In a meeting at the Vatican with American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch and other AJC leaders from around the country on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV pledged to combat antisemitism.

“Rooted in our shared spiritual heritage, this friendship also calls us to defend human dignity, to serve the poor, to protect religious freedom and to promote justice and peace,” the pope told the Jewish leaders. “Essential to this commitment is the rejection of all forms of religious and ethnic hatred and discrimination.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on Thursday that a constituent had been arrested in Boca Raton for making a death threat directed at the Florida congressman, the second such arrest since 2024.

“A constituent of mine has just been arrested in Boca Raton, just a few miles from my house, for threatening my life,” Moskowitz said. “He is currently in the Palm Beach County Jail. I’m grateful to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and local law enforcement for acting quickly to keep my family and me safe.”

The likeliest outcome of Israel’s upcoming election is a stalemate, according to the final polls ahead of next Tuesday’s election, with neither side — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the bloc opposing him, led by Gadi Eisenkot — projected to reach a majority of the Knesset.

Israeli law prohibits the publication of new polls from Friday until the Oct. 27 election.

Middle East policy experts offered differing assessments on Thursday of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects in next week’s election, with some suggesting his political experience could carry him to another victory despite unfavorable polling, while others warned that neither his coalition nor the opposition may secure enough seats to form a government.

Speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election — the country’s first since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks — David Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Michael Doran, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson; and David Wurmser, a senior analyst for Middle East affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, examined the political divisions and security concerns shaping the race. The discussion was moderated by Hudson senior fellow Ludovic Hood.

Democratic Majority for Israel’s PAC announced on Thursday that it will spend $7 million to fund digital, television and radio ads supporting Reps. Don Davis (D-NC) and Shomari Figures (D-AL).

Both districts were seen as longshots for Democrats after Republicans redrew the maps in North Carolina and Alabama to strongly favor the GOP in both seats. The Cook Political Report rates Davis’ seat as a “toss up” and Figures’ race as “likely Republican.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a co-chair of the House antisemitism task force, blasted independent Nebraska Senate nominee Dan Osborn over a new ad targeting Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) for receiving support from AIPAC.

The ad, shared by the Osborn campaign on social media, features a narrator saying: “When it comes to war, Pete Ricketts knows whose side he’s on: AIPAC and defense contractors,” highlighting AIPAC donors’ support for Ricketts’s campaign.

A coalition of Jewish groups including the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, StandWithUs and the National Jewish Advocacy Center wrote letters to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging them to clarify their response to European governments’ new sanctions on businesses in territories they deem occupied by Israel.

“American companies should not be left to assume that silence from the United States means they may comply with foreign-government demands to participate in boycotts of Israel without potential consequences under U.S. law. We seek the application and enforcement of existing U.S. law, not new sanctions or retaliatory trade measures against foreign governments,” the organizations told Bessent. “The need for a clear public statement is immediate.”

Two decades ago, Democratic candidates traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the Israeli prime minister and visit the country’s holiest sites.

Now, they still travel to the Holy Land. But, this year, the destination is no longer Jerusalem’s Western Wall for the signature photo op — it is, more often, the West Bank or Tel Aviv. Sometimes, the trip also includes a brief detention by the IDF, or a confrontation with extremist settlers.