“Americans who self-identify as Jewish have historically voted Democratic. According to Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, ‘Survey data regularly confirms that the connection between American Jewish voters (non-Orthodox) and the Democratic Party is grounded in a worldview that prioritizes a set of issues and values – ones that today are embodied in this party.’ That includes prioritizing issues such as health care, gun violence, Social Security, and Medicare. Exit polls in 2016 found that 71 percent of Jewish voters supported Clinton. However, RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said in an interview this week that he predicts Trump will fare better with Jewish voters in November.”

“While the public response in the United States to this controversy has been largely outrage, some question whether it does constitute anti-Semitism at all, suggesting that Nafar’s statements are satirical in nature due to the polarizing nature of the conflict. UNC junior Fouad Abu-Hijleh told The Daily Tar Heel, ‘When he said, ‘This is my anti-Semitic song,’ I think he was alluding to that, like, if you criticize Israel, people are going to call you an anti-Semite. That’s how I perceived it as a Palestinian.’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and a self-identifying liberal Zionist, stated that the performance remained within the bounds of appropriate academic discourse and pointed out that the conference included criticism of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, as well as of U.S. policy on Gaza.”

“‘It is not new that AIPAC is giving a stage to voices that are far to the right of U.S. policy or of the mainstream U.S. Jewish community,’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The conference has repeatedly hosted Pastor John Hagee, who has said Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by pushing Jews to move to Israel and called Hurricane Katrina a punishment for a gay pride rally, Friedman pointed out. Hagee founded an influential pro-Israel network called Christians United for Israel… ‘AIPAC has behaved for the entire life of the peace process in a manner that suggests that the current policies of the Israeli government and the Trump administration are in no way problematic for its worldview,’ Friedman said.”

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…

1. Bills, Resolutions, & Letters 2. The 2020 AIPAC Policy Conference 3. Hearings 4. On the Record *Brought to you in cooperation with Americans for…