Jack Kemp, RIP

The veteran Republican who was a close friend of Israel's has passed away at 73:

(IsraelNN.com) Jack Kemp, the onetime Republican vice-presidential candidate known for his affection and activism for Israel, has died of cancer at home Saturday in Bethesda, Md., reports said. He was 73. Kemp was elected from upstate New York to the U.S. Congress in 1970, and forged ties with the pro-Israel movement early on. Out of politics, Kemp remained close to Israel and was active in the America Israel Friendship League, a group that took pro-Israel messages to non-Jewish communities.

He was close to Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s current prime minister, and addressed a symposium on terrorism Netanyahu convened three years after his brother Yoni was killed leading the 1976 raid that freed Air France passengers held hostage in Entebbe, Uganda. In that speech, Kemp likened Israel to the early United States, “a city on the hill, a place where it was important to protect, defend and display the light of freedom even if you never made it personally to the citadel.”

Kemp deserves a lot of praise and should always be remembered for that.

Others on the subject include The American Pundit, Fire Andrea Mitchell, Blue Collar Republican, Michelle Malkin, St. Louis Tea Party, Hot Air, Daily Uprising, A Small Corner of Sanity, Unequal Time.