The United Kingdom, France and Canada threatened on Monday to take “concrete actions” and impose sanctions against Israel if it does not change its policies on humanitarian aid and the war in Gaza, as well as settlements in the West Bank.

The statement from the three countries came in response to Israel’s announcement that it had begun an escalation in the fighting in Gaza, while allowing in a limited amount of food, 11 weeks after blocking all aid in an attempt to pressure Hamas to free more hostages.

A group of top House Republicans wrote to Harvard University on Monday, questioning the school about alleged work on research funded by the Iranian government, as well as members of the Chinese government.

The letter accuses Harvard researchers of working with Chinese academics on research funded by the Iranian National Science Foundation, an entity chartered by the Iranian government and ultimately controlled by the Iranian supreme leader.

Catholic-Jewish dialogue is “very precious” and must continue, Pope Leo XIV said at an audience with leaders of other religions on Monday, according to Italian news wire ANSA.

“Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism,” the pope said. “Theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains always important and is very close to my heart.” 

Democratic Majority for Israel, a top pro-Israel advocacy group, is announcing a new president and board chair, after a recent leadership shake-up that resulted in the sudden departure of its founder last month.

The organization said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Friday that Brian Romick, a longtime senior aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), will serve as president and CEO, succeeding Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic pollster who founded the group in 2019 to counter growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left.

Will the recent surge of antisemitism on college campuses mark the end of an era for Jews at elite universities? Jewish scholars analyzed the current crisis — and debated whether Jewish students still belong at elite bastions of higher education — at a symposium hosted by the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, NYC, on Sunday. 

Rabbi David Wolpe, a former visiting scholar at Harvard University Divinity School, delivered the event’s opening address.“I certainly don’t think that we should abandon great citadels of learning or be chased out of them, although to be there takes fortitude that I don’t think should be asked of every student,” Wolpe said. “So I’m going to give a selective answer: it depends who.” 

The sweet scent of maple syrup wafting through the air and the sound of pancakes sizzling on a griddle: For decades, that was the quintessential Shabbat morning in Keith and Aviva Siegel’s home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel. 

In that home, the couple’s four children — and eventually five grandchildren — would gather for family meals centered around pancakes — a recipe that originally belonged to Keith’s mother, a recipe that “brings back memories of special and happy family times,” he told Jewish Insider.   

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing sharp criticism from the city’s only Jewish alderman over his decision to appoint a local activist who was caught on video tearing down posters of Israeli hostages to a prominent city commission. 

Ishan Daya, the co-director of a think tank called the Institute for Public Good, was named to Johnson’s new Chicago Fiscal Sustainability Working Group, which will make recommendations to the mayor for a long-term financial plan for the city. The group’s other members include prominent Chicagoans working at institutions including Google, United Way, Microsoft and Chicago Urban League.

Warning that “the entire population of the Gaza Strip … is facing acute levels of hunger,” a group of 30 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), introduced a resolution on Thursday condemning Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid moving into Gaza and calling on the Trump administration to work to end it.

The resolution states that the senators are “gravely concerned” with the “humanitarian crisis and acute suffering of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and “the suffering of the hostages and hostage families.”