Michael Blake, a former New York state assemblyman and eighth-place-finishing New York City mayoral candidate, announced a primary challenge to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on Wednesday focused squarely on Torres’ support for Israel and ties to AIPAC.

But Blake himself has an extensive history with AIPAC and was, at least through 2020, a vocal supporter of the Jewish state.

The Trump administration is weighing a multibillion-dollar sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, a potential major policy shift that has stirred debate over the military balance in the region and Washington’s commitment to preserving Israel’s “qualitative military edge.” 

Saudi Arabia has requested 48 of the advanced aircraft, a proposal the Pentagon is considering, according to Reuters. The deal would require approval at the cabinet level and from President Donald Trump, as well as the notification of Congress, 

New York City’s leading Jewish security organization has prepared a new set of strategies to respond to policies that the city’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani might put into place that would affect public safety. 

Among the primary concerns of Mitch Silber, executive director of the Community Security Initiative and former director of NYPD intelligence analysis, is Mamdani’s vow to cut the police department’s Strategic Response Group. 

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Thursday that she would not seek reelection, ending a nearly 40-year career in Congress and earning plaudits across a wide spectrum of Jewish voices, from J Street to AIPAC and many in the San Francisco Jewish community who have worked with her since the 1980s.

Pelosi, who is 85, rose to become the first and only female speaker of the House, a position she held from 2007-2011 and again from 2019-2023, when she presided over a divided caucus and a resurgent far-left flank of the party. Pelosi was known for keeping tight control over congressional Democrats and squashing intra-party squabbles. 

An antisemitism task force affiliated with the Heritage Foundation announced on Thursday that it would cut ties with the conservative institution, as the prominent think tank has come under fire for its defense of Tucker Carlson after the firebrand podcaster hosted neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes for a friendly interview. 

The co-chairs of the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced in a Thursday email, viewed by Jewish Insider, that they will continue their work “outside the Heritage Foundation for a season.” 

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee from both parties voiced concerns with Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, and his office at the Pentagon, at a committee hearing — for the second time this week.

While Thursday’s proceedings, a confirmation hearing for Alex Velez-Green, nominated to be Colby’s top deputy and who has been a senior advisor to him in an interim capacity, were generally less heated than a Tuesday hearing with nominee Austin Dahmer, lawmakers reiterated concerns with a lack of consultation by Colby’s team and alleged rogue decision-making on a range of issues by the office.

Kazakhstan, which has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, will join the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday.

The announcement, made during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to the White House, came shortly before a planned visit to Washington by Syrian President Ahmad a-Sharaa on Monday, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Nov. 18. 

In addition to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s race, we’ve been spotlighting two other mayoral contests where socialist, anti-Israel candidates were running competitively against more traditionally liberal standard-bearers: in Minneapolis and Seattle. 

If Mamdani’s bare 50% majority in the three-way race signaled that a far-left candidate could prevail in a deep-blue city — even while dividing the Democratic Party — the underperformance of the two other far-left challengers on big-city ballots underscores the limited appetite even deep-blue constituencies have for radical politics.