Amid public criticism by some Democratic lawmakers about Israel’s proposed judicial reforms, moderate Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) are urging legislators against airing their concerns on the ongoing process, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Counterproductive: “Regardless of our personal views and concerns, Congress should not publicly intervene in ongoing negotiations of a key democratic ally,” the lawmakers said in a statement obtained by JI ahead of its release yesterday. “Doing so, especially in a partisan way, could undermine those negotiations toward a positive outcome.”

Calling for calm: The lawmakers added that “we all need to work together — both in a bipartisan manner and with our key ally — to bring calm to the region and work toward peace for Israel and its neighbors,” noting that the Biden administration “has been clear in condemning unilateral actions that dim the prospects for peace.”

Other side: The lawmakers’ statement comes ahead of the anticipated release of a strongly worded letter, led by some top House Democrats, warning of a ‘major conflict’ in the Middle East, a situation the lawmakers say would be exacerbated by the proposed judicial reforms. At least 45 lawmakers had signed onto that letter as of last weekend.

Read more here.

Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, wasn’t sure what to expect when, a week ago, he met with a group of students at Harvard Law School to defend his belief that progressive values are compatible with, if not contingent upon, maintaining support for Israel. But de Blasio said he was encouraged by the response to his talk, billed as “The Progressive Case for Israel” and held in a classroom at Harvard’s Wasserstein Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 28. “We had a real dialogue, and folks were struck by that,” he told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel. “There was actually a sustained discussion.”

Keeping it civil: Even as the tenor of the discussion “was at times heated” and “at times a little tense,” he acknowledged, “it was still civil in the scheme of things. I heard views I would call left-wing, views I would call right-wing, views I would call pro-Israel and views I would call pro-Palestine,” de Blasio added. “I heard a range in the course of an hour, and no one left the room, no one walked out. People stuck with it. I actually saw some hope in that.”

Bearing witness: De Blasio, who recently concluded a semester-long fellowship at Harvard, was asked to speak at the university by the Alliance for Israel at Harvard and the Harvard Jewish Law Students Association, which co-hosted the event. The invitation to speak at Harvard, de Blasio said, was an opportunity to “dispel” what he described as “a horrible stereotype that suggests that some vast number of progressives are not supportive of the State of Israel,” adding: “I think that’s just absolutely inaccurate and based on no evidence, and I think it’s important to bear witness.”

Small first step: The former mayor said he considers it a minor if ultimately meaningful achievement that the conversation did not devolve into a shouting match or result in a walk-out. “This is a microcosm of what we have to do for our country and for the Middle Eastern region in general,” he suggested. “It was a very, very small, localized first step at Harvard, but it was better than never being in the room together.”

Read the full interview here.

Before Dana Hyde, 55, died last week as a result of turbulence experienced on a business jet, she was at the peak of a Washington career. But when Hyde arrived in Washington in 1989 soon after her graduation from the University of California Los Angeles, she didn’t yet have any of those credentials. Her first job in the nation’s capital was, like many other young idealists hoping to get their foot in the door in Washington, an internship, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch writes.

Right values: “Even at that young age and with no work experience, she was just an extraordinarily brilliant, capable, committed person who had all the right values,” said Ester Kurz, who hired Hyde for that first internship at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “In all the many jobs she had in Washington, and she had many, she was always driven by the desire to help others.” 

Life of service: Hyde, who grew up in Oregon, worked on Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign and later in his White House, and served as counsel to the congressional 9/11 Commission. Hyde was flying with her husband and son back from visiting schools in New England when their jet, which is owned by her husband’s company, experienced unexpectedly severe turbulence. 

Remembering: Hyde’s funeral on Wednesday took place at Temple Micah in Washington and drew more than 200 people, among them National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Hyde will be buried in Israel today. 

Read the obituary here.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to advance the long-delayed nominations of Eric Garcetti and Michael Ratney to be the U.S. ambassadors to India and Saudi Arabia, respectively, as well as to repeal past authorizations for use of military force (AUMFs) in Iraq, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

New roadblocks: Garcetti’s nomination was approved by a 13-8 vote; Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the committee’s ranking member, said that “new evidence” into the allegations “has raised enough questions regarding his judgment,” leading him to vote against Garcetti after supporting him last year. Garcetti continues to face opposition from at least one Democrat, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Risch’s opposition could further complicate his prospects for confirmation. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said last week he’s still reviewing the situation. Ratney’s nomination was approved by a voice vote, in a package with other nominees. Fast-track confirmation will remain out of reach as long as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) continues to object to his confirmation.

Rollback: The committee also voted 13-8 to repeal the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs for Iraq. The effort is expected to come to the floor in the coming weeks, with the support of Senate Democratic leadership. Risch argued that the 2002 AUMF “has long been used to address threats emanating from Iraq such as Iranian-backed Shiite militias,” saying that he is “concerned about the message this repeal would send to the region as much as anything else,” a position shared by some fellow lawmakers. The 2002 AUMF was cited as a secondary authority in the 2020 strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. An unidentified senator on the committee asked that a vote on legislation aiming to create cooperative programs with Iraq and Arabian Peninsula nations to counter Iranian drones be postponed until the committee’s next meeting.

Read the full story here.

On the horizon: The annual threat assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, released yesterday, warned that Iran will continue to threaten U.S. interests, U.S. persons and Israel. The report stated that “Iran’s hardline officials’ distrust of Washington and doubts that the United States would deliver or sustain any benefits of a renewed” nuclear deal have blocked an agreement, but that Iran is “not currently undertaking” activities necessary to produce a nuclear weapon. It also notes that “compounding crises in the coming year probably will further challenge the regime’s legitimacy and staying power.” The report also found that racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism continues to be the primary terror threat to the U.S. homeland. At a Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines downplayed links between increased Iranian nuclear enrichment and President Joe Biden’s election.

Elsewhere on the Hill: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) grilled Dilawar Syed, the long-stalled nominee for deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration, about his involvement with Muslim American advocacy group Emgage, which has been critical of Israel. Syed responded by saying, “My allyship with the Jewish community, my work with Israel as a partner, both at the State Department and as a businessman, all my life, I think speaks for my take on this issue.” Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League, have roundly rejected implications from Republicans that Syed may hold anti-Israel or antisemitic views, which have contributed to the delays to his confirmation.

Senate Republicans raised concerns in a new letter sent yesterday that the Department of Education has, for decades, funded antisemitic programs on college campuses with taxpayer money, and accused the department of having failed to enforce federal law, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Red flags: “We write with grave concern that the Department of Education, over the course of decades, has been allowing taxpayer-funded antisemitism to take place on college campuses throughout the United States,” 15 senators wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. “We are especially concerned the Department of Education is failing to enforce a Higher Education Act (HEA), Title VI requirement that college programs that receive federal funds must ‘reflect diverse perspectives and a wide range of views.’”

Signatories: The letter was signed by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Cornyn (R-TX), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Braun (R-IN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Hoeven (R-ND), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). The DOE did not respond to a request for comment before press time.

Antisemitic: The letter alleges that many of the Near East and Middle East-focused programs that receive DOE funding disproportionately focus their curricula and public output on criticizing Israel, in a way the senators say meets the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. They add that “a core reason college campuses are plagued by antisemitism is because professors who teach the curriculum indoctrinate students with anti-Israel bias and viewpoints.”

Read more here.