AIPAC, the late Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, and the RJC have provided hundreds of millions in contributions to MAGA Trump and other right-wing Republican groups to bolster the Netanyahu government.

Emanuel’s speech, as reported by Politico, is expected to point out that Israel has become a pariah nation under the Netanyahu regime by its refusal to consider a Palestinian state, its thuggish tactics by settlers against local Palestinians, and its expansionist plans into territory called by their biblical names, Judea and Samaria.

Emanuel will also say that Israel is financially strong enough so that it no longer needs extensive military aid.  He also will criticize Benjamin Netanyahu as a divisive leader who has taken Israel in the wrong direction in its international diplomacy and domestic policies.

These messages resonate strongly in Democratic circles and among younger progressive and mainline Democrats.  It is also a slap at AIPAC and the elitist Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), and its main supporters, Israeli-born Miriam Adelson and wealthy Jewish financiers and tech moguls.

AIPAC and the RJC have spent hundreds of millions pushing Trump’s political agenda, even when it meant they were contributing to white nationalist MAGA supporters and supporting hateful immigration and anti-civil libertarian policies.

AIPAC and the RJC have already seen their huge donations wasted as Trump’s policies domestically and internationally have failed to advance their expansionist Israel agenda. The war against Iran that was promoted by Netanyahu and inside the U.S. by major pro-Trump Jewish groups has failed to return any positive results.

Trump’s popularity and his failed domestic economic policies have also made the RJC’s and AIPAC’s huge contributions worthless unless the Republican-MAGA plan to steal the upcoming midterm elections succeeds.

AIPAC and the RJC should also take credit for Trump’s dismal popularity rating: 59% of the country disapproves of Trump, and 54% said attacking Iran was a mistake.  Those are very bad betting results for political professionals.

But AIPAC and the RJC don’t want to acknowledge any change in their blind pro-Trump version of events. The RJC website boasts that “President Donald J. Trump has advanced American interests in the Middle East like no President before him” by attacking Iran with the assistance of the Israeli air force.  But this major attack has yet to yield any results, even as it has cost Americans billions.

These same groups ignore that Trump has given the nation a new Jewish target, “the Epstein class,” to mean wealthy men who abuse women and children, but get away with it because they pervert the law.

The RJC and AIPAC should also take credit for the rise in antiSemitism.  Both groups support Israel’s war policies, as well as their indirect support of white Christian nationalist groups who are in constant contact with MAGA Trump supporters.

Emanuel’s speech will highlight that AIPAC and the RJC have failed to advance the daily life of average Americans.  It will also show that Jewish Americans oppose the Netanyahu regime, the obliteration of Gaza, and the expansion of the Greater Israel into Judea and Samaria, wherever those boundaries are.

Wealthy Jews in the RJC have not accomplished anything by pushing the lie that American Jews are better off under a Republican administration.  That has never been true. American Jews have been Democrats since World War I and the administration of Woodrow Wilson.

That’s because the Republican Party in the 20^th Century was openly anti-Semitic until the 1960s. The RJC knows this, but instead pushed lies that Democrats are communists, and that Trump is “good” for American Jews when his anti-civil rights and corrupt self-dealing are recognized by all Americans but tolerated and encouraged by the RJC and AIPAC.

The speech by Emanuel will have repercussions in the American Jewish community and will start a new discussion about the relations between the U.S. and Israel.  It’s clear that Israel has diverged from its classic position as “a light unto all nations” under the Netanyahu regime.  The U.S. has similarly become a corrupt, corporate-run regime that openly disregards laws and wants to rewrite the Constitution.

The hundreds of millions in donations from the RJC, Adelson, and AIPAC elected and bolstered Trump and ensured that the country became more corrupt. They should be held accountable.

The combination of giant egos, a pile of cash for political donations, and a need to protect their tax breaks is an incendiary combination for any American political group.

But when it comes to Jewish groups giving a standing ovation to a disgraced and corrupt presidential candidate who faces 90 indictment counts, as well as other criminal convictions, it becomes a pathetic and very divisive scene for the American Jewish Community.

That was the case last weekend in Las Vegas when the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) met in Las Vagas and gave a rousing welcome to the insurrectionist ex-President Donald Trump.

Trump told the fawning audience of wealthy Jews that he vowed to stop World War III and said of the victims of Hamas’ October 7 attacks: “They’ll be avenged even beyond what you’re thinking about,” according to a Haaretz account. Trump has no basis for making that claim since the avenging is being done by the Israeli army, over which Trump has zero control.

Why would these Republican Jews welcome a known anti-Semite, convicted rapist, tax cheat, and adulterer who faces 19 indictments, with the implied promise of giving him more in campaign contributions?

The extreme RJC is pushing a lie. They insist Republicans are Better FOR JEWS THAN THE DEMOCRATS. Not only is this a historical lie, but it’s also blind to the fact that American Jews overwhelmingly support liberal causes

The answer is convoluted and sick, but it centers on wealthy donors who want to preserve their tax breaks, a misguided vision of supporting Israel, the belief that they are smarter than others, combined with massive egos, and the reality that intelligent people can become part of the MAGA movement even when they are not welcome into some of its white nationalist fringe groups.

But all that does not matter to the RJC.  They love the spotlight, even when they know Trump welcomes working with white supremacists, Christian nationalists, and anti-Semites.

Trump and his supporters repeat the lie that he has been the strongest supporter of Israel than any other president.  That’s one more of Trump’s 20,000 lies he told in office.  Thanks to the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) and its decades-long lobbying effort, almost the entire U.S. Congress has been a strong supporter of Israel politically and in military aid for decades.

Trump Fools AIPAC and the RJC

Trump is no better than any other Republican or Democrat president.  What fools the RJC and AIPAC crowds is Trump’s claim that he is tough on Iran and that he will presumably send in U.S. troops to attack Hamas.  That’s not going to happen, given the present conditions.

The RJC’s fascination with Republican candidates, most of whom think Biden stole the 2020 election, is a foray into a fantasyland where they are trying to convince American Jews, 80% of them Democrats, that the Republican Party of 2024 is better for American Jews.

In reality, the Republican Party is 68% white and Christian, and its new House speaker, Mike Johnson, is an avowed Christian nationalist who is “an election-denying evangelical Christian who favors a national abortion ban, Bible courses in public schools, and ‘covenant marriage,’ and who believes that L.G.B.T.Q. people are living an ‘inherently unnatural’ and ‘dangerous lifestyle’ elevated to the speakership,” according to an excellent article in the New York Times by Thomas Edsall.

But that is not the story told by the extreme RJC. They insist Republicans, including the Christian nations, are suitable for Jews. Not only is this a historical lie, it’s also blind to the fact that American Jews overwhelmingly support liberal causes—abortion, equal rights for women and gays, fair taxation, equal access to voting rights, environmentalism, non-discrimination, immigrant rights, a smaller military budget, a robust social safety net, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

All of these programs and causes favored by 80% of American Jews are opposed by all the Republican candidates.  These are the same Republican candidates who get a rousing welcome from the misguided RJC.

The RJC also cannot tell the difference between Christian evangelicals who like Israel and Jews versus the Evangelicals who like Israel but don’t like Jews.

That’s because of Catholic-Christian doctrine regarding the Second Coming and the Rapture. This is a complex theological question, but some evangelicals know that the Jews must occupy Israel as a pre-condition for the Second Coming. After that, the non-believers (Jews) will evaporate, and the Believers will take over the Holy Land. The RJC doesn’t make this distinction, but they may be funding candidates who believe in Israel but not the Jews. (See the article on this site.)

For an American Jew who has any modest knowledge of Jewish values, the 2024 Republican Party is anathema to all of these.  They publicly oppose all of the Jewish values. But that’s ignored by the RJC, which promotes the propaganda message Jews should become Republicans.

Waving the Red Flag of Israel in Front of Jewish Donors

The RJC’s big political hook now is Israel and its war in Gaza.

Republicans have no solutions to winning, stopping, or preventing this war.  Their little slogan is that Biden released money to the Iranian government or engaged in a prisoner swap, and this encouraged Iran to start the war via its proxies.  That’s all smoke because the Biden administration already safeguards how the billions are released to Iran.  A trade of a few Iranian prisoners in exchange for a few Americans did not prompt the Hamas attack.

But that is all lost on the RJC. Instead, they listened as Trump criticized Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for neglecting his intelligence services.  Trump is famous for Monday-morning quarterbacking and little else.

Trump’s criticism of Bibi is just smoke because 70% of Israeli citizens already want him out of office. The fact is that Bibi’s political career is over.  The first post-war election will see Bibi and his right-wing Coalition ejected from government.  That’s the only bright side of the entire Israeli- intelligence failure.  After voters remove Bibi from office, he may want to consider moving to another nation because almost everyone in Israel knows of someone who has died due to his ego-fueled push to reform the Israeli judicial system to protect himself from prosecution for fraud.

Bibi and Trump are too alike.  Both are corrupt egomaniacs who sacrifice their nations for their political gain.  That also fits the purpose of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The RJC and another misguided group, Jexit, are trying to trick other American Jews into thinking Republicans are better for American Jewry than a Maga Republican Party that harbors white Christian nationalists, insurrectionists, tax cheats, opportunists, QAnon supporters, and people who worship authoritarians.

The RJC knows they are supporting and donating to Republican candidates who are promoting programs and legislation that 80% of American Jews strongly oppose.

The RJC Fails to Admit that MAGA Republicans Dislike Jews

The RJC, which boasts of a very intellectual and professional board of directors, should open their eyes to what their Republican buddies are saying about the Jews in 2024, according to this report in the Washington Post:

• “In Georgia, Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker did not publicly reject a show of support from Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has made a slew of comments attacking Jewish people in recent weeks, including a tweet threatening he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
• “Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, (has) plans to attend a rally this weekend with GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano. Mastriano has unsettled Jewish Democrats and Republicans alike with his extremist ties and comments about his Jewish opponent, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.  The Republican candidate’s wife asserted over the weekend that she and her husband “probably love Israel more than a lot of Jews do.”

The RJC also heard the disgraced Trump, their most welcome guest, tell the crowd that “If I were president, the attack on Israel would never have happened,” he told the 1,500 attendees who packed the ballroom.  “I think you believe that.  Ukraine would never have happened.  Inflation would have never happened.”

He then told the RJC crowd that he has plans to become an authoritarian.  In a New York Times article, Trump “praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the neo-authoritarian leader who is admired by far-right nationalists in the United States and Europe and who has been accused of employing antisemitic tropes for political gain.

“In his remarks, Mr. Trump cast himself in a similar vein as Mr. Orban — a “very strong man,” he said — promising to keep the country safe with threats of force.”

Orban is promoting Hungarian nationalism.  In a July 2022 speech, “Orbán sparked international outrage when he warned against mixing with “non-Europeans,” as reported by The World.

“We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” Orbán said during an annual address to members of the Hungarian minority in Romania.

“A long-term adviser to the prime minister, Zsuzsa Hegedüs, who is Jewish, resigned.  She said the speech was a “pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels,” referring to the Nazi propaganda chief.”

And Trump–a convicted tax cheat, insurrectionist, failed businessman, Christian nationalist supporter, and adulterer–is a guy they want to support.  Trump told the story to a Jewish audience at the RJC.  And the attendees of the RJC did nothing.  Maybe they forgot they are Jewish.

Biden Makes the Republican Jewish Coalition and Jexit Obsolete

Or, Beware of False Political Messiahs in 2023

When organizations lose one of their main reasons to exist, they face the reality that they are no longer needed.

That’s the case with the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and Jexit, which describe their missions as trying to convince American Jews, who have overwhelmingly been Democrats since WWI, to become Republicans.

Their messages tell American Jews that the Republican Party is better suited and dedicated to demonstrating their values, while also being a staunch supporter of Israel.  Both claims are baseless, especially after the historic public support and military aid provided by President Joe Biden to Israel following the Hamas attack on Israel that started on Oct. 7, 2023.

Jews Have Been Predominantly Democrats for Almost 80 Years

First, the Republicans have never been the party supported by most American Jews. Surveys on World War I show that American Jews were overwhelmingly Democratic.  This goes back to the first significant emigrations of the 20^th century when new emigres were more fully integrated into urban centers with Democratic political structures, as opposed to Republic policies that wanted restricted immigration.

Republicans Would Not Be Better For Israel

The central and unfounded theme of the RJC and Jexit is that Republicans would be better for Israel than the Democrats.

Even before the Hamas attack in Israel, Republican policies towards Israel have had two highlights—the Abraham Accords, and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.  In both cases, these moves were done after the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson exercised the muscle of his $200 million contribution to the Trump presidential campaign. Without this money, there is little evidence Trump cared about these issues. However, his astute son-in-law, Jared Kushner, smelled the money and most likely told Trump to entertain Adelson’s requests for an easy donation.

There is really no reason why the RJC and Jexit exist except to distract and divide the American Jewish community over a baseless claim that Republicans would be better for Israel.

Both groups may also be confusing the support of Christians and Evangelicals, who both have deep pockets, for their support of Israel.  But the powerful Republican base of Evangelicals likes Israel because of the New Testament prophesy that Israel must be in the hands of the Jews in order for the Second Coming to happen.  Another event needed for the Second Coming to happen is the presence of red heifers in Israel, and thanks to a Texas cattleman, those cattle are already there.

But another part of the story, and one which should be of the most concern to Jews, is that when the Rapture arrives, Christians will be elevated to heaven, and the Jews, the non-believers, will die.

Jews should take note of this: “The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still alive, together will rise “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Note that it says “dead Christian believers.”

The prophecy also says: “The Saviour’s coming will be literal, personal, visible, and worldwide. When He returns, the righteous dead will be resurrected, and together with the righteous living will be glorified and taken to heaven, but the unrighteous will die.” This discussion can lead to a theological quagmire, but for many Evangelicals, there is a distinction between Jews and Israel and Israel without Jews.

More Lies About Trump from Jexit

For mainly self-promotion, Jexit offers the unfounded claim that “there has been no greater friend to American Jews and the State of Israel than fmr.  President Donald J. Trump,” a Jexit member said.  Then, Michelle Terris, the co-founder of the Jexit, creator of “The Trump Towel,” and co-chair of the Jews for Trump Coalition in the 2016 election, said that U.S. support for Israel was eroding.

She then said that Jexit is “deeply concerned that many Liberal Jews in America do not recognize the fmr.  President’s history of accomplishments in supporting” the Jews in the U.S. and Israel.

This is an odd statement, considering that Trump has also entertained white supremacists.  In the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville that resulted in one protester’s death, Trump  said there were “good people on both sides.” Republican candidates at the local, state, and national levels, who take their messages from Trump, also attack Jewish philanthropist George Soros as a code word for Jews, Republicans, and Democrats.

Jexit also makes the absurd claim that “the Democrat party has abandoned them and Israel.  JEXIT believes that much of the core of today’s Democrat party is anti-Israel, antisemitic and anti-American.”

Their website also says, “The Democrat Party has turned its back on Israel.” All of these main reasons for Jexit’s existence are unfounded.  The group also says it intends to promote “Judeo-Christian values” to the Jewish people.

Aside from that tit-for-tat political rhetoric, Republican policies proceeded along the traditional bi-partisan support in Congress that Israel has enjoyed for decades.

What is different under Trump was that Republicans, including many conservative Jews in the RJC and Jexit, focused their wrath on about a half dozen progressive Democrats, including two of Arab descent, who made comments favoring the Palestinians.  Republicans pounced on these comments and extrapolated them into an anti-Israel policy shared among Democrats that did not exist. These same Republicans also disliked Barak Obama for his stance on Israel and his open dislike for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a belief that has been shared by Biden and thousands of Israeli citizens.

True to form, Trump exploited this.  In 2019, he said Jews who voted for Democrats were “disloyal to Israel, according to a report in the New York Times.

Trump, the leader of the Republican Party, has a long history of making anti-Semitic statements.  Before being elected, Trump did the following, according to an article in Vanity Fair:

• In a speech before a Jewish group, Trump inferred that Jews buy off politicians;
• He has tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton’s face atop a pile of cash after the Star of David and the phrase, “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!”
• Trump released an ad featuring the faces of influential Jewish people with a voiceover about them being part of a “global power structure” that has “robbed our working class” and “stripped our country of its wealth.”
• After Trump was elected, he refused to condemn neo-Nazis. In August, he accused American Jews of being “disloyal” to Israel by voting for Democrats.
• At the Israeli-American Council in Hollywood, Florida, Trump used many of his anti-Semitic messages by citing the old cliché about “dual loyalty.” Trump said there are Jews who “don’t love Israel enough”  and repeated the stereotype about Jews and money, telling the group: “A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well.  You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all,” he said.
• In the first presidential debate in 2020, Trump told the Proud Boys, a white supremacist hate group involved in the Charlottesville, Virginia riot in 2017, “to stand back and stand by! But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left.” This was the first time a presidential candidate endorsed an extremist and violent right-wing group.  (See video.)
• 2018, on a European visit, Trump privately told his chief of staff, John Kelly, “Hitler did many good things.”
• In October 2022, Kanye West, using the name Ye, wrote on Twitter: “I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE[…] You guys have toyed with me.” Ye added that “the Jewish media blocked me out” and “Jewish people have owned the Black voice.” On Nov. 22, Trump invited West to dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.  West brought Nick Fuentes, founder of “America First,” a white supremacist group.  On Oct. 30, 2019, Fuentes made a “joke” about the Holocaust, casting doubt on its occurrence while comparing Jews incinerated in death camps to “six million cookies” burned in an oven.  Then, on May 24, 2021, Fuentes stated: “I don’t see Jews as Europeans, and I don’t see them as part of Western civilization.”
• In October 2022, days after the Hezbollah attack on Israel, Trump said Hezbollah “is very smart.”
• Tim Scott, a Texas Republican running for president, said that after the attack on Israel, Biden had blood on his hands” and that the attack was an excellent opportunity for Republicans to gain support from Jews and others who support Israel.

Republicans Are Not Better for Jews or Average Americans

All of these blatant lies by Jexit and other Republican groups pushing that Republicans are better for the Jews should be condemned for lying to the Jewish community.

Republicans have been the party of anti-Semites going back to World War II when top Republicans pushed the America First message and worked against raising quotas for European Jews fleeing Hitler.

It’s no wonder that a 2021 survey by the American Jewish Committee, a nonpartisan group that conducts public opinion research about the Jewish community, found that 68% of Jewish voters reported casting their ballots for Biden in the 2020 election.

The RJC and Jexit are opportunist groups who either want to preserve tax breaks for their wealthiest members or are ex-Trump promoters, such as those in Jexit, looking for ways to make extra cash. The RJC and its large contributions may also have played a role in supporting the insurrection. 

Aside from policies that preserve their tax breaks, it’s impossible to imagine why they would endorse the current field of Republican candidates who are mostly election deniers or who said they would support Trump, a man who attempted the nation’s first coup, was impeached twice, is a convicted rapist, adulterer, tax cheat, liar, deadbeat, and who faces about 90 indictments in numerous state and federal lawsuits.

If Jexit and the RJC think Trump reflects Jewish values, they must review 2,000 years of Jewish history.  Men like Trump are not even close to being mentioned as a person who embodies the Mosaic tradition.

However, Jews have been presented with false religious Messiahs before, but never political ones.  In Jewish history, numerous false Messiahs have emerged and faded. However, Laura Arnold Lehman, professor of English and Humanities at Reed College, writes that religious messianic figures “tend to appear at moments of despair and upheaval.”  Right-wing Republican Jewish political groups, like Jexit and the RJC, may be active now because of the despair and upheaval in the Republican Party.  Maybe, this is the best way to explain why these purposeless groups exist today.

Bye Bye Bibi

Netanyahu and Trump:

Two Sociopaths Who Sacrificed Country for Personal Power

The historic loss of life and the surprise attack in Israel will have repercussions for years. Still, the only bright side of this tragedy is that it will remove Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.

Egomaniacs like Netanyahu brazenly divided his entire nation over a plan to curtail the autonomy of Israel’s Supreme Court to dismiss or stall his corruption trial. For months, thousands of Israelis demonstrated against his proposal, and most saw that Netanyahu was using this legal ploy to placate far-right parties to build a coalition that would allow him to stay in power.

In the process, Israeli military reservists, people in other parts of the army, and many professionals felt it was their duty to protest and stay away from their jobs. Army reservists said they would not serve as a protest move against Netanyahu’s controversial proposal. Bibi’s bad idea demoralized and distracted the nation.

Netanyahu is the ultimate politician. He is also “a lying son of a liar”, according to Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister.

How bad is he? “Netanyahu is still the same unashamed master of spin and manipulator that he has always been. The same man who, in order to protect himself from potential imprisonment for corruption, bribery, and fraud, formed a coalition with extreme far-right politicians, including an openly racist and anti-Arab politician,” according to The Middle East Monitor.

The controversial plan is meant to curtail the country’s unelected judges, who Bibi thinks have too much power over government decision-making. “His (Netanyahu’s) plan seeks to give more authority to the ruling coalition in parliament, which he heads. Critics say that by weakening the independent judiciary, Netanyahu is pushing Israel toward authoritarian rule,” according to a report by PBS.

The Bad Role of Right-Wing American Jews

American Jews who supported Netanyahu must also be blamed for Israel’s calamity. Large and well-funded American Jewish groups, such as AIPAC; the Republican Jewish Coalition; Sheldon Adelson; the odd group, Jexit; and private citizens, such as Arthur Dantchik, a libertarian and a founder of Susquehanna International Group. These individuals and groups donated to right-wing groups in Israel to support Netanyahu. In the process, they bolstered Bibi’s hard-wing, divisive proposal. Many of these same groups also supported Trump. 

Meanwhile, as the most powerful American Jewish group, AIPAC can be blamed for Bib’s power grab.  While Netanyahu’s decision to invite The Jewish Power Party (or Otzma Yehudit) to join his coalition in 2019 “must not be legitimized,” AIPAC could have gone further. The group could have told Bibi he was on the wrong path. AIPAC also should have told Trump he was not invited to their annual meetings.

The Ends of Bibi and Trump

It’s no coincidence that Bibi and Donald Trump are friends. Both are sociopaths and egomaniacs who will do anything to remain in power, including sacrificing their nation. Both created and used constitutional crises to divert public attention from their crimes and are working to have legal charges against them dismissed.  Both have subverted the legal and judicial systems for their own benefit.

Trump did it in the insurrection, where five to 10 people died. Netanyahu takes the blame because he failed to protect his border, his primary responsibility. As a result, over 1,800 Israelis died in the surprise attacks.

After the military campaigns in Israel settle, and as the results of analyses of what went wrong in Israeli intelligence and the army service are released, the next election will see Bibi ousted.

The connections between Trump and Netanyahu have been noticed by many. “The reality… is that the interests of American Jews and Israel have been diverging for many years, but it’s been papered over,” Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times (NYT) this month. He called on the community to shun Netanyahu, citing the prime minister’s deployment of the “Trumpist playbook” by courting ultranationalist and ultrareligious parties,” according to CNN.

Bibi’s reputation is irreparably stained. He is the worst prime minister in Israel’s history. The people of Israel know that. He will be voted out and disdained by all Israelis for putting himself over the country. Netanyahu’s name will live in infamy in the history books.  It’s likely that Netanyahu will be a pariah in Israel for the rest of his life.  He should consider a life in exile after he is ousted from office. And he did it all for personal gain and ego.

Could Bibi Be Forced Into Exile?

It’s too early to make conclusions, but when the investigation into the intelligence failure is completed months after the war in Gaz ends, it could turn the spotlight on Bibi’s failures. In a nation that sustained such high casualties and traumas, Bibi could easily become a persona non grata in his own country. His political future is non-existent. His failure as a leader will be a weight around him, and his reputation is already irreparably stained. Could Bib still live in Israel under these circumstances?  Or, would he become the first prime minister in the nation’s history to be forced into exile?

Republican Americans Prefer Real Criminals

What Israelis will do to Bibi when the war ends is the opposite of what Americans think of Trump. Even though Trump now faces about 98 criminal indictments and is a convicted rapist, twice-indicted president, tax fraud cheat, and adulterer, he still has the support of about 60 Republicans. Unlike the Israelis, who will push Netanyahu into the dustbin of history, American Republicans and the top people in the Republican Party want to put the sociopathic traitor Trump back in the White House.

Both the U.S. and Israel are democracies and both nations came under the heavy hand of sociopaths who led them down a path to ruin. In both countries, the democratic system is flawed. Big money in both countries subverts the will of the citizens. It’s worse in the U.S., but the big money wanted to take control of the courts in both countries as well as the legislative structure.

Americans should learn from the huge and tragic mistake in Israel. A variation of the Israeli tragedy will happen here in the U.S. if the Republicans and Trump return to power.

So, if you want to put your faith in the citizens of Israel or the U.S. to make decisions that are best for the entire nation, bet on Israel. Netanyahus’ career is over. The same should happen to Trump.

This article was updated on Oct. 26, 2022

Do contributions by wealthy Jewish billionaires in the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), who gave millions to Trump and his right-wing Christian nationalist supporters, help fuel the current uptick in antisemitism?

By spending hundreds of millions to support Trump and his politically extreme associates, the RJC cannot be sure that its money did not help finance the Jan. 6, 2022, insurrection attempt. They also cannot be sure their money did not fund other right-wing hate groups, some of which were responsible for violent attacks against Jewish institutions and individuals.

This site has posted numerous articles on the dangers of the RJC, Orthodox groups, AIPAC, and right-wing Republican Jewish politicians advancing and preserving their personal and corporate tax benefits as they promote Trump and his nationalist followers.

In the process, they have attempted to distort the historical links between American Jews and the Democratic Party dating back to the presidential administration of Woodrow Wilson. This Jewish affiliation with the party that promotes social justice and other core Jewish values helps explain the fact that 77% of American Jews voted for Biden, a fact that Trump and the RJC cannot reconcile with their current right-wing beliefs.

The most recent example of why the RJC’s Republican message of division and hate fails to resonate with the vast majority of American Jews comes from the man who attacked Paul Pelosi. This assailant posted antisemitic statements, messages about Holocaust denial, and how the Jews started the war in Ukraine and would profit from its continuation. In his social media posts, the assailant had a section on his web page entitled “DaJewbs,” devoted to antisemitic conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial.

By financing and enabling Trump throughout his corrupt presidency, the RJC, AIPAC, and other right-wing Jewish groups helped create today’s volatile political environment. These groups also created fertile ground for Trump’s America First followers to unleash their old canard about how Jews control government, the media, and finance.

How Trump Uses Wealthy Jews to Raise Money

The latest development stems from Trump’s comments on Oct. 24, 2022, that “U.S. Jews have to get their act together” on Israel before “it is too late.”  Many saw this as another attempt by Trump to foster more disinformation and elevate his importance to the Jewish voters.

In response, right-wing Jewish groups did the unthinkable: they were silent. A spokesman for Republican candidate for New York Governor Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress and a rabid Trump supporter, refused to comment on Trump’s absurd claim.

Similarly, as reported in the Forward, the once bipartisan pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, “which has become a major financial player in political campaigns this year, declined to comment to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. AIPAC, a nonpartisan group that lobbies to strengthen the United States-Israel relationship, normally comments on statements on that relationship from prominent U.S. politicians. But the group reacted with similar silence to Trump’s 2019 comments, in which he called American Jews who vote for Democrats disloyal to Israel.”

AIPAC’s blatant partisanship has damaged its credibility with the majority of US Jews who favor social fairness and are against prejudiced political platforms. If American Jews want to save some money, they should avoid contributing to AIPAC.

Jewish media commentators, like Levin and Shapiro, are secure in promoting pro-Trump messages from behind their microphones, but they are terrified to appear in person in a rally in front of Trump’s core base of white Christan nationalists.

But financing and enabling Trump throughout his corrupt presidency created today’s volatile political environment. It also made fertile ground for Trump’s America First followers to unleash their old canard about how Jews control government, the media, the nation’s social agenda, and finance.

The Role of Right-Wing Jewish Media Personalities

But to complicate matters, right-wing Jewish cable and online broadcasters and Orthodox Jewish religious groups dabbling in politics are also poisoning the well political discourse—groups like the Tikvah Fund and the Zionist Organization of America.

As an example of this distorted view of reality, Morton Klein, the head of the ZOA, is quoted in The Forwards as saying, “Klein himself has come under fire for social media posts that urged Black Lives Matter be designated a hate group, smeared the Jewish refugee resettlement organization HIAS as “more a Muslim Organization” and described former President Barack Obama as an “Israel hater.” He also promoted conspiracies about Jewish billionaire George Soros, who has become a leading boogeyman for antisemites.”

One of the most disturbing accolades to Trump is from an Orthodox group, the America First Action Superpac, which, in a Nov. 12, 2019 dinner at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel, Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson praised Trump as “a blessing to the world” as the crowd shouted “four more years.” During his speech, Trump made the unfounded claim that he “had an approval rating of about 98%,” although he didn’t specify who gave him that high approval rating.

The sad irony is that the origins of the America First Superpac, which sponsored the Trump fundraiser, were in the isolationist America First Committee, founded in 1940. This right-wing group opposed U.S. entry into World War II at the same time that news was emerging about the creation of concentration camps and the systematic murder of European Jews. This murderous path forced the founder of the U.S. Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, his wife, father (Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson), and brothers into fleeing the Nazis.

The story of Reb Schneerson’s plight was detailed in this video lecture by someone other than Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson, the same man who praised Trump at the America First Action Superpac 82 years after the America First Committee worked to prevent the U.S. from entering WW II and at least beginning the combat needed to end the Holocaust.

Profiting From Antisemitism

Then, some individuals are media personalities profiting from right-wing preaching. This group includes Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro, aided by other right-wing figures such as Caroline Glick, Dennis Prager, Steven Miller, Rabbi Mendel Kessin, and Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, who are all pushing right-wing nationalist, rabidly pro-Israel messages and conservative cultural ideas.

This is a tricky balancing act since their messages co-mingle with known white nationalist groups that all reside under the same Republican Christian nationalist tent.

It’s only a matter of time before these needy political personalities will be asked to share a stage with the Proud Boys or other violent anti-Semitic groups as they push their pro-Republican messages. It will be interesting to see who accepts that invitation, how much they get paid, and how many bodyguards they employ to get on and off the stage and safely out of the arena.

I bet that while these Jewish media commentators, like Levin and Shapiro, are secure in promoting pro-Trump messages from behind their microphones, they are terrified to appear in person in a rally in front of Trump’s core base of white Christian nationalists.

American Antisemitism and Israel 

The rise in right-wing American Jewish activism has also spread to Israel. The hundreds of millions in donations from wealthy American Jews have served as a model to grow right-wing nationalist, pro-Netanyahu groups in Israel.

This includes the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which supported Trump and in 2017 honored Steve Bannon at dinner, the far-right Religious Zionism party, and the right-wing Tikvah Fund, funded by the late-Israeli billionaire Zalman Chaim Bernstein.

Like their conservative counterparts in the U.S., the Israeli version of right-wingers focuses on “reform of the Israeli judicial system, anti-Chinese conspiracy theories, and adoption of “new immigration policies,” which includes an analysis of crime rates in the African asylum seeker community in Israel,” according to an article in 972Magazine, by Noam Sheizaf.

The goals of Israeli right-wing/libertarians are copied from the U.S. model. These include deregulation, the worship of free market capitalism, anti-union policies, limiting abortion access, annexing more territory, and “judicial restraint, individual liberty, and limited government.” This libertarian, anti-regulation, selfish tilt may come from Israel’s tech industry, just as it does in the U.S.

The only difference between the right-wingers in Israel and those in the U.S. is how they deal with antisemitism. The right-wingers in Israel fear a possible backlash from Palestinians. American Jews now face less violence but heightened rhetoric and vandalism from known sources, most of which are associated with Trump-supported groups.

Ungrateful Jews: Trump

Yet despite the hundreds of millions given by the RJC to Trump, the ex-president still says Jews are ungrateful to him.

In a social media post, Trump repeated the antisemitic myth that U.S. Jews have dual loyalties to the U.S. and Israel. Trump wrote, “No President has done more for Israel than I have,” a statement he repeats but is more hyperbole than fact.

Trump also praised “our wonderful Evangelicals (who) are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” This is not the first time Trump has attacked Jews for not being grateful to him. He did it in December 2021 when he was raising money. His criticisms of Jews who don’t worship him should resonate with the RJC, who wrote checks for hundreds of millions of dollars that Trump does not acknowledge today.

American Jews who follow Trump and embrace his right-wing causes and personalities should find it difficult to reconcile his white Christian American nationalism and Jewish values. But politics, which is fueled by pursuing self-serving goals, is a risky business.

American Jews who follow Trump down the road to Christian nationalism should not expect a friendly greeting at their journey’s end.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), as this site has pointed out many times before, was the most significant PAC contributor to Trump’s presidential campaign.

In the process, the RJC enabled and financed all of his activities, including those related to sponsoring and associating with anti-Semitic, QAnon, and white nationalist hate groups.  This includes the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.

One of the cover stories the RJC used to rationalize their support of Trump was that they were vehemently pro-Israel. A cornerstone of this was that they opposed any deals with the Iranians and their efforts to develop an atomic weapon.

The RJC used this message to attract many non-wealthy Jewish supporters who were vehemently pro-Israel, but not in the top 1% of income earners. The RJC told followers that they would reverse many of the concessionary Arab and Iranian policies developed by Obama and his Democratic predecessors.

Now, it looks like one of their central pro-Israel positions—pulling out the Iran nuclear treaty negotiated by Obama—has failed miserably and made Iran stronger and complicated U.S. foreign policy in the region.

How the RJC Helped Implement Trump’s Foreign Policy

A new article by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times points out that Iran is stronger today than when Trump was in office.  It now has the accelerated capability and fissionable materials to produce an atomic weapon in as short as three weeks.

In the article, “Trump’s Iran Policy Has Become a Disaster for the U.S. and Israel,” Friedman writes that when Trump tore up the 2018 Iran nuclear deal, it “was one of the dumbest, most poorly thought out and counterproductive U.S. national security decisions of the post-Cold War era.”

Iran’s nuclear foreign policy is complicated and has many moving parts.  Still, Friedman’s view is shared by at least two Israelis, Moshe Ya’alon, the Israeli defense minister when the deal was signed, and Lt. General Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s top military commander.

Friedman lays out why the agreement gave Iran more power to develop an atomic weapon in the article.  However, as this site has noted, the RJC, through its vehement, blind support to villainize the Iranians at all costs, became a major rallying cry for the RJC and some of their allies in AIPAC.

The RJC and its main contributors were the late-Sheldon Adelson (net worth estimated at $41 billion). Adelson was a complicated and generous donor to Jewish and Israeli causes, but a die-hearted supporter of the ex-Israeli premier Netanyahu and his conservative government. 

In February 2020, it was reported in The Guardian newspaper that Adelson was making a $200 million contribution to Trump and the Republican Party. Based on Friedman’s reporting, that whole anti-Iranian nuclear position was misguided and enabled Iran to emerge stronger than before when the RJC and the Trump administration were trying to do the opposite.

Adelson Was the Financial Engine Behind Trump’s Hate Machine

In the 2020 election, the Adelson’s set a new record for political gifts from individuals, flooding the Trump campaign, related accounts, and many lesser Republican campaigns with a total of $172.7m, according to the campaign finance site Open Secrets.

The Adelsons were the top donors in every major election cycle going back a decade except for 2016, and their lifetime political giving amounted to about half a billion dollars, Open Secrets and The Guardian said. 

“Billionaire Republican donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson have pumped $500,000 into a defense fund set up to help Donald Trump’s aides cover their legal costs associated with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election,” according to The Guardian.

On the plus side, Trump did move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in a largely symbolic move.  He also helped negotiate the Abraham Accords that activated diplomatic and trade relations with Israel and the United Arab Emirates in September 2021.

However, the Iran nuclear situation was more important than either of these since it involved ballistic atomic weapons that are a mere 1,300 miles from Israel.

So, what are the lessons here?

The near hysteria of the JRC and its anti-Iran policy shows that ultra-wealthy, partisan Republicans should not try to dictate U.S. foreign policy.

•        Wealthy people are not better informed than professional diplomats about complex foreign policy issues.
•        The RJC and its friends in AIPAC made a big P.R. mistake when they allowed pro-Trump demonstrations during their annual AIPAC meeting in 2019.  To be effective.  AIPAC must be a bi-partisan lobbying group, not a forum for Trump’s right-wing, anti-Semitic, nationalist messages.
•        The RJC’s cover story about being pro-Israel just masked their primary goal of paying less in taxes and pushing for more personal and corporate tax and estate planning loopholes.
•        In terms of the destruction caused by Trump’s domestic right-wing and anti-Semitic policies, major Jewish national groups should make the following demands: Tell the RJC to provide millions in educational funds to undo the anti-Semitic messages promulgated by Trump and his white nationalist buddies. The reason: During the Trump presidency, anti-Semitic attacks increased significantly.
• During the Trump administration (2016-2020), and at a time when RJC contributions were flowing at a record pace to Trump, the U.S. recorded 2,100 anti-Semitic attacks in 2019, which was the highest level of antisemitic incidents since the ADL started tracking them in 1979, according to the ADL (the Anti-Defamation League).
•        National Jewish groups (such as the B’nai Brith, ADL, AJC) should essentially ask the RJC for reparations to compensate for the rise in anti-Semitic physical attacks during the Trump administration.  This rise in anti-Semitic attacks rose in direct proportion to the amounts of donations given to Trump.

Hold Rich People Accountable for Their Mistakes

The other lesson here is that wealthy people are not necessarily more intelligent than the rest.  Yes, wealthy people make dumb mistakes when trying to promote their own selfish interests.

Wealthy people are also better when protecting and advancing their own financial, tax avoidance schemes, and political interests than average citizens.  That’s what happens in a plutocracy.

And when it comes to promoting their foreign affairs policies, their input is no better than anyone else.

Donald Trump’s tirades are great windows into his deranged mind, but the latest one focused on Jews, and it is especially revealing.

In an interview, Trump said: “There are people in this country that are Jewish that no longer love Israel. I’ll tell you the Evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country. It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress and today I think it’s the exact opposite, and I think [Barack] Obama and [Joe] Biden did that. And yet, in the election, they still get a lot of votes from Jewish people…which tells you that the Jewish people, and I’ve said this for a long time.

“The Jewish people in the United States either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel. I mean, you look at The New York Times, The New York Times hates Israel, hates them, and they’re Jewish people that run The New York Times, I mean the Sulzberger family,”  Trump said.

This is ancient news. But because it is from Trump, the sick leader of the Republicans, it should spark a very uncomfortable discussion in the Jewish community, especially among fraternal and charitable Jewish organizations that rely on significant donations to fund their operations.

The issue is why the leaders of the nation’s most prominent Jewish non-profits remain silent about the link between the financial support of the Trump administration by wealthy Jewish donors and the rise in anti-Semitic attacks that occurred during the Trump administration.

The focus of this discussion should be addressed to the wealthy members of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

There are a few reasons for this. First, let’s look at how American Jews view antisemitism and the rise in anti-Semitic attacks. An October 2021 study by the AJC found that 90% of American Jews believe antisemitism is a severe problem, while 40%-50% said it was “somewhat” of a problem.  Earlier data from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) statistics found that there were more antiSemitic attacks in 2019 than in any other year since the ADL began tracking them in 1979.  The report noted over 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment.

Similar data was also in the FBI’s most recent Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) report, which said 2019 was “the deadliest year on record” with 51 hate crime murders, according to the ADL. This was a 113% increase over the previous record of 24 set in 2018. The FBI found this was the fourth increase in the past five years (ending in 2018), which overlaps with the Trump administration.

But these statistics did not happen in isolation.

Second, let’s follow the money.  During this same period, financial contributions by a few very wealthy American Jews were the largest single source of funds to Trump and his Republican Tea Party followers.  These donations came from members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and its top contributors: Sheldon and  Miriam Adelson, Bernie Marcus, Jeffrey Yass, Paul Singer, Steven Schwarzman, and others in the RJC. During the Trump administration, the Adelson’s were Trump’s largest individual contributors, with $75 million in donations.

In practice, this meant that national Jewish groups were fundraising for ways to combat anti-Semitism at the same time that the Republican Jewish Coalition was vastly outspending these same groups to promote a president who was fostering anti-Semitism. Worse, this situation continued for the four years that Trump was president.

Why Are the Top Jewish Leaders Silent?

So, given the links between Trump and white supremacist groups and the RJC, why haven’t many Jewish leaders criticized this deal with the devil? 

Are they avoiding a public discussion about why wealthy Jewish mega-donors would give money to Trump, who has links to white supremacists, at the same time violent acts against Jews are taking place nationwide? Or are these RJC contributions just another demonstration of political free speech that has no accountability?

There are some excellent reasons why the CEOs of top Jewish non-profits are silent. One is that they will offend their largest donors. The second is the change in the structure of Jewish philanthropy over the past few decades. A third is to avoid a national Shanda that could create rifts and damage institutional and personal relationships.

(For more on how Jewish leaders went silent as the RJC financed Trump, see the article on this site,  “It’s Reckoning Time for Republican Jews Who Spent Millions Bolstering Trump.“)

Philanthropy is Big Business

Fundraising is a crucial CEO talent for a reason.  The same large donors to the RJC are significant donors to national Jewish foundations and charities. Suppose a CEO addresses this link between the Jewish mega-donors and the rise in anti-Semitic attacks. In that case, it will hurt their ability to raise money and endanger their job security and advancement.

In the small, non-profit world, cultivating and fostering personal donor relationships is the key to advancement. As this table shows, being the head of a prominent Jewish organization is very lucrative. According to a December 2017 article in the Jewish Forward, the average salary for the CEO of the top 10 Jewish non-profits is $681,724.

At the everyday operational level, fundraising activities focus on the wealthiest people. There are certainly very charitable middle-class donors, but they are not the main focus of big fundraisers. This makes the whole focus on rich people and their most modern iteration, mega-donors.

The Organizational Change in Jewish Philanthropy

Since arriving in the U.S., Jews have founded and funded charities at the local and national levels. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jews founded community organizations that raised money continuously and distributed it immediately to those in need. These organizations included hospitals, orphanages, summer camps, food aid, and immigrant resettlement.

However, in the mid-20th century, upward Jewish mobility and the expansion of federal social programs changed the focus of Jewish philanthropy. Jewish non-profits focused on an expanded menu of long-term plans to remain viable. This altered the funding focus to target large donors and create endowments, creating the new model of “philanthropic perpetuity.”

As Lila Corwin Berman, a professor at Temple University, wrote, “Between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s, nationally, federation endowments grew from $62 million to $223 million.” Changes in tax laws were accompanied by the formation of private foundations focused on Jewish issues.

However, by the mid-1970s, donations from individuals and families began to decline. This was due to changes in the social networking structure, Jewish self-identity, and intermarriage. A 1980 article by Steven Martin Cohen found that “several trends, then, lead to the expectation that today’s younger Jews will emerge as less dedicated donors than their counterparts in the past.” This fundraising void had to be filled.  The solution was the mega-donor.

Lousy Chemistry: Mixing Jewish Causes and Political Mega Donors

The mega-donor’s current problem in the RJC, including their blind support of Trump and all of his policies, including attacks on liberal Jewish Democrats, who account for about 78% of all Jewish voters.  Still, this does not detract from the good works wealthy donors make to Jewish charitable and philanthropic causes.

But the political will and egos of wealthy people, like the problems associated with big money in politics, tilt the power structure against average citizens.

In the case of the RJC’s pro-Trump financing, the accompanying rise in anti-Semitic attacks was bound to affect ordinary people more than wealthy donors.  This is what happened during the increase of anti-Semitic acts during the Trump presidency.

In many ways, creating a Frankenstein monster like the religious-political group that financed Trump, the Republican Jewish Coalition, was a disgrace to both Jewish values and the democratic political process.

However, the collective egos of the RJCs membership made it impossible to consider alternatives. They needed tax benefits, estate planning credits, special favors, public acclaim, and whatever requests their dark money demanded. And all these happened at the expense of average Americans.

However, if you read the case studies of anti-Semitic attacks during the past four years, you will see that they happened to everyday people going about their business.  College students, couples on the way to the synagogue, insults in the classroom, people walking down the street or shopping. The victims of these anti-Semitic slurs or acts were all ordinary people who were hurt by wealthy donors who needed a political favor or were true believers in the Republican Tea Party philosophy.

Political Lobbying Has Nasty Consequences

In many ways, the RJC’s pro-Trump stance was the same as any other corporate lobbying group.

As Robert Reich said when referring to corporate lobbying, “For years, big corporations have been assaulting democracy with big money, drowning out the voices and needs of ordinary Americans and fueling much of the anger and cynicism that opened the door to Trump in the first place.”

The RJC used the same process to drown out the voices and safety requirements of ordinary Jewish Americans. The RJC also cultivated a rabid group of Jewish Republicans who ridiculed Jewish Democrats online as being traitors, wimps, “libtards,” dupes of the liberal media, and worse. Some of these fanatic followers were among the terrorists who attacked the Capitol on January 6.  Simultaneously, the RJC never acknowledged the link between Trump, white supremacists, QAnon believers, Christian nationalists, and anti-Semitic groups. This was an intentional omission since they bragged about funding him and supporting his policies for years.

But after the nation witnessed the attack on the Capitol, it was time for the Republican Jewish Coalition to re-examine its purpose. They bet big and lost on Trump and his white supremacist Christian nationalist party. They also must assume some responsibility for the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the U.S.

It also has become clear the RJC has no connection with generally accepted traditional Jewish values and whatever narrow political policies they are advocating daily.

So maybe it’s time for the RJC to admit it is just a club for wealthy Jews who need an ego boost. The record shows that despite spending hundreds of millions on Trump, the RJC backed a sociopath. Worse, in their pursuit of pushing a right-wing political agenda, they are now endangering the physical and mental security of millions of average Jewish Americans.

It looks like the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), the lobbying group that was one of Trump’s largest financial supporters, was indirectly supporting anti-Semitism when they supported Trump during his entire term.

Not only did they support Trump’s anti-democratic political agenda, but the RJC also bankrolled an attempted coup against the US government.

And now, the RJC claims they did not know what was going to happen after they spent hundreds of millions bolstering Trump’s right-wing agenda.

Why Would the RJC Support Anti-Semitism and Violent Nationalists?

Any American adult who followed the ascent of Trump and his presidential administration knew to some degree that an essential part of his voter base was a nationalist, racist, white supremacist. And as a byproduct of those malign engines, they are violent nationalists.

This has been a part of Trump’s core following for his adult professional and presidential administration for the past four years.

His beliefs and, more importantly, the closest advisors who publicly provided advice were omnipresent. They are still giving him advice today.

So, it is shocking to find that Trump’s most prominent financial supporters, some of whom gave his political action committees millions in contributions to advance his cause, were Jewish. Most were members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).

While many Jewish groups pursue tikkun olam, repairing the broken world, the RJC and its focused contributions worked full-time to disrupt US political institutions.

The question is, why would American Jews, many of them billionaires and astute business people, donate money to a man who has direct links to groups that foster anti-Semitism?

Why would the RJC and Adelson willingly and repeatedly give Trump and his Republican party money and moral support, to whatever degree, to various groups, some of them violent, who have denied the Holocaust and conducted violent attacks against Jewish institutions?

What was the goal of these wealthy Jewish contributors who, to some degree, have directly funded campaigns against the safety of unsuspecting fellow Jews that could be conducted anywhere in the US?

Serious Questions About the RJC’s Role

This is a serious political, ethical, and potentially Talmudic question.

This problem affects almost every individual Jewish family and significant US Jewish organizations. In 2019, Jews in the United States suffered the most important number of anti-Semitic incidents since the Anti-Defamation League began collecting records 40 years ago.

This is also a question most Jewish institutions will not publicly answer.  The reason is that the same large contributors to Trump and his Republican party are also significant contributors to Jewish charitable and educational organizations worldwide.

When fundraising is challenging, these groups will not criticize Sheldon, Miriam Adelson, Bernie Marcus, Jeffrey Yass, Paul Singer, Steven Schwarzman, or others in the RJC. (The Adelson’s are Trump’s largest individual contributors, with $75 million in donations.) They are all donors and funders, to whatever degree, to Trump’s white supremacist followers and their beliefs about anti-Semitism.

Worse, the top executives at the nation’s most prominent Jewish organizations knew about this dilemma. Still, because they were receiving contributions from these same wealthy Republicans, they could not publicly criticize their political actions, even when they knew they were working at cross-purposes. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum: One group was raising money and working to combat anti-Semitism, while the RJC was, to some degree, encouraging, financing, or providing moral support through Trump and his Team Party Republicans to groups that were white supremacists.

This situation has created a significant ethical and financial dilemma inside these organizations. It raises the question: How do you take much-needed money from ethically compromised people who put their self-interests above their neighbors?

The current situation is akin to a fireman who is an arsonist during off-duty hours. He starts fires and then fights fires. He benefits in the process, but at what price does he benefit the overall community?

Wealthy Donors Will Deny They Knew Anything

At this point, we will hear that the large donors to Trump did not know about his anti-Semitic links.

That is not believable, especially after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol with confirmed law enforcement links to hate groups.

These successful business people have extraordinary abilities and resources to gather facts and intelligence about competitors, employees, investment strategies, and business takeover candidates. 

So, for us to believe that these significant contributors could not read reams of reports generated by the ADL, B’nai Brith, Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI, the American Jewish Committee, United Nations, U.S. State Department, and others about the connections and goals of the various white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups that emerged and grew during Trump’s presidency is not credible.  A simple Google search would have produced the results.

Yet, many of these same wealthy contributors will feign ignorance of Trump’s connections to racist groups, many of which promote anti-Semitism. This response is an insult to our intelligence.

People Can Contribute To Any Political Cause

Of course, Americans of any religion can contribute any amount to any political cause. That’s an American right.

People contribute to political candidates and parties for a few reasons:

• They like the candidate;
• They like what the candidate and the party stand for;
• They want to be involved in the electoral process;
• They want political access for ego, business conduct, or favors (special tax treatment, etc.).

Those in the Republican Jewish Coalition, the major national Jewish group making donations to Republicans and Trump, have members who also embrace the goals listed above.

Yet, one of their main goals is to make donations that will alter US policy towards Israel. This goal differs from most other major political groups with a religious affiliation. After all,  Catholic groups that contribute to Republicans do not favor special treatment for the Vatican or other Catholics worldwide.

But the focus on the RJC and its main contributors, Sheldon Adelson and Bernie Marcus, among others, raises the very uncomfortable and ancient issue of dual Jewish loyalty and whether the AJC’s contributions were made to bolster pro-Israel State Department policies.

This was undoubtedly a reason for Adelson’s enormous largesse. But the RJC’s contributions also advanced Trump’s despicable domestic policies. His policies included anti-immigrant actions, voter suppression, anti-environment, political disenfranchisement, and family separation plans.  All of these are antithetical to Jewish values.

The RJC made these enormous contributions even when they knew Trump was attracting and encouraging racist and anti-Semitic elements into his administration and voter base.

This is the central question that demands an answer.

Anti-Semitism is Too Sensitive for Public Discussion

As noted earlier, discussing this topic will probably not happen publicly by the nation’s largest Jewish groups. It is too politically, ethically, and financially sensitive. 

This is understandable. These organizations need donations from wealthy Republican Jews. They also don’t need the tsoris of revealing what was said in sensitive debates about whether they should take money from fellow Jews who advanced to whatever degree, anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions against other Jews.

The Capitol’s attack by violent right-wing groups benefitted from the millions in donations from the RJC. That group does not respond to questions, so it is the responsibility of other Jewish organizations to address this problem publicly.

At the least, the RJC and its members should make amends to the national Jewish community, including the elderly, Jewish day school students and their parents, and Jewish college students on campus, who are all now more afraid for their safety. There are also reports that the fear of anti-Semitic attacks has mental health ramifications. These groups are now more personally vulnerable for displaying their Jewish symbols and generally more insecure.

All this happened because some Republican Jews, many of them billionaires, had their own political,  business, and social agendas that put the larger Jewish population at risk for months and possibly years into the future.

There may be no organizational or social solution to this problem. It may have a Talmudic answer, but that is for the religious and lay leaders to decide.

However, Trump has disrupted the American political process for years to come. Even worse, so have Trump’s most generous and selfish Jewish supporters.

Answer: According to a new poll by GBAO Research and Jim Gerstein, a group that has studied Jewish voting patterns, 77% of American Jews voted for Biden in 2020, and 23% went for Trump.

This result aligned with historical trends, but more Jews voted for Biden in 2020 than for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The survey examined the voting behavior of Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox Jews on 13 important issues (see below). It then divided the responses by religious Jewish level of observance (Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Unaffiliated).

Overall, Biden got 97% of the vote from all Jews, while 79% of Orthodox Jews voted for Trump. About 10% of American Jews are Orthodox.

At the issue level, the sample of 800 American Jews used in the poll considered these as the most critical issues:

1. COVID virus
2. Climate change
3. Health care
4. The economy
5. The Supreme Court
6. Police reform and  the pursuit of justice
7. National security
8. Immigration
9. Israel
10. Taxes
11. Education
12. Iran

In addition, the poll found Jews had very favorable opinions and feelings about Biden, Obama, and the Democratic Party.  At the other extreme, the poll said the unfavorable views of  Jews were expressed against Netanyahu, Trump, the Republican party, and Mitch McConnell. All of these were negative. The opinion of Trump is “uniquely bad” among American Jews, the poll found.

Unlike male voters with a high school education who largely support Trump, Jews with high school educations supported Biden.

Netanyahu’s Friendship With Trump Sinks His Popularity

The biggest drop in popularity was against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Jews saw as being too close to Trump. This association sank Netanyahu’s reputation among American Jews, especially when he criticized Obama on the floor of the US House of Representatives and his involvement in US policy against Iran, the poll said.

There is also a hard-core group of Republican Jews, about 20% of the Jewish population, who are consistently Republican. This group does not seem to be growing. The most prominent supporters of Jews in the 2020 election who voted for Trump were the Orthodox and the relatively few Jewish Republicans. Unfortunately, the Republican Jews were also some of Trump’s most prominent financial backers.

In a related situation, it’s now evident that Sheldon Adelson and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) may be a financial powerhouse thanks to their unprecedented financial support of Trump. Still, as a voting group, they are insignificant. Money can buy many things, but not popularity.

Adelson and the RJC are clearly out of step with 75% of American Jews, so it is pretty evident their main goal is to get personal economic benefits in the form of business subsidies and tax breaks for their businesses and estates.

Israel Is Not the Focal Point for American Jews, But Support is Overwhelming

As noted earlier, the issue of Israel ranked ninth in the concerns of American Jewish voters in the 2020 election, but this does not mean Jewish support of Israel is waning.

Most Jewish voters know it is Congress that votes to provide economic,  financial, and security support for Israel, not the president alone. The false claim that “Trump was good for Israel and Biden was not” was a rallying call from Republicans, but it was untrue. It is AIPAC that lobbies Congress for Israel, and they are supposedly bipartisan and have worked with all administrations since 1948 when Israel was founded.

However, at some recent national events, AIPAC has been exploited by some pro-Trump groups that have damaged its traditional bipartisan position. Given the poor ratings of Trump and Netanyahu in this 2020 poll, AIPAC should make sure it is not exploited by these same pro-Trump demonstrations in the future.

In the latest episode of Trump’s unhinged behavior, protestors and counter-protestors in the over-55 retirement community called The Villages, located northwest of Orlando, had an exchange that went like this, according to NPR.

“In one exchange — eight seconds into the two-minute video — a white man holding a sign that says “Make America Sane Again,” a reference to Trump’s campaign slogan, yells: “Where’s your white hood?” In response, a white man driving a golf cart with signs reading “Trump 2020” and “America First” yells back “white power.”

To keep the message intact, Trump re-tweeted this video along with his nonsense claim that “The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe [Biden] is shot. See you soon!!!”

Trump Embraces White Power…Again

It’s indisputable that Trump endorses white power but then denies it. However, the facts state he endorses white supremacy. He has done so for years.

So with that link established, why are Trump’s largest financial contributors part of the Republican Jewish Coalition?

Why would any Jewish group contribute to a president who supports white supremacists?

The RJC would certainly deny any links.  Their agenda has a cover story that it is pro-Israel, but Trump has failed to deliver on any Israel peace deal or work towards a two-state solution.

What the RJC has enjoyed are beneficial tax treatment and estate tax benefits from the Trump administration. That is their major benefit, so far.

But how does the RJC’s pro-tax break agenda help the broader Jewish community? That is not clear, mainly because it does not exist for the majority of Americans of any religion.

But what the RJC’s massive financial support of Trump does deliver is a continuous path between the Trump administration and white supremacist groups.  The number of anti-semitic attacks against Jewish sites and individuals has a direct correlation to the amount of money donated  by the RJC to the Republicans and the Trump presidential campaign 

So, the next time there is an anti-Semitic attack attributed to white supremacists, contact the RJC and ask how they benefitted from that attack?  Did they get a bigger tax break because of it? Or, did they get better access to the Trump White House because of it?

Major Jewish national organizations should pay attention to this link.  It is uncomfortable, but it is indisputable.

Worse, it makes no sense to combat white supremacists in the US if the RJC is providing the funding those groups and an administration that promotes its messages, however indirectly, through their financial contributions. It’s time to hold the RJC accountable for its contributions and the impact of what their money is buying.