Vance to privately address Republican Jewish Coalition during tension over Israel and antisemitism

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — 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 toward Israel and his association with controversial figures like Tucker Carlson.

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

A person close to Vance, who requested anonymity ahead of his private remarks, said the vice president had support within the Jewish community and described his appearance at the conference as “extending an olive branch” to people who may be unsure of him.

Vance suggested last month that some Israeli officials have sought to manipulate U.S. 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 antisemite 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 attending the conference. “We're confused about his true sentiments.”

Vance is widely considered a front-runner for the Republican nomination to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028. He’s expressed his support for Israel but, unlike Trump, has been viewed as more equivocal or skeptical toward the longtime ally.

Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks said the organization offered Vance the opportunity to speak without the news media present to promote a candid discussion.

“We want to be able to have an opportunity to have a conversation that's open and honest," Brooks said. Vance is expected to share the stage with Norm Coleman, the coalition chairman.

Expectations were high for influential Jewish Republicans.

“To me, he's a giant question mark,” said Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary and coalition board member. “I think there are a lot of questions the Jewish community has about what makes his heart tick and how strong he is — or isn't — for Israel. He needs to show a pro-Jewish, pro-Israel heart tonight."

Ron Dermer, the longtime adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Vance asked him during their first meeting years ago about why the U.S. alliance with Israel served American interests. Dermer said he welcomed the question and praised Vance's role in last year's 12-day conflict with Iran.

“I will be forever grateful for the role that he played at that critical moment,” he said. “It kept Israel safe.”

“I had no problem with somebody saying, why is it in our interests?"

Back in June, Vance sharply criticized 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.

While chatter of Vance's appearance rippled in the corridors of the Venetian Casino and Resort convention complex, there was little mention of him from the stage as speaker after speaker criticized Democrats, denounced antisemitism and extolled the U.S. alliance with Israel.

New York radio personality Sid Rosenberg broke the silence. “I didn't like what I heard on the Joe Rogan show,” Rosenberg said, drawing murmurs in the convention hall.

“It's important for JD Vance to be here, because we have to know," he said, alluding to what some at the conference have called the vice president's ambiguity, and suggested "give Vance a chance."

The remark prompted a smattering of applause from the audience of several hundred.

Support for Israel has eroded in the United States, although more dramatically among Democrats. Roughly half of Democrats believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians, according to an AP-NORC poll released in July, an accusation that’s been leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government.

Republicans, combating a sour national economic mood, have sought to cast Democrats as out of touch and too extreme. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the party was in thrall to the Democratic Socialists of America, and he accused the political left of bigotry toward Jews.

“The Democrat Party is being consumed by this antisemitism," he said.

Republicans are more likely to back Israel, but there's a generational divide, and younger Republicans are more likely than their older counterparts to say the U.S. 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 antisemitism.

“We need a country where elected officials stand proudly with the Jewish community,” U.S. Rep. 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 dayslong condemnation of antisemitism 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 former 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.

Pearl addressed the conference Monday without mentioning Vance.

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