APRIL 2022

Dear Friend,

We hope you had a festive and joyful Passover or Easter with family and friends. As I wrote in my latest Times of Israel column, in preparation for Passover I called for brotherly calm and peace during a month of increased terror attacks and unrest in Israel. Terrorists killed at least 13 innocent people in Israel within two weeks, threw rocks, and incited violence during Ramadan and Passover at the Temple Mount, while Hamas and other terror groups actively encouraged and cheered on the perpetrators. When Israel responds, as it must for the sake of everyone, Israel is condemned. It is a macabre drama we’ve seen before.

This recent uptick in violence puts into even greater focus why we must never waver in our bipartisan commitment to Israel’s security and its imperative to defend itself from its adversarial neighbors. We in the pro-Israel community must set aside our political differences and work together to combat the dangerous efforts to delegitimize and demonize Israel through distorted allegations and false narratives. This is especially true when anti-Israel members of Congress are echoing the “blame Israel” tactics of Hamas and others.

Amidst these virulent attacks on Israel, it’s unfortunate that self-proclaimed “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace” organizations like J Street are attacking truly pro-Israel groups, undermining the very notion of bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship (I wrote about this in a JNS column). These partisan attacks do nothing to advance peace in the Middle East or help ensure Israel’s survival – in fact, they take us further away from these goals. It's even more disappointing that J Street is actively defending anti-Israel candidates like Nida Allam, Donna Edwards, and Summer Lee.

Fortunately, thanks to the support of people like you, we continue to fight back and support truly pro-Israel candidates like Shontel Brown, running for her first full-term election in Ohio’s 11th district; Steve Irwin, running in an open seat race in PA-12; Gil Villegas, who is running to represent Illinois’ 3rd congressional district; and Janice Winfrey, who is aiming to oust one of the most vocal critics of Israel in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District.

We are pleased to let you know about two upcoming virtual meet and greets with two of these great candidates – Gil Villegas on May 10 at 4 PM ET, and Janice Winfrey on June 1 at 5 PM ET. Please join us for either or both and hear directly from the candidates about their races for Congress.

We hope that you will continue to join us in the fight to strengthen the critical U.S.-Israel relationship by sharing this email with your friends, family, and loved ones.

Best,

Jeff

READ: Times of Israel: A Call for Peace this Passover – “While there may not yet be peace, Israel remains stronger and more vibrant than ever. What was once only a dream is today a reality. Israel’s robust civil society, its entrepreneurial economy, its thriving institutions of learning, and its simple will to survive are all sources of its strength. And that strength is a force for good in the world. Even as Israelis absorb the dreadfulness of recent events, they are actively welcoming more than 15,000 Ukrainian refugees (mostly non-Jews) fleeing the horrors of war and thousands of Russian Jews worried about an uptick in antisemitism.” – READ MORE from PIA’s Executive Director Jeff Mendelsohn in his latest Times of Israel column.

READ: JNS: Partisan shots at AIPAC don’t help the U.S.-Israel relationship – “But now, some organizations that claim to be ‘pro-Israel’ are actively working to undermine bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship and instead are taking cheap political shots at other pro-Israel groups. While these political barrages are increasingly tempting in our polarized environment, it’s a dangerous path—one that any organization that truly wants to advance America’s relationship with Israel should not go down.” – READ MORE from PIA’s Executive Director Jeff Mendelsohn.

PRIMARY SEASON IS HERE: Have you checked out Pro-Israel America’s endorsed candidates in upcoming primaries? You can learn more about how you can help support these important races on our PAC website.