Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to New York City for the U.N. General Assembly later this month is expected to set up political and logistical challenges for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, one of Netanyahu’s foremost U.S. critics, experts tell Jewish Insider — a challenge that protests, which Mamdani has tacitly encouraged, may only exacerbate.

The Israeli leader is scheduled to arrive in New York on Sept. 23 and address the global gathering the following day, during which time the NYPD’s dignitary protection detail will help ensure Netanyahu’s personal protection, its intelligence and counterterrorism teams will work to secure the gathering as a whole and an array of its officers will manage the Manhattan streets. The department reports to the mayor’s office.

Anthropic disclosed in a new report released on Thursday that it had over the past eight months disrupted efforts by Iran and other state-aligned groups and actors to use the AI giant’s artificial intelligence tools for “malicious activity” such as tracking U.S. forces, developing weapons guidance software and waging “cognitive warfare” to spread propaganda.

The 154-page report also said it had identified an “Iran-nexus threat actor” using Claude, Anthropic’s chatbot, to target “hundreds of individuals in Israel and the Jewish diaspora.” The report did not specify the purpose of the activity or confirm whether it had been disabled.

For the first time, luxury publisher Assouline is bringing its signature lens to Israel. Famous for transforming cities into vibrant $105 coffee table books, the French publisher just quietly launched Tel Aviv Spirit, featuring over 200 photographs of the Mediterranean metropolis. 

The muted rollout follows last month’s splashy launch of Beirut Habibi, another addition to Assouline’s Classics Collection, the publisher’s line of glossy travel photography books that has over the years cast a spotlight on many Middle Eastern cities including Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. 

LAS VEGAS — Jewish House Republicans said during the Republican Jewish Coalition’s leadership summit in Las Vegas earlier this month that there’s little appetite among Republicans to end U.S. aid to Israel as the two sides look toward the end of the current memorandum of understanding on military aid.

They also said they do not have serious concerns about antisemitism on the right, and argued that it did not stand any real chance of encroaching into the GOP.

A new survey of 470 Middle East scholars finds that nearly three-quarters believe American academia is less equipped to pursue truth than it was at the time of the 9/11 attacks, while two-thirds lack confidence that their students understand the attacks and say American academia has provided cover for ideologies, regimes or groups hostile to the United States.

The findings, released this week by the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, reflect what ASMEA’s executive director, Asaf Romirowsky, described as a broader failure by American universities to maintain objectivity and intellectual rigor in the quarter century since the attacks.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized Democrats in Texas for their muted reaction to far-left streamer Hasan Piker being invited by the University of Texas’ College Democrats chapter to speak on campus later this month — despite his record of antisemitic rhetoric. 

Cruz told Jewish Insider in a statement on Thursday that Piker’s upcoming appearance at UT Austin and the lack of condemnation from Democrats in the state was indicative of the broader state of the Democratic Party. 

Nearly four in five American 8th graders score below proficient in civics, the federal government spends roughly 100 times less per student on the subject than on STEM and about one-third of Americans under 30 say democracy is no longer a viable system of government. 

A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) argues those trends are connected — and warns they pose a particular threat to Jews and to support for Israel.

The Honey Deuce — the U.S. Open’s iconic signature cocktail — is facing fierce competition for the tennis tournament’s most popular menu item this year. Surrounded by greasy fried foods, the unexpected breakout star is a green bean bowl from the Tel Aviv-born eatery Miznon, according to the restaurant’s head.

Miznon, the pita chain founded in 2011 by Israeli chef Eyal Shani, set up shop at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first time this year, featuring green beans served in a paper bag, a stand-in for fries, that have become an unexpected sensation — selling by the thousands and drawing lines so long that fans have taken to wandering the grounds in search of them, Liad Balki, Miznon’s head of operations, told Jewish Insider.