Summary

Theodore Deutch, who is Jewish, was born in 1966 and is currently serving as the U.S. Representative for Florida’s 22^nd Congressional District.

Deutch was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during a special election in 2010 and has been reelected since. Prior to joining the House, Deutch served as a member of the Florida Senate from 2006 to 2010. He was a member of the National Young Leadership Cabinet of United Jewish Communities. Deutch sits on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which serves as the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism.

Representative Deutch has been very involved in issues important to the Jewish community and is a great supporter of the State of Israel. Rep. Deutch has been vocal about the dangers of anti-Semitism and the need to confront it – denouncing also exhibits of anti-Semitism from his own party ranks. He is a leader in fighting for the justice and dignity of Holocaust survivors and a co-founder of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism.

Rep. Deutch has continually supported Israel’s right to self-defense and has supported U.S. security assistance to Israel. He introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives the U.S.-Israel Cooperation Enhancement and Regional Security Act, which makes improvements to certain defense and security assistance provisions and authorizes assistance for Israel.

movement that targets Israel and argues that BDS “removes possible job opportunities and economic growth for Israelis and Palestinians while employing a double standard against a single country – Israel.” He supported the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as he believed it “reflects what Congress stated over 20 years ago and what is reality.”

He strongly supports the two-state solution and opposes “any effort to circumvent direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians” and believes that “lasting peace, with two states for two people, can only come through direct negotiations between the two parties.”

Congressman Deutch lists fighting efforts to delegitimize Israel on the world stage and promoting security in the Middle East as among his top priorities.