By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Republican Jewish Coalition chief Matt Brooks delivered an Israel First speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday and told the Israeli paper Haaretz afterwards that his goal is to “make sure the Tucker Carlson-wing of the party doesn’t get a foothold” in the GOP.
Brooks opened his speech by imploring the crowd — “Let me hear if you support Israel!” — and then went on to insist that under Trump the US will send Israel more weapons and shut down pro-Palestine campus protests so Jewish students can “feel safe.”
From Haaretz:
As Trump Taps America First VP, Top Jewish Republican Insists GOP Is the ‘Only pro-Israel Party’
‘Trump will rebuild the U.S.-Israel relationship after four disastrous years under President Biden,’ Republican Jewish Coalition chief Matt Brooks tells cheering crowd at the Republican National Convention, telling reporters he’s part of the ‘battle’ inside the GOP to ‘make sure the Tucker Carlson-wing of the party doesn’t get a foothold’
by Ben Samuels | Jul 17, 2024 3:29 am IDT
[…] “Under President Trump, we will repair and rebuild the U.S.-Israel relationship that has deteriorated after four disastrous years under President Biden,” [Brooks] continued.“Nine months after the historic Hamas attacks, President Biden is still withholding critical arms that Israel needs to defend itself,” Brooks said. Biden is withholding half of a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs amid concerns that Israel would use them in highly concentrated civilian areas.
“We must stand with the Israeli people,” he continued. “My message here today to the Jewish community is clear: there is only one pro-Israel party and it’s the Republican Party.”
Brooks vowed that Trump would “put a stop to the rising tide of antisemitism. President Trump will bring back law and order so that American Jews can once again wear a kippah and walk the streets,” holding a red kippah adorned with Trump’s name.
[…] “People can trust [Trump] to take a firmer hand on cracking down on the chaos on the college campuses and really temper the rise of antisemitism and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish community.”
Brooks said he’s “confident” JD Vance is pro-Israel and then dropped this gem:
Vance’s political ascendance is the greatest victory yet for the America First isolationist wing of the GOP — a development inherently at odds with Brooks’ organization, which he describes as “Reaganesque” with a robust foreign policy with peace-through-strength at its core.
“It’s a debate we’re having within our party, there’s no question about it. But at the end of the day, through the leadership of people like Speaker Johnson and others — we got aid to Ukraine through with strong Republican support — so it’s just a debate that we’re going to have.”
“America has got a unique role in the world to help defend liberty and support democracy and fight back against totalitarianism. We’re going to continue to wage that battle in the party and make sure the Tucker Carlson-wing of the party doesn’t get a foothold,” he said.
As Brooks noted, the GOP — with Trump’s help — shoved through a $95B foreign aid bill for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan which included a ban on TikTok for allowing criticism of Israel to go viral.
GOP Speaker Mike Johnson had pledged to tie Ukraine funding to securing America’s southern border but instead chose to ram the bill through after securing extra billions for Israel and elected to give the American people absolutely nothing.
After the bill was passed, it was revealed it also included a provision to “supercharge mass migration from the Middle East.”
Tucker Carlson angered the Israel Lobby last month when he released a bombshell interview with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in which Massie revealed that every GOP member of Congress has an “AIPAC babysitter” who guides them on how to vote in the interests of Israel.
Though the average Republican is a huge fan of Tucker Carlson, outside of Massie there are essentially zero elected GOP representatives who share Carlson’s views.
For the crime of criticizing Israel, AIPAC dumped $300k into attack ads against Massie just to tarnish his reputation statewide.
AIPAC is planning to spend $100 million this election cycle to oust representatives who’ve criticized Israel and opposed their war on Gaza.