Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL): ‘It is disingenuous for El-Sayed to try to distance himself from Piker without specifically condemning, refuting, or even just rejecting Piker’s hateful rhetoric’
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Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) speaks during the New Democrat Coalition news conference on its policy platform for the 119th Congress in the Capitol on February 26, 2024.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleAs more Democratic lawmakers join the chorus calling out influencer Hasan Piker over his comments that Jews’ support for Israel invites antisemitic violence, a growing number of moderate Democratic lawmakers said that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s efforts to distance himself from Piker, a campaign surrogate, haven’t gone far enough.
“Hasan Piker’s recent ‘victim-blaming’ comments inciting violence against American Jews reflect one of the oldest strategies long deployed by bigots and tyrants alike. His most recent diatribe is consistent with his history of antisemitic statements,” Rep. Brad Schnieder (D-IL), a co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus and chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said in a statement.
Schneider said that El-Sayed had “so-far refused to condemn the words of Hasan Piker, his friend and frequent campaign surrogate.”
“It is disingenuous for El-Sayed to try to distance himself from Piker without specifically condemning, refuting, or even just rejecting Piker’s hateful rhetoric,” Schneider continued. “Claiming that no one speaks for him except himself and his team is not enough. The Jewish community in Michigan deserves outright condemnation of rhetoric that threatens their safety and very identity.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed similar sentiments.
“El-Sayed’s response was pathetic and it did not answer the call,” Gottheimer said on Fox News. “He did not condemn Piker. He didn’t even mention Piker. He didn’t condemn what Piker said. He didn’t say I will never campaign with this guy again. … Frankly, he should not only condemn him, but no Democratic members should allow Piker anywhere near them on the campaign trail, they should have nothing to do with this guy. And anybody who does and has not condemned him bears responsibility for some of these comments like that.”
Gottheimer also urged House Republican leadership to call up his resolution with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) condemning both Piker and far-right antisemitic influencer Candace Owens for a vote when the House returns to session next week — a move to force progressive lawmakers who have allied and associated with Piker to take a clear stance on the record about Piker’s history of antisemitism.
El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also reiterated his previous condemnations of Piker’s comments in an appearance on CNN, confirming that he had been referring to Piker in a statement the day prior, which did not name the influencer specifically.
“Those comments were dangerous, malicious and antisemitic and should not be tolerated by anyone in the public square,” Jeffries said. “Everybody, regardless of ideological perspective, should be willing to denounce this rise of antisemitic rhetoric, hate crimes and bigotry, and actually try to move us to a society where we embrace everyone — even where there are differences on issues, be they foreign or domestic. The notion that people should be targeted because of their religious beliefs or ethnicity or race, whatever the case may be, that’s fundamentally inconsistent with who we are in this country.”
Piker dismissed the criticism from various Democrats as the result of an “aipac boss call.”
“they are unanimous in their hatred of me, and i welcome their hatred. if you’re a defender of israel’s genocide, of its occupation, of its child killing spree – then your boos mean nothing to me,” Piker wrote on X.
Other Democrats joined Jeffries in condemning Piker.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a co-chair of the bipartisan Senate antisemitism task force, called the comments a “new low,” even for someone who “has been trafficking in antisemitic tropes for a while.”
“Blaming Jewish Americans for the violence and hate they’re facing is not just wrong, it provides an excuse to those perpetuating these anti-Jewish hate crimes,” Rosen said. “Let me be absolutely clear: crimes against Jews for being Jews is antisemitism plain and simple. There’s no excuse for it.”
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “This shouldn’t be hard: no community should face the threat of violence for their political views.”
“In a time where political violence and anti-semitism has been spiking— and where just 6 months ago Michigan had a nearly deadly event of anti-semitic mass violence at Temple Israel — no one should causally be suggesting that anyone, Jews or otherwise, are to blame for being targeted,” Slotkin said.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) emphasized the pattern of “the extremes of American politics” of blaming Jews for antisemitism.
“Let me put it plainly: there is absolutely no justification for antisemitism. There never has been, and there never will be,” Torres said. “No amount of victim-blaming or gaslighting by Hasan Piker can shift moral responsibility away from where it belongs: the antisemites who commit acts of violence and terror against Jews.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that “Piker’s dangerous and hateful language targeting Jewish Americans has no place in our civic discourse. Suggesting that Jewish Americans bear responsibility for hatred or violence directed against them is wrong, dangerous, and antisemitic” and that his commentary goes well beyond debate over Israeli or American policy.
“No American should be told that their political beliefs make them responsible for hatred or violence directed against them,” Booker continued. “There is a bright line between vigorous debate and rhetoric that stokes hatred toward our neighbors. Mr. Piker has crossed that line, repeatedly and unmistakably.”
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), who chairs the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition, said, “Framing violence against Jewish Americans as something they brought on themselves shifts the blame from the perpetrators onto the very people they want to harm.”
Meanwhile, at least one progressive House Democrat is taking a different approach, calling out the growing number of Democrats who are condemning Piker.
“When the head of a major left-leaning DC think tank regularly gets in fights with the Dem base and progressive influencers on social media, almost in an irrational and uncontrollable way, does that ultimately hurt the think tank?” left-wing Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) said, an apparent reference to Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden, a vocal Piker critic on social media.
Plus, Moskowitz named to powerful Mideast post
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks before Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 6, 2024.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social today that the Navy informed him that “all mines have been removed and/or detonated” in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. has notified Iran “that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed.” The U.S. Space Force is monitoring the strait as well as Iran’s nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, for any suspicious activity, he added…
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran today that he is hopeful the two countries “will soon announce a temporary corridor for the Strait of Hormuz and practical arrangements to restore safe navigation,” while continuing to work towards a permanent agreement on administering the waterway. The Omani Foreign Ministry further specified that the parties aim to establish a joint effort to clear the strait of mines — despite Trump’s announcement that all have been cleared…
The State Department is preparing to send some foreign service officers and other diplomats back to work at embassies in Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait that were evacuated or had staffing reductions during the Iran war, according to a State Department document obtained by The New York Times, potentially indicating the Trump administration does not expect hostilities to resume…
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel has expelled officials from the Netherlands from the military and humanitarian coordination hub for Gaza located in Kiryat Gat due to “a series of anti-Israel moves by the Dutch government,” including a new law prohibiting trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank…
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed doubled down on his anti-Israel rhetoric during an event at a Dearborn church today, Jewish Insider‘s Matthew Kassel reports, a day after the nominee drew renewed scrutiny over his ongoing association with antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed declined to confirm if he hopes to win an endorsement from state Sen. Jeremy Moss — a Jewish Democratic nominee for a congressional seat in the Detroit area who is a key holdout in offering his backing — and said that his support for ending aid to Israel is “about making sure that in our foreign policy, we substantiate equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinian folk”…
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) was named ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, where he said he will “work to strengthen America’s relationships with Israel and our Gulf allies.”
A source familiar with the situation told JI’s Marc Rod that, since outgoing ranking member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) would have been unable to remain in the post next year, he decided to give up the position early to help support Moskowitz in his reelection race — in a South Florida district with a substantial pro-Israel constituency where the leadership position will further bolster Moskowitz’s profile — and to pass off committee leadership to a preferred successor….
A new New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll released today found that nearly half of voters in Pennsylvania view Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat mulling a presidential bid in 2028, as “about right on support of Israel,” even as he has faced skepticism from the far left over his pro-Israel views, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Sixty percent of Democrats said they were satisfied with his support for the Jewish state; 39% of Republicans said the same, while another 40% said he is not supportive enough…
The Department of Justice announced today that a 26-year-old Ohio man had been arrested and charged for sending an email threatening to kill Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and his family, saying he would behead the Jewish congressman and calling him a Nazi, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
The IDF said it views with “utmost severity” an incident involving far-right MK Zvi Sukkot and his aides who, during a requested tour of the Palestinian town of Madama, attacked a memorial — dubbed the “Martyrs’ Monument” — with a sledgehammer, an incident which was captured on video. The IDF said the tour participants “acted deceptively and manipulatively” while accompanied by IDF soldiers “who had been diverted from their operational activities for this purpose … while the IDF is operating under significant operational strain”…
The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that was backed by the U.S. in the fight against ISIS, has officially dissolved, SDF head Mazloum Abdi announced at the presidential palace in Damascus today. The group has completed its merger into the Syrian army under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Abdi said — the culmination of a fraught integration process that followed months of deadly clashes between government and Kurdish forces…
Assouline, the luxury publisher known for turning global cities into vibrant $100 coffee-table books, has focused its lens on several Middle Eastern capitals over the years — most recently Beirut. But out of hundreds of titles spanning the globe, not a single Israeli city has made the cut, despite co-founder Prosper Assouline‘s Moroccan Jewish roots, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Jewish leaders are viewing Rep. Jamie Raskin‘s (D-MD) investigation into the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on campus antisemitism.
Israeli singer Omer Adam will marry his partner Sacha Israelovich at a converted 14th-century Christian monastery in the Italian seaside village of Portofino tomorrow, after having held a civil ceremony today. Hassidic singer Motty Steinmetz is expected to perform at the celebration, reportedly prompting gender-segregated seating for the guests.
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CONFRONTING HATE
Jeffries blasts Piker’s claims that American Jews are inciting antisemitic violence
House Minority Leader: ‘There is zero justification for threats against the safety of our Jewish brothers and sisters at a moment of rising hate’
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Jewish leaders speak out against actor Mark Ruffalo’s ‘antisemitic’ attack against Ellison family
Rabbi Noah Farkas, CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles: ‘California has a special obligation to … protect the people who power this industry from antisemitism’
At a Dearborn church, El-Sayed declined to say whether he’d like to win an endorsement from state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democratic holdout
JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP via Getty Images
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed departs with his wife, Sarah Jukaku (R) after a press conference on August 5, 2026.
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, doubled down on his anti-Israel rhetoric on Tuesday — a day after he drew renewed scrutiny over his ongoing association with antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.
Speaking at a Dearborn church, El-Sayed declined to confirm if he hopes to win an endorsement from state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democratic nominee for a congressional seat in the Detroit area, whom Piker had recently targeted on his show while arguing that Jews who support Israel are inviting violence against themselves.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat that we have our disagreements, especially when it comes to foreign policy and the best use of our tax dollars,” El-Sayed said of Moss at the event on Tuesday, billed as “Hate Has No Home in Michigan.”
“And the plurality of Michigan Democratic primary voters nominated me to be the Democratic nominee,” he added.
While reiterating his opposition to antisemitism and appreciation for Judaism, he said that his support for ending aid to Israel is “about making sure that in our foreign policy, we substantiate equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinian folk.”
“I’d rather my tax dollars not get spent to take away some people’s self-determination that could be used to empower other folks here,” El-Sayed argued in his remarks.
The comments suggest El-Sayed is continuing to play to his far-left voting base, even as his hostile views on Israel have alienated Jewish Democrats whom he will likely need to win the competitive battleground state.
Moss, for his part, is among the most prominent Democratic holdouts on El-Sayed, whose modest effort to distance himself from Piker on Monday drove a wedge between the two nominees.
In a statement posted to X on Monday, El-Sayed made no mention of either Piker or Moss, omissions that drew backlash from critics. Instead, he said that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” while downplaying Piker as a “Twitch steamer” who would not define the contest. He did not say if his relationship with Piker, who has been a top surrogate for his campaign, would change moving forward.
“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters,” he went on in his statement. “Antisemitism is a scourge and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk.”
The statement reportedly disrupted a conversation between the two nominees regarding an endorsement from Moss that is now in question — even as the state senator has vowed not to back El-Sayed’s Republican rival, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), who has been courting Jewish Democrats.
Moss, in a statement released Monday, said that he and El-Sayed have been in “continual dialogue” about shared goals such as fighting “MAGA extremism” and “Jewish and Arab safety and security.”
“There is still work ahead to unite our ticket despite our differences,” Moss added, without confirming if he would back El-Sayed. “It won’t happen overnight, nor should it. It will require continuing outreach that is credible and authentic.”
Jessica “Decky” Alexander, the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus chair, said that several campaigns and Jewish voices had urged El-Sayed’s team to release a statement on Monday countering Piker’s comments. “Whether they would have or not” without such prompting, “I do not know, but there is a comment,” she told Jewish Insider, calling his response a sign of “definite forward movement.”
“Many caucus members have shared that they would like him to disavow Piker,” she clarified on Tuesday.
Plus, Bessent's plan to make Iran an 'economic outcast'
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during his weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on March 19, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this afternoon that the Trump administration is launching “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran, an effort aimed at severing Tehran’s global economic ties in order to “collapse every last option” for the regime, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
The Treasury Department designated over 60 entities, individuals and vessels “that enable the Iranian regime to procure illicit nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations and generate oil revenue,” Bessent said, while President Donald Trump “is making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime”…
The Treasury Department also redesignated Hezbollah, already a Foreign Terrorist Organization, for acting as a proxy of the Iranian regime under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and sanctioned 10 individuals who were part of a network transferring funds to Hezbollah through couriers on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed today that Iran tried to assassinate one of his sons: “Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” he said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, without specifying which of his two sons was the target…
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) today denounced comments by antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker claiming that Jews are inviting antisemitic attacks against themselves by supporting Israel, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
Jeffries wrote on X that the “malicious claim that American Jews are inviting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic,” without naming Piker directly. “We will fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now,” he said…
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, meanwhile, distanced himself from Piker but did not name him nor address the substance of his comments.
El-Sayed insisted that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” despite having campaigned prominently with Piker, and went on to downplay Piker as “a Twitch streamer” who will not define the race or his campaign. He did not say whether his or his campaign’s relationship with Piker will change going forward…
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) condemned Piker outright, calling him “a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance.” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has previously appeared on Piker’s show, also rejected the streamer’s comments, telling JI’s Marc Rod that “Jews are not the cause of [antisemitism]. Neither are people who support Israel. Antisemites are to blame. That’s it”…
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) attended three AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in Los Angeles yesterday with another planned for today, according to The New York Times, as reporting emerges about a growing rift between Rogers and the pro-Israel group as he runs for U.S. Senate.
Rogers reportedly told Michael Tuchin, AIPAC’s board chair, that the group should consider whether it is the best messenger against El-Sayed, though he did not explicitly say he did not want its support and its United Democracy Project super PAC is still considering running ads backing Rogers…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned comments by Brooklyn Democratic leader Carmella Charrington attacking Jewish investors with whom she is engaged in a property dispute as “Zionists” and suggesting some link between her situation and Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
“Suggesting that an alleged deed theft in Brooklyn is part of a global conspiracy involving Jewish people is blatant, reprehensible antisemitism. Trafficking in these dangerous antisemitic tropes is vile and inexcusable,” the mayor’s office told JI’s Will Bredderman, after initially avoiding his questions on the issue at a press conference earlier today. However, the administration did not answer a follow-up question about whether the mayor believes Charrington should step aside from her district leader role…
Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel organizations condemned actor Mark Ruffalo for using what they deemed antisemitic rhetoric in his recent social media commentary targeting the Ellison family amid the pending merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said Ruffalo’s “unhinged rant, which combined Jewish wealth, media control, secret technology and sinister global power, is not legitimate criticism. It draws on recognizable antisemitic tropes with a long and dangerous history”…
As New York magazine continues to come under fire for a recent cover issue depicting the rise of Southwest Asian and North African culture in New York City while taking a hostile view of Israel, the magazine said its editors decided “genocide” is an “accurate description” of Israel’s actions in Gaza and therefore “its use would be allowed in our pages,” claiming that “accusations of antisemitic intent” in usage of the word “were in fact obfuscating an overwhelming scholarly consensus”…
The Trump administration formally revoked Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism today at the end of the 45-day congressional notification period, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, in order to “eliminate the final major barriers for private sector investment in Syria and promote Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy.”
Rubio also revoked the designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — a group that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa led until he assumed the presidency in January 2025 — as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, after having removed HTS from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list last year…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
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Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a preview of tomorrow’s Senate special election runoff in South Carolina, where Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) still has the backing of much of the GOP establishment, including President Donald Trump, in her race against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi is expected to visit Iran tomorrow, as the two countries continue negotiations over administering the Strait of Hormuz amid the announcement of the new U.S. economic campaign against Tehran.
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House Minority Leader: ‘There is zero justification for threats against the safety of our Jewish brothers and sisters at a moment of rising hate’
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during the March for Israel on the National Mall November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) issued a strong rejection of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker’s comments last week that Jewish supporters of Israel are inciting antisemitic violence against themselves, though he did not name Piker personally.
“The malicious claim that American Jews are inviting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic,” Jeffries wrote on X on Monday. “There is zero justification for threats against the safety of our Jewish brothers and sisters at a moment of rising hate. We will fight the cancer of antisemitism with the fierce urgency of now.”
The comments mark the most prominent denunciation of Piker from a Democratic leader thus far, following criticisms of the streamer from other Democratic lawmakers and moves by some who have affiliated or campaigned with Piker to distance themselves from his comments.
Jeffries’ statement was notably more direct and tougher than the response of Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee who campaigned with Piker in the closing week of the primary. El-Sayed earlier on Monday put out a statement distancing himself from the streamer without addressing the substance of Piker’s antisemitic remarks.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles: ‘California has a special obligation to … protect the people who power this industry from antisemitism’
Hoda Davaine/Getty Images
Mark Ruffalo attends a screening at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Jan. 28, 2026 in London, England.
Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel organizations condemned actor Mark Ruffalo for using what they deemed antisemitic rhetoric in his social media commentary targeting the Ellison family amid the pending merger of Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ruffalo posted an Instagram story last week featuring footage of Safra Catz, the executive vice chair of Oracle and a Paramount board member, discussing the company’s engagement in Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. In the post, Ruffalo called Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and executive chairman, a “classic oligarch,” accusing him and his son, Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison, of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world.”
Pointing to Catz, who is Israeli American, Ruffalo wrote that she “revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
Paramount condemned Ruffalo on Friday, saying it was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute. Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe. This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”
The studio said Ruffalo’s remarks “expose the true motive of some of those who have acted against the deal” and urged those involved to “lower the temperature, not raise it.”
The “Avengers” star fired back on Paramount’s accusations of antisemitism, calling it “appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” and stating that “everything I know about acting, activism, and humanism has been profoundly shaped by the Jewish friends, colleagues, and loved ones.”
On Monday, Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles — which serves the epicenter of the entertainment industry — said Ruffalo’s “unhinged rant, which combined Jewish wealth, media control, secret technology and sinister global power, is not legitimate criticism. It draws on recognizable antisemitic tropes with a long and dangerous history.”
Farkas called on California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who told Ruffalo in February “Mark, I hear you,” regarding earlier criticism of the deal and said the state has a “special interest in protecting competition” — to clarify his comments. On Sunday night, Bonta canceled planned settlement talks with Paramount after accusing the company of acting in bad faith by misrepresenting details from an earlier meeting.
“We agree that California has a special obligation to protect Hollywood, but not only from anticompetitive conduct. It must also protect the people who power this industry from antisemitism and every form of hate,” Farkas said.
“Bonta has done the right thing on some issues, but his record with Jewish Californians remains mixed. In some important moments, he has failed to stand up with the clarity and urgency our community deserved. This is why it is so important that Bonta clarify what ‘Mark, I hear you’ means. Hearing legitimate antitrust concerns cannot mean excusing rhetoric that invokes age-old tropes about Jewish wealth, media control and sinister power.”
Several other Jewish leaders condemned Ruffalo over the weekend, stating that his comments repeat old antisemitic tropes and could put Jewish people in danger. Since the Oct. 7 attacks and ensuing war in Gaza, Ruffalo, a four-time Oscar nominated actor, has frequently pushed accusations of Israeli-led “genocide,” “apartheid” and “famine” to his millions of followers.
“Oppose the Paramount merger on the merits, find arguments grounded in facts, and draw on what you know about the industry without engaging in antisemitic rhetoric,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote on X.
“Introducing the Jewish state out of the blue when it’s entirely unrelated, making baseless claims about Israel, and then trying to avoid accountability by essentially claiming that ‘some of my best friends are Jewish’ is gaslighting 101,” Greenblatt wrote, asserting that Ruffalo’s words “continue to put Jewish communities around the world at risk while antisemitic incidents are far too common.”
Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Jim Berk said, “Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization.”
Ari Ingel, executive director of Creative Community for Peace, said Ruffalo’s statements “echo some of the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theories in history, depicting Jews as a wealthy and sinister elite who accumulate control over media, money and power, then use that control against society.”
CCFP, an organization that works to counter anti-Israel sentiment in the entertainment industry, called for Hollywood to boycott Ruffalo until he retracts the remarks and apologizes.
Two progressive groups took a different approach, defending Ruffalo by stating that his criticism of a corporation and the Israeli government is not antisemitic.
“What is antisemitism? Blaming Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli government. Hatred or discrimination directed at people because they are Jewish,” the Israel advocacy group J Street wrote Monday on X. “What isn’t? Criticism of a corporation’s monopolistic actions and investments. Criticism of Israel’s government. We cheapen the fight against antisemitism when we blur that distinction.”
The Nexus Project wrote Sunday on X that claiming Ruffalo is antisemitic is “misguided.”
“He expressed his opinion about a corporation’s actions and investments, not an executive’s religion,” the group said. “Whether you agree with him or not, he did not cross the line into antisemitic speech. The same is true of his longstanding opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza.”
Ruffalo was among more than 20 Hollywood actors known for their roles in Marvel films who on Friday reportedly signed a petition calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, an imprisoned Palestinian terrorist serving five life sentences in Israel, according to an Instagram post published by the group.
Scholten, a Democrat, also called out Piker for targeting state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democratic congressional nominee in Michigan
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on March 26, 2026.
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) on Monday condemned antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker for comments suggesting that Jews supporting Israel are inviting violence against themselves, and for targeting Democratic Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss by name.
Moss last week condemned individuals circulating an unsourced and undated audio clip claiming to depict him expressing his fealty to Israel, which Moss has said is fabricated. During a stream last week, while making those comments about antisemitism, Piker displayed posts about and images of Moss from the antisemitic account TrackAIPAC, including an excerpt from the allegedly fabricated audio clip.
“Hasan Piker’s calls for violence against American Jews, and directly naming a Michigan elected official (and future Congressional colleague) Jeremy Moss are unacceptable. Full stop,” Scholten said on X. “Piker is a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance. It’s dangerous for everyone. We should all be calling out this disgusting rhetoric so it loses its grip on our politics once and for all. It has no place in Michigan, and no place in our country.”
Scholten had previously criticized Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for campaigning with Piker, and said, prior to the primary, that she would not commit to voting for El-Sayed in the general election.
Scholten is one of several elected leaders who has condemned Piker’s comments — though most of the controversial streamer’s allies and supporters have been quiet so far.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has previously appeared on Piker’s show and said he was “proud” to do so, rejected the streamer’s comments about pro-Israel American Jews in a statement to Jewish Insider on Monday.
“Antisemitism is a centuries-old, ugly bigotry. It must be condemned unequivocally. Jews are not the cause of it. Neither are people who support Israel. Antisemites are to blame. That’s it,” Khanna said.
“The only one inciting violence against American Jews is Piker and his rhetoric,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said on Sunday. “For the future of our party, Democrats have to call out his hate and condemn these dangerous views. Anyone campaigning with him is part of the problem.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Piker is a “threat to America.”
“A rich, entitled piece of sh*t who promotes socialism but doesn’t practice it,” Lawler said. “He believes America deserved 9/11, mocks a public assassination [of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk], and believes Jews should be killed. Anyone who supports him is unfit for public office.”
Paul Sancya/AP
Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks before President Donald Trump at an event at the General Motors Proving Ground Monday, July 27, 2026, in Milford, Mich.
The debate over AIPAC’s involvement in the high-stakes Michigan Senate race is drawing renewed attention after an Axios report outlined a request from allies of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) for the pro-Israel group’s super PAC to lay low for the general election. The Rogers campaign advisors suggested instead that the group transfer money for the race to a separate pro-Rogers entity so as not to make its outside spending a major issue in the contest.
The episode has touched a lot of raw nerves in both the pro-Israel world and the Republican political landscape. Rogers, a longtime supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship, is highlighting his relationships with Michigan’s Jewish community, and has made attacking Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s anti-Israel virulence and his relationship with antisemitic figures like Hasan Piker a central element of his campaign message.
AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent about $32 million in the Democratic primary to try to defeat El-Sayed, and there’s little doubt its money — in the absence of any moderate group willing to spend similar resources to stop a far-left candidate like El-Sayed from winning — made the race more competitive than it otherwise would have been. But it also gave El-Sayed a talking point in attacking outside money in the race that diluted the impact of the aggressive advertising campaign, especially at a time when support for Israel itself is diminishing within the Democratic Party.
Both the Rogers campaign and AIPAC see El-Sayed as uniquely vulnerable, with polls showing the race statistically tied despite the overall favorable environment for Democrats in the swing state. But beyond focusing on winning the race, both sides have slightly different tactical imperatives: AIPAC, after coming close to defeating El-Sayed in the primary, wants credit for helping finish the job in the general election. Rogers, meanwhile, is trying to turn the tables on El-Sayed, using his endless primary campaign attacks on Israel as a way to underscore he’s more obsessed about the Middle East than the issues critical to Michigan voters.
On one hand, support for Israel is decidedly higher among the general electorate than it was among primary voters — and likely is a winning issue for Rogers, especially given El-Sayed’s radicalism on the subject. But populist concerns about foreign aid and engagement abroad still resonate across party lines, with 44% of Michigan voters in a recent Fox News survey saying they favor continued military aid to Israel, while 55% oppose such aid.
The Rogers campaign believes that making the race about Middle East policy would be shortsighted, especially given that El-Sayed’s record and background makes him vulnerable to the charge that he’s the candidate more consumed with international affairs than improving the lives of Michiganders.
Furthermore, unlike in the Democratic primary, there will be no shortage of money available for the Rogers campaign and its allies in the general election. Rogers has been a solid fundraiser, and the deep pockets of both the Senate Leadership Fund GOP super PAC and a separate pro-Rogers super PAC should offer more than enough resources to run a full-fledged campaign. Rogers’ campaign would prefer donations get directed — and spent — under the Republican Party umbrella.
There’s a reason AIPAC’s super PAC hardly ever spends in general elections — most competitive races are already saturated with cash, so its involvement (or that of any outside nonpartisan super PAC) wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
AIPAC’s concerns are understandable as well, and I have heard them echoed by several senior GOP strategists involved with the race. El-Sayed’s ties to extremists and inability to forthrightly condemn antisemitism in his home state is a major reason why he’s vulnerable in the first place. Diluting or downplaying that argument takes one of the campaign’s strongest angles off the table.
It’s one thing to debate about whether advertisements would be best aired under the GOP banner or the UDP banner. It’s another issue to be concerned that the Rogers’ campaign, in its desire to universalize the race, isn’t taking full advantage of winning over the many Democratic-friendly Jewish voters who view El-Sayed’s record as intolerable. Asking AIPAC’s chair to stand down its ad campaign, as reported in the Axios story, might have been a tactical dispute, but it risks coming across as downplaying the importance of the pro-Israel and Jewish communities in the state.
Ultimately, the goals of the two sides are the same: winning the race. If the differences between the Rogers’ campaign and AIPAC are tactical, that’s understandable in a lengthy campaign. But if it’s a dispute about who gets credit for taking down El-Sayed, the argument seems a bit frivolous when the stakes in the race are so high.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native who lost 33 family members in Israeli airstrikes, argues in his new book that Hamas bears primary blame for Palestinian suffering and political stagnation
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who lived in the Gaza Strip from the age of 10-15, describes himself as an advocate for the Palestinian people. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, 33 of Alkhatib’s immediate and extended family members have been killed. But in his latest book, Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, Alkhatib argues that Hamas — rather than Israel — bears primary responsibility for the suffering and political stagnation of the people of Gaza.
Alkhatib is a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he directs Realign for Palestine, a project focused on pragmatic, nonviolent Palestinian advocacy. There, he denounces Hamas and advocates for Palestinian statehood alongside a secure Jewish state.
On Friday, Alkhatib spoke with Jewish Insider about his new book, his experiences growing up in Gaza and his outspoken criticism of Hamas. He also discussed the backlash he has faced from within his own community and why he believes that, ultimately, the terrorist group will have no role in the enclave’s future.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Jewish Insider: What inspired you to write Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, and what does your book add to public debate on this issue that isn’t already out there?
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: I wanted to weave in elements of my personal story with Gaza’s contemporary history, and add a human dimension to what I felt was Hamas’ devastating impact on the Palestinian people, their destructive role in setting back the Palestinian national project and the radicalization of the society.
I felt that there’s a consistent gap in the discourse from a Palestinian self-interested point of view. Even though many Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims will tell you privately how devastating Hamas is, there’s a disconnect in the discourse outside of Gaza versus inside Gaza — where you’ll find a ton more willingness to speak out, not just because of the consequences of Oct. 7, but because of the totality of the last 20 years of their rule.
One of the things that’s really frustrating is how there is this persistent narrative that Gazans are all Hamas, Gazans support Hamas. It’s very difficult for the other side, for the Israelis and the pro-Israel folks, to see the humanity of Palestinians because they so fundamentally believe that Gaza is inseparable from Hamas. Nevertheless, I argue and maintain that directly and indirectly, Hamas has taken Gaza captive and is holding 2 million people as hostages.
For the pro-Palestine folks, the goal is to burst the bubble of Hamas, which has been getting normalized since Oct. 7, getting called “resistance” or at best receiving token critique. It’s like a check the box: “Oh, I’m not with Hamas, but let’s keep going on Israel, and Israel this and everything is Israel’s fault.” At its worst, it’s actually been lionizing Hamas — refusing to call for the release of hostages, refusing to acknowledge the pain and suffering they’ve caused for the Palestinian people … Hamas has been a disaster. It has destroyed the seams of the Palestinian society and the fabric, and it’s been part of this devolution.
I also made it a short book deliberately for the average casual reader … I wanted to target a lot of younger audiences … because with the avalanche of new entrants to the scene since [Oct. 7], you have people that quite simply don’t know about Hamas, about the Palestinian people or about Gaza. I believe the theme of this book is that within the imbalance of power dynamics between Israel up here and the Palestinians down here, believe it or not, there is plenty of space for Palestinian agency, responsibility and accountability. That’s not blaming the victims or self-hatred — that’s actually the first step to empowering the Palestinians.
JI: You reflect in the book on your own experiences and those of your family in Gaza. How did these experiences shape the way you approach this book, and how did they shape your understanding of Hamas? Did you find that other Gazans shared your sentiments?
AFA: Well, in some ways, my lived experiences are very central to where I’ve arrived. My family are very devout Muslims and committed Palestinians. My family grew up in a Gaza context, and they were not immune to some of the broader trends. So on one hand the family context was helpful and relevant, and on the other hand it was not necessarily responsible for where I’m at right now because my family was kind of an average lower middle class that engaged in this topic. Very educated, but also not the most politically engaged. Very independent, very willing to stay clear and interested in staying clear from Fatah, from Hamas, from all the other different factions, and I think that was very key.
I remember the hope and optimism of the tail end of the Oslo [Accords] years in the ’90s — flying into Gaza’s airport, these shiny new Palestinian passports, the Palestinian airlines, the cell phones, the industrial zone, the kind of renaissance and the sense of hope and optimism and the march toward statehood. In the midst of all of that, Hamas’ counter-narrative was, “Oh no, the Palestinian Authority and the [Palestine Liberation Organization] sold out, they gave up 78% of historic Palestine, and we are going to bring you something better.”
And I just remember being like, “What’s there that’s better than the opportunity to travel freely, an airport, an incoming seaport, the beginning of the symbol of sovereignty and statehood?” On top of all of that, Hamas said, “We’re going to bring you the whole of Palestine from the river to the sea,” but then said, “Oh, by the way, we need to take this detour so let’s go burn a bar that has liquor, let’s control how women dress, let’s make the society more Islamist.” I distinctly remember [saying to] my parents and my uncles, “This is a detour that has nothing to do with negotiating a better outcome or achieving better results for the Palestinians.”
I tell the story of one time going to a summer camp that turned out to be a Hamas summer camp, and neither my family nor I knew that. I must have been 11, and I just remember being like,
“What is any of this?”
There was a very robust pushback against Hamas and against this trend, but parts of the society ultimately either acquiesced or essentially had no option but to go along because Hamas moved the Overton window — including for the moderate and secular Palestinian Authority and [former PLO and PA leader Yasser] Arafat, who had to accommodate Hamas and incorporate elements of Islamism and resistance culture. That is the theme I try to convey: Hamas slowly and gradually shifted the Overton window of what’s acceptable discourse, not just for itself, but for the entirety of Palestinian society, its national project and its political atmosphere.
JI: You talked to CNN earlier this week about what you described as the “troubling persistence of support” for Hamas among some Palestinian activists and diaspora communities, noting that 44% of American Muslims told Pew Research that they support Hamas. Why does support for Hamas persist in these activist circles, and how do you reverse that trend?
AFA: There are many Palestinians, Palestinian Americans, Muslim Americans and Arab Americans who, when you speak to [them] privately, will tell you that Hamas is a gift to the far right in Israel, that Hamas is gross, that Hamas is disgusting. They don’t want to live under a regime that resembles Hamas — they want to live a normal life. But when you step back in a communal dynamic — whether it be the clergy, elements of the community in academia or parents who are guilt-ridden — you have sociological factors and identity crises that contribute to this trend.
Then there is a much more sinister element: elements of academia, journalism and the “social justice” far left who are not Palestinian or Arab or Muslim, who have concocted a variety of frameworks for how you see these conflicts. They want to map out Israel and Palestine to existing frameworks in domestic discourse around immigration, abortion rights, LGBT issues and Black Lives Matter.
You have modern-day anti-Zionism regularly devolving into antisemitism, and a departure from the broad framework of two peoples, two states. Right now, it is very much so a “river-to-the-sea” eliminationist discourse. Israel is seen as an extension of the United States — whether due to the presence of Ashkenazi Jews that are white-presenting, even though half of Israel are Mizrahi Jews of essentially brown origin and darker origin from Arab lands and from the Middle East, whether it be Israel’s founding being considered a purely European Zionist-led colonial project and not something that has anything to do with Jewish peoplehood and heritage and connection to the land, and so there are just these overly simplistic narratives that are not conducive to productive dialogue.
Part of this support for Hamas is an overcorrection to what people felt was an effort by parts of the pro-Israel community to suppress legitimate critique of Israeli actions. But when the pendulum swung, it didn’t swing toward narrow, targeted advocacy for Palestinian freedom and self-determination next to a safe, secure, recognized Jewish Israel. It swung to, “No, actually, we need resistance to eliminate the Zionist entity.”
Hamas very much so cared about the public relations war and narrative warfare because it thought this level of activism would not only delegitimize Israel, but also coerce Israel into stopping the war. Neither happened. Palestinian suffering was irrelevant to a lot of these communities, because they didn’t react when I and many others in Gaza were saying what was necessary for this suffering to end: closing the page on Hamas taking 2 million people as hostages in its suicidal jihadi nihilism.
JI: Have you faced criticism from within your community for placing so much attention on Hamas in your book rather than Israel, and how are you navigating that?
AFA: It is very frequently that I face critique. People say that I’m obsessed with Hamas, that I’m a nutjob, I’m a Zionist, I’m paid by Israel. Now they’ve shifted to saying that I’m a traitor and a sellout.
I see no shortage of people talking about what Israel has done and what Israel is doing right now in Gaza — including Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, whom I acknowledge potentially worsened this situation through direct support for Hamas via Qatari funding. I have no illusions about the fact that Israel bears responsibility in worsening multiple aspects of the discourse, whether it be not empowering the Palestinian Authority, the aggressive expansion of settlements or the recent activities under the current coalition.
My goal is not to simply repeat what people who are even smarter than I am are out there talking about, often speaking in circles to their own choirs. I want to address a gap — and a significant one at that. That gap is that my family and tens of thousands of Palestinians would still be alive had Hamas simply kept its terrorists at home on Oct. 7.
Hamas is treated as an extra on a movie set when it needs to be one of the main antagonists in this whole film. Hamas is a central player in this whole devastation that has befallen Gaza. I see the rightward shift in Israeli society that everybody talks about all the time as inseparable from Hamas and what it did in Gaza and the suicide bombings and what it did to radicalize the Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West Bank.
JI: What do you believe Hamas will look like in the years ahead? Do you believe it is possible for Gaza to have a future without Hamas — and one that is different for both sides of this conflict?
AFA: I don’t believe there can be any coexistence with Hamas. I think they need to be effectively banned from the scene. When people say Hamas can’t be defeated, it absolutely can be defeated. I don’t care about Hamas’ ideology per se. The Nazi ideology lives on all these years. Al-Qaida is alive and well after [Osama] bin Laden. ISIS is alive and well, even though they don’t theoretically control mass territories like they once did.
What I care about is three metrics through which you can judge and assess Hamas’ ability to remain relevant and be defeated: Do they control territory? Do they have an executive force on the ground that can have a monopoly on violence and force and act as an administrative body? And do they control resources — financial, taxation, access to aid and incoming resources, or smuggling? In those three metrics, Hamas has been significantly rolled back.
More likely than not, it is my belief that Hamas is going to be largely irrelevant in Gaza. Hamas is not going to govern like it once did. The days of Hamas reigning supreme and controlling Gaza are over. Hamas may try to remanufacture itself as a political body, as a political entity, but in terms of controlling Gaza like it once did, I see that as incredibly unlikely. Their inventory of weapons and arsenal is very finite. They’re not smuggling weapons like they once did, and a lot of their supplies, workshops and spaces have been destroyed and rolled back. Whether it be through disarmament, Israeli elimination or decay — I think Hamas’ arsenal is going to recede to where it not only no longer constitutes a threat to Israel, but it no longer is adequate to entirely rule the Gaza Strip.
My concern is that Hamas is moving to Turkey. The Turks might be trying to help them reinvent themselves as a political organization. If they enter Palestinian elections, will they then further ruin democratic life? Will they evolve their so-called armed resistance narrative into something that can introduce political stalemate?
Right now, largely speaking, Hamas, Israel, the Board of Peace, the Trump administration and regional and international partners are in agreement over the next steps as far as disarmament, which is a prerequisite to get any kind of withdrawal or reconstruction happening in Gaza. However, now we’re in a space where the disarmament issue is actually logistical in nature. Logistics can make or break a war, a campaign or an effort, and right now, logistically, the disarmament plan is just — it’s not there. It’s not there. That’s what concerns me.
Piker: ‘I don’t know how people don’t recognize how dangerous this predicament is, how dangerous this is for Jews’
Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images
Hasan Piker during day two of Web Summit Vancouver 2026 at Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada.
Antisemitic social media influencer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned with a number of progressive Democratic candidates this year, said on his Twitch stream last week that American Jews who express support for Israel are inviting violence against themselves.
In his commentary, Piker added that Jews who tie their “entire identity” to Israel, which he referred to as “Jewish ISIS,” are “making antisemitism worse.”
“People don’t f*** with Israel any longer,” Piker said two hours into his nearly seven-hour stream on Thursday. “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the State of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”
“I don’t know how people don’t recognize how dangerous this predicament is, how dangerous this is for Jews,” Piker continued. “You’re running around basically tying your entire identity to a country that inevitably will be seen as Jewish ISIS and you’re saying, as Jews, this is all we care about. You’re making antisemitism worse.”
Piker has a long-standing history of antisemitic rhetoric — including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and calling Orthodox Jews “inbred,” a comment he recently defended in an interview with the far-left outlet Zeteo: “I have a policy of using pejoratives when describing any kind of like ethno, racial supremacist groups,” he said. He has also stated that he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time,” describing Hamas as “a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state.”
Despite the long record of extremism, the far-left streamer has been invited to speak recently at several high-profile events, including the College Democrats of America’s convention last month.
Piker emerged as one of Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s most prominent surrogates in the race, appearing alongside him in the campaign’s closing days as the primary neared. El-Sayed has come under fire for his refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and comments that appeared to justify an attempted terrorist attack at a Detroit synagogue earlier this year.
A lesson plan on the background and history of antisemitism meaningfully reduced students’ belief in the trope that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the U.S., among others
Getty Images
Students in a classroom
One 45-minute lesson on contemporary antisemitism can meaningfully cut teenagers’ belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories, according to a new study by the Anti-Defamation League.
The study evaluated 372 middle and high school students across nine schools in a North Carolina school district between September and November 2025, finding that students who received the lesson, titled “What Is Antisemitism and What Are Features of Antisemitism?” were 14% more likely than a control group to reject the claim that Jews have too much power in the United States.
The lesson also drove a 16-point drop in students’ endorsement of the trope that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.S., and they were also less likely to believe in other tropes involving Jewish control and media influence. They were also 14% less likely to minimize antisemitism as a problem.
In a separate online study of 5,005 U.S. high school students conducted by the ADL, a single lesson was found to cut down stereotype agreement. This drop reportedly happened even in students who usually hold firm views.
Teachers without prior training taught the lesson designed by the multimedia curriculum program Echoes & Reflections. The lesson explores what antisemitism means, how it has appeared in the past and today, how stereotypes and conspiracy beliefs are cyclical and how they harm both Jewish communities and society as a whole.
The study comes amid reports of political activists increasingly seeking to push antisemitic content and extremist perspectives in K-12 classrooms across the country.
“This research is significant in that it features evidence from real classrooms,” said Matt Williams, vice president of the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research. “We now have data showing that a single, well-designed lesson, taught by educators with no special training, can measurably shift how teens think about antisemitism. That’s a solvable problem for schools. Based on our research, districts don’t need a semester-long unit or a major new investment to make progress, they need the right 45 minutes, and now we’re closer to knowing what that looks like.”
Plus, Baltimore's Orthodox Jews get a day at the races
Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, left, and Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, during a news conference on 2026 FIFA World Cup transportation at the MTA Rail Control Center in New York, US, on Thursday, June 4, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and a candidate for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, launched a TV ad this week hitting her primary opponent, military veteran Maura Sullivan, for receiving $300,000 in donations “bundled from AIPAC donors,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The donations referenced in the ad appear to be from individual donors who have previously contributed to AIPAC, but the pro-Israel group itself has made no endorsement and has not been directly involved in the race…
Michigan Democratic congressional nominee Jeremy Moss declined to endorse his party’s Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, in an interview with Slate: “Abdul’s going to have to demonstrate some serious outreach to Oakland County’s Jewish community,” Moss said. The two candidates have “had an ongoing dialogue,” Moss added, as he said Democrats must ensure that “the liberal Jewish community is not politically homeless”…
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Ann Arbor Jewish federation who has been outspoken about the threat he believes El-Sayed poses to the Jewish community, appeared at a “Democrats for Rogers” press conference in Detroit today where he said, “I usually vote Democrat, but I’m gonna be voting for Mike Rogers … I’m sad to say this, that Abdul El-Sayed has made one thing very clear: We cannot let him anywhere near the U.S. Senate”…
A new poll commissioned by AARP found El-Sayed leading Rogers by one percentage point, 48-47%, but voters ages 50 and up were 16 points more likely than younger voters to say they were motivated to participate in the general election — a population that swings heavily towards Rogers. Voters ages 50-64 favored Rogers over El-Sayed 51-46%, and voters above 65 favored the Republican by 13 points (54-41%)…
Asked in a New York Times interview about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for the federal government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives in the city for the U.N. General Assembly next month, Gov. Kathy Hochul advised the mayor, “Let’s focus on the blocking and tackling of city government. That is where I believe the main focus should be”…
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is weighing in on another official’s appearance at the UNGA: The White House intends to prevent Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending for the second year in a row, a U.S. official told The Times of Israel…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on CNBC today that in order to implement the new U.S. economic campaign against Iran, the Trump administration will approach “all of our allies” and tell them, “You are either with us or against us.”
“If you insist on doing business with [Iran] — either transferring money, buying their oil, doing seaborne ship transfers — then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you,” he added…
The NYT looks at which countries do the most business with Iran and could therefore be hardest hit by the new measures, including China, India and several Middle East nations…
Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the state’s Legislature, denounced the Georgia branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for featuring extremist anti-Israel voices including Zahra Billoo, Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur as keynote speakers at its gala next month.
CAIR-GA has “dropped the mask at this point,” Panitch told the Jerusalem News Syndicate. “This is actual straight-out, Nazi-level Protocols of the Elders of Zion kind of antisemitism. They’re doing it, and they can’t say they didn’t know”…
For more than 150 years, Baltimore’s Orthodox Jews have walked to synagogue on Preakness Saturday and listened to the roar of the crowd from Pimlico Race Course less than a mile away, never able to join it. That changes in 2027, when the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown — following the Kentucky Derby and preceding the Belmont Stakes — moves from Saturday to Sunday, finally opening the gates at Pimlico to the local Shabbat-observant community for the first time since the race started in 1873, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the growing divide between the United States and Israel over how to approach post-Assad Syria.
Despite her recent debate stage snafu, which has led GOP operatives to question her chances in next week’s special runoff election, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is still enjoying the support of the party: Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the Senate majority whip, is in South Carolina today to support her race, and President Donald Trump will join her in Myrtle Beach for a rally tomorrow.
We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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Sarah Rice/Getty Images
Senate candidate Mike Rogers greets supporters at his election watch party with the MIGOP on November 5, 2024 in Novi, Michigan.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Jewish leaders in Michigan are circulating an open letter, obtained by Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, urging Jewish Democrats and independents in the battleground state to sign their names in support of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) as he faces Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the race for U.S. Senate.
If El-Sayed were to claim victory in the general election, the authors say, “we fear the far-left and anti-Jewish elements in the Democratic party would become dominant … We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan’s senator”…
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab still holds a narrow lead as of this afternoon over former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez in the special election runoff for an East Bay House seat that drew a late surge of outside spending from AIPAC.
With 62% of the vote counted in yesterday’s election, Wahab had 51%, leading Hernandez by two percentage points or 1,356 votes, according to the unofficial initial returns. “We made a race that wasn’t close when we started into a nail-biter,” Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC, told JI’s Matthew Kassel…
ICE detained a Jewish bridal shop owner and his mother living in Englewood, N.J., a local elected official confirmed today to JI’s Haley Cohen: Ari Ladino and his mother, Chava, who are originally from Bogotá, Colombia, run Luana Rose Modestly in Teaneck — a dress shop specializing in modest special occasion gowns popular among local Orthodox Jewish women. The reason for their arrest remains unclear…
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post today, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack doubled down on his criticism of Israeli strikes on a Syrian air base earlier in the week, which Israel said had been prompted by Turkish involvement at the base. “Turkish forces were not aware that the Israeli aircraft were en route to that specific Syrian base … [and] could potentially have been inclined to scramble their own jets in the belief that they themselves were under attack,” Barrack said.
He announced that the U.S. is looking to relaunch a deconfliction cell between Israel and Syria, with potential Turkish participation, and downplayed reported Israeli concerns over a specific Turkish radar system said to be deployed at the base. “We remain convinced that this technical requirement need not pose a security concern, and that further conversations can help clarify the matter to everyone’s satisfaction,” Barrack said…
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, visited Israeli troops in southern Syria today, where he said Israel is “monitoring the changes on the Syrian front” and “know[s] how to use our power precisely where it is needed and when it is needed”…
The IDF announced it is opening an investigation into the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in January 2024 after finding that troops had indeed fired at her family’s vehicle as it was traveling opposite the direction of an evacuation route. The military had previously denied responsibility for the incident, which drew global attention and inspired an Oscar-nominated film titled “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
The IDF will also investigate the killing of 15 rescue workers traveling in emergency vehicles in March 2025, and closed investigations into a strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy and into the deaths of several Doctors Without Borders members, finding that troops’ actions in those incidents did not rise to the level of criminal offenses…
The New York Times examines CENTCOM’s efforts to keep oil traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, including utilizing air- and water-based assets to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeting commercial traffic.
Beyond protecting tankers loaded with oil, the U.S. military has also reportedly established its own corridor to help empty ships enter the strait, load up and exit largely undetected…
The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a notice warning Holocaust survivors and their families about potential fraud by an organization calling itself the “Jewish Holocaust Claims Center” that is contacting such individuals about their eligibility for compensation…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Sen. Darline Graham‘s (R-SC) debate stage flub on national security may impact her chances in next week’s South Carolina special runoff election for Senate.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and his primary opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), will face off in their final debate before the election. Moulton, 47, is mounting a generational challenge to the 80-year-old Markey and has taken an increasingly critical stance against Israel and AIPAC on the campaign trail, while Markey has long staked out staunchly anti-Israel positions.
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The study shows how unions are turning away from advocating for higher wages and using their institutions to foment attacks against Israel
Plus, Central Synagogue attacker faces federal charges
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks during the House Administration Committee hearing on June 10, 2026.
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning that “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” directly contradicting a statement from Jared Kushner yesterday that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been”…
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said on X this morning that he’s “deeply concerned” over what he called “confirmed Israeli airstrikes” on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur Airbase overnight, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strikes.
“The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations,” Barrack said, calling the incident an “unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been a pro-Israel stalwart, also condemned what he called “one-sided aggression”…
U.N. inspectors visited some nuclear sites tied to the deposed Assad regime in Syria this week, the first time that International Atomic Energy Agency officials have been given full access to the sites. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at a press conference with IAEA head Rafael Grossi that nuclear material found at the locations, including several tons of uranium, will be placed “under IAEA safeguards”…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions today against Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer, as part of the Trump administration’s recently announced campaign to target the body.
Rubio said the two individuals “have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” likely in reference to Israeli leaders…
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed today that the Trump administration’s probes into campus antisemitism were “fake” and that schools found to have violated federal civil rights law were effectively framed, pointing to whistleblower reports that claimed the administration had manipulated evidence to show violations of law despite lacking sufficient evidence.
Raskin announced that he is launching an investigation of the alleged “misconduct” of the Department of Justice and intends to assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “in light of this Administration’s shockingly reckless and unethical actions,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…
The DOJ charged a New York man, Larry Montes, with two federal hate crimes charges and one count of destruction of religious property for disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan over the weekend, where he struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property and spat on and headbutted a security guard. Montes has already been charged with hate crimes by local prosecutors…
The DOJ also charged 17 members of the Mabna Institute — an Iran-based company that federal prosecutors say ran a state-sponsored cyber campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since at least 2013 — with hacking 144 U.S. and 178 foreign universities, dozens of private companies and several U.S. government agencies to steal research, academic data and intellectual property…
The Department of Defense instructed 30 U.S. academic institutions to conduct reviews of their ties with “foreign entities of concern,” threatening future Pentagon funding for research projects if they fail to do so and terminate “problematic partnerships”…
Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, pushed back today against what he alleged was a doctored audio clip circulating online designed to portray him as more loyal to Israel than the United States, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
“There is a manipulated and unsourced audio, with things I never did and never would say, that is nothing more than political disinformation intended to portray me as anti-American,” Moss, who is Jewish, said on X…
Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of Anti-Defamation League Midwest, called out the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America’s “fixation on Israel” after the group’s 2027 city council endorsement questionnaire asked local candidates to explain whether they consider themselves anti-Zionists and if they support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The group’s outsized focus on the Jewish state, Weininger said, is “not only far removed from the responsibilities and priorities of an alderman, but also risks fueling anti-Jewish sentiment, harassment, and ultimately, violence against Chicago’s Jewish community”…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) suggested in an interview with The Washington Post that he believes Democrats can still win the Senate even if far-left Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom Schumer has endorsed, loses in November, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “A path to winning back the Senate clearly goes through Michigan, but we have a whole bunch of different paths,” Schumer said.
The Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, is spending $3 million on a new ad campaign to defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, portraying him as a career politician who enriched himself while in Washington…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from today’s key races in Florida and California. Polls close in the Sunshine State at 7 p.m. ET, and in the Golden State at 11 p.m. ET.
Hannan Lis, Brian Hermelin and Rob Orley, three prominent Jewish Democratic bundlers in Michigan, are hosting a fundraiser tonight for the state’s Republican Senate nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), as some Jewish Democrats in the Wolverine State consider flipping their votes against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Read Lis’ comments to JI here.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) will face off in a debate tonight hosted by the South Carolina GOP, a week ahead of their runoff election.
Stories You May Have Missed
HATE BY THE NUMBERS
Nearly two-thirds of 2025 religious hate crimes in U.S. were antisemitic, FBI data finds
Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025
BLAME GAME
Brooklyn Democratic leader who promoted infamous antisemitic tract rips ‘Zionists’ in new video
After pushing Henry Ford’s The International Jew, Democratic district leader Carmella Charrington said her ongoing housing dispute is the ‘same thing they’re doing in the West Bank’
The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee announced an investigation into the DOJ’s ‘misconduct’ and said he will assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks during the House Administration Committee hearing on June 10, 2026.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s probes into campus antisemitism were “fake” and that schools found to have violated federal civil rights law were effectively framed, pointing to whistleblower reports that claimed the administration had manipulated evidence to show violations of law despite lacking sufficient evidence.
Raskin announced that he is launching an investigation of the alleged “misconduct” of the Department of Justice and would assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “in light of this Administration’s shockingly reckless and unethical actions.”
The effort by Raskin, who is in line to chair the Judiciary Committee next year if Democrats retake the lower chamber, previews potential efforts by congressional Democrats to push back on Trump administration efforts to combat antisemitism in the next Congress. Other Democrats have suggested plans to probe the settlements reached between the administration and colleges over antisemitism if they take the majority.
Raskin expressed his intent to investigate in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon on Tuesday, asserting that Dhillon’s investigation into antisemitism — particularly at Harvard, Columbia and Brown universities — “was fake, a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature.”
The probes, Raskin continued, were “designed to harass professors and administrators at major universities, to curtail their freedom of speech and academic freedom, and to strip targeted institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that they had already been awarded on the merits of their applications.”
Raskin called the investigation a “sham” and a “shameful stain” on the DOJ that “represents a clear and present danger to American academic preeminence in the world.” But he also acknowledged that “antisemitism at American universities and medical schools is real” and “needs to be addressed seriously.”
He accused the administration of attacking constitutionally protected speech and of punishing universities “because it disagrees with the politics of its faculty or staff.”
He said that Dhillon may have “deliberately orchestrated a scheme to attack universities, their faculties, and their administrators for political purposes while defrauding the American people and the courts” and demanded she appear for an interview before the Judiciary Committee before Sept. 1, as well as turn over various communications and documents related to the investigations.
In a whistleblower letter to various congressional leaders on Monday that prompted Raskin’s letter, Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and other former DOJ attorneys alleged that the administration mishandled its investigations of antisemitic discrimination at Columbia, Brown and Harvard.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement, “While at the DOJ, Ms. Haley Van Erem did not work on university investigations. And for all matters, the Department stands behind the integrity of these investigations.”
The whistleblowers claimed that they were forced to work on shortened timelines that “compromised the ability to ensure that findings were justified and accurate” and were obligated to open investigations with “little to no factual predicate to justify opening them,” which led them to believe “that certain enforcement outcomes had been determined before the relevant evidence was collected and evaluated.”
The disclosure claimed that investigators found that Brown had not violated the Civil Rights Act, but officials still sought a settlement. At Columbia, the whistleblowers claimed the administration relied on unsupported allegations and First Amendment-protected activity to support findings that the school had violated civil rights law.
The whistleblowers also claimed that, at Harvard, the funding freezes the administration implemented were carried out in advance of any findings of violations and “without a demonstrated connection between the proposed remedies and substantiated findings of unlawful discrimination.”
They also claimed that the administration purposely sought to force the schools into litigation and to impose financial penalties, targeted Muslim professors and attempted to sidestep the Constitution.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Members of Hatzalah of Michigan, a Jewish volunteer emergency medical service survey the area near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes constituted nearly two-thirds of all religious hate crimes in the country last year, according to FBI data released last week: Out of the 2,408 religiously motivated hate crimes reported across the country, 1,528 were targeted against Jews.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025, behind only anti-Black or African American hate crimes.
Jews remained the most-targeted religious group in the country. The total number of anti-Jewish hate crimes declined by 20% from 2024, when 1,938 anti-Jewish hate crimes were reported, and 1,832 incidents in 2023, making 2025 the third worst year on record for anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to the FBI, anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2025 included three incidents of murder or non-negligent manslaughter; one incident of rape; 50 incidents of aggravated assault; 112
incidents of simple assault; 505 incidents of intimidation; 920 incidents of destruction, damage or vandalism; 68 incidents of theft, burglary and robbery of various kinds; and six incidents of arson.
A total of 1,685 anti-Jewish offenses were recorded in 2025, impacting 1,746 victims, committed by 866 perpetrators.
The FBI reported that overall hate crime incidents decreased 7% year-over-year.
“Year after year, we’ve seen alarming rates of antisemitic harassment and violence in this country,” Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), who co-chair the Senate Antisemitism Task Force, said in a joint statement.
The two senators noted that antisemitic hate crimes remain higher than they were prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
“This report shows the dark reality for Jewish Americans: antisemitic attacks make up more than 62 percent of religiously-motivated hate crimes in the United States, more than double all other kinds of religiously-motivated hate crimes combined,” Rosen and Lankford continued. “We’re faced with nothing less than a crisis, and we need collective action.”
They said that the data highlights the need to pass the Jewish American Security Act to respond and protect the Jewish community.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt emphasized in a statement that, “Behind every one of these numbers is a person who was targeted simply for being Jewish, whether through vandalism, intimidation, or violence.”
“We cannot allow a modest yet positive decline in the topline domestic numbers to obscure the reality that antisemitism remains one of the most persistent and dangerous forms of hate in this country and beyond,” Greenblatt continued, emphasizing that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks outside of Israel in more than 30 years.
In a release, the ADL noted that the data was consistent with its own findings that 2025 was the third-highest year on record for reported antisemitic incidents. The ADL’s data includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents.
Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick said, “Once again, the FBI’s data confirms what Jewish communities across this country already feel: the rising tide of hate means that we remain the most-targeted religious community in America,” noting that Jews constitute just 2% of the population but two-thirds of religious-based hate crimes.
Spitalnick also emphasized rising hate against other groups, arguing that “Jewish safety and the safety of our neighbors are inextricably linked — which is why we will never accept a strategy that protects one community by demonizing or ignoring another.”
She said that the slight decline in overall hate crimes is “welcome” but does not constitute safety and argued that a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to fighting hate remains necessary. She also emphasized that around 5% of the U.S. population was not covered by the data and that some local law enforcement agencies reported no hate crimes in areas where hate crimes are known to have occurred.
In 2025, 85.9% of all law enforcement agencies in the country submitted hate crimes data to the FBI — an optional program — covering 95.3% of the U.S. population. In some past years, reporting had been significantly hampered by non-participation by local law enforcement agencies, leading to what advocates said was an under-counting of hate crimes.
“The deeper problem is that we keep treating this crisis as a security problem to be managed rather than building resiliency to hate and extremism in the first place,” Spitalnick said, calling increased security funding necessary but “not a remedy” to hate.
“This new data tells us two things,” Spitalnick said. “Hate crimes remain far too high, and our national response is failing. We need the federal government to return its focus to protecting communities and building an inclusive, pluralistic democracy that is more resistant to hate in the first place.”
Reps. Byron Donalds and Randy Fine are favored to win their races, but the margins for their extreme challengers could signal how far right the GOP base has drifted
Prodip Guha/Getty Images
Dan Bilzerian on Sept. 13, 2019 in Mumbai, India.
Florida’s Republican primaries on Tuesday will be a critical test for far-right candidates who have built their campaigns on open antisemitism, providing hard data on how popular those views have become in the GOP.
Neither gubernatorial candidate James Fishback nor Dan Bilzerian, who is challenging Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, are expected to win. But the extent of the support they’re able to pick up will be instructive.
Polling has shown that Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is likely to easily win the gubernatorial primary — and therefore the governorship — with the backing of President Donald Trump. But Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and Fishback will be competing for the second-place slot.
Fishback has embraced and celebrated neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes and his “groyper” followers and leaned into a variety of antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories. He has also vowed to cut ties with Israel and suggested he would scale back state efforts to combat antisemitism.
He has also run a racist campaign, including repeatedly referring to Donalds, who is Black, as a “slave,” telling a Black Floridian they should be lynched and invoking other bigoted tropes.
Fishback’s campaign has attracted attention from younger GOP voters in particular, with some polls showing him far outpacing Donalds among voters under 35 — as well as support from donors who have backed far-left anti-Israel Democrats.
Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Florida, said that the extent of Donalds’ victory is the key question at the moment. He predicted that Fishback could pick up more than 10% of the vote, and potentially outperform Collins.
“It’s more of a testament to Byron running away with it and everyone knowing it,” O’Connell said, explaining his prediction of a poor performance by Collins. Trump’s endorsement of Donalds — which the president has frequently highlighted — should push Donalds to a commanding victory, he continued.
At the same time, “the one thing that Fishback has shown himself to be good at is garnering media attention. … I think this is about gaining name ID, gaining attention,” O’Connell continued.
He suggested that Fishback’s gubernatorial run might be a bid to gain public attention as a pretext for a future race for a lower political office. “We don’t know what his ultimate goal is. Is he going to run for another office?”
O’Connell also predicted a poor performance by Bilzerian, who has garnered bipartisan criticism in recent days over a blatantly antisemitic and pro-Hitler advertisement targeting Fine posted by Bilzerian on social media.
He predicted that Bilzerian’s final margin will amount to a “statistical anomaly” and that another candidate, Aaron Baker, who is also challenging Fine, may outperform Bilzerian. Baker has also been critical of Israel including opposing aid for its offensive weapons and calling for conditions on U.S. aid.
Bilzerian has put $1 million of his own money into the race, raising an additional $240,000, trailing far behind Fine, who raised more than $4 million. Baker has only raised $109,000.
Collins, the lieutenant governor, endorsed a third candidate in the primary, Charles Gambaro, a local official.
Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) might be in the most danger of any incumbent Florida Republican, having been dogged for months by a growing series of scandals and investigations related to alleged domestic violence and harassment, financial misconduct, sexual misconduct, stolen valor and alleged use of his office for his own financial gain. Mills has denied any wrongdoing.
Mills’ wedding was also officiated by a radical imam who was believed to be a key fundraiser for Hamas and listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, who also expressed antisemitic and anti-American sentiments in his sermons. Mills denied any knowledge of the imam’s affiliations.
O’Connell predicted that Mills is likely to lose to Ryan Elijah, a former local TV anchor, consistent with a recent poll showing Elijah opening up a commanding lead over Mills ahead of primary day.
“The allegations might have caught up to Cory in terms of winning there. So that looks like an uphill climb for Cory in Florida[‘s 7th Congressional District], based on all the numbers I’ve seen,” O’Connell said. “He would need a hefty Election Day turnout. It’s not unheard of, but it’s just highly unlikely that he’s going to win.”
Both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have backed away from Mills in recent weeks in light of the scandals and declined to intervene in support of him. O’Connell described Mills as “trying to cling to an endorsement” from Trump that largely predated the scrutiny into his scandals.
O’Connell predicted that Republicans would be able to hold the seat even if Mills wins the primary election, though Democrats have seen Mills as potentially a ripe target if he’s renominated.
Plus, Trump puts Oman in the crosshairs
Shalev Shalom
Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with Jared Kushner at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on Aug. 17, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News this morning that the White House is communicating directly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that Tehran should “raise the white flag of surrender,” as the 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran — which was intended to lead to the creation of a permanent peace agreement but was quickly deemed moot by both parties — officially expired today without a deal in sight.
Jared Kushner separately told Fox News about the status of talks with Iran that Trump is “focused on economic pressure” but is still open to reaching an agreement, adding that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been” and that the conversations are “positive”…
Trump also threatened in his interview to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if the country “gets in the way,” amid Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he doesn’t think Oman “behave[s] very well” and that the U.S. would “handle them very easily.” He also reaffirmed his recent claim that he intends to declare the strait a U.S. territory, saying he “think[s] it’s a great idea”…
Responding to Trump’s threat, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced he intends to introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns from recess to prohibit U.S. military action against Oman…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “deep and constructive discussions” with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and Kushner in Jerusalem today, where the parties agreed to establish two working groups: one on the “disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza,” which they agreed should happen before “any reconstruction,” and a second on sanitation and public health concerns in the enclave.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also met with the group and said he was “impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan”…
After the meetings, Kushner told Fox News that he predicts there will be progress in starting to demilitarize Gaza “in as little as 30 days” and beginning to fill in Hamas’ terror tunnels “in the next 60 to 90 days.”
Despite Trump stating in his interview that Israel should not be conducting any more strikes in Gaza, Kushner said the Board of Peace would “not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that if Hamas doesn’t follow through on its commitments, Israel will “have a lot more support from the U.S.” to “finish the job.” He called his Sunday meeting with Hamas leaders “cordial” and said they “said all the right things” but that they are “hard to trust”…
Trump said today it’s “most appropriate” that he “stay out of” Israel’s upcoming elections but added that he “may endorse somebody” anyway….
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed claims by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the region of Kurdistan, that his office was attacked by Iranian drones: “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi said on X, claiming that Iran has historically “protected” the Kurds. It was a striking characterization given that Iran has repeatedly struck Kurdish opposition bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, including during the current war, and has a decades-long history of suppressing its own Kurdish population…
New York City leaders are condemning a series of inflammatory posters opposing a new housing development in Chelsea that use antisemitic, racist and homophobic language, including a call to “stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan,” tying the project to “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and claiming that “Talmudists are trained to cheat.”
City Hall called the posters “vile” and claimed the rhetoric “has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” while Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “Disagreement over housing policy is legitimate. Dehumanizing your neighbors is not”…
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
After Goldman argued initially against Jayapal’s denunciation of the school, the congresswoman said she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech”; Goldman responded that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at AIPAC’s involvement in tomorrow’s special election in California’s 14th Congressional District, where state Sen. Aisha Wahab is facing off against former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez, who is backed by the pro-Israel group.
Florida will also hold its primary elections tomorrow, where several pro-Israel and Jewish candidates are facing off against far-right and far-left extremists. Read more on the races and their implications here.
The Sephardic Rabbinical Conference will conclude in New York with speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.
Stories You May Have Missed
SENATOR SITDOWN
Rick Scott: We have to ‘fight, fight fight’ antisemites running in the Republican Party
The senator told JI he was worried that fringe ideas could gain momentum if Republicans don’t aggressively push back
SEPHARDIC SUMMIT
Sephardic rabbis and leaders gather in New York to build a stronger voice in Jewish institutional life
The second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, backed by the Orthodox Union and UJA-Federation, will bring together around 150 participants from a dozen countries to address leadership gaps and Diaspora institution-building
Goldman said that Piker’s appearance could ‘foment harassment, discrimination or potentially violence against a class of students’
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) walks down the House steps after a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol on July 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker on the campus.
Jayapal last week criticized the public Seattle university for canceling the speech, which was scheduled for early 2027, and urged student groups that want to host him to engage with the school. Goldman, who chairs the House antisemitism task force and recently lost his reelection bid, suggested in response that allowing Piker on campus could create a hostile environment for Jewish students, in violation of federal law.
Jayapal responded on Sunday that she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech.” The two members both sit on the House Judiciary Committee.
“UW has had speakers from a wide range of views — including those whom I completely disagree with,” Jayapal said. “The First Amendment protection of freedom of speech should never be negotiable — and that is something I know the majority of my constituents value as well. I have respected UW’s commitment to free speech in the past and expect that to continue.”
Goldman responded by suggesting that Piker’s speech could “foment harassment, discrimination or potentially violence against a class of students.”
He said that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus.
“While many people may want to create a fictional divide between ‘Israel’ and ‘Jews,’ the dramatic and continued escalation of violence against American Jews — purportedly in the name of opposition to Israel — renders that academic distinction irrelevant and completely untethered to reality,” Goldman continued.
A number of extremist candidates — on both the left and right — are challenging incumbents across the Sunshine State
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a member of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, speaks to the press after touring the shooting site at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on August 26, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Tuesday’s Florida primaries are shaping up to be the starkest test yet of how widespread the scourge of antisemitism and extreme anti-Israel views are within both parties.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), one of the remaining pro-Israel stalwarts within his party, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a pragmatic Jewish lawmaker who is running in a new district after GOP redistricting chopped up her old seat, are both facing serious primary threats from their left flank.
Moskowitz is facing the more direct threat, going up against a Democratic Socialists of America-backed challenger in Oliver Larkin, who is running as a far-left candidate hostile to the U.S.-Israel relationship in a GOP-leaning district with one of the biggest Jewish constituencies in the country.
Larkin’s decision to run on a platform hostile to the district’s Jewish voters would typically be politically problematic. Deciding to campaign with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) during the primary’s final stretch is a curious campaign choice, to put it mildly. The blowback was intense enough that several Fort Lauderdale venues declined to host the socialist shindig.
But if there is a surge of left-wing, anti-establishment anger — and latent anti-Israel sentiment from the district’s non-Jewish Democratic voters — it’s worth keeping a close eye on the election results. Even a respectable 40-45% Larkin showing, short of victory, would raise eyebrows about how widespread the far-left ideology has penetrated the party.
After all, Moskowitz’s newly drawn district backed President Donald Trump, and his mainstream record is what’s allowing Democrats to have a good chance at holding the seat. Picking a DSA candidate like Larkin would all but guarantee Republicans pick up a seat that’s not currently at the top of their list.
Republicans will also be nominating their standard-bearer against Moskowitz, with polls suggesting former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer holding the edge against business owner Dan Franzese and former state Rep. George Moraitis.
In Florida’s neighboring 20th District, Wasserman Schultz is contending with a changed constituency after she chose to run in a new district with a larger Black population that’s a notch more progressive than her old one. But because multiple Black candidates are splitting the anti-incumbent vote, Wasserman Schultz looks favored to win renomination, though she may do so with a much smaller vote share than usual.
Progressive activist Elijah Manley, who is gay and converted to Judaism, is running in the left-wing lane and attended Tlaib’s socialist rally on Friday. He’s the most credible challenger against Wasserman Schultz, and given that he’s only 27, may end up running again even if comes up short (as analysts expect).
On the Republican side, we’re closely watching how much support two fringe candidates running on openly antisemitic platforms end up receiving in primary races for governor and against Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), one of only four Jewish Republicans in Congress.
In the governor’s primary, Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), vying to become the state’s first Black governor, is heavily favored to win the nomination, and likely by a comfortable margin. But the candidacy of openly racist and antisemitic James Fishback has drawn outsized attention on social media. The results will serve as a barometer of whether there’s any real constituency for Fishback’s type of extreme bigotry with the GOP electorate.
The primary polling has been inconclusive in breaking down Fishback’s level of support, with one recent poll showing him only winning 4% of the electorate, with another showing him hitting double-digits. Even as he’s headed towards a decisive defeat, his precise vote total will be watched closely by Republicans eyeing the level of beyond-the-pale racism in their own party.
The other openly racist candidate running is Jew-hating conspiracy theorist and podcaster Dan Bilzerian, who’s challenging Fine. About one-third of Bilzerian’s campaign messages are explicitly antisemitic, according to a study from the Combat Antisemitism Movement, and he’s lent his campaign over $1 million to amplify his message. This year, Israel’s Diaspora Ministry ranked Bilzerian the world’s leading antisemitic influencer for 2025.
Fine is expected to be renominated handily, but as with Fishback, the level of support a neo-Nazi extremist gets in the primary will be an indicator of how widespread this sickness has spread within the Republican Party.
Young activists are divided over Israel and America First, leaving GOP politicians trying to reestablish a common set of facts
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) arrives for a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on developments regarding Cuba on Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
TAMPA, Fla. – The crosswinds buffeting the Republican Party and conservative media ecosystem over Israel and antisemitism blew through Tampa earlier this month at the National College Republicans convention, and both the politicians who addressed the gathering and the young Republicans themselves had their collars turned up.
Gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) warned the crowd: Don’t let social media think for you.
It is too easy, he said, to “go down rabbit trails” and follow personalities instead of facts.
Donalds then turned to why he believes more and more young conservatives have become skeptical of Israel. “Social media, propaganda,” he said.
Foreign governments, Donalds added, “would love nothing more for the United States to be destabilized.”
But he also drew a distinction between criticism of Israeli policy and antisemitism. “If you are having an issue with public policy … have that issue,” Donalds said. But blaming Israel or Jews “with no real facts, no real evidence, just because that’s what you heard” should not be tolerated.
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), who also spoke at the conference, was even more explicit about the problem. For her, the argument over Israel begins before foreign policy: Republicans first have to agree on what constitutes a fact.
“You can’t even begin to have an honest conversation about how we ensure the security of our country, let alone our allies, until people understand what basic facts are,” Cammack said.
The exchanges between lawmakers and student activists captured a broader tension within the Republican Party that was on display throughout the Aug. 8 convention, which focused on recruiting, building chapters, training leaders and working on campaigns. But lawmakers and students kept coming back to a simpler question: where do young Republicans get their news, and whom do they trust?
University of Florida senior Justin Giacomelli said the debate over Israel has become one of the biggest fault lines among younger conservatives raised on social media.
“A lot of younger people, in particular, have grown up on social media where they’ve been bombarded by misinformation and lies about our relationship with Israel,” Giacomelli told Jewish Insider. “They’ve been brainwashed into thinking that Israel is evil, while countries like Iran are not, and they don’t understand the role we have with Israel, our mutual relationship, where we get critical intelligence from them.”
Giacomelli said X is his preferred platform for news because it puts competing arguments in the same feed. He also values the chance to test those arguments in real time by joining the debate himself. He admires Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s approach to Israel, Cuba and Venezuela, and disagrees with far-right, isolationist voices such as Tucker Carlson.
“I have learned that those policies don’t work,” Giacomelli said. “It’s dangerous to turn on your allies and become sympathetic toward your enemies, like Russia, China and Iran. You reach a point where you realize those policies don’t benefit America. They are not America First.”
Ian Lares-Chacin, the incoming chairman of the National Federation of College Republicans, said foreign policy is important to younger Republicans but remains secondary to affordability, particularly homeownership.
“As much as people care about foreign policy and that sort of thing, it’s second. Right now people are just kind of stressed out,” he said.
Still, Lares-Chacin described a “pretty split divide” over Israel among younger conservatives and said the debate had become toxic in some corners. His goal as chairman, he said, is to keep factions cooperating even when they disagree.
“At the end of the day, we’re all conservatives, even if we don’t agree 100% on every issue,” Lares-Chacin said. “I don’t think one or two issues should be the cause of a civil war.”
He said Israel could become a wedge issue, though he did not think it should.
Ephraim Asher, a University of South Florida junior who interned for Rubio when he was a senator, said most of his news comes from YouTube because he prefers extendedlong-form material to clipped excerpts.
“I get most of my information from YouTube, more like long-form content,” Asher said. “One thing I’ve seen is people clipping stuff, and I’m like, just watch the whole thing. So I’d rather watch the whole thing, see what they said, go through the sources and everything else.”
He said he checks Bloomberg, follows hosts with varying viewpoints and uses articles and AI tools to compare arguments. Like Giacomelli, he named Rubio as a model for the party’s future, citing his foreign policy and his ability to disagree without being divisive.
Moses Jinu, an FSU freshman, has a different routine.
“I’m kind of old-fashioned,” Jinu said. “I read the newspaper with my grandpa and then independently research news topics on Google.”
Asked what being a Republican means in 2026, Jinu pointed to “individual freedoms, liberty, and everyone’s right to speech, religion, the First Amendment.” Darren Valens, a Valencia College freshman, emphasized consent of the governed and the idea that rights come from God rather than government.
Scott Johnson, an advisor to the Osceola Young Republicans, said the defining challenge for a generation raised on social media is “figuring out what’s real and what’s not real.”
Cammack, the Florida congresswoman, recalled talking to a young man who believed American politicians were funded by foreign governments, a claim Cammack told him was not true. To her, the exchange showed how much the media landscape has changed. Younger conservatives are less likely to rely on Fox News or the New York Post and more likely to move between podcasts, X accounts and YouTube livestreams.
“There’s no editorial control, no reviews, there’s no accountability,” Cammack said. “There’s no, ‘Oh, I have sources, I have this.’ There’s none of that.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, she said, accelerated a collapse of trust, when many conservatives began questioning institutions and legacy media. That gave an opening for independent journalists and commentators.
She added that “there is a beauty” in the rise of independent media, “but now we’ve seen the abuse of that, and how people can just say whatever the hell they want, and they don’t have to back it up.”
Cammack said she has seen friends share material she believed was created by the Chinese Communist Party while assuming it came from American users. “We are in a full-blown cognitive war with China, with Russia, with Iran,” she said. “People don’t know it.”
Her prescription to the students was not a return to one set of legacy outlets, but more skepticism toward everything they encounter — including content they already agree with.
Cammack encouraged students to check claims before posting them and decide if the sources are credible. Distrust in established institutions makes personal judgment even more important.
“You want to be known as someone who is a beacon of truth, who can be counted on to share the truth,” she told the students, “who has the integrity and the intelligence to go do your own dang research, and you know what is fact and what is fiction.”
Among students, the divide was less abstract.
Conservative influencer Gates Garcia said the right has been too reluctant to confront antisemitism within its own ranks, while also warning against branding every criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
“We have a First Amendment right to criticize anyone,” Garcia said. “But what becomes antisemitic is when we hold Israel to a different set of standards than other people and other countries. And that’s what a lot of people in the conservative movement are falling victim to.”
The senator told JI he was worried that fringe ideas could gain momentum if Republicans don’t aggressively push back
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on July 23, 2026.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) expressed confidence ahead of Florida’s primary elections on Tuesday that voters will reject the Republican candidates who have embraced blatantly antisemitic messages as part of their campaigns.
In an interview on Friday with Jewish Insider, the Florida senator specifically called out James Fishback, who is running against Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R-FL) in the gubernatorial primary to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), and Dan Bilzerian, who is challenging Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) for the GOP nomination for Florida’s 6th Congressional District.
“I’m very optimistic that Byron will win the primary. He’s got to win,” Scott told JI. “We’ve got an antisemite in the race, James Fishback, and so unfortunately, we have to keep fighting this antisemitism around the country. But Byron’s running a good race. He’s worked hard.”
Scott said that he campaigned with Donalds on Thursday near Tallahassee and noted that the House lawmaker “had a big turnout and he did a great job, so we’ve just got to get people out to vote.”
Asked what he’s heard from Florida Republican voters in response to Fishback and Bilzerian’s antisemitic campaign messaging, Scott told JI, “Most people are focused on their job, their kids’ education, public safety, but when you ask about it [Fishback, Bilzerian or other fringe figures in the GOP], they’ll say it’s disgusting. They know it’s wrong.”
“Often in life, if it doesn’t impact you, you don’t think about it, so what we’ve got to say to that is: Hatred impacts all of us somehow,” the Florida senator said. “First, they’re going to attack Jews. I don’t know for what godforsaken reason people have decided it’s okay to attack Jews, but they’re not going to stop there.”
Fishback, who ran an investment firm before entering the gubernatorial race last year, has run a blatantly racist and antisemitic primary campaign. He has repeatedly taunted Donalds, who is Black, over his race, referring to him as “DEI Donalds,” nicknaming him “By’rone” and calling him a “slave” to corporations and the donor class.
As a candidate, Fishback has also defended neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes and his “groyper” movement.
Bilzerian is a social media influencer with more than 28 million Instagram followers. He gained notoriety in the 2010s for his extravagant lifestyle and has emerged in recent years as a far-right commentator who openly supports Adolf Hitler and calls for “ending the existence” of Israel. He boasts about his record of engaging in Holocaust denial and continues to claim Jews were involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Bilzerian is among the most openly antisemitic candidates to run for federal office in recent memory, launching his campaign by describing Fine, one of the few Jewish Republicans in Congress, as a “fat Jew” and asserting that “Jewish supremacy is the biggest threat to the world today.” He also calls Judaism a “terrible” religion and has expressed a desire to murder “evil” Israelis.
“Everyone wants to complain about the left: They’re antisemitic, they’re anti-Israel, all that,” Scott said. “But we have people in the Republican Party who are [antisemitic and anti-Israel] — people like James Fishback or the guy that’s running against Congressman Randy Fine — so we’ve got to call it out.”
“Antisemitism is not acceptable anywhere,” Scott continued. “If there’s antisemitism [in the GOP], I’ll be glad to call those people out, because it is despicable, it’s disgraceful, it’s un-American, and whether it’s the left that is doing it or people on the right who are doing it, it is wrong.”
Scott was one of several prominent Republicans to condemn Bilzeran over the weekend after the candidate posted an AI-generated video suggesting Hitler’s opinions should be “revisited” and calling Fine a “Jewish [supremacist]” and “Satan’s creepy little [minion]” over imagery of Fine hugging a bag of money. The narrator in the video also referred to Fine as a “satanic whore” as horns were shown growing out of the House lawmaker’s head, and suggested that Fine rapes children.
Bilzerian also faced criticism for posting another AI video accusing Fine of staging an incident last week in which an unknown individual spray-painted a swastika on a Fine campaign sign outside of an early voting site.
“This guy is an actual Republican on the ballot. It’s so disgusting. Every single Republican needs to condemn this evil, and every single news outlet needs to expose how bad and antisemitic he is,” Scott wrote on X on Friday of Bilzerian.
While Scott maintained confidence that Donalds and Fine would beat their fringe primary rivals on Tuesday, he expressed concern that Fishback and Bilzerian’s ideas could become mainstreamed in American politics if he and other Republicans fail to push back on them.
“The more this happens, the more that people will think: Well, that’s okay. So with people like these, you have to say, ‘I don’t want those people in my party,’” Scott told JI. “The Republican Party is a broad coalition of people that care about this country, but we’re not going to allow antisemites into our party, period. They belong in the Democrat Party, which embraces them.”
“Our party is not run by antisemites and will never be run by antisemites as long as I have any power to stop it,” he continued. “We have to fight, fight, fight.”
Fine, who has been vocal about his Jewish identity, has come under intense scrutiny from the left in recent years for his aggressive approach to his advocacy for Israel and against antisemitism.
In February, he faced a wave of condemnations and accusations of Islamophobia from his Democratic colleagues, including 22 Jewish lawmakers and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), for suggesting in a social media post that he would choose dogs over Muslims.
Progressive lawmakers pushed to have Fine censured and urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to revoke his committee assignments in response, but were unsuccessful.
Neo-Nazi podcaster Dan Bilzerian has campaigned as an explicit Jew hater in the primary
Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Representative Randy Fine (R-FL) departs following a vote at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 15, 2026.
Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-FL) primary opponent, influencer Dan Bilzerian, is pushing blatantly antisemitic and pro-Adolf Hitler messaging in the closing days of Florida’s primary season.
Bilzerian has made no secret of the openly antisemitic tenor of his campaign, having said from the outset that he is challenging Fine because he is Jewish and pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Fine, the Jewish community and Israel.
But messaging and advertising from Bilzerian’s campaign has gained increased attention in the final days of the race, after Bilzerian posted a shocking video that leans into a series of blatant antisemitic tropes and overtones.
The two-and-a-half minute AI-generated video repeatedly calls Fine a “fat Jew” and accuses him of serving Israel over the United States. It describes Fine a “Jewish [supremacist]” and “Satan’s creepy little [minion]” over imagery of Fine hugging a bag of money.
It also calls Fine a “satanic whore,” over footage of horns growing out of his forehead, and refers to him as “Shylock.”
Over footage of Hitler, the video asks, “Should we revisit that Austrian painter’s opinions?”
It also suggests that Fine rapes children and calls for him to be tarred, feathered and imprisoned.
“Celebrating Hitler. Having horns grow out of the heads of Jews. Showing me violently assaulted,” Fine said in response to the video. “If this appeals to you, I don’t want your vote. We have a choice on Tuesday, to embrace the kind of Nazism that led to the Holocaust or to repudiate this filth and reaffirm American values and character. Let’s send a resounding message on Tuesday.”
Bilzerian posted another AI video accusing Fine of staging an incident last week in which an unknown individual spray-painted a swastika on a Fine campaign sign outside of an early voting site.
Several prominent Republicans joined Fine in condemning the pro-Hitler Bilzerian ad.
“This brazen Nazi — who’s urging us to ‘revisit’ the opinions of Hitler— revels in Jew hate & defends Sharia law,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on X. “This evil has no place in the Republican Party.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said that Bilzerian is “disgusting” and that “every single Republican needs to condemn this evil, and every single news outlet needs to expose how bad and antisemitic he is.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Bilzerian’s messaging “possibly the most disgusting … I’ve seen” and said he had “taken Jew-hate to a new low.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the attacks “vile” and “disgusting” and said that all leaders on both sides should reject them.
“Antisemitism and outward hatred of Jewish communities have no place in our politics or in America, and we will continue to call them out wherever they arise,” Johnson said. “On Tuesday, voters will reject the revolting rhetoric, and I am proud to endorse [Fine] as he works to continue delivering results for every family in [Florida’s 6th Congressional District].”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-FL) said the video is “vile and has zero place in our politics, let alone the Republican Party.”
Several Democrats also denounced the video.
“The hateful campaign being run by Daniel Bilzerian in Florida is blatantly antisemitic and shocks the conscience,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said. “People of goodwill regardless of political affiliation must reject his vile attacks on the Jewish community. This cannot and will not stand.”
A group of Jewish House Democrats — Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Friedman (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Levin (D-CA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Brad Schnieder (D-IL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Eugene Vindman (D-VA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) — also condemned the attacks on Fine.
“We don’t agree with Randy Fine on much, if anything, and have condemned his racist, islamophobic statements,” the Democrats said. “But the grotesque, antisemitic campaign video posted by Republican Daniel Bilzerian has no place in America. We unequivocally condemn Bilzerian and his hateful antisemitic attacks.”
The Democrats urged social media platforms to take down the video and other antisemitic posts by Bilzeria, and called on the National Republican Congressional Committee and all Republicans to condemn and disavow Bilzerian and his backers.
Landsman also individually called out the post.
“This is a candidate for Congress, on the ballot in Florida on Tuesday. It’s blatant antisemitism, and could lead to violence against Jews,” Landsman said. “Unless he did this on his own, there is an AI company that created this. Which one? Plus, the social media platforms that don’t just allow this, but most likely boost it to millions. Everyone should be condemning this.”
A federal judge ruled the incidents cited by the government were ‘too isolated and episodic’ to prove Harvard is violating civil rights law — a decision the Brandeis Center warns will make future Title VI cases harder to win
Cassandra Klos/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Widener Library on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
A federal judge in Boston dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University on Thursday, ruling that the incidents were “too isolated and episodic” to show an ongoing violation of civil rights law.
Judge Richard Stearns pointed out that while the government’s amended complaint cited three March 2025 incidents, it still focused almost entirely on the 2023–2024 school year.
“Without diminishing any concern arising from these occurrences, the court finds them, singly and collectively, to be too isolated and episodic to support a plausible inference that any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day,” Stearns wrote.
The Trump administration filed the lawsuit against Harvard in March, claiming that its leadership violated the civil rights of Jewish students by failing to address antisemitism that has roiled the Ivy League campus since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
In the 44-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, the Department of Justice said that Harvard unlawfully discriminated against Jewish students by its “intentional conduct and its deliberate indifference to discriminatory harassment of Jewish and Israeli students and creation of a hostile educational environment” since Oct. 7 and “up to the present day.”
The Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which filed its own lawsuit against Harvard in 2024 alleging failure to address antisemitism, said that Thursday’s ruling will make other Title VI cases harder.
“The rule applied in this decision would make it significantly more challenging for the Justice Department to win future civil rights cases, not just those involving antisemitism, by effectively raising the legal standard for enforcement. Normally, when an administrative agency finds an institution out of compliance under Title VI, it is required to give that recipient a chance to fix the problem. This ruling, if broadly adopted by the courts, would add an unprecedented higher bar: the government now has to prove not only that the institution refused to resolve the issue at hand in an agreement with the government but also that additional subsequent violations occurred,” the Brandeis Center said in a statement.
“This is a significant and troubling departure from how civil rights enforcement has long worked and it should concern anyone who cares about accountability on antisemitism or any other form of discrimination.”
In a statement, J Street said that its spending effort to boost progressive California state Sen. Aisha Wahab is intended to counter the pro-Hernandez spending by AIPAC and others
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab attends a press conference in Hayward, Calif., on March 2, 2026.
J Street Action Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the progressive Israel advocacy group, spent $108,000 on Thursday on digital advertisements to boost progressive California state Sen. Aisha Wahab in the special election in California’s 14th Congressional District.
The AIPAC-affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project has spent nearly $2.5 million — along with significant independent expenditures by other groups — attacking Wahab and boosting moderate former local mayor Melissa Hernandez in the special election runoff to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
J Street said in a statement that its spending effort is intended to counter the pro-Hernandez spending by AIPAC and others. The J Street ad praises Wahab for work on housing affordability issues.
Wahab’s campaign has raised concerns from members of the Jewish community, given that she voted against or abstained on votes on top-priority legislation to combat campus antisemitism and is closely aligned with teachers’ unions that have opposed antisemitism bills. She has also accused Israel of committing genocide and shared a page on her campaign site individually calling out specific “AIPAC-linked donors” supporting Hernandez’s campaign.
“Aisha Wahab is an Afghan-American and the first Muslim elected to the California State Senate,” J Street said in a statement. “In September 2025, she introduced a resolution calling for an end to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages. She is exactly the kind of compassionate leader constituents of the 14th District should have in Congress.”
Wahab introduced the 2025 resolution alongside Jewish state Sen. Scott Wiener, who is running for Congress in another Bay Area district.
“This is once again a cynical attempt by AIPAC to defeat a candidate who won’t rubber-stamp their agenda,” Tali deGroot, J Street’s vice president of political and digital strategy, said in a statement. “AIPAC’s super PAC has failed time and again this cycle, and we expect this latest attempt to take Republican billionaire dollars and buy a Democratic primary to fail as well. Voters in the 14th deserve better, and they deserve a Member of Congress who will bring the kind of clear-eyed, nuanced and compassionate leadership that Dr. Wahab has shown throughout her career.”
A Jewish leader in the district said that, while they harbored concerns about Wahab, they did not believe that even significant UDP spending would be enough to swing the race against her and worried that UDP spending could push her toward stronger anti-Israel stances.
Plus, CA considers making Jews an ethnicity
Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on March 9, 2026.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that his Office to Combat Antisemitism will be releasing a municipal plan to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
The mayor marketed the plan as the “first-in-the-nation,” even as former Mayor Eric Adams already released a “blueprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day.
The move comes days after Mamdani hosted a roundtable with rabbis in the city who asked the mayor to back off his attacks on Israel, a request that Mamdani did not reference or commit to addressing in his remarks…
The California state Legislature is considering a bill to require state agencies to include “Jewish” as an ethnicity option on all forms that collect demographic data. The move would make California the first state to officially consider Judaism as more than a religion for identification purposes…
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday brought by the Trump administration against Harvard University alleging that the school showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.
The judge ruled that the few campus incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to find “any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day”…
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X today that she had communicated her “concerns” to the University of Washington about its decision to cancel an appearance by far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, and encouraged student groups who “want to hear from Mr. Piker to work with the University to ensure they can proceed.”
Piker had earlier this week denounced Democrats who didn’t “speak out against this clear violation” of the First Amendment due to his “position as a prominent critic of Israel”…
Former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is expected to headline a Labor Day rally for the Hancock County Maine Democrats next month, his first public appearance since dropping out of the Senate race after he was accused of rape by a former romantic partner…
White House advisor Jared Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to discuss the Hamas disarmament deal, Axios reports…
CENTCOM announced today it is undertaking efforts to establish the “first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force,” including consulting with and inviting regional partners to join, that will work to utilize unmanned, one-way attack drones “from above, on, and below the sea” in the Middle East…
The U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, sources told The Washington Post, as the armed drones have been targeted by Tehran and its proxies in Yemen and Iraq…
The Pentagon is sending the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as reports and lawmakers indicate that conditions aboard the ship are deteriorating after a record 200 days without a port call; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the concerns about the Abraham Lincoln today as “completely misrepresented”…
Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), facing a runoff special election to be the GOP nominee for her late brother’s Senate seat, announced she is co-sponsoring the Jewish American Security Act, the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act, a bill on Iran sanctions and a bill on Iranian human rights and internet access…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is avoiding contending with the anti-Israel turn of her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in her race against state Sen. Scott Wiener.
President Donald Trump will appear with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for New York governor, at an event on Long Island honoring law enforcement officials.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of the Squad, will appear at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alongside anti-Israel progressives running against Jewish Democrats Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as socialist Colorado Democratic congressional nominee Melat Kiros.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
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The mayor touted his forthcoming plan following his meeting with rabbis who voiced concerns about his anti-Israel rhetoric, which he did not mention or vow to adjust
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on Aug. 12, 2026 in New York City.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani followed up his meeting with a group of rabbis earlier this week by touting a plan to battle antisemitism in the five boroughs — without committing to making changes in his rhetoric toward Israel that the group of Jewish religious leaders demanded.
“I had a candid and productive conversation with rabbis representing a wide swath of New York’s Jewish communities and affiliations, and I appreciated hearing from them,” Mamdani said after an unrelated event in Manhattan on Thursday.
During the mayor’s roundtable with Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Modern Orthodox rabbis from predominantly liberal-leaning parts of the city, the rabbis made a near-unanimous call for Mamdani to back off his excoriations of Israel, warning that his focus on the Jewish state was alienating and even endangering Jewish New Yorkers.
But Mamdani did not explicitly state on Thursday that he would act on their recommendations, instead touting his increased spending on groups that run anti-hate crime initiatives and a plan his Office to Combat Antisemitism will release next month to tamp down on the anti-Jewish bias incidents that have risen on his watch.
“Our administration has been making steps, taking steps over the last many months of enacting that,” he said. “Expanding our city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism to its largest-ever size while developing a first-in-the-nation municipal response to combating antisemitism.”
“My door will always be open to every Jewish New Yorker. That is a door that is open not only to a conversation but to a commitment of what it actually looks like to deliver on an ideal of a city where not only is everyone safe but everyone belongs, everyone is made to feel as if this is their home,” he continued.
Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, released a “blueprint” for tackling antisemitism on his last day in office, largely detailing steps his office had already taken. This included an executive order Adams signed adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as official city policy. Mamdani repealed that order the day he assumed office.
There’s widespread interest within the Jewish community to develop efforts to counter the growing populist rage and anti-Jewish hate, city by city
Getty Images
Human crowd forming a big David's star on blue background.
Until recently, the political strategy of the American Jewish establishment could be summed up in two ways: Elect pro-Israel lawmakers to Congress and, at a much smaller scale, educate state and local officials about Jewish values and causes.
But a new model of Jewish political engagement is emerging to counter growing populist angst and surging antisemitism across the political spectrum: local efforts focused on school boards and city councils and statehouses.
These Jewish activists are not shying away from the messy reality of politics: They aren’t here to make friends with everyone, acknowledging that not everyone is an ally. Their goal is to offer support — through door-knocking, organizing and their checkbooks — to candidates who have stood by the Jewish community in the post-Oct. 7 political firestorm, and to try to unseat those who have not.
If you want to make a difference in the actual day-to-day lives of Jewish Americans, these activists argue, the place to do so is not Congress. It’s Sacramento, or Harrisburg, or the local Democratic Party committee meeting up the street.
“All of these groups are starting to pop up because we realize that the infrastructure that the community has had in the past isn’t enough and isn’t working,” said Stefanie Clarke, a political strategist in Colorado who co-founded the Colorado Jewish Action Alliance.
Like nearly all of the groups now operating in local politics, COJAA was born after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, when municipal governments in the U.S. became the newest front in Israeli-Palestinian culture wars. Anti-Israel rhetoric that often veered into outright antisemitism could suddenly be heard regularly in city halls and state legislatures. People who were elected to office because of their views on bike lanes or the environment were suddenly being pressured to weigh in on a contentious issue that originated thousands of miles away.
By law, tax-exempt nonprofits cannot engage in the political system. But a growing consensus is emerging that the apolitical approach necessarily adopted by the Jewish philanthropic world is not enough to address the intense partisanship of the moment, where incendiary antisemitic rhetoric has seeped into all levels of the political system.
In places including Atlanta, Denver and Pittsburgh, first-time Jewish activists such as Clarke are responding with grassroots initiatives like COJAA. Elsewhere, existing Jewish communal institutions are incubating new political organizations that they are spinning off as independent entities — for example, in San Francisco, where the local Jewish Community Relations Council created an affiliated advocacy organization called Bay Area Jewish Action (BAJA).
“We are seeing an increasingly unhinged and violent-prone mob challenging elected officials for standing with the Jewish community, and so there is a risk in standing with us, however unacceptable that reality is,” said Tyler Gregory, the CEO of JCRC and executive director of BAJA. “We need to be able to do more than just verbally say thank you in a situation like that.”
What that looks like in practice differs from place to place. BAJA created a political network where members commit to donating a certain amount throughout the election cycle, and have opportunities to meet candidates in BAJA-organized forums.
Other efforts are bipartisan. COJAA endorsed 13 candidates in Colorado’s primaries this year, a mix of Democrats and Republicans. (The primary results were themselves mixed; seven of COJAA’s preferred candidates won.) Georgia Solidarity Network, based in Atlanta, sees its mission as educating lawmakers about the state’s Jewish community.
“Part of our theory of change is that you cannot meet the moment by just showing up in an election cycle and trying to get messaging out there,” Beacon Coalition founder Jeremy Kazzaz explained. “It requires people on the ground, and it requires conversations going all the time.”
“Our legislators are incredible. But our legislators are blueberry farmers and used car sales lot owners and small-time lawyers in tiny towns who have no familiarity at all with the Jewish community,” Georgia Solidarity Network co-founder Alli Medof told Jewish Insider. “We really recognized that there was a need for us as a community to have a strong voice and presence in the legislature and to represent the concerns of Jewish Georgians.”
In Pittsburgh, a group called the Beacon Coalition spent the past year recruiting moderate Democrats to run for local volunteer positions in official Democratic groups throughout Allegheny County. Forty aligned Democrats won their races for small neighborhood seats that play an outsized role in party endorsements.
“Part of our theory of change is that you cannot meet the moment by just showing up in an election cycle and trying to get messaging out there,” Beacon Coalition founder Jeremy Kazzaz explained. “It requires people on the ground, and it requires conversations going all the time.”
Each of these groups is independent, created and operated — and funded (for the most part) — locally. But they see an opportunity to connect with and learn from each other.
Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the philanthropic behemoth that supports liberal causes and pro-Israel groups, convened a gathering earlier this year that brought together dozens of activists in the burgeoning local Jewish political ecosystem.
“I’m deeply concerned about the rise in extremism that’s playing out in local politics,” the foundation’s senior director for U.S. Jewish grantmaking, David Rittberg, told JI. “I do think that Jewish community leaders as well as everyday Americans are waking up to the challenges that these dynamics are creating in a local political context.”
Schusterman’s involvement in this space is an indication that Jewish philanthropists are taking problems at the local level seriously. Rittberg declined to comment on whether Schusterman has given grants to any of the groups, but said the foundation sees its role as being “a connector.”
Many emerging local activists have looked to a group called New York Solidarity Network for advice. NYSN was formed in 2022 after New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter began pressuring local candidates to pledge not to travel to Israel, a request that at the time was seen as radical but has since become the norm in many Democratic primaries in liberal urban areas.
Sara Forman, the group’s founding executive director, advises them that money is not enough — a pointed message at a moment when, at the national level, AIPAC’s super PAC just spent tens of millions of dollars backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in a failed Michigan Senate primary bid, and further damaged its image with Democrats in the process.
“DSA has been incredibly successful at organizing community and at making people feel like they are part of something,” said Sara Forman, founding executive director of NYSN. “I think in the Jewish community, having local organizations mimic some of the same practices of DSA is a good thing. Make people feel included. Make people feel like their voice counts.”
“You can’t build something inorganically. There has to be a reason for people to want to come out and attend events, and want to knock on doors and make phone calls and organize their synagogues,” said Forman, who stepped down from NYSN in January. “Check-writing isn’t what’s going to make the difference here.”
The goal, instead, is building up American Jews’ appetite for grassroots political organizing in support of Jewish causes and candidates who support them. That’s a different position than the one taken by AIPAC in recent years, which has invested at the federal level in high-dollar political fundraising. But when groups such as DSA are able to recruit eager volunteers to campaign for far-left officials and show up to public meetings to voice support for anti-Israel measures, Jewish activists increasingly see a need to fight fire with fire.
“DSA has been incredibly successful at organizing community and at making people feel like they are part of something,” said Forman. “I think in the Jewish community, having local organizations mimic some of the same practices of DSA is a good thing. Make people feel included. Make people feel like their voice counts.”
The success of a DSA-aligned faction in several major Democratic primaries this year has led many of these Jewish activists to now see their fight for communal safety as part of a larger battle within the party, about whether it will move left or to the center ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
“I think the overlap between folks who are concerned about fighting illiberalism, extremism, antisemitism and virulent anti-Zionism deeply intersects with those of us who want to strengthen moderate factions on both sides of the aisle, in particular for us on the Democratic side,” Third Way President Jon Cowan told JI. “A lot of folks are coming to realize that those fights deeply overlap.”
“We know that the next phase for us is focusing more on the creeping threat of DSA,” Medof, from Georgia, said. “The way we think about this work is that the sorts of things that we’re fighting for are not just about what’s good for Jewish Georgians. They’re good for Georgia overall.”
Last week, The New York Times outlined a new effort by the centrist Democratic group Third Way to push back against the growing appeal of DSA-aligned groups and policies within the party. Third Way President Jon Cowan told JI that the organization is, for the first time in its history, working with groups at the local level. Third Way gave a grant to the Beacon Coalition this year to support its work and help the organization expand to Cleveland.
“I think the overlap between folks who are concerned about fighting illiberalism, extremism, antisemitism and virulent anti-Zionism deeply intersects with those of us who want to strengthen moderate factions on both sides of the aisle, in particular for us on the Democratic side,” Cowan said. “A lot of folks are coming to realize that those fights deeply overlap.”
Building support for Israel is not what most of these groups see as their focus. They want efforts targeting Israel — like Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns — to fail, and for local governments to otherwise stay mum on one of the most intractable foreign policy issues in the world.
“We are about Jewish safety, security and engagement in civil life. We really don’t talk about Israel other than how the rhetoric around it endangers our community,” said Mindy Miller, a co-founder of the Colorado group.
Not that that has stopped opponents from trying to tar the groups as, essentially, mini-AIPACs.
“We’ve seen a trend with a very similar pattern of behavior targeting groups like Beacon, where there are Jewish Americans who are showing up in spaces as Jewish Americans and saying our community is important,” said Pittsburgh-based Kazzaz. “It’s a lot of boogeyman-ing, just name calling, ‘You’re a secret Republican.’”
Mostly, though, the new Jewish activists are finding curiosity, not animosity. People who are eyeing local positions are generally not running with Israel or Palestine as their top issue. But that doesn’t mean they don’t understand how thorny the discourse can be.
“One of the things we say is we will never cancel you. There are no stupid questions,” said Miller, from Colorado.
She wants to be a guide to help local politicians learn about the issues. And with financial and manpower resources that can help candidates in their campaigns, Miller hopes the Jewish community will now have a shot of being the first to reach those politicians.
Plus, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger ball out
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Breakthrough T1D)
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) questions witnesses during a hearing held to examine a future without Type 1 Diabetes with a focus on accelerating breakthroughs and creating hope at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 09, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Wednesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.
“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…
Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…
President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”
Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…
In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…
The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…
Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.
The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…
The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…
Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.
The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.
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BALLIN’ OUT
Josh Kushner, Bob Iger purchase Los Angeles Lakers for record $12.5 billion
The sale is the largest purchase price for any sports team in American history
ADL research documents faculty networks shielding anti-Israel student groups from discipline and instructors presenting one-sided narratives on Israel as fact
(Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
Several hundred people demonstrate at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, CA on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Even as student-driven protests against Israel and the war in Gaza have quieted down on college campuses, two new Anti-Defamation League reports reveal rising levels of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in university classrooms nationwide driven by faculty, noting that some instructors are still presenting one-sided views on Israel as fact, assigning readings by terrorist groups and offering extra credit for attending anti-Israel protests.
“The Faculty Factor: Inside the Networks Driving Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionist Activism on Campus,” published on Wednesday, documents how faculty groups, unions and networks drive anti-Israel and anti-Zionist actions at universities. The report claims that faculty networks such as Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine and the American Association of University Professors have shielded anti-Israel student groups from discipline since the 2024 campus anti-Israel encampments, detailing methods used by influential organizations to provide institutional cover.
The report follows a 2025 ADL and Academic Engagement Network survey that found that 73% of the 209 Jewish faculty members polled from universities around the U.S. reported observing antisemitic activities or statements from faculty, administrators or staff on campuses, including calls to boycott Israel and doxxing campaigns. Forty-four percent said they were aware of an organized Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter on their campus.
A second report, “Antisemitism Among Faculty and in the Classroom: Trends, Patterns and Institutional Dynamics,” highlights anti-Israel narratives presented to students through regular course study since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and the ensuing Gaza war.
The report cites incidents of professors presenting one-sided narratives, framing lectures around a single political view and treating contested claims as settled fact. In some cases, courses feature extensive criticism of Israel without engaging substantively with counterarguments or historical complexities, according to the ADL.
For instance, at Stanford University, the course “Palestine Across Disciplines: An Introduction” asked in its description, “How do we talk about Palestine and Palestinian life in the midst of devastation and genocide?” At Yale, a seminar description referred to Israel as a “settler-colonial structure of occupation and violence.” And at Princeton, a course titled “Gender, Reproduction and Genocide” focused on Gaza and featured readings that described “Israel’s genocidal project” as unfolding since the “1948 Nakba.”
In 2024, University of California, Berkeley students in a history course were reportedly assigned to read Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani, a former spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, alongside materials on Kanafani’s fellow PFLP member and plane hijacker Leila Khaled that explored armed struggle and Palestinian resistance.
At the University of Missouri, a journalism student reported that a professor used a film about a former mayor of the West Bank city of Ramallah in a required course to push a personal anti-Israel view, as he called Israel an occupying force that aims to kill all Palestinians.
In extreme cases, professors use their platforms to direct students to oppose protections against antisemitism, according to the report. It pointed to an incident where a California State University, Los Angeles professor allegedly urged his class to petition Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto bill AB 715, California’s landmark K-12 antisemitism prevention law.
In response to these reports, the ADL announced it will launch the Campus Classroom Reporting tool to provide a confidential channel for the public to report classroom antisemitism, aiming to improve upon what it says are low reporting rates. Alongside this, ADL released best practice guides and model policies to assist institutions in addressing discrimination, tenure and academic freedom issues.
The comments, made last month at the annual board meeting of the Claims Conference, have left experts in the field dubious, given complex diplomatic hurdles
Marc Rod
Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, speaks at an Orthodox Union conference, June 22, 2026
Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, said last month that he would be able to resolve all remaining Holocaust restitution issues within the next two and a half years, before the end of the Trump administration, two sources with knowledge of the remarks told Jewish Insider.
The assertion — made during the July annual meeting of the board of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, better known as the Claims Conference, in New York last month — has left experts in the field skeptical. The U.S. has been pursuing Holocaust restitution issues for decades.
The comments also come amid deliberations inside the State Department over the potential merger of the office of the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues, who has historically been the U.S. lead on Holocaust restitution matters into Kaploun’s office. Those efforts at consolidation have divided Jewish community organizations.
Kaploun, in a speech, told attendees at the Claims Conference meeting that because of his contacts and connections, he personally, in cooperation with others in the Trump administration, would be able to resolve the long-standing diplomatic struggles that have hampered restitution efforts.
A State Department spokesperson emphasized the administration’s commitment to Holocaust-related issues.
“The Administration is committed to holding governments accountable for failures to return or provide restitution or compensation for Nazi-stolen assets,” the spokesperson said. “The Administration continues to advance this commitment, including through efforts to combat antisemitism and address Holocaust-era issues.”
The spokesperson noted that Kaploun, since taking office, had secured Armenia and several Latin American governments’ willingness to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, attended memorials at the Jasenovac concentration camp and Donja Gradina memorial and spoke at the March of the Living.
“Secretary Rubio has been clear: 81 years is too long to achieve a measure of justice for the victims and their families,” the spokesperson continued. “Around the world, Ambassador Kaploun continues to reiterate [the] unprecedented commitment of the Trump Administration to these issues.”
But in the room, the comments were met with skepticism.
“The tone … was basically, ‘I’m coming in, and I know what needs to be done, and I’m going to do it my way despite whatever anybody else feels or does because I have the backing of the administration,’” one source, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the meeting, explained.
The individual said that the comment “surprised” many people present.
“These are thorny issues that people have been working on for decades. We all wish that progress would be very fast, but there are complicated political, legal, economic and moral issues that sometimes require a lot of negotiation, a lot of research,” the source said, “not necessarily things that could be done in a matter of months.”
A second individual, also granted anonymity, said that the comments were met by the Claims Conference meeting attendees with “a large amount of eye-rolling,” skepticism and general dismissal.
In a statement to JI, Mark Weitzman, chief operating officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the leading organization in the Jewish world overseeing restitution issues, thanked the administration for its focus on Holocaust restitution issues.
“We very much welcome the continued commitment from the US Administration to treat Holocaust restitution as a top and urgent priority. As survivors pass away, time is not on our side,” Weitzman said.
Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor offered similar sentiments.
“The renewed commitment from the Administration to put its full weight behind outstanding restitution issues is critically important,” said Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor.
Michael Bazyler, a law professor focused on Holocaust and human rights at Chapman University who has worked for years on Holocaust restitution issues, explained to JI that Poland has been the biggest remaining obstacle to such efforts, as it is the only EU country that hasn’t passed a law setting out procedures for restitution, despite facing pressure to do so.
Survivors have sought restitution through the Polish court system but have been consistently rejected, Bazyler said, even when providing comprehensive documentation.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue while in Poland and Congress passed the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today Act, leading to a State Department report that spotlighted issues with Poland.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who at the time was serving in the Senate, was one of the lead sponsors of the JUST Act and a prominent advocate on the subject of Holocaust restitution while he was on the Hill. He also led a letter while in the Senate calling on Poland to pass legislation to create a restitution mechanism.
The State Department spokesperson highlighted Rubio’s work and focus on the issue, noting that he has said in the past, “We must fight for justice and restitution and ensure that the truth of the Holocaust is taught to every generation.”
The U.S. has sought for years, under successive administrations, to exert diplomatic pressure on Poland to create a restitution process, but Poland has had “absolutely no interest” in doing so and sees no “reason … to do this right now,” Bazyler said.
“Let me just say this: When Ambassador Kaploun says, ‘I can solve this,’ I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Bazyler said.
“This is incredibly delicate, incredibly sensitive,” Menachem Rosensaft, a Cornell University adjunct law professor involved for years in post-Holocaust issues, told JI. “You can’t go with a sledgehammer on countries like Poland, like Lithuania, that have been reluctant or unwilling to provide restitution for all kinds of reasons, and the effort is one of diplomatic subtlety, diplomatic finesse.”
Rosensaft said that the notion that such issues could be resolved in a year or two is “illusory.”
“I concede to his good intentions. I don’t question his sincerity,” Rosensaft said. “But I … don’t think anybody can deliver in that framework.”
The exact amount of restitution Poland owes is undefined, but could total in the billions of dollars, Bazyler said, given that, in Warsaw alone, major urban development is taking place in an area once owned primarily by Jews. He said there’s also no central database or registry of outstanding restitution claims, either for Poland or globally.
Plus, City Hall and NYPD clash over Rama Duwaji's travel plans
Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A woman waves a Venezuelan flag during a march in amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Caracas, Venezuela on May 25, 2021. (Photo by )
Good Tuesday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted today that any agreement reached between Iran and Oman on administering the Strait of Hormuz is separate from Tehran’s broader closure of the waterway, which will only be lifted once the U.S. accedes to Iran’s demands.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Islamabad’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg that developments are “shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement”…
CENTCOM said it disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship sailing toward Iranian ports today by firing two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, the third such incident since the U.S. blockade began…
Ed Miliband, who last month was appointed by new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to be foreign secretary, said he had a “frank and constructive first call” with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar today, during which the British diplomat raised the issues of settler violence, settlement expansion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, among others.
The discussion came a day after Miliband met with British Jewish community leaders, who said they were “impressed” by the foreign secretary’s “longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation”…
Sa’ar announced that Israel and Venezuela have agreed to renew consular relations — establishing a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to each country’s citizens — in the first official channel between the two since Caracas severed diplomatic ties in 2009. The move builds on the Israeli aid delegation dispatched to Venezuela after the June 24 earthquakes…
The Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza convened a joint coordination meeting with several U.N. agencies — including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organization — as well as representatives from the Board of Peace and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change to coordinate on humanitarian aid and reconstruction issues…
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a conference in Israel today that Israeli operatives have “toured” Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “many times” in order to “understand” it, and called the U.S. operation to bomb the site during the 12-day war in June 2025 “the fulfillment of all my dreams”…
The NYPD denied that its officers will be accompanying New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji on a trip to Lebanon and Syria next month after City Hall said that, “upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her” on the trip.
“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons,” the NYPD said today, referring to the State Department’s ranking system that currently designates the two countries as “do not travel” locations. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later said the diverging statements stemmed from a “miscommunication,” and that when his wife makes the trip “it will be without any NYPD detail”…
Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has made private over 100 YouTube videos from his time as a podcaster and commentator, CNN reports, including videos in which he lambasted fireworks on the Fourth of July, floated replacing the Second Amendment and voiced support for prison abolition…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Brian Poindexter, the Democratic nominee in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to its “Red to Blue” program as he aims to unseat Rep. Max Miller (R-OH). Democratic leadership will offer Poindexter strategic support as the district, previously considered a long shot for Democrats given its GOP leanings, is now seen as a key flip opportunity as Miller navigates accusations of domestic violence by his ex-wife…
The campaign of Francesca Hong, the socialist seen as the front-runner in today’s Democratic primary election for governor of Wisconsin, was rebuffed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as she sought his endorsement due to her perceived weaknesses as a candidate, Politico reports; her campaign is planning to overhaul its staff to address such issues if she proceeds to the general…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from key primaries taking place today in Minnesota, South Carolina, Connecticut and Wisconsin.
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DSA UNFILTERED
DSA co-chair calls Oct. 7 attacks ‘largely inevitable,’ says she would have attended Oct. 8 rally
‘If you put people in an open-air concentration camp … you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,’ Megan Romer said of the Oct. 7 attacks
Plus, new app offers Shabbat experience ‘with training wheels’
(Aaron Schwartz / AFP via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026.
Good Monday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Responding to a recent demand from Iran that the U.S. fully compensate it for its war costs in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump issued his own demand today that Tehran compensate the U.S. “for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as pay reparations to the “families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years.” Trump said he instructed U.S. representatives to “put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations” with Tehran…
Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel rejects the Hamas disarmament deal, Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov told Israel’s Channel 12 that the deal is “the only way” that “guarantees” that the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, “will not occur again.”
“Nobody is required to do anything — last of all Israel — before we actually have verified steps on the ground,” Mladenov said, referring to the IDF’s eventual withdrawal from Gaza after all of Hamas’ weapons are “stored, and ultimately rendered unusable,” by the Palestinian technocratic government…
The International Atomic Energy Agency will remove nuclear material stored at a secret site in Syria tied to the fallen Assad regime, Axios reports, per an agreement reached between Trump, Jerusalem and Damascus…
Megan Romer, a national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a podcast interview last week that the Oct. 7 attacks were “largely inevitable” — “If you put people in an open-air concentration camp and you deprive them of rights, of dignity, of food, of the ability to live in safety, you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long,” she said — and that she would have attended the anti-Israel Times Square rally on Oct. 8 had she been in the area, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on MS NOW today that Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, should “tone down his rhetoric” about Israel and AIPAC in order to help combat antisemitism in the Democratic Party.
“Not everything is about AIPAC, not everything is about Israel. … Even if we wiped Israel off the face of the earth tomorrow, you know, everyday Michiganders’ lives wouldn’t be better on” issues such as housing and healthcare, Nessel said…
The University of Washington on Friday reversed its decision to host far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, citing a flawed planning process, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.
The event listing, which has since been removed from the university website, described Piker as a “journalist and wildly popular content creator” who has “become an authoritative voice for millennials and Gen Z,” and as someone who is “armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit”…
The new conservative government in Colombia, which recently returned its ambassador to Israel, today recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming the second country to do so after the U.S.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced the move shortly after a powerful earthquake struck the country, killing over 100 people…
A new app called Sabbath is selling an ancient pitch to a modern, phone-addicted crowd: lock technology away for one sacred day a week. The app — which founder Ben Springwater calls “Shabbat with training wheels” — is “trying to make a bigger tent, get more people to experience some of the benefits and virtues of what Shabbat offers,” he told JI’s Haley Cohen, by allowing users to block certain apps from sundown to sundown on either Saturday or Sunday…
The Cook Political Report updated its rating of Rep. Max Miller’s (R-OH) district from “Likely Republican” to “Toss Up” after the deadline passed for Miller to drop out of his reelection race, which he declined to do despite facing serious domestic abuse allegations. Miller has denied the accusations levied against him by his ex-wife and her father, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)…
Politico explores how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is using her political clout to boost her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, over Chan’s opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, including lining up endorsements and hosting major fundraisers…
“Fauda” star Lior Raz announced that the fifth season of the series, set two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, is coming to Netflix on Sept. 8…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
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Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin will hold primary elections tomorrow, with South Carolina and Alabama holding special elections as well.
We’ll be watching the outcomes in Minnesota’s Senate race, where Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are neck-and-neck, as well as the Wisconsin governor’s race, where democratic socialist Francesca Hong is favored to win the Democratic nomination.
In the South Carolina special Republican Senate primary, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is trying to hold her late brother’s seat in a race widely expected to head to an Aug. 25 runoff. And in Connecticut’s 1st District, longtime Rep. John Larson (D-CT) faces his first serious primary challenge in decades from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
Kenneth Marcus, the chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, will testify before a hearing of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission tomorrow, urging the commission to repeal rules requiring employers to keep and submit yearly reports breaking down their workforce by race, sex and ethnicity.
Marcus argued to JI that the practice has “created the impression that the agency is pushing them to use racial preferences in order to improve their numbers.” He said the situation has left Jews either “invisible because we’re not counted, or potentially stigmatized because we are,” and that “counting by race or ethnicity has never been helpful for the Jewish people and has sometimes been dangerous.” He said that eliminating these requirements would allow the EEOC to focus more fully on specific complaints of alleged discrimination.
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The app, built by a Jewish founder drawing on his upbringing, lets users block distracting apps for one day of the weekend
Clara Margais/picture alliance via Getty Images
A person looks out to sea on a windy day on Mallorca's Es Carnatge beach in Palma.
A new app called Sabbath is selling an ancient pitch to a modern, phone-addicted crowd: lock technology away for one sacred day a week.
The app, launched earlier this month by Dig Wells — the makers of the reading app Matter and the habit tracker Halo — is designed to help users unplug from sundown to sundown on either Saturday or Sunday. Users pick the apps they wish to block at no cost, while a paid tier adds custom weekday blocks, such as a daily 5-7 p.m. family time or an hour for morning meditation.
Founder Ben Springwater told Jewish Insider the app draws inspiration from Shabbat. “I’m Jewish and I grew up celebrating Shabbat with my family,” he said. His family didn’t keep a strict Sabbath — they drove and used electronics — but Friday night dinner and prayers was “a cornerstone of my life growing up” and “a way to anchor the week,” he recalled. Springwater has since built a similar Shabbat practice with his wife and two young children.
“I have a startup, I work hard and I’m always online. I’m on X a lot. I’ve increasingly been feeling like I need a way to introduce some boundaries and a little bit of rest and recovery into my life,” Springwater told JI.
He said that notion drew him to the idea of observing Shabbat beyond a Friday night meal —- though he wasn’t ready to go full in.
“I like having my phone with me on the weekends and being able to communicate with my friends,” said Springwater. “I don’t want to create impositions that don’t allow me to enjoy the day. But I don’t want to be checking X when I’m out at the park with my family. The rule that I created for myself was no X and no work apps, the ones I compulsively want to turn to.”
Already, there were several popular apps on the market that have built businesses around tracking screentime and helping people block distracting social media. There are also physical devices, such as Brick, that disable apps of a user’s choosing.
“We didn’t want to just add another stone to the pile, but I had gone on my own journey with the Sabbath and saw there was something very simple, powerful and easy about this ancient system of taking one day of rest. So what if we created an app totally oriented around that practice?” said Springwater.
The name Sabbath “popped to mind immediately,” he told JI. “We did talk about how explicitly we want to make this app about religion. Where we came was that we want to connect with the religious tradition. There should be religious undertones but we don’t want to make it denominational.”
The Sabbath app — which Springwater calls “Shabbat with training wheels” — offers an accessible experience for everyone from culturally observant Jews to wellness enthusiasts who may miss the Jewish reference.
“It helps someone who is Sabbath-curious but can’t make that big of a commitment,” said Springwater. “It’s trying to make a bigger tent, get more people to experience some of the benefits and virtues of what Shabbat offers.”
Springwater’s idea has received support even from Jews who already keep Shabbat.
“The world of technology continues to evolve and change at breakneck speeds,” said Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, the director of Tech Tribe, a New York-based affiliate of Chabad Young Professionals that serves as a gathering place for Jews working in the tech sector. “Even while the trajectory it propels us into continues to remain unknown, I firmly believe that as a society we are capable of using tech — be it social media, AI or whatever else comes our way — for positive and uplifting purposes.”
“But to do that, it’s critical that we align our own internal system with positive and redemptive forces,” Lightstone told JI. “Taking a break from the digital distractions that surround us, as Ben’s App Sabbath encourages, is a key step towards recentering our inner algorithm around the core values that we need to properly channel technology: Community, family, study and meaningful spiritual connection — to very literally touch grass.”
The launch of the Sabbath app arrives just as observing a weekly day of rest — whether Jewish or Christian — has recently gained viral popularity.
Facing terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer, former U.S. Senator and University of Florida President Ben Sasse shared in recent interviews that he regrets not better honoring the Christian Sabbath. Supermodel Karlie Kloss, who converted to Judaism before marrying businessman Joshua Kushner, shared on a recent podcast that she does not drive or touch her phone on Shabbat. Outside of the religious sphere, tech entrepreneur and longevity biohacker Bryan Johnson frequently posts on X about digital minimalism, advocating for multi-day phone and social media fasts to improve health.
Springwater said the role of his app is not to offer community or shape how people spend their time, but it does include a feature where users can add “friends,” the equivalent of Facebook connections, in order to create some accountability and mutual support.
If a user wants to check Instagram while using Sabbath, they open the app and press “pause,” which requires them to type in a reason. “It introduces this friction so you can’t just open it in the heat of the moment, but you can still do it. There’s a balancing act, you don’t want to make it so impossible because in some cases someone might have to circumvent it,” said Springwater.
“The reason that you type in to end your Sabbath is then visible to your ‘friends’ on [the app]. At the end of Sabbath, you can see if someone had a perfect Sabbath or if they took two breaks. The social features are for accountability and support but they don’t facilitate some sense of community on the Sabbath,” he said.
Springwater said that while fighting antisemitism by building cultural bridges was not the original goal for his app, that idea has grown on him since its launch.
“One of the things that is so hopeful to me about the Sabbath is how crosscutting and universal it is. I’ve observed that a lot of different types of figures across the religious and cultural spectrum have been resonating with this idea. You can come at it with a very explicitly religious value system or a more secular value system, but you can find common cause in what this practice has to offer,” he said.
“There are very few things that so many different types of people can agree on and think is a good thing and all get behind,” continued Springwater. “The World Cup was one of them — it feels like the practice of Sabbath is another.”
The school said the planning process ‘did not meet the necessary level of rigor’; the event listing had described Piker as ‘armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit’
Joshua Lott/Getty Images
Hasan Piker speaks during a campaign rally for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong on August 2, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The University of Washington on Friday reversed its decision to host far-left, antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, citing a flawed planning process.
Piker, who has an extensive history of antisemitic rhetoric — including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, calling Orthodox Jews “inbred” and asserting that America deserved 9/11 — was scheduled to appear in January as part of the school’s 2026-27 Speaker Series.
On Friday, however, the public university in Seattle said that “it was determined that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for University-hosted events in the Speaker Series. As a result, this event will not be held.”
“Going forward, procedures will be updated to ensure the standards we have for University-hosted events like the Speaker Series are met, particularly so that we can help elevate the level of dialogue on divisive topics during a polarized time in our country,” the statement said.
The event listing, which has since been removed from the university website, described Piker as a “journalist and wildly popular content creator,” who has “become an authoritative voice for millennials and Gen Z,” and as someone who is “armed with sharp analysis and an irreverent wit.” It also asserted that Piker “has built a massive daily audience on Twitch and become an unlikely but authoritative voice for a generation hungry for honest political engagement.”
The listing added that Piker has “sharp political insight and a characteristically irreverent sense of humor” and that he is “redefining what political commentary looks like in the digital age.” The university suggested attendees pay $10 per ticket, Jerusalem News Syndicate reported before the cancellation.
Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, a network of faculty and staff countering antisemitism on campus, told Jewish Insider that the school’s faculty and administration should work to ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future.
“In general, universities shouldn’t be in the business of canceling speakers, provided they are invited through established processes. University officials should use their own voice to distance the school from hateful speech and to reiterate school values,” said Elman. “However, in this case, the university has alleged that protocols weren’t followed properly in organizing the event. It’s reassuring to hear that moving forward the university will work to ensure that standards for such university events are met — as clearly they weren’t in this case.”
Elman called the description of the event, which lauded Piker, “an embarrassment.”
“In addition to tightening up standards and protocols for future guest speaker invitations, it’s also important for university officials to get to the bottom of the invite itself — who were the administrators and faculty who thought that Piker, a non-academic provocateur who has repeatedly supported U.S.-designated terror organizations, engaged in Holocaust trivialization and vilified Jewish-Zionist identity, would be the right speaker for this year’s series?”
“Guest speakers come and go — it’s the faculty and staff who are the permanent stakeholders,” said Elman.
Piker has recently been invited to speak at high-profile student events, including the Yale Political Union and the College Democrats of America’s convention.
Jewish groups have advocated for the Association of Jewish Psychologists to be recognized, as the organization has been under fire over its handling of antisemitism
Graeme Sloan/Sipa via AP Images
A general view of the American Psychological Association headquarters in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2020.
The American Psychological Association delayed its vote on Friday to recognize the Association of Jewish Psychologists within its organization, marking the second time this year the organization has postponed the decision to recognize Jewish representation in the organization.
The APA has six official ethnic associations, representing Arab Americans, Black psychologists and Asian-Americans, among other minority groups. Proponents of the proposed Jewish group within the APA argue that Jewish psychologists deserve to be included as well, especially given the rise of antisemitism within the organization.
On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Medical Association condemned APA’s decision to postpone the vote again.
“This delay serves no apparent purpose. By denying Jewish psychologists the same representation afforded to other ethnic minority groups, APA is applying a double standard to Jewish identity and acting in direct contravention of APA’s own rules,” the ADL said in a statement.
“The American Jewish Medical Association is alarmed and disappointed by the decision of the APA Council to postpone voting to recognize the AJP as an EPA,” the group, which represents more than 3,000 Jewish medical professionals including psychologists, said in a statement.
The APA has struggled to confront antisemitism in its ranks following the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel and ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
The group’s conference last summer featured a panel that described Oct. 7 as attacks on “military targets.” More than 3,500 people signed on an open letter last year that demanded the organization act against what they described as “the serious and systemic problem of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hate” within the APA.
In February 2026, the APA Council of Representatives first voted to defer action on recognizing the Association of Jewish Psychologists within their organization, pushing back the decision to an August vote, despite support from a coalition of Jewish American organizations.
At the time, the APA stated that deferring the vote was meant to give council members time for thorough discussion and deliberation on how best to ensure all voices are heard. The Coalition of National Racial and Ethnic Psychological Associations has opposed the recognition of the Association of Jewish Psychologists as an EPA within the APA, claiming that conflating religion, race and ethnicity “obscures the role of racism,” that “the majority of Jewish Americans in the United States identify as white” and that “Jewish psychologists are not underrepresented within APA.”
A spokesperson for the APA told Jewish Insider that in June, the group’s board of directors endorsed the proposal by the Association of Jewish Psychologists to establish a formal affiliation with the APA Council of Representatives. The path to recognition as an officially recognized ethnic association has historically been a multi-year process for groups that make that request, according to the APA spokesperson.
“Jewish psychologists are a critical and valuable part of our council and our community,” said Wendi Williams, president of APA. “APA is committed to our Jewish members and to confronting antisemitism. We are already working to implement the concrete reforms the APA Board of Directors approved in June — including strengthening oversight, accountability, and member safety. These actions — and our continued commitment to eradicating antisemitism — are now and remain high priorities for the association. We will work diligently in the coming months to continue to advance this process and promote full inclusion of our Jewish members.”
“Professional organizations are strongest when they apply their own rules consistently and fairly,” said Shira Goodman, the ADL’s vice president of public affairs.
“Throughout this process, AJP’s application became entangled in political debates that had nothing to do with the APA’s criteria for Ethnic Psychological Association status. The Council’s responsibility was to evaluate eligibility under its bylaws — not to referee political disagreements or impose ideological litmus tests on a Jewish professional organization.”
In an interview with JI, Hood reflected on a career included stints working on Iran policy, relations with Gulf states during the fraught Arab Spring and antisemitism policy in the tense aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in 2023
Courtesy
Ludo Hood
After a career in the foreign service, where officers are obliged to keep their political views to themselves and promote the positions of the current U.S. administration, some retiring diplomats have a hard time getting used to speaking their minds, particularly when the press is involved.
Ludo Hood is not one of those people.
The 53-year-old retired from the U.S. Foreign Service last week after two decades of service, a career that took him to Kuwait, Bahrain, France and Qatar. Most recently, he served as a senior advisor to Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump’s former special envoy for Ukraine, and before that as a close advisor to Deborah Lipstadt, the former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism — two roles that put him in the crossfire of some of the biggest political debates in Washington.
Hood, who is preparing to take on a role at a think tank, sat down with Jewish Insider this week to reflect on a career representing the U.S. that included stints working on Iran policy during negotiations for the 2015 nuclear deal, relations with Gulf states during the fraught Arab Spring and antisemitism policy in the tense aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in 2023.
Through all those foreign postings and geopolitical flashpoints, one of the most “alarming and shocking” moments of Hood’s time as a foreign service officer came within the halls of Foggy Bottom — when, in the months after Oct. 7, the State Department hosted listening sessions for staffers to express anti-Israel views and bash the policies espoused by the federal government.
“It was the only time in my career where active dissent against the elected president’s overall policy and strategic direction was allowed to be aired in the open, and was actually in many ways encouraged,” Hood told JI.
The gatherings were hosted by then-Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, and they came as some rank-and-file diplomats, plus many political appointees from the Biden administration, voiced dissent against President Joe Biden’s support for Israel.
“In terms of being politically correct, you had to give a lot of deference to a heavy anti-Israel point of view, which maybe is fine in the context of a social studies program at a university,” Hood said. “But it’s the State Department. We are national security professionals who are supposed to be implementing the policy of the duly elected president.”
Hood compared that moment to the sentiment among some foreign service officers who have struggled to represent the U.S. under Trump. Hood acknowledged that some diplomats do not agree with Trump’s approach to foreign policy, but said that they should not express that view publicly as part of their job — and that Trump would not stand for so much public expression of dissent.
“There was and perhaps remains opposition to the way that Trump does and says certain things in the State Department,” said Hood. “The difference here is the Trump people, either under [former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo or now, would never tolerate unprofessional behavior, and it is unprofessional.”
“Obviously, you’re allowed to have your own personal points of view,” Hood continued. “But if you’re going to sign up to do this work, you ought to be reasonable.”
That doesn’t mean he always agreed with the positions that he was meant to promote as a diplomat. During the Biden administration, Hood took issue with the White House’s policy that nearly anytime antisemitism was mentioned, it had to be coupled with a mention of Islamophobia, a policy that Hood called “illogical and irrational.” (Lipstadt, his former boss, has called for antisemitism and Islamophobia to be discussed as distinct forms of hate.)
“It was official policy at the Biden White House in terms of how they named task forces and so forth,” said Hood. “We had to accept the horrendously problematic addition of ‘counter-Islamophobia efforts’ into what we were doing or what we were commemorating. I say ‘horrendously problematic’ because it undermines the fight against Muslim hatred or other forms of religious hatred to start conflating them for politicized reasons that have nothing to do with the actual strategies needed to curb that kind of discrimination.”
Even before Oct. 7, Hood said, getting certain State Department diplomats to include antisemitism in meetings with foreign leaders could be challenging.
“It could be painfully difficult to say and do certain things because of an institutional reluctance to highlight antisemitism,” Hood said, particularly in Europe.
When Trump was inaugurated early last year, Hood transitioned to the Ukraine file, the first time in his career when his portfolio did not include the Middle East.
He was more sympathetic to the plight of Ukraine than many members of the incoming Trump administration, which he said was more amenable to appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin and less interested in continuing to spend billions on Ukraine’s defense. Kellogg, the Ukraine envoy, was also more supportive of Kyiv than Trump, leading to some of his portfolio being taken over by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Kellogg ultimately stepped down in January.
“It was frustrating to see how that played out, partly because the guy is a decent, honorable man who probably could have been treated better by some people operating in the White House and elsewhere,” said Hood. “Perhaps more relevantly, more substantively, I think Kellogg had a view on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which, from where I stood, reflected reality and reflected how we should be approaching the conflict.”
On the other side of the Ukraine issue was the increasingly influential isolationist right. Hood called the ongoing intra-Republican feud about foreign policy “a profoundly important debate,” even as he came down hard against the isolationist wing.
“I think there’s very easy arguments to be had to push back on isolationism and restrainers,” said Hood. “I think those of us who want an assertive America aren’t asking for forever wars, aren’t asking to invade in the name of democracy. I think there are ways of putting America first on the global stage without deploying what has now become known as neocon objectives, basically democracy promotion.”
It’s fair to say Hood is aligned with the more traditional, interventionist wing of the Republican Party; he recently joined the Hudson Institute, a pro-Israel think tank closely aligned with several former top Bush administration officials. He said that over his two decades in diplomacy, his central views about the world and foreign policy have not changed. But he said he has come to hold a more realpolitik view of the world that is less Pollyannaish about democracy as a strategic objective.
“I think maybe democracy promotion, or even having a heavy focus on human rights, is probably at best naive, if not a lost cause, in some parts of the world,” said Hood. “We shouldn’t necessarily allow those issues to always get in the way of a bilateral strategic partnership that is broadly speaking good for stability and prosperity for that country or for that region.”
Hood is leaving the foreign service at a time when the institution’s future is in question. More than 1,300 State Department staffers — including many foreign service officers — were laid off last summer. The American Foreign Service Association, the union representing foreign service officers, called it “a catastrophic blow to our national interests.”
Hood called Trump’s “top-down approach,” where he leans heavily on personal advisors like Witkoff and Jared Kushner, “understandable in some respects.” He is not instinctually opposed to the cuts and thinks some were necessary.
“We needed a lot of disruption in the national security establishment. There’s still so much bloat to be cut,” said Hood. But, speaking diplomatically, Hood tentatively suggested that Trump might actually does have something to gain from the bureaucrats in Foggy Bottom and America’s embassies around the world.
“What you don’t have now is bottom-up information and recommendations being aired, discussed, debated,” said Hood. “Sometimes there are real questions about implementation and messaging.”
Next stop: the well-trodden Washington path of helping public officials hone their messages. In other words: a think tank.
While Jewish community leaders expressed concerns about Aisha Wahab, one said they were skeptical that she was beatable and that the AIPAC spending risked further alienating the potential nominee
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab attends a press conference in Hayward, Calif., on March 2, 2026.
After a night of mixed results in Tuesday’s primary elections, AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is turning its eyes toward the special election runoff in California’s 14th Congressional District, where progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab and moderate local mayor, Melissa Hernandez, are competing to replace disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
Wahab entered the race as the heavy favorite and dominated the primaries for both the regular and special elections. In the special election primary, Wahab finished with 43% to Hernandez’s 17%, and led Hernandez 38%-17% in the regular primary. The special election runoff is set for Aug. 18.
Her record raises concerns for some members of the Jewish community — she has not been supportive of numerous priority bills and resolutions aimed at tackling antisemitism and has been a vocal critic of Israel, including describing the war in Gaza as a genocide and championing legislation in the state Senate on the issue.
UDP’s initial ad buy in the race totaled $1.2 million.
One of UDP’s ads accuses Wahab of being soft on crime — pointing to an amendment she led to a sex trafficking bill — and describes Hernandez as tough on crime and supported by police. Other pro-Hernandez groups are running with a similar message. Another highlights her background and work on affordability issues.
In a page on her website responding to attacks, Wahab’s campaign accused Hernandez of “relying on misleading attacks and AIPAC-linked dark-money PACs to tear Aisha Wahab down.” The page takes aim at Hernandez for having “denied the genocide in Gaza” — she declined to provide a yes-or-no answer on the subject at a candidate forum — and shared a spreadsheet naming all of the individual “AIPAC-linked donors” supporting Hernandez’s campaign.
“Wahab has accused Israel of committing genocide and has separately published the names of Jewish donors to her opponent on her website. She’s pretty extreme in her points of view on Israel,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton told Jewish Insider. “It’s a race where Wahab is talking about ideological issues and Hernandez is talking about economic and affordability issues that are important to voters in the district.”
Bold America PAC, linked to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has spent more than $2 million so far attacking Wahab and supporting Hernandez. The group has taken some donations from an AIPAC-affiliated group. A new pro-Hernandez group, Safer Alameda County, has spent $51,000 so far.
Daniel Klein, the CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley — which is nonpartisan and does not take stances in elections — said that Jewish community leaders are paying close attention to the race, and he has heard significant concern about Wahab’s votes on major antisemitism legislation and her close relationship with state teachers’ unions, which have opposed antisemitism bills.
“That is, I think, creating some angst — or at least more attention to this race — amongst many members of the Jewish community and Jewish communal organizations,” he continued, relating conversations he’s had with members of the community. “These are pieces of legislation that are intended to protect our children, right? They should be fairly non-controversial.”
Wahab was one of three senators who voted against SB 1287, which required overhauls of campus codes of conduct to address antisemitic and anti-Israel demonstrations, and abstained from a floor vote on AB 715, which aimed to address antisemitism in K-12 schools.
Klein said he has not had the opportunity to meet with Wahab personally and is happy to meet with any elected leader. He said he had spoken with Hernandez, who seemed to him primarily focused on local issues and national partisan politics, rather than foreign policy, though he said that she seems to understand the Jewish community’s concerns about antisemitism and is receptive to hearing from the community.
“My record speaks for itself: I have consistently stood against antisemitism, supported the safety and security of Jewish communities, worked in partnership with Jewish colleagues, and defended Israel’s right to exist — while also maintaining that as an American elected official, I have both the right and the responsibility to question the policies of any foreign government and to speak out when innocent civilians are suffering,” Wahab said in a statement to JI.
Though she did not support the two bills mentioned by Klein, she has supported other priority legislation for the Jewish community in the state Senate. She also introduced a resolution in 2025 with Jewish state Sen. Scott Weiner calling for the release of hostages and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Another Jewish leader said Hernandez had attended various Jewish community events and generally has good relationships with the community but isn’t particularly involved with its issues. The district itself is not home to a sizable Jewish community.
Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said, “We’re of course concerned that as a state senator, Aisha Wahhab has called Israel’s defense against the Hamas attack [on Oct. 7, 2023,] genocide. So we’re concerned that she is spreading this debunked blood libel about Israel, which we feel all that does is it makes Jews and Israelis here in her district unsafe. As we’ve seen in many cases, this kind of irresponsible language has led to direct violence against Jews and Israelis.”
Ivanov said he hasn’t had any interaction with Hernandez, but praised her for declining to describe the war in Gaza as a genocide. He also criticized Wahab’s opposition to antisemitism-related legislation.
But another Jewish leader in the district, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said that the strong consensus among political observers in the area is that Wahab “pretty much [has] this in the bag, and that Hernandez is a lazy campaigner.” Other moderate groups that had looked at the district “just have not been impressed with Hernandez,” the leader continued.
The Jewish community, the leader said, doesn’t want Wahab to win, but that might already be a foregone conclusion.
“I’m not in principle against AIPAC getting involved in these kinds of primaries like some other people [are], but based on all the local knowledge that we’re hearing from politicos, it’s not a good use of time or money,” the leader said. “People are kind of scratching their heads — not because there aren’t concerns about Wahab … but let’s play where we can win.”
The leader said they’re also concerned that AIPAC’s involvement risks pushing Wahab further to left, describing Wahab currently as a less-than-ideal choice but necessarily aligned with the Squad — i.e., not opposed to Israel’s existence or outright at odds with the Jewish community.
The leader noted Wahab abstained on, rather than outright opposed, AB 715, one of the antisemitism bills. They also noted that Wahab’s family are refugees who escaped radical Islam in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war. Wahab has relationships with some Jewish community groups in the Bay Area, particularly social services organizations that have been involved in Afghan refugee resettlement work.
“I don’t like the idea that the pro-Israel community is jumping into a race they can’t win against the presumptive winner and potentially pushing her into the arms of the worst members of Congress,” the leader said. “I think that people need to play their cards carefully here. There’s shades of gray at play.”
Advocates say the pattern — agents advising cuts to Jewish names, editors going silent on Israeli-themed submissions — deepened sharply after the Oct. 7 attacks
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Books
Meg Keene, an established nonfiction author who has sold more than 150,000 copies of her two books offering tips for wedding planning, couldn’t find a publisher for her first novel — not because of the writing, she said, but because it was “too Jewish.”
Keene said she was advised by one agent to cut anything Jewish from the manuscript unless it drove the plot, including changing a character’s name because Yael read as Israeli. The book, written soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, about a Jewish woman’s long-distance relationship with a boyfriend in Tel Aviv, was never published.
Keene is one of a growing number of professionals who have announced in recent weeks the launch of their own Jewish publishing companies, aimed at fulfilling a need for frustrated authors who say they’ve hit the same wall: agents advising them to cut Jewish names and references to Israel, editors going silent on submissions that once would have been fast sales and a mounting sense that the industry’s embrace of the #ownvoices storytelling trend — a hashtag used to amplify the work of diverse and minority voices — has an unspoken exception for Jewish writers.
Keene recently announced the launch of Meg Keene Books, her own imprint at Wicked Son Press, a Jewish publisher known mostly for right-leaning nonfiction. The company plans to release four to six fiction books a year, from romance to thrillers, selected by Keene and the Wicked Son founders, with the goal of elevating Jewish voices.
“Earlier this year I got to the point where I realized I didn’t have anything left to lose,” Keene told Jewish Insider. “Jews were having all these conversations behind the scenes but it felt like whoever came forward was going to destroy their career. I felt like I was in a position — because of my past in digital publishing and connection to editors, I knew how to do it. So many authors couldn’t sell their first book. At least I had a track record, I could say I was a successful author and be taken seriously.”
“PEN America’s recent blog post about the targeted harassment of Jewish and Israeli authors and literary institutions is an important acknowledgment of this problem,” Ari Ingel, executive director of Creative Community For Peace, told JI. “At the same time, many in our community believe that acknowledgement came only after a long period in which prominent incidents involving Jewish and Israeli writers did not receive the kind of timely and forceful public defense expected from a leading free-expression organization.”
While discrimination against Jewish authors has been reported for years, industry professionals say it became more apparent and accepted after Oct. 7 and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
In 2024, the Palestinian Festival of Literature published a petition signed by Irish author Sally Rooney and more than 1,000 others, which stated that, “We cannot in good conscience engage with Israeli institutions without interrogating their relationship to apartheid and displacement.” More recently, the free speech organization PEN America published a report detailing interviews with more than 30 Israeli and Jewish writers and literary professionals describing a widening cultural isolation.
“PEN America’s recent blog post about the targeted harassment of Jewish and Israeli authors and literary institutions is an important acknowledgment of this problem,” Ari Ingel, executive director of Creative Community For Peace, told JI. “At the same time, many in our community believe that acknowledgement came only after a long period in which prominent incidents involving Jewish and Israeli writers did not receive the kind of timely and forceful public defense expected from a leading free-expression organization.”
There is no reliable industry-wide figure showing what percentage of Zionist or Jewish authors have been dropped, although Keene has collected data specifically on Jewish fiction publishing, which found that between 2023 and 2024, there was a 76% decline in fiction deal announcements to large presses that mentioned Jews, Judaism or Israel. “Publishing decisions are generally confidential and are rarely explained to involved parties,” said Ingel. “But the evidence points to a recurring and increasingly documented pattern rather than a handful of isolated cases.”
“What we are seeing is a form of a silent boycott set in, with authors being dropped or their projects not being picked up by editors, publishers, agents and publicists, sometimes not because of anything they had said about Israel, but because they were told that it was not the right time for a Jewish-themed book,” Ingel said. “[New] publishing ventures of this kind are necessary in the current climate.”
Howard Lovy with Canary Publishing and Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs with Blueprint Literary are among several others also launching new literary agencies for Jewish and Israeli authors.
Lovy, a former editor at Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said he started noticing Jewish exclusion in the industry before Oct. 7, with a novel he wrote several years ago.
“A publisher and agent kept saying, ‘We value diversity and we want under-represented voices,’ and it didn’t take me long to figure out that they did not mean Jews. We were not considered marginalized voices and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy: We become marginalized because of this perception that we’re over-represented,” he told JI.
“Then Oct. 7 happened and in my work as a book editor and as a Jewish author and advocate, people came to me telling me their stories about how they were canceled or their agents suddenly wouldn’t return their calls. They’ve been asked to take the Jewish content out, or if there’s an Israeli character make it something else.
“No one publisher can pick up the slack for canceled and excluded authors; it’s literally going to require building an entire new industry,” said David Bernstein. “So we’re doing everything we can to not only encourage new entrants, but also to leverage our decades of publishing expertise to give them a leg up and to help build sustainable businesses. We’ve got a lot of things in the works behind the scenes that will change the game entirely.”
“It’s hard to prove a negative, to say because they’re Jewish this happened. But I have a lot of anecdotal evidence,” he said.
Lovy said the mission of Canary “is going to be finding the books that have been rejected elsewhere because of their Jewish or Zionist content,” though the press has not signed any authors yet.
“That doesn’t mean explicitly Zionist, it could mean anything,” he continued. “The criteria I’m looking for right now is whether this is something the mainstream literary world rejected that otherwise has literary merit. That’s going to be top of my list. We’re on a mission to amplify these voices that have been silenced.”
The new companies follow the 2020 launch of publishing company Wicked Son, co-founded by David Bernstein and Adam Bellow.
“We were operating out of a sense of civic responsibility to rebuild the Jewish reading public; for Jewish authors, opportunities to publish were widespread and often lucrative,” Bernstein told JI. “Obviously all of that changed in the last couple of years as we’ve all seen the rising antisemitism in publishing and other arts and media. What’s heartening is that, mirroring our own renewed energy to build a thriving, independent Jewish publishing world, so many others are joining the fight as well.
“No one publisher can pick up the slack for canceled and excluded authors; it’s literally going to require building an entire new industry,” said Bernstein. “So we’re doing everything we can to not only encourage new entrants, but also to leverage our decades of publishing expertise to give them a leg up and to help build sustainable businesses. We’ve got a lot of things in the works behind the scenes that will change the game entirely.”
“It’s not just a matter of publishers, it’s a matter of the entire pipeline,” Jewish literary consultant and advocate Erika Dreifus said. “It’s a matter of writers feeling empowered to attend conferences and classes and to write their Jewish stories in supportive spaces. Then it’s a matter of agents being willing to look at those stories and take them on. Then it’s a matter of the books being covered in pre-publication trade reviews, which I have noticed are not necessarily including certain narratives and certain authors. That’s how reviewers find out about books. Everything has a drip-down effect.”
Jewish literary consultant and advocate Erika Dreifus described the wave of new ventures as “wonderful,” but cautioned against reading it as a comprehensive fix for what ails Jewish authors.
“There’s certainly more writers out there who would love to be published than there are going to be slots, even with these new publishing houses. I welcome the developments and I’m eager to see what they’ll all be doing,” she told JI.
The deeper problem, she said, extends beyond the number of publishers willing to take a chance on Jewish stories.
“It’s not just a matter of publishers, it’s a matter of the entire pipeline,” Dreifus said. “It’s a matter of writers feeling empowered to attend conferences and classes and to write their Jewish stories in supportive spaces. Then it’s a matter of agents being willing to look at those stories and take them on. Then it’s a matter of the books being covered in pre-publication trade reviews, which I have noticed are not necessarily including certain narratives and certain authors. That’s how reviewers find out about books. Everything has a drip-down effect.”
She also called on the Jewish philanthropic world to “take a look” at helping to build the ecosystem “even beyond these publishers.” (Lovy declined to provide details on how his company will be funded, but said it has a funder who gave enough seed money to get it going.)
“Already within the Jewish philanthropic world, a miniscule fraction of funding goes to arts and culture to begin with. How much of that goes to individual initiatives?” said Dreifus.
“It’s all a big problem and challenge. We need to do a lot more,” she added. “This is an encouraging step, but if it’s just going to be publishers shouting into the wilderness, that may not be ultimately as positive a development as one would hope.”
Citing Rabbi Diana Fersko’s framework for how Jews have historically responded to antisemitism — stay and fight; leave and build something new; or do nothing — Dreifus said after witnessing this for two decades, she is personally worn out by the “stay and fight” approach. She’s now focused on supporting new, welcoming spaces for Jewish stories rather than fighting within existing institutions, although she credited groups like the Jewish Book Council for trying to work both the “stay and fight” and “build something new” angles at once.
Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of JBC, told JI that “Jewish authors thrive when publishers are willing to take a chance on them. Publishers thrive when their books can reach readers. And the Jewish community thrives when it has access to high-quality Jewish literature with diverse voices and perspectives.”
“Authors need opportunities across the full spectrum of publishing, from major houses to independent presses. We believe that the existence of a wide range of publishers promotes a healthy ecosystem for Jewish literary excellence,” she said. “Part of our role is to demonstrate to publishers that there is a real, engaged audience for Jewish books and ideas.”
Jews in the industry have noted a double standard as major publishing houses continue to publish authors with viewpoints hostile to Israel or Jews.
Publishing giant Simon & Schuster, Ingel noted, recently published prominent Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa, who has repeatedly used terms such as “parasites,” “demons,” “ghouls” and “monsters” to describe Jews.
“The point is not that Abulhawa’s books should be banned or she should be silenced. The point is that an industry willing to platform such extremism is not showing the same courage when it comes to merely platforming Jewish, Israeli and Zionist writers telling any story,” said Ingel.
There’s another part of the equation that’s equally critical — sales after a book is published.
Firestone-Teeter pointed to her group’s program called Nu Reads, a bi-monthly book subscription service. “In less than a year, Nu Reads has grown to nearly 2,500 subscribers; this is significant, when, by some accounts, close to 90% of titles released by major publishing houses sell fewer than 2,000 copies,” said Firestone-Teeter.
But for authors who want their books on store shelves, “that’s gonna be an issue,” said Lovy.
Lovy edited a Judith Magazine April report that found many independent bookstores refuse to include Jewish and Zionist authors. Last week, Nashville indie bookstore Bell Bird Books canceled a planned book launch event for Jewish author Alyssa Rosenheck’s memoir, White. Blonde. Jew.: A Call to End Extremism, Speak Up, and Reclaim Center, after an online pressure campaign accused the store of promoting Zionism, according to statements from the author and the store’s owner.
“It’s ironic because that pushes readers to Amazon to get the books,” said Lovy. “Everybody wants to support the local indie bookstore but that’s hard to do when they’re silencing Jewish and Zionist voices. I don’t see that as an impediment but more that we can work around it to make them still become best-sellers.”
Even as she champions the new wave of Jewish-focused press, Keene said she still hopes there’s room for Jewish authors within mainstream publishing houses.
“Jews have a long history of founding companies when we’re shut out and then turning them into serious businesses, so I don’t think this is ghettoization,” she said. “I think this is the beginning of businesses starting that will be very significant. That said, should we still be pursuing publishing and representation with the big five [Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, Hachette Book Group and Simon & Schuster]?”
“Yes. I want them to change. I haven’t seen proof they will, but I don’t think we should stop trying.”
Plus, Israel and Turkey trade barbs over Syria
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) talks with reporters after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Good Thursday afternoon.
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
President Donald Trump disputed reports that the U.S. is running low on critical munitions as a result of the Iran war, claiming on Truth Social last night that the country has “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types” and that more are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. “as needed”…
The IDF struck several targets in southern Lebanon again today “in response to the incident yesterday” during which two IDF soldiers were killed and four severely injured in an explosion that the army attributed to Hezbollah.
The strikes came during the last day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome, which a State Department official said were “productive on the technical and expert levels” and brought the parties “a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process”…
Jonathan Cowan, president of the center-left group Third Way, told The New York Times that the group plans to spend $15 million ahead of the 2028 presidential election to target the Democratic Socialists of America after Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in the Michigan Senate race. “It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Cowan said. El-Sayed was not endorsed by the DSA, though he was championed by the far left…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he believes El-Sayed’s victory has put Michigan in play for Republicans to win in November. “[El-Sayed] will quickly discover a primary is a much different situation in this state [than the general election], when you’re accountable for winning the other side. I can’t wait to see him campaign for the general. I have got my popcorn for that,” Fetterman said…
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Reps. Brad Knott (R-NC) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) today in introducing the Right to Worship Act, a federal bill that would ban activity that knowingly disrupts or impedes access to scheduled religious services within 100 feet of the entrance of a house of worship, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Lele Yutzy as the state’s first director of its Office of Civil Rights, which was created under a bill enacted last year that acknowledged the prevalence of antisemitism in the state’s public schools and pledged to tackle discrimination. The office is also required to appoint an antisemitism prevention coordinator…
Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) joined Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in calling on Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), Moreno’s former son-in-law, to drop out of his reelection race and resign from Congress amid growing scrutiny of domestic violence allegations made against Miller, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill‘s Mission to Deliver PAC endorsed a series of Democratic candidates with national security or military backgrounds, including Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) in his primary campaign to oust Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
Asked in a debate on local news earlier this week if Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, Markey answered an emphatic “yes” and called to end all military aid to Israel, while Moulton called the conflict an “absolute moral atrocity” and highlighted his rejection of AIPAC’s support but did not answer in the affirmative…
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement today that he has been discharged from the hospital after a fall in Juneand will continue his recovery at home, without indication of when he will return to Capitol Hill…
The feud between Jerusalem and Ankara continued today as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed Israel’s “attacks targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” are “among the greatest threats to the country’s stability.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in turnaccused Fidan of hypocrisy, arguing that Turkey currently occupies 5% of Syria while the IDF holds a buffer zone “that comprises just one-tenth of one percent of Syrian territory”…
An extremist Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, was charged by the Israeli State Attorney’s Office with reckless homicide over the July 2025 killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who had been featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about home demolitions in the West Bank…
The Yemeni Defense Ministry said the Houthis attacked the internationally recognized government’s military forces in several locations — reportedly killing dozens of soldiers — and that the military would retaliate against the terror group “at the appropriate time and place.”
The hostilities mark Yemen’s latest potential slide back towards its brutal civil war that devastated the country from 2014 until the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government reached a ceasefire in 2022…
The United Arab Emirates has successfully transported more oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months than any other country despite ongoing military hostilities in the area, Bloomberg reports, by utilizing tankers that switch off their transponders during the risky crossing…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at the special election to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), where AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is working to boost Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez over state Sen. Aisha Wahab.
A deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may still emerge, though its reported contours are raising concerns among experts that it could grant Tehran unprecedented oversight over the international shipping route, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
In the latest development, Iranian state media reported today that the country’s parliament is considering a preliminary bill to bar American, Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from utilizing the strait.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!
Stories You May Have Missed
MICHIGAN MALAISE
Jewish Democrats in Michigan weigh crossing party lines after El-Sayed’s Senate primary win
Several Jewish Democrats in the battleground state are now indicating that they will break with a party they have long called home and instead vote for the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, in the November election
CASE STUDY
Generational challenge threatens Ed Case in Hawaii’s under-the-radar primary
A 42-year-old progressive state senator has quietly closed the gap on the 73-year-old pro-Israel incumbent, with internal polls showing a tightening race before Saturday’s vote
Five years after 'People Love Dead Jews,' the novelist's new book reframes Jewish hatred as a lie about destruction — and tells Jews they don't have to accept it
If you thought People Love Dead Jews — Dara Horn’s 2021 essay collection examining society’s reverence for remembering deceased Jews while failing to support the living ones — was an awkward book to read in public, just wait until you get your hands on Horn’s newest title: The Final Solution to the Jewish Question.
Horn, a celebrated novelist who has become the bard of contemporary antisemitism since Dead Jews was published five years ago, is in on the joke; she likes to say that both titles make great beach reads because no one will dare sit within several feet of you. (Her dad even made a custom People Love Dead Jews beach towel for her to test out the theory.)
But despite borrowing its title from the name of the Nazis’ infamous plan to rid Europe of its 11 million Jews during World War II, Horn’s latest book, which will be published on Sept. 1, is not a Nazi manifesto.
Instead, the title of Horn’s new book serves as an eye-catching, subversive dog whistle that is meant to pique the interest of antisemites — while also serving as a cheeky summary of Horn’s goal of actually trying to come up with a solution to the wave of antisemitism that has swept the world in recent years.
She just can’t believe that she is the one coming up with those solutions.
“I saw People Love Dead Jews as just a detour from my real work, which I see as writing novels,” Horn told Jewish Insider in an interview last week.
The genesis for Horn’s latest book came in the aftermath of Dead Jews. She spoke at public events often in 2021 and 2022, and she recalls becoming “the receptacle for everyone’s horror stories.” People would go up to Horn after she discussed the book and tell her about their own experiences of antisemitism. They often chalked up these incidents to jokes or misunderstandings or annoyances, such as a couple being ghosted by a longtime friend after the friend attended their son’s bar mitzvah or an actor turned down for roles in Hollywood because they looked “too Jewish.” But when taken together, they present a picture of a society that has learned to accept ambient anti-Jewish hate.
“This is going to sound really ridiculous,” Horn reflected on her previous book, “but I didn’t even really think it was a book about antisemitism. I saw it as a book about this weird historical phenomenon about the way we commemorate the past and how that affects the present.”
Many Horn acolytes felt that her thesis was borne out during the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, as they watched sympathy for Jewish victims turn to anger at Israel’s military response and even praise for Hamas’ actions.
“I’m not happy to have been right about this,” she said.
Horn became a sought-after expert on the willingness of many people to excuse contemporary hatred of Jews while insisting that they are not, actually, antisemitic. She was asked to serve on an antisemitism advisory group at Harvard, her alma mater, though the effort quickly fell apart. She testified to a congressional committee investigating antisemitism at Harvard. In early 2024, she wrote an essay in The Atlantic describing antisemitism as “the big lie,” and examined why so many smart people, including at Harvard, are willing to fall for it. Through all of it, American Jews — particularly young people on college campuses — wrote to her constantly, describing all the ways they had been excluded, shunned, cast out or harassed simply for being Jewish and declining to disavow Israel.
Horn is not, reflexively, a cynic. She does not think most people are out there looking to attack Jews. She summed up her understanding of non-Jews and how they relate to antisemitism by invoking the story of Purim, the holiday that celebrates the Jewish people’s courage in the face of a genocidal leader.
“Most people are not Haman,” Horn said, referring to the king’s advisor, who sought to exterminate the Jews of ancient Persia. “Most people are Ahashverosh.” That’s a reference to the bumbling king who pleaded ignorance at the malicious plans of his closest advisor but ultimately supported his ouster when the king’s wife, the Jewish Queen Esther, revealed her identity and asked for his help.
With her new book, Horn wanted something to offer the people who are ignorant rather than hate-filled, something to share with “your friend who doesn’t get it,” or “the principal of the school who is dealing with this,” she told JI.
“I am providing a solution. Not a solution in terms of, like, ‘Here’s 10 policy points we should implement,’” Horn explained. “It’s, ‘Here’s the story we need to be telling about who we are, to ourselves and to everyone else,’ and this is the story that is going to inspire people to imagine a better future.”
So what is that story? Horn wants the world to see Judaism as “a 3,000-year-old anti-tyrannical movement” that “is always going to piss off dominant societies.”
So the way to understand modern-day antisemitism, Horn argues, is not about “bias or bigotry or prejudice [or] conspiracy theory.” It’s about framing antisemitism as a lie.
“The lie,” Horn continued, “is always the same: Jews are destroying what you value the most.”
Since Dead Jews came out five years ago, and particularly after Oct. 7, Horn has watched many people freeze in the face of that assertion. She has observed a fatalism creep into the Jewish community, a sense that nothing can help, that this is our lot.
To those people, her answer is simple: “You don’t have to put up with this crap.”
An account under the name Brayton Laschinger, charged with throwing a brick through the window of a Sarasota shul, reposted the mayor’s video declaring the Israeli prime minister a ‘war criminal’
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrives to speak to members of the media in New York, on July 7, 2026.
A Florida man accused of hurling a brick through the front window of a Sarasota Chabad House shared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s video labeling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” just days before the crime.
Local police arrested 30-year-old Brayton Laschinger on July 31 and charged him with felony criminal mischief for the attack two days prior on the Lubavitch Chabad of Downtown SRQ. The Sarasota Police Department stated that Laschinger had admitted to targeting the synagogue “because it was a Jewish place of worship” — and had blamed “propaganda on social media” for enraging him in the hours before the vandalism.
The police statements make no mention of Mamdani’s controversial July 21 video assailing Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide” and a mass maimer of women and children, which the mayor released as a way of confessing he could not make good on his campaign pledge to arrest the Israeli leader during the United Nations General Assembly in September. But an Instagram account bearing Laschinger’s name, and featuring photos of him dating back more than a decade, reposted the clip, which went out on City Hall’s official social media channels a week prior to the attack.
The only other politically tinged shares on Laschinger’s page deal with wildlife conservation.
Jewish leaders had warned that the mayor’s singular and relentless excoriation of Israel and its government could inspire violence against Jews — concerns that only intensified after the double-stabbing of an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a kippah in Manhattan days after the social media post. There is no proven link between the attack, which authorities have deemed a hate crime, and the mayor’s video.
The accused assailant of the Manhattan stabbing allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue displaying the Israeli flag, before ramming a screwdriver into the chest of Moshe Grunhaus. Mamdani has to date refused to engage with suggestions from fellow Democrats that he temper his rhetoric about the Jewish state, even as he has vowed to combat the hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers that have spiked under his watch.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt reiterated his call for the mayor to tone down his criticism of Israel on X in a post after highlighting Laschinger’s social media history.
“Words have consequences. Your inflammatory rhetoric can lead to violence,” Greenblatt wrote. “Jewish people and institutions are being attacked in NYC and across the country because of hateful and demonizing rhetoric.”
Mamdani spokesman Sam Raskin noted that the democratic socialist had explicitly denounced violence against Jewish people and institutions, and maintained his broadsides are meant for Israeli leadership alone.
“The mayor’s criticism has always been directed at Benjamin Netanyahu and the actions of his government. He has been clear that no political disagreement, no foreign conflict, and no public statement can ever justify antisemitism or violence against Jewish people or Jewish institutions,” Raskin said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “Every Jewish person deserves to be safe in their home, in their synagogue, and in every neighborhood across our city. The vandalism of a synagogue — whether in New York City or anywhere else — is an abhorrent act of antisemitism. It has no place in our city and stands in direct opposition to the values of this administration.”
Raskin did not answer whether the mayor would dial back his commentary if he believed there was any chance it could inspire violence.
The reality is that these candidates are politically problematic to the overall public for reasons that go far beyond their views on Jews or Israel
Mario Tama/Getty Images
An attendee wears a jacket at an Iowa caucus watch party organized by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, on February 3, 2020 in Washington, DC.
One of the unsettling realities that American Jews have been learning throughout this election cycle is that antisemitic behavior and virulently anti-Israel rhetoric has become so normalized that it doesn’t register all that much politically anymore.
The early tell was discovering that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s involvement throughout his life in extreme anti-Israel activism didn’t impact his ability to win an election in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.
Then we learned that disgraced former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo — which he later covered up — made very little difference in his political standing in the battleground Senate race. It wasn’t until he was accused of rape that rank-and-file Democrats began to reconsider their support of him.
And today we’re grappling with the possibility that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who won’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state (like Mamdani before him), could prevail in a Democratic primary in a swing state.
Jews find themselves in the news often these days, and for that reason it makes sense to want to dwell on the extreme, often-antisemitic positions that these radical candidates have espoused.
But as we head into a general election where several far-left candidates will be testing their political viability in competitive states and districts against strong Republican challengers, it’s important to remember that their biggest vulnerabilities are on issues that don’t directly impact the Jewish community.
The reality is that these candidates are politically problematic to the overall public for reasons that go far beyond their views on Jews or Israel. The same Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform that rejects a Jewish state and condones terrorism also is one that envisions abolishing prisons and defunding the police and backs open borders.
DSA co-chair Megan Romer’s interview on “Fox News Sunday” last week where she enthusiastically endorsed all the exotic positions of the group’s national platform went viral — well beyond conservative media — because it was such a direct encapsulation of the ideas that these candidates actually believe.
DSA-aligned Wisconsin gubernatorial front-runner Francesca Hong, whose insurgent primary campaign hasn’t faced much scrutiny until recently, similarly struggled under basic fact-gathering interviews from Fox News and CNN.
In a similar vein, El-Sayed’s recent stumble when asked on CNN about his past support for defunding the police didn’t hurt him much in the Democratic primary. But you can bet his past views will be aggressively litigated in the general election, if he emerges as the nominee.
Unlike the deep-blue districts where DSA-aligned members have won primaries, Michigan and Wisconsin are shaping up to be clear tests of whether normie general election voters have turned so anti-establishment that they’re willing to back socialists and other like-minded allies to send a message against the party in power.
And if Republicans end up prevailing in an otherwise rough environment for their party, it’s going to be because their opponents’ far-left views on crime, taxes and border security matter a whole lot more to the average voter than their views on foreign policy.
Miller is being accused of abuse by his ex-wife Emily Moreno, daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, who on Sunday said Miller is unfit for office
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) leaves for a break during a House Republican Steering Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) publicly accused Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), his former son-in-law, of domestic abuse on Sunday and said Miller is unfit for office. Moreno’s comments came in response to a video address by Miller denying wrongdoing amid growing scrutiny of the allegations of domestic violence and abuse by his ex-wife Emily Moreno, the senator’s daughter.
Recent polling and reports indicate that the unfolding scandal could lead Miller, one of the few Jewish Republicans in the House to lose his House seat. The New York Times reported last week that Miller’s polling is slipping in the wake of the recent allegations about his past conduct, with a Democratic internal poll showing him just one point ahead of his Democratic challenger, progressive Brian Poindexter, despite the district favoring Republicans.
Another poll conducted by a Republican firm last week reported by NOTUS found Poindexter leading Miller by five points, with Miller’s favorability 15 points underwater.
The allegations against Miller include repeated physical abuse of both Emily Moreno and their daughter.
Democratic aides told the Times they intend to target the district, which the Cook Political Report rates as “likely Republican.” The handicapper already increased Democratic chances of winning the seat as the abuse allegations gained increasing attention.
White House officials are concerned that Miller’s continued candidacy endangers Republicans’ chances of holding the House, according to the Times. Miller, in a statement, vigorously denied to the newspaper that he was in any danger of losing his seat.
Miller released a video on Sunday denying the abuse allegations against him, also posting what he claimed was exculpatory evidence. He has argued that his ex-wife suffers from mental health issues, is fabricating her claims and is a danger to him and their child, repeating allegations he has made in other public interviews. Miller said in the video address he intends to stay in the race and continue campaigning.
He has emphasized that he has never been charged with or convicted of wrongdoing and has been permitted to maintain joint custody of their 2-year-old daughter.
A spokesperson for Emily Moreno called the statement “shameful” and “a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career.”
After previously withholding comment, Moreno said in a lengthy statement that the past two years since his daughter’s divorce from Miller have been “hell” and that his priority has been keeping the matter private to protect his family but that Miller’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”
He called Miller a “danger” to his daughter and granddaughter and said that he fails to meet any “basic standards of character” to serve in office and “should not continue to be free” until he receives psychological help.
Miller dismissed Moreno’s claims and accused him of trying to “hide from your own media circus” and of only speaking out for political reasons, as well as questioning why he had not spoken out earlier.
Some of Miller’s colleagues in Ohio’s congressional delegation were muted in their reactions to Moreno’s accusations against him, with no members of the House Republican Conference calling for Miller’s resignation.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a fellow Ohio Republican, declined to answer several questions on the accusations against Miller on Sunday, telling CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the matter should be handled “in a courtroom” as opposed to the court of public opinion.
“This is a matter of litigation. This is best handled in a courtroom and not in a TV studio,” Turner told the network. “This is an issue that is currently part of a divorce and part of litigation that’s in a courtroom, and the court should be handling this, which is clearly ongoing, and that’s where this needs to be.”
Miller, while in office, has been a close ally of Ohio’s Jewish community and active on various issues of interest to the Jewish community including supporting Israel and combating antisemitism. He has also faced harassment, threats and violence for being a Jewish member of Congress.
He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Miller also helped lead the charge to oust former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House, during which time Santos alluded to allegations of domestic violence against Miller. That reference was to a separate, earlier allegation: in 2021, Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary who dated Miller before his marriage to Emily Moreno, publicly accused him of physically abusing her during their relationship. Miller denied those allegations as well.
Miller’s challenger Poindexter is an ironworker, union organizer and Brook Park, Ohio city, councilmember whose record on Israel and other issues of interest to the Jewish community is largely undefined.
“No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife’s head and breaking their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone belongs in the halls of power,” Poindexter said on X on Sunday.
He has been endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and Our Revolution, the progressive campaign group founded by alumni of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign.
‘The assumption is that it’s better by virtue of there being no encampments right now, there's no buildings being sieged. But that being the bar is ridiculous,’ Columbia student Noah Lederman said of the challenges on campus
Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
Students enter campus on the first day of the fall semester at Columbia University in New York City, United States on September 2, 2025.
As close to 1,000 pro-Israel students from around the country gather in the nation’s capital for the Israel on Campus Coalition’s annual National Leadership Summit, they’ll do so against a backdrop of seemingly quieter campus antisemitism than in the years immediately following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel. But students are still seeking tools to navigate a campus climate they’ve come to see as permanently changed.
“My main concern [on campus today] is every time I sit down with a classmate I have to wonder whether the person next to me was at the [anti-Israel] encampment,” Noah Lederman, an incoming senior at Columbia University majoring in philosophy and Jewish ethics, told Jewish Insider. In February 2024, Lederman said he was shoved and pinned against a wall by an anti-Israel protester as he donned a shirt with an Israeli flag on it during a pro-Israel demonstration right outside of the Morningside Heights campus.
More than two years later, Lederman still feels wary on campus. “Did the person sitting next to me siege Hamilton Hall?” he said, referring to the April 2024 occupation of the academic building at Columbia by anti-Israel student demonstrators, who barricaded the doors. “Because those students have yet to receive consequences or be identified because they wore masks to cover their faces. Are they the person who pushed me up against a wall?” he said.
“Campus is not better, it’s just different,” said Lederman. “The assumption is that it’s better by virtue of there being no encampments right now, there’s no buildings being sieged. But that being the bar is ridiculous. What we saw my freshman year was so beyond the pale that people are inclined to say campus is better just because we don’t have people storming buildings, disrupting classes and Jewish students being told to go home because campus isn’t safe.”
He views the ICC conference as a place to help “further my skills in having civil dialogue” before returning to Columbia in the coming weeks.
The program spans a wide range of topics, from making sense of Middle East tensions to addressing antisemitism at home.
The summit opened Sunday with a moderated conversation featuring former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the future of the region. It was followed by a security update by IDF Col. (ret.) Miri Eisin; former Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande and Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The panel was moderated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss.
Last year’s conference came at the height of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on universities to crack down on antisemitism, which has included federal funding cuts from dozens of schools.
Monday’s opening session will address the implications of those cuts, when Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Education Department, and Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, debate whether the federal government’s campus crackdown is good for America.
Other speakers scheduled to address the gathering throughout the three-day conference include Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, parents of the late Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin; former hostage Omer Shem Tov; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY); and Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice.
“With respect to [campus] antisemitism, we’ve seen improvements over the last year,” Ken Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and a former Education Department official, told JI. “[That is] thanks, in part, to the efforts of many different organizations and government agencies.”
“But we’re still seeing a level of challenge that is near historic levels,” said Marcus. “In other words, we don’t have encampments and similar problems to the extent of previous semesters, but we are receiving intake calls that are significantly higher in number and severity than we had in all the worst of the last few years.” The Brandeis Center has filed numerous lawsuits and federal complaints against universities on behalf of Jewish students alleging a failure to address antisemitism since Oct. 7.
“There’s no sugarcoating what Jewish students are living through,” Jacob Baime, CEO of ICC, told JI. “Campus life has grown more hostile, and the antisemitism more brazen, than at any point in memory: it’s on the quad, in the classroom, and online. But something profound is happening at the same time. This generation refuses to hide. They are prouder, better organized and more determined than any pro-Israel student cohort in history.”
The goal of the conference, Baime said, is “to train them, connect them and send them back to school ready to stand tall and proud.”
One of the most profound changes since Oct. 7, Lederman said, is a shift in how professors behave. Before the attacks, he said, “antisemitism was subtle and professors were afraid.”
“Now they are brazenly antisemitic under the guise of anti-Zionism,” he continued. The biggest difference, Lederman added, is that professors “are no longer afraid to incite Jew hatred in their classes.”
Lederman said he expects the conference to give students tools to deal with that shift. “We are not going to run away and hide,” he said. “[ICC] teaches students to be unashamedly Zionist and Jewish. They teach them how to advocate for Israel, while also thinking for themselves.”
Plus, a Hamas disarmament deal — with caveats
Alex Wong/Getty Images
A visitor holds an AIPAC folder in an elevator in Rayburn House Office Building on March 12, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover comments by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel that she will not attend the state Democratic convention due to fears over antisemitic harassment and report on an anti-AIPAC campaign against Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss — even though AIPAC has not endorsed him in his bid for Congress in a Detroit-area Democratic primary. We also report on President Donald Trump’s announcement that a deal has been reached for Hamas’ disarmament, and talk to analysts about Iran’s efforts to exploit Sudan’s civil war to deepen ties with Islamist factions. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Maor Shlomo, Boy George and Harriet and Mark Levin.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefingthat you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Jewish leaders worried about Michigan’s prime position on Dems’ 2028 calendar; How Debra Band revives a dying Jewish artform; and Family, friends of slain Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner launch foundation in her memory. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Tensions are high in the Middle East going into the weekend, as Iran has continued to strike U.S. assets around the region this week and Saudi Arabia has also faced attacks by Tehran’s proxies.
- We’re keeping an eye out for word from Jerusalem on its stance on Trump’s announcement of a deal for Hamas’ “complete disarmament” announced last night, which requires complete IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. See more below.
- Amid the global developments, Trump will hold the 13th Cabinet meeting of his second administration this morning at the historic Camp David retreat in Maryland.
- The Democratic Socialists of America kicks off its three-day annual organizing conference today in Chicago. One programming track is set to focus on “anti-imperialist and pro-Palestine organizing strategy” to end the “U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN
In chatting with plugged-in Democratic strategists currently working on congressional campaigns, I was shocked — but not all that surprised — at the acceptance that the party has been all but dominated by the socialist faction, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), that has gotten more radical since his presidential campaign in 2016 and has played a key role in many Democratic primaries across the country.
Two Democratic operatives involved in Michigan and other targeted races bluntly told JI that left-wing candidates endorsed by Sanders and his band of far-left allies can now expect to win about one-third of the primary vote from the start if given the Sanders seal of approval. And far from being contained to deep-blue urban districts in New York, the trend is spreading into swing-district primaries and statewide nomination fights.
That’s certainly shaping up to be the case in Michigan’s 7th District, one of the biggest battleground districts in the country long held by now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Despite two candidates with cross-partisan credentials running — former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink — the Sanders-endorsed socialist activist William Lawrence is the front-runner, according to new polling conducted in the race.
And the socialist wave is building in statewide races in two of the biggest Midwestern battlegrounds, with Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed Francesca Hong running away with the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin’s governorship, despite her recent embrace of politically toxic views like supporting funding cuts to the police.
And as we’ve extensively covered in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed’s virulently anti-Israel and left-wing platform in the Senate race doesn’t appear to be stunting his primary campaign against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), even with popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Stevens.
IDENTITY POLITICS
In battle for Haley Stevens’ House seat, AIPAC dominates a race where it hasn’t even endorsed
Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss has a lot of endorsements in his campaign for Congress in a Detroit-area Democratic primary — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and several other state and local officials — but AIPAC is not one of them. That has not stopped Don Ufford, one of Moss’ opponents, from trying to tar the Jewish lawmaker as a pawn of the pro-Israel group in the final days of the race, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
You’ve got mail: A mailer that Ufford’s campaign sent to the homes of voters in the district described Moss as a “career politician who has taken thousands from AIPAC-linked donors.” A website operated by Ufford’s campaign, titled “AIPAC Jeremy Moss,” said that Moss is “for them, not for working Michiganders like you.” Moss told JI in an interview on Thursday, “The language on his mailers was very clear to say AIPAC-linked donors. One more dig deeper than that is just — it’s Jews.” Some of Moss’ donors have also supported AIPAC, but he does not think their involvement in the political system should be suspect.
SAFETY CONCERNS
Michigan AG Dana Nessel to skip Democratic convention over antisemitism fears
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jewish Democrat whose eight years in office will conclude at the end of December, said at an event in Lansing on Thursday that antisemitism in the state — and in the statewide Democratic Party — has gotten so bad that she will not attend the party’s nominating convention next month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
What she said: “I don’t feel safe going,” Nessel said at the Thursday event, which was organized by the Anti-Defamation League and featured other Michigan Jews speaking about their own experiences of antisemitism. “I feel like my presence is not going to be welcomed. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. And I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying. And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen.”
ORGANIZING EFFORT
Jewish community works to turn out votes in Wesley Bell’s rematch against Cori Bush
Members of Missouri’s Jewish community are working to turn out voters in Rep. Wesley Bell’s (D-MO) St. Louis-area congressional district as he faces down a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Tuesday. The Jewish Democratic Council of America has rallied its national membership, particularly in Bell’s district and the broader Midwest region, for an in-person canvassing effort as well as several phone-banking events, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Boosting Bell: “We are mobilizing our network across the Midwest to help get out the vote for Wesley Bell,” Jacob Spiegel, JDCA’s communications director, told JI. “We’re continuing to mobilize our awesome network of volunteers to get out the vote for the candidates that represent our values.”
DONE DEAL?
Trump announces deal for ‘complete disarmament’ of Hamas
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the Board of Peace had reached a “historic” agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, calling it a “monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the agreement would be “carried out carefully in structured phases,” and that the IDF would withdraw when Hamas’ disarmament is “completed.”
Briefing: Following the announcement, a senior U.S. official said in a call with reporters that the document is “an agreement by Hamas to follow through on the decommissioning” of its weapons as well as its terror tunnels. The official noted that Iran tried to “convince [Hamas] not to do this deal,” but in the end, “the final communication came through the mediators that Hamas has agreed.”
Word of warning: A senior U.S. official told reporters, “We’re not asking Israel to do anything that isn’t in the 20-point plan that they agreed to initially, and so we’re very confident they will adhere to it. If they don’t, President Trump would be very, very disappointed.”
Yes, but: A Hamas source told Reuters the “draft agreement” says heavy weapons would only be stored and kept under the control of a Palestinian administration. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas figure, told Al Jazeera, “We will not take any action regarding disarmament prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip.” Meanwhile, Reuters cited an Israeli official as having said, prior to Trump’s announcement, “Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarization of the Strip as a precondition for any process.”
POWER PLAY
Iran’s Sudan strategy raises fears of new jihadist hub
As Sudan’s devastating civil war drags through its third year, experts warn the conflict could become an arena for Iranian strategic expansion and Islamist extremism in Africa, as Tehran and the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood revive a long-standing alliance and threaten to turn the embattled nation into a staging ground for transnational jihadist operations, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Iran’s involvement: Under the cover of Sudan’s official military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), armed Islamist brigades — most notably the U.S.-sanctioned Al-Bara ibn Malik Battalion (the armed wing of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood) — have mobilized to fight alongside state forces led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Supported by funding, weaponry and training pipelines linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, these factions have effectively embedded themselves within the state apparatus, raising alarm among counterterrorism officials and regional foreign policy experts.
SURVEY SAYS
Israeli faith in Trump continues to erode, new poll shows
The share of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump is “highly committed” to protecting Israel’s security interests has dropped to a new low, according to a new survey from Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Downward trend: The organization’s July 2026 National Security Survey found that only 14% of Israelis believe the country’s security interests are a top concern for Trump, representing a significant drop from the 35% recorded in March. This continues a downward trend observed as the conflict with Iran drags on, following an Israel Democracy Institute poll released earlier this month that found just 26% of Jewish Israelis believed Israel’s security was a key consideration for Trump – another record low at the time.
Worthy Reads
El-Sayed’s Villains: The Atlantic‘s Jonathan Chait argues that far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s brand of anti-Israel rhetoric is uniquely dangerous. “But if El-Sayed’s anti-Zionism is obsessive, it is not a singular obsession. He talks about the Israel lobby the way he talks on the stump about nearly any other political issue. The El-Sayed formula is to describe just about any policy as a conspiracy by a corporate entity or wealthy cabal to enrich itself at the expense of the people. The villains in his stories are motivated by pure greed, and trade-offs do not exist. This is a rhetorical style that has long existed on the populist left. The trouble is that, when you apply it to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and especially to the question of why some Americans do not share El-Sayed’s position on it, his approach grows paranoid and menacing.” [TheAtlantic]
Take the Win: In her Substack, “Insight,” journalist Frida Ghitis posits that Iran is “overplaying its hand” by continuing to engage in hostilities against the U.S. “Instead of consolidating what it sees as a victory, Tehran continues to test Washington, seemingly inviting another round of war. It’s unclear what’s motivating Iran’s provocative actions after the U.S. had agreed to pause strikes against Iran. It may reflect overconfidence, ideological zeal, or even the belief among some regime hardliners that an apocalyptic confrontation will hasten the return of the Mahdi and usher in a global Islamic order. I’m inclined to believe the moves are not about the world to come but about the immediate future. Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leaders not only see that they have won the first round, but they believe time is on their side because they pay close attention to Western politics and media. Another round, they may conclude, will solidify their gains.” [Substack]
The Iran Split: Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen argues that President Donald Trump’s military, intelligence and economic teams have delivered real results against Iran while the negotiated ceasefire, which he attributes to Vice President JD Vance, has trapped Trump in a repeating cycle of Iranian violations followed by U.S. strikes and renewed talks. “Case in point: Last weekend, as Trump was on the verge of ordering a resumption of major combat, he was told that the Iranians were desperate for a deal. So he paused to give peace a chance. Result? Iran fired five ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. This cycle has repeated for months. Like Lucy and the football, Trump keeps getting told that this time the Iranians are finally ready to make a deal — only to be set up for failure yet again. Indeed, by elevating a deal as the definition of victory, Vance has given Iran a veto over America’s ability to declare victory. All it has to do is refuse to agree — which it is doing.” [WashPost]
Netanyahu v. Mamdani: In The Free Press, constitutional law professor Jed Rubenfeld lays out the legal case for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sue New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for libel. “Mamdani specifically named Netanyahu and explicitly accused him of heinous crimes, including genocide and the maiming of children. As a result, while Netanyahu v. Mamdani would be an uphill battle, it could be won. … There is, however, an important limit on this immunity. It applies to Mamdani only if his statement concerned matters ‘within the ambit of [his] duties.’ There’s a strong argument that foreign policy is no part of the duties of a mayor. Indeed, despite Mamdani’s personal desire to arrest Netanyahu, the mayor himself has now admitted he has no legal authority to do so. It seems plausible, therefore, that Mamdani strayed far outside the ambit of his official duties in his attack on Netanyahu. If so, he forfeited New York’s absolute immunity.” [FP]
Word on the Street
The IDF carried out a “massive operation” on Thursday evening using approximately 700 tons of explosives to blow up a tunnel system in southern Lebanon that was “a central part of the Hezbollah terror organization’s invasion plan” into northern Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said…
The American Association of University Professors issued its first-ever political endorsement in its 110-year history on Thursday, backing far-left Abdul El-Sayed ahead of next week’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan. The professional organization has repeatedly faced criticism from Jewish groups and faculty members for straying from its mission by engaging in anti-Israel advocacy…
Columbia University’s student workers’ union dropped its demand that the university divest from Israel during a bargaining session on Tuesday, the Columbia Spectator reports, in a reversal of the union’s pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions advocacy…
Columbia will open a global center in Tel Aviv later this summer, reviving a plan first floated in April 2023 that drew faculty petitions and student protests…
A fire at the AgriStar meat and poultry plant in Postville, Iowa, one of the largest kosher meat processing plants in the country, “means a significant portion of kosher beef and chicken … will not enter the kosher supply chain,” Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the CEO of OU Kosher, said in a statement. Elefant warned that kosher consumers “will feel the impact of the tightening supply with reduction of availability”…
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued on Thursday that, without regime change in Iran, the U.S. will likely need to continue to conduct periodic military operations against Iran’s nuclear program to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Senate narrowly blocked another push by Democrats to force an end to the Iran war, 50-49, with the vote falling along now-predictable lines. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) broke with their party to vote for the resolution with most Democrats, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against it…
The Iran-backed Houthi terror group, based in Yemen, reportedly attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory, potentially with the assistance of militias in the country working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an indication of the growing coordination between Tehran’s proxies…
Facing renewed attacks by both Iran and the Houthis, Saudi Arabia hosted dozens of global military officials, including from the U.S., for a meeting on Thursday to establish a maritime defense alliance, the Saudi Defense Ministry said. Thirteen countries joined Riyadh in signing a statement of support for the effort: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia…
Meanwhile, Yemeni sources told The Guardian they believe Saudi Arabia is gearing up for a major military offensive against the Houthis in Yemen — by sea and possibly also by land — aimed at breaking the group’s grip on oil exports through the southern Red Sea…
Iranian hackers may have been behind a cyberattack on dozens of municipal water systems this week in Minnesota, state and federal officials told The New York Times…
The Treasury Department sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air, calling it the IRGC’s “airline of choice for moving weapons, military personnel, and equipment,” as well as an IRGC-affiliated front company that has sought the locations of American and Israeli equipment in the region…
A group of Democratic House and Senate lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announcing they are opening an investigation into the deaths of six U.S. service members in Kuwait, who were killed in an Iranian drone strike earlier this year, to determine whether the troops were adequately protected during the war…
The Wall Street Journal reports on how the Iran war has impacted the U.S.-Kuwait relationship and caused the U.S. to reconsider the scale of its military presence in the Gulf country…
Egypt confirmed that an explosion at a port on its Mediterranean coast on Wednesday, which set fire to two ships, including a U.S. gas-storage tanker, was caused by a drone attack. Egypt reportedly attributed the attack, which was not claimed by any country or group, to Iran. It marks the first time the country has been targeted during the war with Iran…
The U.S. has informed Israel that it is deploying additional military refueling aircraft to the country, amid growing concerns over a security escalation in the region, raising fears of major disruptions at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s N12 news site reports…
Elon Musk has authorized his super PAC, called America PAC, to spend more than $100 million to help Republicans in eight states in the midterm elections, The New York Times reports, including key Senate battleground races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio…
The Hackney Council in the U.K. gave initial approval to begin ending the city’s 58-year partnership with its sister city Haifa…
British singer Boy George withdrew from a West End production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” in which he had been set to play Herod, following the release of his pro-Israel song “We Will Dance Again.” Without directly mentioning the song, which drew backlash, Boy George’s manager said: “In this instance, I felt it was right [for Boy George] to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus, while ensuring everyone involved can move forward with mutual respect and goodwill”…
Base44 founder Maor Shlomo launched a cancer research fund and has already backed seven treatment startups after losing his mother to the disease…
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the La Forêt Blanche Ariel Red 2021:
This week I had the honor of attending a dinner held in tribute to the memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Every guest at the table was a devoted friend of the senator, who was a steadfast friend of Israel, and the evening carried the quiet weight of remembrance and gratitude in equal measure. I wanted to pour something bold and unflinching, a wine in the senator’s own spirit, drawn from a corner of Israel he loved. The La Forêt Blanche Ariel Red 2021, its grapes raised in the storied heights of Mount Hebron in the Judean Hills, was the perfect answer.
The Ariel Red is 85% petit verdot and 15% syrah. The first sip delivers the firm grip one hopes for from a petit verdot of the Judean Hills: assertive, unapologetic, rooted in the soil that made it. The mid-palate softens, and the finish arrives with an elegance earned over 18 months in French and American oak. This is a wine that will only deepen over the next five years. Serve it beside a well-marbled rib steak hot off the fire, and raise your glass in a toast to the memory of the great senator from the great state of South Carolina.
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke yesterday evening to Harriet and Mark Levin — the parents of U.S.-born IDF “lone soldier” Michael Levin, who was killed in the Second Lebanon War on Aug. 1, 2006 — at the 20th memorial ceremony for Levin alongside his grave on Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Judah Ari Gross reports.
During the ceremony, Huckabee praised Levin for his sacrifice and “giving his life, not just for Israel, but … for America as well.” Huckabee also hailed Levin’s parents, whom he said took their grief and channeled it into building a network of organizations to support “lone soldiers,” service members without families who care for them in Israel.
“They could have taken their grief and buried it in their souls and lived the rest of their lives in anguish and even bitterness. But they didn’t do that,” Huckabee said. “They took their love for Michael and the grief, and they did something that has now benefited thousands upon thousands of lone soldiers who have served and have had support that Michael never had. … I cannot help but think that, in so many ways, nothing could have been done more powerfully for Michael’s memory, for his sacrifice, than what his parents have done in their sacrifice to honor their son.”
Birthdays
CEO of Goliath Records and former CEO and chairman of Def Jam Recordings, best known as the manager of Eminem, Paul D. Rosenberg turns 55 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: British judge and barrister, he served as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and later as Master of the Rolls, John Anthony Dyson turns 83… Actor, who went on to become CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox, Sherry Lansing turns 82… Nobel laureate in economics in 1997, known for his quantitative analysis of options pricing, longtime professor at both Harvard and MIT, Robert C. Merton turns 82… Scholar, professor, rabbi, writer and filmmaker, who specializes in the study of the Holocaust, Michael Berenbaum turns 81… Co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, in 2015 he bought a 16th-century copy of the Babylonian Talmud for $9.3 million, Leon David Black turns 75… Software entrepreneur, he was president of Ameinu, which merged with Americans for Peace Now in 2024 to form New Jewish Narrative, and serves on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, Kenneth Bob… Author of more than 30 best-selling mystery novels, many with Jewish themes, Faye Kellerman turns 74… Manhattan-based criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and television commentator, Ronald L. Kuby turns 70… Chairman at Haifa-based Twin Digital Healthcare, Guido Benjamin Pardo-Roques turns 70… Owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks until its partial sale to Miriam Adelson in 2023, he was a “shark” investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank from 2011 until May 2025, Mark Cuban turns 68… Israeli attorney, real estate developer and entrepreneur, Ilan Shavit turns 68… COO at Leenie Productions, she serves on the board of directors of the Northbrook, Ill.-based Haym Salomon Center, Helene Miller-Walsh turns 67… Technology investor and social entrepreneur, he is the founder and chairman of Tmura, Yadin B. Kaufmann turns 67… Israeli libertarian politician and activist, he was previously a member of the Knesset, Moshe Zalman Feiglin turns 64… Adjunct professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, he was previously the director of the Los Angeles office of the American Jewish Committee, Dan Schnur… Born into a practicing Catholic family in Nazareth, Israel, billionaire investor and owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tom Gores turns 62… General manager of MLB’s Miami Marlins, he was an MLB outfielder for 13 seasons, Gabe Kapler turns 51… Author, actor and comedian, Benjamin Joseph (BJ) Novak turns 47… Founder and CEO at Wide Eye Creative, Ben Ostrower… The representative of the World Zionist Organization Executive in North America, Michal Slawny Cababia… Political activist and the founder and president of Stand Up America, a progressive advocacy community, Sean Simcha Eldridge turns 40… Head of global communications, social and film at Zipline, Danielle Meister Lurie… Technical Account Manager at CREW, Aryeh Samet Canter… Adam Rosenberg… David Goldenberg… Richard Rosenstein…
SATURDAY: Culver City, Calif., resident, Allene Prince… Formerly CEO of multibillion-dollar travel and hotel franchisor Cendant Corporation, then CEO of 54 Madison Partners, Henry R. Silverman turns 86… Founder and principal of NYC-based Midtown Equities, a major developer of nationwide real estate projects, Joseph Cayre turns 85… U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of New York, now on senior status, Judge Jed S. Rakoff turns 83… Former president of Brandeis University, now president and CEO of the Cleveland-based Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, Jehuda Reinharz turns 82… British businessman, he has been described as “the father of British venture capital,” Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen turns 81… Israeli-born businessman and film producer, later CEO of Marvel Studios, he won the 2019 Academy Award for best animated feature, Avi Arad turns 78… Second-generation owner of a Los Angeles flooring business, Eric Kalman Biren… Immediate past president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Rhoda Smolow… Founder and president of Greystone Hotels, the IHA Group and Markev Realty Corporation, Eric Horodas 73… Media analyst and former host of “MediaBuzz” at Fox News, now a Fox News contributor, Howard Kurtz turns 73… Director of New York government relations at Agudath Israel of America, Yeruchim Silber… U.S. career diplomat who served as ambassador to South Korea during the Biden administration, Philip Seth Goldberg turns 70… United States secretary of the interior, Douglas James Burgum turns 70… Attorney, political strategist and former president of the American Jewish Congress, Richard Scott Gordon… Former CEO of Atlanta’s Jewish Family & Career Services, where she served for six years, she served for 11 years in the Minnesota state Senate, Terri E. Bonoff turns 69… Professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D. turns 67… Policy director in the D.C. office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Andrew C. (“Drew”) Littman… Former senior rabbi of the British movement for Reform Judaism, now a rabbi at London’s Bromley Reform Synagogue, Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner turns 63… U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Daniel B. “Dan” Shapiro turns 57… Producer for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Shachar Bar-On… Professor of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton and at Hebrew U, he was the winner of the 2010 Fields Medal, Elon Lindenstrauss turns 56… CEO of NYC’s Quantum Media Group, he is a HAFTR and YU graduate, Ari Zoldan… Israeli film director, writer and producer, Asaf Epstein turns 48… Venture partner in Leap Forward Ventures, she is also chief marketing and revenue officer at Blue Flame, Jessica Alter… Founder and CEO of Moishe House (now known as Mem Global), David Cygielman… Chief Jewish life officer at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Sheila Katz … Chief community relations officer at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Noam Gilboord… SVP of communications at Burford Capital, David Helfenbein… Board-certified family physician, Mor Toledano Shapiro, M.D…. CEO of PeaceWorks Foundation Roey Kruvi… Cross-country skier who competed for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (Pyeongchang), now serving as an assistant attorney general fellow in the Consumer Protection section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Noah Hoffman turns 37… Client relations specialist at Pacific Libra Insurance Agency, Yael Rabin… Television, stage and film actor, Benjamin “Ben” Rosenfield turns 34…
SUNDAY: Co-founder and chairman of NYC-based real estate development firm, Rockrose Development Corporation, Henry Elghanayan turns 86… Professor emeritus of Bible at London’s Leo Baeck College, Jonathan David Magonet turns 84… Former member of Knesset for 28 years, he then served as chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems until 2023, Uzi Landau turns 83… Retired colonel in the U.S. Army and a recipient of the Medal of Honor and seven other medals, he serves as a military analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, Jack H. Jacobs turns 81… Longtime librarian, Irene Seff… Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, author and public speaker, Dennis Prager turns 78… Former ambassador and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations, Robert Keith Rae turns 78… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, he is international writer-at-large for The New York Times, Roger Cohen turns 71… U.S. senator from Nevada, Jacklyn Sheryl “Jacky” Rosen turns 69… Psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and brain researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yoram Yovell turns 68… Strategic advisor at Breaking Through, Inc., Amy Aronoff Blumkin… Mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., for eight years until 2022, now executive vice president and principal of the U.S. Cities Practice at Shumaker Advisors, Richard David “Rick” Kriseman turns 64… Owner of Newton, Mass.-based MPG Promotions, Elliot Mael… Senior vice president of operations and general counsel of Yeshiva University, Andrew J. “Avi” Lauer… Professional tennis player, who was once ranked No. 6 in the world, now the director of tennis at St. Andrews country club in Boca Raton, Fla., Aaron Krickstein turns 59… Former member of the Knesset, first for the Labor party and then the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Leon Litinetsky turns 59… Senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Steven A. Cook turns 58… EVP for Hearst Television and past chair of the NBC Television Affiliate Board, Eric J. Meyrowitz… Senior director for global trade and public affairs at confectionery, food and pet care firm, Mars Inc., Jay Eizenstat… Professional golfer, he won a PGA tournament in both 2003 and 2004, Jonathan Andrew Kaye turns 56… Pulitzer Prize-winning, D.C.-based national security reporter for The New York Times for 13 years until 2024, now doing investment research, Matthew Rosenberg turns 52… Senior executive communications lead at Adobe, Stephen L. Rabin… Labor law attorney in the Nashville, Tenn., office of Holland & Knight, he served on the national board of JFNA, Aron Zwi Karabel… Program director at the Jewish Fertility Foundation, Tamar Poupko Smith… CEO of Make It Real, he is also the co-founder and chair of The Jewish Entrepreneur (a mentoring program), Isaac William “Zevy” Wolman… Director of philanthropy (Israel) at The Paul E. Singer Foundation, Julia Nayfeld Schulman… Vice president of the United States, James David (JD) Vance turns 42… Actor best known for her 1999 “Pepsi Girl” role as a 7-year-old, and later for subsequent teen roles, Hallie Kate Eisenberg turns 34… Baseball pitcher, he played for Team Israel in 2017 and now manages a baseball training facility for young players in Philadelphia, Kenny Koplove turns 33… CEO of Petra Power in Solon, Ohio, Aaron Goodman turns 32…
The Jewish attorney general said she believes she will get ‘chased around,’ ‘harassed,’ ‘yelled and screamed at’ and ‘booed off stage’ if she were to attend her own party convention
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are in Chicago for the convention, concluding with current Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her party's presidential nomination.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jewish Democrat whose eight years in office will conclude at the end of December, said at an event in Lansing on Thursday that antisemitism in the state — and in the statewide Democratic Party — has gotten so bad that she will not attend the party’s nominating convention next month.
At the party’s first convention of the year, in April, attendees chose a pro-Hezbollah candidate over a pro-Israel Jewish incumbent for a slot to be a University of Michigan regent. Party members loudly booed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a pro-Israel Democrat running for Senate, when she addressed the room, leaving Jewish attendees “shell-shocked,” as a former Ann Arbor city councilmember said at the time.
“I don’t feel safe going,” Nessel said at the Thursday event, which was organized by the Anti-Defamation League and featured other Michigan Jews speaking about their own experiences of antisemitism. “I feel like my presence is not going to be welcomed. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. And I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying. And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen.”
Nessel spoke candidly, as heard in audio of the event obtained by Jewish Insider, about a problem that she said has gotten “worse and worse and worse,” including within her own political party.
“I can’t speak for the Republican Party because I’m not a member of that party, but I will speak as a member of the Democratic Party here in Michigan, that something’s got to change. This cannot continue,” Nessel said. “I have profound fears about what is going to happen to this state, and what is going to happen to this country if we don’t have a significant change of course.”
Nessel was billed as the moderator for the roundtable, where she heard from parents whose children had faced antisemitism in Michigan schools, the director of Chabad at Michigan State University and a rabbi from Temple Israel, the West Bloomfield synagogue that is still reeling from an antisemitic attack in March. Nessel listened to the stories and asked questions of the participants, but she also spoke at length about her own experiences and her perception of the threat that antisemitism poses.
“I can’t just say that it’s caused me a good deal of depression. I often feel despair,” Nessel said. She described gradually coming to terms with the modern reality: that antisemitism is now a feature of American society, and a fixture on both the political left and right.
“I’ve never seen it in my lifetime. I appreciate that my parents did — certainly my grandparents did,” Nessel said, noting that her grandparents fled Eastern Europe. “To see some of the same language that was used during that time period, and we’re seeing it emerge now in modern-day America — if you would have told me that … I still will say I was very naive and I didn’t think, ever, that this could happen in modern-day United States of America.”
Antisemitism is not entirely a post-Oct. 7 phenomenon for Nessel. In March 2023, several months before the Hamas attacks in Israel that kicked off the war in Gaza, federal investigators arrested an armed Michigan man for threatening to kill Jewish people serving in state government, including Nessel. But she stressed that things have only gotten worse since.
“Especially since Oct. 7, what has become clear to me,” said Nessel, is “how few people know anything about our religious beliefs, how little many people know really about Israel or about any connection that the Jewish community has with Israel.”
When she won her race in 2018, Nessel became the first LGBTQ person elected to statewide office in Michigan. She expected to face threats about that. She did not expect that nearly all of the threats against her would be because she was Jewish.
“The threats that I receive are almost exclusively antisemitic threats. People aren’t interested in the fact that I’m gay. They’re not interested in the fact that I’m a woman. They are very interested in the fact that I am Jewish,” Nessel said. “That is a barometer as to the focus that people have.”
ADL Michigan regional director Elyssa Schmier told JI that Nessel’s comments about the Democratic Party convention surprised her.
“I do think it says something that the highest ranking Democrat or any party official in our state who’s Jewish does not feel comfortable or safe,” Schmier said. “I think that there are people on both sides of each political party that want to remove Jews from public life and make it so they fear for their safety or their family’s safety, or the ability to even achieve what they want to achieve in those settings.”
Rabbi Arianna Gordon, director of education and lifelong learning at Temple Israel, lauded Nessel for speaking openly about the antisemitism she has faced in politics.
“There’s some really scary things happening in the political conversation right now, particularly here, but there also are politicians who really have shown up for us and for the Jewish community, and who I know care deeply about us,” Gordon said. “Good for her for saying that out loud.”
Plus, 2025 NSGP grants come in low and slow
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
An exterior view of The Heritage Foundation building on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on new allegations of an antisemitic culture at the Heritage Foundation and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to questions over the absence of Jews from his Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. We report on a conversation between Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a close associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and spotlight an announcement by the rabbinic arm of the Conservative movement to further welcome interfaith families. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Roger Wicker, Adm. Brad Cooper and Erica Schwartz.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- CENTCOM said it conducted a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran on Wednesday night, as a “powerful response” to Tehran’s attempted attacks on U.S. forces on Tuesday. The military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites and maritime capabilities.
- Earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump had warned that the U.S. would “beat the f**king sh*t out of” Iran following the attempted attack by the IRGC, even as he signaled a willingness to keep diplomatic channels open. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst. “They’re going to get a beating.”
- The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote this morning on a war powers resolution seeking to end those U.S. operations in Iran, after it was postponed yesterday.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
- This morning, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is speaking at the Hudson Institute for a conversation on global threats.
- In the afternoon, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is co-hosting an antisemitism roundtable with the Anti-Defamation League to hear from Jewish community leaders about recent antisemitic incidents in the state.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S WILL BREDDERMAN
The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a political era in America’s greatest metropolis.
“There is no New York without us,” the Jewish Democrat said at a press conference outside The Jewish Center, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the Jewish victim worshipped, invoking the deep history and contributions of Jews to the Big Apple.
But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the lone citywide official not to attend the gathering, seems to wager that he can govern New York City without much support from the dense web of religious and civic organizations that historically shaped Jewish life there and helped guide the choices of his predecessors. Mamdani received only about one-third of the Jewish vote in the mayoral election, but little support from legacy Jewish groups.
One need only look to the state Assembly district covering the site of the assault to see how Mamdani is at odds with the mainstream Jewish leadership. As mayor, he endorsed an opponent of Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, the favorite of local Jewish Democratic leadership, as she sought the seat in June. The rabbi serves as associate dean of Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the daughter-in-law of retired longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. In doing so, Mamdani even spurned one of his most vocal Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, long a standard-bearer of a Jewish liberalism rooted in communal institutions.
LOSING YOUR HERITAGE
Heritage Foundation under fire over new allegations of antisemitic culture
Nine months after the Heritage Foundation came under fire for defending Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with a neo-Nazi, the conservative think tank is facing fresh scrutiny over accusations that it has enabled an extreme culture in which new hires feel free to question the Holocaust and to engage in historically revisionist debates about World War II, with no apparent internal policing from leadership, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Internet influence: Andrew Hale, a trade policy analyst at Heritage who left in January to join a rival think tank launched by former Vice President Mike Pence, recalled that prior to departing he had found new hires were fixated on antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Holocaust and Israel of the sort popularized by Nick Fuentes, Carlson and Candace Owens, the extreme-right podcast host. Hale confirmed to JI in an interview on Wednesday that new, particularly younger, staffers at Heritage “openly said things which were antisemitic, whether they realized it or not,” crediting their views to an obsession with far-right social media channels.
HOT SEAT
Mamdani says exclusion of Jews from judiciary panel was not deliberate
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continued to face questions on Wednesday about how he managed to appoint a panel of attorneys to recommend city judges that did not include a single Jewish member. The absence of any Jewish representation on the Advisory Committee on the Judiciary came despite a vow from the mayor’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, that the panel was “truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City,” Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
What he said: The mayor, at an unrelated event on Wednesday, maintained he had not inquired about nominees’ religious affiliations. “Any suggestion that there would be any decision made or motivated by religion, it does bother me,” Mamdani told reporters. “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”
RIYADH X REZA
Top Saudi official greets Reza Pahlavi at Lindsey Graham’s funeral
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the powerful head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was seen greeting and conversing with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Zoom in: In video footage first published Tuesday by the Christian Broadcasting Network, the two men shared an embrace and spoke briefly during the service. The interaction marked a rare public exchange between a top Saudi official and one of the most prominent Iranian opposition figures. Al-Rumayyan holds several key leadership roles across Saudi state interests, including as governor of the Saudi Public Investment fund and chair of oil giant Saudi Aramco, English football club Newcastle United and Riyadh Air.
SECURITY CONCERN
FEMA approves only 27% of 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant applications
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Wednesday that 1,600 out of 6,000 applications received for the long-delayed 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Program cycle were approved, meaning that less than 27% of organizations that applied received any funding — a significant dip from previous years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Details: The grants were approved nearly a year after applications opened for the 2025 cycle on Aug. 13, 2025, and after applications for 2026 NSGP funding were already due last week. FEMA indicated that state agencies responsible for administering the grants on the state level and repeated Department of Homeland Security shutdowns relating to immigration enforcement disputes were responsible for the delays.
DEFENSE DOLLARS
Senate Republicans say more defense money needed in House-passed reconciliation bill
Senate Republicans said this week that a House-passed budget reconciliation bill does not contain enough defense-related funding and that they want to significantly increase it, setting up a clash between GOP lawmakers in the two chambers, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they’re saying: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI, “I’d rather it be much bigger.” The bill passed by House Republicans includes $73 billion in defense-related funding, designed to largely cover the administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war. But the administration has said it needs an additional $350 billion, separate from the Iran war funding, to help bring to fruition the $1.5 trillion defense budget it envisions for 2027.
Scoop: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) are set to introduce legislation on Friday to investigate whether the Iran-linked Polisario Front, a paramilitary group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, can be designated as a terrorist organization.
RABBINIC RULINGS
Conservative rabbis further welcome interfaith families — but keep weddings off the table
Eight months after the Conservative movement apologized to interfaith couples for treating them as if their relationships were a threat to Jewish survival, the rabbinic arm of the movement announced a new set of Jewish legal rulings to provide concrete ways congregations and rabbis can better welcome interfaith families. But the new reforms stop short of allowing Conservative rabbis to officiate at interfaith weddings, eJewish Philanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports.
Majority vote: The announcement came in the form of a publication titled, “Gateways Into Jewish Living: Guiding the Conservative/Masorti Rabbi in Supporting Families with Non-Jewish Loved Ones,” authored by the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The nine rulings were voted on by 23 rabbis from the committee, with most passing by a wide margin. The most contentious issue — passed with 14 votes in favor, five against and four abstentions — dealt with offering a Hanukkat Habayit, a dedication of the Jewish home, for interfaith families who are building an “exclusively” Jewish home.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
Who Fills the Void? The Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim examines the scramble to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), weighing the candidacy of former Gov. Mark Sanford against Graham’s own sister, Darline, drafted into the race by a Trump endorsement she didn’t seek. “Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford were once close; so much so that Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, as they then were, named Graham godfather to their youngest son. Still I strongly suspect Mr. Sanford, a quasi-libertarian at heart, would view the hawkish policies advocated by Graham in narrowly fiscal terms and deem them too expensive … Will Ms. Graham carry on her brother’s ‘legacy,’ as her campaign literature claims? The task of replacing the ubiquitous Lindsey Graham seems undoable, but his sister signals the right attitude.” [WSJ]
Why Now? In his Substack, “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal explores the reasoning behind Iran’s renewed attacks on the U.S. “The logic is simple. Both sides are running out of time, but on different clocks. Iran’s runs on resources; [President Donald] Trump’s — whatever the reports of munitions shortages suggest — runs on patience. Iran can afford to lose resources if the spending drains Trump’s patience faster. Quiet slows his clock. Silence is Iran’s worst enemy. That is also why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is not pushing for another military campaign. Such a campaign would drain Trump completely — and if the regime survived, as it is certain it would, then even amid the rubble it would have won. Iran thinks it can out-stubborn Trump. Netanyahu is working around that bet rather than trying the strategy himself.” [Substack]
Friends and Foes: In The Free Press, Elliott Abrams, the former diplomat who now serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington this week as the two allies bearing the heaviest burden for U.S. interests — yet still uncertain whether President Donald Trump will fully commit to backing them. “The issue this week is not so much the personal relationships, though those matter far more than they should to Trump. Instead, the issue is how Trump sees friends, partners, allies, and democracies, versus opponents and enemies. Trump continues to treat Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping with remarkable deference and respect despite the direct threats they pose to U.S. interests. There’s every reason to believe that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence helping it hit U.S. bases in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pampering an ally with far less skin in the game than Israel and Ukraine. Last week, the Trump administration announced its acceptance of a nuclear energy deal that will allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, without subjecting it to inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency.” [FP]
Word on the Street
In an interview with ABC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with President Donald Trump various options to proceed with handling the conflict with Iran, but ultimately, “It’s his decision.” Netanyahu said, “The truth is, we’re partners. We’re allies. He’s the senior partner. It’s the United States of America, let’s not forget. And I’m a junior partner. But I’m the prime minister of Israel, and when I have to stand up for the interest of my country and the security of my country, I do so”…
Addressing Vice President JD Vance’s comments to podcaster Joe Rogan this month that American politics are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns,” Netanyahu said he “had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning, and I think we straightened that out because we’re not. That’s not our policy”…
Netanyahu also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Blair House on Wednesday morning. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israeli National Security Advisor Shmuel Ben Ezra participated in the meeting, along with Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, and Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs…
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) worked privately with Netanyahu just before the 2024 election to organize a bipartisan group of senators to denounce the International Criminal Court‘s investigation of the Israeli leader — coordination captured in footage from filmmaker Alex Holder, in which Graham joked he should be paid “tons of shekels” for his help…
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Washington and met with Trump and Vance at the White House on Wednesday, according to Axios, where Prince Khalid told them that, despite Riyadh having engaged in joint strikes with the U.S. on Iranian proxies, the kingdom still wants to see hostilities with Iran de-escalate…
CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper has prepared a two-week intensive bombing campaign against Iran as an option for Trump to consider, The Wall Street Journal reports, outlining a strategy to cripple Tehran’s missile capabilities in order to reduce the strain on U.S. defensive munitions…
The Treasury Department sanctioned the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which are backed by the IRGC, for running “insurance” schemes in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby the terror group creates threats to commercial shipping and then charges vessels for insurance coverage…
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met on Wednesday in Ankara with new Hamas head Khalil Al-Hayya…
A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced Dan Sohail to serve six months in jail and pay $19,000 in restitution for ramming his car into Chabad’s world headquarters in Brooklyn in January…
The New York Times profiles Reihan Salam, the conservative Manhattan Institute president working to make the think tank the “intellectual engine of the resistance” to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…
The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast on Wednesday spotlighted AIPAC and the role it is now playing in U.S. politics, describing it as a once-bipartisan organization that has now become partisan and a polarizing force in the Democratic Party. During the conversation, among other statements that drew the ire of AIPAC, guest Jonathan Mahler said the advocacy group’s actions “have provided an opening, honestly, for bad actors, but in particular, in a sort of worrying sense for people who are not just criticizing Israel but who are criticizing Jews and Jewish influence”…
In an X thread responding to several of the accusations made against it during the podcast, AIPAC said, “This is an outrageous accusation. Suggesting that politically active pro-Israel American citizens are to blame for antisemitism is shameful. Antisemites are responsible for the rise in antisemitism”…
The Associated Press spotlights a fringe group of Israeli settlers, the Pioneers of Bashan, who have repeatedly breached the border with Syria, with the ultimate goal of establishing Jewish settlements inside the country — despite condemnation from the IDF…
Opposition lawmakers in Israel filibustered an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee session yesterday to block NIS 392 million ($127 million) for Haredi education and West Bank settlements…
The Forward tells the story of Nik Jakobs and his family — namely his grandmother, Edith, who was hidden by the entire Dutch town of Stadskanaal to survive the Holocaust, a story which the town recently restaged as a play — as Jakobs is now building a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield from the salvaged remnants of shuttered American shuls…
Jewish summer campers who were headed home to Baltimore during Tuesday night’s storms hauled a fallen tree off a Washington road, clearing the way for a blocked ambulance…
The Associated Press examines the growing far-left media ecosystem, including Drop Site News and Hasan Piker’s stream, that has helped to boost a range of progressive candidates during this primary cycle…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) declined to answer questions from a Drop Site News reporter, responding, “Oh, you’re Drop Site! It’s like a race between who’s the more pro-Hamas: Drop Site or Zeteo?” Fetterman went on to reiterate his support for Israel and said he wanted Drop Site viewers to know “how much I love to watch Israel eliminating the Hamas leadership”…
A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 3 in 4 Democrats would consider backing a socialist for president, but only 39% of overall respondents would do the same…
Boston University’s Conference on the Jewish Left has rescinded its invitation to Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative magazine and a prominent voice in MAGA’s anti-Israel wing, after backlash over his inclusion in the March 2027 program, reports Jewish Currents, a magazine associated with the anti-Zionist Jewish left…
CBS News announced that Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber will join its team in September as a senior reporter based in Israel…
The American Jewish Committee named Andrew Gross, who was previously director of international innovation and partnerships at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, as director of its New York regional office…
Frances “Fran” Belzberg, a Vancouver philanthropist and Order of Canada recipient whose family founded Israel’s OneFamily terror-victims organization, died last Shabbat at 99…
Pic of the Day
Erica Schwartz, founder of The Well, a new Jewish dating app, mingled with prospective users at the app’s launch event on Tuesday in Manhattan. The Well — named for the biblical story of Eliezer finding Isaac’s wife, Rebecca — is slated to launch in the coming weeks. The app matches Jewish day school alumni using AI and matchmakers, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Birthdays
Commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball, his 2019 memoir is For the Good of the Game, Allan Huber “Bud” Selig turns 92…
Retired attorney from the firm of Hatton, Petrie & Stackler in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Ronald E. Stackler turns 89… The first woman justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court, as a teen she won two gold medals and a silver medal as a swimmer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman turns 79… Actor, director and producer, Ken Olin turns 72… Philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari background, known as the “King of Diamonds,” Lev Leviev turns 70… Sports executive, attorney and president of Paris Basketball, David Kahn turns 65… Former mayor of Arad and then a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Likud parties, Tali Ploskov turns 64… President of C&M Transcontinental, he served as COO for the first two Trump campaigns, Michael S. Glassner turns 63… Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and producer, Lisa Kudrow turns 63… Head coach of men’s tennis and director of tennis operations at Columbia University, Howard Endelman turns 61… Best-selling nonfiction author, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, he is a co-creator of the HBO series “Vinyl,” Rich Cohen turns 58… District chief of staff for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Robert M. Gottheim turns 55… Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the DOJ during most of the Biden administration, Jonathan Seth Kanter turns 53… Motivational speaker, author and entrepreneur, he served as a law clerk in 2008 for Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg, the first blind person to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaac Lidsky turns 47… President of MS NOW, Rebecca M. Kutler… Member of the Knesset for the Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech turns 47… Senior producer at Vox and host and producer of the podcast of the Association for Jewish Studies, Avishay Artsy… President and founder in 2014 of Dallas-based ECA Strategies, Eric Chaim Axel… Pittsburgh-based therapist, Lewis Sohinki… Author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem, Sarah Tuttle-Singer turns 45… Former director of policy and public affairs for the Jewish Community of Denmark, now in the renewable energy and offshore wind industry, Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof… Attorney and member of the Los Angeles County GOP Central Committee for Assembly District 42, which includes Pacific Palisades, Elizabeth Barcohana turns 43… Former head of digital operations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tamar Schwarzbard… Managing principal of West Egg Development, a New York-based real estate development firm, Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff turns 34… Former trade officer at Israel’s economic mission to the South and Midwest U.S., Joshua Weintraub… Winner of the Miss Israel pageant in 2014, she is now an international businesswoman, Mor Maman turns 31… Actor, as a 10-year-old she starred in the comedy film “Ramona and Beezus,” and since then in many movies and television shows, Joey Lynn King turns 27…
Worldwide, 20 people were killed last year in four antisemitic attacks across three continents
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Members of the public and congregants seen as Police and other emergency responders attend the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, where multiple were injured after stabbing and car attack on Yom Kippur, on October 2, 2025 in the Crumpsall suburb of Manchester, England.
Germany remained the country with the most antisemitic incidents relative to its Jewish population in 2025, among Diaspora countries with major Jewish populations, according to a new report from leading Jewish groups released on Wednesday.
According to the report, nearly 70 antisemitic incidents per 1,000 Jewish residents were recorded in Germany in 2025.
Not since the terror attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, more than 30 years ago has the Jewish Diaspora experienced as deadly a year as 2025.
Worldwide, 20 people were killed last year in four antisemitic attacks across three continents — all in “J7” countries, the seven countries with the largest Jewish Diaspora populations — including deadly incidents in Sydney, Australia, and Manchester, England. Eighty-five people were killed in the 1994 AMIA attack in Buenos Aires, which still marks the deadliest terror attack on Jews outside of Israel.
The data comes from the second annual Report on Antisemitism by the J7 — a global alliance formed in July 2023 by major Jewish organizations representing the seven largest diaspora communities outside Israel: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Argentina and Australia.
Tel Aviv University published a study with the same findings in April.
The J7’s 52-page report tracked over 23,000 antisemitic incidents across J7 countries in 2025 — a 136% total increase and a 97% surge in violent acts compared to 2022, prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel.
While the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. plummeted by a third last year, assaults with a deadly weapon spiked, according to a May report by the Anti-Defamation League. The May 2025 killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington marked the first Jews to be killed in antisemitic attacks on U.S. soil since 2019. One month later, a Jewish victim died from her injuries sustained in a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo., at a march in support of the Israeli hostages.
Every J7 country’s antisemitic incidents remain dramatically above pre-Oct. 7 levels. Australia saw the sharpest rise of antisemitic incidents since 2021 (+270%), followed by Germany (+215%), the U.S. (+131%) and France (124%). Anti-Zionism was a key motivation behind a significant share of incidents: 48% in the U.K., 45% in the U.S. and 23% in Germany.
The report also features a new “in focus” section highlighting Ireland, which saw 143 antisemitic incidents — a rate of 65 per 1,000 Jewish people — while the country lacks a national strategy to combat antisemitism and dedicated security funding for religious institutions.
“The J7 Annual Report makes clear that antisemitism is no longer a temporary surge, but a sustained global crisis affecting Jewish communities across all seven countries,” said William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which represents the U.S. along with the ADL in the J7. Daroff called on governments, institutions and technology companies to “act with urgency, enforce the law, strengthen security and ensure that Jews can live openly and safely.”
George Moraitis is running against Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer and businessman Dan Franzese to take on Moskowitz
George Moraitis campaign website
Former Florida state Rep. George Moraitis.
Former Florida state Rep. George Moraitis is hoping that a bipartisan approach and his background in the Statehouse and as a military veteran will make him a formidable candidate to take on Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in South Florida in November.
Moraitis is running in the Republican primary in Florida’s 25th Congressional District against former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, who is Jewish, and businessman Dan Franzese. In the general election, the winner will face Moskowitz — or his socialist primary challenger — in the district redrawn to favor Republicans.
Republicans are also seeking to block a Libertarian candidate from making it onto the ballot in November, fearing that a third-party candidate could strip away some of the GOP vote and hand a victory to Moskowitz.
Moraitis trails Singer and Franceze in fundraising — Singer has raised nearly $2 million to Franzese’s $1.5 million and Moraitis’ $840,000 — but recently picked up the endorsement of the Sun Sentinel, the largest newspaper in the area.
Moraitis told Jewish Insider he spent his “whole life in public service,” serving in the Navy on submarines and as a state representative. He said he wants to work to “restore the American dream,” protect U.S. national security and defend “our God-given freedoms” of worship, speech and assembly, including combating rising antisemitism, as well as what he described as efforts to shut down churches and Christian prayer.
During his time in the Navy, Moraitis was stationed with the 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, a role that included helping to defend allies such as Israel, which was at the time part of the U.S.’ European Command. He never had the opportunity to travel to Israel while in the Navy but said he would plan to do so as a member of Congress.
He said that Israel is an important part of both Jewish and Christian “shared spiritual heritage.”
“I appreciate that the Israeli government has done so much to protect religious minorities, particularly the Christians,” Moraitis said. “In addition to having a Jewish state, they’ve done more than anyone in history has done, frankly, to protect the Christians.”
He said he’s seeing challenges on the left and “to some extent on the right” to Israel’s status as a Jewish state. He argued that many of those opposing Israel’s right to exist fail to understand Israel’s creation in the aftermath of the Holocaust and centuries of antisemitism.
“I am committed to the Jewish people having a homeland in the nation of Israel. I mean, I think there’s a spiritual component to that. We definitely have a national component … our own national security is tied to being strong in the Middle East. Israel has been our strongest ally in the world,” Moraitis said. “I am 100% committed to Israel existing as a Jewish homeland and being a strong and important ally of the United States.”
Moraitis said he also supports continued U.S. military aid to Israel — increasingly a hot-button issue on both sides of the aisle.
He said he was supportive of the administration’s efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, adding that it was an “open question” whether that goal could be accomplished diplomatically.
He acknowledged that polling has shown the American people would not support an expanded war with Iran but said he supports U.S. efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz and impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
“I do want to give peace a chance. We can’t make this about regime change because we really can’t ultimately control that without huge numbers of casualties and a much bigger effort than what we’re putting into it, and I don’t think the American people are prepared for that,” Moraitis continued.
“I do want to see us get to a peace where Iran gives up their nuclear weapons,” he said. “I do feel that we’ve had to do this. I also feel that we need to move this to a place where we do stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, whether or not this regime continues on.”
He warned that the United States will regret if it fails to take the opportunity to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and continuing to spread terrorism around the region, warning that Iran could attack the United States or Israel if it obtained a nuclear bomb.
In a stance that’s becoming increasingly unpopular among Republicans, Moraitis said he still believes that there will ultimately need to be some form of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, while emphasizing that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority are equipped to run a Palestinian state and that such a state would need to be demilitarized and might take decades to bring to fruition.
“Israel has to have the right to defend itself. They can’t give up their security to do it, the way they tried to do it … pulling out of Gaza [in 2005]. Obviously it didn’t work because ultimately the vacuum was created and Hamas stepped into it. And so, I think this next effort would have to be something a lot more supervised,” Moraitis said. “But I do ultimately support a transition to an autonomous state.”
In the long run, he said that resolving the continued conflict would be beneficial for both sides.
Asked about addressing antisemitism at home, Moraitis touted the hearings and other efforts by congressional Republicans over the past four years to address antisemitism on college campuses, which he said should continue. He said that the federal government should leverage federal funding to compel schools to take action on antisemitism.
“I just think we need to take a stronger stand on it,” Moraitis continued, specifically raising concerns about Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, who has campaigned on an openly antisemitic line. “There’s just really no place for that in our party or really even in America.”
He also emphasized the need to call out antisemitism when it appears and to continue to fund security grants for communal institutions.
Moraitis argued that he’d be the best-positioned Republican to win the seat in November given his status as a veteran and his experience in the Statehouse. He also argued that he has a “track record of winning — I’ve never lost an election,” arguing that some of his competitors have underperformed the GOP ticket in the past.
“I do feel like if I get up there, I’m doing this for the right reasons. I want to get things done. I have a record of reaching across the aisle to get things done,” he continued. “There’s a lot of things we can do on a bipartisan basis. I think Washington’s gotten too polarized, and I think some of the candidates, the way they’re running is going to make it difficult to govern with these small majorities that we have.”
And he emphasized that, while he’s not Jewish himself, “there’s really not going to be any daylight between myself and [the Jewish candidates running in the seat] on supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism.”
He also said that the Republican Party is “better positioned to support Israel and fight antisemitism” — a pitch to pro-Israel Jewish voters who have been a strong base of support for Moskowitz in the past.
The state has been the epicenter of the anti-Israel movement, and will play a key role in nominating the next Democratic presidential candidate
Kristen Norman/AP
Michigan U.S. Senate candidates, Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., are displayed on a television during a debate inside the spin room at WoodTV studios on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The selection of Michigan as an early Democratic primary state in the 2028 presidential nominating contest, approved on Friday by a panel of the Democratic National Committee, is prompting some concerns among Jewish and pro-Israel activists who fear the party’s sharp divisions over Israel and its recent controversies over antisemitism could create a volatile political landscape during the key contest.
In recent years, Michigan has been at the center of some of the fiercest fights over Israel animating the Democratic Party. In the 2024 presidential race, for instance, the battleground state first laid the ground for the “uncommitted” movement that urged primary voters not to vote for former President Joe Biden as a protest against his support for Israel during the war in Gaza.
At Michigan’s state party convention in April, meanwhile, pro-Israel candidates were heckled by far-left activists, while an attorney with a history of praising Hezbollah was nominated for a position on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, episodes that left Jewish voters questioning if they belonged in a party they had long called home.
The state’s Democratic Senate primary, set for Aug. 4, has emerged as the latest high-profile proxy battle between the party’s mainstream and far-left factions. The most heated clashes have revolved around Israel and AIPAC, the pro-Israel advocacy group that is now spending millions to help Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a close ally, in a bitter race against Abdul El-Sayed — whose rhetoric targeting Israel and ongoing refusal to recognize its right to exist has alarmed Jewish voters.
Michigan’s presidential primary will now tentatively go fifth among the six states chosen for early primaries, on Feb. 22 — a week after New Mexico and a week before Virginia. South Carolina will kick off the nominating contest on Jan. 22, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire. The newly proposed calendar will need to be ratified by DNC members at a meeting in Austin next month.
If the schedule is officially locked in, Michigan, which has the most delegates of the states chosen, “figures to be one of the first anti-Israel or antisemitic states that has a vote,” Dennis Bernard, a Jewish leader in Michigan who helps advise members of both parties, said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Sunday.
“I do think we will be very much a bellwether state” that “could be the first true test of the Democratic Party and how big their tent is,” added Bernard, the national chair of government relations for the Jewish Federations of North America. “You will potentially see a continuation of that war going on right now.”
Several Jewish leaders in Michigan said the Senate primary outcome would likely help crystallize their expectations about the degree to which Democratic conflict over Israel, and the state’s role in elevating that battle to the forefront, may end up influencing the presidential election.
“Those results will give us a better indication of 2028,” said Michael Horowitz, one such Jewish leader in Michigan, noting the positions espoused by El-Sayed are not a “national trend yet,” despite a recent series of primary wins by anti-Israel Democrats who ran in progressive House districts. “We’ll see how deep this well is. I’m not naive, but I don’t know.”
Still, the Democratic Party and pro-Israel community “have to get together and take control of the narrative again, because they’re winning the narrative,” he told JI, referring to the far left. “We have got our work cut out for us. We’ve lost the narrative.”
“If you talk to major Democratic donors, they’re concerned about Michigan because the moderate wing of the party is disappearing,” Ed Sarpolus, a Democratic pollster in the state, told JI. “Democrats could be worse off in 2028 if they don’t get back to the issues.”
By contrast, Asher Lopatin, a rabbi who serves as director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, cited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Stevens last week as a sign that “may indicate the direction Michigan Democrats are going in for 2028,” which he called “not falling into the anti-Israel obsession trap.”
“I realize it’s a rosy scenario, but I am hopeful,” he told JI.
Political strategists who spoke with JI shared mixed predictions about Michigan’s early place on the 2028 primary calendar. Ed Sarpolus, a Democratic pollster in the state, said it could “exacerbate tensions within the Democratic Party” over Israel, disrupting a fragile effort to show unity ahead of what is expected to be a bruising general election to reclaim the White House.
“If you talk to major Democratic donors, they’re concerned about Michigan because the moderate wing of the party is disappearing,” Sarpolus told JI. “Democrats could be worse off in 2028 if they don’t get back to the issues.”
But Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist in Michigan, said it “is way too early to predict with confidence” how Israel “will play as an issue” in the 2028 Michigan presidential primary, arguing that “a lot will depend on how hard candidates lean into the issue.”
“If the situation in the Middle East deteriorates further,” he explained to JI, “this issue could look very different.”
Some experts have also speculated that Michigan’s position could lead to uncomfortable confrontations for pro-Israel centrists like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat who is frequently cited as a prospective presidential candidate and who has faced antisemitism over his views on the Middle East.
Some Jewish leaders, however, said a pro-Israel win in Michigan could help defang the far left at what may be a key inflection point in the race. If an openly pro-Israel candidate emerged in the state, “I think it would be a surprise as to the traction they got,” since it “would stand out as authentic,” said one prominent pro-Israel activist in Michigan, granted anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive issue.
He was not hopeful that such a candidate would step up. “I don’t see why Michigan is the venue in which someone does a complete paradigm shift” on Israel, he told JI, citing the existing political headwinds. “I think we are kind of a laboratory for the Democratic Party across the nation.”
One pro-Israel strategist in Michigan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that several potential 2028 contenders have already visited the state and have had private meetings with Jewish donors and groups — including Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic operative and former Chicago mayor, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
“A couple others have had meetings with prominent Jews while in Michigan, but I can’t say for sure if the reason for meetings was to lean into the Jewish vote,” the strategist told JI.
While Michigan also went fifth in 2024 after it had lobbied for an early slot, the state promises to play a more consequential role in the next election because it will be a competitive primary, as opposed to the last cycle in which Biden faced no serious opposition before dropping out of the race.
Anti-Israel activists have insisted that former Vice President Kamala Harris lost Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Arab American voters in Dearborn, due to her alignment with Biden’s support for Israel during the war in Gaza.
But many Jewish Democrats in Michigan, who make up a sizable and politically engaged constituency, say the left’s vilification of Israel as well as AIPAC is not only misguided but also a distraction from more urgent concerns that are much more relevant to swing voters who will ultimately decide the election. Some suggested that Michigan’s status in 2028 as an early nominating state could stoke those tensions and overshadow other issues, in a repeat of the last cycle.
“The antisemitic rhetoric that we have observed on the right and the left, the attacks on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, are, sadly, going to be issues that both parties have to address in 2028,” Robert Zimmerman, a longtime DNC member, told JI while assessing the 2028 primary landscape. “Democrats have to do a much better job of standing up to that hateful rhetoric.”
“It means that the real issues facing Michigan will continue to be less important” than the hostility to Israel now energizing the activist left, Hannan Lis, a Democratic fundraiser and Jewish community leader in the state, told JI. “I cannot tell you I’m optimistic. I’m a realist,” he said.
Even as he acknowledged “two years is a long time,” he voiced anxiety that “support for Israel has become a litmus test for a lot of Democratic candidates,” as it has grown increasingly politicized in party primaries.
“The antisemitic rhetoric that we have observed on the right and the left, the attacks on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, are, sadly, going to be issues that both parties have to address in 2028,” Robert Zimmerman, a longtime DNC member, told JI while assessing the 2028 primary landscape. “Democrats have to do a much better job of standing up to that hateful rhetoric.”
Despite reservations about Michigan’s potentially divisive role in the presidential race, some Jewish leaders in the state and beyond said they were still staying positive.
In a statement to JI, Jessica Alexander, chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish caucus and a vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said party activists had “worked hard to make the case for Michigan to be an early primary state, because the state reflects the country’s diverse demographics culturally and geographically.”
“Yes, there is a vocal virtual subset of folks who want to make not the Middle East, but Israel and the U.S.’s engagement in and with it the center” or “soul” of the campaign, she said, “but the reality on the ground is that it’s not the most formidable issue no matter how the press skews it.”
Noah Arbit, a Jewish Michigan state representative who has been outspoken against rising antisemitism in his own party, said that the Democratic Socialists of America and other groups “seem to feel that Israel is a galvanizing wedge issue they can employ to take over the Democratic Party” and for now “seem intent on putting it at the forefront of the primary debate in 2028, regardless of Michigan’s place in the calendar.”
“I’m resigned to the issue being at the forefront of the primary conversation,” he told JI last week, “despite the fact that I would argue Americans have far more pressing concerns about the state of and future of our country than an interminable conflict 5,000 miles away.”
The decision to drop the subpoena was welcomed by the campus Jewish community — which had spoken out against the administration’s initial request
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Exteriors of University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) located in Philadelphia
The Trump administration withdrew its controversial subpoena requesting that the University of Pennsylvania provide lists of Jewish university affiliates and their personal contact information, according to a Thursday court filing.
“With the support of many members of the community who have stood with Penn throughout, the University has been able to protect its employees’ rights and none of the subpoenaed personal contact information was disclosed,” a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had requested, as part of its investigation into antisemitism at Penn, lists of Jewish-related organizations on campus, their membership rosters and contact information for the employees involved, among other information.
The decision to drop the subpoena was welcomed by the campus Jewish community — which had spoken out against the administration’s initial request.
“Over the past year, I have spoken with hundreds of students, faculty, and staff across the University of Pennsylvania regarding this issue,” Rabbi Gabriel Greenberg, executive director of Penn Hillel, told JI. “Every single person expressed objections to the attempt to compel the university to surrender data on Jewish identity and affiliation.
“While many in our community share Penn Hillel’s conviction that campus antisemitism requires urgent, sustained action, demanding ‘lists of Jews’ was a fundamentally incorrect and inappropriate way to address it.”
Rabbi Rick Fox, who leads Meor Penn, told JI, “We are grateful that this resolution protects the privacy and safety of Jewish people on campus.”
At the same time, Fox expressed hope that “this outcome motivates Penn to take every step to ensure that our campus remains free from antisemitism, anti-Israel bigotry and discrimination against students in all forms.”
The decision follows a monthslong legal battle between Penn and the EEOC over the body’s authority to enforce the subpoena issued last July. The EEOC sued Penn in November, saying the subpoena was necessary to obtain contact information for potential victims of antisemitism, but the Ivy League university refused to comply, calling the agency’s methods “extraordinary and unconstitutional.”
In March, Judge Gerald Pappert of Philadelphia’s Federal District Court ordered Penn to comply with the subpoena by May 1, but the school continued to withhold the personal contact information.
The subpoena was highly scrutinized by critics on campus who likened the move to Nazi-era methods of collecting information about Jews. Experts told JI in January that a more typical investigation might involve agency officials interviewing people who issued complaints directly with the agency, then visiting the campus and publicizing their investigation, calling the EEOC’s methods in the Penn case “incredibly unusual, if not completely unprecedented.” In April, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas defended the move, saying, “There is no other way to protect victims of harassment or discrimination unless you collect information about them.”
The court filing did not explain the government’s decision to drop the subpoena. The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment from JI.
The attack comes after Jewish groups warned of heightened risk to New York Jews in the aftermath of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s viral video accusing Israel of war crimes
Sruli Fruchter
Scene of a stabbing attack on Manhattan's Upper West Side on July 23, 2026.
A Jewish man was stabbed on Thursday afternoon on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, along with one other victim, in what was potentially a hate crime, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
“Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive, but according to victim and witness statements, [the suspect] yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ during both attacks,” Tisch wrote on X.
The NYPD press office told Jewish Insider that police responded at 1:31 p.m. to a 911 call near West 84th Street and Central Park West and found a 57-year-old man conscious and alert with a stab wound to the back. Officers then encountered a 50-year-old man two blocks away with a stab wound to the chest, who was also awake and responsive. The other victim was Asian, Tisch said. Medics transported both men in stable condition to a nearby hospital.
The NYPD has arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales in connection with both assaults, Tisch announced, and the NYPD is investigating the incident as a potential hate crime.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the stabbings on X on Thursday evening, saying, “These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city,” but he did not mention antisemitism.
Mamdani added that the NYPD’s initial investigation “suggests that mental health may have been a factor. They are also evaluating these stabbings as potential hate crimes.”
The attack occurred on the Tisha B’Av holiday just outside of The Jewish Center, a Modern Orthodox congregation. New York assemblymember and congressional nominee Micah Lasher, who is Jewish and represents the area, told The Times of Israel that the Jewish victim was wearing a kippah.
The Jewish victim is a member of Congregation Ohab Zedek, another Modern Orthodox synagogue on the Upper West Side, a source familiar with him told JI.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote on X that the attack “appears to be an antisemitic stabbing.”
“While we await additional details to be confirmed, we know that what is happening in our city is abhorrent,” wrote Menin, the first Jewish person to ever serve in her role. “The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, regardless of their faith or identity.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul similarly called the incident “what appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they’re Jewish.”
Jewish groups had warned a day earlier that a video released by Mamdani on Tuesday night railing against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he accused Israel of a litany of war crimes, put Jewish New Yorkers at risk.
A 64-year-old Jewish man was injured in a separate incident in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning when a man shouting antisemitic slurs shoved him to the ground, injuring his back and hip, police said. The NYPD is investigating the attack as a hate crime.
This is a developing story.
U.S. officials slam ‘lunatic’ Francesca Albanese, say next U.N. secretary-general must change course
Jeff Bartos, a U.S. representative to the U.N., said the institution is ‘at a crossroads’ and that the coming turnover in leadership is an opportunity to ‘move in a new direction’
Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., left, and Jeff Bartos, representative to the U.N. for management and reform, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2026.
U.S. representatives to the United Nations slammed Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories who has faced repeated accusations of antisemitism, and said at a hearing on Wednesday that the next U.N. secretary-general will be faced with a choice of whether to turn the page on the institution’s antisemitic and anti-Israel bias.
Jeff Bartos, the U.S. representative to the U.N. for management and reform, said before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the U.N. is “really at a crossroads” — saying it does important humanitarian work but also “employs a lunatic like Francesca Albanese, an absolute lunatic.”
“She puts on that U.N. uniform, and it’s such a disservice to the brave humanitarians who are out in the field risking their lives for total strangers,” Bartos said. “It does such a disservice to the brand of the U.N. It is the greatest self-sabotage, as a businessman, I’ve ever seen in my business career, that the U.N. allows its brand to be soiled and spoiled by this bigot.”
He said that the U.S. wants to see the next secretary-general, after Secretary-General António Guterres steps down in December, take a different approach, and that the U.S. is trying to “guide” the U.N. “in the right direction.”
“The U.N. has a decision to make with a new secretary-general coming in,” Bartos said. “Are they going to continue to tolerate this hatred of America and the West and Jews and Israel? Are they going to move in a new direction? We are not only watching it closely, we have a great team that works on it every day, and rest assured that we are going to hold them accountable.”
Jeff Bartos (@AmbUNReform), the U.S. representative to the U.N. for management and reform, said before a House committee that the U.N. is “really at a crossroads” — saying it does important humanitarian work but also “employs a lunatic like Francesca Albanese, an absolute… pic.twitter.com/Ka6DJSlfp1
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 23, 2026
He said that the U.N. must pick a secretary-general with “leadership, the moral clarity and the courage to tackle this,” calling it an “existential issue for the organization about whether it wants to be a hotbed of hatred for the one Jewish state and for the West, or whether it wants to get back to basics, its core founding mission of international peace and security and humanitarian aid.”
Both Bartos and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz condemned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the U.N. system’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Bartos said that UNRWA has “no future” in Gaza, highlighting recent comments he made at an UNRWA conference urging other countries not to keep putting money into the agency.
“What was different this year … was the acting director of UNRWA actually agreed to a couple of the points we raised,” Bartos said. “I almost fell over in my chair. Are we making progress? Glacially, but we are making progress.”
Waltz said that the U.S. is working with various partners, including the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza technocratic government under the auspices of the Board of Peace, as well as countries like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates to reform anti-Israel and pro-terrorism curricula promulgated by UNRWA in Gaza and to see that governmental institutions take over responsibilities like education.
Bartos described legislation led by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) aimed at dismantling and replacing UNRWA as “terrific” and said that the State Department would support it.
Asked about Turkey’s relationship with Hamas and other activities at odds with U.S. interests, Waltz described Turkey as an ally, if a sometimes “difficult” one, and emphasized that the U.S. is working with the Turkish government to take action against Hamas-supporting charities operating in Turkey.
Waltz also said that the U.S. has stripped taxpayer funding from the U.N. organizations like UNRWA that have been particularly involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel bias, as it works to try to repair and reform them.
Waltz indicated that, in spite of the collapse of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, U.S. technical negotiators remain engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. He noted that the regime is still trying to reconstitute its nuclear program and maintains its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.
Waltz also said that the U.S. and other parties are still negotiating what will replace the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which is set to shut down. Some partners and the U.N. have urged replacing it with a similar body, in spite of UNIFIL’s longstanding failures.
Pushing back on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Waltz said during the hearing that Mamdani does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — as Mamdani acknowledged this week.
He questioned why Mamdani has not threatened action against malign actors like officials from Iran or North Korea and condemned efforts by a Mamdani administration official to meet with Iranian government representatives.
“On the eve of Tisha B’Av, it’s fundamentally offensive that the mayor is spending any of his time on this issue,” Bartos added.
Chan's opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, has been harassed by far-left activists shouting antisemitic slurs at him
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Connie Chan debates Saikat Chakrabarti and Scott Wiener for California's 11th Congressional District at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco on March 31, 2026.
Connie Chan, a progressive member of the San Francisco board of supervisors running to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), claimed an endorsement on Tuesday from Track AIPAC, a virulently anti-Israel group that has faced accusations of spreading antisemitism.
In a statement posted to social media, Track AIPAC said Chan had completed its candidate questionnaire “affirming that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people and that Congress must end U.S. complicity in it and hold those responsible to account.”
Additionally, the group said, Chan vowed to back “a total arms embargo on Israel,” reject “support from AIPAC and the rest of the Israel lobby” and push for the pro-Israel group to register as a foreign agent — a spurious claim that has drawn scrutiny as a cover for invoking antisemitic tropes concerning dual loyalty.
While Chan had already expressed her alignment with several of the commitments she made in the questionnaire, Track AIPAC had apparently been skeptical of her candidacy until relatively recently.
Chan is also supported by a number of Democrats who have been endorsed by AIPAC, including Pelosi, the former House speaker, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), among others in California and beyond.
Representatives for Pelosi and Schiff did not return requests for comment about Chan’s friendly rapport with the anti-Israel group, which has drawn criticism for backing extreme candidates, demonizing Zionism and using flawed methodology to distinguish among differing Israel advocacy groups such as J Street and Democratic Majority for Israel.
Both Pelosi and Schiff have been targeted by Track AIPAC for contributions from pro-Israel sources.
The new endorsement, however, comes amid recent tensions between Pelosi and AIPAC, whose political action committee last week chose to remove language from its online endorsement portal that had thanked the veteran congresswoman for her “ongoing support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” after she voted along with more than 100 House Democrats to end U.S. aid to the Jewish state.
In the top-two primary election last month, Track AIPAC had backed Chan’s far-left opponent, Saikat Chakrabarti, who came in a distant third place. He has since endorsed Chan, who came in second with 30% of the vote — trailing state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Jewish Democrat, by 11 points.
Like Chan, Wiener has said he supports the Block the Bombs Act, which would impose sweeping conditions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, but carves out an exception for U.S. assistance to help fortify Israel’s defensive systems.
Even as Wiener has also echoed Chan in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza in an effort to placate the far left in California’s deeply progressive 11th Congressional District, he has continued to face harrassment from anti-Israel activists. Most recently, the veteran lawmaker was chased from a trans rights march in San Francisco by protesters who called him “terrible on Gaza” and said he had “Zionist handlers,” in an incident that drew national media attention.
While Chan broadly condemned the episode, which was captured on video, her statement made no direct mention of Wiener and she did not join local political leaders in signing a community letter denouncing the harassment.
In its statement, Track AIPAC argued that Wiener’s positions on Israel “have been continuously unclear, and where he has taken a stance, he has stopped well short of what accountability requires.” The group also stated that Wiener “has not taken” the opportunity to respond to its candidate questionnaire.
Wiener did not return a request for comment.
Chan’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the endorsement from Track AIPAC, which operates a political arm called Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption.
“In Congress, we will oppose any aid to Israel and do everything in our power to stop their government’s genocidal actions against the Palestinian people,” Chan said in a statement to The Intercept. “We are proud to stand with groups like End Citizens United and Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption to fight to fix our democracy.”
‘I've become used to the right-wing, nationalist, nativist, antisemitic tone, but I'm really shocked about what I'm seeing from the far left — the DSA wing, that is deeply troubling, Vindman said
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman speaks during a campaign event at the Broward County Democratic Clubs and Caucuses on February 09, 2026 in Sunrise, Florida.
Alexander Vindman, a former Army officer who became nationally known as a National Security Council whistleblower during the first Trump administration and is now running for Senate in Florida as a Democrat, called out rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on the left in a Zoom meeting with the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus on Tuesday.
Vindman, who is Jewish and who fled the Soviet Union as a child, said he felt protected from antisemitism during his career in the military in the occasional times he experienced it, but faced a wave of antisemitic hatred from the right when he became a whistleblower during the first Trump administration.
He said that he had experienced a significant rise in antisemitic harassment when he declared his Senate campaign, in large part from the left.
“I’ve become used to the right-wing, nationalist, nativist, antisemitic tone, but I’m really shocked about what I’m seeing from the far left — the DSA wing, that is deeply troubling,” Vindman said. “It is not simply criticism of Israel but a conflation of Israel and Judaism, and a rise of antisemitism within what should be a portion of our own big tent.”
He said that leaders have not done enough to address the issue or hold the perpetrators accountable, on all sides of the political spectrum.
“When we fail to do that, we breed impunity and we encourage that kind of behavior,” Vindman said.
He said that challenging antisemitism is a personal issue for him, including protecting his own daughter — whom he said has felt the need to hide her Star of David necklace.
“That is not the world that I grew up in,” Vindmans said. “That is not the world that my daughter should be living in, and that is absolutely something I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that she feels comfortable living her Jewish American life.”
The Senate candidate, whose twin brother, Eugene, represents a Virginia district in the House, also said he believes that Israel has a right to exist, and that as a Jewish refugee from the FSU he feels personally close to the Jewish state. He’s faced attacks on the campaign trail for refusing to describe the war in Gaza as a genocide.
“I’m pretty deeply disturbed by the trend lines that we’re hearing on both sides of the political spectrum, but frankly, to be fair, from the far left that takes up a cry for Palestine, not a two-state solution, which I’m very much in favor of,” Vindman said. “A path that advocates for Palestine and that completely dismisses a safe homeland for the Jewish people … that’s the part that’s deeply troubling to me.”
Vindman, citing his military, intelligence and diplomatic background, said that he would seek a position on the Senate Foreign Relations, Intelligence or Armed Services Committees if he’s elected.
In one of the bluest states in the country, Jewish Democrats feel increasingly estranged from a party they helped build — but the answer, they say, is to lean in
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Seattle Skyline with the Space Needle and Mount Rainier, Washington
SEATTLE — David Kaplan has been attending Washington state Democratic conventions since he was 6 years old.
He was brought to his first convention in 1960 by his mother, who was, as Kaplan put it, a “Warren Magnuson Democrat,” while his father was a “Henry Jackson Democrat.” The two legendary former Washington senators who served from roughly the 1940s to the ‘80s differed on several issues, including Cold War and defense policy, “but one common denominator has always been support for Israel,” Kaplan said.
Six decades later, that consensus feels to him like a relic of a bygone era.
The past few years of rising tensions in the Democratic Party over Israel and antisemitism have been marked for many Jewish Democrats in Washington — one of the country’s bluest states, which has a Jewish population of about 90,000 — by disappointment, anger and a growing sense of isolation within a party they have spent decades supporting.
But the answer, they say, is not to walk away; rather, it’s to try to reclaim influence from within.
That effort begins with rebuilding the party’s own Jewish infrastructure. The Washington State Democratic Party’s Jewish caucus has gone “by the wayside, because it takes a lot of organizing and energy to keep it up,” said Linda Clifton, a longtime member of the caucus.
“It’s all volunteer [work], and people had other jobs and other things they had to pay attention to. I think we need to revive it, and there’s been some effort to do that … but I think people are so disheartened that that becomes very difficult,” she continued.
At the state party’s June convention, delegates adopted a resolution condemning “genocide and apartheid in Palestine” and calling for an arms embargo on Israel. They also adopted a plank in their party platform calling out a “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism in recent years on all sides of the political spectrum” while claiming it has risen “due in part to actions taken by the Israeli government.”
And in its foreign policy section, dedicated overwhelmingly to Israel and Palestinian issues, the platform states that the party “reject[s] racist political ideologies rooted in supremacy, including forms of Zionism,” and calls for an end to the “mass civilian casualties, destruction, displacement and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and [the] West Bank,” among other stances critical of Israel.
“My only issue with the platform, honestly, was that it singles one country out and that, to me, crosses the line,” said Kaplan, a founding member of the party’s Jewish caucus. “But I can tell you that I was not one of the volunteers for the platform committee, so I can’t point fingers.”
Kaplan’s deep engagement in the party has provided him a front row seat to its shift over time. These days, “I have my local Democrats piling on,” he said, referencing his representative in Congress, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “On many levels, I admire her courage and her principles. But I get her emails where AIPAC becomes the straw man for everything that’s evil.”
Kaplan is no apologist for AIPAC, though he once served on its regional board, nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — “I actually think he’s evil,” he said — but “in a world that contains all sorts of bad sh*t, why [Israel] is singled out … It transcends policy differences. It becomes less-than-subtle antisemitism, and I’m struggling with it mightily as a Democrat.”
“I’ve been as active as you can be in Washington Democratic politics. I never before had to worry about whether my local [representatives] harbored antisemitic beliefs or had them use AIPAC as a straw man,” he said.
Clifton, too, is dismayed by the rising hostility in a party that she’s been engaged in for decades. She said she sees it most clearly in her home 43rd Legislative District, which is based in some of the most progressive neighborhoods of Seattle, including the University of Washington campus.
“The [Democratic Socialists of America] has really organized here, and one of the main impetuses for that organization was [former] Councilwoman Kshama Sawant,” Clifton said. Sawant, a far-left socialist who promoted several anti-Israel measures during her tenure on the Seattle City Council, is now running as a long-shot independent candidate against Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA).
“She’s been very effective in building a constituency within the 43rd that is pretty young and pretty hostile to the interests of the Jewish community,” Clifton said of Sawant, “so it’s been much, much more difficult to remain an active member of the 43rd. It just hurts.”
Where she used to regularly attend the organizing meetings for the 43rd District Democrats, “I just got really tired of being the only vote on one side of an issue on a Zoom call. So I’ve really pulled back,” she said.
The Washington State Democratic Party begins at the most local level with precinct committee officers (PCOs), who are elected every two years — oftentimes uncontested — to represent a voting precinct. Democratic PCOs are officers of their party and vote on a wide range of party business, including endorsements, resolutions, local party leadership and convention delegates.
About organizing efforts at the state party convention, another longtime activist said the state’s Jewish Democrats “are not in the room, or not noticeably so as Jews,” instead focusing their advocacy on other policy priorities like education, healthcare and housing. “As Jews and as an organized Jewish community, we need to decide if the party platform matters, and if so, we need to be involved in the grassroots of the Democratic Party.”
“It doesn’t take many people, but it does take some,” the activist added. They emphasized the ease with which people can run for and be elected as a PCO. “If 100 Jews signed up as PCOs, that would change the party over the next two years and the next decade,” they said.
Kaplan had similar advice for his fellow Jewish activists: “In terms of getting involved, I recommend people become PCOs. It’s actually a relatively easy gig. Just join. Just show up!”
As far as the Jewish caucus goes, he said, “I wish we could be more proactive, you know, as a formally recognized constituency caucus within the Washington State Democratic Party.”
The Jewish caucus activists spoke highly of the state Democratic Party chair, Shasti Conrad, praising her outreach efforts. “She is doing the best she can to thread this needle and have differing opinions come together under a bigger tent to hash things out,” Kaplan said.
Conrad told JI in an interview, “I have always strived to try to build a party that is as inclusive as it can be, and it’s been really important to me, particularly as our first woman of color chair, that we build a party that does feel like it has people from diverse backgrounds who are able to be their full selves in the party.”
“Especially since Oct. 7, 2023, that really has focused largely on the Jewish community, alongside the Muslim community and Palestinians as well. We have really tried to sort of hold space for people that have been impacted on all sides of the conflict,” she continued.
Since she became chair in 2023, Conrad said she realized that the state party structure, which is broken into 49 legislative districts, “may have made it a little bit more challenging for particular communities” to organize and promote their priorities “because they get sort of split across geographic lines.” To help alleviate these issues, the party will look to “make sure that we are including the constituency caucuses in the drafting of the platform” for the 2028 convention.
Conrad said antisemitism is “something that I want to disavow as loudly and clearly as possible.”
“There is no room for antisemitism in our party. We have been trying to fight against it as it has really become a sort of central organizing point, I believe, for the Republican Party.”
Conrad said that at the Democratic National Committee, where she also currently serves as one of five vice chairs, she was one of the first officers to co-sponsor the creation of a DNC Jewish caucus. “I’ve done a lot of organizing alongside our Jewish caucus, and I’ve learned a lot and grown, and it’s been one of the most important parts of my learning.”
Asked about the state party’s inclusion of foreign policy in its platform, Conrad said the party is “responsive to what our delegates feel strongly about,” emphasizing that the platform is drafted before every convention by the relevant committees made of local activists and voted on by delegates. “I don’t feel like many international leaders are looking to see, you know, ‘What do the Washington state Democrats think about X, Y and Z?’ I don’t think that’s often the case, but I do think that we hear from our delegates and from our grassroots members that these are issues that are very important to them.”
Outside the party structure, some Jewish community members have turned to electoral politics to advance their priorities. Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, a PAC formed in 2024, calls itself the “political action arm of the Jewish community and its allies in Washington state.”
“The Jewish community in Washington state is under attack,” said Nevet Basker, one of the PAC’s co-chairs. “It’s under attack from many, many places, including by people who are hostile to Israel, but they take it out on the Jews here,” she said, referencing the November 2023 vandalism of Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation on Mercer Island, an area that serves as a hub of Jewish life in the state.
She also raised the forthcoming 20th anniversary on July 28 of the deadly shooting at the Seattle Jewish Federation — an event that still weighs heavily on the area’s Jewish community — which was carried out by a man who reportedly shouted during the attack, “I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel.”
In order to receive WBF’s endorsement, candidates must “make a public statement supporting the Jewish community and opposing antisemitism … We have a lot of friends who are shy, who will say, ‘Oh yes, I heard about the attack in Colorado, and I called the rabbi to express my support.’ And we say, ‘That’s lovely of you. Thank you for calling the rabbi. Will you put out a public statement?’ And they will say, ‘No, that’s not my lane.’”
Basker’s message to these candidates? “We’re not interested in being the person that you are secretly dating, but won’t introduce to your friends.”
Sam Jefferies, chair of The Kids Table, a PAC created in 2025 to support “pro-Jewish” candidates in the state, told JI, “Jews helped build the Democratic Party and contributed to political and policy victories at every level of government for more than a century. At this moment of crisis, the party should be standing firmly and unequivocally with Jews across Washington state and rejecting extremism at every turn. It isn’t.”
For all their efforts to organize, reclaiming a place in the party is not simply a matter of Jewish Democrats showing up. It requires them to navigate a political environment where they often feel both committed to the process and isolated within it. Kaplan recalled the 2024 state party convention, where he said the Jewish caucus was “not prepared.”
“As we walked in, we were given pieces of paper or leaflets from, you know, white college kids in keffiyehs, and there were three resolutions” targeting Israel. As the discussion around the resolutions began, “I came to the realization, quite honestly, that half the people that I would work with and have known for years, even Jewish ones — I wouldn’t trust them to know where Anne Frank lived.”
Taking matters into his own hands, Kaplan stood to speak against one resolution calling on the Democratic Party to support restoring funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — funding which the Biden administration had paused earlier that year due to findings that some UNRWA employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I remember it’s the first time I’ve ever been afraid to speak, so I was really nervous,” Kaplan said. “I remember not getting the reaction that I would have expected to get, not being heard, and it was very painful at that moment. I vowed I was never coming back.”
The resolution passed, but Kaplan went back for this year’s convention anyway. “I still believe the Democratic Party is the best place to be,” he said.
Joel Rubin: Sanders has endorsed ‘the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we've seen in a generation, if ever’
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to guests during the first stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, Midwest swing, at the RiverCenter on August 22, 2025 in Davenport, Iowa.
ASPEN, Colo. — Joel Rubin, a former State Department official who led Jewish outreach for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, is now excoriating his former boss and the movement he has built for elevating stridently anti-Israel candidates — most notably former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.
The anti-Israel and antisemitic wave that’s taken hold on the left as a result of the efforts of Sanders and his allies, Rubin said, is bad for the Jewish community and politically unwise for the Democratic Party and for the U.S.’ own strategic interests.
“I think what Sanders and the Sanders operation have done is shove into our system the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we’ve seen in a generation — if ever, certainly within the Democratic Party — and it’s by design,” Rubin said in an interview with Jewish Insider last week on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum. “It’s not by accident, and it’s very disruptive intentionally. The goal is to undermine Democratic unity and even rationality on Israel at this stage.”
He said that Sanders and his allies have directed anger and frustration toward Israel into a “highly unproductive debate about whether or not Israel should exist and whether or not we should support it or have any relationship” — rather than a “constructive” discussion of how the U.S. can work to resolve issues with a longtime ally and partner that plays an important role in American national security.
Sanders, Rubin said, has become an “outright hostile actor.”
Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.
Rubin has been particularly critical of Sanders and progressive strategists for the “creation” and promotion of Platner, whom Rubin called a manufactured “fake test tube [candidate]” out of “central casting for the left.”
He said that he’s angry with Sanders, as well as other Platner backers including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), for continuing to promote Platner even through a litany of controversies, starting with his Nazi tattoo.
Khanna declined to comment.
Rubin said Sanders and his allies, and the candidates they have promoted, have taken a similar approach in campaigns around the country, counting on a backlash toward Israel and the pro-Israel Jewish community to launch them into office.
“I’m extremely disappointed. I feel like it violates the goals of promoting peace in the Middle East and the two-state solution, and I believe that it exacerbates the pain and distress that the American Jewish community is experiencing right now in Israel policy,” Rubin said. “I had higher hopes for a senator who is Jewish, and his team who knows very well what’s out there.”
He said that the American left is now following the model of former Labour party leader in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn — who faced a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission finding of antisemitism within the party under his leadership — and the movement is “no longer progressive — it’s something much darker.”
“It’s a hate-based narrative they’re promoting,” Rubin said. He said that Sanders and others on the left are on a mission to break the Democratic Party’s ties to the Jewish state and the U.S.-Israel relationship, with no argument for how that would produce a positive outcome.
When he worked for Sanders’ 2020 campaign, Rubin said that he was “given latitude to communicate messages about him and his views on Israel and peace and antisemitism that were positive,” with a focus on solving issues and creating solutions, while disassociating from “the most hateful voices.”
“That’s no longer the case. I don’t know what’s going on inside that operation. There is no line. There is no bottom. There is no low,” Rubin said. “And what it’s doing now is gutting American Jewish confidence in the Democratic Party, which is not a way to win elections, and it’s unethical as well, considering American Jews have been a bedrock community supporting the Democratic Party.”
He said the party should be pushing for policies that move toward peace, which is “not what these people are advocating for.” He said that the effort is also playing into the hands of conservatives, allowing them to frame themselves as the only ones taking action against antisemitism.
“We need leadership, and the progressive community needs to stop scapegoating Jews for all problems in the world,” Rubin said.
Progressives like congressional candidates Scott Wiener in California and Brad Lander in New York as well as Khanna are “desperately afraid of saying anything somewhat rational about Jews and Israel for fear of being attacked” — but are facing attacks anyway, discovering that it’s impossible to satisfy far-left voices while they are pushed to take ever more extreme positions.
Rubin argued that policymakers and advocacy groups like J Street, for which he was the founding political director, have a responsibility to lead and to set boundaries of what is and is not acceptable discourse on Israel, to stand up to the extremes and to strongly reject antisemitism. “Right now, nobody’s stepping up,” Rubin said.
J Street did not respond to a request for comment.
Rubin said that President Barack Obama, under whom he served, understood the importance of continuing the U.S.-Israel relationship and of treating pro-Israel American Jews as patriotic and leaders within the Democratic Party, even as he supported policies like diplomacy with Iran. He said that level of nuance and respect has vanished.
Rubin has never been aligned with AIPAC, and was critical of its strategies in this year’s primaries, but said that the left is targeting American Jews and supporters of Israel writ large through attacks on AIPAC — a phenomenon he has personally experienced. He compared it to the targeting and marginalization of Jews in a variety of professional sectors over the past three years.
“Any person who’s Jewish who expresses any level of support [for Israel], no matter where on the spectrum, is now a Jewish person who needs to be targeted for harassment, and is described as an AIPAC [supporter] trying to insidiously control the American political system for a foreign power,” Rubin said.
“The American Jewish community doesn’t deserve this,” Rubin continued. “The Jewish American community on the Democratic side has been a foundational funder, organizer, elected leader, organizational leader, powerful leading voice of infrastructure in the liberal openness of American life in the last 50, 60 years, and now we’re getting beaten up as if we were the opponent. It’s totally offensive and it’s politically dangerous for the Democratic Party to do that as well.”
Speaking to JI as the House was voting on an amendment to cut $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel, Rubin warned of the “moral hazard” of the vote, arguing that many Democrats in safe blue seats would vote in favor of the amendment for political signaling purposes — “pandering to the base” that is “very much moving into a hostile position” — knowing that the amendment was going to fail.
Rubin predicted, correctly, that moderate Democrats in purple districts, “the majority-makers,” would take a more nuanced view focused on the impacts of the policy and oppose the amendment.
He praised House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for opposing the amendment, but said that the Democratic Party is now in the midst of an “existential fight” over Israel as a result of Sanders and progressive activists making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “top-level issue” for the party and the left.
Rubin — who lives in Maryland — was also strongly critical of Van Hollen, saying the senator had “turned his back on the Maryland Jewish community,” despite its strong support for him in the past, particularly in his 2016 Senate race.
“The Jews of Montgomery County — our lane, our world, East Kensington — were his foundation of political and financial support,” Rubin said. “I can’t find a person who isn’t upset about what he’s done to turn his back on us.”
A Van Hollen spokesperson said in a statement, “Our office has heard from constituents from the Jewish community of Maryland who hold a wide array of views – including many that share the Senator’s concerns about the actions of the Netanyahu government. The Senator appreciates the diversity of opinions his constituents hold on these and other issues and will always respect and support their right to express their views and have a dialogue.”
Looking ahead to the 2028 election, Rubin said he’s seeing a shift in the Democratic Party. While candidates used to travel to Israel to show their support for Israel and the Jewish community, he said that candidates are going to Israel for “stunts” and for the purpose of “castigating the Israelis to curry favor with the base,” referring to recent visits by Khanna and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and predicted that other candidates would take a similar approach.
But he warned that this pandering to the Democratic base won’t win Democrats the presidency.
“If we have a candidate that only talks to the base of the party, we are not going to win the middle ground states in the upper Midwest,” Rubin said, arguing that a candidate like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has been criticized by the left for his support for Israel and Jewish identity, is far better positioned to win the White House.
Rubin also said that the U.S. should and must maintain its relationship with Israel going forward, calling it “our best ally in the Middle East” on a range of issues including fighting shared enemies, intelligence sharing and joint development of weapons systems — in addition to a range of economic and non-military benefits that are often overlooked.
He said that Democrats can be leaders in highlighting the non-military benefits of the relationship, from climate technology to a potential trade corridor through the Middle East and broader regional normalization and integration efforts.
He said that a Democratic president should harness those opportunities and move toward a similar relationship that the U.S. has with other allies like France or Japan, “a rich, diverse, legislatively supported, strong relationship that does include military-to-military cooperation, coordination and sales, but that is not the the whole relationship.”
But Rubin said that the left and the Democratic base don’t seem to have the appetite for any of that, and “that’s bad for the United States.”
The statement came after the New York congressman voted to cut off all U.S. aid to Israel
Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) visits the Purple Heart Museum during a campaign event on November 2, 2022 in New Windsor, New York.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) said that he no longer wants AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” the group’s PAC had sent his campaign, following his vote on Wednesday, along with 102 other Democrats, to cut off all aid to Israel. The New York Democrat also said he would refund individual donors who had previously supported his campaign if they made the request.
“I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support,” he wrote in a social media post explaining his vote, saying he would no longer back $3.3 billion in annual military aid to “a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime.”
In a separate post responding to a question from AIPAC Tracker, an extremist account accused of fomenting antisemitism, Ryan confirmed he did not want AIPAC’s endorsement and would be “returning the funds” sent to his campaign.
A spokesperson for Ryan clarified that Ryan is returning AIPAC’s “PAC funds.” Ryan added, “I am grateful for any individual donor who has supported my campaign. My position is clear and if an individual requests a refund, I will happily provide it.”
Ryan, a mainstream Democrat who holds a swing seat in New York’s Hudson Valley home to a sizable Jewish voting constituency, has cultivated a profile as a moderate economic populist. At the same time, he has been building ties to a growing range of leading left-wing Israel detractors such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and congressional nominee Brad Lander, who last month defeated a pro-Israel House Democrat in a district spanning Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
Ryan’s about-face, and his broader recent evolution on Middle East policy, illustrates the extent to which even moderate Democrats are now spurning Israel as well as AIPAC amid a marked shift in voter sentiment against the Jewish state in the wake of the Gaza war. It also demonstrates the rising popularity of the far-left flank of the Democratic Party scoring several notable victories in a string of congressional primaries this election cycle.
Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, said on Thursday it was “unfortunate” that “Ryan has turned his disagreement with this Israeli government into an attack on American citizens, vilifying their beliefs and participation in our democracy.”
“We trust he’ll uphold his word and immediately refund all the support he has received from many individual AIPAC members since he first ran for Congress,” she told Jewish Insider in a statement.
In a statement to JI, Ryan said his vote “does not represent an abandonment of the state of Israel or the Jewish people. It does not deny the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization. It does not neglect the profound grief of Oct. 7, nor the devastation in the years that followed.”
“What this vote does represent is a reset,” he continued. “An opportunity to step back and rebuild towards a better future for Israelis, Palestinians and the Middle East and to send a message to Netanyahu’s government that the status quo is unacceptable. I stand ready to work with an allied Israeli government that recommits itself to democratic values and meaningful progress toward a two-state solution.”
Ryan was still listed as an AIPAC endorsee on the group’s online political portal as of Thursday night, but the option to donate to his campaign had been deactivated.
Robert Kraft’s antisemitism awareness group found 30% of the public now holds antisemitic attitudes — the highest level since it began tracking in 2023
Beth Israel Congregation
Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., targeted in an arson attack on Jan. 10, 2026.
Most Americans say they are concerned about antisemitism in the country, yet more than half are unaware of recent major attacks targeting Jews, such as last December’s Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Australia, a new survey from Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate found.
Underscoring this lack of awareness, the number of Americans who identify as allies of the Jewish community continued to shrink, according to the anti-hate group’s semiannual survey on U.S. antisemitism.
The report, drawn from a survey of more than 7,000 online respondents from March 4 to April 3, is titled “Worse Than Before: Antisemitic Attitudes Reach New Levels Across the U.S.,” and indicates that responses to antisemitism among the American public are less forceful than they were in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
After the Hamas attacks and the onset of the ensuing Gaza war, antisemitic attitudes surged in the U.S., peaking in mid-2024, the Blue Square Alliance found. These numbers have again worsened since August 2025, with negative stereotypes about Jewish people growing most sharply among younger Americans, according to the survey. Additionally, the survey found an uptick in the share of Americans who say they don’t consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic.
Further, the survey reveals a decline in the public’s desire to combat antisemitism. A plurality of Americans (47%) are now considered “unengaged” in combating anti-Jewish hate, and the share of those characterized as “active allies” has fallen to 23%, down from 30% in August 2025.
According to the group’s typology categorizing Americans according to whether they believe in anti-Jewish tropes, 30% of the population now holds antisemitic attitudes — the highest level recorded by the nonprofit since it began tracking in 2023 and a noticeable increase from 24% in August 2025.
While most Americans say antisemitism is a serious problem, they are often blind to its proximity. The survey found a sharp disconnect — 61% said they would be highly concerned if a Jewish individual or business in their community were harassed, yet only 23% view it as a clear and present threat.
A 53% majority of Americans were unfamiliar with the December 2025 attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration, and 66% were unaware of the arson of the largest synagogue in Jackson, Miss., in January.
Fifty-five percent of Americans now believe Jewish people can handle antisemitism on their own — up 15 percentage points from June 2023. Gen Z and millennials are more than twice as likely as baby boomers (29% versus 13%) to view Jewish people as a threat to the unity of society.
Meanwhile, nearly one-third (32%) of Americans do not consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic, up 13 percentage points since June 2023.
The Blue Square Alliance renamed itself from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism last year, an effort designed to awaken the broader public to anti-Jewish hate. The group’s new name is a reference to its blue square pins that have been distributed to interfaith communities nationwide and posted online as a symbol in the fight against antisemitism.
Adam Katz, the group’s president, told Jewish Insider that the Blue Square Alliance’s ongoing campaigns, including its rebrand, are succeeding in making Americans more aware of antisemitism than they would be otherwise.
“We’ve seen a significant lift in awareness of our brand [and] recognition of our brand [as people] wear or share the blue square and tend to be familiar with the work we’re doing,” said Katz.
Responding to the survey results, Katz said he doesn’t think the solution is “a massive change in our programming, I think it’s continuing to push our programming as fast and as hard as we can.”
He said the group’s Super Bowl ad earlier this year that raised awareness of antisemitic bullying resulted in “nearly half of viewers [taking] action based on seeing the ad, they talked about hate and antisemitism with friends and family, they got more educated on it.”
“That tells us that the messaging works. We need to make sure that we are distributing it as targeted and precisely as we can,” said Katz.
Still, he asserted that getting Americans consistently engaged in antisemitism remains “a real challenge.”
“It’s a function of an extremely fragmented media landscape where everyone is consuming information from different sources and getting personalized feeds, so you have to work that much harder for things like antisemitism to feel proximate,” Katz said. “That’s why we see an almost dichotomous trend — a significant increase in people recognizing antisemitism as a major problem, and simultaneously a significant increase in people saying Jews can handle it on their own. They see it as something that is growing but not something close to them on their street, in their neighborhood. Therefore, they can allow themselves to be on the sidelines.”
Addressing the data that shows antisemitism is significantly higher among Gen Z and millennials compared to older generations, Katz said his organization “needs to focus there.”
“We need even more intense focus on young Americans and making sure we are really meeting them where they are as media consumption evolves.”
The VP warned of a ‘very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign’ by Israeli actors who want to see the war extended ‘not towards any objective, but just indefinitely’
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U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center on April 14, 2026 in Athens, Georgia.
Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan on Wednesday that he is worried American politicians are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns.”
In the three-hour interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance warned of a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” to derail negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
“What does bother me is when those operations, those influence campaigns, actually affect American political judgment, because they shouldn’t. Because we should be thinking, What is in the best interest of the United States of America?”
Vice President JD Vance told Joe Rogan he is worried American politicians are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns" and warned of a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” to derail negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 15, 2026
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The interview comes after a series of recent statements in which Vance has criticized Israel’s handling of the Iran war. Last month, he issued a rebuke to Israeli leaders critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to negotiate with Iran, urging them against “attacking the only powerful ally” they have left.
“[Israel is] a country of 9 million people. We have 330 million people. And so, of course, they’re going to try to persuade Americans. They’re going to try to move Americans in one direction or another,” Vance told Rogan. He noted that Israel’s efforts to influence American foreign policy are not themselves suspect — “a lot of other countries do [it],” Vance said — but, rather, that American officials will act in ways that do not serve the American public as a result of Israel’s urging.
Vance compared these alleged Israeli efforts to influence campaigns by Qatar and Russia. “It doesn’t bother me that Qatar tries to influence the United States …. I like a lot of the Qataris, just like I like a lot of the Israelis …. It frankly doesn’t even bother me that Russia or some of these other countries do it. It’s just the nature of being a political leader in 2026,” he said.
He also claimed such Israeli influence campaigns are supportive of war for its own sake: “There are some people within their system we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely,” he said.
In the interview, Vance described an ongoing “massive pro-Israel, anti-Israel debate in the United States of America,” and painted himself as the “reasonable moderate” in that conversation. For that reason, Vance said, he has “been accused of being an antisemite.”
“I guess some people say that I’ve insulted the Jewish religion, which is insane. Like, I have a ton of respect for the Jewish religion,” said Vance. But even as he defended himself against charges of antisemitism, he suggested that his accusers need to acknowledge that American political support for Israel is receding.
“I’ve never heard a good, compelling argument for why I’m an antisemite, even though I’ve been accused of being an antisemite by many people. But what I say to these guys is, look at public opinion, look at the way young Republicans versus Republicans over the age of 65 approach this issue,” said Vance. “Right now, Israel is losing the public opinion battle in the United States of America. It is a simple and obvious fact. Donald Trump has said that publicly.”
What he supports instead is a reevaluation of the U.S.-Israel relationship, he said.
“Israel is an ally like France or like the United Kingdom. We’re going to have disagreements with them. We’re going to have agreements with them,” said Vance. “So my approach to this is to say, you know what? When we’re partnered, great, let’s work together. When we’re not, let’s just be honest about it. And for that, people attack me for being an antisemite or anti-Israel, and they don’t see the writing on the wall, that I’m actually just the guy advocating for a normal relationship with a normal country that’s based around shared interests, as opposed to based around something else.”
It’s a position that sounds similar to recent policy positions adopted by J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group. J Street said in April, when it announced that the U.S. should no longer support any foreign military aid to Israel, that the country should be treated as a “normal ally — not an exception that receives unquestioning, blank check support from the United States.”
Later in the interview, in a lengthy discussion about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Vance agreed with Rogan’s comments that some have claimed that Epstein may have been connected to the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.
“He clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence,” said Vance.
Top contributors to Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback are also bankrolling Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Abdul El-Sayed and Andre Carson
Campaign website
James Fishback
James Fishback, the GOP candidate for Florida governor whom critics call “openly racist” and “openly antisemitic,” ostensibly sits at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the likes of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
But the far-right and far-left politicians share more than just an aversion to Israel — they also overlap in donors, Jewish Insider has found.
As a candidate, Fishback has embraced and celebrated neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes’ “groyper” movement, propagated the “white genocide” and “great replacement” conspiracy theories, told a Black Floridian they should be lynched and repeatedly taunted Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) — his rival to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis — over his race. The radical right candidate has also called the Western Wall “stupid,” referred to fast food as “goyslop,” promised Tucker Carlson he would dump the Sunshine State’s holdings in Israeli bonds, blamed the Iran war on AIPAC and released an ad vowing that no one would be “convicted of antisemitism” for criticizing the Jewish state under his leadership.
But his campaign has proven a magnet for donors to progressive candidates, who have poured tens of thousands of dollars into a PAC supporting his election.
Among the 27 donors to give the maximum $3,000 contribution to Fishback’s bid for Tallahassee is New York-based philanthropist and financier Amed Khan. A longtime associate of the Clinton family and contributor to former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as to the Democratic National Committee, Khan’s public commentary and political giving has pivoted leftward since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
Besides maxing out to Fishback, this cycle the investment banker and Quincy Institute board member has kicked $7,000 to former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, the progressive Democrat whose tirades against “oligarchs” and “the establishment” — not to mention his rhetoric on Israel — made him a favorite of the online left before a rape allegation derailed his campaign. In March, Khan donated the maximum $5,000 to Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC, an arm of the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, a dark money nonprofit dedicated to advancing pro-Palestinian narratives and candidates.
And just weeks before contributing to the Republican Fishback in February, Khan gave $3,500 to Gaza flotilla activist Greg Stoker, who is running against Rep. John Carter (R-TX) and Democratic candidate Justin Early on the Green Party line. On the same day he cut a check to the far-right Floridian, Khan donated $3,500 to another Green House hopeful: former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractor Anthony Aguilar, who has accused his former employer and the IDF of war crimes.
Khan also gave $3,500 in January to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), part of a pattern of support for the increasingly anti-Israel lawmaker that stretches back to 2019.
In the 2024 cycle, Khan gave $5,000 to Justice Democrats, and donated smaller amounts to Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), all figures linked to the Democratic Socialists of America and the left-wing “Squad” in Congress.
But Khan has also maintained support for more mainstream liberal figures, donating $7,000 in June 2025 to former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink’s bid for Congress in Michigan, and $14,000 that March to committees affiliated with Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a Jewish Democrat who has lately clashed with AIPAC and opposed military aid to Israel.
Another of Fishback’s max-out donors is similarly a historic backer of Democrats who lately has ventured into supporting figures on the fringes of both parties: Parviz Tayebati, a Port Biscayne-based tech investor.
Tayebati has donated a total of $19,000 to committees linked to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and $6,600 to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), both hard-right figures who have increasingly leaned into an anti-Israel identity toward the end of their tenure. He has also donated $3,500 to a PAC supporting one of Greene’s unsuccessful replacements, former state lawmaker Colton Moore, who once was a firm supporter of Israel but more recently became the lone Republican in the state Senate to oppose adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
In May, Tayebati gave $2,000 to Platner and another $1,000 to Effie Phillips-Staley, a left-wing Democrat who picked up an anti-Israel drumbeat in her failed bid to become the Democratic nominee against Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY).
One of the few donors to comment for this story, Tayebati told JI he donated to Fishback after seeing a social media video of him criticizing Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip. However, he called his decision to give money to the candidate “short sighted,” and pleaded ignorance of Fishback’s full views at the time of the donation in January.
“After I found out how extreme and actually antisemitic he is I regretted my support,” Tayebati wrote in a text message, adding that he has changed parties several times in the years since he arrived in the U.S. from Iran. “I am an American citizen and believe anyone who becomes a citizen [in] this country must have their loyalty only to America first and view anyone who is a U.S. citizen but uses their rights and freedom to promote another country as traitors and should be deported.”
Tayebati has also supported a few less extreme candidates, including Dr. Annie Andrews, a Democratic challenger to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
Fitting a similar pattern is physician Mohamad Naem of Tampa, Fla., who has given the maximum to Fishback while also donating $7,450 to El-Sayed’s campaign in Michigan, blowing past the $7,000 campaign contribution ceiling. The Senate candidate’s team told JI they would refund the over-the-limit funds, but declined to comment for this piece beyond vowing they had never shared any donor list or had other contact with Fishback.
A longtime supporter of Tlaib, in late 2023 Naem began also sending cash to her Squad colleagues Lee, Bowman, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). Also in the 2024 cycle, he donated $2,000 to Pervez Agwan and $1,000 to Preston Nouri, both left-wing upstarts who made criticism of Israel and AIPAC a central theme in their campaigns.
Last year, he contributed $3,333.34 to the committees of Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) and $1,500 to Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), both key backers of legislation that would sever military aid to the Jewish state and of resolutions condemning its actions, while keeping up his support for Omar and Tlaib.
In recent months, along with donations to El-Sayed, Naem has given smaller amounts to Phillips-Staley and to Eric Yonce, another unsuccessful Israel critic who ran for Congress in Florida.
As with Khan and Tayebati, Naem has made a few donations to candidates supportive of Israel, including Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) and Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL). He also gave $1,000 in 2025 to Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), who in June proposed winding down U.S. aid to Israel, although the congressman has aligned his position with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But Fishback’s other underwriters have shunned centrists in favor of candidates on the party’s margins. Another of his contributors is Hassan Shibly, who left his position as the head of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2021 following domestic abuse allegations from his wife.
On the federal level, Shibly has given this cycle to Aaron Baker, running as a right-wing, anti-Israel alternative to Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and to Mussab Ali, who challenged Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) as an AIPAC-bashing left-wing insurgent. And beginning in November 2023, Shibly has donated $200 each month to Omar in Minnesota.
In an email to JI, Shibly fiercely disavowed all of Fishback’s controversial stances — save one.
“One of the most significant reasons for my support is his stated position that American taxpayer dollars should be prioritized for the needs of Americans rather than funding foreign governments,” Shibly wrote. “I have been outspoken in opposing continued U.S. funding for the Israeli government’s military campaign in Gaza because I believe Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people. Ending or substantially reducing U.S. taxpayer funding for that campaign is an issue of profound moral importance to me.”
Current CAIR-Florida director and attorney Mohammad Mubarak gave $1,000 to Fishback, but at the federal level has given thousands more to El-Sayed, Tlaib, Omar and Carson. Radiologist Nabeel Hamoui gave the GOP gubernatorial contender the full $3,000 allowed under law in May, three months after maxing out to El-Sayed’s Senate campaign. In recent cycles, he’s given to Carson, Omar, Bowman, Lee, Bush and Tlaib.
Tampa investor Ramsy Dahla gave the maximum to Fishback, but has never donated to a federal official other than Tlaib. Another longtime Tlaib backer from Tampa, Ymad Elabed, appears to have given double the largest legally permitted contribution to Fishback by donating from two separate addresses.
Meanwhile, another Tampa businessman, Yasin Saad, gave $3,000 to Fishback but has favored Tlaib and recurring Palestinian American congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar at the federal level.
Texas supermarket magnate Salah Nafal is also a member of Fishback’s $3,000 club, even as he’s given strictly to left-wing Israel critics for national offices, including El-Sayed, Platner, Omar and Tlaib, as well as Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ), Michigan democratic socialist Aisha Farooqi and failed Texas congressional candidates Zeeshan Hafeez and Tanya Lloyd.
Meanwhile, Florida First PAC — a state committee dedicated to backing Fishback for governor — picked up a $35,000 contribution in June from Jacksonville law office Farah & Farah. The firm’s founding partner, Eddie Farah, has given $6,000 this cycle to Tlaib while also kicking $2,000 to the committees of Georgia’s Greene. In 2024, he backed Cornel West for president, while also donating to the PAC Counter Coalition, which subsequently ran a small independent expenditure for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Oil distributor Basem Ali gave Florida First $5,000 in May, nearly a year after he gave to the Tlaib campaign. Ali has given tens of thousands to the Michigan congresswoman over the course of her career, and also supported Omar and Campa-Najjar, though he has also donated to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), a strong Israel supporter.
Allies of the Texas senator are launching The Front Line, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit aimed at making antisemitism 'disqualifying' for GOP candidates
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the 29th annual Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on May 4, 2026.
Allies of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are launching a new political organization aimed at countering antisemitism within the Republican Party, Jewish Insider has learned, led by Arielle F. Klepach, a former assistant U.S. attorney and senior counsel for the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
The Front Line (TFL) will operate as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, meaning the group will not have to disclose its donors and can spend unlimited sums toward political activity, provided campaign finance is not its primary purpose and it does not contribute directly to campaigns.
A source familiar with the matter told JI that those behind the organization, which Cruz is not directly involved with, raised several million dollars to fund the operation. Klepach will run the operation as executive director.
In a statement on her hiring, Klepach said she was enthusiastic to join an effort focused on preventing Republicans from mimicking what she described as Democrats’ embrace of anti-Israel sentiment.
“There has been a surge of antisemitism across America, which first engulfed the left and is now threatening the moral integrity and political unity of the conservative movement and the Republican Party,” Klepach said. “I am excited to lead The Front Line’s efforts to defeat right-wing antisemitism before it takes conservatives down the same path of anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and pro-Sharia advocacy that has taken the left.”
TFL’s mission statement describes the group as “an issue advocacy organization aligned with the positions of Ted Cruz dedicated to countering right-wing antisemitism, by making antisemitism disqualifying in the Republican Party and conservative movement, through activities across political, policy, and digital spaces.”
On the political front, the group “seeks to defeat antisemitic candidates at all levels of the Republican Party, first by mapping federal, state, and local primaries, and then by running effective messaging campaigns to ensure that they lose, highlighting and ensuring that antisemitism is an electoral liability for Republican candidates.”
TFL will also “engage in issue advocacy related to a cluster of policies which have emerged in the battle over right-wing antisemitism.”
“Ted Cruz and other lawmakers seek to counter Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamism, and the global persecution of Christians by Islamist extremists, while boosting the U.S.-Israel relationship and efforts to address antisemitism,” the statement reads. “Right-wing antisemites take and advocate for the opposite position on each of these issues, and related ones.”
Regarding their digital efforts, the group says in its mission statement that it also plans to “create and utilize infrastructure for real-time monitoring and response to right-wing antisemitism, including and especially to the extent that it is being driven by foreign adversaries. It will deploy defensive measures, including the identification and deactivation of inauthentic accounts, as well as measures meant to elevate clarity about antisemitism in the conservative movement and Republican Party.”
The effort has been in the works since late last summer, as Cruz was growing more vocal with his concerns about rising antisemitism within the conservative movement and the need to insulate the GOP from fringe figures who espouse antisemitic views, according to a source familiar with the Texas senator’s concerns.
It’s the latest development in the divide in the GOP over how to approach the outgrowth of antisemitism on the party’s far right, especially if those close to Cruz, who is considering a 2028 presidential bid, use the group to put their thumb on the scale in heated primary contests.
The Texas senator, one of the GOP’s pro-Israel champions, has led the charge in urging the Republican Party to disavow antisemitic figures within the conservative movement as commentators Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and others grow their influence, particularly with young conservatives.
Cruz has criticized Republicans who refuse to disavow prominent antisemites in the party or avoid weighing in on the issue as “cowards,” and has argued that young Christians were turning away from supporting Israel because leading voices in the America First movement were maligning Jewish conservatives and pro-Israel Christians.
The chair of the Jewish caucus said the 2026 convention was ‘night and day’ compared to last year's, when Jewish delegates reported being harassed on the floor
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Notebook with a pen on a table in a classroom at a school
Major Jewish organizations expressed “reason for optimism” that the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, is taking meaningful steps to address rising antisemitism following its annual Representative Assembly, which concluded in Denver on Tuesday.
The organizations credited NEA’s Jewish Affairs Caucus (JAC) with pushing through three amendments to the NEA Constitution and a resolution on Jewish education at this year’s RA.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs said in a statement that it “welcomed the implementation of new rules and policies that better protected the safety and First Amendment rights of Jewish and all members during the National Education Association’s annual meeting.” JCPA said it worked with the JAC to lobby the NEA for the rule changes.
The Jewish groups noted a safer and more inclusive environment for Jewish members at this year’s gathering, marking a stark contrast from last year, when delegates voted to boycott Anti-Defamation League materials in a measure Jewish groups condemned as antisemitic, among other disruptive events. The changes also come following the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opening an investigation into NEA in June over alleged failure to address antisemitism.
“We commend the important steps the NEA took to foster a more inclusive Representative Assembly this year. Those efforts reflect the union’s stated commitment to the core values of solidarity and belonging for all,” the ADL, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hadassah and StandWithUs said Wednesday in a joint statement.
Ahead of the gathering, aiming to avoid the misconduct seen at the 2025 RA, the NEA adopted several new rules, including stricter conduct enforcement for delegates, electronic voting to prevent shouting on the floor, de-escalation training for staff and regular public reminders of assembly rules.
The 2026 RA — attended by some 6,000 educators — was “night and day” compared to last year’s, the chair of the JAC, Alyson Brauning, told Jewish Insider, recalling that she called security at last year’s convention when some Jewish delegates were allegedly being harassed by other attendees.
After last year’s controversies, Brauning said she spent “six months working with NEA [leadership] on delegate safety and participation protections.”
“The reality was that NEA came through. Building relationships is, to me, the absolute key to making sure we as Jewish delegates can, and did, participate fully at RAs … and I believe our relationships we were able to build with Jewish organizations and the support that they were able to give us is also extremely important,” she continued.
Out of 88 business items for the convention, Brauning viewed two as potentially concerning to Jewish educators, but said this marked an improvement over years past.
“Did they write some things that I as a Jewish person know their intent was probably antisemitic? Sure. Does the body understand that? Probably not. They didn’t outright say [anything antisemitic] which is a win because in the past they would literally say it,” she said.
One of those items mentioned war and genocide — “I’m sure that was about the genocide that they think was in [Gaza], but that’s up to the interpretation of all 6,000 delegates. That one was completely defeated on the floor,” she said.
A second business item called for NEA to add resources on its website including some from Jewish Voice for Peace. “[The majority] of the delegates had no idea who JVP is,” said Brauning. “It was referred to the executive committee because NEA has a policy that they must vet any curriculum before they can use it or recommend it as a resource. That gives us the opportunity to write to NEA and explain why it might be harmful or anti-Jewish hate.
The convention was held one month before a leadership change at JAC, a caucus established five decades ago as a social group that began taking on advocacy work following Oct. 7. Naomi Rodriguez, a Pennsylvania math teacher and first-time delegate who helped organize this year’s RA, will succeed Brauning as the caucus’ chair.
“Going into it, I was intimidated,” Rodriguez told JI of the convention. “I didn’t know how I would be received. Many issues are important to me but I came to this RA with an agenda, to protect Jewish students and teachers. I found myself speaking up about that a lot. It was the most amazing and heartwarming experience. I received so much support from my own state caucus. I felt so loved.
“Our union is simply a reflection of society. Whatever problems we’re having in society, you’re going to see in our union, too, because there are so many members and our union is a place where people exchange ideas,” she continued.
Among the most helpful new policies, Rodriguez said, was the implementation of clickers to vote. “One of the problems last year was voting was done standing up and down or holding a card in the air so everyone in your caucus could see how you vote, so sometimes you could get pushback from the people you’re working with. We could vote more confidentially with the clickers — that made a huge difference,” she said.
Although Rodriguez declined to share the specifics of the three new amendments JAC helped pass, she said the purpose of each “was to ensure that the values of our union are accurately reflected in NEA’s governing documents. The amendments included language to address discrimination and ensure equal participation access for all member communities.”
Jay Goldfischer, a teacher in Los Angeles County who has been an NEA member for 26 years, told JI that it was “overall a very positive and effective RA for Jewish teachers,” where “allies from across America stood up with the Jewish community on the floor of the RA when it counted.”
Though Goldfischer applauded the new guidelines, he noted that the improvements could have also stemmed from the majority of delegates growing “tired of the divisive and distracting issues related to Israel and things unrelated to education.”
Alongside JAC, several Jewish leaders pushed for NEA to adopt new guidelines after last year’s RA.
“Everything we’ve heard from Jewish delegates and educators has been reflective of them feeling that this was a safer and more inclusive convention and that these rules had an impact,” said JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick, who led a presentation titled “How Educators Can Confront Antisemitism & Hate and Defend Democracy” at the convening.
“There is obviously a lot more to do,” she told JI. “We’ll continue to work with NEA on workshops, programs and trainings to address antisemitism and ensure the union and our schools are as inclusive and safe as possible. But this is definitely an important step in the right direction.”
To support JAC, the ADL and Conference of Presidents also deployed representatives to be on the ground at this year’s convention.
“I was so proud to see Naomi [Rodriguez] use her voice and play such a critical role in shaping a very different narrative at this year’s RA,” Sara Colb, ADL’s director of advocacy, told JI. “Empowering Naomi and teachers like her was ADL’s very purpose for doing this work. Watching these teachers advocate for themselves, their students and the Jewish community is truly inspiring.”
“We started working with JAC after last year to help make [the RA] better for the year ahead,” Stephanie Hausner, chief operating officer of the Conference of Presidents, who attended for the first time on behalf of the organization, told JI.
“Some of that included rules changes, multiple organizations talking to the NEA about helping the tenor of the conference. For sure there was more security [this year]. The overall vibe of the conference was much calmer than we heard from last year. Jewish delegates weren’t afraid to be present and speak, which was also an improvement. They were able to get a lot done.”
Hausner continued, “Some of the resolutions that were put forward that would have done harm to the Jewish community didn’t pass, which says a lot about the body as a whole.”
The focus this year, said Hausner, was “on education and issues of importance for teachers.”
The antisemitism watchdog tested ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok and found Persian responses hedged or missed antisemitic framing that English responses rejected outright
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Illustrative
Major AI chatbots consistently fail to reject antisemitic inquiries in Persian as effectively as they do in English, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League. The group argues the safety flaw has broad implications as millions rely on these platforms to understand conflicts such as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
The report, “Lost in Translation: How AI Chatbots Fail Persian Speakers on Antisemitism,” looked at responses by the most widely-used chatbots — OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok — over several weeks in March, amid the Iran war.
After assessing eight prompts and 800 total responses, researchers identified a “systemic” bias in how AI models process sensitive topics, heavily dependent on the language used. Across the tested chatbots, English responses proved superior to ones in Persian — a major language with over 110 million speakers primarily in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan — in identifying and rejecting antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Persian-language responses frequently hedged or avoided direct answers where English responses were unequivocal, the ADL found. For instance, Gemini’s English answers consistently acknowledged Iran’s role in spreading antisemitism, while its Persian responses softened or deflected the same claims. Several models also failed to recognize antisemitic framing when questions were posed in Persian. Asked whether U.S. behavior toward Iran had been “Jewlike” — a normalized derogatory term in Persian —- models largely engaged with the question as a neutral political inquiry rather than flagging its antisemitic premise.
The report also identified gaps in depth and sourcing between languages. English responses were generally longer, more thoroughly cited and more up-to-date. Gemini’s English answers referenced the 2026 Iran war and U.S. casualties by name, for example, while its Persian responses only described hypothetical future conflicts. Citations were similarly not consistent. ChatGPT supplied close to 300 links in English responses but none in Persian, and even where other models did cite sources, reliability was inconsistent. Grok cited X accounts including a “Star Trek” fan page and one apparently impersonating Ali Khamenei, the late Iranian supreme leader.
“The gaps we found are not minor inconsistencies, they are systemic failures,” said Daniel Kelley, senior director of the ADL Center for Technology and Society. “When a platform tells a Persian speaker that antisemitism is a matter of ‘blurred boundaries’ while telling an English speaker it is state policy, those are not the same product.”
Kelley called on AI companies “to invest the research and resources necessary to ensure their guardrails work for every person, in every language, and that means starting now.”
While English responses were found to be more conscientious than those in Persian, the ADL raised concerns last year with leading AI developers like Meta and Google regarding antisemitic and anti-Israel biases in English as well. At the time, Meta claimed ADL was using an older model for its study, and not the most current version.
An ADL spokesperson told Jewish Insider that the study on Persian chatbots used the most recent models at the time of the research.
Academics Miri Bar-Halpern and Dean McKay are piloting the curriculum across three Northeast states with the support of AEN, with plans to build a national model for doctoral programs
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Two leading psychologists are launching an initiative to help future clinicians better care for Jewish patients, Jewish Insider has learned, amid a surge of antisemitism in the mental health field that has left Jewish therapists and clients facing isolation and discrimination.
Created by Miri Bar-Halpern, a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School, and Dean McKay, a professor of psychology at Fordham University, the pilot program, announced on Tuesday, will roll out in doctoral psychology programs at universities across New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts through faculty workshops and curriculum development. The Academic Engagement Network, a network of faculty and staff countering antisemitism on campus, is supporting the effort.
According to the creators, the ultimate goal of the pilot is to establish a national model for psychology education that addresses antisemitism and includes Jewish identity in training.
The program comes as 75% of Jewish-identifying medical students and professionals in American healthcare reported exposure to antisemitism in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel and ensuing Gaza war, according to a 2025 peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Religion and Health. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened a federal civil rights investigation into the American Psychological Association over allegations of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli psychologists.
The launch also comes at a time of historic demand for mental health support. More than 1 in 4 Americans (28%) have talked with a mental health professional in the past year, according to an April poll by the American Psychiatric Association.
McKay and Bar-Halpern warned that the integration of certain ideological frameworks into psychology and counseling education threatens to marginalize Jewish clients.
Among the emerging frameworks drawing growing scrutiny is “decolonization therapy,” an approach that labels Zionism as a source of mental illness.
“When antisemitism begins shaping how future clinicians are trained, the consequences extend far beyond the classroom,” said Miriam Elman, executive director of AEN.
“Future psychologists will care for patients from every background. Ensuring that they understand antisemitism and Jewish identity is essential to providing ethical, culturally responsive care and maintaining trust in the mental health professions,” said Elman.
McKay expressed hope that the initiative “will help ensure that future clinicians are equipped to recognize antisemitism, understand its impact, and provide care that is both culturally responsive and evidence-based.”
The group identified four bills in the House’s online safety push that it felt could play a role in addressing online antisemitism, which were ultimately packaged into the KIDS Act
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Illustrative
In a bid to protect Jewish children from rampant antisemitism on the internet, the Jewish Federations of North America is pushing lawmakers to support the KIDS Act, a major bipartisan package of legislation focused on children’s safety online that passed the House late last month by a 267-117 vote.
Omer Yarden-Oppenheim, director of government relations at JFNA, told Jewish Insider that online antisemitism has been a major conversation and challenge for Jewish families, especially since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. He said the group identified four bills in the House’s online safety push that it felt could play a role in addressing online antisemitism, which were ultimately packaged into the KIDS Act.
“No single bill will solve these challenges right away, but we know that the KIDS Act is a meaningful bipartisan step towards making these platforms safer and more accountable for protecting young users, which includes Jewish users,” Yarden-Oppenheim said.
The four bills include the AWARE Act, which would develop educational resources on the safe and responsible use of AI chatbots; the Protecting a Safe Internet for Minors Act, which would create a public awareness campaign on safe internet use and best practices for minors; the Assessing Safety Tools for Parents and Minors Act, which would assess the effectiveness of existing safety tools; and the Kids Internet Safety Partnership Act, which would help identify online risks to children and develop recommendations for best practices.
The group endorsed the four pieces of legislation when they were first released several months ago and urged local federations to contact their members to support the bills, as well as advocate for them on fly-ins to Washington. Yarden-Oppenheim said he believes that work helped ensure the bills were included in the final KIDS Act package.
“There’s a lack of understanding of a lot of things that are happening online, and for Jewish families it’s the same. Parents feel like maybe they’re losing control a little bit of the things that their kids are being exposed to online,” Yarden-Oppenheim said. “These will give parents [and] educators the tools and more clarity and information on how to deal with these things in the future.”
Yet there’s still plenty of work ahead for supporters of the legislation, as Congress has struggled for years to reach a consensus on children’s online safety legislation, and the Senate and House have been advancing competing versions of the legislation.
“There’s still a meaningful divide on policy and approach between the House and the Senate, but we look forward to working with our partners, and we’ve already had those meetings, and we continue to have them,” Yarden-Oppenheim said. “We need to work with our partners in both chambers to elevate the importance of online safety and the need to ensure that Jewish families remain part of the national conversation, and be a willing partner along the way.”
JFNA and a coalition of other Jewish groups are also making a separate push to address online antisemitism through the Jewish American Security Act, which addresses online antisemitism, campus antisemitism and security threats to Jewish institutions.
Niv Elis, the associate vice president of external communications at JNFA, said that “there’s a huge question” of how society and the country should deal with social media, the internet and AI, and the KIDS Act is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
“What we’re seeing is that this is an excellent entry point to make sure … that the antisemitism piece isn’t left out, and a recognition that the tools that we need to protect the children are going to have extra levels of meaning for Jewish children who are facing different kinds of harm online because they’re not just facing the same bullying as everybody but they’re also facing an additional level through through the antisemitism,” Elis said.
Yarden-Oppenheim added that there are other threats that the Jewish community also aims to counter, including foreign influence, AI deep fakes and other issues that have impacted the Jewish community. The group is working with lawmakers to introduce legislation next year to study how algorithms and other platform features can spread hate, harassment and radicalization.
Some Jewish Affairs Caucus leaders say they weren’t consulted about the changes, which are meant to prevent issues around antisemitism that occurred at last year’s assembly
Robyn Stevens Brody/Sipa USA via AP Images
Protesters rally against proposed resolutions at the National Education Association meets in Philadelphia in August 2024.
Following last year’s contentious assembly mired in allegations of antisemitism, the National Education Association — the nation’s largest teachers’ union — adopted new policies for its upcoming Denver convention aimed at preventing the same chaos, the NEA confirmed to Jewish Insider.
“Leading up to this year’s Representative Assembly, we are taking significant steps to ensure all of our members are respected and supported at the event based on extensive feedback and consultation with the Jewish Affairs Caucus, Jewish members, and partners in the Jewish community,” an NEA spokesperson told JI.
“We have strengthened policies for addressing discriminatory or harassing conduct, streamlined the complaint process, and are empowering event staff and leaders to remove those who violate NEA’s standards. There will also be an expanded security presence at the Representative Assembly and we will continue rigorous outreach and engagement with caucuses, including the Jewish Affairs Caucus, and external partners.”
The new rules for the July 3-7 Representative Assembly include stricter conduct enforcement for delegates, electronic voting to prevent shouting on the floor, de-escalation training for staff and regular public reminders of assembly rules, according to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which said it worked with the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus to lobby the NEA for the changes.
At last year’s conference in Portland, thousands of delegates passed a measure that would have barred the union from using, endorsing or publicizing any materials from the Anti-Defamation League, though the decision was later overturned by NEA’s Board of Directors.
Several Jewish teachers who spoke out against the resolution at the RA told JI they were “harassed and shouted down during the proceedings.” Other delegates from the JAC said they were surrounded in what appeared to be coordinated disruptions, and one member who referenced the victim of an antisemitic firebombing in Colorado said other attendees then laughed and applauded.
The episode was widely criticized by Jewish educators and their allies as antisemitic, exacerbating concerns about the growing marginalization of Jews within the teachers’ union following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks and the subsequent impacts in K-12 classrooms.
JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick, who will lead a presentation titled “How Educators Can Confront Antisemitism & Hate and Defend Democracy” at the weekend convening, said that “as extreme voices on both ends of the political spectrum pit Jewish safety against democratic norms and values, it’s vital that we carve a different path forward.”
JAC Chair Alyson Brauning celebrated the NEA’s adoption of “clear standards for speech and conduct in all union spaces and promoting a greater understanding of the needs and concerns of Jewish members.
“We want to express our gratitude to NEA leadership for their work with the JAC on these new rules, and are expressing our hopes that these will be enforced as fully and fairly as possible,” she said.
Some NEA members, including incoming JAC leadership who say they were excluded from drafting the new policies, are reserving their judgment as to their efficacy.
Naomi Rodriguez, a math teacher in Pennsylvania and the incoming chair of JAC who will start her term on Aug. 1, told JI that despite being a “proud union member,” she believes the “NEA has significant work to do.”
“Unfortunately, I was not consulted about the agreement reached with JCPA,” said Rodriguez. “Our members should never have to choose between supporting our union and protecting themselves. The real test will be on the Representative Assembly floor: whether the experience of Jewish delegates is tainted by dehumanizing rhetoric and identity-based attacks, and how our NEA leadership responds.”
Josh Hirsch, an English teacher in Colorado and incoming vice chair of the JAC, told JI he was also not included in the discussions with JCPA and NEA.
“NEA has appropriately spoken up for racial justice and immigration issues, like George Floyd and ICE raids, but when a man firebombed a peaceful Jewish gathering in Boulder just up the road from this convention, and when gunmen opened fire on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney killing 15 people, NEA stayed silent. That silence is a failure of our values, and NEA must step up publicly and stop sitting on the fence.”
The ADL, which was targeted by the union, also criticized the manner in which the policies came about.
“We are extremely frustrated about a so-called ‘agreement’ with JCPA that was reached without all NEA JAC leadership and delegates at the table,” the ADL told JI. “Crafting commitments that affect Jewish educators without including their incoming representatives sends a troubling message. It risks reinforcing the very sense of exclusion that the changes are presumably meant to address.”
“NEA has a considerable amount of work to do to earn back the trust of Jewish educators after last year’s Representative Assembly, and in light of the unchecked rise of antisemitism within NEA and many state and local affiliates,” the antisemitism watchdog group continued. “NEA’s inconsistent enforcement of its own protections has sent an unmistakable message: Jewish educators are not a priority. That must change now.”
Spitalnick and the NEA disputed these accounts and insisted that JAC leadership was consulted. “Our team was keeping ADL and other Jewish organizations closely in the loop,” Spitalnick told JI. “[We’ve] been in close touch with the incoming [JAC] leaders.”
“Leadership represents the caucus in conversations like this,” she said.
Jay Goldfischer, a teacher in Los Angeles County who has been an NEA member for 26 years, told JI that “on paper, the changes are in the right direction.”
He added, “Actions will speak louder than words once we’re on the floor at the convention.”
Goldfischer said he is going into the RA prepared for “antisemitic and exclusionary policies [being] considered — and that continues to send the message that Jewish educators aren’t a priority.”
“What transpired at the Representative Assembly last year was really upsetting and I have serious concerns about what could happen this year,” he continued. “Last year was not a safe environment for Jewish delegates. I think it’s premature to claim that these new policies are going to ensure the safety of Jewish members and educators when already NEA’s enforcement has not been consistent in the past.”
“I’m still stuck on the fact that they shouldn’t have to make new rules to make an education convention safe for Jewish delegates,” he continued.
A night of Pride-themed celebration doubled as a tribute to Milgrim, the embassy staffer killed last year, whose work included engaging LGBTQ Jews
Christina Sher
Comedian Judy Gold speaks at a Pride event hosted by the Israeli Embassy at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington on June 30, 2026.
Dozens of LGBTQ Jews and allies gathered Tuesday evening at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington for a Pride event hosted by the Israeli Embassy, with speakers honoring the legacy of slain embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim and reflecting on the challenges she faced in progressive spaces, despite being an ally of the community.
The event, held as Pride celebrations concluded at the end of June, paid tribute to Milgrim, who helped lead the embassy’s outreach to LGBTQ communities before she and her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, were killed in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May 2025.
Comedian Judy Gold, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights and outspoken critic of antisemitism, headlined the evening with a stand-up set blending humor with reflections on Milgrim’s advocacy.
“It takes a very special person to be the LGBT liaison for the Israeli [Embassy], and boy was she special,” Gold said.
Gold also recalled participating in two LGBTQ delegation trips to Israel organized by Milgrim: As the group ran to bomb shelters amid Iranian missile attacks, she got a laugh when one delegate showed up with a different guy each time the alarm sounded, “so that was exciting,” she joked.
Catherine Szkop and Abbie Talmoud, colleagues of Milgrim who were several feet away when the deadly shooting occurred, described her as a bridge-builder who worked to engage communities that had become increasingly hostile to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
“She served as the director of civil society and affairs. Her work focused on engaging communities that became deeply critical of Israel, or even opened up anti-Israel [sentiment] after Oct. 7,” Talmoud said of Milgrim.
Szkop said Milgrim struggled with being pushed out of progressive spaces because of her work at the Israeli Embassy, despite sharing many of the community’s values.
“She identified with the progressive community on a lot of issues,” Szkop shared, “but when she started working at the Israeli Embassy, the [community’s] anti-Israel sentiment was too strong and ostracized her from her friends” and “the moment it turned to Israel, they exiled her.”
“You should never have to deny who you are or an aspect of your identity in order to belong somewhere,” Szkop concluded.
The reception featured Pride-themed decor, including a lectern bearing three flags: American, Israeli, and Pride. Closing out the event, LGBTQ community members and allies danced to Omer Adam while waving rainbow LED sticks.
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