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Dear A.,
Israelis were forced to spend Passover in bomb shelters as terrorists launched a multi-front, coordinated attack against the Jewish state.
Dozens of rockets were fired into Israel from Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, while Palestinian terrorists killed four civilians, including two young British-Israeli sisters and their mother.
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We sent this memo to congressional offices on the latest attacks.
For years, Iran has heavily invested in the capability to direct and inspire a multi-front assault on the Jewish state, and this weekend exposed the danger this threat poses to all Israelis.
In a powerful and moving call for national pride and unity, Rabbi Leo Dee, husband and father of the three murdered Israelis, affirmed at his wife’s funeral:
"We will never accept terror as legitimate. We will never blame the murder on the victims. There is no such thing as moral equivalence between terrorist and victim."
American support for Israel is critical to ensuring it has the resources needed to protect its citizens and directly confront terrorists threatening the Jewish state. Over the past week, Israel took action in Syria and Gaza, while Iron Dome was utilized to intercept rockets and save countless lives.
Yet, as we work to ensure Congress stands with Israel, anti-Israel forces in America are working to undermine this vital support.
14 members of Congress, including nine endorsed by J Street, signed a one-sided, anti-Israel letter demanding the Biden administration condition aid to Israel.
Also this week, Justice Democrats — the organization that propelled AOC and the Squad into office — issued a call to all like-minded organizations to help take on AIPAC and "develop a strategy to defeat" us, pledging to coordinate "donors, operatives, and local community members on the ground—precisely mirroring the ideologically driven electoral infrastructure that the AIPAC network has already built."
The growing dangers on Israel’s borders and the political threats to American support for Israel here at home require us to redouble our efforts to ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
Together, we must work with leaders in Washington to enact pro-Israel policy, support our friends in Congress, and ensure anti-Israel candidates are not elected — making clear that being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics.
Israel Faces Wave of Iranian-Backed Terror on All Fronts
Over the past 10 days, Israelis faced a barrage of attacks from terrorists — mostly backed by Iran — on numerous fronts: Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
- Lebanon: On Thursday, Hamas launched 34 rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel — the largest escalation from Lebanon since 2006 — injuring at least three people and damaging several civilian buildings.
- Syria: Late Saturday and early Sunday, Iranian-backed forces in Syria fired six rockets at Israel — demonstrating Iran's commitment to using Syria as a new front against Israel.
- West Bank: On Friday, a Palestinian terrorist killed two British-Israeli sisters and their mother in a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley.
- Tel Aviv: Also on Friday, a 35-year-old Italian tourist was killed and seven were wounded in a car ramming attack in Tel Aviv.
- Gaza: On Wednesday, Hamas fired 18 rockets into Israel from Gaza, hitting a factory in Israel’s southern city of Sderot. On Friday, a Hamas official called to "bring annihilation upon the Jews. [...] Count them, kill them one by one, and do not leave a single one of them alive."
- Jerusalem: As Ramadan evening prayers ended on Tuesday night, around 400 Palestinian men barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque with fireworks and rocks, with the stated plan to attack Jewish visitors in the morning. The rioters prevented innocent Palestinian worshipers from leaving the mosque to use them as human shields against Israeli police.
These terrorist groups don't care about settlements, Ramadan or improving lives for Palestinians. Armed and financed by Iran, these terrorists are trying to kill innocent Israelis.
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Read this memo on the attacks that we sent to congressional offices this week.
138 Democrats and Republicans: EU Should Stand Up to Iran
This week,
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a bipartisan group of 138 House members — Democrats and Republicans — sent a letter to the European Union strongly urging them to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
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The letter — led by Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-NJ) — calls on the EU to "fully sanction, penalize and delegitimize the IRGC, to help prevent them from further threatening democracy & freedom in the United States, Europe, and around the world."
From the letter: "The IRGC has supported and participated in numerous human rights abuses and terrorist activities, including the brutal crackdown of Iranian protesters following the murder of Mahsa Amini, the attempted assassination of European citizens, and the provision of hundreds of lethal drones to Russia."
Background: The IRGC is the primary Iranian body tasked with funding, arming and training Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups.
Iran-Russia-China Axis Threatens America and Our Allies
Iran is strengthening ties with Russia, China and other U.S. adversaries to threaten American interests and allies around the world:
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On Sunday, a top Russian official met with the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Council in Tehran to discuss ways to thwart Western sanctions, including working to weaken the U.S. dollar.
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China and Russia are in advanced secret talks with Iran to replenish the regime's supply of a key chemical compound used to propel ballistic missiles — a flagrant violation of U.N. sanctions.
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Iran has been using earthquake relief flights to Syria to transport weapons and military equipment to its affiliated terror groups and the Assad regime, seeking to bolster its offensive front on Israel's border.
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The mission of AIPAC is to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.
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