David McCormick interviews Douglas Murray at R.J.C. 10/31
[00:00–04:30] Opening Banter & The “Two Wars” Framework
Senator David McCormick introduces Douglas Murray as a leading voice on antisemitism, Israel, and the struggle against “death cults” in the democratic world. Murray jokes about Lindsey Graham leaving early and notes that, after spending so much time in Israel, he “feels a bit Jewish,” a nod to the cultural energy in the room.
Murray outlines his central framing: the existence of two simultaneous wars. The first is the kinetic war Hamas began on October 7. The second—and, in his view, the more neglected one—is the ideological war unfolding in America and the broader West.
He praises the IDF and IAF for “generational achievements” since the last RJC gathering: crushing Hamas in Gaza, degrading Hezbollah, and operating freely in a hostile region with American support.
[04:30–10:00] The Second War: Anti-Israelism as Anti-Westernism
Murray shifts focus to “the war at home.” Across the West—from the U.S. and U.K. to France, Canada, and
Australia—he sees large anti-Israel protests that echo each other regardless of geography. He cites Melbourne,
where thousands chant against Israel: “You’re in Melbourne—what’s it got to do with you?”
This isn’t simply pro-Palestinian sentiment, he argues, but the mainstreaming of support for Hamas. He notes that
at Princeton, protesters chanted “Glory to our martyrs,” explicitly adopting Hamas’ cause as their own.
McCormick recalls students in Pennsylvania assaulting a young man carrying an Israel flag and his campaign shirt.
As a non-Jew, he asks: What is the root cause of this sudden explosion?
[10:00–15:30] The Woke Guilt Machine & Projecting Sin onto Israel
Murray cites Soviet writer Vasily Grossman: “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, and I’ll tell you what you’re
guilty of.” The Nazis accused Jews of racism and world domination; Iran accuses Israel of colonizing while it
extends influence
Steven Mizel speaks with I.D.F's Nahal Infantry troops headed towards Gaza, May 2024
Few men leave the U.S. Marines without retaining the Corps inside them for life. Octogenarian Steven Mizel still does.
Though long out of US uniform, he still moves with a soldier’s sense of duty—this time to America’s closest ally,
Israel, a nation resisting the same Islamo-Marxist revolution that seeks to unmake the West from within.
Where the front lines shift, the moral fight is the same: to preserve western civilization. At November’s Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit, Mizel stood before American patriots and Jewish activists,
his foundation honoring wounded IDF reservist Itay Sagy with the
Defender of Freedom and Security Award. “To the soldiers wounded in this war—those to whom so much is owed,”
Mizel said, introducing a young man who turned near-death into testimony. The Marine’s salute to the Israeli fighter
framed the day’s theme: courage, duty, and the shared defense of liberty itself.
Setting the Stage: Steven Mizel’s Introduction
Presenter Steven Mizel framed the award as a tribute to the wounded “to whom so much is owed,” then introduced
Sagy — a reservist in the elite Sayeret Maglan unit — and summarized the ambush that would change his life.
Sagy opens with disarming warmth — “I can’t be scared in a room full of people that cherish and love me” — before recounting
the sprint south after October 7, five days of combat, and a point-blank fight with terrorists “who fought from hate,” while his unit
fought “out of love for Israel… and for each other.”
“I feel something loving me… I see my future… a big house in the north full of kids… And I choose life.”
Gravely wounded by a grenade — neck torn open, right side unresponsive — Sagy recalls a teammate shielding him with his own body.
Shattered by the loss of brothers-in-arms, he struggled with failure until a comrade reminded him that his actions saved nine others.
From then on, he resolved to “be a hose and not a bottle” — to pour goodness forward and help others heal.
Ethics vs. Hatred: Sagy on Hamas, the IDF, and the Media
In a post-event interview, Sagy contrasts Hamas’s hatred with the IDF’s ethic of restraint — including cancelling missions if
civilians are in the perimeter. “War is terrible… mistakes happen,” he concedes, but the standard is protecting innocents.
He’s frank about skewed coverage abroad, yet prefers “educate” over “advocate,” trusting reasonable people to respond to facts plainly told.
Leadership and Resolve: Steven Mizel on the Free World
In a candid conversation at last year's Summit, Steven Mizel laments a world “in disarray,” and an America that no longer leads with confidence —
contrasting the present with periods when U.S. resolve was unmistakable. The implications, he argues, touch every American; hyper-focus on Israel
can distract from the wider threat network backed by Iran.
Veterans Day Reflection: Shared Courage, Shared Duty
The bond between American and Israeli veterans is more than alliance; it is kinship formed in the hard school of duty. Listening to Sagy
choosing life in the midst of death, and to Mizel insisting on moral clarity in a murky world, we’re reminded: the defense of freedom isn’t abstract.
It is personal, sacrificial, and — when rightly led — deeply humane.
This Veterans Day, we honor those who stand watch for all of us — who hold their fire when a civilian might be in the way, who run toward danger to pull
friends from it, and who, when the shooting stops, teach the truth patiently. May their courage steady our resolve; may their example guide our words and our vote.
Gen. Richard Clark, left, U.S. Air Force 3rd Air Force commander, and Israel Defense Force (IDF) Commander of the Aerial Defense Array, Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovich, shake hands during the combined missile defense exercise Juniper Cobra 2018 in Israel.
Buoyed by GOP victories, the Republican Jewish Coalition
leadership conference — a key stop for potential 2024 presidential
candidates and other party luminaries — held in Las Vegas over the
weekend offered a model for the party’s midterm strategy. “This is an incredible day, an amazing turnout, incredible amount of
energy,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks told reporters. “The results
from Tuesday, it’s got everybody excited… And we’re thrilled to be able
to bring people together to continue… to build on the increasing
support for the Republican Party within the Jewish community.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) addresses R.J.C. conf.
Among the popular speakers at the conference — garnering the most and
loudest applause — were former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Ted Cruz
and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Sen. Cruz praised Pres.Trump but emphasized his own role in some of the former
president’s signature foreign policy moves — relocating the U.S. Embassy
in Israel to Jerusalem and pulling out of the Iran deal, decisions that
are highly popular with the RJC crowd.
The Texas senator said that some officials in the Trump
administration opposed both moves, but he helped convince the former
president to ignore those who disagreed.
“I engaged actively, directly and repeatedly with the president,”
Cruz said of his advocacy on the embassy issue. “I urged the president, I
said, ‘Look, if we want to see peace, nothing produces peace more than
clarity, than absolute clarity.’” (source: Jewish Insider)
Sen. Ted Cruz explains the problems with this Democrat administration's approach towards MidEast peace. The Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting hosted Republican leaders at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
We ask Sen. Cruz why does the Biden administration strive to undo MidEast peace and Trump era de-nuclearizing of Islamist Iran? Is the Biden Democrat administration just undoing Trump administration accomplishments or intentionally empowering Iran over Israel as the regional hegemon, forcing Israel to defy Washington's imposed limitations?
On the Iran deal, Cruz stressed his role in supporting the withdrawal
from the 2015 agreement. “Once again I repeatedly went to the president
in the Oval Office saying sending billions of dollars to the Ayatollah
Khamenei who chants ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ is a recipe
for destruction and death,” Cruz said. (Journalist Marc Rod contributed to this article).
Pres. Donald Trump addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition confab in Las Vegas: 'Preserve Republican leadership to save America against Red/Green revolutionaries!'
The US president delivered these remarks to GOP Jews welcomed on eve of Israel's election, in advance of putting-forward his administration's Middle-East peace-plan. Based on the Obama administration's first term performance regarding Islamism and Judaism, Mr. Trump asks the audience rhetorically, "How the hell did Jewish people ever support Obama?
Pres.
Trump reassured audience at Republican Jewish Coalition of his
commitment to the stability of Israel, America's partner in support of
freedom and democracy in the Middle East.
Amidst
chants of "four more years," Pres. Donald Trump addresses fixing
Democrats and globalists' exploitations of America via Mexico, Iran,
fomenting anti-Semitism, and yellow-journalism.
Members of Jewish-Leftist, IfNotNow group (funded by democracy-destabilizer George Soros), interrupted the president's address and were summarily over-shouted by the audience and ejected by security guards. In Part 2, Pres. Trump addresses Democrat abuses through media, border, and reverse-racism.
Vice President Mike Pence leads a salute to Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson for their leadership in patriotism for America and Israel. V.P. Pence explains why the Trump Administration are Jewish people's best-friends in the White House - and what they promised to do and have accomplished in their first two years.
Sen.
Lindsey Graham addressing Republican Jewish Coalition's Spring Meet in
Las Vegas - goes out on a limb to guarantee Israel's safety as White
House puts risky, Arab-sought, regional plan to them.
Also in this playlist (advance using button on upper-right), you may watch the remarks by Sen. Norm Coleman, RJC Nat'l Chairman;
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman;
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX);
Israeli U.N. Amb. Danny Danon;
Gov Kristi Noem (R-SD);
Elan Carr, US' Antisemitism Envoy;
Sen David Perdue (R-GA);
Former Democrat voters who have evolved to vote Republican;
Heroes who saved lives at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre and against Muslim terror in Jerusalem; and
A talk with Sen Kevin Cramer (ND) and Rep Denver Riggleman (VA).
In
view of Islamist and Russian threats surrounding Israel, Sen. Lindsey
Graham proposes that Congress assures Israel's security through a
mutual-defense compact.
Ken Abramowitz, political analyst with "Save the West," interprets and elaborates on Pres. Trump's remarks in the context of the Islamo-Leftist campaign to discredit and replace Republican leadership.
Ken Abramowitz, chairman of "Citizens for National Security," interprets Pres. Trump's points at R.J.C. Vegas speech in the context of what he considers a cultural war from the Reds and Greens movement. Parkland High School massacre: What does massacre victim, Meadow Pollack's father, Andrew, blame for our unsafe society?
Parkland High School massacre victim Meadow Pollack's father, Andrew Pollack, encourages support for Pres. Donald Trump's administration against the
hyper-liberal Democrat policies imperiling civilized societies.
Mr. Andrew Pollack, father of Parkland H.S. massacre victim, Meadow Pollack, calls for Democrats (particularly, fellow Jewish Democrats in Florida) to #walkaway from what he has experienced as a corrupted, now-socialistic, anti-Semitic-pulled, Democratic Party.
The campaigns of Republican presidential candidates Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio faceironic challenges- to win among their own state constituents- in the March 15th primaries.
Kasich confident after strong finish in Michigan, by Jim Provance, Toledo Blade March 9.
Voicing confidence after his good finish in Michigan on Tuesday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential aspirations now rest on his home state on March 15. He hopes to carry Ohio’s 66 delegates as a badge of honor into remaining primary states, and perhaps a contested Cleveland convention. Read more
John Kasich and Marco Rubio face Judgment Day in their home states on March 15. Both are losing. By Peter W. Stevenson, Washington Post, 4 March 2016
Florida and Ohio are almost always two of the most hotly contested states in American presidential politics — in November, not in March. Or at least, not until March 2016, when Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio desperately need to win their home states in order to stay in the race to the GOP nomination.
We hearken back to the Republican Jewish Coalition Spring gathering where, for the past 2 years, John Kasich and Marco Rubio where introduced to Jewish Republicans (among other candidates) for support.
Sheldon Adelson at RJC Spring (Ethan Miller Times of Israel)
Jewish Republicans gathered to meet and evaluate potential candidates at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Spring Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas during the last weekend in March.
This DemoCast-exclusive video features Ohio Gov. John Kasich addressing the gathering, as did Gov. Scott Walker, Amb. John Bolton, and Gov. Chris Christie. We filmed reactions to the gathering from R.J.C. Executive Director Matthew Brooks, Commentary Magazine Editor John Podhoretz, and Morton Klein, Exec. Dir. of the Zionist Organization of America.
In this DemoCast-exclusive, video interview, Zionist Organization of America's Executive Director, Morton Klein recounts his reaction to (and subsequent follow-up with) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's remarks that Judea and Samaria are "occupied (by Israel) territories."
Richard Miniter writes in Forbes Magazine, "Did Chris Christie "bully" Sheldon Adelson's friend?" The more the donors learn about Gov. Christie—the more they are questioning his fitness for higher office. “He hurt himself with that group. No doubt about it,” said Morton Klein, president of Zionist Organization of America. He was in the front row for Christie’s talk on Saturday and spoke to me on Tuesday morning. Klein is hugely influential in pro-Israel circles and phones his longtime friend, Sheldon Adelson, every week or so to talk about Israel and American politics. Klein described his private encounter with Christie (described below) as “really unpleasant, condescending, rude, dismissive. [Christie] was bullying me. I’ve never had a politician speak to me that way.” Klein talked to many of the major donors in the room and, he said, nearly every one had the same reaction. “They said ‘I never realized that Christie wasn’t a friend on Israel,’ it was a shock, a surprise.” The media missed important aspects of the story—the very elements that are absorbing the attention of many Republican donors. While they were leaning toward Gov. Christie before his Saturday speech, now they are questioning his grasp of key issues, his stands and, most tellingly, his temperament and his character. Christie’s Prepared Remarks Didn’t Mention Israel. Gov. Christie’s prepared remarks to a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting didn’t include any significant mention of Israel. Imagine a politician speaking to an African-American audience and not planning to mention civil rights or a chamber of commerce and not writing in a few lines about the economy. Still, the speech has a hit and should have positioned the tough-talking former prosecutor for a presidential run in 2016. His speech even had a pitch-perfect sound bite: “We cannot have a world where our friends are unsure of whether we’ll be with them, and our enemies are unsure of whether we’ll be against them.” The crowd thundered its approval. But that’s not the line that any one will remember. Since the prepared speech was silent on Israel, it was the natural topic of questions from the audience. And that’s when Gov. Christie said the words that got him in trouble: “I took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day.” That phrase—“occupied territories”—set off murmurs in the crowd. “There was a buzz throughout the room,” Klein said. “Most of the several hundred people in attendance noticeably gasped when Gov. Christie used the language of Israel’s enemies,” Klein told me. “Saying that territory captured in a defensive war [in 1967] in which its enemies sought its extinction is ‘occupied’ is designed solely to delegitimize the Jewish state’s claims to that land.” The crowd’s reaction was predictable. “Occupied Territories” is not a neutral term for the land West of Jordan River, but a phrase used by radical Palestinian activists and others opposed to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state. The term doesn’t come from international law, but from partisan screeds. It is phrase that takes a side, not one that describes a place. That’s why American diplomats, leaders and journalists generally avoid it. Instead they say “West Bank” or “Judea and Samaria” or similarly neutral formulations. By using it, Klein said, Christie was signaling that he either was opposed to Israel or didn’t care enough to avoid the coded language of the anti-Israel crowd. There is a third possibility that Klein didn’t consider. Like most state-wide office seekers, Christie has actively campaigned for votes among the growing Arab population of Passaic County, New Jersey (one of the largest in the country) and appointed prominent Muslim jurists to state government posts there. Among circles of Arab attorneys, the term “occupied territories” is widely used. Christie may have unconsciously picked it up among his supporters in Paterson, New Jersey.
"Barbara Boxer will not stand up for Israel. But she will stand beside the President who is doing grave harm to Israel -- and to America -- so long as he fills her reelection coffers. It tells us everything we need to know about her -- and it tells us why she'll be a former Senator in January 2011.
Actor, John Ratzenberger, immortalized through his portrayal of "Cliff" on TV's classic sitcom, "Cheers," discusses blue-collar America's disillusionment with the Obama-led, Democrat Party.
Mr. Ratzenberger believes that despite the Democrat Party's health care initiative, this current Administration is governing too far left from traditional, blue-collar America's economic values. Ratzenberger, introduced by Dr. Joel Strom, presented these remarks at the Republican Jewish Coalition's Los Angeles meeting this summer.
