Attendees of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus’ annual celebration of Jerusalem Day at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday agreed that reaching a consensus on key issues, including combating Jew-hatred, is essential.
“It’s a very important time, especially with Israel at war, that both Republicans and Democrats come together with Jewish and Christian leaders to celebrate the undivided capital of Jerusalem,” Josh Reinstein, president of the Israel Allies Foundation and director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, told JNS.
“Jerusalem is the symbol of Israel, and it’s a symbol of unwavering bipartisan support for Israel as well,” he said.
Gila Gamliel, Israel’s minister of innovation, science and technology, and Moshe Tur-Paz, a Knesset member from the opposition Yesh Atid party and co-chair of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, attended the event, as did House members from both sides of the aisle.
Tur-Paz, who spent the first months of his life in Philadelphia, where his parents were Jewish Agency emissaries, said that coming to Washington as a member of the opposition allowed him to present a unified front on certain issues, even against criticism of the sitting Israeli government.
“I can say that Jerusalem is a consensus in Israel, and I think our bonds with America are a consensus,” he told JNS. “Fighting Hamas as a terror organization is a consensus, bringing back our hostages is a consensus.”
“There are many, many issues we agree on,” he said. “So here we defer those issues that we don’t agree on and build bonds and the connections on all those good things.”
Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is also a consensus, but the strategy to do so has exposed tensions between Jerusalem and Washington.
Some congressional Republicans have been more hawkish on the issue than the Republican White House, which has fluctuated on red lines in nuclear pact negotiations with Tehran.
“Congress is hawkish. That’s one way to put it,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), the chair of the Middle East subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told JNS after he spoke at the event on Wednesday.
The congressman stressed that there is bipartisan support for keeping the Islamic Republic in line.
“Understanding the duplicity of this regime,” he said, noting that it is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles “to vaporize the people of America.”
“Republicans believe, and sadly see, that indeed, the ayatollah believes, ‘death to Israel, death to America,’” Wilson told JNS.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a House Foreign Affairs Committee member, spoke to JNS after he addressed attendees of the event.
“There might be some elements in Israel so far to the right that they say we want to go do things that will outrage all Americans,” he said.
The Heritage Foundation drew criticism for a plan suggesting that it would be mutually beneficial for Israel and the United States to sunset military aid in the distant future. Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, canceled an appearance at a Heritage event announcing the plan.
“I would say that putting aside the money is not a path for Israel’s long-term survival,” Sherman told JNS. “I would hope that there wouldn’t be any elements in Israel that say, ‘we’re going to go forward with no friends in the world, because we can afford to do it.’”
Several of those who spoke at Wednesday’s event lamented the increasingly violent acts of antisemitism in America, especially in the last few weeks.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) announced that the House Committee on Homeland Security’s subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence will hold a hearing next week on combating antisemitism.
