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. 

Taking the stage at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, two prominent progressive lawmakers rumored to be eyeing presidential runs in 2028, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), used the opportunity to bash Israel.

Criticism of Israel isn’t new for either lawmaker, but taking place on one of the most prominent foreign policy stages in the world, their remarks are a sign of the anti-Israel current that continues to course through the Democratic Party, particularly on its left flank.

A new report released by the Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday highlights an acceleration over the past two years in antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric by HispanTV, Iran’s Spanish-language state-sponsored media outlet that primarily targets Latin America.

“The Iranian regime’s media outlet is spreading classic antisemitic conspiracy theories and anti-Israel propaganda to potentially millions of people across Latin America and beyond, making the Islamic Republic a destabilizing force not only in the Middle East, but across the Spanish-speaking world,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “With antisemitism already at historic levels globally, Tehran is funding a massive media propaganda operation that is priming the pump for spreading antisemitism and hate against Israel and Jews the world over.”

Simmering frustrations among lawmakers with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack — who also serves as special envoy to Syria and manages a wide remit in America’s Middle East policy — have recently emerged with force, as multiple lawmakers tell Jewish Insider they have concerns about the U.S. envoy’s expansive role.

Barrack’s critics see the envoy pushing U.S. policy in concerning directions, toward an overly close relationship with Turkey despite the country’s overt anti-Israel posture and regional ambitions and, most recently, as a key enabler of the Turkish-backed Syrian government’s offensive against U.S.’ longtime Kurdish allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Palestinian Authority’s proposed interim constitution, a draft of which was released last week, includes support for incarcerated and deceased Palestinian terrorists and their families, a practice called “pay for slay” by its critics, which the PA claimed to have ended last year.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas published the interim constitution on Feb. 10, allowing for public comments over the next 60 days. The move comes as the Trump administration and the European Union have demanded reforms from the PA in recent months, including an end to the so-called “martyrs’ payments” to convicted and killed terrorists and their families.