In a briefing for the House Education & Workforce Committee on his response to the anti-Israel protest encampment at Northwestern University in 2024, Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss “severely downplayed” the situation on that campus and antisemitism across the country, the committee said.

The committee asked Biss, who is a congressional candidate in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to brief them on his decision to withhold Evanston police support from Northwestern University when requested by the school to help clear the encampment.

Brandon Herrera, the presumptive Republican nominee in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, spoke on a podcast in 2024 — after his first run for the House — about owning a copy of Mein Kampf, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s manifesto, earning him a fresh rebuke from the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The GOP candidate and social media influencer, whose path to the nomination was cleared Thursday when Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) said he would not run for reelection amid his own growing scandal, has faced ongoing scrutiny over a video he posted to his YouTube channel including imagery, music and jokes connected to the Nazis and the Holocaust, his interactions with neo-Nazis online and his membership in a neo-Confederate group.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would not speak to Jewish Insider’s findings that his wife, First Lady Rama Duwaji, had liked Instagram posts that justified and even glorified the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

The mayor would not directly address JI’s revelations that his wife had liked posts that approvingly shared stills from the livestreamed assault and promoted a protest that supported the terrorist action the following day — a protest Mamdani himself had condemned at the time. 

The first State Department evacuation flight from Israel landed in Athens on Friday afternoon, where its passengers were greeted on the tarmac by U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kim Guilfoyle.

The approximately 50 individuals consisted mainly of family members of U.S. Embassy staff and government employees, who had been stranded in Israel for the past week amid widespread flight cancellations as Iran continues to launch missiles and drones at the country and around the region.  

The rapid turn within the Democratic Party against Israel — especially from several of its prospective presidential candidates — is awfully reminiscent of right-wing Republicans’ growing agitation against Ukraine several years ago when the Biden administration provided support to Kyiv as it defended itself from Russian aggression.

Both situations involved an activist faction of the party out of the White House speaking out against a longtime ally, fueled by conspiracy theories and memes floating online. It was propelled by a growing isolationist vibe within both parties that the country should focus on domestic concerns instead of dealing with national security challenges abroad. And it led many politically ambitious elected officials who knew better to spout some of the most poisonous slander against close partners who are (literally) under fire from enemies. 

As Gavin Newsom travels around the country promoting his book — a memoir widely seen as a first step on his journey toward a 2028 presidential campaign — the California governor made appearances in South Carolina and New Hampshire, two early Democratic primary states that are important stops for any likely candidate.

For a trip signaling presidential ambitions, Newsom’s choice of interviewer is revealing. On Thursday night, he was interviewed in Portsmouth, N.H., by Jack Cocchiarella, a self-described “progressive political pundit,” part of a group of Gen Z influencers with growing clout among Democratic voters. 

The U.S. and Israel have almost total control of Iranian airspace, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a video statement on Thursday.

They “achieved near-complete air superiority over Iranian skies,” and Operation Roaring Lion, as Israel named the war with Iran, is entering its second phase, Zamir said.

President Donald Trump accused Tucker Carlson on Thursday of having “lost his way” following recent criticism from the commentator of the U.S. military operation in Iran, asserting that the former Fox News host was not representing the views of the Make America Great Again movement.

Trump made the comments while speaking to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Thursday afternoon after being asked about Carlson’s characterization of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli operation as “absolutely disgusting and evil” and his broader attacks on the Trump administration’s friendly relationship with Israel.