Going into 2026, Jewish community groups say their advocacy priorities for Congress and the federal government remain largely consistent, with a focus across many of the major advocacy organizations on bolstering community security through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and tackling antisemitism online.

While Congress has increased its attention to Jewish communal issues in the years since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, including a string of high-profile hearings on antisemitism and several bills passed to support Israel and combat Iran, many key legislative priorities for the Jewish community — including bills on antisemitism and substantial increases to annual security funding for nonprofits — have remained stubbornly intractable.

Highlighting the expansion of congressional scrutiny of unions, academic associations and tech platforms for their fostering of antisemitism, top Anti-Defamation League officials said that advocating for such oversight work will remain a priority in the coming year, particularly in an environment in which it is difficult to pass any legislation, regardless of the subject.

“We’ll continue focusing on tough oversight, on bipartisan legislation and targeted appropriations,” Lauren Wolman, the ADL’s senior director of government relations and strategy, told Jewish Insider. “The big buckets are that we’ll be pushing Congress to confront antisemitism wherever it appears, including within one’s own party; protecting houses of worship with increased security funding; demanding real transparency and accountability from tech platforms; advancing comprehensive federal legislation to counter antisemitism and taking action to ensure that Jewish students are safe on campus.”

Asked about how the organization plans to ensure progress on legislation that has been difficult to achieve in past years, Wolman emphasized that there had been “historic momentum” this year for increased security funding, and said that ADL would “focus on levers that move policy, so oversight, legislation, appropriations” and leverage “the value of transparency, bipartisanship and coalitions.”

Max Sevillia, the ADL’s senior vice president of national affairs, said that the organization will focus on must-pass legislation such as appropriations and the National Defense Authorization Act, and emphasized that “legislating on any issue, including fighting antisemitism, oftentimes, is not a one-session effort. So we don’t give up on our priorities.”

He said that, even if major legislation did not pass this session, the group is “better positioned” to advance key priorities with the additional attention they’ve received since Oct. 7.

Sevillia said that the HEAL Act, examining Holocaust education; the Protecting Students on Campus Act, which aims to facilitate Title VI discrimination complaints; and the Pray Safe Act, which would create a central database of security resources for institutions, will remain priority bills in the new year. 

ADL is also supporting the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA), a bipartisan Senate bill that would require social media companies to share additional data with the public and with researchers, including regarding hate incidents and policies, and how platforms are responding to them.

“Congress really needs to require platforms to provide meaningful transparency into content moderation practices, algorithmic amplification and enforcement of their hate speech policies,” Wolman said.

Wolman said the ADL also continues to pursue a “comprehensive … whole-of-government” package of legislation on antisemitism, a prospect that has remained elusive. The Countering Antisemitism Act, a package along those lines, received bipartisan support in the previous Congress, but ultimately proved unwieldy — facing opposition on both sides of the aisle in both chambers.

Wolman said that ADL will be pressing Congress to focus on college campuses, K-12 education, academic professional associations, health care and technology platforms, including Wikipedia and artificial intelligence, in its oversight capacity and for potential hearings next year.

Sitting down with JI on Capitol Hill earlier this month, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch said that his organization’s priorities for the remainder of 2025 included urging lawmakers to stand with the Jewish community and attend menorah lightings in the wake of the Sydney, Australia, shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.

Going into 2026, the group is also focused on pressing lawmakers to tackle antisemitism online, particularly ensuring social media companies are addressing the foreign actors driving much of that content, as well as the antisemitism that has proliferated in AI-generated posts.

The new X policy disclosing users’ locations “confirm[ed] what we all know, which is there is this ongoing effort by malign actors around the world to influence what happens here, to stoke antisemitism, to polarize our community,” Deutch said.

Deutch said that AJC also looks forward to working with Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, who was confirmed this month as the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. Additionally, the group is pressing the Department of Justice to take action to address protests that block access to religious institutions. He said AJC is open to supporting new legislation on the subject, if necessary.

In his interview with JI, Deutch also urged Jewish communal organizations to come together around a common agenda, arguing that the current security environment demands a unified message and a coordinated push.

The Jewish Federations of North America will be focused on the six-point security plan laid out by many major Jewish groups following the Capital Jewish Museum shooting earlier this year, which includes massive increases to security grant funding and efforts to address antisemitism online, as well as antisemitism in K-12 and higher education and mental and physical health care spaces; the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program and social safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid.

“I think security and combating antisemitism are top of mind across our community, and that’s clearly reflected in our aggressive work to increase nonprofit security funds, tackle hate on social media, and advance our six-point security plan,” JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut told JI. 

“But we aren’t forgetting other critical issues that we care about, including legislation supporting Holocaust survivors and protect[ing] the most vulnerable in our communities,” Fingerhut continued. “With our new flagship public affairs office up and running, we are also expanding our investment to ensure local Federations come to Washington regularly to strengthen our relationships on the Hill.” 

Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, said that OU’s priorities will include additional NSGP funding, allocating resources from the Department of Justice for Jewish community security, implementing the Educational Choice for Children Act — legislation passed in this year’s reconciliation bill creating tax credits for educational scholarships — and, like AJC, urging the Department of Justice to “aggressively prosecut[e] those who mount ‘protests’ at Shuls.”

In the pro-Israel space, a source familiar with AIPAC’s plans told JI that the group’s general priorities next year will include expanding U.S.-Israel collaboration in security, technology and economic spaces; supporting U.S. aid to Israel; highlighting the ongoing security threats to Israel, including Iran’s efforts to rebuild its missile arsenal and nuclear program and its support for proxies; and working to achieve Hamas and Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The source said AIPAC will release a more comprehensive agenda early next year.