RJC in the News

Last Sunday we held a terrific virtual event with Sen. Ted Cruz. If you missed the event, be sure to watch the recording featured on the RJC website homepage. (Scroll down to “RJC Live”.)

• The Jewish Insider quoted Sen. Cruz telling the RJC audience: 

“This is not your father’s Democratic Party. This Democratic Party is radicalized. It’s radicalized on every axis,” Cruz explained, citing legislators including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). “If you look at the voices that are on the ascent in the Democratic Party, it is Bernie Sanders, it is AOC, it is Ilhan Omar, it is Elizabeth Warren — it is the angriest and most radical far-left views,” Cruz said. 

“And when it comes to foreign policy, Bernie Sanders, who had the triumphant first night of the Democratic convention, described and said his movement is winning and has been adopted by Joe Biden,” he added. “I believe foreign policy under the Biden administration will be driven by Bernie, who wants to slash our military spending and gut the Defense Department. It will be driven by [Ocasio-Cortez] and Omar, who we see now with repeatedly antisemitic, anti-Israel comments. It is the Israel-hating far left that is dominant in the Democratic Party right now.”

• RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks participated in a panel discussion hosted by the AJC on “The Future of the US-Israel Relationship: Challenges and Aspirations for a Vital Alliance” with Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1), Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles, and Kirsten Fontenrose of the Atlantic Council. The thoughtful, in-depth conversation can be seen here.

• The Washington Post published a profile of Vice President Mike Pence this week and asked RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks for his thoughts: 

[Pence] focuses on personal touches, sending notes and cards and thank-yous, and hosts meals with operatives and donors. His office is fastidious about fulfilling small favors — organizing White House tours and answering calls from lobbyists, executives and others…

“As we say in the Jewish community, everybody thinks the vice president is a mensch,” said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

• When it was discovered that Mary Ann Mendoza, who was slated to address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, had promoted an antisemitic Twitter thread, the GOP quickly removed her from the program. The Republican Jewish Coaltion praised their response, as the Washington Post reports: 

“We are deeply troubled by Mendoza’s tweets and comments that trafficked in vicious anti-Semitic messages,” Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said in a statement. “While we mourn the horrible loss of her son, her views clearly disqualify her from addressing the Convention. We are pleased that Convention officials took prompt action to make sure the Convention reflects who we are and our values as a party.”

• The RJC was delighted to see one of our members, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, give the opening prayer on the third night of the Republican National Convention. Rabbi Spero is a prominent conservative thinker whose articles have appeared in dozens of major publications. You can watch him here.