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‘Hamas will be washed away’: Top congressional leaders pledge support for Israel
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The top four congressional leaders told Jewish officials from around the country they were committed to backing Israel’s war with Hamas until the terrorist organization is wiped out.
The comments came Tuesday at a rally of 350 Jewish leaders from around the country organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America. It drew the Senate majority and minority leader and the U.S. House of Representatives majority and minority leader. There is no Speaker in the House currently.
The top-level turnout was a testament the degree to which the pro-Israel community has galvanized the political class since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and how the support for Israel has not abated even as it mounts a massive counterattack by air and has announced plans for a ground invasion.
Each speaker expressed unstinting support for Israel’s war aim, to destroy Hamas. President Joe Biden, who is flying to Israel on Wednesday, has also said that Hamas must be eliminated.
New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat and the minority leader in the House, cited the week’s Torah portion to justify the removal of Hamas from the earth.
“Noah was the only righteous man in the world consumed by violence, corruption and evil, this land filled with evil — it was described in Hebrew as Eretz Hamas,” he said, repeating “Hamas” for effect.
“The Torah portion ends with a flood that eradicates this evil and an ark that saves Noah from it,” Jeffries said. “These verses remind us of the role that Israel must now play in eradicating evil.”
Like other Democrats speaking, he distinguished between Hamas and the 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza. “International law is the law with respect to Palestinian civilians who have been callously put in harm’s way by terrorists,” he said. “However, this is a moment for accountability and Hamas will be washed away.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Jewish New York Democrat who is the majority leader, said he would push through assistance for Israel in the Senate and find a way to get the House to approve it, although that body can barely function while its Republican majority tussles over who should be speaker.
“I will lead the effort of the United States Senate to provide Israel with the support needed to fully defend itself from this monstrous attack,” Schumer said.
Schumer also described meetings he had on a two-day bipartisan visit to Israel this week, when the delegation at one point had to rush to a safe room because of a rocket warning. “We sat down with Israeli leaders. They asked us, they had a list of what they needed — so many things like JDAMs and Iron Dome.” JDAMs convert bombs into guided missiles, and the Iron Dome is Israel’s missile defense system.
“We will not just talk about waiting for the House, we will move aid through the Senate as quickly as possible, and I do believe that we’ll get a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate,” he said. “It will force the House in whatever way they decide,” Schumer said to laughter.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who as majority leader is the most senior Republican while the House awaits the next speaker, said a pro-Israel resolution, with the backing of 423 of the 434 House members, was ready to move as soon as a speaker is in place.
The Biden Administration wants to attach emergency assistance for Israel to a request for assistance to Ukraine, which an increasing number of Republicans oppose — including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who is vying for the speakership. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, is among the Republicans who favor assistance to Ukraine and to U.S. allies in the region of China and suggested that he would back coupling the requests.
“This is what I’ll be fighting for in the coming week as the Senate considers the resources we must put into our defense and the additional assistance we need for Israel and other democracies in Europe and the Pacific,” McConnell said.
Schumer also said he would push for greater assistance for security for Jewish institutions. The grant program for vulnerable nonprofits currently stands at $360 million. Jewish groups want it to go up to $500 million.
Jeffries, who is the first Black major party leader in Congress, said the Jewish community could count on significant support. “You have friends in the African American community, all throughout the country too numerous to mention,” he said.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary, outlined the outreach his department has made in recent days to Jewish communities fearful of a spike in antisemitism because of the war.
“The grief will not subside soon, the hurt will pass from generation to generation,” said Mayorkas, who is Jewish. “So will our resolve, our faith, the practice of it and the values that we have that bind us together. This Department of Homeland Security is here for you. We are here with you.”
A young woman who only used her first name, Noa, described surviving the massive Hamas attack on an outdoor concert, lying under bodies, hearing her friends shot and discovering afterwards that her best friend had been killed.
Fifty of the Jewish leaders were set to travel Tuesday evening to Israel in a solidarity visit. Every seat had a blue ribbon with a pin, a symbol of the demand for the return of some 200 hostages Hamas took during its raid.
Shortly after the rally, which took place at the historic Sixth and I synagogue in downtown Washington, ended, Hamas officials said Israel hit a hospital, killing hundreds. Israel blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, saying one of the terror group’s rockets fell short.
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The post ‘Hamas will be washed away’: Top congressional leaders pledge support for Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai
Around 200 people gathered for a pro-Israel demonstration at University of Toronto’s downtown campus at King’s College Circle—which was the site of one of Canada’s largest pro-Palestinian encampments during May […]
The post A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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‘Not Welcome’: New Pro-Hamas Campaign Aims to Abolish Hillel Campus Chapters
A statue of George Washington tied with a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh inside a pro-Hamas encampment is pictured at George Washington University in Washington, DC, US, May 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Craig Hudson
The campus group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is waging a campaign to gut Jewish life in academia, calling for the abolition of Hillel International campus chapters, the largest collegiate organization for Jewish students in the world.
“Over the past several decades, Hillel has monopolized for Jewish campus life into a pipeline for pro-Israel indoctrination, genocide-apologia, and material support to the Zionist project and its crimes,” a social media account operating the campaign, titled #DropHillel, said in a manifesto published last week. “Across the country, Hillel chapters have invited Israeli soldiers to their campuses; promoted propaganda trips such as birthright; and organized charity drives for the Israeli military.”
It continued, “Such actions reveal Hillel’s ideological and material investment in Zionism, despite the organization’s facade as being simply a ‘Jewish cultural space.’”
DropHillel claims to be “Jewish-led,” although only a small minority of Jews oppose Zionism, and the group has been linked to and promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters.
Hillel International has provided Jewish students a home away from home during the academic year. However, NSJP says it wants to “weaken” it and “dismantle oppression.”
The idea has already been picked up by pro-Hamas student groups at one college, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to The Daily Tar Heel, the school’s official student newspaper. On Oct. 9, it reported, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) unveiled the idea for “no more Hillel” during a rally which, among other things, demanded removing Israel from UNC’s study abroad program and adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Addressing the comments to the paper days later, SJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, proclaimed that shuttering Hillel is a coveted goal of the anti-Zionist movement.
“Zionism is a racist supremacist ideology advocating for the creation and sustenance of an ethnostate through the expulsion and annihilation of native people,” the group told the paper. “Therefore, any group that advocates for a supremacist ideology — be it the KKK, the Proud Boys, Hillel, or Heels for Israel — should not be welcome on campus.”
The #DropHillel campaign came amid an unprecedented surge in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses, which, according to a report published last month by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), have reached crisis levels.
Revealing a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena, the report — titled “Anti-Israel Activism on US Campuses, 2023-2024” — painted a bleak picture of America’s higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate.
“As the year progressed, Jewish students and Jewish groups on campus came under unrelenting scrutiny for any association, actual or perceived, with Israel or Zionism,” the report said. “This often led to the harassment of Jewish members of campus communities and vandalism of Jewish institutions. In some cases, it led to assault. These developments were underpinned by a steady stream of rhetoric from anti-Israel activists expressing explicit support for US-designated terrorists organizations, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and others.”
The report added that 10 campuses accounted for 16 percent of all incidents tracked by ADL researchers, with Columbia University and the University of Michigan combining for 90 anti-Israel incidents — 52 and 38, respectively. Harvard University, the University of California – Los Angeles, Rutgers University New Brunswick, Stanford University, Cornell University, and others filled out the rest of the top 10. Violence, it continued, was most common at universities in the state of California, where anti-Zionist activists punched a Jewish student for filming him at a protest.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Not Welcome’: New Pro-Hamas Campaign Aims to Abolish Hillel Campus Chapters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Muslim for Trump’ Launches Initiatives in Key Battleground States, Says Candidate Will Bring ‘Peace’ to Gaza
Former US President Donald Trump is seen at a campaign event in South Carolina. Photo: Reuters/Sam Wolfe
The “Muslims for Trump” organization has officially launched initiatives to help elect Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to the White House, arguing that he would be more likely to end the war in Gaza than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In a statement released on Monday, the group said it will focus on recruiting Muslim voters in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. The organization both praised Trump for his supposed “peace-focused” approach to ending the war in Gaza and condemned Harris for helping facilitate a so-called “genocide.”
“After meeting with President Trump, it was clear to me he is the right leader for Muslims to get behind,” Rabiul Chowdhury, co-founder of Muslims for Trump and former co-chair of the “Abandon Harris Movement,” said in a statement.
Chowdhury added that during his discussions with Trump, the former president vowed to “ending the escalation of wars and bringing peace to war-torn regions.” In contrast to Trump’s promise to stop the “bloodshed” in Gaza, he claimed, Harris has “recklessly pushed us toward World War III.”
Chowdhury, a self-described “peace advocate,” urged the Muslim community not to fall victim to supposed “misinformation” campaigns by the media and Democrats that paint the former president as hostile to immigrants. He claimed that the former president’s focus is on “ending war, not dividing families through false immigration claims.”
Samra Luqman, chair of the Michigan chapter of Muslims for Trump, underscored the need to punish the Biden administration for what he described as supporting a “genocide” in Gaza.
“The goal of this election is to hold the Biden administration accountable for a genocide. No amount of fear mongering or scare tactics will persuade my community into forgiving the mutilation, live-burning, and genocide of over 200,000 people,” he said.
According to data produced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, roughly 40,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began last October. Israel has said that its forces have killed about 20,000 Hamas terrorists during its military campaign.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
On the organization Muslims for Trump’s official website, it claims that the Abraham Accords, a series of historic, Trump administration-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several countries in the Arab world, helped stabilize the Middle East. It also says that had Trump not lost the 2020 presidential race, the so-called “genocide” could have been prevented.
“Under Trump’s leadership, the Abraham Accords were brokered, fostering peaceful relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Supporters might argue that Trump’s diplomacy prioritized peace and stability in the Middle East, reducing the likelihood of large-scale conflicts like genocide,” the group wrote.
Over the course of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly touted his support for the Jewish state during his singular term in office. Trump has boasted about his administration’s work in fostering the Abraham Accords, promising to resume efforts to strengthen them if he were to win November’s US presidential election.
Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under Trump crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized the Biden administration for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency.
Trump also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria, and also moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as the Jewish state’s capital.
Despite Harris’s repeated efforts to woo Muslim voters, polling data indicates that the demographic has made a dramatic swing away from the Democratic Party. Polling data from the Arab American Institute reveals that Trump slightly edges Harris among Muslim voters by a margin of 42 to 41 percent. A report from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows that Green Party candidate Jill Stein leads Harris and Trump with Muslim voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
The post ‘Muslim for Trump’ Launches Initiatives in Key Battleground States, Says Candidate Will Bring ‘Peace’ to Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.