Republican Jewish Coalition

Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) was described in 2005 as "a big money pro-Israel lobby group linking Jewish-American neoconservatives to the Christian Right and Israel's Likud government."

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Background

The Republican Jewish Coalition founded in 1985 as the National Jewish Coalition "to be a permanent Jewish presence in the Republican community and a credible Republican presence in the Jewish community," its website states. The RJC is "the sole voice of Jewish Republicans to Republican decision makers and the Jewish community ... committed to building a strong, effective and respected Jewish Republican voice in Washington and across the country."

Bush White House connections

The following members of the Republican Jewish Coalition board of directors are connected with President George W. Bush and the Bush administration.

• Wayne L. Berman, Bush Ranger 2000 and Bush Pioneer 2004, member of the Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee, and husband of Bush White House social secretary Lea Berman.
• Matt Brooks, executive director of both the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Policy Center think tank, "served as the national field director for Victory '88 Jewish Campaign Committee, designing and implementing campaign strategy on behalf of the Bush-Quayle '88 campaign."
• Lewis M. Eisenberg, finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, member of the Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee, former chairman (1995-2001) of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owner of the World Trade Center.
• David M. Flaum, RJC National Chairman, member of the Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee, and Bush Pioneer 2004.
• Richard J. Fox, Freedom's Watch funder, long-term Republican activist, and chairman of the Jewish Policy Center, who served as Pennsylvania state chairman for the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980 and finance chairman in 1988 of Jack Kemp's presidential campaign.
• David Frum, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush for economic speechwriting and credited with helping coin the phrase "Axis of Evil", who is now with the American Enterprise Institute.
• Sheldon Kamins, former executive committee member of Finance Committee of George W. Bush for president and Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee.
• Ken Mehlman, former chair of the Republican National Committee.
• Mel Sembler, Freedom's Watch funder, appointed Ambassador to Italy (2001-2005) by President George W. Bush and Ambassador to Australia and Nauru by President George H.W. Bush.
• Ned L. Siegel, who was involved in the 2000 Florida recount and a Bush Pioneer 2000 and Bush Ranger 2004.
• Walter P. Stern, board chairman of the Hudson Institute.
• Ronald Weiser, Bush Pioneer 2000 and Ambassador to Slovakia (2001-2004).
• Fred Zeidman, a "longtime friend" of President George W. Bush and convicted felon Jack Abramoff's "immediate successor at the lobbying firm of Greenberg Traurig.
• No longer listed as directors are:

• Sam Fox, the Republican fundraiser from Missouri who was named in an April 2007 recess appointment as Ambassador to Belgium by President George W. Bush. Fox's 2004 funding of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prevented his Senate confirmation earlier. Fox is also a member of the Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee.
• Howard Leach, Freedom's Watch funder, served as Ambassador to France until 2005, Bush Pioneer, funder to Bush 2000 Florida recount, major donor to Republican candidates, and member of the Libby Defense Trust Advisory Committee.

• Kevin Moley, Freedom's Watch funder, served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2001-2006), as well as a Senior Advisor to Cheney for Bush-Cheney 2000.

Likud agenda

The RJC has consistently backed positions which are on the far right of the Israeli political spectrum, and the RJC has pushed a Likud-line. In December 2011, Brooks removed Ron Paul from the RJC forum because he questioned the continued unconditional US aid to Israel.

Campaigns

Took George W. Bush to Israel

Texas Gov. George W. Bush, center, flanked by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, left, and Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks, visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem during a 1998 tour of Israel for Republican governors organized by the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The Republican Jewish Coalition took George W. Bush on his first trip to Israel in 1998.

Smeared Howard Dean

In February 2005, the RJC "began running full-page ads in major Jewish newspapers across the country featuring a large photo of militants strapped with explosives coddling a young Palestinian boy. Above that arresting image is a quote by Dean: 'It's not our place to take sides.' Below the photo are quotes by Democrats critical of Dean. The ad effectively equates Dean's election with the appeasement of suicide bombers."

Slandered Jewish Democrats

During the month of September 2006, the Republican Jewish Coalition "deliberately distort[ed] the facts" and "placed ads in Jewish newspapers across the country making the outrageous and ridiculous assertion that Democrats are 'turning their backs on Israel.' At the same time, the accusation [was] made by individuals who ... sent out thousands of e-mails to all those in their inboxes."

Questioned loyalty of Jewish Democrats

In October 2006, on the eve of the 2006 Congressional elections, the RJC "call[ed] into question the loyalty of Jewish Democrats, and their party's attitude toward Israel" by running ads which "focused on supposedly 'anti-Israel comments' made by prominent Democrats, and the declining support for Israel amongst grassroots Democrats ... in nearly 30 Jewish weekly newspapers nationwide", with plans to expand into "additional publications."

"RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, 'The party of Harry Truman and Scoop Jackson has become the party of Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, and Cindy Sheehan. Jewish Democrats should take a fresh look and see if they are still comfortable with the growing influence of the anti-Israel radical Left within the Democratic Party.' The Republican party has been winning over more Jewish votes with every election - going from 11 percent in 1992, to 25 percent in 2004."

Personnel

The following are listed among RJC's leadership.

• Leonard Abramson, Director
• Sheldon G. Adelson, Director
• Jeffrey Altman, General Counsel
• Wayne L. Berman, Director
• Kenneth Bialkin, Director
• Ronald H. Bloom, Director
• Elliott Broidy, Director
• Matthew Brooks, Executive Director
• Bradley Cohen, Director
• Charles M. Diker, Director
• Stephen Distler, Director
• Lewis M. Eisenberg, Director
• Michael David Epstein, Director
• David M. Flaum, National Chairman/Director
• Ari Fleischer, Director
• Richard J. Fox, Former Chairman, Board of Directors
• David Frum, Director
• Joel Geiderman, Director
• Tony Gelbart, Director
• Marc Goldman, Director
• Cheryl Halpern, Former Chairman, Board of Directors
• Joel Hoppenstein, Director
• Howard Jonas, Director
• Sheldon Kamins (Shelly Kamins), Director
• George Klein, Former Chairman, Board of Directors
• Suzanne Kurtz, Press Secretary
• Eliot Lauer, Director
• Laurence Carroll Leeds, Director
• Larry Levine, Director
• Mark Lezell, Director
• Marc Lipschultz, Director
• Earle I. Mack, Director
• Bernard Marcus, Director
• Jeffrey Marcus, Director
• Ken Mehlman, Director
• Larry A. Mizel, Director
• Morris Offit, Director
• Ronald Plotkin, Director
• Marvin Pomerantz, Director
• J. Philip Rosen, Director
• Lindsay Rosenwald, Director
• Alan Sager, Director
• Richard Sambol, Director
• Leonard Sands, Director
• Fred Sands, Director
• Jay Schottenstein, Director
• Martin Selig, Director
• Mel Sembler, Director
• Florence Shapiro, Director
• Mark Siegel, Director
• Ned L. Siegel, Director
• Walter P. Stern, Director
• Myles Tanenbaum, Director
• Allen Tessler, Director
• James S. Tisch, Director
• Ronald Weiser, Director
• Fred Zeidman, Director

In January 2009, Republican Senator Norm Coleman joined RJC as a consultant, pending the outcome of his contested re-election bid against Al Franken.

Contact information

Republican Jewish Coalition
50 F Street, N.W.
Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202 638-6688
Fax: 202 638-6694
Email: rjc @ rjchq.org
URL: http://www.rjchq.org/

Resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Americans for Victory Over Terrorism
• Freedom's Watch
• Howard Leach
• Jewish political organizations
• Norman Coleman
• Sam Fox

External articles

1999

• Jake Tapper, "Jews for a day. All six GOP presidential hopefuls schlep their pandering points to the Republican Jewish Coalition's candidates forum," Salon, December 3, 1999.

2004

• Dick Polman, "Jews for Bush? Prez could pick up sizeable Jewish vote — and if so, score a re-election, analysts observe," Jewish World Review, June 15, 2004.
• Ciro Scotti, "Jewish Voters: Bush's Secret Weapon? His strong Israel tilt has won him surprising support from a small but significant bloc. It could even be the margin in Florida," BusinessWeek, August 30, 2004.
• Sharon Kehnemui Liss, "AIPAC Draws Out Republican Jews," Fox News, August 30, 2004.
• Tom Curry, "DeLay makes intense appeal for Jewish voters. Vowing staunch backing for Israel, GOP leaders seek historic party realignment," MSNBC, September 1, 2004.
• Rachel Donadio and Lizzy Ratner, "In Historic Shift, Jewish Support Plotzes On Bush," The New York Observer, September 5, 2004.
• "THE JEWISH VOTE 2004: Election forums in synagogues lead to claims of partisanship," The Jewish News Weekly, October 29, 2004.

2005

• "President's Remarks at Republican Jewish Coalition 20th Anniversary, Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, D.C., Office of the White House Press Secretary, September 21, 2005.
• Debbie Schlussel, "Jewish Republicans Host Islamic Terror Supporter," DebbieSchlussel.com, September 23, 2005.
• Staff, "Bush Says Iraq War Is Good for Israel," The Jewish Daily Forward, December 16, 2005.

2006

• Thomas B. Edsall, "Post-9/11 Drive by Republicans To Attract Jewish Voters Stalls," Washington Post, March 6, 2006.
• Steve Clemons, "White House pushes Jewish groups to embrace John Bolton confirmation," The Huffington Post, July 21, 2006.
• "Lieberman, Lamont And The Republican Jewish Coalition," Hotline On Call Blog/National Journal, August 17, 2006.
• Marc Ballon, "GOP Sees Israel as Way to Woo Democratic Jews," JewishJournal.com, September 1, 2006.
• "Misguided, presumptuous," Washington Jewish Week, September 13, 2006.
• Jennifer Siegel, "Carter Book Slaps Israel With ‘Apartheid’ Tag, Provides Ammo to GOP," The Jewish Daily Forward, October 17, 2006.
• "The Deceptive Tenacity Of The Republican Jewish Coalition," The Town Crier Blogspot, November 6, 2006.
• "It’s Time to Stop Making Israel a Wedge Issue in American Politics," Jewish Social Policy Action Network, November 10, 2006.
• Dr. Daniel E. Loeb, "Bad Math. The RJC's results for its ad campaign just don't add up," The Philadelphia Jewish Voice, December 2006.
• Jennifer Siegel, "David Flaum To Head Republican Jewish Coalition," The Jewish Daily Forward, December 7, 2006.
• News Release: "RJC Names New National Chairman," RJCHQ.org, December 8, 2006.
• Justin Rood, "Jewish Group Calls on Goode to 'Rethink' Muslim Comments," TPMmuckraker, December 22, 2006.

2007

• Bridget Johnson, "The Jewish Vote and the GOP," The Politico, January 31, 2007.
• Ray McGovern, "Helping Israel Die," TomPaine.com, February 9, 2007.
• "Vice President's Remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership, Manalaplan, Florida," Office of the White House Press Secretary, March 24, 2007.
• "Cheney: Democrats Are Undermining Our Troops," Associated Press (Fox News), March 25, 2007.
• Joel Gelman, "Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Run TV Ad on Pelosi Visit to Syria," Neocon Express Blogspot, April 9, 2007.
• Randian, "Libby supporters in Republican Jewish Coalition attack Pelosi," The Daily Kos, April 11, 2007.
• Muriel Kane, "Fred Zeidman and the Republican Jewish Coalition," at-Largely Blog, April 14, 2007.
• News Release: "Lieberman Address to Republican Jewish Coalition. 'Now is the time for choosing'," Office of Sen. Joe Lieberman, May 16, 2007.
• Michael Roston, "GOP Candidates Flock To Jewish Forum After Snubbing Latinos, Blacks," The Huffington Post, September 26, 2007.
• Don Van Natta Jr., "Big Coffers and a Rising Voice Lift a New Conservative Group," New York Times (Seattle Times), September 30, 2007.
• B Merryfield, "Freedom's Watch (i.e. Republican Jewish Coalition) backs Vets for Freedom," The Daily Kos, October 2, 2007.

External resources

• Republican Jewish Coalition, NNDB.com.
• Republican Jewish Coalition, Wikipedia.
• Profile: Lawrence Kadish, Right Web.
• Republican Jewish Coalition Political Action Committee: Federal Election Commission (FEC) Committee ID: C00345132.

• Republican Jewish Coalition PAC Summary: 2000;2002;2004;2006, OpenSecrets.org.
• Republican Jewish Coalition PAC Summary: Bio; 2005-2006 and 2007-2008.

• Steve Henn, "Power Trips," American Radio Works/PublicRadio.org.