What to Watch
September 7, 2020
Election Day 2020 is just 57 days away, and here is your
update on the stories and trends to watch this week. Let us have your
feedback at [email protected].
In Case You Missed
It
Omri Nahmias reported for the Jerusalem
Post on how
Republicans are reaching out to Jewish voters:
Matt Brooks, the executive director for RJC, told
the Post that the race is tightening and becoming more
competitive.
"There’s no question people are fired up," he said.
In the next two weeks, RJC will formally launch its Jewish outreach
efforts on six key states.
"Florida obviously is at the top of the list, but Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Georgia, Arizona and Michigan are the states that we’re focusing
on," Brooks said.
"We’ve been doing a lot of things behind the scenes in terms of the
data mining analytics – voter file, phone calls. But now we will enter
into the more public phase in terms of the advertising campaigns, the
mail, and the ‘get out the vote’ efforts, including a very
sophisticated effort to target, track and turn out people who are
going to be voting by absentee ballot or early voting," he
continued.
"So we’re very excited, and we remain confident that because of the
historic leadership of this president in terms of being the most
pro-Israel president in history, we will increase the share of the
Jewish vote 2020."
Click
here to continue reading this article.
Support For Trump Is Growing –
And For Good Reasons
Meet three people who are publicly offering their support to
President Donald Trump because of the President’s
great achievements in the last three years.
- Rabbi Alan
Sherman of Florida: I am proud to be the only Reform
rabbi openly supporting President Trump.
-
Michael
I. Krauss, professor emeritus of law at George Mason
University: [In 2016,] I thought I was a Never Trumper. Now I realize
I was wrong. The Trump presidency has been, to a large extent,
successful. The president has performed his duties and genuinely tried
to keep his promises.
- NYC Councilman Chaim
Deutsch: A Democratic New York City Councilman, penning
an opinion column praising President Donald Trump? Yes – you read that
right. In the three and a half years that he’s been in office,
President Trump has arguably advanced Israel’s position in the world
further than the last two presidents combined.
Here are some examples of why we need to reelect President Trump
for four more years:
- Senator Ted
Cruz: If the American people want a president who has
prioritized their interests by focusing on national security and
advancing American interests abroad, President Trump is the right
choice. In the past four years, President Trump has accomplished real
policy objectives that for decades politicians liked to talk about,
knowing full well they could never take the bold steps necessary to
follow through. Moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
is just one example.
- Secretary of Veteran Affairs Robert
Wilkie: It’s been more than a year since President Trump
ushered in the greatest improvement to veteran health care since World
War II, and the media still refuse to credit him with this
accomplishment.
- National Security Advisor Robert
O’Brien: President Trump has made good on [his] pledge by
fighting antisemitism at home and abroad and by standing shoulder to
shoulder with Israel, the historical homeland and refuge for the
Jewish people.
-
James
Carafano, president of foreign and defense policy studies
at The Heritage Foundation: Under Trump, the US is a reliable partner
for our allies. The US doesn’t shed allies — it builds
partnerships.
-
Jonathan
Gardner, reporting at Fox Business: Dow turns positive
for 2020, with S&P on pace for best August since 1984.
Finally, RJC Leader Martin Oliner urges
American citizens living in Israel to vote for President Trump in
2020. Some 300,000 American in Israel are reportedly eligible to cast
votes in the US election this November. Oliner writes that given the
many actions President Trump has taken to strengthen the US-Israel
alliance and make Israel stronger and more secure, Americans living in
Israel should help him win reelection. Information on voting from
abroad can be found here
and here.
Congressional Elections Are
Critical This Year
Yoram Ettinger, a former Israeli ambassador and
consultant to Israeli and US legislators, writes
that "the outcome of the November 2020 election to the US House of
Representatives and Senate will greatly impact US national security
policy, in general, and US-Israel relations, in particular." The
retirements and primary losses of veteran mainstream Democrats in
Congress has seen the rise of "Progressive Democrats," whose agenda is
harmful to American and Israeli interests. Read
more here.
The RJC PAC has endorsed terrific Republicans that we need in the
House and Senate. Two of them are in tough races, as recently reported
in the media:
Visit the RJC
PAC web site to donate to Zeldin, Tillis, and the other GOP
candidates who need your support!
Top News From The
Weekend:
Another Diplomatic Breakthrough For The Trump
Administration – And Israel
Fox News reports
that on Friday, President Donald Trump oversaw
the signing of an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo that normalizes
economic relations between the two countries — and also includes
Kosovo recognizing Israel, and Serbia agreeing to move its embassy to
Jerusalem.
Tiana Lowe at the Washington
Examiner explains
the significance of this achievement:
The blockbuster agreement dovetails with two of the
administration's most important diplomatic efforts. First is Jared
Kushner's hotly publicized push to achieve the formal recognition of
Israel in the Middle East. Second is Richard Grenell's mission to
bring peace in the Balkans.
It's hard to overstate the sheer impossibility of resolving
the Kosovo problem, which goes back centuries.
The New York Times notes
another important provision of the Serbia-Kosovo deal: "The
agreement also calls on Serbia to diversify its energy supplies, which
are now fully in Russia’s hands — something unlikely to be approved by
Moscow."
Richard Grenell, the Trump Administration’s
special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, comments that this
historic advance was made possible by President Trump’s approach to
diplomacy:
Friday’s agreement reflects President Trump’s long-held
vision for Kosovo and Serbia to focus on economic development, job
creation and industrial development as prerequisites to the permanent
resolution of political disputes. His belief from the start has been
that trust is built first in the process of creating opportunities and
futures for young people, rather than in the settlement of scores,
symbolism or the righting of historical wrongs. The US will spend the
next year implementing these new agreements, and the people and
governments of Kosovo and Serbia have the full trust of the US
government to carry them forward.
As a demonstration of good faith from the two parties toward
the US, Serbia and Kosovo also committed Friday to cooperate with
certain key US policy priorities in the region. Both parties pledged
to protect and promote freedom of religion, including renewed
interfaith communication, protection of religious sites, and continued
restitution of Holocaust-era heirless and unclaimed Jewish property.
Both agreed to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist
organization and fully implement measures to restrict Hezbollah’s
operations and financial activities in their jurisdictions. Both
agreed to work with the US government to decriminalize homosexuality
in the 69 countries where it is currently illegal. And, perhaps most
importantly of all, Serbia has pledged to move its embassy in Israel
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while Kosovo has agreed to mutual
recognition with Israel.
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