Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Thursday morning!
The Anti-Defamation League is holding a virtual event with Colleyville, Texas, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and FBI Director Chris Wray this afternoon to discuss the key lessons from last week’s hostage situation at Cytron-Walker’s Congregation Beth Israel. Look for Wray to further clarify his organization’s comments in the aftermath of Colleyville.
President Joe Biden spoke and fielded reporters’ questions in a nearly two-hour press conference yesterday afternoon in Washington, touching on a range of issues, including his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and opposition in Congress to some of his signature domestic policy goals, as well as escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The president said that the U.S. response to a potential invasion of Ukraine would depend on the severity of the attack, comments that were clarified by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shortly after the conference ended.
Biden also said the administration is considering redesignating the Iran-backed Houthis as a terror organization, following a drone attack in Abu Dhabi that killed three and injured at least half a dozen people. We spoke to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) about the re-designation push yesterday —read more below.
Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX) caused a stir — and raised a number of questions — with the announcement yesterday on Twitter of the newly formed bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Torah Values. JI’s Marc Rod takes a look at the new caucus that seems to have taken Twitter — and the Jewish community — by surprise. More below.
Cuellar found himself in the news twice yesterday, when an FBI team conducted searches of both his Texas residence and his campaign headquarters.
Elsewhere on the Hill, there’s been limited progress on key pieces of legislation supported by Jewish organizations that aim to combat domestic terrorism and protect religious institutions.
The Pray Safe Act, a Senate bill to create an online database of security resources and information for houses of worship, passed the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee last July. A source familiar with the legislation told JI that the committee report describing the legislation and reasons for approving it is still in progress.
An aide to committee Chair Gary Peters (D-MI) told JI, “The chairman supports it, voted to move it out of committee and urges the Senate to consider it as soon as possible.” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), one of the bill’s lead sponsors, told JI, “It is clear that we must do more to support houses of worship. That is why I introduced a bipartisan bill with Senator Portman to create a federal clearinghouse… it is one commonsense way to better protect houses of worship from horrifying violence, and I will keep working to get this bill passed into law.”
In both the House and Senate, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act has not yet received committee-level consideration.
Congregation Beth Israel, the site of last weekend’s terrorist hostage incident, received $100,000 from the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2020 — the maximum allowable grant and the synagogue’s first time applying for a security grant — a source familiar with the matter told JI.
The synagogue used the funding to pay for contract security, lighting, cameras, fencing, an entry gate and “management and administration.”
Former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) is launching her campaign today to return to Congress in the Prince George’s County, Md., district being vacated by Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD).
Known for her left-wing foreign policy positions, Edwards was elected in 2008 after challenging a Democrat for his vote in favor of the Iraq war. J Street has supported Edwards in the past, but she has earned the ire of more traditional pro-Israel leaders in the past.
Edwards joins a primary field vying for the 4th district seat that includes Glenn Ivey, a former district attorney, and Jazz Lewis, a state representative and former staffer for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). Now that Edwards entered the race, “the big issue is whether to support Jazz or Glenn,” one pro-Israel Democrat told JI.
The new season of “Real Time With Bill Maher”returns tomorrow, with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and writer Bari Weiss appearing on Friday night’s premiere episode of the show’s 20th season.
terror talks
Meeks looking ‘very carefully’ at reinstating Houthi terrorism designation

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) speaks during Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement to build new international terminal at JFK (John F. Kennedy) airport.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said he will look into whether the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen should be relabeled as a terrorist group following a drone attack that killed three civilians in the United Arab Emirates’s capital of Abu Dhabi last weekend, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: The Biden administration removed the Houthis from the U.S.’s list of foreign terrorist organizations in February 2021 — reversing a decision by the Trump administration. Biden administration officials have indicated that decision was motivated in part by a desire to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Yemen.
A careful review: “I’m going to be looking at that very carefully and talking to [the administration],” Meeks, the top foreign policy Democrat in the House, told JI on Wednesday. “I’m very concerned and condemn to the highest degree the Houthis and the utilization of the drones and the strike on the UAE. So, [that is] something that we’re looking at.” Meeks added that his “only concern” is “making sure humanitarian aid is able to continue and to make sure that it’s getting to people — women, children, men who are not combatants.” President Joe Biden said during a marathon news conference on Wednesday that the Houthis’ terrorism designation is “under consideration.”
‘A mistake from the beginning’: Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, argued on Wednesday that the decision to revoke the terrorism designation was a mistake from the beginning. “Last year, the Biden administration revoked the Houthis’ designation as a terrorist organization. The Houthis have thanked the president by storming the U.S. embassy in Yemen last November and now firing missiles in Abu Dhabi,” Gallagher said in a statement to JI. “The evidence is overwhelming: the president needs to reverse course, recognize reality, and redesignate the Houthis as a terrorist group.”