Democrat Activist Shabbos Kestenbaum Speaks at RNC, Endorses Plan to 'Expel Foreign Students'

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jul. 17, 2024

Democrat activist Shabbos Kestenbaum flew out together with lobbyist Ezra Friedlander to deliver a pro-Israel speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

"I am a proud first-generation American, a proud Orthodox Jew, and as of five months ago, I am the proud plaintiff suing Harvard University for its failure to combat antisemitism!" Kestenbaum said to open his speech.



Kestenbaum wrote just one week ago on Twitter: "I am a Democrat. I spoke out against Russia interference in the 2016 election to sow division, and supported policies to combat it. I am BEGGING my party to now immediately do the same with Iran."



"I have been a registered Democrat since the day I turned 18," Kestenbaum said in April. "If Joe Biden cannot forcefully condemn the rampant promotion of terrorism and Jew-hatred on college campuses, then we will not vote for him. We young, progressive Jews are fed up with the inaction."


Kestenbaum supported Jamaal Bowman's election four years ago amidst the BLM hysteria but pulled his support for him this year in the wake of October 7th.


On Tuesday, Kestenbaum hopped on a plane together with high-powered lobbyist Ezra Friedlander and flew out to the RNC.



Friedlander attracted controversy recently for lobbying for Azerbaijan during their ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenian Christians, as Responsible Statecraft reports:
Most notably in 2023, the Azerbaijan Embassy hired The Friedlander Group, whose namesake Ezra Friedlander has been a prominent American-Israeli lobbyist for years, rubbing shoulders with a number of top policymakers, including former President Donald Trump. When he was hired by Azerbaijan he immediately put his connections to work, according to his firm's FARA filing, securing meetings with dozens of congressional offices, including even a face-to-face meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

This is just the tip of the iceberg for Azerbaijan's influence operations in the U.S. As documented by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Azerbaijan government has a history of laundering its influence in Europe and the U.S. The "Azerbaijani Laundromat," as described by the OCCRP, was "a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled $2.9 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies."
Israel armed Azerbaijan's Muslim population to aid in their war against Armenia's Christians.

During his speech on Wednesday, Kestenbaum did not even say he's a Republican but did say he supports Donald Trump because of his policy "to expel foreign students" who are anti-Israel.

"Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far-left has not only abandoned the Jewish people but the American people," he said. "The Democratic Party -- the party I registered to vote for the day I turned 18 -- has become ideologically poisoned. And it is this poison, it is this corruption, that is infecting far too many young American students. Let's be clear: The far-left's anti-Semitic extremism has no virtue and the radicalism on our campuses and on our streets has no moral legitimacy."

"Tonight, we fight back," he continued. "I am proud to support President Trump's policies to expel foreign students who violate our laws, harass our Jewish classmates, and desecrate our freedoms."

Does any of this in any way remotely resemble "America First"?

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