According to Politico, with the loss of Jewish Politician, Eric Cantor, the pro-Israel donors are worrying about their issues being discussed. They intend to enforce the pro-Israel consensus it helped build within the party over the past two decades.
They also wanted to tackle the lingering issue of the Obama administration’s negotiation with Iran, although Israel has been a long-time ally of the U.S. This would touch on foreign policy, in hopes of increasing support for Israel.
The convening of the 114th Congress — and the unofficial start of the 2016 presidential race — comes as the GOP grapples with a host of issues causing anxiety among the small, but influential, ranks of Jewish Republicans, lacking representative in their party’s congressional leadership.
Jewish Republican operatives and donors say they are redoubling their efforts to reinforce with party leadership the importance of maintaining the unified, unyielding policy of support for Israel that they built with an unlikely coalition of national-security hawks and evangelical Christians.
They are also planning to invite all the party’s top-tier presidential candidates to a forum late this year or in early 2016 at which they’ll be pressed on their foreign policy stances, according to Politico.
“Every candidate is going to want to appear before the RJC and to win support among different people within the RJC because they understand the depth of contributions that individuals in the RJC can and will make,” former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is on the group’s board of directors but is not attending Tuesday’s reception, told Politico. He predicted the RJC’s membership “will have feet in all the different camps, and then, once we know who the nominee is, we’ll unify like we always do and it will be a powerful unity. Now, one exception to that would be Rand Paul.”
The RJC “has a well-developed strategy which was executed during former Majority Leader Cantor’s tenure and will continue with the new leadership team in the House and new Senate majority, thus ensuring strong, virtually unanimous Republican support for Israel at this dangerous time,” asserted Florida mall developer Mel Sembler, who contributes to the RJC and sits on its board.
“It’s very important that whoever emerges to be the Republican Party nominee for 2016 is someone who recognizes the consequences of America being weak and inconsistent with our foreign policy,” said Zeldin, a former state senator and Iraq War veteran. He asserted that concerns about President Barack Obama’s shaky relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had created “a growing opportunity to expand our reach to voters who have voted Democrat in the past.”
On Thursday, the RJC announced the hiring of Mark McNulty as Communications Director.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, “As a seasoned campaign communications professional Mark brings tremendous experience to the RJC and will be able to help us build on our success during the next Congress and Presidential electoral season.”
Born and raised in the Boston area, Mark graduated from Colby College in Waterville, Maine with a degree in Government.
