The American Jewish Committee criticized President Donald Trump for his executive order barring travel into the United States for citizens of 12 countries as lacking “a clear connection to the underlying problem” of domestic antisemitism and potentially having “an adverse impact on other longstanding immigration and refugee policies.”

The administration framed the announcement as a response to the antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., carried out by an immigrant from Egypt who overstayed a work permit. The AJC’s response echoes the cautious, skeptical approach it and other major nonpartisan Jewish organizations have taken to other actions by the Trump administration to combat antisemitism, including revoking visas from international students and cutting funding from universities.

Trump signed the directive on Wednesday restricting travel from seven countries and outright banned travel from 12 others, arguing the move was necessary to prevent “foreign terrorists” and other national security threats from entering the U.S. The countries whose citizens are now banned from entering the U.S. are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Some citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will be restricted from traveling to the U.S. Egypt is not covered under the order.

In a statement released on Thursday, the AJC expressed gratitude that the administration “is trying to mobilize as many levers as it can to counter” the surge in antisemitic attacks while noting its concern that the “broad” order will “prevent those in need of real refuge from entering the U.S. in line with the longstanding American tradition of welcoming those forced to leave their countries to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.”

“We fully agree with the administration that entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted and those who overstay visas can pose national security threats. Being able to enter and stay in the United States is a privilege, and thorough protocols to ensure entry of foreign nationals to the U.S. in a way that protects national security are vital,” the statement reads, calling for proper funding for the State Department to vet visa applicants.

The Trump administration is pushing for sweeping State Department funding cuts.

“Throughout AJC’s nearly 120-year history, we have supported fair and just immigration policies for people of all races, religions, and national origins, and advocated for an inclusive America that provides safe haven for those fleeing persecution and seeking to contribute to the United States. It remains our strong belief that it is possible to allow for just immigration and refugee policies while upholding the national security of the United States,” the statement continued. 

The organization went on to urge the Trump administration to lift its suspension of the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program (USRAP), arguing that the pause had left “many already vetted and cleared applicants for asylum with little hope.” It also called for a refugee admissions cap no lower than 75,000.

Several major Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, pushed in the first Trump administration to overturn its travel ban policy, which targeted seven majority-Muslim countries. ADL did not provide comment on the new announcement.

Many progressive-minded Jewish groups have condemned the new travel ban.

The Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will reopen on Thursday, eight days after the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members outside of the museum. 

The building’s reopening will feature a program to honor the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who were killed on May 21 while leaving an event at the museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

Speakers at the reopening program will include the museum’s leadership, Executive Director Beatrice Gurwitz and Board Chair Chris Wolf, local elected officials including Mayor Muriel Bowser and local clergy. 

“We will gather as a community to remember Yaron and Sarah as our thoughts remain with their loved ones,” Gurwitz said in a statement. “This tragedy will not keep us from telling the story of the greater Washington region’s Jewish history for visitors from around the world.” 

Lischinsky and Milgrim met while working at the embassy. Lischinsky recently purchased an engagement ring, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said following the shooting, and he planned to propose on an upcoming trip to Jerusalem. 

The alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, entered the building after carrying out the shooting and shouted “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza,” per an eyewitness. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. He is eligible for the death penalty, according to Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington. 

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.

Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints. 

“The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to support the Jewish people and Holocaust survivors by helping them recover art confiscated by the Nazis that they are rightfully owed and give them the justice and restitution they deserve,” Cornyn said in a statement. 

“The theft of art by the Nazi regime was more than a pilfering of property — it was an act of inhumanity. Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis,” Blumenthal said. 

Many families of Holocaust victims in the U.S. who have located artwork from deceased relatives and sued to recover those items face the deadline at the end of next year before the statute of limitations sets in. Thousands of stolen works of art remain unreturned to their rightful owners from the Nazi plunder, and there are scores of ongoing cases to resolve disputes over ownership of those items. 

“Unfortunately, many museums, governments, and institutions have contradicted Congress’ intent and obstructed justice by stonewalling legitimate claims, obscuring provenance, and employing aggressive legal tactics designed to exhaust and outlast Survivors and their families. Rather than embracing transparency and reconciliation, too many have chosen to entrench and litigate, effectively preserving possession of stolen works rather than returning them to their rightful owners,” a press release for the bill states.

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Katie Britt (R-AL) co-sponsored the bill, which was endorsed by a number of Jewish organizations including Agudath Israel of America, the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federations of North America, StandWithUs and World Jewish Congress, among others. 

“This legislation helps to right a historic wrong committed during one of the darkest chapters in history. By eliminating unnecessary legal obstacles, the HEAR Act establishes a clear path to restitution for Holocaust survivors and their families, ensuring that art and cultural property stolen by the Nazis can finally be returned to their rightful owners,” Tillis said.

Fetterman said in a statement, “Eighty years after the Holocaust, we have a moral responsibility to do right by the victims of these atrocities and their families. I’m grateful to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing the HEAR Act to help return artwork stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners.”

Antisemitic violence struck at the heart of the nation’s capital on Wednesday evening when an assailant shot and killed two Israeli embassy employees outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

“Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” embassy spokesperson Tal Naim Cohen said in a statement. “We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.”

Officials said there was no ongoing threat to public safety and that a suspect had been arrested.

“American Jewish Committee (AJC) can confirm that we hosted an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. this evening,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue. At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”

President Donald Trump said in a statement, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said that a man and woman were killed in the incident. Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter said that the two victims were a young couple and embassy employees who were planning to get engaged next week in Jerusalem — the man purchased a ring earlier this week.

Eyewitness Paige Siegel, who was a guest at the event, told Jewish Insider that she heard two sets of multiple shots ring out, and then an individual, who police have since identified as suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez, entered the building appearing disoriented and panicked, seconds after the shooting ended. She said security allowed the man in, as well as two other women separately.

Siegel said she spoke to the man, asking him if he had been shot. He appeared panicked and was mumbling and repeatedly told bystanders to call the police. Siegel said that she felt the man was suspicious.

JoJo Drake Kalin, a member of AJC’s DC Young Professional Board and an organizer of the event, also told JI the man appeared disheveled and out of breath when he entered the building. Kalin assumed he had been a bystander to the shooting who needed assistance and she handed him a glass of water.

Siegel said that the man was sitting in the building in a state of distress for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, and she and a friend engaged him in conversation, informing him that he was in the Jewish museum.

After Siegel said that, she said the man started screaming, “I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” and opened a backpack, withdrawing a red Keffiyeh. She said that an officer, who had already arrived, detained the man and took him outside. She said that she subsequently saw security footage of Rodriguez shooting the female and identified the shooter as the same individual. Kalin said that some attendees stayed for several hours at the museum into the night to be debriefed by police.

A short video obtained by JI showed an individual in the lobby of the museum chanting “Free, free Palestine” being detained by police and removed from the building.

A video obtained by Jewish Insider shows the suspected shooter, identified by police as Elias Rodriguez, in the lobby of the Capital Jewish Museum chanting “free, free Palestine” as he is detained by police and removed from the building.

Full story: https://t.co/ZGZBj9agQx pic.twitter.com/zZUbTvovFm

— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) May 22, 2025

Smith said in a press conference that the suspect, Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, opened fire on a group of four outside the museum, and then entered the building and was detained by event security. Smith said that Rodriguez, once in custody, implied that he carried out the shooting and chanted “free, free Palestine.”

Smith said Rodriguez had been pacing outside the event before the altercation.

Leiter said that he had spoken to President Donald Trump, who vowed that the administration would do everything it can to fight antisemitism and demonization and delegitimization of Israel.

“We’ll stand together tall and firm and confront this moral depravity without fear,” Leiter said.

Smith said that police would coordinate with local Jewish organizations to ensure sufficient security. She said police had not received any intelligence warning of the attack.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “we will not tolerate antisemitism,” and said the city would continue to assist Jewish organizations with security grants.

FBI officials and Attorney General Pam Bondi and interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro joined the response alongside D.C. police.

“We are a resilient people. The people of Israel are a resilient people. The people of the United States of America are a resilient people. Together, we won’t be afraid. Together we will stand and overcome moral depravity of people who think they’re going to achieve political gains through murder,” Leiter said. 

According to an invitation to the event viewed by JI, the event planned to discuss efforts to respond to humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa, including in Gaza.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, described the shooting as a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told JI, “I’ve been informed of the tragic shooting that occurred outside of the Capitol Jewish Museum tonight in Washington D.C. We are monitoring the situation as more details become known and lifting up the victim’s families in our prayers.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a post, “This sickening shooting seems to be another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society.”

Richard Priem, the CEO of the Community Security Service, told eJewishPhilanthropy that there are still “so many unknowns” about the shooting, namely if it was a sophisticated attack specifically targeting Israeli Embassy staff or an attack more generally against the Jewish event itself. In any case, the organization called for “increased situational awareness” at Jewish institutions going forward, particularly ahead of Shabbat.

“Anytime there’s an attack, certain people get activated and think, ’Now’s the time,’” Priem said. “But we don’t know yet if there might be a direct correlated threat.”

eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross contributed reporting

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.” 

A day after his inauguration ceremony in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV spoke positively of Nostra Aetate, an official declaration made in 1965 that instituted a less adversarial approach by the church to Judaism.

That document, he said, “underlines the greatness of the spiritual heritage common to Christians and Jews, encouraging mutual knowledge and esteem.” 

In that context, the new pope spoke of “difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings.” He was apparently referring to the war in Gaza and his predecessor’s focus on Palestinian suffering and repeated condemnations of Israeli actions, which raised concerns among Jews in Italy and beyond.

Still, he said, “it is necessary to continue with enthusiasm this very precious dialogue of ours.” 

Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni and the American Jewish Committee’s Director of Interreligious Affairs Rabbi Noam Marans, among other Jewish leaders, attended the meeting with the pope.

Marans gave Pope Leo XIV, who is from Chicago, a White Sox hat, which elicited a big smile, according to an AJC spokesperson. The rabbi also gave the pope a copy of the AJC’s Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition, a book about antisemitism.

Pope Leo XIV’s statements come 10 days after he sent a letter to Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, saying that he “pledge[s] to continue and strengthen the church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate.” 

Prominent Jewish Italian journalist Maurizio Molinari told Jewish Insider last week that “the key is the reference to Nostra Aetate. He understands that the very base of the dialogue with the Jews was put at risk.”

Several major Jewish organizations welcomed President Donald Trump’s executive order on Wednesday calling on every federal agency and department to review and report on civil and criminal actions available within their jurisdiction to fight antisemitism. 

Some groups also expressed caution that deportations carried out under the executive order could conflict with the First Amendment. 

Under the executive order, the Department of Justice is directed to review existing antisemitism cases and prepare to more actively bring legal action against those who commit acts of antisemitism in violation of federal civil rights laws. The Department of Education is directed to conduct a thorough review of pending Title VI complaints and investigations. 

The order also “demands the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws,” according to a White House fact sheet. 

The executive order expands on a 2019 executive order combating antisemitism issued during the first Trump administration, which said that federal agencies must utilize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism when investigating Title VI civil rights violations.

Amid soaring antisemitism in the U.S. since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network, called for “every lawful tool [to] be at the disposal of our federal law enforcement and public safety partners to be able to mitigate threats and stop violence against Jews before it happens.” 

“Violent criminals who attack Jews or provide material support to designated terrorist organizations like Hamas, ISIS, or Iran and its proxies should not find safe harbor on American soil,” Masters told Jewish Insider. “Those criminals should be prosecuted in full accordance with the law; people must understand that America does not and will not stand for religious hate crimes against Jews or any religious group, nor will it —– or the people who foment it —– be tolerated.”

Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, told JI that the group “applauds President Trump’s EO on additional steps to combat antisemitism.”

“The American Jewish community, sadly, has endured an unprecedented assault upon our religious freedoms, and it requires an unprecedented response by those charged with protecting us as citizens,” Diament said. 

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement that “combating antisemitism requires a whole-of-government approach, and we are eager to see every federal agency and department take concrete measures to address this scourge.”  

“We welcome this effort by President Trump to put the full force of the federal government against rising antisemitism in our country,” Greenblatt said, adding that since Trump returned to the White House last week, “the increased enforcement of university policies already has started to make a significant difference in the campus environment — and more should be done.”

“We hope that holding perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law — including, where applicable, violations of one’s visa conditions — will have a similar effect,” Greenblatt said. 

Greenblatt noted that while the ADL applauds “strong action and severe consequences for those who commit violent crimes or otherwise break the law,” he called for “any immigration-related ramifications” to be “consistent with due process and existing federal statutes and regulations.”

“They also should not be used to target individuals for their constitutionally protected speech,” Greenblatt said. 

The American Jewish Committee welcomed the order. “We endorse without hesitation the instruction to identify statutes to prevent discrimination against Jews, and the call to apply existing laws to address civil rights violations relating to antisemitism in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against Israel,” a statement from AJC read. “With that said, it is vital that other provisions in the Executive Order which have the potential to be broadly interpreted to threaten certain ethnic and religious groups be implemented with strict adherence to existing law.”

The Nexus Task Force, which pushes for a definition of antisemitism favored by progressives as an alternative to the widely embraced IHRA definition, condemned the new executive order, arguing that it does violate free speech. “The order cynically weaponizes legitimate concerns about Jewish safety to suppress constitutionally protected speech and threatens vulnerable student populations,” Jonathan Jacoby, the group’s national director, said in a statement. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement that the executive order left “many unanswered questions.”

These include, according to Spitalnick, “how it will actually be applied; how it intersects with and could undermine civil liberties; how the federal government will actually enforce hate crimes laws, given the freeze on civil rights cases and other disturbing steps taken over the past week; and more. Everyone in the United States has basic due process rights, and when we start applying them selectively we don’t only threaten our values – we ultimately threaten our safety too.” 

Another leading Jewish group, the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI it would need time to review the executive order before commenting.