The race to succeed Rep. David Trone (D-MD) is becoming increasingly competitive as several new candidates have recently launched campaigns for the open House seat covering western Maryland. Lesley Lopez, a state legislator from Montgomery County, was the second Democrat to enter the primary earlier this month, weeks after Trone announced he would run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). “I saw this as an opportunity to really build on some of the great work he’s doing,” Lopez, 39, said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday. “I really respect how Congressman Trone has created a great standard for constituent services and been a leader on opioids.” 

Still processing: But Lopez was unable to clarify her positions on one of Trone’s top issues: Israel. The three-term congressman, an AIPAC “minyan” donor, has been a staunch supporter of pro-Israel causes during his time in the House, where he is among the most outspoken critics of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. For her part, Lopez said she was not ready to explain her approach to the BDS movement or other key Middle East policy questions such as U.S. security funding to Israel. “I just don’t really know enough to even know what I don’t know yet,” she acknowledged. “I would need to do a little bit more research before really going into the details.”

Appealing to both sides: Lopez said she considers herself a “pragmatic progressive,” claiming that “every bill” she had passed in the state legislature drew backing from members of both parties. “That’s going to be really important in this district,” she said, “being able to advance these ideals in a way where you can gain bipartisan support and work across the aisle with folks.”

Read the full interview with Lesley Lopez here.

Four Israeli civilians were killed and four others wounded yesterday in a terror attack at a gas station in the West Bank, near the settlement of Eli. One of the terrorists was shot dead at the scene; a second assailant was found and killed two hours later by special forces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security assessment last night at the IDF Central Command Headquarters. “Today, next to the community of Eli, a shocking and abhorrent terrorist attack was perpetrated. From the depths of my heart, I send condolences to the families of those who were murdered, may G-d avenge them, and on behalf of the entire people, I send my best wishes for a swift recovery to the wounded,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “I would like to remind all those who seek to harm us: All options are open. We will continue to fight terrorism with full force and we will defeat it.”

State Department reaction: State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller condemned the attack, adding that the U.S. is “also concerned about the continuation of violence in Israel and the West Bank in recent weeks that has killed and injured Palestinian and Israeli civilians” and plans “to work with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to promote steps towards de-escalation.”

Diplomatic tweets: Following the Eli attack, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted that he condemns “in the strongest terms the senseless murder of four innocent Israelis today — my heart is with their grieving family members.” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog tweeted, “Today, yet another heinous Palestinian terror attack claimed the lives of 4 innocent Israeli civilians. There is no justification whatsoever for the targeting and killing of innocent civilians. It must be unequivocally condemned. Any attempt of a so called ‘balanced’ condemnation is misguided and disrespectful to the memory of the victims.”

Saudi timing: In a statement published after the attack in Eli, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israeli actions in Jenin on Monday, where a firefight between IDF troops and Palestinian militants resulted in the deaths of seven people, after a local wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad targeted IDF troops with roadside explosives. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of the Israeli escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories, the latest of which was the aggression on the city of Jenin this morning, which led to killing innocent victims and the injury of others,” the statement read in part. “Four innocent Israeli civilians murdered by Palestinian terrorists and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns Israel,” Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, remarked. “I recall the Israeli PM condemning the Houthis for attacking Saudi Arabia.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed the annual dinner of NGO Jewish Care on Monday evening, where he honored the role of social care providers and joked about having been described as “a nice Jewish boy.” 

Quotable: “A piece in just this week’s Jewish Chronicle suggests, and I quote, ‘Rishi Sunak is a nice Jewish boy,’” Sunak told the audience, to laughter. “Well I can tell you I was pretty flattered…So, I’ve now studied every part of my family tree; my aunts; uncles; cousins, once and twice removed; and tonight I can formally reveal, for the first time; that I have absolutely no Jewish heritage,” he concluded, according to the JC. Jewish Care Chair Jonathan Zenios thanked Sunak in his speech, saying, “Your presence shows us the respect and affection our country has for our community. And those feelings are mutual.”

Noteable: Dame Gail Ronson and Lord Michael Levy also delivered speeches at the dinner, and Jewish singer Craig David performed for the some 1,000 guests. Sunak presented Jewish Care volunteer Rita Roth with a Points of Life award. Also in attendance was Israeli Ambassador to the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely, who thanked Sunak in a Twitter post for his “continued support to the Jewish community and in fighting the BDS campaign through the new legislation.”

Marked absence: But while Sunak enjoyed a warm welcome at the Jewish charity event, the premier received criticism for skipping a House of Commons vote on the Partygate report on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a scandal surrounding parties held during the COVID-19 pandemic, in breach of government restrictions. An overwhelming majority of 354 lawmakers voted for the finding that Johnson was in contempt of Parliament, with seven voting against it and 225 of the former prime minister’s Conservative colleagues failing to show up. Sunak said he had long-standing engagements that day, including the Jewish Care event and a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. 

Philanthropic giving dropped in 2022, down more than 10% after adjusting for inflation from the previous year, according to an annual study by the Giving USA Foundation and Indiana University released on Tuesday, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports. This is only the fourth time that charitable giving has decreased from the previous year in four decades. The previous instances – 1987, 2008 and 2009 – followed the Black Monday crash and the Great Recession, respectively.

Details: The authors of the yearly study – Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy – calculated that individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations gave an estimated $499.33 billion to U.S. charities last year. This represents a 3.4% decline from 2021 – a record high year – when $516.65 billion was donated. Factoring in inflation, that $17.32 billion drop represents a 10.5% reduction, according to the study.

Contributing factors: The study’s authors identified four economic developments in 2022 that contributed to the estimated reduction: flat growth in disposable personal income; 40-year-high inflation rate of 8.0%; a 19.4% drop in the S&P 500, which they said created “economic uncertainty for high-net-worth households and foundations”; and the fact that the decline in the S&P 500 occurred at the end of the year, when charitable donations are more likely to take place.

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