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February 20, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
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Who Are
You Calling
Racist?
In a CNN town hall in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Sen.
Bernie Sanders said,
“To be for the Israeli people and to be for peace in the Middle East
does not mean that we have to support right-wing, racist governments
that currently exist in Israel.”
The RJC responded to this outrageous comment with a
statement by RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks
that was picked up by Jewish media outlets in the US and
Israel:
Sanders says he supports the Israeli people, just not their
democratic government. As it happens, the policies that Sanders calls
racist are supported by all the major contenders to be the next
Israeli prime minister and by the vast majority of Israeli voters,
because they defend the basic national security needs of the Jewish
state.
It is outrageous that a mainstream US political party
candidate for president would call the Israeli government racist. It’s
especially ironic to hear that from Sanders, who has chosen virulently
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic individuals to represent him as
surrogates in his campaign and who has been endorsed by a Who’s Who of
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic personalities.
Start with surrogates Linda Sarsour (who
described herself as "an unapologetic pro-BDS, one-state solution
supporting resistance supporter") and Amer Zahr (who
tweeted: "Describing defenders of Israel as 'scumbags,' 'pigs,'
and 'bastards' is not necessary. 'Zionist' is sufficently insulting").
Then there are the endorsements from Rep. Ilhan Omar
(D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), whose anti-Semitic
comments are well documented.
This is not the first time that Sanders has called Israel’s
government "racist." In an April
2019 CNN town hall event, Sanders said of the peace process:
"[The] goal must be to try to bring people together and not just
support one country, which is now run by a right wing, dare I say,
racist government."
Last year he "dared" to say it. This year, he said it and
received applause from the CNN town hall audience.
This is just another example of the deepening and deeply
troubling alienation between the Democratic Party and Israel.
And in other Sanders news, the socialist contender for the
Democratic nomination named Abrar Omeish, a Fairfax
County (VA) school board member, to be one
of his Virginia campaign co-chairs. Omeish is the daughter of
Libyan-born jihadist sympathizer Esam Omeish,
according to the Center
for Security Policy. The elder Omeish is a former president of the
Muslim American Society, a group identified by federal prosecutors as
the “overt
arm” of the US Muslim Brotherhood. Abrar Omeish herself was active
in a Muslim-Brotherhood founded group at Yale
University.
L-R: Professor Alan
Dershowitz, Robert M. “Bob” Shrum, and Judge Alex Kozinski.
Dershowitz and Shrum Debate at RJC Event in
LA
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reports:
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz
and Democratic strategist and director of the Center for the Political
Future and professor of political science at USC Robert
Shrum engaged in a heated debate over Dershowitz’s role
serving on President Donald Trump’s impeachment
defense team.
The duo faced off at the Saban Theatre on February 17 in a
wide-ranging discussion organized by the Republican Jewish
Coalition and hosted by Rabbi David Baron.
… As Dershowitz and Shrum went back and forth, the moderator,
former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, remained
mostly quiet, leaving it to Baron, whose congregation, Temple of the
Arts, meets at the Saban, to walk onstage and ask the speakers and
crowd for more civility.
Baron moderated the second and third parts of the evening,
featuring Dershowitz and Shrum discussing the #MeToo movement and
“Rising Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism.”
… Shrum and Dershowitz did agree on one thing: They both oppose
the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
… At the end of the tense 75-minute back and forth, Dershowitz
and Shrum shook hands. “We can violently disagree,” Shrum said, “but I
think we have some common respect for each other.”
However, as the speakers headed offstage, the audience chanted
“Four more years!”
Coming
soon: On Monday, February 23, Professor Dershowitz
will speak to a packed house of RJC members in Aventura, Florida, to
discuss: The Challenges Facing Our Community: How
Do We Combat Rising Anti-Semitism at Home and Abroad? How Do We Defend
an Israel Under Siege? Click here for
details.
Democrats Debate Who is Farther
Left
The Democrat debate in Las Vegas last night focused a great
deal on which candidate was richer, older, or healthier. But there was
also a competition to see which of the candidates could go farther to
the left. The Issues and Insights editorial board tackles
this element of the primary race in an editorial this week entitled:
"The Billionaire and the ‘Moderates’ Are Socialists Too.” They write:
[Bernie] Sanders and
[Elizabeth] Warren may be perceived
as the ones on the fringe, but on health care, environmentalism, and
the massive tax increases needed to finance their ideological crusades
– so massive that the new levies will by necessity hit the middle
class hard and devastate the economy – the others have left the
now-uncool, too-cautious Barack Obama far behind.
[Amy] Klobachar,
[Joe] Biden, and
[Pete] Buttigieg too, despite his
apparent concern about costs, are really all socialists in deed if not
name.
Meanwhile, [Michael]
Bloomberg, with his strong authoritarian tendencies,
seeking to dictate what size soda New Yorkers are allowed to drink and
imposing aggressive police tactics – two policies that were both
knocked down by the courts – may actually be the most frightening
Democrat of all. Because if he could do the harm he’s done with tens
of billions of dollars of his own money, imagine if he were allowed to
spend trillions of dollars of other people’s money.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours the
Jordan Valley last week. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO
Trump’s Peace Plan: A Matter of
Perspective
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an
op-ed this week at Israel Hayom in which he
writes:
The "deal of the century" presented by my friend, US President
Donald Trump, offers the State of Israel a historic
opportunity that won't return: to protect and defend our country,
determine our borders, and ensure our future. We must do all we can to
capitalize on this opportunity and not squander it.
The Prime Minister goes on to debunk false claims about the
deal, including the idea that the peace plan will create a Palestinian
state that supports terror. Read the whole piece here.
Over at Commentary, Seth Mandel
focuses on the responses from American Jewish organizations to the
Trump plan. He criticizes J Street and the Israel Policy Forum for
their opposition to the plan. Then he
writes:
The idea that the plan might be too favorable to Israel was a
particular concern to the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “The
complete absence of the Palestinians today speaks volumes about the
illegitimacy and naiveté of the process that led to the plan’s
creation,” the JDCA said in a statement, blaming everyone but the
Palestinians for their intransigence.
True, the American Jewish Committee had only good things to
say about it, and the Republican Jewish Coalition and
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
endorsed it. But even AIPAC, while praising Trump’s effort and
intentions, equivocated that “both Israeli political leaders view this
framework as the basis to restart negotiations with the Palestinians,”
distancing the organization from the appearance of a direct
endorsement.
What’s happening here is more than a skirmish over a peace
plan, or a distressing glimpse into the way American Jewry’s leaders
privilege their partisan leanings over the fact that their leadership
roles in American society are due to their Judaism and not their
Democratic Party membership. What we are seeing is the way American
Jewish leaders fail to take seriously the rising tide of anti-Semitism
that masquerades as “anti-Zionism”—and even the way progressive groups
enable it. Attacking an American plan for its pro-Israel lean is
nonsensical for those who should, by the very nature of who they are
and what they do, want the United States to have a pro-Israel lean.
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
has endorsed a terrific slate of House and Senate incumbents, and we
need them to continue their work on Capitol Hill!
CLICK
HERE to donate through the RJC PAC portal and show your support for
our great candidates!
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And
don't forget your RJC/Trump kippah!
Our extremely popular
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and handling. Supplies are limited.
BUY YOUR KIPPAH HERE.
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Chris Murphy is a massive
hypocrite on Iran
David Harsanyi pulls no punches in his
criticism of Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and other
Democratic senators secretly meeting with Iranian foreign minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif last
month.
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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
RSVP
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SHOSHANA BRYEN: THE VISION - THE TRUMP MIDDLE EAST
PLAN
Delray Beach, FL - February 27,
2020
RSVP
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SHOSHANA BRYEN: IRAN'S IMPERIAN
OVERREACH
Aventura, FL - February 28,
2020
RSVP
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REGISTRATION IS OPEN! RJC NATIONAL LEADERSHIP
MEETING
Las Vegas, NV - March 13-15, 2020
REGISTER TODAY
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SHOSHANA BRYEN: ONGOING THREATS IN THE MIDDLE
EAST
Beachwood, OH - March 29,
2020
SAVE THE DATE
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