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Steven Richard Sheffey's

Chicagoland Pro-Israel Political Update

Calling balls and strikes for the pro-Israel community since 2006

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August 2, 2020

93 days till Election Day

If you remember nothing else, remember this:

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Friends,

Last week, the Illinois Jewish Legislative Caucus condemned the " bigoted and anti-Semitic rants" of the Chicago Tribune's John Kass, who "authored a winding, conspiracy-filled diatribe blaming George Soros for violence in Chicago and other major cities."

The ADL has explained the anti-Semitism behind the George Soros conspiracy theories in general and specifically as applied to recent protests. The ADL's Midwest Regional Director, David Goldenberg, wrote that "in leveling these absurd charges, Kass joins the ranks of those who employ long-standing anti-Semitic myths blaming Holocaust survivor Soros, his philanthropy and other Jews as manipulating government for their own benefit while plotting to control countries and global events."

In response to Kass and others like him, Alexander Soros writes that "we will continue to fight to eradicate systemic racism in America. And we will never stop fighting the bigotry of those who sow discord, spread lies and engage in hateful, anti-Semitic rhetoric.'

The Tribune relegated Kass to the opinion pages from page 2, the spot that used to belong to Mike Royko--which Kass never deserved. You'd think that after all their whinging over unpunished anti-Semitism from various celebrities, our Republican friends would be outraged that Kass was not fired. But instead, they are rushing to Kass's defense, arguing that he's not anti-Semitic and what he said was true (it wasn't). Funny how they give powerful white males like Kass and Trump the benefit of the doubt they never give people of color. Maybe if Kass wore a hijab they'd give him a harder look.

The Trump administration honors Confederate and, this past week, Nazi soldiers. These are neither American nor Jewish values. If you have "friends" still planning to vote for Trump and you're reluctant to bring up politics for fear of damaging your friendship, ask yourself if you share the values you think you share with these people and whether their friendship is worth four more years of Trump. If we learned anything in 2016, it's that every vote matters. Talk to them. Disagreeing on Trump and Biden is not something we can agree to disagree on, as if we're debating the merits of red or white wine. This election matters.

We could virtually eliminate COVID anytime we wanted to and it would take 4-6 weeks. So why don't we? Because instead of a president who leads by urging Americans to sacrifice in the short-term for the common good, we have a president who brings out the worst in Americans and encourages selfishness and rejection of science. We have a president and a political party that refuses to recognize that we have government to help us get through crises like this.

Your children would be getting ready for a normal school year if Trump had taken this pandemic seriously, and your kids can still have a close to normal school year if we act now. But we won't. We won't do anything until January 20, and who knows how many lives will be lost and disrupted between now and then, as if 150,000 dead isn't already enough. Hillary said in 2016 that about half of Trump's supporters were in the " basket of deplorables." I wonder how high her estimate would be for Trump supporters in 2020, knowing all we now know.

As I predicted last week, the Democratic Platform Committee approved the platform language on Iran and Israel with no changes. Michael Koplow writes that "the message emanating from the Israel plank is that Democrats remain overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and that Jewish voters who oppose Trump on every other issue but feel that he has Israel’s back have nothing to worry about with Joe Biden." But Trump doesn't have Israel's back.

Koplow's summary of the platform is accurate: "Support for Israel as an American ally, an unwavering commitment to Israeli security, unreserved backing of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and discomfort with policies that make such a solution more difficult to achieve, and a recognition that the U.S. should support both Israelis and Palestinians without making them suffer for decisions by their leaders that the U.S. opposes. It is, effectively, a distillation of what used to be a strong bipartisan consensus on Israel that in the Trump era is now to be found almost exclusively on one side of the aisle." Read the full Iran and Israel sections on pages 79 and 80.

The 2020 Republican Platform  will be exactly the same as their 2016 Platform. And why not? It's not like anything has changed in four years. The GOP  deleted support for a two-state solution from its platform in 2016, anticipating Peter Beinart by four years.

Biden acted swiftly to protect Israel as Vice President. Former Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) recounts how Biden expedited the process to ensure that Israel's Iron Dome batteries were quickly replenished when Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Israel in 2014. Biden's support for Israel, according to the former congressman, is "ingrained in his memory and imprinted on his soul."

Did you hear what Seth Rogan said? Appearing on Marc Maron's podcast to promote his new movie, "An American Pickle," Rogan said that "as a Jewish person I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life." Read Shany Mor's response, but consider whether Rogan's comments reveal a deeper problem with Jewish education, and then read David Schraub from 2018.

Last week's newsletter .

ICYMI. President Obama's eulogy for John Lewis .

Tweet of the Week. Elad Nehorai .

Twitter Thread of the Week. Dan Shapiro .

Wake Up: This is six minutes long, but it is incredibly good. Share it with anyone you know who is still voting for Trump.

Political Ad of the Week. It didn't have to be this way .

Video Clip of the Week. Trump's Boat Rally .

Upcoming Events. Dana Gordon and I are hosting two great events, and we'd love for you to join us:

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The Fine Print : This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more. Intelligent, well-informed people may disagree with me; read opposing views and decide for yourself. A link to an article doesn't mean that I agree with everything its author has ever said or that I even agree with everything in the article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. I take pride in accurately reporting the facts on which I base my opinions. Tell me if you spot any inaccuracies, typos, or other mistakes so that I can correct them in the next newsletter (and give you credit if you want it). Advertisements reflect the views of the advertisers, not necessarily of me, and advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. I read, value, and encourage replies to my newsletters, but I don't always have time to acknowledge replies or to engage in one-on-one discussion. Don't expect a reply if your message is uncivil or if it's clear from your message that you haven't read the newsletter or clicked on the relevant links. © 2020 Steve Sheffey. All rights reserved.