EXCLUSIVE: Pro-BDS group recruiting Republican Hill staff for free Israel trip

THE LOWDOWN:

• An anti-Israel group that backs the anti-Semitic boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement is recruiting Republican Hill staff for its 13th trip to Israel, emails obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter reveal.

• Rebuilding Alliance (RA) both backs BDS and falsely accuses Israel of “state terrorism” and of “ethnic cleansing” — and it is currently aiming to convince more Republicans to join its next staff delegation to “Jerusalem, West Bank, and Amman.”

• One veteran House staffer, who has received multiple RA invitations, told the Reporter that while he won’t go on an RA trip, he has not received outreach from other organizations providing similar trips.

• The staffer’s previous boss in Congress “chaired multiple Israel caucuses and I never received any outreach by pro-Israel groups then either,” he said.

An anti-Israel group that backs the anti-Semitic boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement is recruiting Republican Hill staff for its 13th trip to Israel, emails obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter reveal.

Rebuilding Alliance (RA) both backs BDS and falsely accuses Israel of “state terrorism” and of “ethnic cleansing” — and it is currently aiming to convince more Republicans to join its next staff delegation to “Jerusalem, West Bank, and Amman.”

“Our trips always include both Republicans and Democrats,” RA writes in its invitation, obtained by the Reporter.

“This anti-Israel pro-BDS group has a history of working with groups trying to destroy Israel,” a Middle East expert cautioned to the Reporter. “The group’s propaganda is entirely one-sided and should be ignored by everyone with a shred of common sense.”

One veteran House staffer, who has received multiple RA invitations, told the Reporter that while he won’t go on an RA trip, he has not received outreach from other organizations providing similar trips.

“It’s just frustrating that I want to go to Israel to greater understand the challenges faced by Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and the only group willing to do so would have indoctrination by a fake country [Palestine],” the veteran House staffer said.

“This group has sent me multiple invitations to go to Israel for free before any other group has sent me one,” the staffer said.

“I want to go with a pro-Israel group because Israel is facing threats from Iran and other terrorist groups,” the staffer added. Both he and his boss work closely on Israel-related policies, and on foreign policy more broadly in Congress.

The staffer’s previous boss in Congress “chaired multiple Israel caucuses and I never received any outreach by pro-Israel groups then either,” he said.

“Learning how we can help protect them is critically important — but the only groups reaching out don’t support their sovereignty,” the staffer said.

The Reporter has covered how previous RA invites to Hill staff “downplayed a recent terror attack in which a Jordanian man opened fire at a border crossing, murdering three Israelis as a ‘security incident.’”