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November 20, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
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Featured —
Trump Administration Makes History Again with
Israel
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Israel
this week, making history. He became the first
US secretary of state to visit an Israeli community in Judea when
he stopped at the Psagot winery. He is also the first US secretary of
state to visit the Golan Heights; he toured the area near the Syrian
border.
Today, Secretary Pompeo issued new guidelines to label Israeli
goods made in Judea and Samaria as “Made in Israel.” The Hill
reports:
Pompeo said the new State Department guidance applies to
Israeli goods made in areas “where Israel exercises the relevant
authorities,” notably settlements in Area C of the West Bank —
territory that is under Israeli civil and military control as
determined by the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Such products when exported to the United States will be
labeled as “Israel,” “Product of Israel” or “Made in Israel.”
Pompeo further said that products made in territory under the
control of the Palestinian Authority will be recognized as products of
the “West Bank” and a separate label would be given to products made
in Gaza.
… “Under the new approach, we will no longer accept ‘West
Bank/Gaza’ or similar markings, in recognition that Gaza and the West
Bank are politically and administratively separate and should be
treated accordingly,” he said in a statement.
Secretary
Pompeo also announced this week that the US will recognize the global
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as antisemitic. He
said, “The time is right… We want to join all the other nations
that recognize BDS for the cancer that it is.” He added that
“anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Another historic moment: Secretary Pompeo was present to
welcome the
first-ever official ministerial visit from Bahrain to Israel.
Leaders from the US, Israel, and Bahrain met in Jerusalem to formalize
the Abraham Accords.
All of these unprecedented events happened because of the
strong support of the Trump administration for Israel.
Irit Tratt examines the changing demographics
of the Jewish community and how they may impact future elections. She
writes:
Jewish migration from blue states to swing states is
increasing and is likely to continue. Consequently, there is likely to
be a renewed focus on our community’s vote — and that vote is going to
matter more in these swing states than it does in traditional Jewish
strongholds like New York, New Jersey, and California. Additionally,
the ascent and growth of an anti-Israel block in the Democratic Party
could erode Jewish support there…
…In the coming years, the Republican Party as a whole will
have the opportunity to continue to develop and nurture its
relationship with the Jewish community as Jewish voters become a more
concentrated voting bloc in areas outside of the tri-state area and
California.
House leaders Reps. Scalise, McCarthy,
and Cheney.
The House GOP caucus elected its leadership this week. The
Wall Street Journal reports:
Two of Mr. Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, House
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Minority
Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), easily won re-election to
their posts Tuesday afternoon, buoyed by House Republicans’ strong
election showing in which they narrowed the Democrats’ majority.
…Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)… also retained her
position as chairwoman of the House GOP conference…
We
congratulate the reelected House leaders, who are good friends of
Israel and the RJC.
In our “What
to Watch” newsletter on Monday, we noted several congressional
races that were still undecided. This week, Burgess
Owens (UT-4) and Andrew Garbarino (NY-2) won
their races; Tom Kean (NJ-7) narrowly lost his race.
Overall, Republicans did better than expected in holding and
picking up House seats. Cabot Philips at the Daily
Wire notes
that the respected Cook
Political Report rated 27 House races as “toss-ups” and
Republicans won all 27.
Scott Johnson at PowerLine highlights the 12
GOP candidates (as of 11/15) who flipped seats in the House from D to
R here.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats nominated Rep.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to another term as Speaker of the
House. As Zachary Evans at National Review
notes:
“The Speaker needs to win 218 votes from her dwindling caucus to be
reelected in January.”
Senators Kelly Loeffler and David
Perdue.
The RJC encourages its members to support Senator David
Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler in their
runoff elections in Georgia. The election will take place on January 5
and will determine the balance of power in the US Senate. Both parties
are pouring resources into the state.
RJC members are giving generously to the Perdue and Loeffler
runoff campaigns through the RJC PAC. Have you made your contribution
yet? YOU
CAN DONATE HERE!
Note that donation limits have reset for the runoff.
Individuals can give up to $2,800 and couples up to $5,600 to each
candidate, regardless of how much you gave to Sen. Perdue and Sen.
Loeffler during the general election.
We’ve already
heard from many RJC members who want to volunteer to make calls into
Georgia or take on other tasks. Sign
up here to help with phone banking. We are also doing
FOUR days of in-person door-knocking deployments on the ground in
Georgia. Click here
or on the graphic below to sign up!
Reps. Tlaib, Omar, and
Ocasio-Cortez.
Out with the
Old “Squad;” In with the
New
Jonathan Tobin has a
must-read op-ed this week about the “Squad” - Reps.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan
Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Arguably, the Squad’s radical agenda cost their party seats in the
House this year. But they and their extremist allies in the Senate,
including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth
Warren, are hoping to influence a potential Joe
Biden administration to push their agenda. They will succeed
if Democrats capture the majority in the Senate. That puts moderate
and pro-Israel Democrats in a bind. Read the whole thing here.
Republicans may get their own squad, a “Freedom Squad,” as the
NY Post reports:
Congresswoman-elect Nicole Malliotakis will
be the only Republican member in the New York City delegation come
January and she is promising to be a conservative counterweight to
Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by fighting for the
“right” and forming her own “squad” of anti-socialists.
…Countering AOC’s socialist-leaning agenda is also personal
for Malliotakis, whose mother’s family fled Cuba.
She joins a trio of other new House Republicans whose families
left Communist and socialist societies — including Cuban Americans
Carlos Gimenez and Maria
Elvira-Salazar in southern Florida and Ukrainian American
Victoria Spartz in Indiana. “We need to form our own
‘squad.’ We have a group of new Republicans who love America. We value
freedom, liberty and opportunity,” Malliotakis said.
In
an interview with the Jewish News Syndicate:
[Malliotakis] touted her own record of voting for resolutions
condemning BDS, calling out anti-Semitism and being critical of
members of Congress such as “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for
making anti-Semitic remarks.
On foreign policy, Malliotakis praised U.S. President
Donald Trump’s actions on Israel and said that the
U.S.-Israel relationship is important for economic, military and
security reasons, and needs to be strengthened.
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We
still have the 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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Israel-bashing
at the WHO — in the middle of a
pandemic
Some things, sadly, don’t
change. Last week the World Health Organization devoted four full
hours of its annual assembly in Geneva to bashing Israel for
supposedly violating the health rights of Palestinians.
By a vote of 78 to 14,
with 32 abstentions, the assembly resolved to hold the same “debate”
over Israel again next year, and to order a new report on the “health
conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East
Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”
Rudy
Boschwitz at 90
RJC Leader Senator Rudy Boschwitz was
celebrated by friends, including Senate leaders past and present, on
the occasion of his 90th birthday. The University of Minnesota’s
Humphrey School has posted a trailer for a 30-minute broadcast-ready
program about Rudy’s life and accomplishments. It’s an inspirational
story: fleeing Nazi Germany, building a business, raising a family,
serving in the US Senate. See it at the link above. Our best wishes go
out to Senator Boschwitz.
— Events —
RJC Victory Team
Georgia Runoff Days of
Action
We are holding Virtual Days of
Action and making calls on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays
to get out the vote in Georgia for the very important runoff elections
there on January 5. Click
here to sign up and help!
December 2: A Special Virtual
Event
Join us for a live webinar on December 2
at 2:30pm Eastern: "The Senate is at Stake - A Conversation with
Senators David
Perdue and
Kelly
Loeffler,"
moderated by RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman. Click
here to register!
You can watch these past virtual events
on
the RJC web site:
- Closing Arguments: What's at Stake for
the Jewish Community, featuring Jason
Greenblatt
- A Conversation with Boris
Epshteyn
- A Conversation with Senator Ted
Cruz
- A Conversation with Jason
Miller
- RJC Town Hall with Nikki
Haley and Mark Levin
You can access all of them by going to
the RJC
homepage and scrolling down to the "RJC Live" section. There's a
drop-down menu there to select the video you want to
see.
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,
and to donate
to the RJC.
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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