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Jewish speakers and organisations to feature at Republican National Convention

Former President Donald Trump will be officially announced Republican nominee just days after assassination attempt

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A general view of the stage inside the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. Days after he survived an assassination attempt, Republicans are set to nominate Donald Trump as the party's official presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 15 to 18. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this past weekend, the Republican Party Convention (RNC) will begin as scheduled this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and will feature a handful of Jewish speakers and events.

At the four-day conference where Trump will formally be announced as the Republican presidential nominee and reveal his pick for vice president, several Jewish organisations including the American Jewish Committee and the Republican Jewish Coalition are slated to host Israel-focused events for the roughly 50,000 visitors set to attend.

On Tuesday, the AJC is scheduled to hold a panel discussion called “Israel and the Path to Peace,” which will include remarks from Eliav Benjamin, the Israeli Embassy to Washington’s deputy chief of mission. The AJC, run by former Democratic US Rep. Ted Deutch, will also host a diplomatic reception on Wednesday.

RJC CEO Matt Brooks will address the convention on Tuesday and, on Thursday afternoon, the organisation is set to sponsor a “Salute to Pro-Israel Elected Officials.”

The Trump 47 Committee’s newly formed Jewish Leadership Coalition will hold a brunch on Wednesday and feature speeches by Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. David Kustoff and former Rep. Lee Zeldin. Both Kustoff and Zeldin are Jewish, and Kustoff is only one of two Jewish Republicans in the Capitol, alongside Rep. Max Miller.

Recent Harvard University graduate Shabbos Kestenbaum, who filed a lawsuit against his former school for allowing antisemitism to proliferate on campus since October 7, was invited to speak at

the event this week.

A group of fraternity brothers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who protected the American flag against anti-Israel protesters on campus in April were also invited to address attendees at the convention.

On Monday the Republican National Committee will vote on the Trump campaign’s recently released 2024 Republican party platform, a 16-page document outlining the Trump administration’s agenda for the next four years if he is elected president.

The document, which is nearly 40 pages shorter than platforms released in previous election years, covers Trump’s plan to “bring common sense to our government and renew the pillars of American civilisation,” and highlights his administration’s intentions to curb illegal immigration, restore fiscal balance, and revitalise American family values.

The document gives a special mention to the condemnation of antisemitism, promising to “support revoking Visas of Foreign Nationals who support terrorism and jihadism” and to “hold accountable those who perpetrate violence against Jewish people.”

It also pledges to fight “anti-Christian bias” with a new federal task force that will “investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.”

The document also makes a specific nod to Israel, the only foreign country that Republicans will advocate supporting:

“We will stand with Israel and seek peace in the Middle East,” the document reads. In a nod to the Abraham Accords, it continues: “We will rebuild our Alliance Network in the Region to ensure a future of Peace, Stability, and Prosperity.”

The document also references the Iron Dome, promising to “restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East and build a great Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield over our entire country – all made in America.”

The four-day RNC comes just days after former President Trump was grazed by a bullet during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter, identified as Thomas Crooks, was killed moments later by Secret Service agents.

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