Congressman Gregory Meeks, D-NY, Wednesday, May 22, 2019, at LaGuardia Community College in New York.

Following Wednesday’s marathon National Defense Authorization Act markup in the House Armed Services Committee, some Republicans on the committee expressed frustration that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Greg Meeks (D-NY) blocked the Armed Services Committee from proceeding with an amendment eliminating a waiver on Iran sanctions, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Background: The amendment, proposed Wednesday night by Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), with the backing of the Republican Study Committee, would have repealed an exemption to sanctions imposed by the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 on the country’s shipping, energy and shipbuilding industries provided to Afghanistan in the 2013 NDAA. That legislation gave the president the latitude to provide a waiver “for reconstruction assistance or economic development for Afghanistan.” Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on the waiver in 2018, under the Trump administration, to allow for Afghanistan to import Iranian oil. The waiver also allowed supplies to be shipped to land-locked Afghanistan via Iran’s Chabahar port.

Crossover: Since the issue fell into the jurisdiction of both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, Meeks needed to provide a waiver to allow the amendment to move forward in Armed Services, but declined to do so. Without the waiver, Fallon withdrew the amendment after introducing it.

Frustration: With the Taliban now in control of Afghanistan and Iranian oil sales to Afghanistan resuming, some of the amendment’s supporters argued the waiver should be eliminated.“It baffles me that a bipartisan amendment striking language from a previous NDAA was not granted a waiver by Chairman Meeks,” Fallon told Jewish Insider. “We’re removing an exception from Iranian sanctions meant to benefit the previous allied Afghan government — an exception that now benefits the Taliban and Iran. This shouldn’t be controversial. Additionally, where better to repeal outdated provisions of old NDAAs…than the NDAA.”

Pushback: “Waiving or not waiving jurisdiction is part of the regular negotiations between committees for any bill,” a House Foreign Affairs Committee aide told JI. “When it comes to Rep. Fallon’s proposed amendment, the committee wants to preserve this or any future administration’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Afghans who may be in need of assistance.”

Read more here.

Elsewhere on the Hill: Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Grace Meng (D-NY) are expected to introduce a House bill creating a joint U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence research center today, Jewish Insider has learned. The legislation is a companion to a Senate bill introduced in June by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

In a Thursday Zoom call attended by over 1,000 rabbis, President Joe Biden shared Rosh Hashanah greetings and commended the U.S. Jewish community for being the “backbone of staying with what’s right,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. The event was organized by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and hosted by Chanan Weissman, the White House’s new liaison to the Jewish community.

Tradition interrupted: “I must start off with an apology,” Biden began, noting that he had wished to host a Rosh Hashanah event with rabbis, a tradition he began as vice president when he invited members of the Jewish community to his home at the Naval Observatory ahead of the High Holidays but was not able to do this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I hope next year — not only next year in Jerusalem, next year at the White House, God willing,” he said. JI sat in on the call.

Steadfast security: The president reaffirmed his support for Israel’s security: “In this new year, we’re going to have to remain steadfast in our pursuit of peace. We never waver on our support for the future security of the State of Israel,” he said.

Soul of this nation: Biden mentioned the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, arguing that fighting antisemitism is a core American value. “Antisemitic attacks aren’t just a strike against the Jewish community. They’re striking against the soul of our nation, and the values which we say we stand for,” he said.

Welcome the stranger: In his speech, Biden defended his recent decision to remove all American troops from Afghanistan. He also enlisted American Jews in the task of helping resettle and welcome Afghan refugees. “We now embark on the next phase of this mission, which is a cause that the Jewish community has so often led, whether it was Soviet Jews coming to America or Ethiopian Jews headed to Israel,” Biden said. “We have to integrate these newcomers and help them begin to renew and rebuild their own lives.”

Read more here.

Criticism: In his address, Biden remarked “I remember spending time at the, you know, going to the, you know, the Tree of Life synagogue, speaking with them.” Barb Feige, executive director of Tree of Life told the New York Post that Biden did not visit the synagogue in the nearly three years since the attack.

Birthright Israel has received approval from Israel’s Health Ministry to resume trips to the country, Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve reports. The popular 10-day tours of Israel, which bring thousands of young Jewish adults from around the world to the country every year, were halted in August due to new restrictions put in place to curb the latest wave of COVID-19 in the country. The measures, which went into effect last month as the Delta variant of the virus spread, barred quarantine-free entry to the country to individuals from a number of countries, including the United States.

Swift and safe return: Hundreds of young adults who were supposed to travel to Israel with Birthright in recent weeks had their trips canceled. “We received an approval and we hope to resume trips in a safe way for vaccinated Jewish young adults soon,” a spokesperson for Birthright told JI.

Priority status: The Birthright Israel website assures those whose trips were canceled that they will receive priority status for a future trip.

Vaccinated only: The Health Ministry confirmed to JI that it had issued approval for “Birthright Israel delegations to come for educational activities in Israel, due to the value and educational importance of the trip.” The ministry’s statement to JI stressed that entry into the country “is conditional on the participants being vaccinated and conducting a COVID-19 test upon arrival in the country.” It added that the groups will be allowed into Israel after the High Holidays.

Read more here.

The Israeli flag flies in front of the Axel Springer building. In addition, the (l-r) European, German and Berlin flags can be seen.

As the German publishing giant Axel Springer prepares to acquire Politico in a high-profile transaction valued at more than $1 billion, questions have arisen concerning the degree to which the scoop-driven Beltway news site will adapt to a long-standing set of corporate values held by the European media conglomerate, including staunch support for Israel, reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.

Covering the essentials: Axel Springer is guided by a list of core principles, known internally as the “essentials,” that promote a “united Europe” and the “trans-Atlantic alliance” while supporting “the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel,” among other things. The mission statement was largely enshrined in 1967 by the company’s late eponymous founder, but Axel Springer remains fiercely committed to its five values, which editorial employees at German publications like Bild and Die Welt are contractually committed to uphold.

Plans for Politico: Whether Politico staffers will face a similar mandate has been a source of ongoing speculation since the deal was announced late last week. In a recent New York Times interview, Robert Allbritton, who currently owns Politico, revealed that employees will not be required to sign Axel Springer’s mission statement when the sale goes through, likely by the end of the year. But an Axel Springer spokesperson suggested to JI that the focus on contracts was ultimately misguided since the values are “an integral part” of the company-wide code of conduct.

Universal values: Until recently, the values had not been included in the code. But a couple of years ago, Axel Springer’s executive board decided that its guiding principles should pertain to every employee, not only journalists in Germany who had signed the mission statement, as the company went private amid an aggressive international push culminating most recently in the acquisition of Politico.

Pro-Israel push: At a recent company-wide town hall, streamed live from Berlin on June 14 and previously unreported, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner announced that the company was embarking on a renewed effort to promote the “essentials.” “I have to say that, for me, it’s quite a terrible experience to talk to more and more friends here in Germany, Jewish friends, who are seriously discussing whether they should leave Germany because they feel unsafe,” he said, adding: “I feel a real shame, and also for that reason, I think it is important that we are making a clear point here.”

Read the full story here.