The Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit kicks off tonight at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas with much to celebrate. 

President Donald Trump’s recently brokered ceasefire and hostage-release agreement is certain to be among the administration’s accomplishments touted by a range of high-profile speakers including Cabinet officials, congressional leaders, pundits and media figures. 

The RJC, which was established in 1985, is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and the proceedings will feature “content about where we came from and where we are today,” said Sam Markstein, the group’s national political director.

“It’s come a long way from its humble beginnings,” Markstein told Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday.

Hanging over the three-day conference, however, is the specter of rising antisemitism on the party’s far right, an issue that Markstein said the RJC does not intend to avoid.

It’s a particularly timely, and urgent, subject as the RJC prepares to convene days after Tucker Carlson hosted the neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on his podcast for a friendly interview. Carlson has faced backlash for not only inviting Fuentes onto his show but for failing to challenge any of his viciously antisemitic views — including admiration for Adolf Hitler and Holocaust denial.

During the interview, Carlson himself also expressed his disdain for Christian Zionists including Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, whom he accused of being “seized by this brain virus.”

Huckabee, for his part, is slated to give remarks, via livestream, during the RJC’s confab. Other outspoken critics of Carlson’s antisemitic turn, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Fox News host Mark Levin, will also be in attendance. 

The summit will also feature House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, among others. The four Jewish Republicans serving in the House are joining as well: Reps. Craig Goldman (R-TX), Randy Fine (R-FL), Max Miller (R-OH) and David Kustoff (R-TN).

It remains to be seen if Trump will speak at the summit as he has in recent years, either virtually or in person. The president has not commented on Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, with whom Trump himself had dinner in 2022 at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. Carlson has been a top ally of Trump, even as they have clashed over the administration’s military actions in the Middle East. 

According to Markstein, there will be several speakers at the summit who will talk about what he called “the challenges facing the Republican Party,” citing “certain media personalities.”

He added that the tenor of the conference with regard to such issues will thematically echo a speech delivered earlier this year by Matt Brooks, the RJC’s CEO, who warned against the “woke right” and said the GOP “must combat the rise of neo-isolationism” that is now fueling anti-Israel sentiment within the party.

“It certainly will take on a little added resonance considering who Mr. Carlson platformed this week,” Markstein told JI.

The RJC will also now find itself on the opposing side of the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025 whose president, Kevin Roberts, forcefully defended Carlson on Thursday.

“Conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington,” Roberts said in a video posted to social media, adding that Heritage would not be “policing the consciences of Christians.”

Brooks told Jewish Insider that the RJC has worked with Heritage in various ways over the years, particularly its foreign policy team, “but obviously there’s going to be a reassessment of our relationship with Heritage in light of this.”

“They’re becoming more like Tucker Carlson and less like Ronald Reagan. Tucker Carlson represents the Barack Obama-Bernie Sanders wing of the Republican Party,” Brooks said of Heritage. “I believe that there’s still a vibrant Trump-Reagan wing of the Republican Party, and Heritage continues to position itself away from that — I think to their detriment.”

Roberts’ comments came a day after Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a Turning Point USA event on Wednesday at the University of Mississippi, faced scrutiny for using conspiratorial rhetoric while he discussed Israel with a group of conservative college students. 

Vance also avoided directly calling out antisemitic questions from some audience members, including one who suggested that Trump had been pressured into holding pro-Israel stances because he received political donations from Miriam Adelson, the GOP megadonor whose late husband built the Venetian Resort and is a frequent guest at the RJC’s summit. 

Markstein, for his part, said broadly that the RJC would stand firm against such thinking. “If folks believe that Israel is not an ally to the United States,” he warned, “they’re going to have to go through the RJC first.”