has to wonder how that humble pie tastes for the Democrats today," Markstein added.

Axios: Inside the wild fight to oust a top GOP Trump critic

[Rep. Thomas] Massie, a doctrinaire isolationist and one of the few Republicans willing to publicly criticize Israel, is facing a similar barrage from pro-Israel groups.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has spent $4 million on ads supporting [Ed] Gallrein, with AIPAC super PAC United Democracy Project spending another $2.6 million, according to AdImpact.

NH Journal: Local Jewish Leaders Condemn Dem Howard's Anti-Israel Comments

Progressive Democratic state Rep. Heath Howard, whose anti-Israel politics are at the center of his campaign for Congress, has stepped up his rhetoric, saying Israel doesn't have a right to exist and that there should be no Jewish state.

…"Democrats across the country are falling over themselves in a mad dash to the far left to appease their rabidly antisemitic, anti-Israel base, and New Hampshire state Rep. Heath Howard is the latest example," Sam Markstein, Republican Jewish Coalition's political director and spokesperson, told NHJournal. "Rep. Howard's comments fluffing Hamas terrorists and saying that Israel doesn't have a right to exist are totally indefensible and wildly ignorant."

"Day after day, more and more Jewish Americans are fleeing the Democratic Party, and for good reason," Markstein added.

NYT's Kristof v. The Truth

On Monday, the New York Times published an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof entitled, "The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians." In it, Kristof claims that Israeli prison guards, soldiers, and others use systematic sexual abuse against Palestinians. The accusations go from horrifying to grotesque.

Kristof and the New York Times evaded their responsibility to fact-check these outrageous claims by publishing them as an opinion piece rather than a news report. And neither tells the reader that the organizations and the named individuals who fed Kristoff much of his information are dedicated to destroying the state of Israel.

For example, Kristof leans heavily on an NGO called the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The founder of Euro-Med "has documented ties to senior Hamas leaders." The current Euro-Med chairman has "been identified as a Hamas employee" and "photos show both men standing directly behind Ismail Haniyeh at a 2011 event in Gaza." One of the Palestinian journalists he quotes, Sami al-Sai, celebrated terrorists on social media and was jailed by Israeli authorities for inciting violence.

Based on his biased and often unverifiable sources, Kristof argues that Israel engages daily in the kind of atrocities that Hamas engaged in on October 7, and unless the US forces Israel to stop, America is complicit in Israel's crimes.

This article has no purpose other than to malign Israel and give cover to the thousands of Hamas terrorists and others who entered Israel on October 7, 2023 and raped, tortured, and murdered their way through the Nova music festival and nearby Israeli communities, and continued to abuse the men, women, and children they dragged into Gaza as hostages.

The day after Kristof's piece appeared, the investigative report of the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children was released to the public. This comprehensive and minutely documented report found "that sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated during the October 7, 2023, massacre and atrocities by Hamas and other terror groups in Israel was systematic, widespread, and a key, calculated component of the brutal terror assault."

The Times of Israel reports:

The 300-page study produced by the Civil Commission, an Israeli NGO established to document the October 7 atrocities, detailed 13 types of sexual violence during the attack and against hostages, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture and mutilation, executions linked to sexual violence, postmortem sexual abuse, and sexual assaults carried out in the presence of family members, among other acts.

… For its study, the Civil Commission said it reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments; collected, transcribed, translated, and cross-referenced survivor and witness accounts; conducted visits to the sites of the October 7 atrocities; and met with families and affected communities.

In total, the commission relied on over 430 formal and informal interviews, testimonies, and meetings with survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, experts, and family members in compiling its report.

By publishing his inflammatory article the day before the report's release, Kristof and the New York Times attempted to dilute and divert attention from the Civil Commission's truthful indictment of Hamas' use of sexual violence. This is not journalism; it is a shameful and disgusting attack on Israel and America.

The New York Times continues to defend Kristof's piece, and may soon have to do so in court, because Israel is going to initiate a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.

Celebrating Three Historic Milestones on May 14

Today is a truly historic day!

May 14, 1948: David Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence (English calendar)

May 14, 2018: opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem (English calendar)

Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day): This evening begins the day on the Jewish calendar in which Jerusalem was liberated and reunified by Israeli forces during the Six Day War of 1967.

Israel's independence, the reunification of Jerusalem, and President Donald Trump's unprecedented recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital by moving the US embassy there - three miraculous, historic moments we remember today.

Short Takes

Tratt: There Are No ‘Moderates’: Most of the Democratic Party Is Turning Against Israel

For many Jewish Americans, the ascendance of [Abdul] El-Sayed, [Zohran] Mamdani, and Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate Candidate from Maine who has praised Hamas’ military tactics (and had an SS symbol tattooed on his body), reflects a new moment — a shifting of the Overton window that not only propels dangerous candidates to prominence, but paves a paradigm in which politicians whose views would have been disqualifying just a decade ago are rebranded as moderates.

… The retreat from previously held pro-Israel leanings is reverberating beyond Congress, as “moderates” like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) and Rahm Emanuel showcase their willingness to create daylight between the US and Israel.

Karsh: Behind the scenes of antisemitism

The recent surge in antisemitism worldwide is often described as a spontaneous social eruption. It is framed as ugly and alarming, yet diffuse in origin and difficult to trace with precision. That description is not simply incomplete; it actually obscures more than it reveals. It allows institutions and policymakers to treat the problem as ambient rather than organized, reactive rather than cultivated. The reality is more structured and far less comfortable: Antisemitism today operates through systems as much as sentiment. One of its principal architects is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

… Iran does not simply generate ideology; it operationalizes it. It crafts narratives, amplifies grievances, and cultivates proxy actors who can turn those ideas into actions, often far from Tehran but rarely disconnected from it. The exports extend beyond violence itself. It reshapes the moral language through which that violence is interpreted.

… This is a system — one that integrates ideology, organization, and action into a coherent strategy designed to pressure Jewish communities while reshaping public perception. The damage is not measured only in broken windows or burned vehicles. It unfolds in the normalization of fear and the gradual erosion of the assumption that Jewish life can exist openly and securely. When patterns are visible but unnamed, their consequences compound quietly.

Dershowitz: 1935: Was It the Worst Year in History?

What could the world have done in 1935 to prevent the catastrophe that happened between 1939 and 1945 – a catastrophe that ended in the death of more than 70 million people, including the genocide of 6 million Jews?

… So the question is, will 2026 be remembered by future generations for its inaction in failing to prevent the Iranian regime from developing and deploying a nuclear arsenal? Will a “deal” with Iran be viewed by future generations the way we now look at the deal Chamberlain made with Germany at Munich in 1938?

Or will 2026 be the year when action against Iran saved an indeterminate number of lives while those who took the action were criticized rather than credited?

Tweets

Events