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December 15, 2024
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
1) It's been 436 days since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on Simchat Torah and murdered 1,200 people (including 44 Americans). More Jews were murdered on that day than on any day since the Holocaust. Hamas wounded 3,300 and took 251 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence; 100 hostages, many dead, some raped and possibly pregnant, remain captive in Gaza.
2) The 100 remaining hostages include seven Americans, some possibly alive: Keith Siegal, Omer Neutra, Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Itay Chen, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Gad Haggai.
3) Ron Kampeas, the dean of Jewish journalism, is retiring at the end of the year. One of his last stories details the number of Jews in the next Congress.
4) The Biden administration renewed sanctions waivers that allow Iraq to buy electricity from Iran for the 23rd time, continuing one of the few Trump-era Iran policies that made sense. But right-wing media outlets are shocked that something that's been happening every four months for years happened again (these waivers do not enable Iran to spend more on any of its nefarious activities).
5) Don't fall for it: We cannot accept Trump's dangerous actions and policies as normal, starting with his unqualified nominees for key positions.
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Hi Steve,
The next Congress will include 34 Jewish members in the House and Senate. Three (all in the House) are Republicans. A fourth Jewish Republican House member is likely to be elected in April, which would mean 35 Jews total, of whom four would be Republicans. Ron Kampeas has the details.
Kampeas, the dean of Jewish journalists, is retiring at the end of the year. His reporting and analysis have been indispensable. Ron has written many wonderful stories, but this remains my favorite. He will be missed.
Don't fall for it. When Trump acolytes tell us that something not a big deal is outrageous and shocking, don't join the faux hysteria. Last week, the big news was that Biden was photographed with a book that they haven't read but know is bad and that means--what does it mean? Nothing, really, other than perhaps Biden wants to understand perspectives different from his but our friends on the right clutched their pearls and we took them seriously instead of laughing.
But that was last week. The new hebdomadal outrage is that the Biden administration renewed $10 billion sanctions waivers for Iran on November 7. For some reason, our MAGA friends were slow on the draw and only now seem to be realizing this, which is odd because it happens every four months. It's been happening every four months since the Trump administration. All our Republican friends have to do is set a triannual calendar reminder so that they can remember to feign outrage promptly.
State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel acknowledged on December 3 that "on November 7th, the department did renew Iraq’s electricity waiver for the 23rd time since 2018. It was done so for an additional 120 days. We remain committed to reducing Iran’s malign influence in the region. Our viewpoint is that a stable, sovereign, and secure Iraq is critical to these efforts. Since 2018 – as you know, this started in the previous administration – the State Department has permitted Iraq to purchase Iranian electricity while Iraq continues to develop its own domestic generation capacity."
But doesn't this help Iran fund terrorism? Isn't the money fungible? Can't Iran use the money to fund its nuclear program? No and no and no. If you are the least bit concerned about this non-news, read my explainer.
Iran has made dramatic leaps in its nuclear weapons program. The unknown is whether Iran is planning to go all the way or whether it is enhancing its negotiating position. Now more than ever is not the time for inane demagoguery about routine sanctions waivers that are not funding Iran's nuclear program.
Don't fall for it. When Trump acolytes tell us that something outrageous and shocking is not a big deal, don't treat it as normal. Trump's nominees make the bar in Star Wars look like your friendly neighborhood tavern.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Trump's choice for UN ambassador, supports the Great Replacement Theory, the same racist, antisemitic conspiracy theory that the shooter who killed ten Black Americans in Buffalo believed in. Stefanik backed Carl Paladino for Congress. She voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Imagine Stefanik in the UN lecturing other countries about antisemitism and democracy--assuming anyone can hear what she's saying over the laughter. The Nexus Project is right: Anyone or any organization that cares about fighting antisemitism must speak out against her.
Mike Huckabee, Trump's choice for ambassador to Israel, is a right-wing Evangelical extremist and a racist. He is a strong ally of the settler movement and supports Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which would effectively make Israel an apartheid state and weaken support for Israel in the U.S. and around the world. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said, "as a secular Zionist, I find nothing remotely appealing about the fundamentalism of Mike Huckabee.”
Tristan Sturn explains that the goal of Huckabee's ideology "is the removal of Palestinians from the biblically defined land of Israel to facilitate Christ’s return. ... Huckabee envisions a state of Israel that extends from the river to the sea: From the Mediterranean to the river Euphrates, and down to the River Nile." We'll have to wait and see to find out if Huckabee's vision of the end of days is theologically sound, but its practical implications for Israel and the Palestinians are horrifying.
Anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice to head Health and Human Services, promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theory about Jews and COVID.
Don't forget Pete Hegseth and his support for a new Christian crusade, Tulsi Gabbard, who cannot separate propaganda from reality, and Kash Patel. None are qualified to serve in the positions Trump is nominating them for.
The answer is not for some Democrats to vote for some of them to show they are open-minded. The answer is for all Democrats to vote against all of them to show they have not lost their minds, to never accept any of these nominees as normal, and if they are concerned about the appearance of bipartisanship, to use their powers of persuasion to convince a few of their Republican colleagues to put country over party.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter, I typed that Kash Patel is a dangerous and qualified choice to lead the FBI. I meant to type "unqualified."
In Case You Missed It:
1) On December 12, Jake Sullivan reaffirmed the United States's unwavering commitment to Israel's security during his seventh trip to Israel as National Security Advisor. His remarks are an excellent summary of where we've been and where we are headed.
2) Nadav Ziv believes that Amnesty International’s genocide report is profoundly flawed — and everyone who cares about Israel should read it.
3) What the co-chair of Columbia University’s antisemitism task force says people get wrong about the campus protests--an interview with Andrew Silow-Carroll.
4) Internal documents from the Heritage Foundation's plan to fight antisemitism, "Project Esther," describe a conspiracy of Jewish ‘masterminds’ seeking to dismantle Western values according to a report from Arno Rosenfeld.
5) Bucking Israel’s far right, several large American Jewish groups say they oppose resettling Gaza.
6) On Thursday, the Biden-Harris administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate.
7) World Central Kitchen fired dozens of workers in Gaza who Israel said were linked to terror groups.
8) I wonder if our Republican friends will think this is a problem: A crypto venture recently unveiled by Trump and his new Middle East envoy, billionaire Steve Witkoff, has partnered with a crypto platform that authorities and financial experts say has been used by criminals and Iran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. This is a major scandal and should be treated as such.
9) Catherine Rampel: The GOP's top priority for 2025: Repeal the laws of arithmetic.
10) I'll give the last word on Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter Biden to Stan Polovets. If this does not address your concerns, nothing will.
Social Posts of the Week. Ron Filipkowski and Dave Sumner Smith.
Ted Talk of the Week. Stephanie Kelton's talk on the big myth of government deficits should be mandatory viewing for anyone who buys into the nonsense about needing massive cuts in government spending to tame the deficit.
Video Clips of the Week. John Mulaney on Steely Dan and one joke from Jack Benny.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. If the Rolling Stones selling Rice Krispies wasn't enough for you, here's James Brown selling miso soup.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it). If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism and on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
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