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David Brog (born 1965/1966) is the former executive director of
Christians United for Israel Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an American evangelical organization that supports Israel. Its statement of purpose is "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or indivi ...
(CUFI), an American pro-Israel Christian organization, and a conservative activist.


Career

After graduating from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
, Brog served as an executive at
America Online AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo! Inc. The service tra ...
and practiced corporate law both in Israel and the United States. In the early 1990s, Brog practiced in Israel. Afterwards he worked in the United States Senate for seven years, where he eventually became the chief of staff to Senator
Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...
and staff director of the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
. Brog is often considered a protégé of American philanthropists
Miriam Miriam (, lit. ‘rebellion’) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Torah refers to her as "Miria ...
and
Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, and political donor. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which founded the Marina Bay Sa ...
. In July 2015, Brog was tapped to head a new group called
Maccabee Task Force The Maccabee Task Force is a conservative Zionism, Zionist organization operating with the aims of countering Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movements on college campuses and promoting pro-Israel beliefs amongst young people. It was founded in ...
, an entity formed by the Adelsons and fellow philanthropist
Haim Saban Haim Saban (; ; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli and American media proprietor, investor, musical composer and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an ...
to combat
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...
activities on college campuses. Brog was seen as a surprising choice due to his position far from the mainstream within pro-Israel position, according to a Jewish organizational official speaking to ''The Forward'' in 2015. Nonetheless, the official found Brog's past success in organizational development explanatory regarding his appointment. According to David Krone,
Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...
's chief of staff, Brog was key in securing House Republican support for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which passed in 2016. He co-founded the Edmund Burke Foundation with Yoram Hazony. As part of that foundation's work, Hazony and Brog organized the National Conservatism Conference. They hoped to develop the frame the development and growth of conservatism through the conference.


Christians United For Israel leadership

Brog helped found
Christians United For Israel Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an American evangelical organization that supports Israel. Its statement of purpose is "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or indivi ...
(CUFI), an American pro-Israel Christian organization. CUFI founder and San Antonio-based Pentecostal preacher
John Hagee John Charles Hagee (born April 12, 1940) is an American pastor and televangelist. He founded John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts to the United States and Canada. He is also the founder and chairman of the Christian Zionist organization Chr ...
hired Brog in 2006. Hagee did so as a solution to his organization's lack of pull in political circles; with Brog's political connections and ability, Hagee hoped to extend influence from the familiar broadcast radio to the unfamiliar Washington, D.C. Brog said in 2015 that his first task upon joining CUFI was to tap into existing bases of Christian Zionist support. Around 2015, the organization was exploring the idea of expanded political engagement, whether through Washington office focused on lobbying or through the development of a
political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
. According to Sander Gerber, a major player in the passage of the Taylor Force Act, a bill passed in 2018 that halted aid to the
Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...
until it stops paying the families of deceased terrorists, Brog played a role in the bill's passage. Brog brought CUFI into the lobbying effort to pass the bill, bringing evangelical groups on board long before Jewish groups entered the arena, according to Gerber.


2022 Republican Nevada congressional primary

In 2022, Brog ran for Republican Congressional nominee in
Nevada's 1st congressional district Nevada's 1st congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the U.S. state of Nevada. The district covers a portion of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County east of Interstate 15 in Nevada, Int ...
. He lost in an eight-way race, finishing second with 17% to former Army colonel Mark Robertson's 30%. Brog announced his entry into the race in February and raised $284,000 in the first six weeks, including a $50k loan to himself. By June, Brog had spent $187k. His campaign spent $59k on mail advertisements and $88.5k on "media placements". This left his campaign with $174k in remaining cash at that point. By that point in the campaign, Brog had received endorsements from Genie Energy PAC, the Hindu American PAC, and former U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...
. Brog described "securing our Southern border and finishing Trump's border wall" as among his top priorities.


Education and early life

Brog was born in
Margate City, New Jersey Margate City is a city (New Jersey), city situated on the Jersey Shore on Absecon Island, within Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, on the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. As of the 2020 United States census, ...
, a community near
Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
. His parents were largely secular, his father Eugene attending synagogue only for the high holidays. His Zionism was fostered after reading '' The Revolt'' by
Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...
while a student at Atlantic City High School. Brog attended
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
for his bachelor's degree. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991.


Personal life

He is a cousin of former
Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...
Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...
, whose original surname was also "Brog" until he Hebraized it to Barak in 1972. He is married to an Israeli-American woman. Brog is Jewish. He occasionally attends his local Orthodox synagogues, Young Israel Aish HaTorah and Chabad. He does not work on Shabbat. Before moving to Nevada, Brog lived in Texas.


Views

Brog says he was a Democrat until law school. In 2014, Brog expressed concern in ''
Middle East Quarterly The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative 501(c)(3) think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who now serves as its chairman. Gregg Roman serves as director of the forum. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 19 ...
'' that traditional reflexive American evangelical Christian support for Israel was waning.


Books

*''Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace'' (2017) *''In Defense of Faith: The Judeo-Christian Idea and the Struggle for Humanity'' (2010) *''Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State '' (2006) Brog's ''Standing With Israel'' is an attempt to establish Christian Zionists as both allies to the Jewish people and not motivated by replacement theology. Brog details in four chapters how Christian Zionists aided in the establishment of the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. He poses modern Zionist evangelicals as the heirs to the righteous gentiles of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Nikolas K. Gvosdev says in his review for the ''
Journal of Church and State The ''Journal of Church and State'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of religious studies and political science,Walter A. Elwell''Evangelical Dictionary of Theology'' Baker Academic, 2001, p. 254 covering issues related to the First ...
'' that the book "suffers from the fact that its author wants to make definitive statements on a variety of issues while ignoring inconvenient details", a byproduct of the book's nature as a political polemic. Brog's primary audience is other members of the Jewish community.


References


External links


"Brog's Blog" at Christians United For IsraelDavid Brog's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brog, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American political writers American Zionists Atlantic City High School alumni Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections Chiefs of staff to United States senators Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American non-fiction writers People from Margate City, New Jersey Princeton University alumni Writers from Atlantic County, New Jersey