Vance to address Republican Jewish Coalition as activists raise concerns over anti-Semitism

US Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to speak Monday at the annual gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition, an opportunity for him to assuage concerns among conservative Jewish activists about his views towards Israel and his association with controversial figures like conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson.

The appearance, which is to be closed to the news media, comes at an extraordinarily sensitive time for Jewish Americans and the US relationship with Israel. Concerns about anti-Semitism have surged across the political spectrum ahead of the midterm elections. Republicans are eager to portray Democrats as hostile towards Jews and Israel, but they're also dealing with their own internal schisms.

Vance suggested last month that some Israeli officials have sought to manipulate US public opinion in order to prolong the war with Iran. There's also lingering concern over Vance's failure to disavow Carlson, a conservative commentator who last year hosted the overtly anti-Semitic white supremacist Nick Fuentes, for a friendly conversation.

“There's a sentiment here of some discomfort over the vice president speaking. Some people are disappointed,” said Terry Platt, a Republican Jewish Coalition member from New York. “We're confused about his true sentiments.”

Vance is widely considered a frontrunner for the Republican nomination to succeed US President Donald Trump in 2028. He's expressed his support for Israel but, unlike Trump, has been viewed as more equivocal or sceptical towards the longtime ally.

Back in June, he sharply criticised members of Israel's government for opposing Trump's efforts to resolve the war with Iran.

“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” Vance said.

Then in July, Vance said elements of the Israeli government had tried to influence American sentiment to derail negotiations.

“There are some people within their system that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely," he told podcaster Joe Rogan.

Support for Israel has eroded in the United States, although more dramatically among Democrats, following its brutal military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. Roughly half of Democrats believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians, according to an AP-NORC poll released in July.

Human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israeli group B'tselem, as well as an independent UN commission, have all described Israel's actions in the besieged Palestinian territory as a genocide – an accusation vehemently denied by Israel and the US government.

Republicans are more likely to back Israel, but there's a generational divide, with younger Republicans more likely than their older counterparts to say the US is too supportive of Israel.

The divide has been disconcerting for some influential Jewish conservatives, who have used the annual Republican Jewish Coalition summits to push back on anti-Semitism.

“We need a country where elected officials stand proudly with the Jewish community,” US congresswoman Lisa McClain of Michigan said Sunday. “That is the work, and it begins before we leave this room.”

A year ago, the coalition's annual summit was planned as a celebration of the Trump administration's work to return Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the war began. Instead, it became a days-long condemnation of anti-Semitism within the conservative ranks, sparked by the refusal of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts to distance the think-tank from Carlson, after he hosted Fuentes on his show.

At one point during the summit, college students waved red signs that read, “Tucker is not MAGA.”

Bruce Pearl, the Auburn University men's basketball coach who has emerged as a prominent pro-Israel conservative, previously said that Vance would need to reject Carlson to receive his support.

“If he maintains that connection to that anti-Semite,” Pearl said in June, “I think that's going to be bad for anti-Semitism, because he will bring a lot of Tucker Carlsons with him. He'll uplift them.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)