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February 13, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
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J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami embraces Palestinian Authority
leader Mahmoud Abbas following his making statements at the Grand
Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Feb. 11, 2020.
A J
Street Hug for PA’s
Abbas
This week, the leader of a left-wing Jewish group that has
embraced the Palestinians’ anti-Israel narrative literally embraced
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian dictator. As JNS reports
(video at the link):
J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami embraced
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas after the latter made
statements at a hotel on Tuesday following his remarks earlier at a
U.N. Security Council session denouncing the Trump administration’s
Mideast peace plan.
The RJC called it “absolutely
disgusting” in a thread on Twitter:
“Absolutely disgusting that @jstreetdotorg’s @JeremyBenAmi
would embrace Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas funds terrorists to kill American
and Israeli Jews. He is a virulent anti-Semite. Ben-Ami isn’t a head
of state, he doesn’t have to pretend Abbas is legitimate,” tweeted the
Republican Jewish Coalition in a thread.
“The man @JeremyBenAmi kisses on both cheeks says Jews are to
blame for the Holocaust … Good job @jstreetdotorg …
Joel Pollak at Breitbart reminds us that many
of the Democratic
Party’s presidential contenders have close ties with J Street,
which has been supported by billionaire left-wing philanthropist
George Soros in the past.
The RJC wants to tell Jeremy Ben-Ami that he should be
standing up for the hundreds of Jews that Abbas has ordered killed,
instead of embracing him. Add
your name here to tell Jeremy Ben Ami that he doesn’t represent
us. He doesn’t speak for American Jewish
interests.
The Egged bus
company is one of the businesses on the UN Human Rights Council
blacklist.
UNHRC Blacklists Companies Doing Business Over the Green
Line
The Washington Post reports:
The United Nations released a long-anticipated, and explosive,
list of companies doing business with Israeli settlements in the West
Bank on Wednesday, a compilation hailed by activists as potential
leverage against expanding communities they see as illegal and
condemned by Israeli officials as biased and, by some, as
anti-Semitic.
The U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in
Geneva said it had reasonable grounds to identify 112 businesses —
most based in Israel but several from the United States and Europe —
that have business ties with the settlements. The companies range from
multinational cereal giant General Mills to an Israeli bakery chain.
… The BDS movement itself immediately called on its followers
to use the report as a target list. “These companies must be held to
account, including through strategic boycotts and divestment
campaigns,” the group said in a statement.
The list
includes some American businesses, including Airbnb, Booking.com,
Motorola, TripAdvisor, General Mills, and Expedia, as well as a few
European companies and 94 Israeli businesses.
CNS news quotes UN Watch Executive Director Hillel
Neuer, who notes:
“Dictatorships initiated this blacklist not because they care
about human rights, but to divert attention from serial rights abuses
committed by council members like Venezuela, Libya, and DR Congo, by
scapegoating the Jewish state…”
“Curiously, out of more than 100 territorial disputes in the
world today, including in Tibet, Kashmir, Crimea, Western Sahara and
Northern Cyprus, the U.N. chose only to blacklist companies doing
business in Israel's disputed territories…”
Former US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who will be a
featured speaker at the RJC annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas
next month, denounced the UN move, tweeting:
"The @UN hit a new low today publishing its Antisemitic
blacklist of companies it claims are involved in Israeli “settlement
activity.” The timing of this after the U.S. released a peace plan is
conniving & manipulative at best. Shameful.”
More reading:
In
Memoriam: Richard J.
Fox
The RJC notes with great sadness the passing this week of
Richard J. Fox of Pennsylvania, a founder of the RJC
who served as the organization’s first national chairman.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks delivered
remarks at the memorial service for Mr. Fox held at Temple University
on Tuesday. Brooks said that the establishment of the RJC was a
groundbreaking idea in 1985, because there were no specifically
partisan Jewish organizations at that time:
Why is that important? It’s a testament to Dick and his
visionary ability to see things that others don’t. He understood that
the existing model for Israel and Jewish issue advocacy was flawed, in
that when representatives of various organizations would come to lobby
in Washington, many of them had no relationship with the folks they
were coming to see. Dick knew, before anyone else, that if the same
meetings were held with supporters and allies then the tone, tenor,
and likely effectiveness of the advocacy would be much different. And
he was right.
… I was always struck by how Dick understood that getting a
meeting with political leaders wasn’t the end goal; having the
influence to make an impact was the true goal.
This distinction was a hallmark and a guiding principle of the
Republican Jewish Coalition since day one, and it’s one of the real
reasons we have been so successful.
At the same
time, Brooks pointed out, Mr. Fox put principle above politics and
didn’t flinch on those occasions where Republican leaders needed to
hear constructive criticism and thoughtful disagreement. For example,
Mr. Fox and the RJC stood up for Israel when the George H.W.
Bush administration wanted to withhold loan guarantees from
Israel. In the end, the loan guarantees went through, and Israel was
able to successfully resettle millions of Soviet Jews who had fled the
USSR.
Mr. Fox made a real difference through his personal life, his
work, his philanthropy, and his political activism. We are grateful
for his leadership, guidance, and friendship. May his memory be a
blessing.
Ron Weiser, Charlie and Lisa Spies, and
former Gov. Rick Snyder.
The Jewish Insider reports
on a special recognition given to RJC's dear friends Charlie
and Lisa Spies:
Once described as “the powe couple of Republican Jewish money
in politics,” Charlie and Lisa Spies attended a ceremony naming the
University of Michigan's Debate offices the “Charles and Lisa Spies
Debate Director’s Office." Board of Regents Chairman Ron
Weiser and former Governor Rick Snyder both
spoke at the ceremony. Also attending was strategist and former RJC
staffer Stu Sandler.
REGISTER NOW FOR THIS SPECIAL
EVENT
March 13-15 in Las Vegas: RJC National Leaders
are invited for a terrific weekend of politics, policy, and poker at
the fabulous Venetian/Palazzo Resort and Hotel. Attendees will have
the opportunity to hear from – and be heard by – some of the country’s
foremost politicians, policy makers, and leaders, including featured
speaker Ambassador Nikki Haley. It’s time to reserve
your spot! Visit RJCVegasMeeting.org
for details and reservations. (This event is open to RJC Leaders;
Leadership dues begin at the $1,000 donor
level.)
• The
Republican Jewish Coalition is hiring field staff for our advocacy
efforts in support of President Donald
Trump’s reelection in various battleground
states. CLICK
HERE for details and application
information.
• The RJC PAC
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CLICK
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And
don't forget your RJC/Trump kippah!
Our extremely popular
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Abbas’ Palestinian
Authority Hurts Everybody
Yosef Kuperwasser, senior project
director at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and RJC Board of
Directors member Sander Gerber write that the
Palestinian Authority’s poor performance and deep corruption prevent
progress toward peace. The Trump administration’s new peace
plan signals clearly that this Palestinian Authority has to be
replaced with a PA that first and foremost cares about the well-being
of its citizens and respects their rights, fights corruption, and has
well-functioning institutions.
White
House or Fight House? Tevi Troy’s new book looks at tiffs and turf
wars among White House staffers
Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss
interviews Tevi Troy, whose latest book,
Fight House, takes a close look at the
sometimes tumultuous relationships among White House staffers. In
detailing the relationships between key administration members — from
George Marshall and Clark Clifford
during the Truman years to Obama staffers Rahm
Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett — Troy
seamlessly weaves West Wing gossip with significant moments in modern
history.
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COMMUNITY EVENT WITH PROF. ALAN
DERSHOWITZ
Beverly Hills, CA- February 17,
2020
RSVP
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LEADERSHIP BRIEFING WITH REP. ELISE STEFANIK
(NY-21)
Midtown Manhattan, NY - February 18,
2020
RSVP
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NEW
DATE - AN EVENING WITH SEN. TED
CRUZ
Houston, TX - February 19, 2020
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DISCUSSION ON CHALLENGES FACING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
FEATURING ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Aventura, FL - February 23, 2020
RSVP
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IDF BRIEFING: SECURITY IMPERATIVES OF APPLYING ISRAELI
SOVEREIGNTY TO THE JORDAN VALLEY
Bala Cynwyd
- February 24, 2020
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REGISTRATION IS OPEN! RJC NATIONAL LEADERSHIP
MEETING
Las Vegas, NV - March 13-15, 2020
REGISTER TODAY
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