Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun is scheduled for a confirmation hearing to be the Trump administration’s antisemitism envoy on Wednesday, a last-minute addition to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee schedule.

Kaploun, an Orthodox Jewish businessman and Chabad rabbi, was a Trump campaign surrogate during the 2024 campaign and, though he has not yet been confirmed, has been a frequent fixture at D.C.-area events focused on combating antisemitism since he was first nominated for the post in April and has met with other Trump administration officials.

In an Oval Office appearance following their meeting on Tuesday, President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced progress on multiple bilateral initiatives, including a U.S.-Saudi defense pact and Riyadh’s purchase of F-35 fighter jets.  

Trump indicated Riyadh may receive a similar jet to Israel’s advanced F-35I Adir model: “When you look at the F-35 and you’re asking me ‘Is it the same [as Israel’s]?’ I think it’s going to be pretty similar,” said Trump. “This [Saudi Arabia] is a great ally, and Israel’s a great ally. I know they’d like you [MBS] to get planes of reduced caliber, but I don’t think that makes you too happy. … We’re looking at that exactly right now but as far as I’m concerned, [both countries are] at a level where they should get top of the line.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a declaration on Tuesday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist groups and transnational criminal organizations — a move that some lawmakers are pushing on the federal level.

The proclamation would ban both groups from buying or acquiring land in the state and allow the state’s attorney general to sue to shut down the two groups, and potentially impose fines on those involved.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) upped the ante on his recent rhetoric targeting right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, telling a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington that calling out antisemitism from Carlson and his Republican allies is necessary to defend American values. He said America faces an “existential crisis” if the rising antisemitism on the American right is not addressed.

“I do not want to wake up in five years and find that the Republican Party has become like the Democrat Party,” Cruz said on Tuesday at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, which brought together 2,000 philanthropists, activists and Jewish communal professionals. “I do not want to wake up in five years and find that both major parties in America have embraced hatred of Israel and have tolerated, if not embraced, antisemitism.”

A private K-8 school in Northern Virginia reached a settlement on Tuesday with the parents of an 11-year-old Jewish student who say their daughter faced months of antisemitic harassment that went unaddressed by school officials. 

According to the complaint, filed in July with the Office for Civil Rights in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law and Washington-based firm Dillon PLLC, the student faced several antisemitic incidents while a student at Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Va., including a history class where students were asked to work together to create a large drawing featuring the attributes of “strong historical leaders.” 

President Donald Trump is hosting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday at the White House, marking the first time MBS has visited Washington since 2018. 

Trump plans to roll out the red carpet for the visit, which includes a welcome ceremony, bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and a black-tie dinner in the evening. Tiger Woods and Elon Musk are expected to be in attendance at the dinner, among other high-profile attendees. “We’re more than meeting,” Trump said late Friday. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia, the crown prince.” 

The Lebanese Armed Forces is facing pushback from two U.S. lawmakers over a statement it posted to social media on Sunday blaming Israel for flare-ups with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. 

The LAF wrote in a post on X, “The Israeli enemy persists in its violations of Lebanese sovereignty, causing instability in Lebanon, obstructing the completion of the army’s deployment in the south.”

“The latest of these condemned aggressions was its targeting of a patrol of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon” on Sunday, the post added.

House Republicans sounded largely supportive of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he plans to sign a deal to sell advanced F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite an apparent lack of progress toward normalization of relations between Riyadh and Israel.

The deal was previously seen as linked to Saudi Arabia’s normalization of relations with Israel — a prospect that seems less viable following the war in Gaza. The Trump administration is pushing ahead nonetheless.