View Email in Browser     Visit RJCHQ.org     Donate     Unsubscribe

This Week:

• The Hard-Working Senator vs. the Nazi-Tattooed Oysterman
• RJC Calls Out Former Biden Chief-of-Staff Ron Klain for 'Whitewashing' Graham Platner’s Nazi Tattoo
• Social Media Deception Gives Iran a Weapon Against America
• RJC in the News
• Short Takes
• Week's Best Tweets
• Upcoming Events

The Hard-Working Senator vs. the Nazi-Tattooed Oysterman

The race for the US Senate seat in Maine will decide the Senate majority in the next Congress, and it has come down to two candidates who couldn't be more different: incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins vs. the Democratic nominee, Graham Platner.

Senator Susan Collins has consistently delivered for Mainers and for hardworking American families. She has championed lower taxes, secured critical investments in Maine's shipbuilders and rural communities, defended affordable energy, and worked tirelessly to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. She has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the American Jewish community through every trial and test, from confronting rampant campus antisemitism, to supporting the US-Israel alliance, to standing up to the Iranian regime and its terror proxies. Remarkably, Sen. Collins has never missed a roll call vote on the Senate floor in her entire career; she has cast over 10,000 consecutive votes.

Her opponent will be Graham Platner, "the first vanity oysterman and Nazi-tattooed Hotchkiss attendee to win a major party's nomination for US Senate while facing credible allegations of domestic abuse," according to the Washington Free Beacon's Andrew Stiles.

Platner, who wore the symbol of Hitler's SS on his chest for 18 years, has been described by former girlfriends and the former political director of his campaign as dishonest and abusive. In past social media posts, he called himself a "communist" and promoted political violence.

The New York Post reports that Platner, like other extreme leftwing elected officials, was groomed for the role he now plays by radical Democratic socialists:

The embattled Maine candidate for US Senate is vocal about his disabled-war-veteran, rugged-oyster-farmer, "working-class" persona — and less so about his attendance at an $80,000-a-year boarding school, his lawyer father, or his major architect grandfather.

That’s because he’s been coached on how to present himself, molded to present a specific image — and, in a sense, manufactured.

…The truth is he was discovered and coached by a pair of Ivy League-educated radical Democratic socialists, replicating a playbook they’ve used in Nebraska and Iowa.

Platner is a radical, immoral phony; in President Donald Trump's words, "a thug." Sen. Susan Collins is a dedicated, effective representative of her state and a friend of the Jewish community and Israel. It is vital that Senator Susan Collins keep her seat and that the operations pushing radical, anti-American candidates into public office be stopped.

RJC Calls Out Former Biden Chief-of-Staff Ron Klain for ‘Whitewashing’ Graham Platner’s Nazi Tattoo

JNS reports:

Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden, is facing backlash after he defended Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who has covered up a tattoo that he said he didn't know was Nazi imagery.

On Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to withdraw support for Platner, whom it condemned in the "strongest possible terms."

"A Nazi tattoo is disqualifying. Full stop," the RJC said. "Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America, and every Senate Democrat propping up Platner's campaign should be ashamed."

Klain, chief legal officer for Airbnb who is Jewish, responded on social media to the RJC statement, which he called "just a partisan attack."

"The tattoo was a skull and crossbones to remember his fallen comrades from his service in Afghanistan," wrote Klain, who hosted a fundraiser for Platner in Washington last week.

…Sam Markstein, national spokesman for the RJC, told JNS that "Ron Klain is not some random political operative who stumbled into this."

"He is President Biden's former White House chief of staff, Airbnb's chief legal officer and a former member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council," Markstein said. "He knows exactly what the insignia of the Nazi SS represents."

"Klain chose to host a fundraiser for Graham Platner anyway and is now whitewashing the Totenkopf skull and crossbones itself. It's a total disgrace," he told JNS. "One after another, prominent Jewish Democrats are lining up behind Graham Platner, a candidate caught wearing the insignia of the unit that ran the Holocaust death camps."

See more on this issue in the RJC in the News section, below.

Social Media Deception Gives Iran a Weapon Against America

RJC Board of Directors member Sander Gerber and Shawn Chenoweth write at the Washington Times:

The US is spending billions of dollars to degrade Iran's military. Iran is spending a fraction of that to degrade America's society using social media platforms as a force multiplier. America must defend itself by ensuring proper transparency on the source and authenticity of social media accounts.

… A Clemson University study published in March documented such an operation in real time. At least 62 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps affiliated accounts posing as Americans in Texas and California flooded social media with a unified false message: that US strikes on Iran were a betrayal of American voters, done at Israel's behest. The campaign resulted in nearly 60,000 posts, potentially reaching millions of users, and enabled the accounts to "gain meaningful influence" over time.

… Some initial reforms deserve acknowledgment. Efforts to label state affiliated media accounts and introduce greater transparency around algorithms are steps in the right direction, but they are not nearly sufficient to address the scale of the threat.

RJC in the News

This week, the RJC went all-out against the Democratic nominee for the US Senate from Maine, Graham Platner, and the Democratic leaders who are defending his indefensible behavior.

In fact, RJC drove the news cycle and had the story shared by Scott Jennings, Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita, Fox News’ Guy Benson, Shabbos Kestenbaum, Eyal Yakoby, US Holocaust Museum Memorial Council Chairman and RJC Board Member Jeff Miller, Katie Pavlich, Ruthless Podcast host Josh Holmes, former RNC spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko, former Ambassador David Friedman and many others.

RJC also earned media mentions for our USA 250 Gala in New York last month and our ongoing efforts to fight antisemitic and anti-Israel voices on the right.

Fox News: Biden confidant under fire for Nazi tattoo defense in latest Graham Platner fallout: ‘Disgusting’

[Ron] Klain sparked a fight with the Republican Jewish Coalition Wednesday when he defended Platner on the group's Instagram post condemning the candidate and calling on Democrats to withdraw their support.

...The exchange ignited a firestorm on social media, where critics argued Klain's defense reflected a broader unwillingness among Democrats to distance themselves from Platner amid the growing controversy.

JTA: Graham Platner, anti-Israel progressive, sews up Democratic Senate nomination in Maine

"Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America, and every Senate Democrat propping up Platner's campaign, should be ashamed," the Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement after the polls closed. "Their continued support of Graham Platner, who wore the symbol of Hitler's SS on his chest for 18 years is an outrage. Schumer must withdraw his support immediately."

Jewish Insider: Ex-Biden chief Ron Klain defends Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo

The RJC said on X that "Klain's pathetic rationalization of a clear Nazi symbol is a total disgrace," and that, as a former US Holocaust Memorial Museum board member, "Klain absolutely knows better."

"Every Jewish family in America knows what the insignia of the Nazi SS — the unit that ran the death camps — looks like and Klain knows exactly what it is too," the group said.

JNS: Gottheimer slams Platner supporter's claim that Israeli flag tattoo is worse than Nazi symbol

The Republican Jewish Coalition pointed to a recent endorsement of Platner by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

"In Graham Platner support world, an Israeli flag is more offensive than a Nazi SS concentration camp guard tattoo," the RJC stated. "This is what Chuck Schumer continues to defend. Outrageous."

Rivka Sonts/Jewish Link: RJC First-Ever NYC Gala Highlights Strength of US-Israel Alliance

The Republican Jewish Coalition's first-ever New York City gala drew 250 attendees, including rabbis, members of Congress, young activists, community leaders and supporters from across the political spectrum.

…RJC CEO Matt Brooks traced the arc of 40 years. The organization was founded in 1985 as the National Jewish Coalition — a handful of Jewish Republicans trying to earn a seat at the table. Sunday night that table held ambassadors, governors and members of Congress. "Stronger, more influential and more consequential than at any time in our history," he said. On antisemitism: "Silence is not an option. The RJC will never, never, never hesitate to call it out, confront it and fight it. The Republican Party today is more pro-Israel, more engaged with the Jewish community and more supportive of the US-Israel alliance than ever before."

JNS: Jewish Dems face choice of voting for anti-Israel candidates or helping GOP, experts say

"Our message to Jewish Democrats is simple: If your party won't stand with the Jewish community, you don't owe them your vote," Sam Markstein, the group's political director, told JNS. "There is only one party today where American Jews can be proudly Jewish and loudly pro-Israel, and it is the Republican Party."

JTA: Some Jewish Republicans say Tucker Carlson is a diminished threat. Others worry he'll run for president.

At the RJC's "America 250" gala last month, Republican Jewish leaders told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that enough Republicans had spoken out against Carlson – most significantly, President Donald Trump – and his ilk to damage their image and dampen the threat they might pose. They also pointed to major GOP critics of Israel who had lost their seats in recent months.

…"Being anti-Israel in today's Republican Party is not — unlike the Democratic Party — a path to success," said RJC CEO Matt Brooks during his remarks. Brooks later told JTA that [Tucker] Carlson, [Candace] Owens and [Nick] Fuentes' "influence and credibility is less than it's ever been" and that "they don't represent" the mainstream of the MAGA movement.

…Asked about the possibility of Carlson running for president, Brooks told JTA in a statement that the RJC would continue to push back against Carlson and similar anti-Israel figures.

"There is only one party where American Jews can be proudly Jewish and loudly pro-Israel, and it is the Republican Party — and those who imperil that will have to come through the RJC first," Brooks said.

…Brooks said in an interview with JTA  that he feels "very pleased" with how the party has responded to voices like Carlson's. President Donald Trump has publicly cast Carlson aside since his former ally sharpened his objections to the administration's war in Iran.

"It's been marginalized," Brooks said of the party's anti-Israel wing. "They tried to hijack the term MAGA. Groups like ours, but equally important, the president, has made it clear they are not MAGA."

Short Takes

Jewish Insider: House Appropriations Committee approves $40 million boost for 2027 NSGP funding proposal

The House Appropriations Committee approved a $40 million increase in its funding proposal for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program for 2027, boosting its recommendation to $355 million, in a Tuesday night session that stretched into Wednesday morning.

The funding increase was approved as part of a negotiated bipartisan package of amendments during an Appropriations Committee markup, which passed by a voice vote.

A source familiar with the situation credited Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Celeste Maloy (R-UT), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) with securing the increase.

Washington Free Beacon: Hamas Turns Gaza Hospitals and Schools into Torture Chambers as It Reestablishes Police State: Gazans Describe Horrific Interrogations, Beatings

Hamas has built makeshift torture chambers inside Gazan hospitals and schools where its men are interrogating and abusing fellow Palestinians suspected of disloyalty. The reign of terror comes as Hamas moves aggressively to reassert its power over the Gaza Strip, according to video testimonials and official government documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

JNS: US foreign aid watchdog finds more than 100 UNRWA employees linked to Hamas, Oct. 7 attacks

More than 100 staffers of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees participated in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and are affiliated with the terror group's military wing, according to the US Agency for International Development's Office of Inspector General.

The findings, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, were transmitted to the US State Department with a recommendation that 101 current and former UNRWA employees be suspended or debarred from participating in US-funded aid programs for 10 years. The individuals include school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counselors and medical professionals.

FDD: Crazy rich Qataris

Today, Qatar has a population of roughly 330,000 citizens – about equal to Honolulu – and, thanks to petroleum, they're crazy rich.

So, the question is: How are the Qataris spending their fortune?

Natalie Ecanow, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), has spent over a year digging through financial records. She's found more than $400 billion spent in the US since 2000 – approximately $1.2 million for every Qatari citizen. And that's probably a lowball figure because much of Qatar's spending is tough to track.

Qataris have poured money into multiple sectors of the US economy, including real estate, sports teams, and Hollywood studios. The Qataris also spent more than $295 million on roughly 70 lobbying and public relations firms.

Read details from FDD's analysis here.

Read more about Qatar's foreign influence operation in the US here, from The Focus Project.

Tweets

Events