The group has supported a hard-line approach to negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, criticizing President Clinton for "appeasing Chairman Arafat" instead of requiring "responsibility and compliance from the Palestinian Authority." Allied with Israel's Likud government, the group supported the construction of the controversial Har Homa settlement in East Jerusalem, over Palestinian objections that the project jeopardized the peace process. It also supports continued American military support of Israel, including a recent project to build an anti-ballistic missile system.

On the domestic front, the RJC supports school choice and voucher initiatives, saying they help curb the "risk of assimilation" for some Jews living in the United States. "By lessening the financial burdens, vouchers would make a Jewish education available to the entire Jewish community," reads one position paper. The group has supported welfare reform, lowering the estate and capital gains taxes, voluntary prayer by student groups in public school, the legal right to perform abortions, as well as tougher crime laws, including a California-style "three strikes" laws for some federal crimes.

During the presidential campaign, the RJC took out a full-page ad in the New York Times chastising Senator Joseph Lieberman for making overtures to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who the group called an "unrepentent promoter of hatred, bigotry, and anti-Semitism."

Other leaders of the coalition on the Mother Jones 400 include Sam Fox (No. 23, $626,700), Max M. Fisher (No. 70, $ $405,500), John Price (No. 57, $467,550), Earle I. Mack (No. 125, $298,000), Clifford M. Sobel (No. 294, $192,700), Lewis M. Eisenberg (No. 328, $176,400), and David M. Flaum (No. 367, $162,800).