Stanley Stern, NORPAC senior member and philanthropist, spoke at the Israel Heritage Foundation and Arutz Sheva Summit in NYC. In his speech, Stern spoke about growing challenges in Washington, Qatar’s influence in the US, and the urgent need for continued support for the US political arena, amid shifting dynamics.

Stern expressed his “gratitude to Rabbi Katz and Dr. Frager for the opportunity to be part of such an impactful event. It’s always a pleasure to speak to a group of such dedicated individuals. I also appreciate seeing my children’s spiritual teacher, Rabbi Weintock, who is one of the luckiest people to be in Atlantic Beach.”

Stern added that, “Next week, my wife and I, along with our mentor Dr. Ben Chouake, are leading a delegation of over a thousand people to Washington, DC. We’ll be meeting with 400 members of Congress—many of them longstanding allies, though not all. We’re doing this at a very complex time. Last year, we worked tirelessly to help elect President Trump and secure Republican majorities in both chambers. We believed we had entered a period of two to four years of political peace. But the past few weeks have shown that the situation is somewhat unclear. It appears that ‘Trump 2’ is not a rerun of ‘Trump 1.’ While the previous term was marked by tremendous success, the current term is facing different challenges.

“One major concern,” says Stern, “is the pernicious influence of Qatar spreading its wings all over the US and manifesting itself in so many different ways. You talk about legislation to call Yehuda and Shomron [Judea and Samaria] Yehuda and Shomron, that’s great. But we can’t pass legislation to ban foreign funding—mostly from Qatar and Saudi Arabia—in American colleges. We can’t pass legislation to codify the definition of antisemitism, which is critical for prosecuting protesters on campus."

“Support on Congress is still strong, but it’s not as steadfast as it once was. The Democratic Party has been problematic for a while, but elements of the Republican party, many close to the president and part of his inner circle, are becoming problematic as well. Our job, more than ever, is to exert support, pressure and love so that the support we all thought we were getting last November actually manifests itself,” he added.

“I thank everybody, particularly our brothers in Israel, for all that they do and appeal to everybody in this room to do everything they can to provide that pressure and support and love because the situation is not clear,” Stern concluded.