Republican Jewish Coalition

The Republican “Donnybrook” Begins At Republican Jewish Coalition Gathering!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Presidential race has begun, with Donald Trump declaring his candidacy last week in a very uninspiring manner, and a whole slew of potential candidates showing up to display their “virtues” at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering this past weekend in Las Vegas.

At least 21 potential Republican candidates are in the mix for 2024 at this point!

The potential candidates include those who worked for Trump, and those who looked the other way with his reckless, lawless behavior in office. It also included some who were neither category, but seem unlikely to make much traction!

Among those who worked for Donald Trump are former Vice President Mike Pence; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Among those who looked the other way are Texas Senator Ted Cruz; Missouri Senator Josh Hawley; Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott; Kentucky Senator Rand Paul; and a number of Governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida; Greg Abbott of Texas; Glenn Youngkin of Virginia; and Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

A third category are those who avoided embracing Trump, including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; outgoing Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.

Also, former Republican 2012 Presidential nominee and Utah Senator Mitt Romney; and Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger are truly anti Trump, and the latter two, of course, have served on the January 6 House Committee investigating the US Capitol Insurrection.

And an intriguing possility is African American Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina!

American Jews Do NOT Have Dual Loyalties

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American Jews do NOT have dual loyalties.

We are Americans first, not Israelis.

As an American Jew, I do not allow Israel or its leaders to influence my own views on that nation, and its relationship with the American government, and the whole Middle East cauldron.

And we can disagree with the Israeli government leaders and policies, as much as we can disagree with the American government leaders and policies.

So Benjamin Netanyahu is not our leader in the sense of support, anymore than Donald Trump is.

We can support the survival of Israel, and the advancement of America without supporting specific government leaders in both nations.

For Donald Trump to say otherwise, as he did before the Republican Jewish Coalition last weekend, is an outrage.

Two thirds of American Jews are Democrats, and most of them do not support the right wing policies of Benjamin Netanyahu.

All that Trump does by suggesting dual loyalties is to encourage antisemitism, and to promote anti Israel sentiments.

American Jews will be in the front line of criticism of extremist right wing policies by Netanyahu, as they are of extremist right wing policies by Trump.

Jewish American Heritage Month And Barack Obama Commitment To The Jewish Community And To Israel

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President Barack Obama gave a brilliant speech this week at a Washington DC synagogue, commemorating Jewish American Heritage Month.

Obama, an accomplished orator, celebrated the Jewish American influence on American history and culture; reminded us that he has hosted Passover Seders every year at the White House; and made clear his total commitment to the survival and stability of Israel.

This comes at a time when there has been debate and conflict about the difficulties between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is openly supportive of the Republican Party, and allowed himself to be used by Speaker of the House John Boehner before the Israeli parliamentary elections. Netanyahu should not have come to the US for a Congressional visit without the approval and support of the President, and John Boehner purposely set up the situation, which dramatized the personal animuus between him and the President, and Netanyahu and the President.

But despite these differences, Obama made clear that the stalwart support for Israel, no matter who leads the government, and the continued employment of the IRON DOME security system, shows that personal differences will NOT stand in the way of protection of Israel.

But at the same time, Obama continues to push the idea of two states in the area, Israeli and Palestinian, and the need for dialogue and progress on the issue of recognition, and limitation of new settlements in the West Bank.

The Republican Jewish Coalition is active in undermining Obama, and the Presidential campaign will sharpen differences, but the Jewish people in America, by about 65 percent, KNOW that Obama will do nothing to harm Israel, and that Israel has our back in any crisis or emergency, as always since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948.

The Republican Jewish Coalition, Israel, And Barack Obama: A Total Failure To Change The Jewish Vote

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The Republican Jewish Coalition made every effort to defeat President Barack Obama, but failed miserably!

In 2008, 78 percent of American Jews voted for the Democratic nominee; in 2012, after spreading lies and mistruths about Obama and Israel, the end result was that Obama received 70 percent of the vote, a total smack to the deception practiced by the RJC!

Why did 7 out 10 Jews remain loyal to Obama and the Democrats? The answer is that they knew that Obama had given more aid to Israel than any other President, including the IRON DOME missile system; that the Democrats were the party of social justice, as shown through Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare, along with civil rights legislation, environmental legislation, and stood for women’s rights; and also that the Republican Party wished to cut back on all these accomplishments, including wiping out ObamaCare.

Additionally, many American Jews do not trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it is now known that even people within his own government and military feel Netanyahu is too trigger happy, wanting to start a war with Iran before diplomacy has played its course, and that Netanyahu favored the Republicans and Mitt Romney from the beginning. So the question was: Should our President have to bow to every demand and detail that Netanyahu insists upon? Is he our President, instead of Barack Obama? And is it not true that Defense Minister Ehud Barak (former Prime Minister) and President Shimon Peres have raved about the support of Israel by our President?

Face the facts: The RJC was more concerned about preserving the wealth of Boca Raton Jewish residents and others elsewhere who are extremely wealthy, and do not wish to pay their fair share of taxes, as evidenced by the meeting in Florida of wealthy Jews where Mitt Romney said his famous “47 Percent” statement that harmed him greatly in the end result!

Also, Orthodox Jews as a group have a problem with socially tolerant views of abortion and gay rights, and are not seen as great advocates of civil rights for other minorities, other than themselves, sad to say!

And it is not just the RJC that was disgraceful!

It was also House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill, who has made it his mission to destroy ObamaCare and privatize Medicare, and is very mean spirited in his relations with the President, and is also well known for his attempts to undermine House Speaker John Boehner, who he would love to replace!

And also, House Republican candidate Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, who lost to Lois Frankel, has the same agenda as Cantor. And Josh Mandel, the GOP nominee who lost to Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ran a nasty, undignified campaign, and made clear that his goal was to promote the Tea Party radicalism of his party, rather than be part of the great majority who see their faith as connected to social justice!

Fortunately, both Hasner and Mandel lost handily, and it would be no loss to the nation if neither ever runs again, with their agenda to help the rich and powerful, and ignore the needs and wants of women, labor, minorities, gays, and senior citizens!

American Jews, Israel And Barack Obama: Why Two Thirds Of Jews Will Support Obama Over Mitt Romney

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With two days to go until the election, the Republican Jewish Coalition has been actively trying to convince American Jews that Barack Obama is not supportive of Israel, and that they should support Mitt Romney for President.

Will the RJC succeed? To some extent, yes, in the sense that while 78 percent of American Jews backed Barack Obama in 2008, the number will be down to about 60-63 percent in 2012.

There are those Jews who are extremely wealthy and do not wish to pay more taxes, such as the group which met in Boca Raton, at the infamous gathering where Romney talked about the “47 percent”. Those who are corporate, Wall Street, and banking related will wish to have the government abandon any regulations, so they can go about their merry way abusing their industries, as they did in 2008. and earlier, without any care for the damage they were doing to the American economy!

Those who are highly religious will use it as a means to promote prejudice, based on the belief that Obama is a secret Muslim, and of course, being black, is not a plus to highly religious people, whether Jewish or Christian, a sad commentary on what the meaning of religion is all about!

Those who look at Israel as the number one issue will wish to allow Benjamin Netanyahu to influence American policy, even though if any other foreign leader ever attempted to interfere as Netanyahu has, they would be infuriated by such boldness of a foreign leader!

But American Jews, while caring about Israel, will not allow Netanyahu, or religiosity, or counting their money, to be the key factors in their voting. So yes, the percentage will be down, but Jews who do not allow any of the above to influence them will remember that Obama and his party are the party of the New Deal and Great Society reforms, which Romney and the Republicans wish to destroy!

They will know that it was REPUBLICAN Presidents who made life much more difficult for Israel, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, even though the RJC conveniently manipulates the truth about that

They will know that Defense Minister Ehud Barak (a former Prime Minister); Shimon Peres (Israel’s President); Haaretz (the oldest Israeli daily newspaper); Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; and most prominent American Jewish leaders have all endorsed Obama, or said that he has been the best friend of Israel of all American Presidents.

They will know that most American Presidents either never visited Israel, or not in their first term, despite the lies of the RJC.

They will know that Obama has supplied Israel with the IRONDOME missile defense system, and more than $3.1 billion in security spending beyond that, and has defended Israel consistently in international organizations, including the United Nations.

They know that George W. Bush also talked about the 1967 borders as a beginning point for negotiations, the same thing that Barack Obama said.

They know the Jewish tradition of being activists in civil rights; of supporting women’s rights; of being big promoters of labor unions; of being involved in promoting education and the environment on a regular basis; and advocates of aid to the disabled; and of always being against the negativism of the Republican Party on domestic matters, always resisting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and every other social, economic and political reform the Democrats have promoted over the past century.

They know that the party of the people is NOT the Republicans, but the Democrats, and they are not about to abandon the party that has done so much good, particularly when we could see the alternative of the most right wing threat in American history since Barry Goldwater in 1964!

American Jews are OVERWHELMINGLY oriented toward reform, progress, change, compassion for those who are discriminated against and less fortunate, and they are intelligent and wise enough not to vote for the party of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and right wing evangelicals who wish to take away our civil liberties and civil rights!

So close to two thirds of American Jews will repudiate the RJC, and support their President, Barack Obama!

The Democratic Platform And Israel: An Unnecessary Blunder By Barack Obama! UPDATE: NOW RETURNED TO LANGUAGE OF 2008 PLATFORM, A GREAT MOVE!

Ronald 12 Comments

The decision of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Platform Committee at the Democratic National Convention, to eliminate language which was in the 2008 platform–referring to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and language dealing with the terrorist group Hamas, and the issue of negotiation of the fate of displaced Palestinian refugees by Israel—is an unnecessary blunder that should have been avoided.

Everyone who is fair minded knows that Barack Obama’s Presidency has been one of full support of Israel on all matters that impact them, while occasionally disagreeing on tactics and approaches of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, have both praised Obama, and declared him as strong a supporter of Israel as any President, since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948.

But the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Mitt Romney Presidential campaign are now jumping on the removal of the platform language, and it puts Obama and the Democratic Party on the defensive, when keeping the language would have avoided this problem, and would have done no harm.

So it is not the issue of being angry with Obama, although some Jews, obviously, will be so, but rather, why, oh why, did the President decide to “shoot himself in the foot”, and create an issue which might impact the election in the swing states, particularly Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, in particular, and might also make the victories of the President in other states with substantial Jewish populations a bit closer, and might affect Congressional or Senate races.

The Jewish vote, if a large percentage abandon the President and the Democratic Party, could have long range implications that no one is thinking about now.

And it could make the Islamic world think that Obama might not support Israel to the extreme, in case of an Iranian crisis, even though one should have no doubt about the matter, in reality. But perceptions often matter more than reality, so this is something that Barack Obama and the Democrats will regret, as it gives unnecessary ammunition to the Republican Party!

It has just been learned that the 2008 Platform language on Jerusalem being Israel’s capital city has been returned to the document, a GREAT MOVE!

The Battle For The Jewish Vote In The Presidential Election Of 2012: The Role Of The Republican Jewish Coalition

Ronald 3 Comments

The Jewish vote may be a small percentage of all votes cast in national elections, but it is well known that the Jewish community votes in higher percentages than any other group in American society, and the concentration of the Jewish population in certain states can have a great impact on the electoral college, as for example, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, all swing or battleground states.

So the battle for the Jewish vote is intense, with the Republican Jewish Coalition trying to increase the percentage of the Jewish population willing to vote Republican, which was unsuccessful in 2008, when 78 percent of the Jewish vote went to Barack Obama.

Latest indications are that 64 percent of the Jewish vote presently is in the Obama camp, down 14 points, but still two thirds of all Jews. So the Republican Jewish Coalition is hard at work trying to convince even more Jews of the following ideas:

1, Obama is not sufficiently pro Israel, and cannot be trusted to support Israel, due to the well known tension that exists at times between the Obama Administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

2. Obama refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, because of concerns about the Middle East balance.

3. Obama has not visited Israel as President in his first term, although he did as a candidate in 2008.

The reality is that the Republican Jewish Coalition has distorted reality dramatically, so how can one answer these three accusations?

1. Obama has backed Israel in the United Nations, has supported lots of extra aid and military support to Israel, has spoken up in defense of Israel in every way possible. And Israeli Defense Minister and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres have issued lavish praise on Obama as a great friend of Israel, as good as any other American President from Harry Truman through George W. Bush, and both Israeli leaders went out of their way to issue these statements of support.

2. It is true that no move has been made to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but NO President from Lyndon B. Johnson through George W. Bush has been willing to do so, because of sensitivity about peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and this includes Republican Presidents Richard Nixon,. Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, a total of FIVE Republican Presidents, as compared to FOUR Democratic Presidents, including Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Obama!

3. It is true that Obama has not visited Israel in his first term, but NO President, Democratic nor Republican, has done so in their first term, and of course, Ford, Carter, and Bush I only served one term or less as President.

So the accusations of the Republican Jewish coalition are distorted, untrue, purely propaganda, and it will not succeed in bringing larger than about a third of the Jewish vote to Mitt Romney!

A Split In The Jewish Community Over Barack Obama

Ronald 1 Comment

The Jewish community in America is badly split over supporting Barack Obama for re-election.

The vast majority of Jews seem ready to endorse and back Obama for a second term in the White House, encouraged by his domestic reform initiatives in the tradition of the New Deal and Great Society, and his policies backing the traditional friendship with Israel and insuring its security. The public statements of the Israeli Ambassador to the United States and the Israeli Defense Minister praising Obama also help insure the support of much of the Jewish population, which traditionally votes Democratic since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But two groups break from that sense of positive support of Obama–the Orthodox Jewish community and many wealthy Jewish businessmen and their families who are part of the “one percent”!

These two groups are willing to endorse Newt Gingrich’s statement that the Palestinians are “an invented people”, to wish for an attack on Iran based on its potential threat to Israel and the West (another preemptive act as in Iraq in 2003), and to be opposed to much of the traditional reform programs of the New Deal and Great Society, in their fierce desire to avoid paying more equitable and fair levels of taxation!

The Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in New York City recently was disturbing in seeing that a minority of Jews have a totally different perspective based on their religiosity, and their desire to avoid paying taxes despite their financial success.

Obama received 78 percent of the Jewish vote last time, although John McCain received 80 percent of the Orthodox Jewish vote. This time, Obama will probably get a bit less, which could be decisive in several states in a close election scenario.