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The RJC Weekly Newsletter

August 22, 2019

Your weekly look at the latest news, analysis,
and RJC activities around the country.

— Featured —

Reps.  Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

More on Tlaib and Omar's Canceled Trip

The fallout from Israel's decision to bar entry to Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) continued this week. The two hosted a press conference in Minnesota on Monday in which they repeatedly lied about their planned trip and about Israel. They talked about the "occupation" and called for cutting off military aid to Israel. 

The mainstream media noted Tlaib's tears at the press conference when she said that, "As a young girl visiting Palestine to see my grandparents and extended family I watched as my mother had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints," but no one asked her about the hundreds of Israelis who were killed in terrorist attacks before those checkpoints were erected.

Few media outlets reported on the congresswomen's planned itinerary to "Palestine", not Israel, nor on the group that was to be their host, Miftah. Miftah published a blood libel article that accused “the Jews [of using] the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover." It also published a neo-Nazi treatise against Jewish "control" of the media and paid tribute to suicide bombers who killed Israelis.

Likewise, there was no media outcry when the two congresswomen circulated on Instagram a cartoon by Holocaust-denying cartoonist Carlos Latuff -- who won a prize from Iran in 2006 for his anti-Semitic work.

President Donald Trump outside the White House.

Trump Defends Israel

President Donald Trump made remarks on Tuesday about Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), their call for cutting aid to Israel, and the Democratic Party's move away from support for Israel. The last element caused a media uproar: it is appropriate to examine that quote in context:

You should see the horrible things that Tlaib has said about Israel... Omar is a disaster for Jewish people... That was all going to be a propaganda tour against Israel...

Five years ago, the concept of even talking about this, even three years ago, of cutting off aid to Israel because of two people that hate Israel and hate Jewish people -- I can't believe we're even having this conversation. Where has the Democratic Party gone, where have they gone that they are defending these two people over the state of Israel? I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, it shows either a total lack of knowledge or a great disloyalty.

The RJC tweeted this response:

Yesterday, the President returned to his comments and explained what he meant by "disloyalty." Again, the context here is important:

Reporter: To whom are they being disloyal, sir?

Trump: We have a group... they are anti-Semites. They are against Israel. [Tlaib] had a plan to greatly embarrass Israel... it was very bad... They have become the face of the Democratic Party.

And I will tell you this, in my opinion the Democrats have gone very far from Israel. I cannot understand how they can do that. They don't want to fund Israel, they want to take away foreign aid to Israel, they want to do a lot of bad things for Israel. In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel. Only weak people would say anything other than that.

As a new firestorm erupted over the President's language, the RJC tweeted this response:

— More public statements from the RJC —

The RJC was quoted in The Times of Israel:

Neil Strauss, a spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, defended the president’s comments and said Trump’s critics were trying to distract from the Democratic congresswomen — two of whom, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib — last week were denied entry to Israel by Netanyahu’s government in a move endorsed by Trump.
 
Trump’s comments come “from a place of genuine support and admiration as evidenced by the fact that he’s the most pro-Israel president in history,” said Matt Brooks, the group’s executive director. “I’m very pleased with this contrast heading into 2020.”

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks spoke about Tlaib and Omar's planned trip on Trish Regan's PrimeTime show on the Fox Business Network. He said:

If you look at the itinerary of these two congresswomen, you will see that this was not a good faith trip to go with an open mind and to meet with folks and to learn about the different complex issues over the in region. They had no meetings scheduled with the Prime Minister, no meetings scheduled with anyone from the opposition parties, there was not a meeting with a single member of the Knesset, there was not a meeting with any of the members of the Israeli cabinet, or the military, or the intelligence folks. They came to Israel specifically to use Israel as a backdrop for them to promote their radical policy ideas.

Debra J. Saunders at the Las Vegas Review Journal reported on Tlaib's actions after Israel initially blocked their trip, and reactions to the incident:

Thursday, Tlaib asked Israel for admission on humanitarian grounds so that she could visit her grandmother who lives in the West Bank. She offered not to promote boycotts against Israel during the visit.

On Friday, Israel said yes. And within hours, Tlaib announced she would not be visiting her grandmother under Israel’s “racist” terms. Instead, she chose the victim card.

...As far as Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks is concerned, however, BDS is “a cover for anti-Semitism.”

“Being a member of Congress or an elected official is not a Golden Ticket for you to travel in bad faith to a host country for the sole purpose of using the country as a backdrop/platform to advance radical policy positions,” Brooks tweeted.

Is Brooks concerned that Trump is making the issue too partisan? “I’m a scrapper. I’m a fighter. I want a president who’s going to stand up and speak out against anti-Semitism” and oppose BDS, he said.

RJC Political Director Sam Markstein

New RJC Political Director Eyes Shifting Trends, Saying Republicans Could Gain Jewish Votes

Alex Traiman spoke with the RJC's new political director, Sam Markstein, who will be leading our grassroots advocacy for the 2020 election:

The last time more Jews voted for Republican candidates than Democrats was 1920... And while Republican President Ronald Reagan temporarily shifted Jewish trends somewhat towards Republicans—receiving as much as 39 percent of Jewish votes in 1980—since Bill Clinton took office, no Democrat has received less than 69 percent of Jewish votes.

New Republican Jewish Coalition political director Sam Markstein suggests that voter patterns may be changing. “Today, people understand that President Trump and Vice President [Mike] Pence are among the best friends Israel has ever had,” Markstein told JNS.

He predicts that in the coming 2020 presidential election, “the president will continue to outpace previous elections in terms of Jewish support,” adding that recent focus research indicates that greater numbers of Orthodox Jews, as well as a segment of younger Jews, are more likely to vote Republican than older voters.

“A recent poll conducted by AJC [the American Jewish Committee] revealed that nearly 60% of people believe that anti-Semitism is a growing problem on college campuses,” said Markstein, suggesting that students may start asking hard questions about which party is doing more to support Israel.

“Growing up, my parents were Democrats,” said Markstein. “They grew up in a time when the Democratic Party was unquestionably pro-Israel. Now, Democrats are calling into question their relationship with Israel.”

RJC is Hiring Field Staff for 2020 Outreach

The Republican Jewish Coalition is hiring field staff for our advocacy efforts in support of President Donald J. Trump’s reelection in various battleground states.

If you (or someone you know) have relevant political experience and a strong desire to make an impact at the grassroots level that will win the White House in 2020, CLICK HERE for details and application information.

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