David Friedman, the United States Ambassador to Israel under the Trump administration, announced on July 19 that he is endorsing 25-year-old Matthew Foldi, a former conservative journalist, in a Maryland congressional primary.
In a statement shared with the Journal, Friedman said: “Very few people have Matthew’s keen awareness of the issues that are critical to America’s national security. Matthew understands the benefit the Abraham Accords have had for world peace as well as the threats that continue to persist in the Middle East. He also recognizes the existential threat posed by enemies like Iran. He will make a fantastic Congressman.”
Foldi is running in Maryland’s 6th congressional district, which is currently held by incumbent Representative David Trone (D-MD). In the primary, Foldi is pitted against State House of Delegates Representative Neil Parrott, who lost to Trone by 20 points in 2020 in the district, though it has since been redistricted, according to Politico. The election is being held on July 19.
Jewish Insider (JI) published a July 18 profile on Foldi, highlighting the former Washington Free Beacon reporter’s Jewish upbringing and his work for his aunt Caroline Glick’s 2019 Knesset bid, though she ultimately did not win. Foldi also recounted attending a 2014 pro-Palestinian protest in front of the White House wearing an Israeli flag around his neck, which a protester tore off. “I hadn’t realized that earlier in the day, the police had actually asked this very small group of pro-Israel counter-protesters to leave for their own safety,” Foldi told JI. “I think it’s very important for Jewish students, and any student of any political or religious affiliation, to know that they can enter the public square in colleges and high schools and not have to fear for their life.”
Foldi believes that the establishment of a Palestinian state in a two-state solution would “split Israel and make it easy to bifurcate the country and destroy it” and vowed to fight the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if elected, per the JI profile. JI did note that Trone “is known to be one of the most reliable backers of Israel in the Democratic Party. Before coming to Congress, he donated upwards of $100,000 annually to AIPAC, and claims his business is the largest retailer of Israeli wine in the U.S.—including wines from the West Bank, which Trone sells as an illustration of his opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Additionally, Trone’s wife is Jewish and they provided their children with a Jewish upbringing, per JI.
Other notable figures who have endorsed Foldi include Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Donald Trump, Jr. and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. If elected, Foldi would be the youngest member of Congress.
Culver City Councilmember Alex Fisch is under fire for comparing homeless shelters in Palmdale to concentration camps during a June 29 candidate forum.
The forum, which was held virtually by the Culver City Democratic Club, featured Fisch saying in response to a question about how the candidates would deal with homelessness: “Marching people off to concentration camps in Palmdale is not a solution. It’s not moral and it’s not the Democratic Party way of doing things.”
In a letter to the editor published in the Culver City Observer, a person named Jamie Wallace wrote that “Fisch had an opportunity at the July 11th City Council meeting but did not make any remark or expression of regret after it was raised by people during public comment. In an email, Mr. Fisch wrote that he was referring to other people talking about moving the unhoused from their current locations to other area facilities such as Palmdale where it might be less expensive to build. Mr. Fisch responded in another written note that he was talking about law-enforcement actions to move the unhoused to other places.”
Wallace also noted that Fisch’s defenders online have claimed “that ‘concentration camps’ do not always refer to Nazi killing centers, but any ‘concentration’ of people such as the Japanese internment camps in the United States.” Wallace called this a “deflection.” “’Marching people off to concentration camps in Palmdale,’ is a clear reference to Nazi atrocities,” Wallace wrote. “No one, city councilmember, candidate or not, should have said this unless they meant to be offensive. Any attempt to soft-peddle this inexcusable statement minimizes the death and suffering of the Nazi’s victims.”
The Common Sense Culver City Political Action Committee similarly wrote on their website that “by equating law enforcement-first solutions with Nazis and Internment officers, Alex Fisch not only demonizes the police, he cheapens the atrocities committed against those murdered and interred.” The PAC also argued that the concentration camp analogy is “harmful to people experiencing homelessness and those trying to help them. It strips their personal stories and struggles leading to life on the street, and instead rewrites them as victims of an ideology of evil.”
Jewish groups denounced Fisch’s remarks.
“Whether or not the councilmember was directly linking policy around homelessness to the Holocaust or the internment of Japanese-Americans, responsible elected officials should avoid such inappropriate and hyperbolic comparisons,” Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles Senior Associate Regional Director Matthew Friedman said in a statement to the Journal. “We can have discussions around difficult questions without invoking ‘concentration camps’ or other analogies. We know that the councilmember has done this in the past, and we hope that he will be more careful in the future.”
American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Director Richard S. Hirschhaut also said in a statement to the Journal, “Culver City Councilmember Alex Fisch had an opportunity during last week’s City Council meeting to clean up his ill-advised comments about ‘marching people off to concentration camps in Palmdale.’ Regrettably, through obfuscation, deflection, and perceived annoyance, he fumbled. Badly. Regardless of his supposed intention, the words he used, and apparently has doubled down on, have no place in public discourse. Invoking Nazi-era analogies cheapens their historical significance and does nothing to advance meaningful public policy. We encourage Mr. Fisch to accept responsibility, apologize, and make the most of this ‘teachable moment.’”
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper also told the Journal that Fisch’s use of “Holocaust imagery” only “insults the past [and] does nothing to help address the ongoing humanitarian crisis across US.”
StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said in a statement to the Journal: “The term concentration camps brings up painful collective memories for the Jewish people, and should never be used indiscriminately to describe situations like the one regarding homeless people in Palmdale. We have a responsibility to be careful with words and phrases so that they do not enter every day vernacular and degrade or trivialize the meaning of the terms. ‘Concentration camp’ does not mean where people are ‘concentrated.’ They were used by the Nazis for years to enslave, torture and murder Jews and others who did not meet the Nazi ‘ideal race requirements.’”
Stop Antisemitism tweeted to Fisch: “At a time when our country needs dialogue, it is especially dangerous to exploit the memory of the Holocaust as a rhetorical cudgel. Words matter, do better!”
NO Alex Fisch (@AlexFischCC), homeless shelters are NOT comparable to concentration camps.
At a time when our country needs dialogue, it is especially dangerous to exploit the memory of the Holocaust as a rhetorical cudgel.
Fisch responded that he “wasn’t comparing homeless shelters to camps. I was responding to the growing calls for law enforcement-only and eliminationist approaches to homelessness. You see them in social media and I’ve heard them straight from people’s mouths while canvassing. As someone who has personally experienced antisemitism, and as the descendent of a family that was intentionally extirpated from Galicia, I didn’t choose my words carelessly. I am obligated to stand with the vulnerable—houseless people—against relatively powerful persecutors.” He acknowledged that the language he used was “charged” but argued that it was necessary because “there are so many people winking at involuntary confinement of people who are already regularly dehumanized. Is that the same as the Holocaust? Of course not. Is it the same as Japanese internment? Closer, and fundamentally about dehumanization.” Fisch also linked to a 2019 article from The Forward discussing the use of the term “concentration camps” in regards to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
I wasn’t comparing homeless shelters to camps. I was responding to the growing calls for law enforcement-only and eliminationist approaches to homelessness. You see them in social media and I’ve heard them straight from people’s mouths while canvassing. 1/2
As someone who has personally experienced antisemitism, and as the descendent of a family that was intentionally extirpated from Galicia, I didn’t choose my words carelessly. I am obligated to stand with the vulnerable—houseless people—against relatively powerful persecutors. 2/2
It was charged language, yes. But there are so many people winking at involuntary confinement of people who are already regularly dehumanized. Is that the same as the Holocaust? Of course not. Is it the same as Japanese internment? Closer, and fundamentally about dehumanization.
I appreciate your constructive engagement. I’ve spent a lot of time, both in 2019 when a similar controversy was in national headlines and recently, reflecting on this piece from Forward. I link this not to say that I’m “right,” but to add nuance. https://t.co/sMVagkd8WT
UPDATE: Democrats for Israel Los Angeles President Gregg Solkovits said in a statement to the Journal that Fisch’s remarks “were not a Nazi or Holocaust comparison — as someone who is of partially Jewish descent and who has worked with the Jewish community on Democratic Party issues, he would know not to do that. Councilman Fisch made a concentration camp comparison describing how some homeless are being forcibly relocated to camps in the Antelope Valley away from the communities they lived in prior to becoming homeless. Concentration camps have been used as a term to describe the Japanese-American experience during WWII and are also terms used to describe the experiences of Bosnians, Cambodians, South African Boers and others. It’s a term to be used with caution, but it is not the same as a Nazi or Holocaust reference.”
He added that Fisch “has stood with the Jewish community against proposed platform changes that would have removed references to Israel as a Jewish state. While he could have been more careful in his choice of words, we appreciate his work with our community and understand the points he was trying to make about the forced relocation of the homeless, placing them in camps in desolate areas far away from work opportunities and the communities they lived in before becoming homeless, as opposed to have them placed in supportive housing in their own communities.”
An organizer behind a 2020 fundraiser for Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) is under fire for some of her past tweets, including some expressing a desire to burn down Israel.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that, according to the Canary Mission watchdog, Neveen Ayesh––who works with American Muslims for Palestine––tweeted in 2014 that she wished “to set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it.” She reiterated that desire in another tweet a month later. Other tweets highlighted in the Free Beacon report included a 2011 tweet stating that one of the “crimes worthy of the rope” is “being a Jew,” a 2017 tweet comparing Zionism to Nazism, and a February 2022 tweet arguing that those who argue “but Hamas” are “encouraging armed resistance by Ukrainian citizens (who are rising up against their oppressors) but somehow have an issue when Palestinians do the same.” Some of these tweets were discussed during a May 2020 hearing in the Missouri House of Representatives about the state’s anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) bill.
SHOCKING New Video! @ampalestine 's Neveen Ayesh testifies in front of the Missouri House of Representatives in support of BDS and gets CAUGHT in her LIES! A must see and SHARE! pic.twitter.com/QlLTXAqDSr
Ayesh and Bush were pictured together during both the 2020 fundraiser as well as a 2017 Middle East trip, per the Free Beacon. Additionally, Canary Mission noted that Ayesh recently advertised a July 16 reception with Bush with the St. Louis Muslim community. “On Saturday, Bush will benefit from another of Ayesh’s fundraisers,” the watchdog wrote. “Congresswoman Bush, if you don’t condemn Ayesh, you condone her antisemitic views.”
So far, no response from @CoriBush to our disclosure that her close ALLY & FUNDRAISER @neveen___a is an unrepentant antisemite. On Saturday, Bush will benefit from another of Ayesh's fundraisers. Congresswoman Bush, if you don't condemn Ayesh, you condone her antisemitic views. https://t.co/D1GWOy2rnb
Associated Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement to the Journal, “What part of this antisemitic activist did Rep Bush not know about? Her wish to see Israel and the world’s largest Jewish community to burn and reduced to ashes? Her support for Hamas terrorism? Do these sentiments reflect Cory Bush’s world view? If not, say so and return the money.”
Missouri State Senator Steve Roberts, who is challenging Bush in the Democratic primary for the Missouri congressional seat, wrote in an open letter on his campaign website that he used to “briefly date” Ayesh “before I knew of her extreme political beliefs. After a period of getting to know each other, her views became clear to me and – unlike Cori Bush – I chose to reject hate and walk away. I recognized that because I had been uninformed, I was vulnerable. As a Black man who has personally experienced bigotry, I realized that to truly be a community leader who stands for justice and against hate, I needed to learn much more about antisemitism and become active in the fight against it.” Ayesh claimed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the two “lived together for two years” before breaking up when “he cheated on me.”Ayesh also shared a photo with the Post-Dispatch purportedly showing Roberts wearing an Israel-shaped pendant stating “Palestine” in Arabic and noted that as a state senator, Roberts voted against the state’s anti-BDS law (the Post-Dispatch noted that a campaign spokesperson said Roberts “regrets his ‘no’ vote”). Ayesh claimed Roberts was “using my identity as a Palestinian to attack me … And make himself look good in front of the Israeli lobby.” She also tweeted that she’ll be “seeing [Roberts] in court” in response to his statement, per the Post-Dispatch. Separately, Roberts has faced sexual assault allegations from two women; he has denied the allegations.
“The allegations of antisemitism that have stained the Democratic primary in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District are disheartening,” Stop Antisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez said in a statement to the Journal. “The unequivocal rejection of antisemitism is exactly what we should expect from anyone seeking or occupying public office.” The Free Beacon noted that “while Bush has publicly condemned attacks on the Jewish community, her relationship with Ayesh and other anti-Israel activists is drawing accusations that these statements are empty rhetoric.”
Ayesh addressed the prior tweets in a July 13 Twitter thread. “I want to take ownership and acknowledge how horrendous the context of those tweets actually are,” she wrote. “I was young, dumb, & said horrible things that I never acted on, that I never would act on, because I am not that person. My words came from a place of both pain & anger. I grew up under occupation & spent the rest of my life watching it. Before I moved back to America, the only interaction I ever had with a Jewish person was through the IDF. By default, resentment grew. I was and still am a product of my environment. After moving back to the United States a lot changed in my life. I went to college. I met Jewish people in settings outside of the soldier pointing his rifle at me.” She added that the tweets in question were sent “after chaos occurred back home. Chaos that resulted in a lot of blood shed & loss. Chaos that no one seemed to – and still does not – care about because we’re brown. Muslims and Christian’s alike but we’re brown and Palestinian Arab.” Ayesh concluded her thread by accusing Canary Mission of attacking Bush because she’s “a voice for the voiceless.” Since then, her Twitter account no longer seems to exist.
Canary Mission responded to Ayesh’s explanation by telling the Journal: “After 8 years researching antisemitism, Canary Mission has observed this same journey with many of the antisemites we profile. The antisemitism usually starts with raw hatred e.g. Jews should be killed, burned or something equally horrid. Antisemites justify their hatred by blaming Israel. In times of conflict, violent language against Jews becomes suddenly acceptable.” They added that antisemites “are taught ‘how to assign academic terminology.’ They stop using ‘Jews’ and start saying ‘Zionists’ for one simple reason. If you replace ‘Jews’ with ‘Zionists’ or ‘Israelis’, it becomes socially acceptable to denigrate them.” Therefore, Ayesh’s “non-apology doesn’t work,” Canary Mission said.
Bush’s campaign did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.
Join Mark and Lowell this week as they talk some Schiff. They chat it up on the topic of stage fright which, for many people, ranks higher on the fear scale than a zombie apocalypse.
Join Mark and Lowell this week as they talk some Schiff. They chat it up on the topic of stage fright which, for many people, ranks higher on the fear scale than a zombie apocalypse.
Join Mark and Lowell this week as they talk some Schiff. They chat it up on the topic of stage fright which, for many people, ranks higher on the fear scale than a zombie apocalypse.
