Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit Monday was met with applause from the group’s leaders.
Page A11From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 1 September 2026
Vance defends his antisemitism approach publicly, then offers Jewish Republicans a closed-door olive branch.
As it ran on the front
Excuse me, sorry, I had this here somewhere — a notebook, forty years of habit, hang on... here. Okay. Two entries, same week, same guy.
First entry: 'Vance defends approach to antisemitism' — that's in remarks to Jewish conservatives, on the record, open room, name on the transcript. Second entry, same guy: 'Vance offers olive branch to pro-Israel Republicans' — closed-door speech. I wrote 'closed-door' twice in my notes just to make sure I had it right, because that's the word doing the work here, closed-door.…
…(cont) Now I got this rubber band at home, my wife uses them on the newspaper delivery, and I stretch it out, and when it's stretched it holds a shape — looks fine, holds together — but the second you let up the pressure, it goes back to a different shape. That's not a criticism of rubber bands. Rubber bands are supposed to do that.
So here's what's sitting in my notebook, and I keep coming back to it, this word, 'olive branch.' You extend an olive branch when there's a fight going on that needs settling. If the public remarks — defending the approach, on the record — if those remarks were already the settled position, why's there a second, private version of the same conversation that Politico's calling an olive branch instead of a repeat of the speech?
I'm not saying the two speeches contradict each other, I don't have that written down anywhere, I don't have the transcripts side by side. I just have two headlines, same week, same man, one word apart in tone — 'defends' in public, 'olive branch' behind closed doors.
Oh — one more thing, and then I'll let you go. If the public defense was the whole position, what was left over for the closed-door room that needed a different word to describe it?
“Public speech says he's got nothing to apologize for, then behind closed doors it's suddenly an olive branch to the same crowd. Pick a version, because the two audiences are getting two different men and only one of them is on the record.”
“A good leader talks to different rooms differently, that's just communication, not — okay, saying one thing on the record and a softer thing behind closed doors to the same topic in the same week does sound bad when you put it like that, let me circle back.”
The receipts
Antisemitic incidents in 2025: 6,274 - the third-highest year since tracking began in 1979, with assaults at a record high ADL, 2025 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents
Vance Defends Approach to Antisemitism in Remarks to Jewish ConservativesIn private remarks, Vice President JD Vance explained why he engages with some influencers accused of antisemitism. He also urged the audience to help articulate why a strong relationship with Israel is in America’s interest.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.