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Chuck Schumer, Doug Emhoff Reflect on Jewish American Experience, Antisemitism at Democratic National Convention
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press conference in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 23, 2024. Photo: Annabelle Gordon / CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reflected on their experiences as Jewish Americans and surging antisemitism across the US during the second night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday.
Schumer, the majority leader in the US Senate, discussed the existence of antisemitism in American society, reflecting on the impact that it could have on his grandchildren. The senator also took a swipe at Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump for supposedly perpetuating harmful stereotypes about the Jewish community.
“As the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history, I want my grandkids and all grandkids to never, never face discrimination because of who they are. But Donald Trump, this is a guy who peddles antisemitic stereotypes,” Schumer said at the DNC in Chicago. “He even invited a white supremacist to Mar-a-Lago. But unfortunately, his prejudice goes in all directions: he fuels Islamophobia, and issued a Muslim ban as president. Tonight folks, I am wearing this blue square, to stand up against antisemitism, to stand up to all hate.”
He continued, “Our children, our grandchildren — no matter their race or creed or gender or family — deserve better than Donald Trump’s American carnage.”
Schumer’s remarks came as the Democratic Party continued to face an onslaught of pressure from progressives to adopt a tougher posture toward the State of Israel. Protesters have lined the streets of Chicago during the DNC, demanding that the party secure a ceasefire in Gaza and enact an arms embargo against Israel.
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in Congress, has adopted a more adversarial posture against Israel in the months following Oct. 7. In March, he called for new elections in the Jewish state to replace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During Netanyahu’s address to Congress last month, Schumer refused to shake the Israeli premier’s hand, greeting him with a head nod instead.
Emhoff, the husband of Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris, praised his wife for encouraging him to speak out against antisemitism in his role as second gentleman during his DNC speech.
“Kamala has fought against antisemitism and all forms of hate her whole career,” said Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of either a vice president or president. “She’s the one who encouraged me as second gentleman to take up that fight, which is so personal to me.”
The US has experienced a record surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
“I love being Jewish,” Emhoff said. “I love it. I love everything about it. I want to shout it from the mountaintops.”
Emhoff celebrated his interfaith marriage and “blended family,” claiming that Harris has played an integral role in helping him strengthen his Jewish faith.
“Kamala has connected me more deeply to my faith,” Emhoff said, “even though it’s not the same as hers.”
“She comes to synagogue with me for High Holidays, and I go to church with her for Easter,” he added.
Jewish and pro-Israel activists have expressed concern that Harris could be more hostile to Israel than Biden. She skipped Netanyahu’s congressional address and, after later meeting privately with the Israeli premier, held a press conference in which she vowed to “not be silent” about humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Harris also seemingly defended anti-Israel campus protesters in July, saying that the demonstrators are “showing what human emotion should be.”
The decision to spotlight Emhoff’s faith has been perceived by some observers as part of a calculated effort to lure Jewish voters into supporting Harris. Some pro-Israel voters have expressed concern that Harris would not be supportive of Israel, citing her lack of longstanding ties to the Jewish state and warm relationship with the left flank of the Democratic Party.
Some recent polls suggest that Jewish voters are set to flock to Republicans in historic numbers. Jewish voters prefer Harris over Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee, by a margin of 52.7 percent to 45.9 percent, according to a survey conducted by pollster Richard Baris.
Since 1968, American Jews have supported the Democratic presidential nominee over the Republican nominee on average by a staggering margin of 71 percent to 26 percent, according to Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish voters supported incumbent US President Joe Biden over Trump by a margin of 68 percent to 30 percent in 2020.
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Top US General Makes Unannounced Middle East Trip as Iran Threat Looms
US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks at a conference of African chiefs of defense in Gaborone, Botswana on June 25, 2024, the first time a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top U.S. military officer, has visited sub-Saharan Africa in 30 years, according to the Pentagon. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Stewart/File Photo
The top US general began an unannounced visit to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict, as the region braces for a threatened Iranian attack against Israel.
Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began his trip in Jordan and said he will also travel to Egypt and Israel in the coming days to hear the perspectives of military leaders.
His visit comes as the United States is trying to clinch an elusive Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which Brown said would “help bring down the temperature,” if achieved.
“At the same time, as I talk to my counterparts, what are the things we can do to deter any type of broader escalation and ensure we’re taking all the appropriate steps to (avoid) … a broader conflict,” Brown told Reuters before landing in Jordan.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, now in its 11th month. The conflict has leveled huge swathes of Gaza, triggered border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and sparked attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Red Sea shipping.
Meanwhile, US troops have been attacked by Iran-aligned militia in Syria, Iraq and Jordan. In recent weeks, the U.S. military has been bolstering its forces in the Middle East to guard against major new attacks by Iran or its allies, sending the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.
The United States has also sent an Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron into the region and deployed a cruise missile submarine.
“We brought in additional capability to send a strong message to deter a broader conflict … but also to protect our forces should they be attacked,” Brown said, saying safeguarding American forces was “paramount.”
IRANIAN RESPONSE
Iran has vowed a severe response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.
Hezbollah has also threatened a response after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month.
Iran has not publicly indicated what would be the target of an eventual response to the Haniyeh assassination but U.S. officials say they are closely monitoring for any signs that Iran will make good on its threats.
“We stay postured, watching the (intelligence) and force movements,” Brown said. On Friday, Iran’s new Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his French and British counterparts in telephone conversations that it was his country’s right to retaliate, according to the official IRNA news agency.
On April 13, two weeks after two Iranian generals were killed in a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards Israel, damaging two air bases. Israel, the United States and other allies managed to destroy almost all of the weapons before they reached their targets.
Brown did not speculate about what Iran and its allies might do but said he hoped to discuss different scenarios with his Israeli counterpart.
“Particularly, as I engage with my Israeli counterpart, how they might respond, depending on the response that comes from Hezbollah or from Iran,” Brown said.
The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
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Gaza Talks Resume in Cairo
Illustrative. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran July 6, 2022. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS.
Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiators discussed new compromise proposals in Cairo on Saturday, seeking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas as the UN reported worsening humanitarian conditions, with malnutrition soaring and polio discovered in the Palestinian enclave.
A Hamas delegation arrived on Saturday to be nearer at hand to review any proposals that emerge in the main talks between Israel and the mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and the United States, two Egyptian security sources said.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was expected to attend.
A US official said negotiators from the United States met with Egypt then bilaterally with Egypt and Qatar on Saturday, and believed that representatives from Egypt and Qatar were meeting with Hamas.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce a breakthrough to end Israel’s military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
The Egyptian sources said the new proposals include compromises on outstanding points such as how to secure key areas and the return of people to north Gaza.
However there was no sign of any breakthrough on key sticking points, including Israel’s insistence that it must retain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas has accused Israel of going back on things it had previously agreed to in the talks, which Israel denies. The group says the United States is not mediating in good faith.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has locked horns with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over whether Israeli troops must remain all along the border between Gaza and Egypt, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
A Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said it was too soon to predict the outcome of talks.
“Hamas is there to discuss the outcome of the mediators’ talks with the Israeli officials and whether there is enough to suggest a change in the Netanyahu stance about reaching a deal,” the official said.
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Soldier Killed in Central Gaza, Bringing IDF Death Toll to 696
Sgt. First Class (res.) Evyatar Atuar was killed in action in Gaza City, Aug. 23, 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and several others were wounded on Friday morning when Hamas terrorists detonated an explosive device in Gaza City.
The slain soldier was named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Evyatar Atuar, 24, of the 16th “Jerusalem” Infantry Brigade’s 6310th Battalion, from Rosh Haayin.
The brigade, part of the 252nd “Sinai” Division, was involved in expanding the IDF’s Netzarim Corridor, which separates Gaza’s north and south.
According to an initial probe, terrorists remote-detonated a bomb planted on a building’s outer wall after soldiers had entered to search it in the Zeitoun neighborhood.
At least four soldiers outside the structure were seriously wounded and three others were moderately hurt, the IDF said.
On Thursday, Sgt. Ori Ashkenazi Nechemya, 19, a member of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, was killed battling Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip.
A preliminary probe found that he was killed by anti-tank missile fire in Rafah.
Earlier this week, Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21, from the Paratrooper Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, was killed by an IAF missile that malfunctioned during a strike in southern Gaza.
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 333, and at 696 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.
Additionally, Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.
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