Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), an outspoken supporter of Israel and one of the most ardent opponents of a two-state solution in the House, is set to become the next chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee following a surprise vote on Monday by House Republican leadership.

Mast’s upset victory, which now must be ratified by the GOP conference, marks a clear shift from the tenure of outgoing Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) — a more moderate and internationalist dealmaker — to a firebrand conservative. 

Elliott Abrams, the former U.S. special representative for Iran during the first Trump administration, said he doesn’t expect much U.S. involvement in Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, but that the newly volatile situation creates both new opportunities and perils in the region.

Abrams said during a Monday webinar with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that he doesn’t expect the Trump administration to invest much diplomatic energy or capital into the situation in Syria, but argued that it’s “critical from the American national security point of view,” that a post-Assad Syria not become a terrorist state, an Iranian proxy or a conduit for supplies from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Monday that he’s selecting Harmeet Dhillon, a legal advisor to his 2020 campaign who worked to challenge the election results and a Republican Party official, to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

Dhillon and her firm have advocated an aggressive legal approach to antisemitism on college campuses, targeting both universities and protesters, but she also opposes the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

Numerous Democratic and Republican senators linked the surprise fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria to Israel’s recent actions against Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in recent months.

The senators that Jewish Insider interviewed also largely urged a cautious approach toward U.S. involvement in the chaotic and still-emerging new Syria, warning that the country’s new governance structure, system and ideology remain unclear at this point, though many emphasized the need for some level of continued U.S. engagement. 

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria could spark further tensions in the already strained relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, which have repeatedly found themselves at loggerheads in Syria. Lawmakers expressed concerns on Monday about the potential for expanded Turkish attacks on U.S.-backed forces.

Turkey and Turkish-backed forces have repeatedly clashed with and attacked U.S.-backed forces in the country, including Kurdish fighters, whom the Turkish government has described as terrorists. Turkey also backs Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group and U.S.-designated terrorist organization that ousted the Assad government. The instability could create an opportunity for Ankara to expand its influence inside Syria.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, began meeting with senators on Monday, kicking off what could be a challenging confirmation process over her foreign policy positions. 

Gabbard’s first meetings come days after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Gabbard’s 2017 visit to Syria as a member of Congress and subsequent support for then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been seen as a major stumbling block to her confirmation.

The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria may motivate Tehran to further ramp up its nuclear program, experts warned on the heels of the rebels’ victory on Sunday, days after International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi warned that Iran had “dramatically” increased its uranium enrichment.

Grossi announced last week that “the production capacity is increasing dramatically … [by] seven, eight times more, maybe, or even more” than its previous monthly rate of five to seven kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, close to the 90% threshold for nuclear breakout. 

University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker woke early Monday morning to find that his home in Huntington Woods, a heavily Jewish suburb of Detroit, had been the target of anti-Israel vandals for the second time in just over six months. Acker’s law office was also vandalized over the summer.

During the overnight attack, a window in the Acker home was smashed and his wife’s car was graffitied with the words “divest” and “free Palestine.” In addition, authorities found fragments of a glass jar inside the house along with a foul-smelling liquid as well as a second jar outside of the home. The attack unfolded while Acker, his wife and three daughters were asleep.