When Deborah Lipstadt returned to academia last year after nearly three years navigating the State Department as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, she had a new mission: to turn what she learned in government into a training ground for the next generation of policymakers confronting antisemitism.

Lipstadt, a longtime Emory University historian, announced last week the launch of the Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism. The institute will pair undergraduate fellowships with summer internships in Washington; offer seminars for diplomats, journalists and policymakers; and track how governments are implementing the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism that Lipstadt helped develop while serving as special envoy under President Joe Biden.

Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s under secretary for policy, is once again facing criticism from senators who said he was evasive, unresponsive and even disrespectful at a classified briefing on Thursday regarding the implementation of the National Defense Strategy.

Senators said that, among other issues, Colby had failed to provide clear answers regarding the war in Iran. 

Amos Hochstein, a senior Middle East negotiator in the Biden administration, on Thursday argued in favor of the Trump administration’s nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, which opens the path for nuclear enrichment inside the kingdom.

Hochstein, who was involved in negotiating civil nuclear issues with Saudi Arabia during the previous administration as part of a broader Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement, made the comments during a debate at the Council on Foreign Relations, organized by the nonprofit Open to Debate. The comments by Hochstein, currently a managing partner at TWG Global, come even as many congressional Democrats oppose the deal and some are taking steps to attempt to block it.

Before being nominated to be  U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) pointed to his experience serving as a military diplomatic liaison to Saudi Arabia to offer strident criticisms of the U.S. ally.

The past comments could prove to be an issue in his confirmation process, or lead to a frosty reception if he is confirmed, a prospect that currently appears uncertain.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters on Thursday that her department expects a wave of protests around the U.N. General Assembly next week, set to feature President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian  — even as she and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani maintained little would change regarding the police response compared to years past.

The two joined officials from the Secret Service and State Department at One Police Plaza to brief the press on security measures and what the mayor described as a “whole-of-department response” to head off any risks to the international gathering. This will include “full deployment” of patrolmen and elite police units, as well as restrictions on traffic, flight patterns and pedestrian access in the area around the U.N. headquarters. 

A group of House Democrats introduced a resolution on Thursday to block the U.S. nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, citing the lack of safeguards in the deal applied in previous agreements with other U.S. allies and arguing that the deal paves the path toward a Saudi nuclear weapon.

Under procedural rules, the Democrats should be able to force votes on the resolution, which seems likely to pick up support from most Democrats and potentially a handful of Republicans.

The Harvard-Kennedy School announced this week the launch of a new program focused on Israel that its organizers say will bring a broader, policy-oriented and pluralistic approach to the study of the country and its role in the Middle East, as universities continue to grapple with intense debate over Israel and the war in Gaza.

The Israel Program, housed within the school’s Middle East Initiative, will examine issues including Israeli politics and society, U.S.-Israel relations, Jewish-Arab relations and Israel’s place in the region. Barak Sella, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Initiative who is spearheading the program under the guidance of Prof. Tarek Masoud, told Jewish Insider that the program addresses an “acute need” for serious research on the complexities of the Middle East, rather than being created primarily as a response to campus polarization following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Over a year after the deadly firebombing attack targeting an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), who represents the city, and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced legislation to modify Nonprofit Security Grant Program conditions to allow grantees to use funding for staffing costs.

Currently, synagogues and other NSGP recipients are allowed to use funding to hire contracted security guards. Under the new bill, the Safe Spaces for All Act, grantees would also be able to use funding to hire full-time security staff, as well as off-duty police officers.