Free Republic

JTA - Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency rolled out its Israel Advisory Committee last week -- no one noticed. Blame the unrelenting news cycle, if you will: July 14 was the day of the hideous mass killing in Nice, France. But also, his Israel Advisory Committee consists of exactly three Jews, including two who work for him. Not much news here, move along. Trump’s unusual campaign extends to its Jewish outreach, or rather his lack of Jewish outreach resembling anything that has come under that rubric in other campaigns. Campaigns routinely distribute talking points to Jewish supporters and cultivate...

Donald J. Trump announced the formation of the Israel Advisory Committee to analyze U.S. policy toward the State of Israel, enhance the unbreakable bond between the countries, ensure Israel’s military superiority within the region and research alternative solutions to the Israeli/Palestinian discord. Previously tapped to work with Trump was CO-Chairman of the Israel Advisory Committee, Jason Greenblatt, Esq., an Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of The Trump Organization. Today, it was announced that Trump appointed another Orthodox Jew, Dr. Richard H. Roberts, M.D., Ph.D. as the Vice Chair of the Israel Advisory Committee. Dr. Roberts stated: “It is...

Republicans are seeking to drive a wedge into an issue that’s already emerging as a highly sensitive one in the Democratic platform: Israel. The latest salvo will come from the Republican Jewish Coalition this week, as the group—which is home to some of the biggest donors in GOP politics—launches an online advertising campaign attacking members of the Democratic National Committee’s platform drafting committee. The RJC plan, first shared with POLITICO, comes as Democrats are already grappling with the possibility that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will emerge as a major flashpoint at their national convention next month, given the sharp disagreements some...

The Obama administration through its National Security Council passed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Ploughshares Fund, an NGO that favors allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons. And the Ploughshares Fund paid J Street over $500,000 to push its agenda last summer. That's what came out over this past weekend. A group the White House recently identified as a key surrogate in selling the Iran nuclear deal gave liberal Jewish lobbying organization J street $576,500 to advocate for the deal.  ... J-Street, a liberal Jewish political action group, undertook a comprehensive campaign last year to support the nuclear...

No sane American, no sane Jew, can give that premise a serious argument At the beginning of January 2016, an organization called NORPAC—a lobby whose mission is to support candidates and sitting members of Congress “who demonstrate a genuine commitment to the strength, security, and survival of Israel”—invited its members to “an exclusive and intimate” cocktail reception for Hillary Clinton for people willing to pay $2,700 per individual or $5,400 per couple. The invitation included a synopsis of Hillary’s credibility vis-a-vis Israel, stating that she had “been a supporter of the US-Israel relationship for many years…and, as Secretary of State,...

NEW YORK (JTA) – It might have been the last place you’d expect anger to erupt against the Bernie Sanders campaign. But at a Jews for Bernie brunch in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood on Sunday, the frustration seemed to boil over when some silver-haired Jewish supporters of Sanders began deriding what they described as the campaign’s lackluster response to perceived missteps by the Democratic presidential candidate on Jewish issues – most recently, last week’s interview with the New York Daily News in which Sanders grossly overestimated the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the 2014 Gaza conflict. That interview and other...

LAS VEGAS — Ted Cruz has hundreds of influential Republican donors and Jewish leaders all to himself this weekend in Las Vegas as he addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition. Cruz's rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, Donald Trump and John Kasich, declined invitations to attend — a puzzling move in particular for Trump as he tries to project himself as a party unifier who deserves the Republican nomination even if he falls short of winning enough delegates in the primaries to clinch it outright....

My friends at the AIPAC conference are shocked, shocked that so many fellow attendees gave Donald Trump an ovation last night. Just like my Republican friends are shocked that so many fellow Republicans have voted for him. Why the surprise, though? Is it at all surprising that a rightward-tilting, nationalistic, often-anti-Muslim pep rally of 18,000 people (many paid to be there by a handful of billionaires) would applaud a rightward-tilting, nationalistic, often-anti-Muslim leader of pep rallies? The weirdest shock of all, though, came from AIPAC itself, whose leader apologized this morning for Trump’s having insulted President Obama. Choking back tears,...

If yarmulke sales are any indication of voter attitudes, Donald Trump was the clear winner at AIPAC on Monday night. Marc Daniels, a vendor selling campaign logo kippas outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening, said the “Donald Trump 2016” cap was his most popular item by far. Daniels said he was “inundated” with requests for the Trump yarmulkes from conference-goers and sold out almost immediately. “I totally underestimated the degree of support that Jewish people who are attending this event have for Trump,” said Daniels, who runs an online yarmulke shop called...

Up to one thousand anti-Trump protesters gathered outside of the Washington DC Convention Center for Donald Trump’s speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference. The AIPAC Policy Conference is the pro-Israel community’s preeminent annual gathering. The event attracts more than 16,000 community and student activists from all 50 states. Donald Trump is speaking at the conference on Monday night. Already, hundreds of angry anti-Trump protesters have gathered outside the convention center. Andrew Marcus, producer of Hating Breitbart, and Jeremy Segal, of Rebel Pundit are covering the protests. The anti-Trump protesters are taunting the Jewish audience with Nazi imagery. The protesters are...

Monday, March 21, 2016: GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC and gave a rousing speech. Watch the live stream and replay of the event below. http://rsbn.tv/live-stream-donald-trump-speaks-at-aipac-conference-in-washington-dc-3-21-16/

Good evening. I speak to you today as a lifelong supporter and true friend of Israel. I am a newcomer to politics but not to backing the Jewish state. In late 2001, weeks after the attacks on New York City and Washington - attacks perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists, Mayor Giuliani visited Israel to show solidarity with terror victims. I sent him in my plane because I backed the mission 100%. In Spring 2004, at the height of violence in the Gaza Strip, I was the Grand Marshal of the 40th Salute to Israel Parade, the largest single gathering in support...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdzU4nDK2Y4At 6:22PM EST....Trump is next.     Boring Paul Ryan on now

When Ted Cruz headlined a recent fundraising luncheon in New York, the Baptist senator was presented with a gift: a menorah. "It was very heartfelt," Mica Mosbacher, a Cruz supporter who was there, said of the feelings on both sides. "He strikes a chord with the Jewish community." Cruz, the son of a pastor, has spent several years aggressively courting the support of Jewish voters, particularly those who are Orthodox. Touting his conservative views on Israel, his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal and his adherence to traditional values, Cruz has found a conservative niche in the Orthodox community in...

Bernie Sanders will not join the rest of the presidential candidates and address AIPAC at next week's policy conference in Washington, D.C. "I would very much have enjoyed speaking at the AIPAC conference. Obviously, issues impacting Israel and the Middle East are of the utmost importance to me, to our country and to the world," Sanders's letter to the pro-Israel organization states. "Unfortunately, I am going to be traveling throughout the West and the campaign schedule that we have prevents me from attending.

Donald Trump's appearance at the upcoming AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington has at least one Jewish group planning to protest. The group of professionals and clergy, which calls itself "Come Together Against Hate," says that Trump and his hate speech have no place at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "We are committed to saying that Donald Trump does not speak for us or represent us, and his values are not AIPAC's values," wrote Rabbis David Paskin of West Palm Beach Florida, and Jesse Olitzky of South Orange, New Jersey in announcing the action. "They are...

Ted Cruz on Wednesday mocked Donald Trump for bowing out of a debate next week in Salt Lake City, and the Texas senator vowed to call out the GOP front-runner at a gathering of a major pro-Israel lobby group next week. Trump said earlier in the day that he would not participate in the Fox News debate in Utah on Monday, and John Kasich quickly said that he wouldn't attend if Trump didn't. Later on Wednesday, Fox News formally canceled the event. Trump said he would use his time instead on Monday to address a conference hosted by the American...

Donald Trump will miss the final Republican presidential debate to address a major pro-Israel lobbying organization instead, according to an insider. “Hearing that Trump secured a Monday night speaking slot at AIPAC conf. in D.C,” tweeted Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, referencing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “Also happening that night: [the] Republican debate in Salt Lake City,” he added, alluding to the 13th GOP presidential contest on March 21. Fox News announced on Monday that it is hosting next week’s contest in Salt Lake City -- its fourth event this presidential election. Trump...

The mood of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord Convention Center in the National Harbor outside Washington, D.C., was somber. There was no electricity in the ballroom, no sign of excitement in what should be a good election year for Republicans after eight years of President Barack Obama occupying the White House. Instead, the speakers on stage, as well as the many young activists roaming the hallways, were defensive. Defiant to strike a strong conservative tone in an election season that has been dominated by vulgar language and petty personal attacks, there was a sense of...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz secured the support not only of evangelical Christians but also of Jewish leaders ahead of Super Tuesday, the electoral event in various states across America that could make or break the fortunes of the five remaining candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Last week, Dr. Ben Chouake, national president of NORPAC, America's largest pro-Israel political action committee, endorsed Cruz for president, Charisma News reported. More Jewish leaders endorsed Cruz over the weekend, raising his number of influential Jewish political supporters to more than three dozen, according to the senator's campaign. "Since the day we announced our...