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May 28, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
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While RJC offices are closed and our staff are teleworking, you
can reach us by email or by phone (please leave a voicemail message
and your call will be returned). Contact
information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please
visit us online for the latest RJC
news, to volunteer
for our 2020 outreach efforts, to see details of upcoming events
(when they resume), and to donate
to the RJC.
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Featured —
• The RJC supports Randy Feenstra’s effort to
unseat Rep. Steve King in the GOP primary next week
in Iowa’s fourth congressional district. Jacob
Kornbluh notes
in the Jewish Insider:
King has a history of making bigoted comments against a
variety of minority groups, and has faced criticism for his
association with far-right political parties in Europe… Last year,
House Republican leaders voted to remove King from the Judiciary and
Agriculture Committees following comments that appeared to defend
white nationalists and white supremacists.
Feenstra, who serves as assistant majority leader in the Iowa
State Senate, supports our ally Israel and has praised the pro-Israel
policies of President Donald Trump. Kornbluh quotes
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks on what
is important in this race:
“Steve King’s comments put him clearly outside of the
mainstream of the Republican Party and they certainly don’t reflect or
represent what we feel to be the values of the Republican Jewish
Coalition,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks told JI. “And given
that we think we have a strong candidate who can win in Randy
Feenstra, we felt it important to take a stand and to make a clear
statement that we will do everything in our power to defeat King in
the primary and to elect somebody who is better representative of our
values.”
… RJC’s Brooks pushed back against criticism that his
organization has abandoned a strong supporter of Israel [in King].
“Because somebody stands with us on Israel, which we appreciate, that
does not give them a pass to support white nationalism and embrace
white nationalist candidates,” Brooks said. “Our endorsement and our
support transcends that — Randy Feenstra is going to be a great friend
and outspoken supporter of Israel.”
Brooks noted that the action taken against King by the House
Republican Caucus “stands in stark contrast to the lack of action by
any of the leaders on the Democratic side with regard to the blatant
antisemitism of [Rep.] Ilhan Omar and the offensive
and troubling comments by Omar and [Rep.] Rashida
Tlaib.” He added, “Republicans have shown that there are
clear red lines and act when people within our party cross those
lines.”
Other major media outlets are reporting on the Feenstra-King
race and noting the RJC’s support for Feenstra, including Politico,
ABC
News, and USA
Today.
• The Algemeiner reports:
Pro-Israel Jewish groups expressed appreciation to US
Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as he is
expected to step down from his role, which he assumed two years ago in
May 2018.
…“We have the deepest admiration for Ambassador Grenell and
thank him for his tireless work on our country’s behalf. Grenell’s
work combating antisemitism in Europe, advocating for our ally,
Israel, and taking on Russia’s attempts to insinuate itself into
Western Europe has been among the most important diplomatic work in
decades,” said Republican Jewish Coalition spokesperson Neil
Strauss in a statement.
• RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks appeared
on i24News for an interview with Calev Ben-David.
They discussed the Jewish vote in 2020 and the stark contrast between
Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the
American people and the Jewish community in particular. Watch
it here.
Police guard a road to deter
pro-democracy protesters, Hong Kong, May 27, 2020.
The
Problem of
China
China not only gave us the coronavirus that has now killed
over 100,000 Americans; it is reported that China is also trying to
steal American research into the virus. Republicans in Congress want
to know more. Washington Free Beacon reports:
Republican lawmakers are demanding the FBI and other federal
officials provide them with information about recent disclosures that
China hacked US coronavirus research.
A group of lawmakers on the House Science, Space, and
Technology Committee wrote to leaders of the FBI and Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) asking them to provide details
about China's efforts to steal American health data and intellectual
property belonging to US organizations currently conducting research
on the coronavirus.
Freedom-loving people have watched the Chinese attempts to end
the autonomy and freedom of the people of Hong Kong with growing
alarm. Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told
Congress that the city of Hong Kong is no longer an “autonomous”
entity. Zachary Evans writes
at National Review:
“The State Department is required by the Hong Kong Policy Act
to assess the autonomy of the territory from China,” Pompeo wrote in a
statement. “I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not
continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same
manner as US laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997. No
reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high
degree of autonomy from China…it is now clear that China is modeling
Hong Kong after itself.”
In light of the ongoing challenges that China poses to the
economy, security, and health of the United States and other Western
countries, the US has asked its allies to sever ties with China in
areas with security risks. This includes Israel. Lahav
Harkov reports
in the Jerusalem Post:
Israel has selected local company IDE Technologies, rather
than a Chinese firm, to construct the world’s largest desalination
plant, the government announced Tuesday.
…The US has asked its allies, including Israel, in recent
weeks to sever ties with China – Israel’s third-largest trading
partner – in areas with security risks, a US official with knowledge
of talks on the matter said last week.
In the same vein, US Ambassador to Israel David
Friedman chose Communications Minister Yoaz
Hendel as the first minister in the new government with whom
he held a meeting, along with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee chairman Zvi Hauser, the other member of
the Derech Eretz faction.
Sources in Derech Eretz confirmed that the matter of 5G and
Chinese technological investments in Israel came up in the meeting.
Lisa Scheller, Jewish Republican candidate in
PA-7
• RJC-endorsed candidate Lisa Scheller was
profiled by Jacob Kornbluh in the Jewish
Insider this week. Scheller, who is an RJC Leader, is running in
Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district. Kornbluh
writes:
If elected, Scheller will increase Jewish representation in
Congress on the Republican side and is one of a few candidates vying
to be elected as the next Jewish Republican congresswoman. Republican
Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks told
JI his organization “is very excited” about Scheller’s candidacy. “We
believe that she has an outstanding chance of joining Rep. Lee
Zeldin (R-NY) and David Kustoff (R-TN) as
Jewish Republicans in the House come November,” Brooks predicted. He
added that Scheller “has got the right mix, drive, and passion that
will make her not just a leader in Congress but somebody who will be
outspoken on the issues that the Jewish community cares about.”
Click here to support Lisa Scheller for
Congress.
• Ryan Lizza and Daniel
Lippman at Politico report
that Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama
administration and now a professor at Harvard, is terrifying
Democratic policy advisors with his prediction that the economy will
quickly rebound from the coronavirus lockdown. He told them: “We are
about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this
country.”
Lizza and Lippman write:
Furman’s counterintuitive pitch has caused some Democrats,
especially Obama alumni, around Washington to panic. “This is my big
worry,” said a former Obama White House official who is still close to
the former president. Asked about the level of concern among top party
officials, he said, “It’s high — high, high, high, high.”
…The former Obama White House official said, “Even today when
we are at over 20 million unemployed Trump gets high marks on the
economy, so I can’t imagine what it looks like when things go in the
other direction. I don’t think this is a challenge for the Biden
campaign. This is the challenge for the Biden campaign. If they can’t
figure this out they should all just go home.”
The RJC
is committed to reelecting President Donald Trump,
keeping the Senate, and winning back the House. We encourage
our members to participate in our outreach phonebank project to help
Republicans win in November. It's easy, and you can do it from
home! Here's how YOU can help:
- Sign up to
call Jewish voters from home by clicking HERE.
-
Fill out all of the fields.
- Listen to the instructions and write
down your username and password when a member of the RJC Victory Team
contacts you.
- Make as many phone calls as you can. Everyone you
speak to is a potential vote for President Trump and the
GOP!
Sign up now and you could be the next RJC
Volunteer of the Week!
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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.
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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
red Trump kippah is now for sale for just $18. This includes shipping
and handling. Supplies are limited.
BUY YOUR KIPPAH HERE.
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End
of the Obama era
Victor Davis Hanson notes that after
years of suppression, the truth about the bad actions of Obama
administration officials is coming to light. He writes: “The
scandalous list is so overwhelming and bizarre that it ensures that
anything at any time can now appear. And the result keeps reminding
Americans of how corrupt were the years between 2009 and 2017 and how
untruthful was the coverage of such institutionalized wrongdoing.”
Read
the whole thing.
US
to end waivers allowing foreign firms to work at Iranian nuclear
sites
The Trump administration announced that it would end
waivers that have allowed Russian, Chinese, and European companies to
continuously operate at Iranian nuclear facilities, ending the last
vestiges of sanctions relief under the 2015 Iran nuclear
deal.
Trump
to sign Never Again Education Act into
law
US President Donald Trump is expected to
sign the Never Again Education Act into law today. The Act seeks to
expand Holocaust education in the United
States.
Ilhan
Omar complains about “rubber
stamp”
In an interview with The Sunday Times (UK) Rep.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) commented that “money and influence
and connection” are how Saudi Arabia and Israel get the Trump
administration to “rubber stamp” their “destructive” policies. She
seems to think if she adds Saudi Arabia in there, it sounds less
anti-Semitic.
Open
Skies: The cassette deck of
treaties
Shoshana Bryen writes about the Open
Skies Treaty, which permits member countries to conduct aerial
reconnaissance of each other’s territory and collect data on military
forces and activities. Russia has been cheating on the treaty for
years. Bryen points out that new technology – and an appropriate
wariness of Russia – make leaving the treaty a matter of American
national security.
THE OFFICERS AND STAFF OF
THE RJC WISH YOU A HAPPY AND MEANINGFUL SHAVUOT!
— Events —
RJC Victory Team National Day of
Action
Please join us for the upcoming RJC Victory Team Virtual Days
of Action scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, Thursday, June 4, Tuesday June 9, and Thursday, June 11. We'll continue our calls to potential
Jewish voters in Florida, Georgia, and Arizona, key
battleground states of the 2020 election cycle. Click
here to sign up and help!
We look forward to scheduling in-person grassroots events and
resuming our chapter activities around the country as soon as
possible. Don't forget to check our
web site for updates.
We also encourage you to check out the terrific content and
virtual events offered by our sister organization, the Jewish
Policy Center.
If you like the work we’re doing, consider joining us on
Facebook and Twitter, and renew or upgrade your RJC
membership. Ensure that your voice is heard in our party
and our community!
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