This raises troubling questions about not only the anti-Israel extremism that had already infiltrated the Jewish Democratic Council of America but Kamala’s campaign.

By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine

Democrats have tried to reassure Jewish voters that they have nothing to worry about despite Kamala’s harsh criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.

To counter those concerns, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, headed by Haile Sofer, Kamala’s old policy adviser, rolled out a ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ online rally.

But while the Zoom rally flier may feature a photo of Kamala and her husband, Doug Emhoff, awkwardly lighting a menorah, the leading figures in the rally only raise more questions.

The two most prominent non-elected officials taking part in the rally are Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers union, and her girlfriend, Sharon Kleinbaum.

While Weingarten is best known for her work in keeping school closed leading to as much as a grade point of loss in education, she is militantly anti-Israel and has used antisemitic rhetoric.

In response to a question from the JTA, a liberal Jewish media outlet, about the power of teachers’ unions, Weingarten launched into an antisemitic tirade in which she claimed that “American Jews are now part of the ownership class” who “want to take that ladder of opportunity away from those who do not have it.”

The American Jewish Committee had responded with an op-ed urging her to “Counter, Not Inflame, Antisemitism”.

I have tried to reach out to ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ to inquire if they agree with Randi Weingarten that Jews are “the ownership class” who “want to take that ladder of opportunity away from those who do not have it”, but have not received an answer.

Weingarten had befriended and defended antisemites including former Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, calling them “friends” and “warriors for justice.”

Mallory was an enthusiastic fan of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who had praised Hitler.

She had described the creation of Israel as a “human rights crime” and attacked Jewish groups.

Sarsour had a long track record of antisemitism and support for Islamic terrorism.

After the Oct 7 Hamas attacks, the Islamic activist claimed that Jewish hostage posters were entrapment and that Jews everywhere were watching them.

“So when you go home, they have their little people all over the place, trust me I know them, I got a radar for them… you think they’re ordinary people, trust me when I tell you they are everywhere. They’re on your college campus, they’re outside the supermarket, they’re outside Grand Central Station.”

Not only did Weingarten not stand with Jewish activists against the Women’s March antisemitic leaders, but she is a board member of the Americans for Peace Now BDS group whose CEO Hadar Susskind praised Ben & Jerry’s decision to boycott Israel as a “principled moral stance which we fully support”.

APN has platformed antisemitic figures like UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese who claimed that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby”.

Weingarten’s AFT union has demanded that Israel stop attacking Hamas in a resolution presented with personal support from Randi at a convention where Kamala spoke.

The AFT defended the pro-terrorist mobs harassing Jewish students and faculty on campuses.

Randi Weingarten has repeatedly attacked Israel and tweeted a quote claiming that “the Hamas attack was heinous; the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been reprehensible.”

Weingarten’s girlfriend, Sharon Kleinbaum, and fellow participant in Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris is even worse.

After Kleinbaum read the names of Hamas terrorists alongside fallen Israeli soldiers at the LGBTQ temple she formerly officiated at, congregants left feeling that it had become pro-terrorist.

One departing congregant complained that it “was essentially delivering Hamas propaganda. … My partner and I are starting a family and frankly I don’t want to raise my kids in a synagogue that’s praying for people firing rockets.”

Kleinbaum had co-signed a T’ruah letter together with anti-Israel activists urging Biden not to allow Israel to finish off Hamas in Rafah and claimed that Israel cannot “lay the full responsibility for the unimaginable suffering of a massive population of trapped civilians at the feet of Hamas.”

The letter also called for Biden to impose sanctions on members of Israel’s government.

Weingarten and Kleinbaum are not outliers at Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris.

Sharon Brous of IKAR, profiled by Variety as a “trendy, progressive congregation”whose wealthy congregants include Steven Spielberg and appears to have some link to Kamala’s husband, is also on the list.

Brous had attacked the Jewish State before the Oct 7 attacks, including in a hateful Yom Kippur address, claiming that “there can be no democracy with occupation.”

Brous is a member of the councils of anti-Israel groups like J Street, and the New Israel Fund.

Worse still, IKAR has participated in events with IfNotNow, an anti-Israel hate group linked to many of the ugly protests against the Jewish State.

Sharon Brous has a long history of supporting antisemites, attacking Jews for opposing Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, claiming that Jews “have spent years in hive mentality, pouncing on indications of anti-Semitism among Israel’s critics”, accused the Jewish State of a “52-year military occupation of millions of Palestinian people” and ranted that American Jews must “hear Palestinian voices.”

Like Weingarten, Brous attacked Jewish critics of the antisemitism in the Women’s March leadership, falsely claiming that the criticisms were, “a deliberate smear campaign from the far right to delegitimize the march itself.”

She complained that, “a much greater problem would be if the Jewish community stepped out of activism because we’re afraid that someone on the stage has a position on BDS different than our own.”

Lauren Holtzblatt, the final clergymember on the Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris call, is a member of J Street cabinet (while also tragically and inappropriately) serving as Hillel International’s director of campus initiatives and has also been associated with the anti-Israel group T’ruah and signed on to its letters.

Every single ‘rabbi’ presented by ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ is also affiliated with anti-Israel groups.

This raises troubling questions about not only the anti-Israel extremism that had already infiltrated the Jewish Democratic Council of America, but Kamala’s campaign.

Not only does ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ appear to be co-hosted with the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, but several of its anti-Israel clergy have ties to Kamala.

‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ shows that the Kamala campaign, like the Obama campaign, calculatedly platforms and normalizes anti-Israel activists while shutting out normative figures in the Jewish community.

It is not a coincidence that all of the clergy at the virtual rally were anti-Israel activists. It also not a coincidence that no pro-Israel clergy or members of more traditionally religious denominations were on the call.

The ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ rally anticipates a Kamala administration that will pursue anti-Israel policies while surrounding itself with anti-Israel activists of Jewish descent.

Jewish Democratic Council of America has sent a clear signal that the only Jews welcome by the Kamala campaign are those that will join it in opposing the Jewish State.

The post ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ is an anti-Israel group appeared first on World Israel News.

Both Bowman and Bush have ramped up their anti-Israel rhetoric in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack.

By Jessica Costescu, The Washington Free Beacon

The Jewish Democratic Council of America is backing primary challengers to anti-Israel Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D., Mo.), marking the first time the group has endorsed against any Democratic incumbent.

The council announced its support for pro-Israel Democrats George Latimer and Wesley Bell, who are running against Bowman and Bush, respectively, in a Thursday press release.

“George Latimer, a longtime progressive leader in Westchester County and a partner to Jewish New Yorkers, resolutely stands behind our community when challenging moments arise, including the current one,” JCDA chair-elect Susie Stern said.

“At an unprecedented moment for Jewish Americans, we are responding with action at the ballot box,” chief of staff Sam Crystal added.

The unprecedented move reflects Bowman and Bush’s vulnerability as they barrel toward their summer primaries.

Both Bowman and Bush have ramped up their anti-Israel rhetoric in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, prompting criticism from Jewish leaders in their districts. In November, Bowman accused Israel of “mass murder,” “genocide,” and “ethnic cleansing,” rhetoric that Bush has echoed.

In Bowman’s New York City district, 26 rabbis wrote an October letter that denounced the congressman’s “anti-Israel policy positions and messaging” and encouraged Latimer to run.

In Bush’s St. Louis district, a coalition of Jewish organizations similarly accused the congresswoman of “fanning the flames of antisemitism.”

“Representative Bush has shown little outrage against the horrendous attacks by an organization whose very charter calls for the killing of all Jewish people,” the coalition wrote in a November letter.

“To the contrary, in private discussions she has stated repeatedly that she supports the Jewish community, is listening to our fears and concerns, and stands against antisemitism,” the coalition continued. “She then issues public statements that directly contradict what she told us in private.”

In addition to her claim that Israel is committing “genocide,” Bush was one of just two House members who voted against a January bill that barred terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attack from entering the United States. Bush said the bill would “target immigrants and incite anti-Palestinian hate.”

Bell condemned Bush in response, calling her vote “offensive and embarrassing to our community.”

“We will never be a safe haven for terrorists, and we need a Congressperson who knows better,” he said in a statement.

Neither Bowman nor Bush responded to requests for comment. Last month, the lawmakers teamed up to hold a joint fundraiser in Los Angeles, which was hosted by a number of anti-Israel activists who defended Hamas’s attack on the Jewish state, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Bowman will square off against Latimer in late June, while Bush’s primary date against Bell is Aug. 6. The winners of those primaries are expected to win their general elections in November.

The post Jewish Dems endorse opponents of Squad members Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush appeared first on World Israel News.

Republican Jewish Coalition condemns Biden over his ‘cold, calculated politics’ for imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers to win backing from Arab Americans.

By World Israel News Staff

The Republican Jewish Coalition lambasted President Joe Biden Thursday, after he signed an executive order imposing sanctions on four Israeli Jews from Judea and Samaria for allegedly being involved in violent attacks, including incidents of stone-throwing, against Palestinian Arabs.

The order bars David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, and Yinon Levi from entering the United States, and orders all American financial institutions to freeze assets owned by the four.

President Biden unveiled the order during a visit to Michigan Thursday, during which he faced protests from Arab-American residents.

Hours later, the RJC issued a statement castigating the White House for the order, accusing Biden of making a political play to mollify the left-wing of the Democratic party and win back Arab voters, in particular in Michigan, a swing-state where Arabs make up roughly 5% of the population.

“This executive order is about cold, calculated politics – plain and simple,” the RJC said, calling the move “a disgrace.”

“Joe Biden and his team are watching his poll numbers crater. Today he traveled to the key battleground state of Michigan, home of the largest Arab-American population in the United States, desperate for some sort of political ‘win’ with his fervently anti-Israel base in the Democratic Party.”

“Biden has to know that this executive order will be taken by many as suggesting a moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists, who massacred, raped, and kidnapped defenseless civilians, and a small number of Israelis whose reported actions are investigated and prosecuted where appropriate by the authorities.”

“This first-of-its-kind executive order sends precisely the wrong message at absolutely the worst time, emboldening the terrorists and undermining the Jewish state. Joe Biden has needlessly damaged the US-Israel alliance yet again.”

The RJC’s Democratic counterpart, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, did not issue a direct statement defending Biden’s executive order, though the JDCA’s Twitter account retweeted Biden’s statement on the sanctions.

JDCA CEO Halie Soifer rejected accusations that Biden’s order undermined support for Israel.

“The Biden White House could not be more supportive of Israel & efforts to bring about regional security,” Soifer tweeted.

“One element of this policy has been staunchly supporting Israel’s actions against Hamas, which the US Treasury
has sanctioned 5 times since Oct 7.”

“Another element is sanctioning Israeli extremists who perpetrate violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, undermining prospects for security and peace. POTUS
stands with innocent Israelis & Palestinians, and Jewish Americans stand with POTUS.”

The post ‘A Disgrace’ – Jewish Republicans blast Biden’s order targeting settlers, while Jewish Democrats quietly defend it appeared first on World Israel News.