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EXCLUSIVE Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., on Friday introduced two pieces of "pro-Israel" legislation condemning attacks by Iranian military proxies and bolstering law enforcement training between the U.S. and Israel.

"For the past week we have witnessed how murderous jihadist terrorists have launched a full-scale assault on the democratic, Jewish State of Israel," Gimenez, who previously served as mayor of Miami-Dade County, which boasts one of the largest Jewish communities in the United States, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "I am proud to introduce this legislation to reaffirm Americas support for Israel and strengthen our security cooperation in the fight against global terror."

House Resolution 3393, dubbed the U.S.-Israel Cooperation Expansion Act, would cultivate greater relations with Israel, America's closest ally in the Middle East, by making the official policy of the United States to support bilateral law enforcement training between the two nations.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, more than 1,000 law enforcement officers and first responders have traveled to Israel to participate in joint training exercises on how to combat terrorism, manage mass causality situations and mitigate other security events, Gimenezs office notes.

PALESTINIAN MILITANTS FIRE ROCKET INTO ISRAEL JUST HOURS AFTER AGREEING TO CEASE-FIRE

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., introduced a "pro-Israel" legislative package Friday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Israel has long been a strategic partner in advancing U.S. military readiness, homeland defense, energy, and cybersecurity.

Because joint military exercises between Israel and the United States have proven to be a major success, the bill aims to bring the same approach to law enforcement cooperation to share best practices and help law enforcement better protect American communities, his office said. The bill also supports Israel's inclusion to the 85-nation coalition that has sent law enforcement personnel to the International Law Enforcement Academy aimed at combating transnational crime.

Its co-sponsors are Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Randy Weber, R-Texas, Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Brian Babin, R-Texas, Chris Smith, R-N.J., Neal Dunn, R-Fla., and Michael Guest, R-Miss.

Thousands of Israelis dance and wave national flags during a march marking Jerusalem Day, an Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday, May 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Gimenez also submitted House Resolution 409 "condemning the acts of terrorism committed by Iranian military proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, against the people of the State of Israel." The bill notes the democratic Jewish State of Israel is a key ally and a strategic partner of the United States, and it remains a standing policy of the United States to support Israels security efforts.

KEVIN MCCARTHY BLOCKS RASHIDA TLAIB FROM HOSTING ANTISEMITIC EVENT CALLING ISRAEL A CATASTROPHE

"American policy has long sought to bring peace to the Middle East and recognize that both the Israeli and Palestinian people should be able to live in safe and sovereign states, free from fear and violence, with mutual recognition," the resolution continues. "Hamas began launching rockets into the Israeli capital of Jerusalem and surrounding areas belonging to the Jewish people of Israel."

Palestinians wave their national flag during a protest against an Israeli parade through Jerusalem's Old City, along the frontier with Israel east of Gaza City, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The bill further recognizes Jerusalem as the legitimate capital city of the State of Israel, supports Israels "efforts of self-determination and collective security against external forces," and "reaffirms support for policies and initiatives combatting anti-Semitic behavior around the world."

Its cosponsors are Reps. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Randy Weber, R-Texas, Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Michael Bost, R-Ill., Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Brian Babin, R-Texas, Chris Smith, R-N.J., Neal Dunn, R-FL, Guy Reschenthaler, R-Penn., and Michael Guest, R-Miss.

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The legislative package comes on the heels of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blocking at event scheduled at the U.S. Capitol to be hosted Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., last week that would have decried Israel as a "catastrophe" for Palestinians and the world. The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday called on Palestinians to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, according to The Associated Press.

The comments by Hamas added to the already heightened tensions ahead of Thursdays march and threatened to reignite fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, just days after a cease-fire took hold. Two years ago, an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas erupted during the annual march.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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House Republican introduces 'pro-Israel' legislative package amid tensions with Palestinian militants in Gaza - Fox News

The News

Denying the results of the 2020 election and casting doubts about the nations voting system cost statewide Republican candidates 2.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the midterms last year, according to a new study from States United Action, a nonpartisan group that promotes fair elections.

Even at the lowest end of the spectrum, 2.3 percentage points would have been enough to swing several critical midterm races that Republicans lost, including the contests for governor and attorney general in Arizona and the Senate elections in Nevada and Georgia.

In each of those races, the Republican nominee had either expressed doubts about the 2020 election or outright rejected its legitimacy.

And as former President Donald J. Trump illustrated at a town-hall event last week, election denialism is very much alive within the Republican Party.

But spreading such conspiracy theories again could hamper Republicans as they look to take back the Senate in 2024.

The problem for a lot of Republicans right now is that the gap between what the base wants and what swing voters will tolerate has gotten very long, said Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist.

In the midterms, a slate of election-denying candidates ran together as the America First coalition. These candidates, organized in part by Jim Marchant, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, sought to take over critical parts of the nations election infrastructure by running for secretary of state, attorney general and governor in states across the country.

But in every major battleground state, these candidates lost.

What we found was lying about elections isnt just bad for our democracy, its bad politics, said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United Action.

The group arrived at the 2.3 to 3.7 percentage-point penalty number by comparing election-denying candidates in 2022 with Republicans who did not espouse similar views, and then comparing the 2022 performance to that of 2018.

On the whole, 2022 was a better year for Republicans than 2018 was. As expected, in statewide races with no election denier, Republicans did much better in 2022 than in 2018 on average, but the same did not hold true for election-denying candidates.

Several candidates who were a core part of the election denial movement have signaled an intent to run again in 2024, including Mr. Marchant in Nevada. Others, including Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano, who lost races for governor in Arizona and Pennsylvania, are reportedly considering bids for Senate.

And as Mr. Trump continues to demand fealty to such beliefs and hold sway over Republican primaries, the issue is likely to linger in G.O.P. politics.

Most battleground states are not holding contests for governor and secretary of state until 2026, but several marquee Senate races next year will determine control of the chamber.

Whats really interesting is that the results there are different from the results for congressional races and state legislative races, Ms. Lydgate said. We think thats because in these statewide races for governor, state attorney general, secretary of state, voters really came to understand that those are the people who oversee voting. Those are the people who are in charge of your freedom to vote.

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How Much Did Election Denial Hurt Republicans in the Midterms? - The New York Times

Many of his colleagues had already left for the night, but as Representative Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, stepped out onto the Capitol steps on Wednesday, he had business left to do: heckling Republicans.

Have some dignity! he yelled toward Representative George Santos, the New York freshman who is fighting federal fraud charges, and to a sea of TV cameras waiting below.

Listen, no more QAnon, no more MAGA, no more debt ceiling nonsense, he said as he pivoted to another confrontation, this time with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who stood nearby.

The theatrical back-and-forth ended as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow member of the left-wing Squad, gave a slight tug to Mr. Bowmans arm, repeating, She aint worth it, bro but not before a handful of lawmakers whipped out cellphone cameras to capture the soon-to-be viral spat.

In this hyperpartisan era, the country has no shortage of politicians willing to savage each other from across a hearing roomor on social media. But Mr. Bowman, a media-savvy democratic socialist from the Bronx, has rapidly made a name for himself this spring by going where most of them have not: up to his opponents actual faces.

Mr. Bowmans platform includes far-reaching left-wing policies that split his party. Still, his style middle school principal energy, he calls it appears to have captured the id of evenmore moderate Democrats and has fueled party speculation about his ambition.

A video in which an AR-15-owning House Republican from Kentucky tells Mr. Bowman, 47, to calm down as they argue over how to stop gun violence has already been viewed more than seven million times. A friendlier confrontation, with a conservative House colleague, spawned a full CNN debate.

I dont mean any harm, Mr. Bowman said in an interview. I aint trying to hurt nobody. But weve got to take America to the next level, and we are not moving with urgency.

The approach also carries risks, especially for a Black man, some of which came into sharp relief on Thursday. That is when Ms. Greene, a combative Georgian with a history of spouting conspiracy theories and directly confronting her own political opponents, said that she had felt threatened by Mr. Bowman, even though video showed her smiling as they sparred.

Ms. Greene said that Mr. Bowman had called her a white supremacist, an insult she claimed was equal to someone calling a person of color the N-word.

She then said that the congressmansphysical mannerisms are aggressive and accused him of leading a mob targeting her when they both appeared outside a Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald J. Trump was being arraigned an apparent reference to a crowd that consisted largely of members of the news media.

Im very concerned about Jamaal Bowman, Ms. Greene said, and hes someone that people should watch.

The comments left Mr. Bowman outraged, if not quite surprised.

Theres a history of this, from Mike Brown to Emmett Till to any Black man who is passionate, outspoken, intelligent trying to stand their ground being confronted with violence, Mr. Bowman said. Her words today were violent and might induce violence if they get into the wrong ears.

The exchange underscoredhow much is at stake in an approach that scholars of political rhetoric called a sharp departure from how members of Congress, and Black politicians more broadly, have married policy and style for generations.

Prominent Black politicians associated with the civil rights movement or its aftermath have found success by tailoring their speech to white audiences on the national stage.

Barack Obama spent eight years as president restraining his emotions to project composure. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader whom Mr. Bowman counts as a friend, is known to have a sharp tongue, but his critiques of Republicans are almost always delivered in carefully worded paragraphs from behind a lectern.

Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African American studies at Vanderbilt University, said that Mr. Bowman was part of a younger generation of Black politicians who have been shaped by hip-hop culture and who bring unvarnished gutbucket speech to bear on American politics, with no desire to coddle those who disagree with them.

Hes not concerned about moderating his speech or modulating his voice to please, to protect or to somehow placate the dominant white ear or culture, Mr. Dyson said. He aint doing it.

He ran on a platform that included a wealth tax on the rich, national rent control, sweeping climate policies with a federal jobs guarantee, shifting money from police departments to social services, and a single-payer health care system.

But during his first term in Washington, Mr. Bowman mostlykept his head down andproved to be a reliable ally of House leaders. His tenure started just before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and played out as Congress struggled to move past the coronavirus pandemic.

That began to change this spring, after Mr. Bowman won re-election by a wide margin and as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has pulled back from some of the fights she helped steer as a new member of Congress.

He said he had begun a series of passionate engagements with Republican colleagues because he felt politicians often sounded like the Charlie Brown teacher in the Peanuts television specials whose words were rendered as incomprehensible sounds.

Im not a career politician, Im not a millionaire, Im not a businessman, Mr. Bowman said. Im an educator, and I engage differently, I guess, than what the institution is used to.

Mr. Bowman, an avid user of TikTok, made waves this spring when he became the first and, for a time, the only lawmaker to defend the app, which is owned by a Chinese company, as President Biden and national security hawks threatened to ban it from operating in the United States.

Other progressives soon joined him in arguing that the push was rooted in xenophobic anti-China rhetoric.

A spirited back-and-forth on the Capitol steps with Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican with whom he liked to talk sports, led CNN to stage a debate between the two Black men on race and education policy.

CNN aired two different Black men from two different parties for like 30 minutes in an intellectual conversation about our democracy, Mr. Bowmansaid.

All of the attention has fueled speculation that Mr. Bowman is contemplating a primary challenge against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, a moderate Democrat whose policing and social services policies he has sharply criticized. Mr. Bowman denied that he was gearing up for a run.

No, no, no, Im chilling Im good, man, he said. I love being in Congress.

Mr. Bowman said that he had no real relationship with Ms. Greene when he approached her after just such a vote on Wednesday but that he had been conscious of the effect his presence could have. Im not stupid, he said.

The exchange was pointed, but tame. Do something about guns! he said. Invest in education.

Impeach Biden, Ms. Greene shot back, as she twisted the exchange back toward issues like immigration, blaming Democrats for the influx of migrants crossing the southern border. She shook a fist at one point, but the scrum appeared to break up amicably.

After Ms. Greenes comments on Thursday, Mr. Bowman accused her of recklessly using a bullhorn to white nationalists.

Nick Dyer, a spokesman for Ms. Greene, rejected Mr. Bowmans complaint, saying it was Ms. Greene who faced constant death threats.

Mr. Bowman doesnt need to play victim, he said. He needs to recognize his targeting of Congresswoman Greene will encourage this violence.

Catie Edmondson contributed reporting from Washington.

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Jamaal Bowman Speaks Out on Marjorie Taylor Greene Spat - The New York Times

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Abortions would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy under a bill debated early into Wednesday morning by the South Carolina House in a development that follows months of Republicans in the chamber insisting instead on a near-total ban that the state Senate recently rejected.

However, a final vote would have to wait until later in the day after the House moved to reconvene at 10 a.m. while the computer system rebooted. The proposed ban brings the two GOP-dominated chambers close to resolving a disagreement that epitomizes the intra-Republican debates unfolding nationwide how far to restrict access since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year.

It became like we were playing with live ammunition, said South Carolina Republican Sen. Tom Davis, who helped block the near-total ban but supports other limits. It was like this is for real now and everything that we debate and pass is going to be law.

The end of federal abortion protections has forced politicians to go beyond bumper sticker slogans and acknowledge the nuances in public opinion, said Alesha Doan, a University of Kansas professor who studies policy and gender.

The conflict within the Republican Party arises from officials attempts to delineate their positions on an issue where they dont align with most Americans, she said.

Once you get what you want, the real work begins, Doan said. What are the on-the-ground implications for pregnant peoples healthcare? What are the legal implications, the public health implications, the political implications?

Conservatives in other states also charged forward with restrictions on Tuesday.

The North Carolina General Assembly overrode the Democratic governors veto on a 12-week abortion ban that Republicans quickly advanced after securing veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

Meanwhile, Nebraska lawmakers pushed a 12-week ban after a more stringent proposal recently failed. The state Legislature mustered just enough votes to fold the limits into another bill banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors.

But the impasse in South Carolina had persisted since last falls special session when neither chamber budged from their respective near-total and roughly six-week bans.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Larry Grooms said the majority partys troubles began then when some House lawmakers wanted to be more pro-life by demanding a near-total ban that lacked the necessary support in the Senate.

For those folks, the politics were more important than the policy, said Grooms, whose biography lists awards from anti-abortion and conservative Christian groups.

The stalemate continued even after the state Supreme Court struck down a previous law banning abortions once cardiac activity is detected.

That January decision left abortion legal through 22 weeks of pregnancy, and Republicans have since been rankled by state health department data showing a sharp increase in abortions.

The measure still under debate Wednesday would ban abortions when an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, around six weeks and before most women know they are pregnant. It includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patients life and health, and rape or incest through 12 weeks.

Senators believe that several tweaks and a new court makeup will allow the measure to withstand anticipated legal challenges.

Opponents say a ban around six weeks is essentially an outright abortion ban. South Carolinians oppose such restrictions because it pushes health care further out of reach for the vulnerable, and makes pregnancy more dangerous for everyone, Ann Warner, the CEO of Womens Rights and Empowerment Network, said last week in written testimony.

The bill will need to clear the Senate again before reaching the governor, who has indicated he would sign the measure. The House has already added changes to mandate child support starting at conception and require that a judge sign-off on any minors request for an abortion.

Debate stretched over 12 hours past 1 a.m. Wednesday even after Republicans invoked rules limiting debate. Democrats slowed the process by speaking for all three allotted minutes on each of their hundreds of amendments and forcing other procedural votes.

We are going to make it hurt if theyre going to force this on us, Democratic Rep. Beth Bernstein said Tuesday morning, flanked by dozens of supporters with signs reading BANS OFF OUR BODIES.

Again, Democrats spoke until time expired. Again, Democratic hands flew up to call for a vote. Again, the amendments got tossed.

They reminded colleagues of the states rising infant and maternal mortality rates that are even worse for Black patients. They noted the gender disparities in state government. They advocated for Medicaid expansion.

An often indifferent scene otherwise unfolded inside the chamber. Several lawmakers tuned into a livestreamed budget conference committee in the afternoon. Seltzer cans and coffee cups piled up. Word games and online poker flashed across tablets.

The debate kicked off a special session called by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster. Lawmakers receive extra pay for each day they convene a cost totaling $60,000 on Tuesday alone, according to Republican Rep. Weston Newton.

That figure drew Democratic criticism of wasted taxpayer money. Republicans countered that protecting life is a priceless endeavor.

The long grind marked one of the only tools for House Democrats whose superminority status gives them little power. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter repeatedly urged abortion rights supporters to challenge Republican officeholders next election.

If you want to see something done about men and women who are in this chamber who think you as a woman dont have sense enough to say what you want to do with your body, then get busy, she said.

___

Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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Republican abortion debate inches toward resolution in South ... - The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Democrat Dan McCaffery and Republican Carolyn Carluccio won their parties primaries for a vacant seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday, setting up a fall contest to join a high court that is at the center of cases on guns, abortion and elections in a presidential battleground state.

Each nominee won a two-way primary race. McCaffery defeated Deborah Kunselman, a colleague on the Superior Court, and Carluccio defeated Patricia McCullough, a Commonwealth Court judge who lost a primary for a high court seat in 2021. Party allies reported spending nearly $1 million to help her beat McCullough.

On the campaign trail, McCullough repeatedly boasted of being the only judge in 2020 in the presidential election in the entire country to order a halt to her states election certification.

McCullough was ruling in a Republican-backed post-election legal challenge that sought to tilt victory to Donald Trump in the presidential battleground state. The states high court quickly overturned McCulloughs order.

Democrats currently hold a 4-2 majority on the court, which has an open seat following the death last fall of Chief Justice Max Baer, a Democrat.

The court has handled a number of hot-button issues over the past few years.

It is currently examining a challenge to a state law that restricts the use of public funds to help women get an abortion as well as Philadelphias challenge to a state law that bars it and other municipalities from restricting the sale and possession of guns.

In recent years, the justices rejected a request to invalidate the states death penalty law and upheld the constitutionality of the states expansive mail-in voting law. The court also turned away challenges to the 2020 election result from Republicans who wanted to keep Trump in power, and ruled on a variety of lawsuits over gray areas in the mail-in voting law.

In one 2020 election case, justices ordered counties to count mail-in ballots that arrived up to three days after polls closed, citing delays in mail service caused by disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling spurred an outcry among Republicans, who challenged the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nations highest court ultimately declined to take the case. The ballots nearly 10,000 of them were never counted in any federal race, including for president, because the election was certified while their fate remained in legal limbo. State elections officials said the votes werent enough to change the results of a federal election.

In lower court races, Republican Megan Martin and Democrat Matt Wolf each won a two-way primary for an open seat on the Commonwealth Court while Democrats Jill Beck and Timika Lane captured the nomination in a three-way race for two open seats on the Superior Court, which hears appeals of civil and criminal cases from county courts.

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Follow Marc Levy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/timelywriter

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Democrat McCaffery, Republican Carluccio win primaries for ... - The Associated Press