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July 24, 2020 
WEEK IN REVIEW

We are in a for frightening next 100 days leading up to the election.

As Covid continues to plague the country, voting in person may be too dangerous. The  GOP is resisting efforts to expand vote by mail and early voting. States are struggling to update and secure their voting infrastructure. There appears to be continued foreign meddling in our elections.

This week Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), along with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence expressed their concern in a letter to the FBI.

"We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November," they said. 

The recent Twitter attack highlights our vulnerability with the spread of disinformation. These types of attacks could impact people's ability to vote. What if the hacked accounts tweeted out wrong polling information or instructed people to stay home on election day? 

We saw these attacks in the 2016 election. However, four years later, the bad actors have increased as well as the sophistication of their work. Democrats want $3.6 billion to be included in the latest coronavirus relief package, the Heroes Act, to help state and local election offices. The GOP is resisting.

A thriving, vibrant democracy is the greatest threat to countries like Russia and China. Their goal is to weaken our trust in government and our democracy through the spread of disinformation. Once this happens, chaos ensues.

Trump has been a partner in their efforts to weaken people's trust in government. He has spent his entire presidency delegitimizing government agencies and media. He has made people doubt the very institutions that can protect them and even the sanctity of their vote.

As Joe Biden says, we are in the battle for the soul of our nation. That battle extends to the internet and beyond our borders. 
UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENTS
 
Tuesday, August 4
Election Security & Foreign Interference
with
Mieke Eoyang
VP of Third Way's National Security Program
   
2:00 pm ET | 1:00 pm CT | 11:00 am
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Virtual Events to Support Joe Biden for President
 
 
**Low Donation Event**
Sunday, July 26
Celebration for Change: 100 Days to Go
featuring
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kristin Chenoweth, Andy Cohen, Delores Huerta, Jay Leno, Julianne Moore, Rob Reiner, Barbra Streisand and more
8:00 pm ET | 7:00 pm CT | 5:00 pm PT
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**Free Event** 
Monday, July 27
Jewish Women for Joe Summer Book Club
featuring Sara Blake, author of "Naamah"
7:00 pm ET | 6:00 pm CT | 4:00 pm PT
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Tuesday, July 28
Virtual Conversation with President Barack Obama & George Clooney
5:15 pm ET | 4:15 pm CT | 2:15 pm PT
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Thursday, July 30
Virtual Climate Change Discussion with Al Gore
1:30 pm ET | 12:30 pm CT | 10:30 am PT
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**Low donation event**
Saturday, August 1
Bootcamp for Biden with Rachel Robins
12:00 pm ET | 11:00 am CT | 9:00 am PT
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Monday, August 3
Virtual Conversation on Antisemitism with
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) & Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
moderated by Jason Alexander
8:00 pm ET I 7:00 pm CT I 5:00 PT 
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Thursday, August 6
Virtual Conversation with Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin
6:00 pm ET | 5:00 CT | 3:00 PT
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Please note: Login links for Biden for President events are sent out directly by the campaign. 
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Watch your inbox for more online events.
ISRAEL
For Palestinian Police, Much to Lose If Israel Annexes West Bank Land

The scorn heaped upon Palestinian Authority security officers for cooperating with Israel, some officers say, was the bitter price of jobs with significant benefits.  And yet, in their colorful uniforms, the security forces are a conspicuous embodiment of the incipient state they hoped they were building.  Now that Israel's threat to annex parts of the West Bank has thrown that national project into doubt, many officers question whether the cost to them was worth it.
Continued Reading

ANTI-SEMITISM & BDS
Anti-Semitism Is Rising Worldwide - So Why Is Trump's Special Envoy Targeting the President's American Jewish Critics?
 
From 2009 to 2012 under the Obama administration, I served as the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism. Today I watch this growing tide of hatred and intolerance with mounting dread. And I feel tremendous frustration as I watch the current occupant of my former role,  Elan Carr , use his position to score political points for President Trump and shamefully malign the president's Jewish critics. Last week, Carr took to Twitter to accuse J Street, a prominent liberal Jewish American advocacy group, of using an anti-Semitic image as part of its campaign against the Israeli government's threatened unilateral annexation of the West Bank.
Continued Reading

CHOICE
The Next Big Anti-Abortion Fight: Keeping You From Having an Abortion at Home
 
As medication abortion becomes more popular and a global pandemic makes telemedicine not just appealing, but necessary to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19, the anti-choice movement has honed in on a new target: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Over the last several months, anti-abortion activists and lawmakers have escalated a campaign aimed at the federal agency, asking it to crack down on websites selling abortion pills online and ignore calls to  lift the restrictions  on the abortion drug mifepristone.
Continued Reading

SEPARATION
 
Religious Leaders Warn Against Pompeo's Push for Religious Freedom as Priority Human Right

More than 30 faith leaders issued a warning against Secretary of State  Mike Pompeo's new push to put property rights and religious freedom at the forefront of American diplomacy.  In a  statement , faith leaders across denominations warned that Pompeo's push for a hierarchy of rights with religious freedom at the top "will weaken religious freedom itself and undermine respect for and damage the protections of the universal values of human dignity." 
Continued Reading

BEYOND THE CORE
What's at Stake If Trump Gets to Replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The outcome of decades of future Supreme Court decisions is likely to turn on whether Ginsburg, a  feminist icon  and the senior-most member of the Court's liberal wing, continues to serve until after President Trump leaves office. If Trump gets to replace a liberal justice like Ginsburg, however, this check on Republican power is likely to disappear. Trump spent the past three and a half years filling federal appellate courts with staunch conservatives, often with the guidance of conservative organizations such as the Federalist Society. That gives him a deep bench of potential Supreme Court nominees who are unlikely to disappoint the GOP in the future.
Continued Reading

POLITICAL BYTE
House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues From Capitol
 
The House voted overwhelmingly to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol, the latest effort by Congress to respond to the nationwide protests over systemic racism and injustice.  The bill would remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney from the Old Supreme Court Chamber, in the Capitol. Taney authored the Dred Scott decision in 1857, which declared African Americans couldn't be citizens and was later widely panned. The Taney bust would be replaced with a statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice.
Continued Reading

BIDEN ROUNDUP
Biden Launches Week-Long $15 Million Ad Blitz in Battleground States

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee  Joe Biden's campaign is kicking up its advertising investments in key battleground states, announcing a new $15 million ad buy in broadcast, radio and digital over the next week.  The new ad campaign, which features three new TV spots, marks an escalation in the campaign's ad spending heading into the general election against President Donald Trump. By comparison, the Biden campaign's first major ad buy also totaled $15 million but was spread over a five-week period beginning in June.
Continued Reading

Vice President Biden Delivers Remarks on How We're Going to Build Back Better the Caring Economy
Vice President Biden Delivers Remarks on How We're Going to Build Back Better the Caring Economy


CORONAVIRUS
Is Trump on Track for an October Vaccine Surprise?

President Donald Trump's bet that a proven-effective coronavirus vaccine will be the October surprise to catapult him into a second term is facing increasingly long odds.  But that doesn't mean he won't find just enough reason to declare victory anyway.  While the race to find an effective vaccine for Covid-19 has crucial implications for nations around the world, it also carries political ramifications in the United States - with Trump banking heavily on finding a vaccine to quell both the pandemic and mounting unhappiness over his handling of the coronavirus response.
Continued Reading

FYI
John Lewis and the Jews: 6 Moments That Showcase an Enduring Alliance
 
When John Lewis, the civil rights icon and congressman from Georgia, died at 80 over the weekend, Jews in America and abroad lost an ally of nearly six decades.  Lewis never tired of telling folks to "get into good trouble," to defy the authorities and the conventional wisdom. It was a creed that guided him as he helped organize the 1963 March on Washington; that led to police severely beating him in Selma, Alabama, in 1965; and that underscored his 33-year career in Congress.  He also had a close relationship with the Jewish community dating to the 1960s, fortified by alliances he forged throughout his congressional career
Continued Reading

The Last Word
"The hard truth is that we can't just build back to the way things were before these crises - we have to build back better."
-- Joe Biden
JAC II
Introducing JACII, a JAC group for young professionals, advocates, and those young at heart who are looking to get involved. Groups have started in Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
 
Events will feature elected officials and speakers in lively settings. JACII is by and for young people. Now is the perfect time to get involved.
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Know someone who would be interested in joining or hosting a meeting? Let us know at info@jacpac.org. We will be happy to help organize a JACII in your city.

Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs (JACPAC) is a pro-Israel PAC with a domestic agenda. We support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and advocate for reproductive health and the separation of religion and state and incorporate other issues of importance to the Jewish community, including gun violence prevention and climate change. In addition to providing financial support for U.S. Senate and House campaigns, JACPAC educates our membership with outreach events designed to inform and activate their participation in the political process.
Paid for by Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs. Contributions or gifts are not tax deductible.  Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle. Corporate contributions and contributions from non-US citizens who are not lawfully admitted for permanent residence are prohibited. All contributions by individuals must be made from personal funds and may not be reimbursed or paid by another person.