The America Israel Chamber of Commerce called on Trump to rescind the tariffs he slapped on Israel. Israel is also concerned about Trump's nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. Members of Congress, including Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), called on Trump to restore assistance to the West Bank and Gaza, recognizing that the humanitarian crisis there poses a threat to Israel's security.

The Democratic Party remains strongly supportive of Israel. My latest in the  Times of Israel  explains why we should not fall for claims to the contrary.

Engage with Trump supporters if you think you can make a difference, but don't waste your time. What matters is winning in November.

Trump has still not reunited children with their families: the cruel result of his own policies.

Brett Kavanaugh does not belong on the Supreme Court.

Don't be discouraged by the flaws inherent in our system of government; by electing the right people, we can make our government work for us instead of against us.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and City Councilman Alyssa Knobel are hosting IL-13 Congressional candidate Betsy Dirsken Londrigan on July 18. I'm one of the co-hosts. I hope you can join us. Details beneath the Video Clip of the Week.

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More daylight between Trump and Israel. Trump hit Israel with tariffs on steel and aluminum. The America Israel Chamber of Commerce issued an action request, explaining that these tariffs " will have a major negative impact to our objective of increasing bilateral trade and investment between the U.S. and Israel."

Israel is also concerned about Trump's nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), recognizing that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza poses a threat to Israel's security, joined in a letter urging the administration to immediately release U.S. bilateral assistance to the West Bank and Gaza.

But the situation in Gaza does not excuse the dozens of rockets fired into Israel by Hamas recently, which forced Israelis to spend the night in bomb shelters. No country would tolerate those attacks. As President Obama said in 2012,  "There's  no   country  on  Earth  that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders." 

There is no contradiction between understanding that improving conditions in Gaza can enhance Israel's security and unequivocally condemning Hamas attacks on innocent civilians and supporting Israel's right to self-defense.

Don't fall for it. You know it's July of an even-numbered year when articles start spreading like crabgrass about how this will finally be the year that Democratic support for Israel wanes and Jews start voting Republican. It never happens. If you're reading this newsletter, you're probably well enough informed to know they're malarky, but if you want to respond on Facebook or elsewhere, read my latest in the Times of Israel.

What should we think of Trump supporters? Anyone who supports Trump supports an ignorant, mean-spirited, bigot. Some Trump supporters do fall into the basket of deplorables. But is that true for all of them? What about friends who support Trump and who seem like good, decent people? Julian Sanchez has some sobering news about them in this short thread. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has some advice on whether it's worth our time to engage Trump supporters.

All of the Thai kids are now reunited with their families . Maybe an international rescue team can come to the United States and reunite the kids separated at the border with their families. Any American who is not ashamed of this president and the harm he inflicted on these families needs to re-think what it means to be an American.

Brett Kavanaugh does not belong on the Supreme Court. Be prepared for a festival of GOP hypocrisy. Many Jewish groups already oppose his nomination. The ADL noted his "hostility to reproductive freedom." A large number of Yale law students, alumni, and educators oppose Kavanaugh's nomination, calling Kavanaugh an " intellectually and morally bankrupt ideologue intent on rolling back our rights." Here's what former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) would have asked Kavanaugh.

Kevin McMahon pointed out that Neil Gorsuch was the first Supreme Court Justice who was both appointed by a president who failed to receive a majority of the vote and confirmed by senators who did not represent a majority of voters. Kavanaugh, if confirmed, would be the second.

Every Democratic senator should vote against Kavanaugh. If not even two Republican senators have the guts to vote no, then that's all the proof we need that voting the person without considering the party is a really dumb idea. Whether we like it or not, party labels matter, and we ignore them at our peril. If this Senate won't block his nomination, then we need to elect a new Senate in November.

The only answer is to vote. Remember the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears and Buddy Ryan's celebrated "46" defense? Sure you do. But you might not remember that the brilliant "46" defense didn't work so well until the Bears acquired some very talented players, or that the following year, after Ryan left, the Bears changed defensive schemes and allowed even fewer points. Those players could have made any reasonable defense work, and without those players, even the most brilliant defensive strategy might have failed.

No system of government is perfect. Our systems of checks and balances is not working because the people we've elected and appointed to do the checking and balancing are afraid to stand up to Trump. Our system of government was designed to prevent tyrannies of the majority, not to thwart the will of the people just for the sake of thwarting the will of the people. But we've grown from 13 colonies to 50 states of vastly differing populations, with a highly unrepresentative Senate, a gerrymandered House, and a presidential election system that allows candidates with fewer votes to win not because independent Electors are wisely casting votes, but because of how the Electors are allotted.

Our system is almost impossible to change. But we can change the players. Both houses of Congress are controlled by a party that is incapable or unwilling to stand up to him. Our only alternative is to vote that party out of office.

Partisanship is bad when we take positions based on which party supports those positions rather than on the merits. But the last time I checked, we had only two major parties in the United States, and we'd be foolish to ignore the very real differences between the parties. If someone accuses you of partisanship because you know that voting your values means voting Democratic, then wear that label as a badge of pride.

ICYMI . My article published Wednesday in the Times of Israel. And if you are losing sleep over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you owe it to yourself to read Batya Ungar-Sargon.

Did you miss last week's newsletter? Here it is.

Tweet of the Week . Michael Koplow on the Saudi nuclear deal.

Video Clip of the Week. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) debunks GOP conspiracy theories. It starts a bit slow, but it keeps getting better and funnier, and it's only five minutes.

Meet Betsy Dirksen Londrigan on July 18 . Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is running against Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL). Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and City Councilman Alyssa Knobel are hosting an event for her on Wednesday, July 18 from 6:30 to 8:30pm at a private residence in Highland Park. I'm one of the co-hosts, and I hope you can join us. RSVP here.

Betsy believes that "a strong relationship with Israel is vital to the national security interests of the United States." She is "unequivocally opposed to the Global BDS Movement and related boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns. The anti-Semitic rhetoric that BDS uses is unacceptable and has no place in the debate. Furthermore, these tactics move us farther away from peace and attempt to isolate Israel from the rest of the world." So much for the notion that the newest crop of Democrats don't understand Israel.