October 7th, 2024
In this edition
A strong national defense is essential to protecting our American way of life.
Veterans On Duty continues the fight back at home, advocating for military and national security policies that will keep America safe, strong, and free. |
In our latest edition, we have an interview with Rep. Tim Walberg, a leaked position paper from a top House Democratic candidate, op-eds from Reps. Darrell Issa and Mike Lawler about Israel and combatting anti-Semitism, and much more.
| [1] | Interview: Rep. Tim Walberg’s case to chair Ed and Workforce
By: Matthew Foldi
Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) will make the Education and Workforce Committee a leading committee next Congress if he has his say, he told the Washington Reporter in an exclusive interview.
“Ed and Workforce is key to all that America is made to be,” Walberg, who is running to chair the committee in 2025, said. “Education should have one goal in mind…it should provide the ability for people to work. As simple as that: educate to work. And right now we have kind of lost that. We need to bridge the gap between the needs of the workforce and job creators and our higher education. Bring business, the workforce entity, into the education entity, making them work together.”
Most Americans started tuning into the Ed and Workforce Committee, which is responsible for the ouster of multiple college presidents at elite universities, following the terrorist attacks of October 7. But for Walberg, the attacks didn’t change what the committee has aimed to do for years: expose “the rot that's in our higher education institution system.”
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Tim Walberg about everything from electric vehicles to student loans to China, and why he wants to be the next chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee.
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[2] |
Heard on the Hill
What we're hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!
- Light ‘em up: Gov. Doug Burgum (R., N.D.), freshly back from a trip to Israel, lit up his mansion in blue and white lights to commemorate the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks. His team sent us pictures you can see here.
- Desperate times: Shortly before the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks, Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks announced plans to host a fundraiser with Sen. Chris van Hollen (D., Md.), one of the Senate’s most stridently anti-Israel members.
- Help is on the way: Since Hamas’s invasion of Israel on October 7, there has been a sharp drop in investment in Israel. Texas Venture Partners (TVP) founder Lorne Abony is focused on investing in Israeli companies in the defense technology and artificial intelligence sectors. TVP wants expanded partnerships between American and Israeli partners; its new fund will partner with Israeli businesses and startups to fund products and technologies that will be of use to Israel, America, and allied countries.
- With friends like these: One day before the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack, Kamala Harris refused to say if Israel’s prime minister is an ally. Watch here.
- Palestinian “Week of Rage” hijacking Oklahoma: Students for Justice in Palestine at both Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma to plan the “end of the Zionist regime” in the words of SJP at OSU.
- Double standards at UMD: Following a court order, the University of Maryland is hosting a “vigil” by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine today, in which the protesters will falsely and baselessly accuse Israel of “genocide.” Posts for the event, reviewed by the Reporter, contain zero mention of Hamas’s terrorism, but do beg attendees to “leave any pepper spray or sharp objects as the university has set up bag checks upon entry.” Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R., Md.) has led the bipartisan criticism of the event. The campus, on the other hand, was quick to ban fraternities, a move that was ultimately also overturned after legal action.
- Not very neighborly: Hours before the October 7 anniversary, a group of masked, anti-Israel protesters set up camp outside the home of Rep. Greg Landsman (D., Ohio), a Jewish member of Congress from Ohio, “forcing police to escort my family in and out of our house for safety,” the lawmaker noted.
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| [3] | Exclusive: Bernie Sanders holds anti-Israel legislation until after the election, following pressure from White House and Senate Democrats
By: Matthew Foldi
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) caved to pressure from the White House and Senate Democrats who urged him to delay his latest attack on Israel until after the election — in exchange for more Democratic votes, multiple sources confirmed to the Washington Reporter.
Sanders’s latest publicity stunts have taken the form of a series of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval of recent arms shipments to Israel; they have been signed onto by only three other anti-Israel Senators: Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), and Peter Welch (D., Vt.); not all signed onto every Sanders measure.
The Vermont lawmaker introduced these measures as Congress was poised to recess before the election, leaving insufficient time for a vote. The primary arms sale that Sanders and his colleagues are objecting to was notified to Congress over two weeks before theirs measure was introduced, further suggesting that politics were at play in when they timed their Joint Resolution of Disapproval’s drop. Sanders waited over a week after its notification to announce his “intention” to push back against the arms sales.
Click HERE to read more about why Sen. Bernie Sanders caved to pressure from the White House on his latest anti-Israel measure.
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[4] |
Exclusive: Leaked position paper shows top Dem House candidate wants Jerusalem divided
By: Matthew Foldi
Nebraska Democratic congressional candidate Tony Vargas wants Israel’s capital city to be divided, his leaked position paper obtained by the Washington Reporter reveals.
Vargas, who has spent much of his campaign against Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.) on the defensive over reports that he assaulted a taxi driver, wants a “shared capital for both Israel and a future Palestinian state in Jerusalem,” he says in his paper.
Vargas’s website mentions no foreign policy positions, and the New Yorker-turned-Nebraskan “hasn't been very forthcoming on Israel,” Townhall reported.
Click HERE to learn more about how General Don Bacon and Democrat Tony Vargas completely differ on support for our ally, Israel.
| | | [5] | Scoop: Anti-Israel Hill staff sending “urgent request[s] for dissent memos”
By: Matthew Foldi
Far-left Hill staff are urging their colleagues to submit “dissent memos” advocating for America to abandon Israel as the Middle Eastern war expands.
The effort, which received positive coverage from the New York Times over the summer, has yet to yield results. One veteran Hill staffer told the Washington Reporter: “I saw more effective resistance protesting the closure of &pizza in Rayburn.”
Anti-Israel staffers have attempted to steer their bosses away from America’s strongest ally in the region, sending out at least nine “urgent request[s]” last month, per records reviewed by the Reporter.
Click HERE to read more about how anti-Israel staff are trying to sabotage their bosses.
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A strong national defense is essential to protecting our American way of life.
Veterans On Duty continues the fight back at home, advocating for military and national security policies that will keep America safe, strong, and free. |
| [6] | Israel, Russia, China, emerge as issues in sleeper Senate race: “I haven’t heard anything from him”
By: Matthew Foldi
A purportedly independent Senate candidate who is being supported by hundreds of thousands of dollars from Democratic Party donors “needs a civics lesson” and some foreign policy primers, according to his Republican opponent.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R., Neb.) is facing a challenge from Dan Osborn, who is running as an independent despite the financial support he receives from some of the nation’s leading progressive groups. In advance of the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks, Fischer blasted Osborn’s record on foreign policy. “I don’t know where he stands on the war in the Middle East,” she said.
Click HERE to read more about how the Democrats’ favored Senate candidate in Nebraska is failing foreign policy tests.
| | | | [7] | Op-Ed: Rep. Darrell Issa: Israel must win
By: Rep. Darrell Issa
On October 7, 2023, I was getting ready to board a flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel along with several of my colleagues on a Congressional delegation. Then came the first reports and the continuing confirmations of the brutal and deadly attacks by Hamas that killed more than a thousand Israelis and saw hundreds more dragged into Gaza to be held as hostages. Our hearts sank with the realization that this was Israel’s 9/11. We were redirected back to the United States.
But we weren’t there long. I returned to Israel alongside my friend Sen. Joni Ernst and once there we immediately visited the kibbutzim ravaged by the terrorists who carried out an unprovoked slaughter of civilians. We saw the blood stains and bullet holes on the walls of homes, while others were completely burned to the ground. We saw the ransacked possessions of the residents, and the scattered toys of children. We were shown residences and told “there were no survivors.”
One year later — and with the support of its strongest friends — Israel has rallied and rebuilt, answered anguish with action, and turned the tide against terror. It is a remarkable achievement that may indeed be the hinge of history turning.
Some today call for a cease-fire. But when has Hezbollah ceased fire? Every day, what is left of Hamas continues to fire. Now Iran is launching deadly missile attacks directly at Israel’s most populous cities. The fact is, Israel has no record of attacking its neighbors, but only punching back.
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Darrell Issa about why Israel must win this war.
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[8] |
Op-Ed: Rep. Mike Lawler: We can never forget October 7, nor can we fail to hold terrorists and anti-Semites accountable
By: Rep. Mike Lawler
Today marks the first anniversary of the worst mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists launched a brutal and unprovoked attack on Israel, murdering over a thousand innocent men, women, and children, sexually abusing many and taking hundreds hostage.
Among those butchered and taken captive were dozens of Americans. We must stand with our close ally in its time of need and support them as they fight not only to rescue their citizens who were taken by Hamas, but ours as well.
I have met with family members of Americans and Israelis whose relatives were killed or taken hostage by Hamas — in New York, in Washington, and in Israel. I have traveled to Israel twice in my official capacity during my first term in office.
Click HERE to read more from Rep. Mike Lawler about his record of bipartisan achievements in combatting anti-Semitism in America and abroad. | | | | [9] | Op-Ed: What does October 7 mean for Jewish voters and the Republican Party?
By: Bonnie Glick
We have all heard the question from our Republican friends: “why do Jews, in such large percentages, insist on voting for Democrats when two things are clear: first, that the Democratic Party has abandoned its side of the bipartisan support for Israel and second, that the radical Left that has hijacked today’s Democratic Party uses its power to undercut the institutions that Jews believe in and helped to build: businesses, universities, the U.S.-Israel relationship, and even the law itself?”
Our response to these Republican friends was laid bare on October 7, 2023. We found ourselves answering, “we have no idea why they tend to vote for the Democrats, but we’re going to do our level best to ensure that they know the costs of doing so this election.”
The world was caught by surprise and aghast on October 7, 2023. The most brutal attack against Jews (and non-Jews) since the Nazi Holocaust of World War Two was carried out in one day with thousands of terrorists and civilians invading southern Israel from the Gaza Strip intent on wanton slaughter, gang rape, kidnapping, theft, and destruction.
Click HERE to read more about the stakes of the 2024 election for American Jews.
| | | | | | | [10] | Op-Ed: Michael Chamberlain: The Department of Interior’s dereliction of duty puts people and our shared cultural heritage at risk
By: Michael Chamberlain
“A government of laws, not of men.” John Adams’s vision for the United States seems kind of quaint in these days when “mostly peaceful” demonstrations come with arson, body counts, and multi-million-dollar property damage. Our laws are enforced selectively — especially, it seems, when it’s the Department of the Interior (DOI) and its National Park Service (NPS) doing the enforcing.
When most Americans hear the words Department of the Interior, they think of the people in charge of managing our national parks and lands. While that is part of what DOI does, an equally important aspect of the mission of the department is preserving our cultural heritage through the NPS and the U.S. Park Police (USPP).
Unfortunately, under the current Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, NPS has failed in both of these missions, most spectacularly the latter. These failures by the agency drove Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) to file a complaint with the DOI inspector general’s office regarding multiple incidents of DOI’s dereliction of duty in protecting our nation’s cultural heritage, not to mention the safety of law enforcement and civilians, in the Washington, D.C. area.
Click HERE to read more from Protect the Public’s Trust’s Michael Chamberlain about the failures of Secretary Deb Haaland to prosecute criminals who ransack American cities. | |
| [11] | What we're reading
Fox News: Biden enriched Iran by more than $50 billion. Here's how to turn off the spigot, by Rep. Darrell Issa and Rich Goldberg.
Jewish News Syndicate: The secret of Netanyahu’s unacknowledged and historic popularity, by Caroline Glick.
Axios: The disappearing Bidens: A quiet end to a presidency, by Alex Thompson and Neal Rothschild.
Washington Examiner: Democratic software ActBlue allows Palestinian terrorism-tied group to fundraise, by Gabe Kaminsky.
South Bend Tribune: Hamas bears the sole responsibility for ending this conflict. It could release the hostages tomorrow, but it chooses not to, by Rep. Rudy Yakym.
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