Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that the Biden administration should have acted “sooner and more forcefully” to restrain Israel during the war in Gaza, criticizing the Israeli government’s “horrific conduct” and accusing President Donald Trump of giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “blank check.”

Speaking at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea, Harris said the United States had fallen short of its “moral obligation to human rights and international law” by failing to use its influence to curb Israel’s actions in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. The remarks came during a broader speech focused on American leadership and artificial intelligence.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharply criticized Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — the GOP candidate for New York governor — on Wednesday, calling the Republican’s assertions that he would not protect Hasidic communities from arson and sexual violence “directly racist.”

Speaking after an unrelated event in Manhattan, the mayor maintained he had not seen the televised debate between Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul Tuesday night where Blakeman, who is Jewish, refused to back away from controversial remarks he made at a private meeting over the weekend. At that meeting, first reported by The New York Times, Blakeman warned Williamsburg leaders that Mamdani would likely do little “if there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women.” 

A Dublin hotel canceled 70 rooms booked for participants in an international conference of envoys for combatting antisemitism, attendees and organizers said on Tuesday.

Maurice Cohen, the head of the Irish Jewish Representative Council, said at the opening gathering of the summit that the Herbert Park Hotel canceled the group’s reservation made in May, after finding out the nature of the event. The hotel’s manager also asked if the conference was connected to the IDF. The Herbert Park Hotel declined to comment. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for New York governor, declined to back away from warnings he made at a weekend event in Brooklyn with Hasidic leaders about the threat of mass arson and sexual assault to their communities — but he specified that he expected the violence would come from anti-Israel protesters.

The New York Times first reported that Blakeman, himself Jewish, had suggested in a private meeting in Williamsburg on Sunday that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would not intervene “if there is rioting here, if they’re burning down the yeshivas and your shuls, and burning down your house and raping your women.” 

The Anti-Defamation League and Gratz College announced on Wednesday the launch of a free training program on antisemitism aimed at college administrators and faculty. 

The program comes amid continued scrutiny of universities over how they handle antisemitism on campus. 

American views of Israel, particularly among progressives, have become increasingly negative in recent years, a trend that has impacted Democratic primaries ahead of the midterms this year, boosting candidates that are explicitly anti-Israel or who boast about rejecting AIPAC. 

The Trump administration and Republicans on the Hill have maintained a close, positive relationship with Israel, but some of the American right’s vanguard and institutions have expressed views of concern to the Jewish state. 

A congressionally created commission studying the potential transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to the Smithsonian Institution held its first meeting on Tuesday, the start of a two-year process to produce recommendations for Congress and the Trump administration on whether to move forward with the merger.

The commission, appointed by congressional leaders, includes Weitzman Chairman Emeritus Philip M. Darivoff, author and historian Dara Horn, Washington Free Beacon publisher Michael Goldfarb, former University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, former Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), The New York Historical President Louise Mirrer, former chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad Paul Packer and presidential historian Tevi Troy.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on Tuesday dodged a question about his son-in-law, a white nationalist influencer who has apparently recorded and posted antisemitic and white nationalist videos while living on Collins’ property, at the second Georgia Senate debate.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) had hammered Collins on the issue, and Collins’ other ties to extremist figures including former congressional staff, at a previous debate last week, accusing Collins of hiring “half of the Third Reich.”