Jewish GOP conference pivots to tackling antisemitism within the Republican Party
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Concerns that antisemitism is on the rise among Republicans burst to the surface this weekend, turning a conference of the nation’s leading Jewish Republicans from jubilation over a tenuous ceasefire in the Middle East into a clarion call to stem the spread of anti-Jewish voices within the party.
The emerging schism was laid bare by a prominent conservative think tank president’s defense of talk show host Tucker Carlson’s controversial decision to welcome a far-right Holocaust denier with antisemitic views onto his podcast Thursday, and Carlson’s hesitation to challenge some of his views.
It prompted nearly every speaker who took the podium at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas to call for rooting out anti-Jewish elements in the GOP.
The meeting’s proceedings sent a clear signal that the Republican Party has work to do to reconcile views within its ranks about the path forward for Israel in its relationship with the United States, its staunchest ally.
But the voices speaking from the podium Friday and Saturday were united in their condemnation of antisemitism.
“We are at this point in what I consider sort of the early stages of an undeclared civil war within the Republican Party, as it relates to Israel, and antisemitism and the Jewish community,” Republican Jewish Coalition leader Matthew Brooks said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Brooks and the dozens of other speakers who condemned antisemitism within the GOP from the stage before an audience of about 1,000 in the Venetian Resort ballroom in Las Vegas set an ominous tone that cut into the air of celebration many had anticipated over the October ceasefire.
Brooks had planned to fold some of his concerns into the three-day, annual conference of Republican Jewish elected officials, fundraisers, media personalities and activists. But comments made just before the meeting by Heritage Foundation president Kevin........





















Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Tarik Cyril Amar
Stefano Lusa
Mort Laitner
Robert Sarner
Mark Travers Ph.d
Andrew Silow-Carroll
Constantin Von Hoffmeister
Ellen Ginsberg Simon