Secretary of State Tony Blinken said yesterday that the recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to normalize relations has not derailed efforts to advance Saudi-Israeli normalization, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Pushing ahead: “It does not in any way substitute for our determination to pursue the deepening as well as the expansion of the Abraham Accords,” Blinken, who testified yesterday before the Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, said. “I had a long discussion with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu about this when I was recently in Israel. We’re very focused on that. And I also don’t think it will change the interests of other countries in pursuing that.”

Opportunism: Blinken downplayed the role that China had played in the Saudi-Iranian agreement, which many on Capitol Hill have warned reflects increasing Chinese influence in the Middle East. Blinken said that the talks have been ongoing and progressing for multiple years, and that China only became involved at the final stages. “What China did… was to, at the very end of that process, take advantage of the work that these countries have done. And then basically host the conclusion of the agreement that they reached… not to bring it together themselves,” he said. “It sent a diplomatic signal — there’s no doubt about it.”

All smiles: Addressing lawmakers a day after simmering tensions between Israel and the U.S. came to a boiling point — Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog was summoned to the State Department on Tuesday for a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who rebuked the Israeli government for passing a law repealing Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the northern West Bank — Blinken sought to cast a positive light on the current status of U.S.-Israel ties. Blinken maintained that Israel and the Palestinian Authority remain committed to deescalating tensions. “I’ve heard directly from Israeli leadership — as well as the Palestinian Authority — about the desire for both sides to see the violence that has reached record levels in recent months, deescalate and to try to get a period of calm,” Blinken said. “It’s an interest that, at least Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed directly to me… if we see steps inconsistent with that, I think it does contradict what we believe both Israelis and the Palestinian Authority are seeking to do and what they’ve said to us is in their own self-interest.”

Read more here.

Moving ahead: Elsewhere on the Hill, the Senate Small Business Committee advanced Dilawar Syed’s nomination to be deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration. Syed has fended off accusations from the right of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment during his confirmation process, which have largely been rejected by mainstream and liberal Jewish groups.

Despite rising concern in Washington about China’s inroads into the Middle East, including its increasing ties to Saudi Arabia, the recent Chinese-brokered deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran does not appear to herald any significant changes in posture toward Riyadh — from either critics or supporters of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The latest developments appear so far to be leading both sides in the polarized U.S. foreign policy discourse on Saudi Arabia to double down on their previous positions — vocal critics of Riyadh are pushing ahead with efforts to limit U.S. ties with the kingdom, while those more supportive of the U.S.-Saudi relationship say that a closer relationship is the only way to prevent further Chinese encroachment.

New legislation: Among critics of Saudi Arabia, the surprise agreement does not seem to have prompted any rethinking of efforts to tighten the screws on Riyadh. Days after the agreement was announced, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Mike Lee (R-UT) announced new legislation aiming to force the administration to engage publicly with Congress on Saudi human rights violations and ultimately could force a Senate floor vote on cutting off aid to Saudi Arabia.

Shoring up: Supporters of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, argue, however, that the U.S. needs to reinforce its relationship with Saudi Arabia, to cut off further Chinese gains, which could challenge the U.S.’ long-standing military partnership with Riyadh. “I think what we need to do is make sure that our allies in the Middle East know that we’re going to be strong allies. This is one of the things I heard when I was there last month, that whether we’re talking about Saudi Arabia, UAE or Israel, they want to know America is going to be there,” Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) told JI. “When we send signals that we are weakening, for example, our disastrous pullout of Afghanistan, or how we didn’t respond quickly enough to the UAE when they were attacked with Houthi missiles last year, it sends a message to our allies that maybe they should be looking to China.”

A word from the ranking member: “In the Middle East, it’s clear that the administration is failing to compete with China,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) said. “The administration’s policies across the board have created great, great concerns for our partners… The recent deal between Saudi Arabia, China and Iran proves the U.S. is sitting on the sidelines.” Risch said that the U.S. needs to “fix[] our approach” and cannot “turn our backs on the Middle East” even as focus shifts toward China.

Read more here.

Bonus: The Israeli government sees the Saudi-Iran rapprochement as an opportunity for Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, a senior Israeli diplomatic official involved in the efforts toldAxios’ Barak Ravid.

Elsewhere on the Hill: Speaking yesterday at a briefing organized by the Zachor Legal Institute on Al Jazeera and the Qatari government’s efforts to influence Americans through their AJ+ network, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) lamented that Al Jazeera has “thought they could just blow off the rules” requiring registration as a foreign agent. “I, along with my colleagues in the House, are going to make your entity play by the rules.” Bergman has introduced legislation that would place new restrictions on congressional press credentials for foreign state-owned media outlets. He said that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been supportive of the proposal.

Antonio Reynoso, the borough president of Brooklyn, coasted to victory in 2021 as an outspoken progressive, notching key endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), state Sen. Julia Salazar and the New York City public advocate, Jumaane Williams, among other influential figures on the activist left. But more than a year into his role as Kings County’s chief ambassador, Reynoso, a former city councilman from Williamsburg and the first Latino to hold the position, has largely embraced a more measured and perhaps deferential approach to governance than his political allegiances might suggest, even as he insists that his core values remain unchanged, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. 

‘Different needs’: “I’m a progressive, uber left, and I believe that I have my principles that I abide by,” Reynoso explained to JI in a recent interview at his offices in Downtown Brooklyn. “But I don’t want to impose them on everyone. These communities are very different. They have different needs. And they’ve been here for a long time.” In his outreach to Jewish leaders, Reynoso, 39, said he has tried to uphold his own vision for the borough by focusing on areas of agreement rather than quibbling over policy differences, particularly as he has made overtures to Hasidic communities that have traditionally leaned moderate or conservative and make up a crucial voting bloc.

Common ground: There is more than enough common ground, he suggested, citing efforts to counter antisemitism as well as more practicable concerns like addressing food insecurity and organizing street cleanups. “And all the things that we don’t agree on, it’s just like, let’s leave that for another day. There’s no need to fight. There’s no need to engage in hostilities,” Reynoso told JI.

‘Proud’ to serve: During his time as borough president, Reynoso, who succeeded New York City Mayor Eric Adams, has sought to expand his relationships with Jewish leaders beyond Williamsburg, where he was born and raised by Dominican parents. He said he is “proud” to now represent the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel, which he visited as a city councilman. “I want the world to know that, and I want to celebrate them,” he told JI. “I’ve been having a lot of fun doing that, and I hope that they’ve seen that.”

Bridge-builder: For the most part, Reynoso has found a receptive audience, he said, notwithstanding some divisions over issues including rezoning and affordable housing development, which are among his top priorities. David Greenfield, the chief executive of the Met Council and a former city councilman who overlapped with Reynoso in the legislative body, views such engagement as significant. “Reynoso is trying hard to be a bridge between the left and the more moderate constituencies in Brooklyn,” he told JI. “It’s an important effort and, if successful, would make him one of the most important officials in New York.”

Read the full interview here.