Former acting Director of National Intelligence and current RNC advisor Richard Grenell, speaks during the Republican National Convention at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Photo: Republican National Convention via USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Content Services, LLC via IMAGN images
A shadowy Republican political action committee (PAC) running an anti-Semitic ad campaign seemingly has ties to Richard Grenell, a gay man Republican National Committee advisor who served as the acting director of national intelligence for about two months under then-President Donald Trump. Grenell hasn’t responded to inquiries from The New York Times, the publication that first noted his connection.
The ads all tout Vice Presiden Kamala Harris’ support of Israel and her marriage to Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, a man who would become the first Jewish presidential spouse if she’s elected president. The Super PAC has aired the ads online around Dearborn, Michigan, a heavily Arab-American Muslim area that birthed the “Uncommitted Movement,” a protest campaign to pressure Harris and the Biden Administration to end their continued support of Israel amid its ongoing attack on Palestinian civilians. As such, the ads are intended to anger Muslim and Arab-American voters into not supporting Harris.
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One ad states, “Vice President Harris has chosen a side, the right side…. She stands with Israel and the Jewish people. She has, again and again…. So when (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu came to DC, Harris hosted the prime minister at the White House. And when supporters of a free Palestine stood up for Gaza, Harris put them in their place. And supporters of free Palestine? They hate her. Because Kamala Harris gets it. We can trust she’ll always support Israel.”
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Another ad says, “This November, let’s make history. Together, we will put a real pro-Israel president in the White House. And joining Kamala will be her husband and top advisor, Doug Emhoff, who would be the first Jewish presidential spouse ever.”
The Future Coalition PAC has spent around $83,000 broadcasting seven similarly themed ads online, resulting in over 4.2 million views collectively, according to the Google Ads Transparency Center.
While the ads seem pro-Jewish and pro-Israel, they’re being used to inflame anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiment among the tens of thousands of Muslim and Arab-American voters as well as voters who disagree with the current U.S. policy favoring Israel. These voters could collectively help former President Donald Trump win Michigan if they decide not to support Harris.
The Future Coalition PAC is not associated with The Future Coalition, a youth-activist organization that has denounced the PAC’s “anti-Semitic and hateful advertisements.”
Google Ad Transparency Center An image showing six of the Future Coalition Super PAC’s ads as well as the money and viewing statistics behind them.
The Future Coalition PAC was formed in July, according to Federal Election Commission records. The group’s assistant treasurer, Cabell Hobbs, also served as the treasurer for a super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential bid, CNN reported.
The Future Coalition PAC’s website links to the YouTube page of a different group called Protecting America Initiative. That group is led by Richard Grenell, according to The New York Times. Grenell hasn’t publicly commented on his ties to either group.
Although Grenell claimed in August 2020 that “President Trump is the most pro-gay president in American history,” nothing backs up that claim. During his time in the Trump administration, Grenell said he worked with Trump on a campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality around the world, but the campaign seemingly accomplished nothing. Around the same time, Trump officials said it would violate “religious freedom” to pressure countries to repeal their anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Since Trump’s re-election loss in 2020, Grenell has repeated Trump’s lie that the election was “stolen” due to an unprecedented nationwide conspiracy of voter fraud that only occurred in the states that Trump lost. He has also opposed the Equality Act, legislation that would provide federal LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections, claiming it would be an attack on religion.
The tension between pro-Palestinian voters, Kamala Harris, and the pro-war movement
Both Harris and Biden have called for a cease-fire deal that would return Israelis and Israeli-Americans taken hostage during last October’s Hamas-led attack on Israel. Harris has also said that Palestine must have its own state alongside Israel as well as rights to security and sovereignty.
However, pro-Palestinian activists and the Uncommitted Movement want Harris to end all arms sales to Israel and to explain how her administration would significantly differ from Biden’s on Israeli-Palestinian relations.
Israeli attacks have killed over 40,000 Palestinians and wounded over 92,400, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Human rights groups have accused Israel of attacking unarmed individuals, children, vital civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, refugee camps and foreign aid workers.
Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement, said his organization is working to build a mass antiwar coalition between key Democratic voting groups, including unions, youth-led, black-led, Jewish-led and Arab-led organizations that can continue to pressure Harris and Biden.
“It’s clear that the pro-war side in our country has a whole lot of power when the first time Vice President Harris is speaking as the Democratic Party’s nominee, she talks about wanting the most lethal military in the entire world,” Alawieh told Jacobin. “The pro-war side is working overtime, and they’re achieving this type of maximalist language from Democratic Party leadership that is out of touch with the pro-peace sentiments of the majority of Democratic voters…. They’re spending more money than they ever have trying to obfuscate this issue and trying to eliminate any champions of peace or of Palestinian human rights.”
