Vice President Mike Pence addresses Republican Jews

Whatever qualms American Jews have with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence sought to ease them last week.

Speaking in Las Vegas to members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) on Feb. 24, Pence said there needs to be a strong United States-Israel relationship; he emphasized support for the Jewish community at a time when anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise; and he reiterated the Trump administration’s commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

[Read Pence’s full speech to the RJC]

“If the world knows nothing else, it will know this,” Pence said, addressing a crowd of approximately 500 people: “America stands with Israel.”

Pence’s remarks kicked off the RJC’s three-day annual national leadership meeting at The Venetian Las Vegas Resort Hotel Casino — an establishment built by pro-Israel philanthropist and staunch Republican Sheldon Adelson, who was in attendance.

Speaking for 30 minutes, Pence described Israel as America’s “most cherished ally” and praised the “immutable bond” between the two countries.

Regarding anti-Semitism, he denounced “appalling acts of vandalism” that have targeted the American-Jewish community, specifically the Feb. 20 destruction of more than 170 gravesites at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery in St. Louis, which he visited on Feb. 22.

Finally, on the issue of Iran, he was clear, saying, “President Trump will never allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.”

But he did not repeat the promises made by Trump while campaigning that he would scrap the deal President Barack Obama struck with Iran and other nations to keep it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Introduced by former Vice President Dick Cheney, Pence took the stage around 7:50 p.m., with his wife, Karen, by his side. Shabbat dinner followed his remarks.

Over the course of his speech, he discussed the president’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who is Trump’s bankruptcy attorney and a controversial nomination among left-leaning pro-Israel groups that have vowed to prevent him from securing the ambassadorship.

“I say with confidence, he will be confirmed,” Pence said of Friedman.

Pence is the former governor of Indiana, a position he occupied from 2013 to 2017. While governor, he passed legislation that prohibits the state from entering into contracts with companies that boycott Israel.

His support for Israel was reinforced by a recent visit to the Dachau concentration camp, and on Friday he spoke about his experience there and being accompanied in the camp by a Holocaust survivor.

His visit to Dachau followed a controversy sparked by Trump omitting any reference to Jews during an International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement.

Just as well known as his pro-Israel positions are his socially conservative ones. While governor, Pence signed restrictive abortion laws and supported pro-gun and pro-coal legislation. A supporter of the Tea Party movement, he is a devout Christian. He was a talk radio host before he was elected to Congress in 2000.

Audience members in the Venetian ballroom included Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who were seated at a banquet table near the front; Israeli American Council chairman Adam Milstein, philanthropist Fred Leeds, Congressman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

“I think the RJC’s good for Israel,” Boteach told the Journal as he made his way through the hotel lobby around 11 p.m.

Others to turn out included Los Angeles criminal gang prosecutor Elan Carr, who said it is incumbent on the community to support the president regardless of how they voted.

“Look, he’s the president,” Carr said of Trump in an interview. “I’d be in [Hillary Clinton’s] corner if she won. The president is the president.”

Josh Kaplan, board chair of Beach Hillel, helped lead a delegation of 12 California college students whose admission to the conference was paid for by philanthropists Deanna and Allen Alevy. (Beach Hillel serves students at five college campuses, including Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College.)

Kaplan is all too familiar with the recent spike in anti-Semitism: The Beach Hillel has an office on the campus of the Alpert JCC in Long Beach, one of dozens of JCCs that have been targeted by ultimately discredited bomb threats over the past couple of months. During an interview, Kaplan expressed gratitude that the vice president spoke out against anti-Semitism.

“To know the administration is aware that our local community was targeted and is standing in front of the community here saying we support you, are aware of it, we want to help, it’s great,” Kaplan said.

Additional elected officials slated to speak over the course of the weekend included Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Royce. The Pence speech was the only conference program open to members of the media.

The vice president expressed thanks to the RJC for having endorsed him in May, though technically the organization only issued a message of “congratulations” after Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.