Jewish leaders in Minneapolis are calling on the local teachers’ union to cancel an upcoming seminar featuring a speaker with a history of antisemitic remarks who “hates Jews,” according to the city’s Jewish mayor. 

Taher Herzallah, the associate director of outreach and community organizing for American Muslims for Palestine and a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota, has said that Jews are “enemy No. 1.” Herzallah is slated to speak at a seminar on Friday evening called “being an educator in a time of war & genocide.” The event is sponsored by Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Educators for Palestine and will be held at the MFT office. 

The U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the Middle East because it did not tie the demand for a ceasefire to the release of the hostages held by Hamas.

The resolution, led by Algeria and sponsored by all 10 non-permanent members of the UNSC, is similar to ones that the Biden administration vetoed in the past. 

The Senate is set to vote on Wednesday on three resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would block transfers of tank rounds, mortars and bomb guidance kits to Israel, votes that will be a key test of the depth of division among Senate Democrats on U.S. support for Israel.

Going into Wednesday’s vote, it remains unclear how many senators will support one or more of the three resolutions — seven Democrats have told Jewish Insider they’re likely to oppose all of them while another seven have said they’re planning to support some or all. Eighteen said this week that they’re undecided or declined to preview their vote.

The House is set to vote this week on legislation that would make it easier for the federal government to remove the tax-exempt statuses of nonprofits that provide support to terrorist groups. But the legislation has become politically controversial amid accusations from progressive groups and Democratic lawmakers that it would enable arbitrary crackdowns by the incoming Trump administration.

The initial version of the bill, which was sponsored by Reps. David Kustoff (R-TN) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), passed the House overwhelmingly in April, by a vote of 382-11. In the intervening seven months it has become the subject of controversy and has not moved forward in the Senate. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Monday that Israel struck an Iranian nuclear weapons facility in October, causing damage to important equipment that experts said may be hard for the Islamic Republic to recoup.

“There is a certain component in [Iran’s] nuclear program that was harmed in the strike” on Oct. 26, Netanyahu told the Knesset. 

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) will take over as co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism following Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC)’s exit from Congress at the end of the year.

Manning herself took the helm of the task force just over two years ago from former Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), who relaunched the task force in the mid-2010s. The lead Republican on the task force is Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and other co-chairs include Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Randy Weber (R-TX), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Grace Meng (D-NY).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts rolled out the red carpet — or rather, blue carpet — as celebrities and Jewish activists descended on the nation’s capital Monday night for a star-studded evening in support of the Anti-Defamation League’s 30th annual “In Concert Against Hate,” where tunes from “Fiddler on the Roof” and a rendition of “Oseh Shalom” by the National Symphony Orchestra echoed through the halls.  

Ahead of the sold-out concert — which featured performances by Israeli Eurovision star Eden Golan and nine-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Sia — celebrities, event honorees, philanthropists and Jewish leaders appeared on the blue carpet where several chatted with JI. Ben Stiller, who emceed the evening, said that times are “frightening,” with “antisemitism being at such an all time high. 

A number of Senate Democrats are declining to preview how they plan to vote on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) resolutions blocking more than $20 billion in U.S. aid to Israel when they come up for votes, which Sanders told Jewish Insider will take place on Wednesday.

The measures, known as joint resolutions of disapproval, seek to stop six tranches of arms sales to Israel, including guided bombs and kits, tank shells, mortars, tactical vehicles and F-15 aircraft and parts. The six resolutions are nearly guaranteed to fail, but they’ll be a test of Democratic sentiment on Israel and a potential show of force by the left wing of the party as many in the party seek to moderate after election losses.