After AIPAC’s super PAC suffered an embarrassing setback in this month’s New Jersey special primary election — unwittingly helping boost the fortunes of Analilia Mejia, an anti-Israel, far-left candidate, with its attacks against former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) — all eyes will be on Illinois’ upcoming primaries, and the impact of a surge in pro-Israel spending on ads in four closely watched congressional contests.

AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, along with other outside groups boosting the fortunes of pro-Israel candidates, are betting big on four Chicago-area candidates in crowded Democratic primaries: Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller (for the seat of retiring Rep. Robin Kelly); Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin (for the seat of retiring Rep. Danny Davis); former Rep. Melissa Bean (for the seat of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is running for Senate); and state Sen. Laura Fine (running for the seat of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky).

The long-simmering controversy over whether mohels can perform ritual circumcisions in Belgium broke dramatically into international public view this week, over a case involving the prosecution of three mohels.

The controversy, which touches on sensitive religious, legal and diplomatic matters, has ensnared the only Jewish lawmaker in Belgium, Michael Freilich, as well as the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, who accused the country of antisemitism over the legal action. And it stretches from Antwerp, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, to Washington, to Jerusalem, where Israel’s foreign minister has weighed in.

Readouts from Iran on progress made in the latest round of negotiations with the U.S. are evidence of the regime “simply buying for time” and evidence that Tehran isn’t willing to make the concessions demanded by the Trump administration, Richard Goldberg, a former Trump administration official and senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Jewish Insider in an interview Tuesday.

Following the second round of nuclear negotiations, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called “serious, constructive and positive,” Goldberg made the case for why he thinks there’s a high likelihood of future U.S. military action against Iran, and why he sees the negotiations as diplomatic theater. 

Four progressive House candidates came together in the Chicago area on Tuesday to condemn reported pro-Israel spending in their districts, a sign of growing cross-district collaboration among candidates hostile to Israel as they seek to push back against pro-Israel interest groups.

The joint press conference included Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Robert Peters, activist Junaid Ahmed and union organizer Anthony Driver Jr. All four are endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

Since late last year, when the Justice Department began releasing millions of documents from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the well-connected financier and sex trafficker, each day seems to bring news of yet another luminary who had a relationship with Epstein. The fallout — high-profile resignations at prestigious employers including Goldman Sachs, the law firm Paul Weiss and Hyatt Hotels — is only just beginning. 

The revelations of Epstein’s ties to elite power brokers on both the political left and right has contributed to a deepening conspiratorial mindset among the public, as people understandably question why influencers and titans of finance stayed in close touch with a man who had been convicted of sex crimes. 

Four years after their first showdown, progressive anti-Israel activist Nida Allam and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) are facing off for a second time in the Durham, N.C.-based 4th Congressional District — but under very different circumstances.

While the pro-Israel community stepped in to back Foushee against the stridently anti-Israel Allam in 2022, Foushee has since shifted significantly to the left on Israel policy, leaving pro-Israel backers with no clear choice in the race between an incumbent who has abandoned her support of Israel and a challenger with a deeper hostility to the Jewish state.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated that the second round of negotiations between Tehran and Washington produced agreements on several “guiding principles” for a potential deal on Tuesday, though U.S. officials took a more muted position, with one describing the talks as proceeding “as expected.”

Araghchi told Iranian state media that talks with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, which took place in Geneva and was mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, were more “serious, constructive and positive” than previous discussions, but he acknowledged that major gaps remain and that an agreement will not be reached quickly.

The leading membership organization of U.S. social workers called on Tuesday for the field’s largest international body to oppose efforts to expel Israel’s association of social workers, ahead of a planned vote on that question slated for Wednesday. 

The International Federation of Social Workers will vote on Wednesday on a contentious effort to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers, after some European members complained that Israeli social workers had served in combat roles during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. A petition, organized by several Jewish social work associations, circulated last week urging the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers and the Canadian Association of Social Workers to come out against the measure garnered more than 12,000 signatures.