NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg is set to step down in January, 25 years after founding the Jerusalem-based watchdog group focused on scrutinizing nonprofit organizations critical of Israel and their funding sources, Jewish Insider has learned.

Olga Deutsch, 47, currently NGO Monitor’s vice president, will succeed Steinberg following a months-long transition process at the organization, which since its inception has been closely associated with its founder.

Over the last two years, the second semester of the academic year at American universities coincided with crisis and chaos. 

In 2024, it was anti-Israel encampments overtaking campus quads across the country; last year, it was threats from the Trump administration to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and ban foreign students. 

LOS ANGELES — The Israeli financiers, investors and entrepreneurs who attended last week’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills almost couldn’t make it. Just weeks earlier, after all, the country’s airspace had been largely closed as war raged with Iran. 

But aside from their slight fear that the fragile ceasefire would fall apart and leave them stranded in the United States, the Israelis who participated in the marquee conference of global finance brought an upbeat attitude about Israel’s economy, even two-and-a-half years into near-constant war that began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. 

Former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), who has been nominated by the Trump administration to be U.S. ambassador to Iceland, shared a three-minute clip of a speech by neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on X on Sunday.

In the clip — shared originally by the account Wall Street Apes, which praised the speech without identifying Fuentes — Fuentes rails against immigration, but does not invoke the virulently antisemitic, pro-Nazi or racist rhetoric for which he is notorious. 

With President Donald Trump reportedly mulling the resumption of military action against Iran, fault lines are opening up among Senate Republicans over the prospect of a renewed military effort.

Some prominent Senate Republicans publicly called for the U.S. to resume military operations this weekend, after Trump dismissed as a nonstarter Iran’s latest negotiating proposal. Other colleagues joined them on Monday.

Senators on both sides of the aisle on Monday expressed concerns about a report by CBS News that Pakistan had sheltered multiple Iranian military aircraft at an air force base in the country since shortly after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire in April, raising questions about the country’s neutrality as a meditator.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the U.S. may need to reassess whether Pakistan, which helped broker the recent U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal, can continue to serve as a mediator between the warring parties.

Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm is kicking off an ad campaign on Tuesday to boost Johnny Garcia, a sheriff’s deputy in Bexar County, Texas, in his Democratic runoff election later this month against Maureen Galindo, a San Antonio activist who has faced scrutiny for trafficking in antisemitic tropes.

“It’s not about what politicians say. It’s about what they do,” a new mailer from DMFI PAC says, while touting Garcia’s pledges to cut healthcare costs and invest in public schools as well as his background in law enforcement. “Johnny Garcia has always stood up and fought for working people across Texas.” 

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht announced Monday he has left the Democratic party, citing “anti-Jewish” actions and “acquiescence to Jew-hatred” within the party, including from elected officials. 

“Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party. I can no longer abide this,” wrote Wecht, who was elected as a Democrat in 2015. He added that he is no longer affiliated with any political party.