Plus, meet UJA’s new CEO
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview President Donald Trump’s trip to China amid the tenuous ceasefire with Iran, and report from last night’s Anti-Defamation League reception in Washington, where lawmakers sounded the alarm over rising antisemitism. We have the first interview with Michael Kay, announced yesterday as the next head of UJA-Federation of New York, and report on NY-12 candidate Alex Bores‘ effort to distance himself from Our Revolution‘s stances on Israel despite receiving the group’s endorsement. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Noam Bettan and Spencer Pratt.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump will arrive in China this evening ahead of his meeting tomorrow in Beijing with President Xi Jinping. More below.
- In Washington, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding markups on a number of pieces of legislation, including a resolution condemning attacks on civilians in Sudan and calling for an end to external support for warring parties in the war-torn country.
- Elsewhere in D.C., the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s annual gathering continues. Speakers today include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, pollster Jim Gerstein, former diplomat Dennis Ross, former Pentagon officials Jeremy Bash and Dana Stroul, and former national security officials Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer.
- Tonight, the Israeli Embassy in Washington is holding a belated Yom Ha’atzmaut reception.
- Nonprofit executive Denise Powell defeated Nebraska state Sen. John Cavanaugh by two points (39-37%) in the Democratic primary last night in Nebraska’s 2nd District. Cavanaugh, a consistent Israel critic, was one of 10 state senators who declined to sign onto a resolution supporting Israel and condemning Hamas on the first anniversary of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Powell will face Republican Brinker Harding, an Omaha city councilmember, in a bid to succeed retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE).
- President Isaac Herzog is hosting the “President’s Conference for a Shared Israeli Future” today in Jerusalem. Actor Gal Gadot is participating in a panel dedicated to relations between Israel and the Diaspora.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
There will be a number of items on the agenda when the two most powerful men in the world — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping — meet in Beijing tomorrow, chief among them tech and AI. The president is bringing with him a roster of top business leaders, including Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.
And while emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
Beijing has, after all, been playing a major role in the U.S.-Iran conflict — even if it has done so from the margins: serving as the largest importer of oil from the Islamic Republic in violation of U.S. sanctions, meeting with top Iranian officials (including last week’s sit-down between Xi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi) and transferring weapons to Iran through third countries.
Trump, who has spent much of his second term welcoming leaders to Washington, will be on Xi’s home turf, face-to-face with a leader who is opting not to use his leverage to push Iran into making concessions. The longer the uncertainty continues, the more restless even the president’s most fervent supporters will get — especially with the midterms approaching.
That dynamic is already beginning to play out on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, JI reported on divisions among Republican senators over whether the U.S. should reengage militarily with Iran, while last week, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who is facing a tough reelection battle in his swing district, became the first GOP lawmaker to introduce an authorization for use of military force in Iran.
All of that is good for Xi, and gives him little incentive to use China’s economic and diplomatic leverage over the Islamic Republic, which while knocked down a few pegs, has managed to maintain control despite the severe blows it has been dealt.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
Lawmakers offer dire warnings about rising antisemitism at ADL reception
A series of largely Democratic lawmakers painted an unusually dire portrait of the state of rising antisemitism and threats to the Jewish community in remarks on Tuesday evening at an Anti-Defamation League reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Several emphasized the need for those in the audience, many of them young Jewish congressional staffers and Washington professionals, to continue speaking out and fighting for the Jewish community in a time of crisis.
Unvalidated: Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) emphasized that efforts to fight antisemitism have often been met with additional hostility. “It is a very scary time for the Jewish community,” Friedman said. “And to make matters worse, when we express that we’re scared and that there’s this rising level of hatred directed towards the Jewish community, we’re often met with people telling us that we’re not allowed to feel that way. And how dare we even say that there’s anything wrong with treatment towards Jews in this country?”
Read the full story here with additional comments from Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
Dem divides: Hoyer, a pro-Israel stalwart and a former House majority leader, said on Tuesday that Jewish Democrats “ought to be” concerned about the critical way that some of their Democratic colleagues talk about Israel, in remarks at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s annual leadership summit, where he was honored with an award marking his upcoming retirement, after 45 years in Congress, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
HEATED BACKLASH
Israeli officials, AJC slam Nick Kristof’s NYT column as modern-day ‘blood libel’
Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times column alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners was certain to generate intense debate and scrutiny, given the sensitivities involved in covering such a highly charged subject. But after it was published on Monday, his opinion piece, headlined “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” has faced particularly heated backlash, including accusations of antisemitism and claims Kristof relied on discredited sources to advance his message, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Pushing back: Despite the direct testimonies he presented, critics have countered with a range of rebuttals, claiming that he drew a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, that his column overstated the existence of alleged misconduct and that his broader assessment rests on questionable data and sources that weaken his central thesis. The American Jewish Committee expressed concerns about Kristof’s decision to cite allegations that Israel had trained police dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, a claim critics have rejected as a thinly sourced conspiracy theory, saying the allegation represented “a modern-day blood libel in the ‘paper of record.’”
NAME AND SHAME
DSA is ‘evil,’ trying to drive Jews out of polite society, D.C. Jewish leader says
Amid the rise of a DSA-aligned mayoral candidate in the city, a senior Jewish community leader in Washington, D.C., excoriated the Democratic Socialists of America as an “evil” organization committed to driving Jews out of society. Speaking on a webinar with other Washington-area Jewish leaders on Tuesday, Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, stridently criticized the far-left group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Icing out: “I think they’re a fringe, radical, antisemitic organization, and I happen to even think they’re evil,” Halber said. “They are trying to do in America what [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement] seems to do internationally, which is to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.” He said that the group wants to make Jews feel “isolated” and force them to “renounce Zionism” and their connection to Israel in order to participate in the political process. Antisemitism is “core to their belief,” he continued.
Slotkin signals: Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington on Tuesday if she still calls herself a Zionist, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “I believe in a Jewish State of Israel, yes. And that to me isn’t a radical thing to say and I always have,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
CANDIDATE FORUM WATCH
Bores breaks with Our Revolution on approach to Israel
New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, a leading Democratic primary candidate for an open House seat in Manhattan, said on Tuesday that he disagreed with Our Revolution, the left-wing advocacy group that recently endorsed his campaign, over its opposition to U.S. military funding for Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
What he said: Speaking at a candidate forum hosted by West Side Institutional Synagogue and moderated by JI’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar, Bores said that even as he welcomed the endorsement because of such shared interests as AI regulation, he was not aligned with Our Revolution’s approach to Israel, a key issue in the heavily Jewish 12th Congressional District. “They asked me specifically about my position on Israel, which is well-documented and different from theirs,” Bores explained. “I said the same thing I say in every room.”
Cash flow: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his administration would allocate $26 million annually toward anti-hate crimes measures, signaling that the significant funding increase — promised during the campaign season — would go toward a program that funds both leading Jewish organizations and left-wing nonprofits, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
ON THE FENCE
Mikie Sherrill to ‘evaluate’ N.J. adoption of federal Education Freedom Tax Credit
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has not committed to joining a new federal education tax initiative being championed by Jewish community advocates to secure funding for Jewish day schools and yeshivas, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently agreed to adopt, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Wait-and-see approach: “Governor Sherrill will evaluate the program once the Trump Administration has finalized and published its rules. The Governor’s top priority is building New Jersey into the best public school system in the nation for all our kids,” Maggie Garbarino, Sherrill’s deputy press secretary, told JI on Tuesday.
TRANSITION
UJA-Federation of New York taps Leffell School’s Michael Kay to serve as next CEO
The country’s largest Jewish federation, UJA-Federation of New York, has reached into the day school world to tap its next leader, naming longtime Jewish educator Michael Kay as CEO, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports for Jewish Insider. Kay, who currently serves as head of school at The Leffell School in Westchester County, N.Y., will succeed Eric Goldstein, 66, a former Wall Street lawyer who announced last June that he was stepping down after 12 years in the role. Kay, 46, will enter the position on Oct. 5.
City Hall relationships: Asked how he wants UJA’s relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to look under his leadership during an interview with JI announcing his appointment, Kay said, “We have an obligation and a responsibility to work with our local elected officials no matter who they are to ensure that our needs are met and they are accountable for meeting those needs, as I said, well-being, thriving, safety, security.”
Read and watch the full interview here.
Nostra Aetate Award: Reflecting on his tenure as the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said it would be “difficult” to serve in his former position without the friendship of Jewish people, noting that Jews are a “respected part of the fabric” of New York City. Dolan was speaking at the American Jewish Committee’s Manhattan headquarters on Tuesday, where AJC honored him with the Nostra Aetate at Sixty Award for his work combating antisemitism and improving Catholic-Jewish relations, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Worthy Reads
Dahiya or Dubai?: The New York Times’ Tom Friedman talks to Emirati Lebanese writer Nadim Koteich about the two warring visions for the future of the Middle East, which Koteich refers to as “Dahiya or Dubai” — respectively a Hezbollah-controlled area of Beirut and a flourishing Middle Eastern business hub. “Anything this Dahiya vision touches ‘is a kiss of death for a country,’ as Koteich put it. ‘It turns it into another mediocre version of Iran.’ … [The Dubai model] proclaimed that the future belongs to those governments that produce noncorrupt, responsible bureaucracies, and that support moderate Islam, religious pluralism and an openness to the world and anyone eager to bring their talents. … The Dubai model is precisely the one Tehran wants to destroy.” [NYTimes]
AI in the Negev: In The Wall Street Journal, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Mike Doran and Zineb Riboua advocate for the development of a joint U.S.-Israel AI hub in Israel’s Negev desert dubbed by Jerusalem as Project Spire. “Technologies developed at Spire would remain under American ownership, enabling scaling and manufacturing back in the U.S. — creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. A successful Negev base would serve as the prototype. Once proven, the model can be replicated with Britain, Japan, India and other trusted partners. In the contest to neutralize China’s espionage apparatus, Project Spire offers the foundation for enduring American primacy.” [WSJ]
Doing Deals in the ‘Stans: Politico’s Diana Nerozzi and Phelim Kine profile Sergio Gor, President Donald Trump’s envoy to India and Central Asia, who has focused the administration’s efforts in the region on dealmaking. “But Gor’s investment focus is a welcome change to those in the region and Central Asian countries have embraced the Trump administration’s focus on ‘business, business, business,’ said a Washington-based Central Asia diplomat. For Central Asian leaders that’s a welcome shift away from a traditional U.S. focus on governance issues. … ‘He’s much more effective because he has that direct line to the White House,’ a second Central Asian diplomat said. ‘That means he can much more easily overcome the bureaucracy of D.C.’” [Politico]
Word on the Street
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday that the Trump administration does not plan to and does not believe it needs to seek congressional approval should it decide to resume military operations in Iran, further sidelining Congress at a time when a growing number of Republicans are becoming hesitant about continued U.S. military operations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Vice President JD Vance tapped Cliff Sims, who served as special assistant to the president and director of White House message strategy in the first Trump administration, to serve as a national security advisor; Sims previously worked closely with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and served as chair of the CIA’s external advisory board…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman has been turned into an “emergency logistics lifeline” for trucks carrying exports bypassing the closed Strait of Hormuz…
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps expanded its definition of the boundaries of the Strait of Hormuz to encompass a much wider area than before the war…
Kuwait accused Iran of sending members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the strategically located Kuwaiti-held Bubiyan Island earlier this month, where the fighters exchanged fire with Kuwaiti soldiers, injuring one; four of the six IRGC fighters who took part in the attack on the island, located in the Persian Gulf, were arrested…
Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia launched covert strikes against Iran in late March in response to attacks from the Islamic Republic on Saudi territory…
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed into law a bill requiring the disclosure of foreign government funding in statewide K-12 schools; read more about the first-in-the-nation legislation here…
Politico reports on the “overwhelming evidence” that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who cites his background in medicine and experience as a physician in campaign materials and interviews, has “no experience as a licensed medical doctor”…
The New York Times looks at efforts by two GOP-linked super PACs to get involved in Democratic primaries in Nebraska, Texas, Ohio and California to boost their preferred general election candidates, in one instance sending out a mailer in support of a fringe candidate who has espoused antisemitic tropes…
The NYPD arrested four protesters demonstrating outside of a Jewish senior home in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood, which was hosting an event promoting real estate opportunities in Israel…
In text messages shared on X, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt appeared to denounce antisemitism, calling it a “legitimate mind virus and sign of a decaying society,” adding that he has “been horrified to see how the Jewish community has been vilified over the past few years”…
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, released a new online resource that provides educational materials focused on the American Jewish experience…
The Wall Street Journal interviews Israeli-American therapist Orna Guralnik ahead of the release on Friday of the new series “Couples Therapy,” in which Guralnik plays a major role…
A survey conducted by the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia and presented to the royal commission investigating antisemitism in the country found that 80% of Jewish women surveyed said that they or a family member had experienced antisemitism firsthand in the last two years; the survey also found that of that group, more than two-thirds had been called “genocidal” because they were Jewish, Israeli or Zionist…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing growing calls to step down following last week’s local elections that saw his Labour Party lose more than 1,000 municipal seats…
Israeli singer Noam Bettan advanced to the Eurovision finals after his performance of “Michelle” at last night’s semifinals in Vienna…
Hezbollah head Naim Kassem called on the Lebanese government to pull out of direct talks with Israel, the third round of which is scheduled for Thursday, and return to indirect talks…
Pic of the Day
The family of slain Israeli American hostage Omer Neutra, who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and his body taken to Gaza, was awarded an honorary degree from Binghamton University at a reception hosted by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (left) to mark Jewish American Heritage Month.
Birthdays
Emmy Award-winning film, television and stage actress, Zohra Lampert turns 89…
Professor emerita of Yiddish literature at Harvard University, she is presently a distinguished senior fellow at The Tikvah Fund, Ruth Wisse turns 90… Actor and producer, Harvey Keitel turns 87… Ophthalmologist in South Florida, he is the father of Facebook’s former COO Sheryl Sandberg, Dr. Joel Sandberg turns 83… Former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at American Jewish University, Samuel Edelman turns 78… Professor of mathematics at Princeton since 1987, he was a winner of a 1991 MacArthur genius fellowship, Sergiu Klainerman turns 76… Former FDA commissioner in the 1990s, then chief science officer for COVID-19 response during the Biden administration, David A. Kessler turns 75… Retired editor and columnist for the New York Post, he was also managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, Eric Fettmann turns 73… Rabbi Uren Reich turns 70… Chief rabbi of the city of Shoham in central Israel, chairman of the Tzohar organization and rabbi for the Ezra youth movement, Rabbi David Stav turns 66… Founder and former CEO of LRN, a legal research, ethics and compliance management firm, Dov Seidman turns 62… Past chair of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board and of the Hartford (Conn.) Federation, Carolyn Gitlin… Retired NFL defensive lineman, he played for the Raiders and Panthers, Josh Heinrich Taves, a/k/a Josh Heinrich, turns 54… Ice hockey player, she won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Sara Ann DeCosta-Hayes turns 49… U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) turns 49… CEO of Friedkin Philanthropies, previously chief Jewish life officer at JFNA, Sarah Eisenman… Former Israel director for J Street, then the chief of staff for Israel’s Ministry for Regional Cooperation, Yael Patir … Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords, she was previously a member of the House of Commons, Baroness Luciana Berger turns 45… Software entrepreneur, Google project manager, then Facebook engineering lead, Justin Rosenstein turns 43… Israeli rapper, singer, songwriter and actor, known by his stage name Tuna, Itay Zvulun turns 42… Retired NFL offensive lineman for seven NFL teams, now a regional manager at Rocksolid, Brian de la Puente turns 41… Actress, writer, producer and director, best known as the creator, writer and star of the HBO series “Girls,” Lena Dunham turns 40… Hannah Sirdofsky… Co-founder in 2018 of Manna Tree Partners, she is the daughter of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein… Chief of staff and senior program manager at Jigsaw, a unit within Google, she is an alum of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Raquel Saxe Gelb… Therapist in Philadelphia, Bela Galit Krifcher turns 33… Law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Dore Lev Feith turns 30… VP of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, Jesse Martin Arm… Gold medalist for Israel in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Linoy Ashram turns 27…
While emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025.
There will be a number of items on the agenda when the two most powerful men in the world — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping — meet in Beijing tomorrow, chief among them tech and AI. The president is bringing with him a roster of top business leaders, including Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.
And while emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
“We have a lot of things to discuss,” Trump told reporters before departing for China. “I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.” Nonetheless, the president said, “We’re going to have a long talk about [Iran]. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you.”
Beijing has, after all, been playing a major role in the U.S.-Iran conflict — even if it has done so from the margins: serving as the largest importer of oil from the Islamic Republic in violation of U.S. sanctions, meeting with top Iranian officials (including last week’s sit-down between Xi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi) and transferring weapons to Iran through third countries.
Indeed, the summit, delayed from earlier this year due to the war, comes amid reports of a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran has restored access to 30 of its nearly three dozen missile sites, and days after Washington rejected an Iranian response to a U.S. proposal that fell short of the Trump administration’s demands.
China’s interest isn’t purely power-driven: it’s also economic. Being able to purchase Iranian oil at steeply discounted prices — owing to Tehran’s global economic isolation — has meant that China has not felt the same financial pressures as the West.
Trump, who has spent much of his second term welcoming leaders to Washington, will be on Xi’s home turf, face-to-face with a leader who is opting not to use his leverage to push Iran into making concessions. The longer the uncertainty continues, the more restless even the president’s most fervent supporters will get — especially with the midterms approaching.
That dynamic is already beginning to play out on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, JI reported on divisions among Republican senators over whether the U.S. should reengage militarily with Iran, while last week, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who is facing a tough reelection battle in his swing district, became the first GOP lawmaker to introduce an authorization for use of military force in Iran.
All of that is good for Xi, and gives him little incentive to use China’s economic and diplomatic leverage over the Islamic Republic, which while knocked down a few pegs, has managed to maintain control despite the severe blows it has been dealt.
The Iranian regime has been able to survive in large part because it knows how to play the long game: to drag out negotiations, give breadcrumbs instead of the whole loaf and wreak just enough havoc to serve as a disruptor without prompting massive retaliation. It has enough to survive, for now.
Xi finds himself in a similar dynamic: unbound by pending elections, unaffected by rising energy costs and distanced from military action in the Middle East, Beijing is — unlike Trump — does not need a quick resolution to the conflict.
The sister, niece and brother-in-law of Maoist magnate Neville ‘Roy’ Singham have gained influence in New York’s ascendant socialist movement
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Jews For Racial And Economic Justice's Mazals Gala on September 10, 2025 in New York City.
Relatives of a Shanghai-based software magnate devoted to promoting Chinese, Iranian and Russian interests are operating inside the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, supporting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preferred candidates for Congress and playing significant roles in shaping and advancing key elements of his agenda, Jewish Insider has found.
Onstage with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last September, Mamdani credited one of his signature campaign promises to the political director of the far-left nonprofit Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
“The idea of making buses fast and free was not my idea,” the video posted to JFREJ’s Instagram account shows the then-Democratic nominee announcing. “It was an idea I had given to me in a meeting with another New Yorker who was passionate about transit, Alicia Singham Goodwin.”
The name prompted applause from the crowd at Brooklyn College, and the mayor quickly added that he and his team had solicited Singham Goodwin’s input. What he did not mention was that just months earlier, the New York Post had identified Singham Goodwin — who spearheaded “Jews for Zohran,” an independent canvassing initiative targeting Jewish New Yorkers — as the niece of Maoist financier Neville “Roy” Singham, who has poured the fortune from the sale of his software firm, Thoughtworks, into undermining the interests of the U.S., Israel and Ukraine.
Besides running Jews for Zohran, Singham Goodwin bundled thousands of dollars in contributions for Mamdani’s campaign, including $1,000 each from her father, Daniel Goodwin, and from her mother, Shanti Singham, an academic and sister of the far-left financier.
Mamdani’s team did not respond to repeated questions about his relationship with Singham Goodwin and his reasons for consulting her as a candidate. No member of the Singham-Goodwin family replied to JI’s inquiries regarding their personal, political and financial relationships with Roy Singham, their interactions with Mamdani or their status and influence in NYC-DSA.
Business ties further link the New York-based clan to Singham, whose network of propaganda- and protest-spreading nonprofits was the subject of a recent congressional hearing: Records show that Daniel Goodwin served as Thoughtworks’ CFO and general counsel. Meanwhile, the Singham siblings have also long been politically aligned, having joined their names to the same petitions and collaborated with the same “third-worldist” scholars.
They also share a relationship with Chinese government interests. The New York Times found Neville Singham had collaborated with the country’s propaganda apparatus, while Shanti Singham holds a post at the state-controlled East China Normal University — which hails her instruction on “Pan-Africanism, Marxism and Socialism” and its “profound impact on Chinese academia” — and she has advocated for the Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes across Africa.
Singham Goodwin, meanwhile, posed for photos at a 2022 protest with her uncle’s wife, Jodie Evans, co-founder of far-left outfit CODE PINK, which the Times identified as part of her husband’s global influence operation.
Days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Singham Goodwin and Mamdani, then a member of the state Assembly, were among a raft of activists arrested for protesting outside the Brooklyn home of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over his support for Israel. A few months later, she took a photo with the future mayor at a 5K fundraiser for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Meanwhile, records show how Singham Goodwin and her parents have worked behind the scenes to advance leftist causes in New York City. Materials from NYC-DSA meetings show the trio, all members, have collaborated on resolutions shaping the group’s practices and policies, including its candidate endorsement process.
Joining the family on this last initiative was Mamdani. Singham Goodwin and Mamdani also collaborated in shaping NYC-DSA’s Socialists in Office Committee, a key instrument of its influence, through which its supported candidates agree to take direction on legislation and votes. The future mayor was an early and abiding participant of the committee during his time as a state lawmaker.
NYC-DSA did not respond to repeated queries about the family’s membership and leadership roles in the organization.
But materials reviewed by JI show that Singham Goodwin and her parents’ efforts on Mamdani’s behalf did not end with his victory last November. One week after the mayor’s January swearing-in, Singham Goodwin helped lead a DSA call with current state legislators in the Socialists in Office program on developing a “pressure campaign” to secure needed approval from the state Senate and Assembly for the mayor’s proposal to raise taxes on high-earners to finance social programs.
“We need to understand how Albany works in order to know how to push the players in Albany to get what we want,” Singham Goodwin says on a recording of the call obtained by JI. “We have to figure out what tactics we believe are going to effectively get them to do what we want.”
More recently, the Singham-Goodwin clan has been involved in the campaign of former city Comptroller Brad Lander, Mamdani’s endorsed candidate against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). Singham Goodwin is featured in multiple photos Lander has shared on social media of his canvassing team, while her parents have both donated to his campaign.
Federal Election Commission filings also show Shanti Singham and her husband have given money to Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, the mayor’s endorsed candidate to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) in Congress.
Neither the Valdez nor Lander campaigns responded to questions for this story.
Sources say that the administration had delayed the bill and watered it down due to a reluctance to impose sanctions on China, the primary importer of Iranian oil
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
An oil tanker is being pictured in the Persian Gulf near the seaport city of Bushehr, in Bushehr Province, southern Iran, on April 29, 2024.
The Trump administration intervened to water down a broadly bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Iran’s oil exports to China, sources told Jewish Insider.
The House is set to vote next week on the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act, led by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Sheila Cherfilus McCormick (D-FL), which has nearly 300 cosponsors and advanced out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in April 2025 by a voice vote, indicating broad bipartisan support. It began moving to the House floor earlier this year using a consensus measure for legislation with at least 290 cosponsors.
But the version of the bill now up for consideration is significantly different from the version that was first introduced and passed out of committee.
A congressional source and another person familiar with the legislation said that the changes, which they said would soften the impact of the bill, had been made at the behest of the Trump administration, which had delayed progress on the bill for months over concerns about placing sanctions on China, which would have been caught up in the expanded sanctions on Iran’s oil trade as the primary importer of Iranian oil.
The administration has been engaging in trade talks with Beijing, which it felt could have been disrupted by the enactment of sanctions, though the Treasury Department has still sanctioned some oil processing facilities in China under other authorities passed by Congress in 2024.
As currently written, the legislation gives the administration the authority to impose sanctions on foreign individuals or businesses that have “knowingly engaged in any significant transaction related or incidental to the processing, refining, export, transfer or sale of oil, condensates, or other petroleum or petrochemical product in whole or part from Iran” or conducted significant transactions with individuals or institutions sanctioned under a previous Iran oil sanctions bill.
The sanctions would also apply to corporate officers of such companies and immediate family members who “demonstrably benefit” from these activities.
The original version of the sanctions legislation, however, mandated the imposition of such sanctions — providing less latitude to the administration in implementing the bill — and specified that banks and financial institutions, insurance providers, ship-flagging registries, pipeline builders and operators of processing facilities would all specifically be subject to sanctions under the legislation.
It applied to successors and aliases of sanctioned companies, as well as to individuals or organizations that directly or indirectly owned or controlled a majority interest in a sanctioned institution or were majority owned or controlled by a sanctioned institution. And the sanctions applied to all immediate family members of those directly sanctioned.
The original bill applied to any transaction related to the Iranian petrochemical trade, rather than only “significant” transactions, and included specific mention of natural gas exports as well.
The updated legislation modifies the presidential waiver provision, which originally applied only if the president determined that waiving the sanctions was “vital to the national interests” of the U.S. The updated version allows a waiver if it is “in the national interests” of the country.
The original bill required the administration to notify Congress 15 days before it planned to renew a waiver, if applicable, whereas the new bill does not include any specific timeline for such notification.
The updated bill also entirely eliminates provisions creating an interagency working group responsible for working with international partners to coordinate sanctions and share intelligence.
The new version of the bill includes a provision that would terminate the sanctions if Iran ceases its malign activities.
The House will also vote next week on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, which aims to help Jewish families recover Nazi-looted artwork by eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders that have continued to hold such works.
The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
Both bills are being offered under suspension of the rules, a procedure requiring two-thirds support from the chamber.
Rep. Joe Wilson: ‘My personal point of view is that both of these [countries] are actually part of the axis of evil’
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Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) looks on during a hearing to examine war crimes from Syria to Ukraine at the U.S. Capitol on July 10, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Some Republican lawmakers said on Thursday that they’re hesitant about President Donald Trump’s decision to invite Russia and China to be part of the Board of Peace that is set to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
The administration formally announced the board’s membership on Thursday, consisting largely of countries from the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, with several major European allies declining to participate. China and Russia have also not, to this point, accepted their invitations.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) told Jewish Insider of Russia and China,“I would not have included either of those countries. I wouldn’t have included Belarus either. Belarus is an illegitimate government. It was installed illegitimately by war criminal [Vladimir] Putin.”
Wilson said he views Russia and China as “part of the axis of evil.” He continued, “The axis of evil is easy: it’s Iran, which finances Hamas, and war criminal Putin and the Chinese Communist Party. I do not see them [Russia and China] as [capable of serving as] independent law enforcement, and so it needs to be looked at, in my view.”
Wilson went on to say that, “We are in a conflict we didn’t choose, and that is of dictatorships with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law. It began on Feb. 24, 2022, with the invasion of Ukraine, and then Oct. 7, the invasion by — I won’t use the word proxies — Iranian puppets, to invade Israel. It’s very important that we show peace through strength to defend the people of Taiwan.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said of inviting China and Russia to join the board, “I don’t know what that brings.”
“I am concerned that they’re a malign influence no matter what they do. And the Middle East, Russia has always been trying to do more. I think their credibility is largely squandered with their invasion of Ukraine,” he continued.
He said the leaders of both China and Russia should face trial for crimes against humanity.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said that it made sense to invite the two U.S. adversaries but that they should not have much of a substantive role.
“To exclude them from participation would be inappropriate; to include them in any real positive influence — neither one of them contributes money, neither one of them contributes an expertise in democracy,” Issa said. “I don’t mind them being included, but I think we have to be realistic. They both lack either the generosity or the expertise necessary to create a different world for the Palestinians in their future government.”
He said that other non-democracies, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are more valuable partners given their potential willingness to contribute financially to the reconstruction of Gaza.
“And if I want others, I want them because they’re willing to demand that there be real representation and real recognition of the international rules that most of our nations live under, Russia and China not being among them,” Issa continued.
Though originally conceived to address the situation in Gaza, Trump has floated the idea that the Board of Peace will pursue a broader agenda, as a potential alternative or replacement for the United Nations, to address other global conflicts, an issue that has prevented some European allies from joining.
Republicans indicated that they’re open to that idea, citing the U.N.’s long-standing anti-Israel bias.
“I think the people of Israel would welcome an alternative to the United Nations that represented free people and democracy in a way that the United Nation skirts,” Issa said. “Israel has been the whipping boy and the piñata of the U.N. for a very long time. And so, you know, finding a group of [countries] willing and more independent and more willing to work for the greater good” could have value.
But, he added, countries like Russia and China do not need to be involved “unless they’re going to have an active and positive role,” of which he has seen no indication.
Smith, a longtime critic of anti-Israel bias at the U.N., said the body “has no credibility. The U.N. Human Rights Council doesn’t, the U.N. itself. Just like UNRWA has no credibility, ever, I feel the same way about this.”
“I think our leadership, as a country, hopefully, can make the difference,” he continued.
Wilson said he believes the board’s mission will remain focused on Gaza.
Analysts tell JI that the move ‘is not the behavior Washington can reasonably expect from a partner who would like to be trusted with the F-35’
ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images
Pakistan's Air Force fighter JF-17 fighter jets fly past during the multinational naval exercise AMAN-25 in the Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city of Karachi on February 10, 2025, as more than 50 countries participating with ships and observers.
Reports that Saudi Arabia may strike a deal with Pakistan to acquire Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 Thunder fighter jets are raising concerns in Washington, as Riyadh’s potential acquisition of the aircraft signals a continuation of its recent shift in alliances and could complicate its efforts to secure the U.S.’ F-35 jet.
The discussions between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, first reported by regional outlets, would deepen defense ties between the two longtime partners while easing Karachi’s financial strain by wiping out its $2 billion in loans from the kingdom.
The JF-17, which is widely used by the Pakistani Air Force, was jointly developed by Pakistan and China, and incorporates Chinese electronic systems and a Russian engine.
Grant Rumley, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the aircraft would offer little operational benefit to Saudi Arabia, which already fields a fleet of U.S.- and European-made fighter jets, and could instead be a sign that Riyadh is aiming to strengthen ties with multiple defense partners.
“I don’t think there’s any military justification for Saudi Arabia purchasing this plane,” Rumley said, noting that the kingdom’s existing F-15s and Eurofighter Typhoons — along with its planned acquisition of the F-35 — would significantly outperform the JF-17. “Saudi understands Pakistan is in a tough economic situation and converting it into JF-17s is a way to alleviate some economic pressure and further intensify or accelerate defense cooperation.”
Rumley added that despite the lack of military advantage from the JF-17, Saudi Arabia’s desire to acquire the fighter jet linked to U.S. adversaries raises concerns about U.S. national security and Riyadh’s political alignment, potentially prompting backlash that could complicate or even derail Riyadh’s procurement of F-35s from the U.S.
“The fact that [the JF-17] has a Russian engine and Chinese avionics means it will very likely be viewed as a security risk if it’s co-located near U.S. forces,” said Rumley, who warned this arrangement could pose a danger to the protection of U.S. intel. “The F-35 is one of the crown jewels of American military equipment. Protecting that proprietary information and capabilities is a top priority across party lines in the U.S. national security apparatus.”
Such a deal could create “undue turbulence” for Saudi Arabia’s acquisition of the F-35, potentially “complicating the discussion” around the deal and even putting it “into jeopardy,” Rumley said.
While experts said it is unlikely Congress would be able to stop an F-35 sale to Riyadh if the White House gives it the green light, they warned the JF-17 talks could provoke internal pushback within the administration, particularly among officials focused on competition with China.
“The Saudis are publicly entertaining this deal because of their dissatisfaction with U.S. policy, their desire to build leverage that brings America around to the Saudi position and, if that fails, to enable Riyadh to develop alternative security ties,” said Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “The fact that the Saudis are considering such inferior aircraft, from a less established partner, emphasizes their dislike of how the broader U.S. defense relationship is trending.”
“The China hawks within the U.S. will not look favorably on this type of arrangement in general,” said Rumley. “Buying a fighter jet that’s co-produced with China and has Chinese technologies, as well as Russian technologies, is going to burn through a lot of goodwill with the folks in Washington.”
Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said a Saudi deal for the JF-17s could also “throw a major wrench in existing defense cooperation with Riyadh,” framing the reported talks as part of a potential reassessment of the kingdom’s security partnerships.
“The Saudis are publicly entertaining this deal because of their dissatisfaction with U.S. policy, their desire to build leverage that brings America around to the Saudi position and, if that fails, to enable Riyadh to develop alternative security ties,” said Ruhe. “The fact that the Saudis are considering such inferior aircraft, from a less established partner, emphasizes their dislike of how the broader U.S. defense relationship is trending.”
He added that Saudi Arabia has historically used major arms purchases to build political leverage rather than to fill operational gaps, noting that Saudi officials have closely watched Qatar’s use of “checkbook diplomacy” to secure a unilateral U.S. security guarantee last year, even as Riyadh’s own mutual defense treaty discussions stalled.
In recent weeks, observers have noted that Saudi Arabia has increasingly pivoted away from moderation and toward Turkey, Qatar, Iran, and Pakistan, as seen in their actions in Yemen, Sudan, and the horn of Africa, along with attacking the UAE over its relationship with Israel.
“Riyadh’s current security cooperation with China is not the behavior Washington can reasonably expect from a partner who would like to be trusted with the F-35,” said Justin Leopold-Cohen, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who noted that any deal should be viewed “in the context of Riyadh’s recent naval exercises with China.”
“Saudi Arabia looks at Turkey and Pakistan and sees sort of a middleweight power that is able to exert a ton of influence in the profession of arms and is able to put platforms on the market that drive, not only revenues at home, but is also a pretty effective instrument of national power,” said Rumley. “And they [Saudi Arabia] want that.”
Justin Leopold-Cohen, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the reported talks likely reflect Saudi Arabia’s desire to “avoid overreliance” on any single defense partner, though he echoed concerns from the U.S. perspective.
“Riyadh’s current security cooperation with China is not the behavior Washington can reasonably expect from a partner who would like to be trusted with the F-35,” said Leopold-Cohen, who noted that any deal should be viewed “in the context of Riyadh’s recent naval exercises with China.”
However, Rumley argued that such a deal may not necessarily reflect “realignment from a security standpoint,” but could be “more about gaining access to some other technologies.”
“It may be that this is simply a way for Saudi Arabia to get access to these jets, rip them up, or reverse engineer them and take those technologies and use them for their own defense, industrial base development,” said Rumley.
Recent FDD reports found that Iranian oil exports have remained near peak levels in spite of U.S. sanctions, which the think tank attributed to a failure of enforcement
Florence Lo-Pool/Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony of the China-CELAC Forum ministerial meeting at The Great Hall of People on May 13, 2025 in Beijing, China.
A new bipartisan and bicameral bill is pushing for greater accountability and transparency on China’s violations of U.S. oil sanctions on Iran.
China is the largest importer of Iranian oil, in spite of the sweeping U.S. sanctions regime targeting the Iranian oil and gas industry, as well as newer sanctions that target importers of that oil, which have been recently applied to some firms in China.
Recent reports by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies have found that Iran oil exports, primarily to China, have remained near their peak level in spite of U.S. sanctions, which FDD has attributed to a “failure of U.S. sanctions enforcement.”
The new bill, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Ben Cline (R-VA), requires the administration, within a year of the bill’s passage, to determine whether the People’s Republic of China is conducting sanctionable activities with regard to Iran.
In advance of that determination, the bill requires the administration to report to Congress within 180 days on China’s purchases of Iranian oil, including how China is using shell companies and other methods to dodge sanctions, as well as on Chinese efforts to sell or transfer chemical precursors to Iran to support its ballistic missile program.
Recent reports have found that Iran has been importing materials from China to rebuild its ballistic missile program, an effort that has prompted concern on Capitol Hill.
“China’s growing purchases of Iranian oil and its support for Iran’s ballistic missile program are not just violations of U.S. sanctions—they are direct threats to regional stability and to our allies,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement, adding that the legislation “gives Congress the intelligence and transparency needed to expose how the PRC enables Iran’s most dangerous activities.”
“By bringing these transactions into the light, we strengthen our ability to enforce sanctions and hold malign actors accountable,” Krishnamoorthi continued.
Krishnamoorthi is mounting a bid for the U.S. Senate in his home state.
“China’s continued purchases of Iranian oil and its role in enabling Iran’s missile program to pose a direct threat to U.S. national security and to the stability of our allies in the Middle East,” Cline said. He called the legislation and the reporting it requires “a necessary step toward exposing how the PRC uses shell companies, transshipment schemes, and other avenues to evade sanctions.”
“This report will give Congress and the Treasury Department the insight needed to strengthen enforcement, close loopholes, and ensure that hostile regimes, and those who bankroll them, are held accountable,” Cline continued.
Blumenthal said that China’s purchases of oil are “providing significant financial support for Iran’s terrorist activities in the Middle East and beyond.”
“Transparency is the first step towards accountability, which is why our bill would require a full report on China’s oil and ballistic missile-related transactions with Iran. This information will support robust sanctions enforcement and provide a path forward for additional legislative action,” Blumenthal said.
Graham called the bill “the first step in fully understanding how China and other nations prop up the Ayatollah’s war machine.”
As they denounce the UAE’s alleged backing of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, far-left lawmakers have passed over the Muslim Brotherhood affiliations and foreign backing of the rival Sudanese Armed Forces
Tariq Mohamed/Xinhua via Getty Images
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in the vehicle, chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council and commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces SAF, departs from the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, on March 26, 2025.
In recent days, a chorus of left-wing lawmakers in Congress have ramped up their ire towards the United Arab Emirates, accusing the Gulf country of helping fuel the yearslong civil war in Sudan by reportedly backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the non-Islamist Arab force fighting the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The UAE has long denied allegations of involvement in the war. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that, according to sources, recent assessments by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department’s intelligence bureau purport to show the UAE sending Chinese drones to the RSF.
On the other side, Iran, Russia, Egypt and Turkey have provided support to the SAF, according to conflict monitors and reporting by Bloomberg and The Washington Post.
The war in Sudan has wrought havoc upon the eastern African nation, with both warring factions committing crimes against humanity. The conflict has killed as many as 150,000 people and has displaced around 12 million.
Over the more than two-year long conflict, both militias have been accused of widespread sexual assault, mass killings of civilians, torture and deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure. On Monday, the RSF captured the city of El Fasher after an 18-month blockade which saw the group effectively devastate the city, with reports of mass killings, sexual violence and the destruction of hospitals and displacement camps.
The U.S. government, under former President Joe Biden, determined the RSF was committing genocide and found both the RSF and SAF guilty of committing war crimes.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s growing influence with the Sudanese Armed Forces has alarmed experts, who warn that the SAF’s deepening ties to Islamist networks threaten regional stability and could pose a risk far beyond the eastern African nation.
“The Muslim Brotherhood has had a strong presence in Sudan since the 1940s and that presence has evolved over the years,” Norman Roule, a former senior U.S. intelligence official, told Jewish Insider. “It’s important to note that this presence is also why Iran is such a strong supporter of the Burhan [head of SAF] government.”
Liam Karr, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, who has condemned actions on both sides of the conflict, says the ties date back to former Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for several decades before the SAF overthrew him in 2019.
“The SAF is working with several Islamist brigades that consist of former Bashir-era army, police and intelligence personnel,” Karr told JI. “This includes the al Baraa Ibn Malik Brigade, which is widely associated with the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood and Bashir and has an estimated 20,000 fighters.”
In recent months, the SAF has received explosive attack drones from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to aid in the conflict, while Egypt, one of their key backers, arrested a key Islamist militia leader aligned with the group — signaling that even staunch regional supporters of the group are “growing wary of its Islamist factions,” according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies Research Fellow Hussain Adbul-Hussain.
Roule said Iran has a vested interest in providing the SAF with weaponry in order to reestablish a presence in the region and revitalize their “broken proxies,” following Israel’s degrading of its military capabilities and of its proxy Hezbollah, as well as the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.
“This is of extreme importance to the U.S. and its partners in the region, because if the Quds Force [IRGC] is able to establish a presence it lost in Syria, it would be able to reestablish training camps it operated a decade ago for Hamas smugglers, routes for weapons that it could send back into Gaza and revitalize Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as provide a transshipment location of weapons to the Houthis,” said Roule. “The Muslim Brotherhood presence in Khartoum is of serious concern for the United States and deserves much greater attention. It is a significant threat to the United States, Israel and the region.”
Anti-Israel lawmakers, including some of the Jewish state’s most vocal critics in the House, have sounded the alarm on the RSF, but have notably glossed over the SAF and its increasingly Islamist alignment.
“Sudan is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and a genocide,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in a post on social media on Tuesday. “The UAE and other arms dealers to the RSF and RSF-aligned militias must be held accountable.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) echoed the same sentiment, saying she is “horrified” by the RSF’s “mass killings of civilians.”
“We must do everything in our power to stop this genocide, including cutting off all weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates who are arming and funding this ethnic cleansing,” said Tlaib on social media on Wednesday.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) followed suit and similarly directed his criticism at the Emirates.
“I am incredibly concerned about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and the atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces,” Castro wrote on social media on Wednesday. “The United States must put pressure on the RSF and those who back it — including the United Arab Emirates — to end these atrocities.”
A number of far-left activists online have also singled out the RSF and its reported Emirati ties for condemnation.
Kenneth Roth, a virulent critic of Israel and former head of Human Rights Watch, posted on Tuesday, “British arms sold to the United Arab Emirates are being found in Sudan, where the UAE is arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces as they commit genocide.”
“Both the Biden and Trump administrations refused to hold the UAE accountable as it armed Sudan’s RSF, despite massacre after massacre, atrocity after atrocity,” wrote New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, adding, “Members of Congress are showing more responsibility and initiative.”
House Democrats, led by Reps. Gregory Meeks and Sara Jacobs, released a statement in April marking the two year anniversary of the conflict. “External actors like the UAE must immediately stop fueling the conflict by arming the warring parties,” the statement said notably only listing the UAE and omitting any mention of Turkey, Iran, Russia, and other countries who have sent arms to factions in Sudan.
A bi-partisan group of senators, including Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, released a statement on Thursday breaking in tone from the other lawmakers – condemning both sides and making mention of all nations reportedly backing the war.
“Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have committed atrocities against civilians and pursued a zero-sum war at any cost,” the lawmakers said in a statement. “Foreign backers of the RSF and SAF-including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, Iran, China and governments in the immediate region-have fueled and profited from the conflict and legitimized the monsters destroying Sudan,” the senators continued.
Secular forces in Sudan have called for the country’s Islamist movement to be classified as a terrorist group, according to Hussain. Sudan’s Civil Democratic Alliance of Revolutionary Forces (Sumud) has stated that the “Islamist movement sees no pathway for ending the fighting other than the complete submission of the Sudanese people to its terrorist regime, an arrangement that has never achieved peace.”
Karr says the Trump administration and the SAF’s own partners have put “heavy pressure” on the group to “distance itself politically from the Islamist groups.” Karr also believes pressure should be applied to the RSF.
In his second term, President Donald Trump voiced support for designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Various members of congress have introduced legislation that would require the secretary of state to use this designation, though Congress has yet to move forward with the legislation.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said the U.S. must take further action to prevent Iran from rebuilding its military capabilities, including the enforcement of sanctions
Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Streaks of light from Iranian ballistic missiles are seen in the night sky above Hebron, West Bank, as Iran resumes its retaliatory strikes against Israel.
Iran’s recent moves to rebuild its ballistic missile program, with materials imported from China in circumvention of international sanctions, are prompting concerns on Capitol Hill, with multiple lawmakers saying that the efforts should be met with a strong response from the United States.
President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, during which he agreed to cut U.S. tariffs on Beijing in exchange for a series of steps by China, including pausing export controls on rare earths and agreeing to a sale of TikTok. Trump also halted the implementation of a measure that would have banned Chinese firms that are partly owned by sanctioned companies from obtaining U.S. technologies.
No measures relating to China and Chinese firms’ continued evasion of Iran sanctions — either in supplying materials to Iran or receiving a majority of Iran’s oil exports — were announced by either side.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they had not seen the CNN reporting, which cited European intelligence that Iran was importing components of ballistic missile fuel from China, on the issue, but expressed concerns.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said he’s “not surprised” by the news because “we all have to understand that Russia, Iran, China, North Korea — they’re all working together to demolish our way of life.”
He said that he expects that the U.S. and Israel are going to have to take further military action against Iran in the future.
“We’re going to have to demolish the nuclear weapons capability. Until there’s a new leadership in Iran, the same thing is going to happen,” Scott told Jewish Insider. “They’re going to have a bad economy, the people are not going to have any opportunity and every so often, we’re going to have to have to demolish their ability to make nuclear weapons. So elections matter, and I’m glad President Trump is the president so this happens.”
Asked about whether there are ways the U.S. can pressure China to abide by the sanctions, Scott said, “I think we have leverage, but it doesn’t really matter what they agree to because they don’t do it. They lie about everything. I’m very hopeful that President Trump, the trade deal that he’s on, that it works. If you look at history, they never comply with anything.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) also said the report “does not shock me.”
“Communist China is intent on replacing the United States, and they will fund our adversaries, like they’ve been doing with Russia and Iran, to be able to cause us trouble,” Ricketts said. “How should we be responding? We should be responding very harshly to both Iran and Communist China to get them to stop.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said that China assisting Iran in rebuilding its missile program “would be a serious problem” and that he hopes Trump and his team raised the issue in trade talks.
“Rearming a nuclear-ambitious Iran or providing money and materials to a Russia that is murdering their neighbors is not a way to be able to be a nation that’s actually going to be a world leader,” Lankford said. “If China wants to be a world leader, they need to be able to encourage good behavior for other countries as well.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who has led a series of bills aiming to sanction Chinese entities for their support of Iran, called for the enforcement of existing and new sanctions.
“If reports are true that China is supplying materials to help Iran rebuild its ballistic missile program, it’s an alarming development that threatens U.S. and global security,” Lawler said. “I encourage the administration to act immediately to enforce existing sanctions and impose new ones on any parties involved. History has shown appeasement has only emboldened Iran.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said it would be a “bad idea” for Iran and China to try to rebuild Iran’s missile program.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said that he “would not be surprised” to see Iran trying to rebuild its ballistic missile capacity.
“China’s a bad actor on a lot of fronts, including with the Iranians, so I’m not shocked by that either,” Kelly continued.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that there’s “no reason to think that we have held or quenched [Iran’s] ambition to be a nuclear power.”
“We need to be vigilant and vigorous in countering that threat. I never thought that [Operation] Midnight Hammer ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear capability, because they still have the scientists with the know-how to reconstruct and somewhere under the rubble, there is still equipment,” Blumenthal said, referring to U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June. “So I am not surprised that they are continuing to take steps toward restoring their nuclear capacity, and we need to consider what action is appropriate in response.”
The parade was an example of how Beijing has used WWII not only to encourage nationalism, but to project power internationally, from Jerusalem to Taipei and beyond
Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Russia's President Vladimir Putin walks with China's President Xi Jinping and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on September 3, 2025.
China showcased its growing aggressiveness on the world stage in a major military parade on Wednesday, showing off missiles and fighter jets to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in attendance.
The parade was an example of how Beijing has used WWII not only to encourage nationalism, but to project power internationally, from Jerusalem to Taipei and beyond.
President Donald Trump pushed back against the spectacle in Beijing, writing on Truth Social that Chinese leader Xi Jinping ought to “mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader. Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! …Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against The United States of America.”
The parade came shortly after China hosted a summit with Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Eurasian leaders, deepening ties among major powers not aligned with the West. The attendees issued a communique last week strongly condemning “the military aggression launched by Israel and the United States against Iran” in June.
China has also used World War II and Holocaust terminology in recent weeks as it continues its hostility against Israel, calling Israel’s war a “genocide,” even as the Chinese Embassy in Israel held an event highlighting Beijing’s positioning with the Allies in World War II.
The recent statements reflect a broader double game China has played in its relations toward Israel, consistently showing hostility to Israel on the international stage since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks, while within Israel, the Chinese ambassador has pursued a friendlier posture.
Last month, Beijing, in a statement from the Chinese Communist Party’s Information Office, accused the U.S. of “serving as an accomplice to the genocide in Gaza.” The statement, Tuvia Gering, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said, marked the first time an official Chinese document accused Israel of genocide.
Gering told Jewish Insider that “you see the word [genocide] being used more and more by Chinese academics, and they are the ones who help formulate China’s Middle East policy … In recent months, I have been seeing it used much more frequently, as well as other accusations against Israel and Jewish people.”
“From the beginning of the war, there have been comparisons between the Jewish state and Japanese imperialists,” Gering said. “From the Chinese perspective, [Japan] did some of the most terrible things, like what the Nazis did to us. That vile, inhumane violence is ingrained in every child in China’s psyche from a young age.”
The Chinese consul-general in Osaka, Japan, has published posts on X over the course of the Gaza war comparing Israel to Nazis and “a demon … that will even devour a baby,” and saying “we must get rid of it once and for all.” Beijing has not apologized for the diplomat’s statements.
That being said, Gering posited that the use of the word “genocide” was unlikely to reflect a policy shift by Beijing “because of the sensitivity to how the word is being used against China” in relation to its Uyghur minority.
The genocide accusation came in response to the State Department’s report on human rights practices in China in 2024, which opened by stating that “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred … in China against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs.”
As such, Gering said the use of “genocide” in an official document is primarily meant to target the U.S.
Similarly, Carice Witte, founder of SIGNAL Group, a think tank focused on China-Israel relations, told JI that the statement is an example of Beijing “using Israel as a tool.”
To China, she said, “the Middle East and Israel are much more about great power competition than the local issues.”
“Israel is a very small country that is no longer of great interest to China, and its positions on Israel are not about Israel as much as they are about China’s global interests,” Witte said. “By saying the U.S. supports genocide in Gaza, that is not about Israel, but about the U.S. and the global south. Because so many countries hate Israel, [China] believes that if they criticize Israel, more countries will support them.”
A source involved in China-Israel relations who spoke on condition of anonymity told JI they heard a Chinese diplomat say that “they use the Palestinians to make trouble for the U.S. the way the U.S. uses Taiwan to make trouble for them.”
Ten days after Beijing accused Israel of genocide, the Chinese Embassy in Israel held a ceremony marking 80 years since the end of World War II in the Pacific arena, and honoring “Jakob Rosenfeld, a Jewish doctor whose heroic contribution to the Chinese people’s fight against fascism is a lasting symbol of international solidarity,” the invitation read.
Gering also noted that China has made diplomatic use of the fact that over 20,000 Jews escaped the Holocaust to Shanghai, including, famously, the entire Mir Yeshiva from Lithuania. They fled to an enclave in Japanese-occupied Shanghai that did not require a visa for entry, until 1941, when Japan forced the Jewish refugees into a ghetto and banned Jewish immigration to the city. The only Chinese diplomat known to have played a role in helping Jewish refugees was a representative of the Republic of China, which the Chinese Communist Party that currently rules China later defeated in a civil war.
Like many other countries, including China’s ally Russia, which also holds WWII victory parades, Beijing “employs selective historical memory,” Gering said. “There is a very obvious, explicit utilization of memory … Undermining or silencing the voices of victims of the Holocaust and refugees in Shanghai … When you listen to Chinese ambassadors, you think that there was a unique civilizational benevolence by the Chinese people, who opened their arms when the rest of the world rejected Jews … It’s a complete distortion of the story of the Jewish refugees who lived in squalid conditions.”
Israel generally does not push back against that narrative for “political expedience,” Gering said, explaining that “it is good for soft power to say we share their sentiment of anti-fascism.”
Witte said that China’s politicization of World War II and the Holocaust reflects a broader “two-pronged path. On the one hand, China has a big-picture policy and the Beijing stage is for the track that is harsh on Israel. Local policy, where the embassy is the stage, is the pro-Israel track.”
“Obviously, Beijing is exponentially louder, more recognized and more heard than the embassy,” she added.
Gering pointed out that Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng, who arrived at his post in December, “emphasizes friendship between Jews and Chinese people, while Chinese propaganda says Israel is committing genocide and compares Jews to Nazis.”
Xiao “has been given a mandate to act like nothing [bad] happened,” Gering added. “He even wrote an article saying not to let the war define the relationship. Even though … [the CCP] legal advisor said the Hamas attack [on Oct. 7, 2023] was A-OK, don’t split hairs, let’s talk about Chinese cars and how many Jews we saved. They’re kind of forgetting about Jews living today.”
**
Gering also expressed concerns about Beijing’s recent use of Nazi terminology to describe the government in Taiwan.
The CCP newspaper, People’s Daily, published an article that compared Taiwan’s President William Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to the Nazis. The article also described civil society groups seeking to educate Taiwanese citizens to be prepared for possible missile attacks from China and to recognize Chinese propaganda in the media as “Nazi-like.”
The article “even feigns concern for their democracy, which is ironic in a CCP mouthpiece,” Gering said.
Gering expressed concern that the language is similar to that used by Russia in the years before its invasion of Ukraine.
“The denazification card is what Putin’s Kremlin used as a pretext for its invasion and its ongoing war in Ukraine,” Gering noted. “This prompts us to ask if this is a precursor to a People’s Liberation Army [Chinese military] denazification campaign in Taiwan.”
Still, Gering said, Taiwanese politics are very divisive, and opposition politicians have also called the current government Nazis, leading to condemnation by Israeli and German diplomats in Taipei. “That gave a hechsher [kosher certification] for the CCP to use this kind of pernicious rhetoric, as well,” he said.
“In the more immediate term, it’s probably just a tactical way for the CCP to sow division and weaken the Taiwanese leadership and democratic institutions,” he added.
‘I’ve thought this alliance is somewhat weaker than we sometimes would give it credit for, and I’d slam them together and make them deal with their own internal contradictions,’ Rice said
Aspen Security Forum
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 17, 2025.
ASPEN, Colo. — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum that the U.S. should work to exploit frictions between Iran, Russia, China and North Korea, to interfere with their deepening alliances.
Rice suggested that, rather than trying to disrupt links between Iran and other adversaries, the U.S. should “slam them together” because “they actually have very little in common and they actually have a lot of problems between them.”
“Nobody could feel very good right now in their alliance about the Iranian situation,” Rice said, emphasizing that Russia had declined to provide any military backing to Iran after it was attacked by Israel and the United States, and China is also trying to “keep their heads down.”
“I’ve thought this alliance is somewhat weaker than we sometimes would give it credit for, and I’d slam them together and make them deal with their own internal contradictions,” Rice reiterated.
The co-chair of the Aspen Security Forum, a member of Biden’s national security team, noted Israel’s ‘extraordinary’ military successes
Aspen Security Forum
Former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns speaks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 15, 2025.
Former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday that Israel is now in the strongest geopolitical position in its history following the seismic changes throughout the Middle East that have taken place in the past two years.
Burns is a co-chair of the Aspen Security Forum and was a top member of President Joe Biden’s national security team.
“Israel is in such an extraordinary position. … Think about Israel being born, created May 14, 1948, besieged over decades by attacks and enmity from all of its Arab neighbors, now the strongest country in the Middle East,” Burns said as he opened the forum’s second day of events. “Israel’s in the strongest geopolitical position it’s ever been in, after the extraordinary events in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Iran, in Syria over the last two years.”
In his opening remarks at the conference the day prior, Burns said that Iran is “in its weakest strategic position since the Iranian revolution.”
“Consider the impact these turbulent series of events of the last few years have had on Yemen and on poor Lebanon, which is searching for true stability and independence, on the people of Syria. Consider the impact on the people of Gaza and the desperate situation that the people in Gaza are suffering right now,” Burns added.
The White House denied Trump’s comments signaled any policy change or the lifting of U.S. sanctions
ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images
Oil tanker SC Hong Kong is seen off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on July 2, 2012.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would allow China to continue to purchase oil from Iran, though a senior White House official denied there had been any change in policy or that sanctions would be lifted.
Trump’s comments appeared to many observers to be a reversal of his own administration’s actions just months ago and in contravention of congressionally approved sanctions designed to cut off the Iran-China oil trade, one of Iran’s most critical sources of funding.
Trump’s comments drove concern among supporters of the sanctions and Iran analysts, who believe that loosening sanctions on Iran now will help it gather funding to rebuild its nuclear program.
“China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, following the implementation of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. “Hopefully they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!”
Congress last year passed two separate bills with broad bipartisan support, the SHIP (Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum) Act and the Iran China Energy Sanctions Act, which were specifically designed to choke off the oil trade between Iran and China. A third bill, the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act, to place additional sanctions on the trade, has been advancing in the House with strong bipartisan support.
Trump’s announcement appears to mark a striking turnaround from his commitment to “maximum pressure” on Iran. Just months ago, the administration imposed sanctions on Chinese “teapot” refineries for importing Iranian oil for the first time, with the goal of pressuring Iran.
“The President is committed to drive Iran’s illicit oil exports, including to China, to zero,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in April. “All sanctions will be fully enforced under the Trump Administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran.”
A senior White House official told JI on Tuesday that “The President was simply calling attention to the fact that, because of his decisive actions to obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities and broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz will not be impacted, which would have been devastating for China.”
The official continued, “The President continues to call on China and all countries to import our state-of-the-art oil rather than import Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.”
“China is the main consumer of Iranian oil. Enabling China to continue purchasing Iranian oil violates existing sanctions and will allow Iran to rebuild its capabilities, including its nuclear program,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), the lead Democratic sponsor of the Iran China Energy Sanctions Act, told Jewish Insider.
“With the regime now significantly weakened, we must continue applying maximum pressure and cut off its sources of funding. Doing so will help protect America, our military and diplomatic assets, and our allies around the world.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the lead sponsor of both bills, did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s announcement is also driving concern from Iran analysts.
“China purchasing oil from Iran allows it to rearm, refinance and rebuild making future conflict with Israel more likely. It also gives Tehran resources to rebuild its nuclear program,” Jason Brodsky, the policy director for United Against Nuclear Iran, warned. “Also if your goal is zero enrichment in Iran, allowing China to flood Iran with resources makes that goal harder to achieve.”
Brodsky added: “The calculus behind getting China to curtail its purchases of Iranian oil is to achieve zero enrichment in Iran, which has been the president’s longstanding and rightful position.”
“If ever there was a time for more maximum pressure, it would be in a post-strike scenario to contain or roll back the Islamic Republic and prevent China and Russia from helping it ‘build back better,’” Behnam Ben Taleblu, the senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said.
Ben Taleblu also noted the sanctions “[undermine] the spirit and letter” of the administration’s executive order and national security memorandum on oil sanctions, while FDD’s CEO Mark Dubowitz highlighted that the trade “violate[s] U.S. sanctions — passed by Congress on a bipartisan basis.”
AIPAC, which urged lawmakers to support the SHIP Act, said in a statement, “We must continue to apply maximum pressure on Iran to ensure that it cannot rebuild its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.”
This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. on Tuesday to include comments from a White House spokesperson.
Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate said he was ‘deeply concerned’ by Israel’s strikes on Iran
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaks during a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. This is expected to be the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 general election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticizing Israel’s strikes on Iran and the Trump administration’s global posture, suggested that China might be better positioned than the United States to broker peace in the Middle East.
The 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee was a favorite of Israel critics on the left during the vice presidential selection process and praised anti-Israel protesters during the campaign. He is seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.
“I truly worry now. I’m sure there’s some great strategic thinkers in the Trump administration that have now said, how is this going to — a tweet from the President today said, ‘I told them, I told them, they should have done something and here we are,’” Walz said at a Center for American Progress event, to chuckles from the audience. “Yeah, here we are with the Middle East back on fire in a way that has now expanded.
He said he is “deeply concerned” about the Israeli strikes on Iran.
“Iran has to retaliate in their mind, I’m sure,” Walz continued. “And now, who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement in this, who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor, and maybe we never were, I don’t want to tell anybody that … but I think there was at least an attempt to be somewhat of an arbitrator in this.”
“Consistently, over and over again, we’re going to have to face the reality, it might be the Chinese,” Walz said, “and that goes against everything [the Trump administration] say they’re trying to do in terms of the balance of power.”
.@GovTimWalz on Israel's preemptive strikes: "Iran has to retaliate in their mind I'm sure and now, who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some kind type agreement in this? Who holds the moral authority…we are not seen as a natural actor…it might be the Chinese…" pic.twitter.com/pi4tpnc4lD
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 13, 2025
Walz also described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “intolerable.”
“It became a central focus in the campaign — and I would say rightfully so,” Walz said. “Human rights issues, how we’re going to try and attempt to get a two state solution where we can allow folks to live peacefully and coexist and have their own self control, or self determination.”
Experts warn Israel must be cautious not to sully relations with the U.S. as China once again warms to the Jewish state
Florence Lo-Pool/Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony of the China-CELAC Forum ministerial meeting at The Great Hall of People on May 13, 2025 in Beijing, China.
Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng has been on a charm offensive since arriving to his new post in December. In contrast with his predecessors, who shied away from the Israeli media, Xiao has been blanketing the airwaves and acting in ways unprecedented for Beijing: condemning Hamas and calling to free the hostages.
The ambassador’s personal outreach comes in sharp contrast to the declining relations between Beijing and Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. But now, China is seemingly trying to turn the clock back to a time when it was making major investments in Israel and inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Beijing.
Israel’s response has been inconsistent, and the Trump administration hasn’t yet raised any public objections to the outreach.
Israel’s relations with China took a nosedive after Oct. 7, with China publicly taking Hamas’ side. After the massacres of Israeli civilians, China refused to mention — let alone condemn — Hamas, speaking on Oct. 8 of “the escalation of tensions between Palestine and Israel” and accusing the U.S. of “fanning the flames.” Last summer, China hosted Hamas leaders and pressured the Palestinian Authority to bring the terrorist group into the fold. Beijing even called Iran’s missile attack against Israel last April an act of “self defense.”
Jerusalem reacted to the hostility from Beijing by expressing “deep disappointment” in China’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks; soon after, Israel signed a statement condemning its human rights violations against Uighur Muslims. A Knesset delegation, which included a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, visited Taiwan and met with its president; the delegation’s leader, opposition lawmaker Boaz Toporovsky, said Israel and Taiwan are alike in that they are “small but strong democracies in a harsh environment.”
Yet a year after the attacks and after Israel killed much of Hezbollah and Hamas’ leadership, Beijing made a subtle shift and started to speak about Israel’s “legitimate security concerns.”
According to Carice Witte, founder and executive director of SIGNAL Group, a think tank specializing in Israel-China relations, Beijing no longer viewed Israel as a regional superpower after the Oct. 7 attacks, but “after Israel’s incredible military and intelligence successes in the fall of 2024 that rewrote the narratives of Lebanon and Syria, Beijing began to change its tune — becoming less anti-Israel and less pro-Iran.”
Soon after his arrival in Tel Aviv in December, Xiao sprang into action. He praised Israeli tech companies in an interview with Israeli financial paper Calcalist. On ILTV last month, he gave the first unambiguous condemnation from China of the Oct. 7 attacks and even wore a yellow ribbon calling to bring back the hostages.
Xiao wrote several op-eds for The Jerusalem Post, including one touting “peaceful reunification” of China and Taiwan and another hailing the benefits to Israel of the private port in Haifa, built and controlled by a Chinese company. He claimed “there has never been antisemitism in China,” despite ongoing evidence to the contrary. On Yom HaShoah, he wrote in Israel Hayom about a Chinese diplomat honored by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations.”
Witte told Jewish Insider that Xiao visited SIGNAL offices within weeks of his arrival. He spoke English rather than using a translator, told Witte and SIGNAL staff to call him by his first name and acknowledged that he “has his work cut out to improve relations with Israel.”
Xiao likely received “a directive from the leadership [of China] to engage with Israel in positive ways,” Witte surmised.
At the same time, China-Israel relations have generally been business oriented, with Beijing aligning with the Palestinians on conflict-related matters even before Oct. 7.
The U.S. has long raised the alarm about Israel allowing Chinese companies to work on major infrastructure projects, the most prominent of which is a second Haifa Port, which Chinese company SIPG began operating in 2021. The issue was arguably the greatest cause of tension between the first Trump administration and the Israeli government. In response, Israel bolstered its oversight of foreign investments, but the first Trump administration and the Biden administration still expressed concerns.
Now, with the war in Gaza, U.S. negotiations with Iran and other developments in the region, the second Trump administration is giving less attention to Israel-China ties, in part, an administration official told JI, because there aren’t many new investments.
Still, there is at least one deal with a Chinese company that the Israeli Finance Ministry felt comfortable pursuing during the current Trump presidency. After Polish company PESA pulled out of supplying train cars for the Jerusalem light rail last year, amid perceived increased risk due to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, Israeli construction company Denya Cebus entered a $383 million contract to purchase 132 train cars from Chinese state-owned manufacturer CRRC.
CRRC was able to sell the train cars to Israel even though the Jerusalem light rail travels over the Green Line to parts of Jerusalem that China does not consider part of Israel. Witte posited that the contract is likely part of Beijing’s “mission … to improve relations” with Israel.
The Department of Defense put CRRC on a blacklist this year of companies affiliated with China’s military. Multiple Israeli news outlets reported in April that the Israeli National Security Council tried to block the sale from going through on the grounds that it would hurt U.S.-Israel relations. The accountant-general of the Israeli Finance Ministry, Yali Rothenberg, reportedly pushed it forward because CRRC offered the best price, amid concerns that canceling the contract could expose Israel to a massive lawsuit.
The U.S. never officially expressed opposition to the purchase, though the Biden administration had voiced concern to Israel about Chinese involvement in the light rail. American officials dropped the matter last month after a meeting with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who explained that the contract had been signed years ago, the train cars would come from a CRRC subsidiary based in Massachusetts and that a private company was purchasing the trains, not the Israeli government.
The Israeli Finance Ministry declined to comment on the matter, first reported by Calcalist, but multiple sources involved in the events confirmed them to JI on condition of anonymity.
Michael Granoff, founder of Maniv, a venture capital firm focused on transportation, told JI that “Israel’s government and public are both well behind the U.S. in understanding the risks associated with Chinese technology. The Biden administration, in its final week … outright barred Chinese EVs because of the security vulnerabilities they represent. In Israel, with no discernible government investigation, these cars have rapidly become best-sellers, and only recently have some in the military begun to restrict them from some sensitive locations.”
In addition, in March, the Israeli government announced deregulation reforms for its ports in Haifa and Ashdod, which were meant to increase efficiency, but in effect would double the capacity of the private Bay Port in Haifa, operated by China.
And as the U.S. and EU ban Chinese cars, they have become extremely popular in Israel, where their share of the market is the highest in the developed world. Over a quarter of all new cars and 92% of plug-in hybrid cars delivered to Israel in the first quarter of 2025 were Chinese. The spike in purchases of Chinese cars came even as the IDF would not lease Chinese vehicles for its senior officers, saying that the cars did not meet security standards.
Michael Granoff, founder of Maniv, a venture capital firm focused on transportation, told JI that “Israel’s government and public are both well behind the U.S. in understanding the risks associated with Chinese technology. The Biden administration, in its final week … outright barred Chinese EVs because of the security vulnerabilities they represent. In Israel, with no discernible government investigation, these cars have rapidly become best-sellers, and only recently have some in the military begun to restrict them from some sensitive locations.”
Granoff lamented Jerusalem’s “utter negligence” in allowing “vehicles that transmit incalculable volumes of data to a totalitarian regime allied with many of our enemies to become ubiquitous on our roads without consideration for the vulnerabilities they represent.”
He warned that the Trump administration is unlikely to tolerate increased entanglements between Israel and China.
“Despite the massive differences between the Biden and Trump administrations, their outlook on China is strikingly similar,” Granoff said. “Both understood that China is a totalitarian state that undermines human rights and that seeks to overtake the United States as the world’s leading economic and military superpower.”
Granoff noted that it would be impractical for the U.S. or Israel to disentangle completely from China, but the governments need to recognize the risks. “Israel must avoid being … captured” and put in a situation where it can only use Chinese companies for its needs, he said.
Ruth Pines-Feldman, a research fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security, similarly pointed out that the Trump and Biden administrations both viewed China as the main threat to the U.S. She said that President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East was meant to push back against China’s growing ties with American allies in the region, and as such, “we may see the Trump administration pressure Israel to stop cooperation with China.” (Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov is also a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute.)
“They clearly don’t like cooperation between Israel and China, but Israel, as a small and threatened country, did the right thing to keep up relations not only with the U.S. but with the other rising power in the world,” she added, and said the U.S. was right not to pressure Israel to cancel its contract with CRRC.
“In China, the situation for Israel is still not good,” said Carice Witte, founder and executive director of SIGNAL Group, a think tank specializing in Israel-China relations. “The anti-Israel propaganda pushed into social media created a high level of anti-Israel sentiment that could take years to change. At the same time Beijing will continue to be hard on Israel to differentiate itself from the U.S. and generally try to create difficulties for the U.S. It will also take a hard stance on Israel to curry favor with the Global South countries. They provide the votes in the U.N. that help China reshape global governance in its favor.”
Still, Pines-Feldman said that Israel needs to continue with its system of extra oversight for foreign companies working in major infrastructure projects in order to ensure that Israeli interests, including relations with the U.S., aren’t harmed. She also pointed to concerns about China’s close relations with Russia and Iran as a reason to be cautious.
“We need to be careful about this and continue our special supervision mechanism, but it would not be good to cut off ties. We need to find a balance,” she said. Israel “has to know how to handle both powers and use the competition between them for our own good. That’s the political game.”
Despite Xiao’s overtures to Israelis and continued business ties between Israel and China, Witte warned that “in China, the situation for Israel is still not good. The anti-Israel propaganda pushed into social media created a high level of anti-Israel sentiment that could take years to change. At the same time Beijing will continue to be hard on Israel to differentiate itself from the U.S. and generally try to create difficulties for the U.S. It will also take a hard stance on Israel to curry favor with the Global South countries. They provide the votes in the U.N. that help China reshape global governance in its favor.”
Witte also posited that Beijing is trying to improve relations with Jerusalem so that Israel does not try to block Chinese involvement in reconstruction projects in Syria and Lebanon. “If Israel supports any Chinese companies, that should come with reciprocity,” she stated.
Witte said that “China’s charm offensive will only be a problem for the U.S. if it leads to Israel selling new and emerging technologies to China or in other ways supports China’s aim to lead in cutting edge technologies.”
“It would also be a problem if Israel inadvertently fails to ensure its own interests in the face of China’s new approach,” she added.
Addressing the war in Gaza, the outgoing White House national security advisor said, ‘just having Israel say: OK, we accept the cease-fire. We have to just stop — at a time when all of these hostages are being held — that doesn’t wash.’
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in his final days in office, said on Tuesday that China, Russia and Iran are “demonstrably weaker” after President Joe Biden’s time in office, during a wide-ranging conversation on “The Ezra Klein Show” podcast.
Questioned by Klein about whether President-elect Donald Trump is better suited to bring back international order as “a strongman” leader, Sullivan responded, “I believe we are in a plastic moment in the world, a time when our competitors are trying to challenge the system in a profound way. It’s true of China, it’s true of Russia, it’s true of Iran. And they’re doing so trying to push the boundaries of what they can — for lack of a better term — get away with. And I believe that, in a period like this, there is no way to prevent all crises, all turbulence. I don’t think that is a viable endgame for American foreign policy.”
Sullivan continued, “I think the endgame for American foreign policy should be: Can we manage that period without our getting dragged into a major conflict? We have done that. Can we manage that period with our alliances stronger than we found them? I think it is indisputable that we have done that. And can we manage that period where our adversaries are weaker than we found them? In all three cases — China, Russia, Iran — I think the record is clear that they are demonstrably weaker.”
Addressing the Biden administration’s approach to Israel and the Middle East conflict, Sullivan said, “What we have tried to do is adopt a policy that says: We are going to continue to support Israel in its attempt to defeat terrorist enemies and to deter Iran. We are going to do so, including through the provision of military assistance. At the same time, we are also going to be unflinching in our critique of Israel, where we believe they have gone too far. And we are going to push them to a better place on things like humanitarian assistance.”
The war in Gaza, Sullivan said, “continues to be a daily struggle, in part because we are trying to deliver this cease-fire and hostage deal. And just having Israel say: OK, we accept the cease-fire. We have to just stop — at a time when all of these hostages are being held — that doesn’t wash.”
At the end of the interview, Sullivan gave listeners a book recommendation: Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to A.I., by Israeli writer Yuval Noah Harari, which was published in September, 2024. Sullivan said he thinks “everyone should read this book.”
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