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Protecting Our Democracy, and Israel’s – Weekly Roundup, July 27, 2018

July 27, 2018

In both the United States and Israel, far-right politicians have recently turned their backs on the promise of equality that is so fundamental to our values. Here in America, the Trump administration missed a court-imposed deadline to reunite families separated from each other due to President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has ripped parents from their children. In Israel, the far-right governing coalition pushed through a bill that denied gay men the ability to use surrogacy to have children. This bill passed the same week the Knesset approved the “nation-state” bill, legislation that undercuts Israel’s founding principles of equal rights, pluralism, and democracy. The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) joins the majority of American Jewish organizations in speaking out on these issues, and in support of our values. JDCA is also demanding that Congress to take action to secure our election systems in advance of the midterms, to protect against continued Russian meddling in our democratic institutions, which continued just this week in an attempted hack of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill’s office. Please join us in writing to your senators and representatives demanding that Congress take action to strengthen election security. Finally, we have a briefing call next week with New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez that you won’t want to miss! Read on to learn more…

Israel’s Nation-State Bill and Gay Surrogacy Prohibition
Israel’s nation-state bill raised deep concern from many in Israel and the American Jewish community before and after its passage last week. Israel’s non-Jewish citizens are directly impacted by the law’s implications on their status as equal citizens, including the drowngrading of Arabic as a non-official language. Right after the nation-state law’s passage, the governing coalition in the Knesset passed a bill legalizing surrogacy, but intentionally excluded gay men from hiring surrogates. Israelis poured into the streets to speak out against both the surrogacy law and the nation-state law, demanding equality for all the country’s citizens.  JDCA responded with a statement expressing concern. We will continue to champion a strong U.S.-Israel relationship premised on shared values of democracy and human rights, and we encourage both countries to remain true to these founding principles of our two nations.

Russian Meddling and Election Security
JDCA was outraged by President Trump’s refusal in Helsinki to acknowledge the unequivocal assessment of the U.S. intelligence community – Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. We have demanded accountability for those responsible from these crimes. As we head toward the midterm elections, we are now demanding that Congress take action to fund upgrades to our election security, to defend against ongoing and future threats. Just last week, Republicans refused to allocate more resources to this effort, defeating a Democratic measure that would have funded stronger cyber defenses for election systems. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue — it is an American issue. Join JDCA in sending a letter to your members of Congress demanding that our elections be protected. Click here, and send the letter.

BRIEFING CALL: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) will join us on Thursday, August 2 at 2:30 p.m. EST to discuss Iran, recent developments, and post-JCPOA realities in the aftermath of the nuclear agreement. Sen. Menendez will be followed on the call by Ned Price, a former National Security Council spokesperson and CIA analyst, who will speak about the current dynamic between the White House and the intelligence community and what it means for U.S. national security. To join the call, sign-up here.

**Reminder**: JDCA is looking for fall interns and midterm election volunteers. Learn more about being a JDCA intern here, and click here to sign up to volunteer.