Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month

While Biden And Democrats Allow Antisemitism To Flourish, Jewish Americans Are Increasingly Finding A Home With The Republican Party

REPUBLICANS ARE COMMITTED TO THE JEWISH AMERICAN COMMUNITY

• This Jewish American Heritage Month, the RNC is celebrating the historic achievements Jewish Americans have made to our great country.
• The Republican Party has a long history of breaking down barriers with the Jewish community. 
  • In 1906, Oscar Straus became the first Jewish Cabinet Member after being appointed Secretary of Commerce and Labor by President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • In 1925, Republican Florence Prag Kahn became the first Jewish woman elected to Congress.
  • In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) became the first presidential nominee of Jewish descent.
  • In 1973, Henry Kissinger became the first Jewish Secretary of State after being appointed by President Nixon.
  • In 1975, Edward H. Levi was appointed by President Ford as the first Jewish Attorney General.
  • In 2009, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) became the first Jewish House whip, and in 2011 he became the first Jewish House majority leader.

PRESIDENT TRUMP TOOK HISTORIC STEPS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL

• President Trump’s record of support for Israel and the Jewish people speaks for itself.
  • Under President Trump’s leadership the United States recognized Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel.
  • As President, Trump moved the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
  • President Trump also removed the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council due to the group’s blatant anti-Israel bias.
• President Trump brokered peace in the Middle East and fought for safety and security for the state of Israel.
  • President Trump brokered four Middle East peace deals in four months, collectively called the Abraham Accords, between Israel and Arab-Muslim nations.
  • Under President Trump, Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations on August 13, 2020 – the first Arab country to make peace with Israel in over 25 years.
  • Under President Trump, Saudi Arabia began allowing commercial flights to Israel to use its airspace for the first time in over 70 years.
  • Under President Trump, Israel and Bahrain normalized their relations on September 11, 2020.
  • Under President Trump, Israel and Sudan agreed to normalize their relations on October 23, 2020.
  • Under President Trump, Israel and Morocco agreed to full diplomatic relations on December 10, 2020.
  • President Trump brokered economic normalization between Serbia and Kosovo, which included Serbia and Kosovo agreeing to open embassies in Jerusalem.
  • President Trump announced the Vision for Peace Political Plan – a two-state solution that resolves the risks of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security, and the first time Israel has agreed to a map and a Palestinian state.
• President Trump also fought to protect Israel’s right to sovereignty over its own lands.
  • In March 2019, President Trump acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
  • In November 2019, President Trump declared that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not inconsistent with international law.
• In 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, President Trump proclaimed and celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month.

REPUBLICANS ARE MAKING INROADS WITH JEWISH AMERICANS WHILE BIDEN'S APPROVAL RATING PLUMMETS

• As Biden's approval falls, Republicans are gaining support among Jewish voters.
  • Exit polling from the 2022 midterm elections showed Republicans continue to make inroads among Jewish voters, gaining 9 points since 2016.
  • In the 2020 election, the Pew Research Center reported the national Jewish vote as 68 percent for Biden and 30 percent for President Trump, which was a six-point bump compared to President Trump’s performance against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
• As of February, Trump is up 9 points over Biden among Jewish New Yorkers according to a poll from Siena College.
• More than half of American Jews feel less safe than they did a year ago and half of Jews report altering their behavior to avoid antisemitism, including hiding their Jewish identity. 
• Sam Markstein, the national political director at the Republican Jewish Coalition, has reported that, “Jewish voters moving towards the GOP is a clear trend, long in the making.”

DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO CONDEMN GROWING ANTISEMITISM IN THEIR PARTY IN THE WAKE OF THE OCTOBER 7^th ATTACK

• On October 7^th, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas launched the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust, brutally massacring 1,200 Israelis.
  • In the aftermath, American Jews have faced an unprecedented level of public antisemitism, which many Democrats have failed to oppose.
• Vice President Kamala Harris said of college students protesting Israel’s right to defend itself, “I do understand their concerns and I will never attempt to stifle or silence young people from expressing their concerns.”
  • College protesters have gone far beyond “expressing their concerns” and have called for violence against Jews.
  • In 2021, Harris nodded as a student accused Israel of "ethnic genocide," and replied “your truth cannot be suppressed."
    • Iran, which supports and funds terrorism in Israel, promoted Harris' failure to stand up to the smear on social media.
  • In 2023, Harris sat in silence and then praised an audience member who peddled Hamas propaganda and baselessly accused Israel and the U.S. of "genocide.”
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), crowned ‘Antisemite of the Year’, has defended the genocidal slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and blamed Israel for the October 7^th attack.
  • Tlaib refused to apologize for spreading the lie Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza despite numerous reports demonstrating the bombing was conducted by Islamic Jihad.
  • Only 22  House Democrats stood up to Tlaib and voted to censure her for her antisemitism.
  • Tlaib has also said that she got a "calming feeling" when discussing the Holocaust and  called Israel a "violent apartheid system.”
• Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) called Israel’s military campaign against Hamas “ethnic cleansing” and called for ending aid to Israel.
  • Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), an outspoken supporter of the antisemitic BDS movement, has accused Israel of "apartheid" and refused to grant an interview to a local Jewish newspaper in her congressional district.
• The day after the October 7^th attacks, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was already calling for a ceasefire and de-escalation.
  • Omar has a long record of targeting Jewish people and Israel, including accusing Israel of "hypnotiz[ing] the world," equating Israel's security forces with the terrorist group Hamas, promoting the antisemitic BDS movement, and charging supporters of Israel with "allegiance to a foreign country."
  • In 2021, more than 200 rabbis wrote a letter directly attributing mob attacks on American Jews today to "the rhetoric of Rep. Omar and those who stand with her within and beyond Congress."
• Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) praised anti-Israel protesters after they crashed an event hosted by the senator.
• Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) defended the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), calling it “flat-out lies” that UNRWA is a proxy for Hamas.
  • UN Watch, a Swiss NGO that monitors the UN, reported in February 2024: “UNRWA in Gaza has been fully infiltrated by Hamas and is incapable of serving as a neutral humanitarian actor in the region.”
  • In 2021, Biden restored funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in The Near East (UNRWA), despite allegations of antisemitism in the organization going back years.
• Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for new elections in Israel in the middle of a war to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  • Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog said in response, “Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally.”
• Only 95 House Democrats voted for a resolution condemning rising antisemitism, while 13 voted ‘nay,’ 92 voted ‘present,’ and 13 did not vote.
• Just days after the October 7^th attack, Democrats in the Michigan state legislature rejected a resolution condemning the attacks because the resolution did not recognize “mistreatment of the Palestinian people.”
• None of the anti-Israel protesters who blocked Biden’s motorcade on his way to the 2024 State of the Union were arrested.
  • Instead, a Gold Star father, whose son was killed in Afghanistan, was arrested for shouting “Remember Abbey Gate”  during the speech.

BIDEN HAS BACKTRACKED ON HIS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL

• Caving to progressive anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activists, Biden has backtracked on his initial support for Israel.
• Biden harshly responded to the tragic accidental killing of several aid workers by Israeli forces, while his administration ignores the United States’ own miscalculated military strikes.
  • Israel apologized for the strike and dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others in response to the deadly incident.
• In March 2024, Biden said it was “a big mistake” to push for the total elimination of Hamas.
• Biden was recently caught saying he would have a “come to Jesus meeting” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  • Biden had previously called Israel’s response to Hamas’ horrific attack “over the top.”
• The United States failed to veto a UN Security Council Resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire without a demand for Hamas to release the hostages still being held in Gaza.
• Rather than inviting Netanyahu to the White House, Biden invited Israel’s opposition leader, Benny Gantz, to visit in March.

EVEN BEFORE THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR, BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS FAILED TO STAND UP TO ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS

• Biden and Democrat leadership have repeatedly failed to condemn anti-Israel smears and statements from within their own party.
• Biden's problem started on day one of his presidency when he had a preacher with a history of anti-Israel statements, Rev. William Barber, at his inaugural prayer service.
  • Barber's history includes calling Israel an "apartheid state" and downplaying the Holocaust, yet Biden has failed to condemn Barber's statements.
• Biden's own Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly failed to stand up to anti-Israel activists.
  • Last year, Kamala Harris rushed to assure BDS activists that the use of Israeli wine during a Passover Seder she attended was not a reflection of pro-Israel policy.
• When House Democrats tried to slash Iron Dome funding for Israel, Biden failed to denounce the attempt despite his administration's pledge that aid to Israel would "not be conditional."
  • Anti-Defamation League President Jonathan Greenblatt called this move a "shameful act" which "emboldens" terrorist organizations such as "Hamas and Hezbollah" fueling antisemitism.
• In October 2021, the Biden administration announced plans to open a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem despite Israel's objection that the move would delegitimize Israel, destabilize the Middle East, and threaten the security of Israel.
• In March 2022, the Biden administration even offered funding for efforts to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
  • The State Department offered up nearly $1 million in grant money for groups to "investigate alleged human rights abuses" in Israel, a move these groups could later use to lobby to "sanction Israel, promote BDS and use the 'apartheid' label."
• In February 2023, the Biden administration failed to defend Israel when the UN planned to vote on a resolution condemning Israel for recent actions to expand settlements, the first action the U.S. has allowed the UN to take against Israel in six years.
• Biden has shunned incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said he would not get an invitation to the White House "in the near term."

BIDEN KEEPS LYING TO JEWISH AMERICANS AS HE TRIES TO PANDER TO THEM

• During a talk with Jewish leaders in September 2021, Biden lied about visiting Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue after the 2018 mass shooting.
  • Barb Feige, the executive director of the Tree of Life, said Biden had not visited the Tree of Life Synagogue, the location of the worst anti-Jewish hate crime in U.S. history.
• In December 2021, Biden claimed in front of Jewish community members and Rabbis that he was invited by Prime Minister Golda Meir to serve as a "liaison" during Israel's Six-Day War. 
  • With Biden still in law school during the Six-Day War and Golda Meir not yet Prime Minister, there is no evidence for this claim.
  • Biden didn't travel to Israel until six years later, a visit in which he met with the Prime Minister and was critical of Israel and Jewish voters.
  • CNN called Biden's story "inaccurate," saying there is "no evidence that Meir had any intention of using him as any sort of 'liaison' between Israel and Egypt."