MICHIGAN MATTERS

Rep. Shri Thanedar faces serious challenge from far-left state legislator

State Rep. Donavan McKinney lost decisively to Thanedar in 2020, but is building progressive support by running to his left

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) arrives to the U.S. Capitol for the last votes of the week on Thursday, July 20, 2023.

By

Marc Rod

July 2, 2026

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) is facing a serious primary threat from state Rep. Donavan McKinney, a left-wing challenger backed by several anti-Israel groups including Justice Democrats and TrackAIPAC.

Those groups are riding high, coming off of a recent wave of congressional primary victories in New York City and, most recently, Colorado, which they say point to a desire for a leftward shift in the Democratic Party and, in particular, rejection of support for Israel and pro-Israel groups among the Democratic base. Thanedar is one of their next top targets.

Thanedar is one of the few Democrats who has gotten more supportive of Israel during his tenure in Congress, even as the party has become more hostile to the Jewish state. As a state legislator in 2021, he co-sponsored a resolution calling for a halt in U.S. aid to Israel, which described Israel as an “apartheid state” and accused it of “countless human rights violations.”

Thanedar sought to walk back his support for the resolution during his 2022 primary, but the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project backed his opponent, then-state Sen. Adam Hollier, in that race. The independently wealthy Thanedar was able to counter with millions in his own spending.

After comfortably winning the contested 2022 primary, Thanedar met with supporters of Israel and traveled to the Jewish state, ultimately reinventing himself as a strong pro-Israel voice and picking up support from the Jewish community. That stance has since cost him support among progressives.

McKinney was the first challenger to an incumbent endorsed by Justice Democrats this cycle, and is also supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and former Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) — all anti-Israel voices. (Former Rep. Brenda Lawrence, who was strongly pro-Israel during her time in office, is also endorsing McKinney’s campaign.)

Thanedar may be particularly vulnerable, given that he represents a district with a large Black population in and around Detroit with a history of Black representation. He’s also built something of an odd public persona in Washington, including an effort to force a vote on impeaching President Donald Trump earlier this year, which he ultimately walked back after pressure from House Democratic leadership.

“We haven’t seen any publicly available polling in this race yet in this primary, but Shri has to be feeling at least somewhat vulnerable here in that today he’s been able to avoid a heads-up primary against a Black Detroiter and now he’s got a heads up primary against a Black Detroiter,” Adrian Hemond, a Michigan political strategist, told Jewish Insider.

Given his district is in an “overwhelmingly majority Black city,” which had at least one Black member of Congress since the 1960s and now has none, “Congressman Thanedar is going to have some work ahead of him to get those folks to pull the lever for him and not to have Black representation in Congress.”

Hemond — who has been publicly critical of Thanedar as ideologically flexible — said that Thanedar isn’t necessarily disliked at home, but has a “reputation as being odd,” and has faced criticism over poor constituent services — often an Achilles heel for Democratic lawmakers who’ve lost primaries in recent years — in part because he has struggled to maintain staff in his office.

But, Hemond argued, McKinney — who has gone on the road visiting other states and districts to stump for fellow progressive candidates — shouldn’t be “confident at all” in victory because “Shri’s got a lot of money, and it’s not like this hasn’t been attempted before.”

McKinney, Hemond said, may be somewhat to the left of the district as a whole, but his views are largely aligned with the Democratic primary voter base, more so than Thanedar’s own. In order to win the district, he continued, McKinney will need to out-organize Thanedar on the ground, particularly in ensuring his supporters return their absentee ballots, which are set to go out at the end of the week.

“If you have a better absentee program than Shri Thanedar does, you should win this election,” Hemond continued, adding that “it looks like they’ve got the pieces in place to be able to run a really strong absentee chase effort, and if they do, it’s going to bode real well for him come 9 o’clock on election night.”

Daily Kickoff

The socialist wave washes over Colorado

Plus, Bruce Pearl's warning to JD Vance

Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros speaks to supporters at an election-night watch party after winning the Colorado primary on June 30, 2026 in Denver, Colorado.

By

JI Staff

July 1, 2026

Good Wednesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover the results of yesterday’s Democratic primaries in Colorado, where the momentum for far-left, anti-Israel candidates in the party continued. We talk to House Democrats about whether they think Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of their party and highlight the division within their party over a push by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to slash $3.3 billion in military aid the U.S. is set to provide Israel. We also report on a failed effort, which most House Democrats voted for, to block U.S. support for Israeli operations against Hezbollah. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ellie Cohanim, Bruce Pearl and Mark Isakowitz.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

Technical delegations from the U.S. and Iran are meeting separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha, but have no plans to meet directly. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the focus of ‌the discussions is the release of Tehran’s frozen funds and the Strait of Hormuz, while President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that the negotiations would focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
The Wall Street Journal reveals that after Saudi Arabia blocked U.S. military access needed for Project Freedom — Trump’s operation to crack open the Strait of Hormuz — and prompted the White House to threaten to withhold missile interceptors from the kingdom, the confrontation triggered a widening rift in the U.S.-Saudi relationship, with the U.S. now considering reducing its military footprint in the kingdom. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Gulf last week but skipped a visit to Saudi Arabia; the week before, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declined an invitation to attend the G7 summit in France, reportedly in protest of the U.S.’ handling of the war with Iran.
Some of the most prominent figures in U.S.-Israel diplomacy, Israeli national security and the American Jewish community are gathering at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, to help train a new generation of leaders confronting Israel’s evolving strategic challenges, as part of a pilot program that ends on Thursday. Among the faculty is former Ambassador Dennis Ross, the veteran Middle East negotiator who advised four U.S. presidents; Howard Kohr, the former longtime executive director of AIPAC; and Malcolm Hoenlein, who for decades served as executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy.
The Herzliya Conference wraps up today in Israel: Among the many top national security and political officials speaking are former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid; former Israeli Ambassadors to the U.S. Danny Ayalon and Michael Herzog; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro; EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann; Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot; Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Liberman; Democrats party leader Yair Golan; Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas; and Nadav Tamir, executive director of J Street Israel.
And the Aspen Ideas Festival concludes today in Colorado. Jeff Flake, the former U.S. senator and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey; the Atlantic Council’s Ian Brzezinski; and the Stimson Center’s Emma Ashford will speak on a panel about the “next chapter of the trans-Atlantic relationship.”

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Progressives in Colorado scored a number of key victories Tuesday night, including Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidate Melat Kiros’ defeat of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) in the state’s 1st Congressional District.

The Colorado results suggest that, far from being contained to a few scattered congressional districts in New York City, the momentum for far-left, anti-Israel candidates is only growing within the Democratic Party, especially within urban population centers.

Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student, campaigned on her hostility to Israel and faced scrutiny when she declined to call the firebombing attack on a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., antisemitic. DeGette, despite a long-standing progressive record in Congress, struggled to satisfy a critical mass of Democratic voters who preferred a more radical choice, especially when it came to opposing Israel.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) survived a scare from a little-known socialist challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, but only won renomination with less than 60% of the Democratic vote. Even in the vote-rich Denver suburbs, the far-left challenger came within striking distance of the state’s well-known senator and former governor.

Former state Rep. Shannon Bird, a moderate championed by Democratic Majority for Israel, lost badly to state Rep. Manny Rutinel for the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s swing 8th District, currently held by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO). With most votes counted, Rutinel holds a 28-point lead over Bird, 62-34%.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

PLATFORM PUNT

Top Democrats won’t commit to supporting Israel’s security in party platform

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) walks to a House Democrat caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 31, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

The official 2024 Democratic Party Platform, released by the DNC for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that party leaders “believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States” and that the party’s “commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself … is ironclad.” Several House Democrats, including in leadership and top progressives, however, remain divided or noncommittal over whether Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of the Democratic Party, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

What they’re saying: When asked on Tuesday whether support for Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be an official policy position of the Democratic Party moving forward, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) instead told JI that Democrats are “continuing to focus on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption in an environment where the Trump cartel is the most corrupt administration in American history.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also did not provide a concrete answer, telling JI she is “less concerned with slogans” and more interested in “what it would mean in terms of policy.”

Read the full story here with additional comments from Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Jim McGovern (D-MA).

Breaking away: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she’ll no longer accept support from AIPAC, a major break with the pro-Israel group by one of the key power players in the House, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

DEM DEBATE

Democrats remain divided over push to eliminate Israel aid amid House floor gridlock

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., leaves the U.S. Capitol after the last votes of the week on Friday, May 15, 2026.

House Democrats remain divided over a push by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to slash $3.3 billion in military aid the U.S. is set to provide Israel in the 2027 State Department funding bill, and top Democratic leaders are continuing to keep their own positions vague, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Consideration of the amendment is now delayed until at least July 13, after hard-right Republicans again brought proceedings on the House floor to a halt.

Where things stand: House Democratic leaders on Tuesday declined to say how they plan to vote or advise other members to vote following a closed-door caucus meeting. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said, “Those conversations are ongoing,” while No. 3 House Democrat Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) suggested that U.S. “aid and support” for Israel may not “go on forever.” Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, joined colleagues on other national security committees in saying he’ll oppose the amendment, but progressive leaders maintained that many members will support the effort.

Read the full story here.

War powers play: Nearly all House Democrats voted for a war powers resolution on Tuesday that aimed to block U.S. support for Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, though the legislation failed to secure a House majority, with nearly all Republicans and 22 Democrats voting against the measure.

RED SCARE

Democratic leaders brush off Avila Chevalier’s posts praising communism, say she’s changed

Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks at a rally at King’s Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City.

Asked about New York City congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier’s reported past comments supporting communism, House Democratic leaders suggested this week that she had changed and moderated her views,Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Jeffries’s defense: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said, when asked about Avila Chevalier’s previous comments supportive of communism, that Avila Chevalier is “going to have to speak for herself in terms of what she said in the past” but said she has been “pretty clear that she’s walked away from many of the things that have been unearthed, and has pretty clearly indicated that she’s a different person, but that’s for her, ultimately, to communicate, and I’m confident that she will, as best she can.”

Read the full story here.

Party problem: New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin — the first Jewish person to hold her role — slammed a newly elected Brooklyn Democrat’s promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories, but declined to call her commentary disqualifying, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

BORN IN THE USA

Several Jewish groups celebrate Supreme Court ruling protecting birthright citizenship

Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Several Jewish groups celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to uphold birthright citizenship and strike down a Trump administration executive order that aimed to eliminate citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and those in the U.S. on temporary visas, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Weighing in: The American Jewish Committee, HIAS and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism all joined an amicus brief against the executive order with various other religious groups, and praised the Supreme Court’s decision. The National Council of Jewish Women and Jewish Council for Public Affairs also weighed in in support of the justices’ ruling.

Read the full story here.

PEARL OF WISDOM

Bruce Pearl won’t commit to backing JD Vance in 2028 unless the VP breaks from Tucker Carlson

Bruce Pearl speaks at a Christians United for Israel event.

Bruce Pearl, the veteran former Auburn University men’s basketball coach, told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that Vice President JD Vance needs to “make a decision” about his continued association with far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, warning that his support of Vance’s expected 2028 presidential bid will be contingent on the vice president severing ties with the antisemitic podcaster.

‘Enemies of the state’: Pearl, who is currently splitting his time between pro-Israel political advocacy and serving as an analyst for TNT and CBS Sports, made the comments in an interview with JI on Monday while discussing the rise of right-wing antisemitism and the prominence of Carlson, neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and other commentators who promote antisemitic ideas within the America First right-wing movement. Pearl argued that Carlson and Fuentes “are absolutely enemies of the state. What they’re doing is treasonous, it’s disgusting and it’s not based on fact. It’s based on lies and propaganda and antisemitism. They’re bought and paid for, but they’ve got huge followings.”

Read the full interview here.

COHANIM COMEBACK

Former antisemitism official Ellie Cohanim tapped as advisor to U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz

Luke Moon speaks onstage during the Allied to Fight Extremism panel at Unite Against Extremism on April 29, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for End Jew Hatred / The Lawfare Project)

Ellie Cohanim, who served as deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism in President Donald Trump’s first term, recently joined his administration as a senior policy advisor to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Waltz announced on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Cohanim was born in Tehran and left Iran as a child in 1979, following the Islamic Revolution. She came with her family to New York.

Waltz’s words: “Ellie’s story is the American story,” Waltz said in a statement. “Her family fled persecution in Iran, built a life in New York, and she has spent her career looking for ways to serve America, fighting for freedom, standing with the persecuted, and calling out antisemitism wherever it hides. That is exactly the kind of conviction and courage we need at the United Nations.”

Read the full story here.

Scoop: As Washington prepares to host a weekend of July Fourth hoopla on the National Mall, senior Trump administration officials, diplomats and Jewish communal leaders will gather on Friday evening across from the Lincoln Memorial for a Shabbat dinner celebrating America’s 250th birthday.

Worthy Reads

When the DSA Came for Lander: Park Avenue Synagogue Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove penned a letter dated two years from now, published in the New York Daily News, to New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, predicting that he will be ousted by a Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate in the next primary. “They told you it was never about being a Jew — only about being a Zionist — as if the two could be peeled apart, as if your Jewishness had nothing to do with the nation they demanded you disown. There’s an old teaching about the man who thinks he can ride the tiger and dismount whenever he likes. You didn’t tame the coalition you joined. You were, for one term, useful — until the moment it decided to disown you. You could renounce the policy, the lobby, even Zionism, but you could not renounce being a Jew.” [Daily News]

Drone Prone: Foreign Policy’s John Haltiwanger unpacks Israel’s “Hezbollah drone problem.” “After the fighting resumed in March, it wasn’t long before explosive drones were a leading cause of battlefield deaths for Israel in Lebanon. As a result, Netanyahu established a team of experts to address the issue and pledged to give the IDF an unlimited budget to address the Hezbollah drone threat. But there are no simple solutions. … In ancient Rome, gladiators used nets to entangle opponents before moving in for the kill. Today, Israeli troops are using the same primitive tool to defend against drones and intercept them before they reach their targets. The situation is indicative of how militaries have struggled to find countermeasures to drones and have been forced to adapt, particularly as the technology evolves at such a rapid pace.” [FP]

Separate But Equal: Hannah Rosenthal, former special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism under the Obama administration, argues in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency against the proposal of combining the role of the antisemitism envoy with that of the special envoy on Holocaust issues. “The office of special envoy on antisemitism and the special envoy on the Holocaust are complementary, but not duplicative. The former works to address contemporary antisemitism, hate crimes, extremism and government policy around the world. The latter focuses on historical justice, restitution, remembrance, archives and Holocaust-era accountability. The United States deliberately created separate offices because both missions are full time responsibilities.” [JTA]

Jews Turning on Israel: Actor and Jewish commentator Jonah Platt argues in a post on X against the trope of the young, “self-hating” Jew in an essay on X. “It’s maddening. It’s dangerous. It’s irresponsible. It’s shameful. But it isn’t nefarious. It isn’t Jew-hatred, it isn’t self-hatred, and honestly, it isn’t that hard to understand. These are disconnected, uneducated people, surrounded by like-minded peers, all reinforcing one another in a disconnected, uneducated worldview — one they’re not especially invested in anyway, and focus on only because progressive society says they’re supposed to.” [X]

Word on the Street

President Donald Trump is considering returning to a full-scale military conflict with Iran and has discussed the idea with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reports, but has decided to continue on the diplomatic track for now…

In an analysis of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies found that the Trump administration is “evidently not applying [the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act’s] requirements and restrictions to the MOU, apparently on the basis of an opinion from the Department of Justice,” but the White House and DOJ “have apparently not shared this surprising opinion, or its arguments, with either Congress or the public”…

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Monday that he did a “happy dance,” after Iran was knocked out of the FIFA World Cup, telling reporters that Iranian officials tried to bring into the U.S. individuals with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that accommodating the team while protecting national security had demanded incomparable attention…

The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center — a coalition comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the U.S. — announced joint sanctions against five entities and 16 individuals tied to Hezbollah’s financial network…

Oman has submitted a proposal to the U.S. for Muscat and Tehran to collect service fees from shipping companies seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to The New York Times. One of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on Monday if Iran was unable to come to an arrangement with Oman it would move forward on its own…

A person close to the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC told CNN many of its contributors weren’t very politically active until New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign victory, which was the “moment that inspired them and brought them into the fold”…

Former Vice President Kamala Harris called Mamdani last week, and is holding lengthy, closed-door meetings with Palestinian activists in the run-up to a possible presidential campaign, Axios reports…

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, warned of the “tremendous danger and fear” for American Jews as they are being “dehumanized” and antisemitism is “becoming normalized”…

Phylisa Wisdom, the liberal activist appointed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as executive director of his Office to Combat Antisemitism, got a harsh reception at a Holocaust memorial event in Brooklyn on Sunday. Video from the event shows a small group of hecklers booing, calling Wisdom a “kapo” and shouting that she was supportive of Adolf Hitler, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

Far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed dismissed a question on CNN about the Democratic Party’s “embrace” of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker as a “ridiculous way to think about politics”…

Adam Jentleson, former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) who went on to found the center-left Searchlight Institute think tank, urged Democrats to “just say no to AIPAC,” arguing the pro-Israel organization has “evolved from a group to a ‘Group,’” in the pejorative sense…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited southern Lebanon on Tuesday for the first time since the U.S.-brokered security agreement was signed last Friday. Netanyahu told IDF troops, “We will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed”…

“Pod Save America” co-host Jon Lovett said the harassment of California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march last week was “as pure antisemitism as you can see”…

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jewish man from Ohio who was barred from holding Shabbat prayer meetings in his home without a “special use permit” and later faced harassment from city officials who encouraged neighbors to watch his home for signs of religious activity…

Haaretz tracks the carbon footprint of FIFA President Gianni Infantino as he has traveled between World Cup matches across North America on a Qatari private jet, racking up 47,337 kilometers (29,000 miles) from the tournament’s opening days through the first knockout match, after championing the body’s sustainability strategy…

Ellie Gottheimer and Larra Mullin, the children of Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, are releasing Shmoo & Ozzie Go to Washington today, a children’s book on bipartisanship. Proceeds from the book will go to support homeless children…

Mark Isakowitz, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA)’s chief of staff, is set to release a book in January about his personal journey following the loss of his father, who immigrated to America after surviving Auschwitz, and Isakowitz’s daily practice of reciting the mourner’s prayer at a synagogue in Washington, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports…

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner tapped Carolin Hulshoff Pol to serve as CEO of Telegraph Media Group following the German media company’s completion of its £575 million acquisition of the British publisher, ending a three-year ownership transition…

Former Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Amikam Norkin is a leading candidate to head Anduril’s operations in Israel, as the American defense tech company explores a major expansion into the Israeli market, Calcalist reports…

The Iranian regime plans to take over St. Peter Evangelical Church, the oldest Protestant church in Iran, and evict the 20 families living there, The Free Press reports. The theocratic regime had thus far left it alone in fear of the U.S.’ retaliation, according to the outlet…

The Washington State Democratic Party adopted into its platform during its June convention an amendment blaming the “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism … in part [on] actions taken by the Israeli government,” Jewish News Syndicate reports…

Pentagon official Jason Olson has departed his position as the director of deradicalization for the Gaza Board of Peace, an official from the body told The Times of Israel, as the BoP is convening for discussions in Cyprus…

Tuesday marked the end of Steffen Seibert‘s four-year term as German ambassador to Israel. In a farewell social media video, he paid tribute to the country by listing 25 things he will miss. Seibert is succeeded by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who most recently served as the German Ambassador to Moscow…

Judah Gribetz, who as a top aide to Gov. Hugh Carey helped negotiate New York City‘s rescue from financial collapse in the 1970s and later devised a distribution plan for $1.25 billion in restitution to Holocaust survivors in a landmark class-action suit against Swiss banks, died Friday at 97…

Pic of the Day

Comedian Judy Gold spoke at an event hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Washington, “A Zionist LGBTQ+ Celebration,” at Adas Israel Congregation on Tuesday — a night of solidarity in memory of Sarah Milgrim, the embassy staffer murdered alongside her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May 2025. Milgrim spent her time at the embassy building bridges between Israel and marginalized communities, including D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community.

Birthdays

CANNES, FRANCE – APRIL 08: Mike Burstyn attends the “The Zweiflers” Photocall during the 7th Canneseries International Festival on April 08, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Television, film and theater actor, including early career roles in Yiddish theater, Michael Burstein turns 81…

Applied mathematician, statistician and physicist, professor emeritus at both MIT and Harvard, Herman Chernoff turns 103… Former U.S. assistant secretary of education and former research professor at NYU, Diane Silvers Ravitch turns 88… Nobel laureate in economics for 1997 and co-creator of the Black-Scholes model for valuing options and other derivatives, Myron Scholes turns 85… Noted British art dealer and founder of an eponymous London art gallery, Victoria Marion Miro turns 81… Born in a DP Camp to her Holocaust survivor parents, she was the first Jewish woman to serve on the Canadian Supreme Court, Rosalie Silberman Abella turns 80… Israeli-Russian businessman, with holdings in energy and international real estate development, Shalva Chigirinsky turns 77… Partner in the Encino, Calif.-based law firm of Nolan Heimann, Douglas E. Mirell… Campaign, communications and fundraising consultant, Robert Kaplan turns 69… Hall of Fame player and coach in the WNBA and now an NBA broadcaster, Nancy Lieberman turns 68… Attorney and longtime Democratic activist in Pittsburgh, he is a regional chair of the ADL, Steven D. Irwin turns 67… Senior columnist at The Forward and former CEO of the A-Mark Foundation, Rob Eshman… President emeritus of the Orthodox Union and a retired partner at Ropes & Gray, Mark “Moishe” Bane… Under secretary of state for political affairs during most of the Biden administration, Victoria Jane Nuland (family name was Nudelman) turns 65… Journalist, filmmaker and educator, he is the co-founder of Aish[dot]com, Shraga Simmons turns 65… Professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, Benjamin Brown turns 60… Member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2014, Marcus Bertram Simon turns 56… U.S. senator (R-IA), Joni Ernst turns 56… Screenwriter, producer and film director known for romantic comedy films, Marc Silverstein turns 55… Los Angeles resident, Adam B. Siegel… NASA astronaut, on her 2019 trip to the International Space Station she took novelty socks with Stars of David and menorahs, Jessica Meir turns 49… Co-founder of Edgeline Films, Elyse Steinberg… Hasidic musician mixing elements of dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and R&B, known by his stage name DeScribe, Shneur Hasofer turns 44…

Platform punt

Top Democrats won’t commit to supporting Israel’s security in party platform

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Greg Casar were noncommittal when pressed by JI

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., right, and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., hold their press conference following the House Democrats caucus meetings in the Capitol on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

By

Matthew Shea

July 1, 2026

Several House Democrats, including in leadership and top progressives, remain divided or notably noncommittal over whether Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of the Democratic Party moving forward.

The official 2024 Democratic Party Platform, released by the DNC for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that party leaders “believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States” and that the party’s “commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself … is ironclad.”

However, the Democratic Party has continued to face internal division over how to exercise that support, or to what extent that support should continue to exist at all.

When asked on Tuesday whether support for Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be an official policy position of the Democrat Party moving forward, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was noncommittal and avoided the question.

He instead told Jewish Insider that Democrats are “continuing to focus on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption in an environment where the Trump cartel is the most corrupt administration in American history.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also did not provide a concrete answer, instead telling JI she is “less concerned with slogans” and more interested in “what it would mean in terms of policy.”

“I think what is being litigated, and what has been litigated, is that it’s a vague statement,” Ocasio-Cortez said on whether the Democratic Party should affirm Israel’s right to exist as an official platform position. “I’m less concerned with slogans and more about the United States’ commitment in honoring its own laws and defending and protecting human rights and preventing war, catastrophe and needless death across the board.”

Ocasio-Cortez said that the main “ideal” behind the party’s approach to Israel is that “Palestinians are safe, that Israelis are safe” and that conflict in the region is “de-escalated.”

“I think that when we start litigating phrases that are not attached to the material commitments, then we create a lot of conflict where there doesn’t need to be,” she added.

Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said that the party’s position is clear on supporting the safety of Israeli civilians, but argued that there is a difference in providing funds to an Israeli government that some Democrats disagree with.

“Democrats have been very clear — every Democrat I’ve spoken to has been very clear that security, peace and safety for Israeli civilians is a priority and is our position,” Casar said. “It’s just that I don’t think that giving $3.3 billion in weaponry to the Netanyahu regime actually helps with that cause.”

Casar said he believes “deeply in the safety and security of everyday folks in Israel.”

“What I think is at issue here is the human rights violations that have occurred because of decisions by the Israeli government and the Israeli military, and the fact that I think America’s national security interests, as well as, in my view the security interests of everyday people in Israel … are being harmed by Netanyahu’s decisions.”

Meanwhile, other House Democrats expressed strong backing for continued support of Israel. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the No. 3 Democrat, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said support for Israel’s existence and security should “absolutely” remain part of the Democratic Party platform moving forward.

“I think that supporting a free Jewish state is important for Democrats and it’s important for our country,” Aguilar said. “Israel is a lone democracy in the region.”

“That doesn’t mean that we agree with everything that Israel is doing, and we shouldn’t sign onto a policy statement that says that, and we wouldn’t,” Aguilar continued. “But do they have a right to exist and defend themselves? Yes, but the manner in which they conduct [themselves] that matters a great deal to Democrats.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), similarly said: “Absolutely, of course it should be.” He criticized “right-wing politics and right-wing government” for having “undermined” Israel. “We’ve got to stand up for the democratic forces in Israel and against all of that reactionary politics.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) stated that while “everybody [in congress] … all have their own individual opinion” on the subject, he believes that “Israel has a right to exist” and that “[Israel’s] security should be ensured.” Still, the Massachusetts congressman issued sharp criticism of the Jewish state’s handling of the war in Gaza and said the Democratic party platform should “stand loud for human rights.”

“I also believe that what Netanyahu is doing against Palestinians are war crimes and they need to stop,” McGovern said. “So I think we need to, in our party platform, make it clear that we stand loud for human rights, that we are committed to the human rights of every single individual on this planet.”

A Pew Research Center poll published in April of this year found that 8 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents responded as having an unfavorable view of Israel. Among Democrats 76% of those 50 years or older hold unfavorable views of Israel, while 84% of Democrats 18-to-49 years old held negative views.

Earlier this year, the DNC referred a resolution on Israel – which would have labeled the Jewish state’s actions in Gaza as a genocide and called for conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel – to a working group on the Middle East.

BREAKING AWAY

Top Appropriations Democrat Rosa DeLauro says she’ll reject AIPAC support

DeLauro has long publicly affiliated more closely with J Street than AIPAC, but AIPAC has maintained its support for and endorsement of the senior Democrat

(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) questions Interior Secretary Doug Burgum during a House Appropriations Committee hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on April 20, 2026 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

June 30, 2026

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she’ll no longer accept support from AIPAC, a major break with the pro-Israel group by one of the key power players in the House.

As the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, in line to again be the committee chair if Democrats retake the House, DeLauro has significant sway on federal funding matters, including the provision of aid to Israel.

DeLauro has long publicly affiliated more closely with J Street than AIPAC, and has staked out some positions more critical of Israel, including floating conditions on U.S. aid. But AIPAC has maintained its support for and endorsement of the senior Democrat, whose voice can be crucial to advancing its priorities.

“Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is taking no contributions from AIPAC. She did in prior years when she believed Israel was acting like a strategic partner & was committed to a two-state solution,” DeLauro’s campaign manager Allison Dodge said in a statement posted on X. “It is abundantly clear now that the Netanyahu government has no interest in either.”

Dodge emphasized that DeLauro has “repeatedly called out the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s annexation of the West Bank,” as well as pushed for additional aid to Gaza and an amendment in the 2027 Defense Appropriations bill that would “ensure U.S. weapons and equipment are not being used in violation of the ceasefire.”

PARTY PROBLEM

‘No place’ for Brooklyn Dem leader’s antisemitism, NYC Council speaker says

Julie Menin, the first Jewish Council speaker, stopped short of calling for Carmella Charrington to resign

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Council member Julie Menin speaks during rally of 240 Holocaust survivors for 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas during terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

By

Will Bredderman

June 30, 2026

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin — the first Jewish person to hold her role — slammed a newly elected Brooklyn Democrat’s promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories, but declined to call her commentary disqualifying.

Jewish Insider reported on Friday that Carmella Charrington, elected in Tuesday’s far-left wave to the unpaid but important party position of district leader with help from politicians in the Democratic Socialists of America, last November shared an antisemitic video endorsing industrialist Henry Ford’s infamous antisemitic pamphlet series The International Jew.

The video, which Charrington declared “the truth” and demanded become “the topic at the table,” blamed Jews for everything from gay rights to slavery and rehashed paranoid fantasies about a world-spanning plot to dominate the media, banks, controlled substances, and the education system.

“Obviously I strongly disagree with those views, and those views are deeply, deeply offensive,” Menin, a Manhattan lawmaker, told JI at an unrelated press conference at City Hall. “It’s unacceptable, it’s abhorrent, and there’s no place for that, and I’ll leave it at that.”

However, she did not answer JI’s question as to whether Charrington’s views should bar her from holding the role to which she was elected, which wields significant power over local party leadership and judicial nominations, as well as positions in the city Board of Elections.

Charrington, who deleted the post after speaking to JI, did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. She initially defended her post as “facts” on Friday, and told a JI reporter to “get your rabbi,” before issuing a written apology to The New York Times and on social media, vowing to “start a dialogue with my Jewish neighbors.”

To date, none of the officials JI has pressed have called for her to resign. This includes state Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assembly nominee Eon Huntley, both prominent DSA leaders who campaigned alongside her and helped her make the ballot, although both denounced her remarks.

Councilman Chi Ossé, another prominent DSA member who helped make Charrington’s legal battle to recover control of her family brownstone a citywide cause celebre, also condemned the content of her post without calling her out personally. Similarly, fellow district leader Mark Hanna — who served as Charrington’s election attorney and also is the treasurer of the anti-AIPAC American Priorities PAC — argued her commentary “can be a teachable moment” rather than an occasion for criticism.

Charrington has long claimed to have been a victim of deed theft, a form of fraud, and on Friday blamed some of her legal problems on Jewish investors and a Jewish judge.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James found that her residence was sold as part of a complicated dispute over the estate of her infirm father, who the New York City Sheriff’s office took custody of in Brooklyn on Saturday and returned to Georgia, where a court had declared him a ward of the state.

Daily Kickoff

California Dems’ antisemitism hesitation

Plus, moderates’ big Colorado test

Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images

California state Sen. Scott Wiener during the San Francisco Pride Parade on June 28, 2026 in San Francisco, Calif.

By

JI Staff

June 30, 2026

Good Tuesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview tonight’s Democratic primaries in Colorado, where a wave of Democratic Socialists of America-backed challengers is testing whether even the party’s pragmatic epicenter is vulnerable to the socialist left, and report on comments by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, downplaying concerns about the party’s response to antisemitism. We cover the conflicting messaging put out by the U.S. and Iran about the continuation of talks in Qatar, and report on remarks by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) on the expected timeline for a final agreement between the countries. We also follow up on the reactions to the harassment of California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march, highlighting a divide between politicians who described the incident as antisemitic and those who did not. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Susie Wiles, Gen. Frank McKenzie and Luke Moon.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Qatar to represent the U.S. in talks with Iran, as the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The technical talks on the memorandum of understanding meant to be taking place separately are also up in the air — Iran’s foreign ministry said an Iranian technical delegation will be in Doha this week but will not be meeting with American officials. More below.
Representatives of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace are meeting this week in Cyprus as they seek to advance plans for a committee of Palestinian technocrats to replace Hamas in governing the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reports. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sits on the Board of Peace’s executive board and has recently taken on a larger role in the organization, is set to participate in the “strategic workshop” being held from Tuesday to Thursday.
Colorado voters will head to the polls in today’s Democratic primaries, where moderate candidates are fearing a far-left wave. More below.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will testify before the House Appropriations Committee where he is expected to address the White House’s $88 billion supplemental funding request for the war with Iran and FY2027 budget request.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington will hold a “Zionist LGBTQ+ celebration” on the last day of Pride Month in memory of slain embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim’s allyship.
In Israel, Reichman University’s Herzliya Conference kicks off, focusing this year on national security and national resilience. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the confab, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; Amos Hochstein, who served as a Middle East envoy under former President Joe Biden; former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo; former Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi; journalist Barak Ravid; and Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Colorado is a state famous for its moderation, with its governor (Jared Polis) and two senators (Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper) among the most pragmatic figures in Democratic politics. So if a far-left, anti-Israel wave sweeps over the Democratic Party in tonight’s statewide primaries, it will be a true wake-up call for those downplaying the rise of the socialist left.

The biggest race we’re tracking — and the one where a Democratic incumbent looks most vulnerable — is the primary between longtime Rep. Diana DeGette, 68, an influential progressive who has left an imprint on major legislation in Congress, and Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated 29-year-old doctoral student Melat Kiros, whose deep-seated antagonism against Israel is a top focus of her campaign.

Kiros is the latest example of how radical candidates running for office on their hostility toward Israel are also indulgent of the rising antisemitism around them. Her political awakening came after she was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin for writing a public letter denouncing the hundreds of law firms that signed a petition calling on law schools to do a better job addressing antisemitism on their campuses.

Kiros was angered that the law firms considered those calling for the elimination of Israel as antisemitic. In the last week, she also refused to call the firebombing of a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., antisemitic. Sense a pattern?

As JI’s Marc Rod reported, Kiros’ extreme views have done little to dent her support in a progressive Denver-area district that DeGette has easily held for the last three decades. In March, DeGette barely won the 30% of the vote from party activists necessary to qualify for the primary ballot — in what could be a foreshadowing of the primary results tonight.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

California Democrats divided over calling harassment of Scott Wiener antisemitic

State Sen. Scott Wiener during San Francisco Congressional District 11 Candidate Forum in San Francisco on Jan. 7, 2026. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Elected officials in California swiftly condemned an incident last week in which protesters accosted and harassed California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march, with one demonstrator shouting “F*** you and your Zionist handlers. F*** you and your Israeli masters.” A divide emerged, however, between the politicians who described the incident as antisemitic and those who did not. It was the second such incident in days, after Wiener was harassed at a bar by a protester demanding he say “Free Palestine” on camera, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Reactions: Wiener told CNN on Monday that the incident was “absolutely” antisemitic. “There were elected officials in that march who have not taken the positions that I’ve taken, and they were left alone,” said Wiener, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the San Francisco-based seat. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is Jewish, criticized the incident as “targeted, hateful and antisemitic.” San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Wiener’s competitor in the congressional race who is running to his left, said in a statement that she stands “firm against threats of violence and hate speech. There is no place for hate and violence in our city.” Asked whether Chan believed the specific incident targeting Wiener to be hate speech, a spokesperson for Chan declined to say.

Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), Pelosi, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for governor in California.

Leadership message: Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, responsible for electing House Democrats, downplayed concerns about the party’s response to antisemitism in the wake of New York City elections that elevated several far-left candidates, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “If you look across the board and talk to individual candidates, that’s not representative of where other candidates land,” she said in an interview with former NBC News anchor Chuck Todd.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

California Democrats divided over calling harassment of Scott Wiener antisemitic

Wiener said the incident where he was accosted at a pride march was ‘absolutely’ antisemitic; only a few California elected officials said the same

Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

State Sen. Scott Wiener during San Francisco Congressional District 11 Candidate Forum in San Francisco on Jan. 7, 2026.

By

Gabby Deutch

June 30, 2026

The language used by protesters who accosted and harassed California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march last week left little doubt that they harbored a deep-seated hatred toward Israel and Zionists. “F*** you and your Zionist handlers. F*** you and your Israeli masters,” one person shouted at Wiener as he walked toward a Pride Shabbat event, according to a video posted by one of the activists.

Wiener, who is gay, said in a social media post that the protesters were so “physically and verbally aggressive” that he had to leave the event, which he has attended every year since its inception in 2004, entirely.

He told CNN on Monday that the incident was “absolutely” antisemitic. “There were elected officials in that march who have not taken the positions that I’ve taken, and they were left alone,” said Wiener, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the San Francisco-based seat.

Wiener is a Jewish progressive who supports the U.S.-Israel relationship, but during the congressional primary he shifted further left and, under pressure from activists in January, described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide. Even after the reversal, he continues to be targeted by activists who deem him insufficiently critical of Israel.

The trans march incident — which came days after Wiener was harassed at a bar by another protester who demanded he say the words “Free Palestine” on camera — was quickly and roundly condemned by elected officials in California. A divide emerged between the politicians who described the incident as antisemitic and those who did not.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is Jewish, criticized the incident as “targeted, hateful and antisemitic” in a social media post.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told Jewish Insider in a statement that Wiener was targeted for being Jewish.

“It is sincerely disturbing to see Jewish lawmakers, including Senator Wiener, face deliberate and ugly attacks,” Schiff said. “Dissent and discourse should be expected during a campaign, but this is something totally different, and not within the bounds of what’s appropriate in a liberal democracy. When lawmakers are being targeted and harassed because they are Jewish, and viewpoints are being ascribed to them based on little more than their religious affiliation, that is a problem.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) said in a statement that the actions against Wiener were “unacceptable” and “crossed a line.”

“We’ve seen a deeply troubling rise in antisemitism, violence and hate of all forms directed at people in public life, and we have a responsibility to push back strongly against it,” Padilla said.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Wiener’s competitor in the congressional race who is running to his left, said in a statement that she stands “firm against threats of violence and hate speech. There is no place for hate and violence in our city.”

Asked whether Chan believed the incident targeting Wiener to be hate speech, a spokesperson for Chan declined to say.

“In this moment, what matters is how State Senator Scott Wiener felt and feels about the interactions. We must stand in solidarity against hate whenever someone tells us they are experiencing hate,” said Julie Edwards, the spokesperson.

Pelosi, who endorsed Chan in the race, said in a statement that the harassment against Wiener “went too far, and I condemn all forms of threats and intimidation which have no place in American political debate.” Rep. Ro Khanna said in a post on X that what happened to Wiener “was simply wrong,” but used his condemnation to promote an amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut all U.S. aid to Israel.

Outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom did not respond to requests for comment.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for governor in California, weighed in as well, though he did not say if it was antisemitic. “We want people to be able to express their First Amendment right, but do it in a way that respects one another,” he told The San Francisco Standard. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Republican nominee Steve Hilton, who has not spoken about the incident.

The state’s legislative Jewish caucus — which Wiener used to chair, until he stepped down earlier this year following criticism of his use of the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza — said the harassment definitively amounted to antisemitism.

“This was the latest in a series of hateful incidents targeting Senator Wiener that are part of a broader effort to exclude, isolate and ostracize him because of his Jewish identity,” declared a statement from the caucus, which is chaired by Los Angeles state Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel.

Jewish leaders in California also decried the targeting of Wiener as antisemitic.

“Attacking Jewish officials will not in fact ‘free Palestine.’ But these antisemitic incidents are sinister reminders to every Jew why we need Israel,” Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, wrote in a post on X. Jewish California, a statewide coalition of Jewish groups, argued in a statement that “political grievance” is merely a “pretext” for attacking Wiener, while “his Jewishness is the target.”

“The sin that he committed in going to the trans rally was he’s Jewish,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said on “Morning Joe” on Monday.

After Wiener was forced out of the trans march, his campaign received the highest number of single-day donors since it launched, he told The San Francisco Standard.

WALK-BACK

Top Armed Services Democrat flips on U.S.-Israel cooperation provision in defense bill

Adam Smith, a reliable supporter of Israel, said he would now join progressives in his party to oppose a provision bolstering a close U.S.-Israel alliance

Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, during a hearing on May 14, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

June 28, 2026

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, now says he plans to support efforts to strip a provision on U.S.-Israel cooperation from the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, after arguing strenuously against similar efforts during the committee’s markup of the same bill weeks ago.

The provision, based on the FUTURES Act, is relatively routine, creating a single official to oversee all U.S.-Israel cooperative programs in developing and acquiring defense technologies, and builds on existing programs. But critics have falsely claimed the provision would irrevocably link the U.S. and Israeli militaries and undermine American sovereignty.

Smith himself said during the committee markup that the way critics have described the amendment “is simply not accurate” and that the provision should not be treated as a referendum on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

In a message to constituents viewed by Jewish Insider, Smith said he now supports removing the provision.

“I previously opposed removing Section 224 because I looked at the ways the provision benefits the U.S. and helps us improve our anti-drone and anti-missile technologies,” Smith said in the message. “I still believe that Section 224 is something that primarily benefits the U.S., but after several conversations with constituents, I agree with the position that this provision is about more than just the U.S. working to improve our defense technology.”

Smith described his new opposition as based on Israeli activities in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran — despite arguing just weeks ago that, “taking a step back from using technology that is available to us just because we strongly disagree with where Israel is at right now, I think would be a mistake.”

“In the context of these ongoing conflicts, Section 224 carries meaning beyond the plain text substance of the provision. I want to advocate for peace and pressure Israel to meaningfully work with partners in the region to bring these conflicts to an end,” Smith said. “I cannot support endless conflict even though I support Israel’s right to exist. For these reasons, I will vote to remove Section 224 from the National Defense Authorization Act if it comes to the Floor.”

He emphasized in his message his criticisms of Israel and suggested that constituent feedback on the issue had helped shape his changing position on the subject — an indication of how grassroots pressure in blue districts is pushing traditionally pro-Israel members to the left on Israel policy issues.

Smith said previously that the amendment is ultimately a boon to the U.S. military by allowing it to benefit from Israeli innovations, and that its actual impacts are relatively minor.

“This is not a new framework,” Smith said during the committee meeting, noting that the U.S. already has three existing cooperative programs with Israel to develop new technologies, and that the provision does not create any new programs. “To say that this is us bowing to the bidding of Israel on this is completely inaccurate. The reason we’re doing this is because we benefit from that technology development.”

Smith did not respond to a request for comment about his new position on the provision.

An effort to strip the provision out of the bill did not come to a recorded vote in the committee — they were blocked by a voice vote. But Smith’s newfound support for removing it suggests that a significant number of Democrats will vote similarly.

RIPPLE EFFECTS

House Appropriations Dems warn of broader consequences of Massie effort to cut aid to Israel

The memo comes as House Democrats reportedly fret over an effort to strip U.S. military funding for Israel out of the State Department’s annual funding bill

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) speaks to reporters as he arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

June 28, 2026

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee are warning that an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut aid to Israel from the State Department’s annual funding bill could have further-reaching consequences than intended and impact a range of other programs and issues, Jewish Insider has learned.

Those concerns come amid reports of an outpouring of agita among House Democrats about how to approach the amendment — a reflection of how far debate among Democrats over aid to Israel has shifted.

Though Massie has focused his messaging around the amendment on the $3.3 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel laid out in the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, the amendment also includes blanket language stating that “none of the funds made available under this Act shall be obligated or expended for Israel.”

Democrats on the Appropriations Committee are warning that it would be up to the State Department to interpret how to implement the amendment, but that the amendment would likely also require the department to withhold funding for joint U.S.-Israel development programs in underserved countries, the Middle East Partnership for Peace program, the Middle East Regional Cooperation program supporting Israeli-Arab scientific cooperation and longstanding funding for refugee resettlement in Israel — a line item that dates back to efforts to resettle Soviet refugees.

The legislators believe, depending on the State Department’s interpretation, it may also defund U.S. Embassy operations in Israel, U.S. support for the Palestinian Security Forces, educational and cultural exchanges and even U.S. military sales to Israel not funded by the U.S.

Democrats on the committee are also emphasizing that Israel is one of 35 recipients of U.S. military funding, that the funding includes requirements on how it is used and that the orders in question generally take years to fulfill.

Funding for cooperative missile-defense programs with Israel would not be impacted by the amendment, as that funding comes through the defense appropriations process, a separate bill.

The amendment was originally set to come up for consideration this week in the House but — amid a rebellion by some House Republicans over the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act, President Donald Trump’s top-priority voter ID bill — Republicans were unable to approve a procedural vote to open consideration of the State Department bill.

House Democrats are set to hold a virtual meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation.

AIPAC has been lobbying aggressively against the amendment, with an action alert to members urging them to contact their representatives in Congress to oppose the amendment. In messaging for Democrats, the group emphasized that the memorandum of understanding was finalized by the Obama administration and in the eight appropriations cycles since, “Congress has thus far never failed to ensure Israel has the resources it needs to defend its families.”

“Israel is on the front lines fighting against our shared enemies in the Middle East,” the AIPAC messaging reads. “Robust U.S.-Israel security cooperation is vital to advancing our mutual security interests around the world. Cutting funding for assistance to Israel would embolden our adversaries and undermine a key pillar of longtime U.S. national security policy.”

The message also describes Israel as a “model ally” defending the U.S. and shared values against common enemies and the funding as a “smart and cost-effective investment.”

J Street is also opposing the amendment, focusing on its impacts on MEPPA, MEPI and MERC, which the group says “play an important role in peacebuilding and people-to-people relations, including focusing specifically on Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding in the case of MEPPA.”

The group did not specifically defend the military funding but said it “supports a rapid and responsible phaseout of the $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel when the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding expires in FY2028 and believes the United States should honor its existing commitments rather than abruptly terminating assistance.”

At the same time, it offered talking points for members who ultimately support this amendment: “Given the realities on the ground, Members may choose to support this amendment,” adding that members should note that the funding does not impact missile defense and should express support for restoring civil programs.

The anti-Israel group A New Policy is also claiming in messaging to members that the U.S. funding for Israel set to be disbursed this year would be consistent with the MOU because of the additional funding appropriated in the 2024 national security supplemental bill. But the MOU specifically guarantees $3.3 billion to be provided annually each year, without consideration of any additional funding provided in other years.

DMFI is also urging lawmakers to reject the amendment, emphasizing both the military and non-military impacts.

“Israel is facing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region. Cutting off Israel entirely would not create peace. It would embolden America’s adversaries and make a wider regional war more likely,” the group said on X, emphasizing that U.S. support to Israel ultimately helps defend the U.S. and keep American forces out of harm’s way.

DMFI also said that offensive weapons systems are needed to prevent attacks before they happen, and that “eliminating all U.S. funding for Israel is not serious oversight. It is abandonment without a plan.”

Trump urged Republicans to abandon their obstructionist tactics on the issue, and their weekly schedule released Friday indicated that Republican leadership intends to seek to bring the State Department appropriations bill forward again in the coming week.

Lawmakers are also slated to consider the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act on the floor next week.

That bill will bring with it more fights over the U.S.-Israel relationship, with plans by Massie to offer an amendment to eliminate a relatively routine provision on U.S.-Israel military cooperation that that far right and far left have falsely framed as a merging of the American and Israeli militaries and a surrender of U.S. sovereignty to Israel.

Had the House opened consideration of the State Department bill last week, it was also set to consider an amendment by Massie on cutting U.S. funding for Jordan, including military aid, as well as an amendment by Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) banning any funding for the U.N. and an amendment by Roy to cut funding for the Middle East Partnership Initiative, which funds educational exchange programs for students from the Middle East, among other programs.

J Street, in its communications with lawmakers, offered more robust support for the military funding for Jordan.

ROCKY ROAD

Will Colorado’s primaries be the far-left insurgency’s next big wins?

Rep. Diana DeGette is facing a formidable challenge from DSA-backed Melat Kiros, who recently declined to call the Boulder firebombing attack antisemitic

RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

From left, Wanda James, Diana DeGette and Melat Kiros participate in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum on May 28, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.

By

Marc Rod

June 26, 2026

The wave of victories for Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates in New York City on Tuesday is buoying the hopes of progressives that the far left can pull off upsets against two Democratic incumbents in Colorado’s Tuesday primary elections.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) is facing a challenge from Melat Kiros, whose campaign has attracted substantial national attention and backing from several anti-Israel organizations and individuals including the Justice Democrats, DSA, Sunrise Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, TrackAIPAC, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Chris Rabb, Hasan Piker and, most recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) is also facing a DSA-aligned challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, though her campaign hasn’t garnered as much attention as Kiros’.

Just this week, in an interview with the local channel 9News, Kiros declined to call the firebombing of a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo. last year antisemitic.

“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator. All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed, and I don’t even know what the people that were at that protest believed too,” she said. “I don’t know what his intentions were.”

The House voted unanimously last year to condemn the attack as an antisemitic incident. Only Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), two of the leading anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress, voted present.

Kiros lost her job at the law firm Sidley Austin in 2023 for publishing a column denouncing hundreds of top law firms that called on law schools to do more to address antisemitism on their campuses. The column argued that calling for the elimination of Israel is not antisemitic and defended Hamas and those who have expressed support for it.

Kiros has made a complete arms embargo on Israel a central part of her campaign and has described the war in Gaza as a genocide and Israel as an apartheid state.

“I believe that our selling of arms to Israel, defensive or offensive, gives them the cover to continue the genocide that’s taking place in Palestine, and now the ethnic cleansing that’s taking place in Lebanon,” Kiros said in the local interview.

Kiros said in the interview that she did not agree with Piker that Hamas is a “lesser evil” than Israel, and denied that she thought the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were justified.

Jim Carpenter, a Democratic political strategist in the state, predicted that DeGette “will ultimately win” but “this is certainly the toughest primary challenge she’s had in a really long time, if ever, since she was elected — lots of visibility, lots of interest.”

A poll commissioned by the Justice Democrats found Kiros leading DeGette 41-36%.

Multiple local venues recently declined to host a rally led by Kiros and Piker, which Kiros blamed on pressure from DeGette’s donors — something DeGette’s campaign has called “ridiculous.” Piker and Gonzales, citing security threats, declined to appear at a rescheduled rally in front of the state Capitol.

DeGette has been blasting Kiros over her affiliation with Piker, highlighting the streamer’s comments — supporting Hamas, dismissing sexual violence on Oct. 7, claiming that the U.S. deserved 9/11 and that he “hate[s] this country so much.”

“If Melat Kiros wants to campaign with someone who said America deserved 9/11 we’d do nothing to stop her,” a DeGette spokesperson told Colorado Newsline.

Carpenter highlighted the Sanders endorsement of Kiros as particularly valuable, noting that the senator has been popular in the state. But he also highlighted the significant influx of outside spending that has flowed into the race in favor of DeGette and targeting Kiros.

One group, Pro-Choice Majority Action, has spent more than $1.5 million boosting DeGette and attacking Kiros. Some observers have tied that spending to AIPAC, noting that the group took in close to $900,000 from EDW Action Fund, which in turn received $1 million from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project in May.

A UDP spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. DeGette has not been consistently supportive of Israel, including signing a letter calling for unilateral U.S. recognition of Palestinian statehood and opposing additional offensive aid to Israel, but UDP has at times supported candidates not fully aligned with AIPAC’s policies in the interest of defeating others with more extreme records.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a former Progressive Caucus chair, also recorded a last-minute video offering support for DeGette, describing her as critical to advancing Medicare for All.

Meanwhile, Justice Democrats has spent more than $500,000 supporting Kiros and opposing DeGette, and the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC has spent $150,000 in support of Kiros.

Carpenter told Jewish Insider that, particularly in the wake of a party delegate vote earlier this year when DeGette was badly beaten by Kiros and came close to falling short of the threshold to appear on the ballot, the congresswoman has been campaigning aggressively.

Carpenter said that the anti-DeGette vote might ultimately come out split: University of Colorado Regent Wanda James is also challenging DeGette, and is likely to win support from some Black voters.

Though some in the progressive sphere have interpreted the New York City victories as a sign of momentum for an ascendant far left nationwide, Carpenter said that the results in New York don’t necessarily reflect Colorado’s own voting base.

“Colorado’s politics are very different,” he said. “All politics are local. I get the enthusiasm, and I get everybody trying to point to a trend and all of that. I just don’t think that’s going to hold in Colorado. Denver is very liberal but it’s a different kind of Democrat than the DSA.”

Gonzales is less likely to pose a serious challenge to Hickenlooper, the state’s former governor, having trailed significantly behind him in fundraising. “Gonzales just hasn’t had the resources really to compete statewide,” Carpenter said.

She’s been visible on social media and active in the Denver media market but “she just hasn’t had the ability to do paid advertising in a way that I think is any kind of real threat to Hickenlooper,” Carpenter said. Hickenlooper’s biggest vulnerabilities may be his age, 74, and a perception of him as an establishment Washington Democrat.

But Hickenlooper has also “taken this very seriously” and has been campaigning actively, reminding voters of his record during his two terms as senator and one term as governor, Carpenter said. The state also allows unaffiliated voters to choose the party’s primary in which to vote, and such voters have typically been a boon for Hickenlooper in the past, Carpenter added.

From the start of her campaign, Gonzales has made criticism of Israel a centerpiece of her bid, accusing Israel of genocide, supporting an arms embargo and fundraising based on her opposition to Israel and AIPAC. TrackAIPAC also endorsed Gonzales.

Also on Tuesday, state Rep. Manny Rutinel faces former state Rep. Shannon Bird in a primary for a key swing seat held by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO). Carpenter said that the race is difficult to predict and both have been strong candidates with built-in advantages and key endorsements.

Democratic Majority for Israel is supporting Bird and called the race one of its top priorities for the cycle. Bird has long been a strong supporter of Israel and vocal in opposition to antisemitism. Rutinel’s views on Israel have been less clear, and his past as a campus activist has worried some pro-Israel Democrats.

As an undergraduate at the University of Florida, according to a local news report, Rutinel attended a demonstration co-organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, but a Rutinel spokesperson, in a statement to JI, denied that Rutinel had any affiliation with SJP and said the demonstration was focused on police brutality in the U.S.

“Manny supports Israel’s right to exist and supports a two-state solution with secure borders to bring peace,” a campaign spokesperson said. Rutinel also “supports U.S. security assistance to Israel in line with the Obama administration’s 2016 memorandum of understanding,” the spokesperson added.

Carpenter said that Bird has a longer political record and deeper roots in the district, which she has leaned on in her campaign, but also may face headwinds from a perception of her as a moderate Democrat. Rutinel might benefit from the substantial Latino vote in the district.

“Bird is making the argument that because it’s a swing district that is more moderate … that’s what’s going to appeal” in the general election, Carpenter said. “That’s a harder message in a Democratic primary.”

Rutinel leaned into more of a progressive posture but “it seems to me like he’s trying to moderate that a little bit, and has gotten tripped up in a couple of debates on some of the more left progressive positions that he had taken in the past. It’s not a simple progressive-versus-establishment divide there, but it is kind of shaking out that way,” Carpenter continued.

Bird is also backed by moderate groups including the NewDems, Blue Dog PAC and Welcome PAC, as well as EMILY’s List and Elect Democratic Women.

Rutinel is backed by an array of both moderate and progressive lawmakers including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Lou Correa (D-CA), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), Emily Randall (D-WA), Luz Rivas (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Pat Ryan (D-NY).

The state’s gubernatorial primary is also set for Tuesday, where recent polling shows Attorney General Phil Weiser taking the lead for the first time against Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). The poll was conducted by a group supporting Weiser and showed that a significant portion of the voting base is still undecided.

Carpenter said that Weiser’s last-minute surge might signal that Bennet’s longtime service in Washington is being seen as a negative on the campaign trail, and he’s been tagged as not being anti-Trump enough in his time in the Senate.

But he said he didn’t think that the anti-establishment mood would necessarily be sufficient to oust DeGette or Hickenlooper, noting that Weiser himself is a well-known quantity and popular among Colorado Democrats going into the race.

“I think he benefits a little bit more from that than Gonzales or Kiros would,” Carpenter said.

ON THE HILL

House committee advances three bills to combat campus antisemitism

The anti-BDS Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act garnered the most bipartisan support of any of the three bills

Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) speaks at a hearing called "Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos" before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2024 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

June 26, 2026

The House Education & Workforce Committee advanced three bills to combat antisemitism on college campuses, with little support from Democrats, at a markup on Thursday.

The committee approved the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, which would make schools engaged in a “nonexpressive commercial boycott of Israel” ineligible for federal student aid funding; the Student Protection and University Accountability Act, which would overhaul how discrimination complaints are handled on campuses, with schools that fail to comply facing a loss of federal funding; and the No Antisemitism in Education Act, which would require schools to treat antisemitic discrimination, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, in the same manner as racist discrimination.

The anti-BDS Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act garnered the most bipartisan support of any of the three bills, picking up votes from Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Haley Stevens (D-MI) and John Mannion (D-NY), with nine other committee Democrats voting against the bill.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), a lead sponsor of the bill, emphasized the important results that have come from the U.S.-Israel partnership and said that anti-Israel boycott efforts “have been weaponized to isolate Jewish students, silence Jewish faculty and cut American universities off from invaluable intellectual and research partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.”

She emphasized that institutions supported by federal funding, which aims in part to support research and training overseas, have made moves toward such boycotts.

“This legislation does not dictate viewpoints, does not prohibit anyone from expressing their opinions. Individuals remain free to advocate, protest or engage in political speech protected by the First Amendment,” Foxx said. “Students can still choose to abstain from products made in Israel, but what Congress cannot and should not tolerate is taxpayer money being used to marginalize Jewish people and undermine Israel’s major strategic partner status enshrined in law.”

Scott, the ranking member on the committee, expressed opposition to the BDS movement but called the bill “a solution in search of a problem,” pointing to the fact that no institution of higher education has actually joined the BDS movement, and that efforts to force boycotts by student or faculty governance bodies have been consistently rejected by administrators.

But he said that the bill does not appear to run afoul of constitutional concerns at play in other anti-BDS legislation, and ultimately supported the bill.

Votes on the Student Protection and University Accountability Act split entirely along party lines, with all Democrats voting against the legislation, despite bipartisan support outside of the committee.

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) said that the bill aims to address the “confusing reporting processes” and lack of transparency around investigations that Jewish students and families have faced when filing Title VI complaints.

Current statute allows universities to set their own policies and procedures for handling complaints, leaving students “navigating inconsistent procedures and uncertain outcomes,” Fine said.

He said the bill would increase “transparency, accountability and oversight” for both schools and the federal government, ensure that complainants are kept informed and understand the decisions made, ensure that students know how to report discrimination, provide Congress with greater oversight of the Office for Civil Rights’ work and ensure that OCR investigates cases.

Scott argued that the bill has some similar provisions to legislation he supports, but said that it “is hard to consider these bills from the majority that put affirmative responsibilities on the Department of Education when the department is illegally being dismantled.”

He and other Democrats argued against providing additional responsibilities to OCR at a time when the administration is cutting its staff and is attempting to reassign its responsibilities to the Department of Justice.

Scott also criticized provisions in the legislation preventing OCR from dismissing complaints in instances where there are pending cases with other agencies or courts relating to the same incidents, arguing that this change would only exacerbate the OCR backlog.

Along party lines, the committee blocked two amendments proposed by Scott. One aimed to stymie the administration’s efforts to reassign elements of the Department of Education to other agencies — including moving OCR to the Department of Justice. The other sought to authorize increased funding for OCR.

Two Democrats, Norcross and Hayes, voted with Republicans for the No Antisemitism in Education Act, with all other Democrats on the committee opposing it.

Fine, the bill’s lead sponsor, argued that the legislation only requires schools to treat antisemitism as they would any other form of discrimination under Title VI, making the case that such incidents have not been handled with the same seriousness as other forms of discrimination.

“It simply says that we cannot discriminate in how we deal with discrimination. And to object to that view means that you think that we should,” Fine said. “It means that you think some minority groups deserve superior protection to others.”

He said that the bill mirrors legislation he passed as a legislator in Florida, which he credited for decreasing the prevalence of antisemitic incidents in the state.

“With that seven years of experience, we have largely eradicated the problem. It’s time to take this experiment from our laboratory of democracy and make it nationwide,” Fine said.

Scott said that the bill aims to “rewrite civil rights law in a manner that is grossly inequitable and probably unconstitutional.” Title VI does not include religious discrimination, he noted, even as it has been interpreted to include discrimination based on shared ancestry or identity, including discrimination against Jews and other religious groups.

“His bill would elevate the treatment of antisemitism above any other form of racial or religious discrimination. Rather than amend Title VI directly, the bill attempts to piggyback on the provisions of Title VI, asking those provisions apply to religious discrimination as well, but only for antisemitic discrimination,” Scott said, though he said he did not believe that was Fine’s intent. “This bill would position Jewish victims of discrimination differently than Christian, Muslim, Sikh or other religions who are victims of discrimination.”

He also decried the bill’s use of the IHRA definition, saying it would silence constitutionally protected speech — even though the definition has already been utilized by the Department of Education for years.

Dem dynamics

Rep. Josh Gottheimer says moderates need to stand up against incoming socialist bloc

He called the influence of DSA in the party ‘a growing cancer’ that Democrats ‘cannot ignore’

GETTY IMAGES

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., leaves the U.S. Capitol after the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

By

Marc Rod

June 26, 2026

In the wake of a trifecta of victories by far-left candidates in New York City primaries on Tuesday — in addition to several other radical insurgents expected to join the House next year — Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a leading moderate Democrat, said that Democrats of his ilk need to stand firm and push back.

Gottheimer told Jewish Insider on Wednesday that he’s concerned the incoming Democratic Socialists of America-aligned lawmakers will be coming to Washington to “wreak havoc in Congress,” rather than focusing on affordability and protecting national security, and warned they will try to “hold the party hostage” to their socialist views.

“Common-sense Democrats will fight back … when they try to push some part of their socialist agenda, whether that’s anti-cop, anti-American, we’ll stand up and block it. I’m not going to allow the party to be hijacked by a bunch of socialist agenda,” Gottheimer said.

Right-wing Republicans have repeatedly leveraged the narrow House majority held by their own party in the past two congressional sessions to hijack the House floor and force concessions out of House leadership, and some fear that the growing far-left bloc will emerge as a similar phenomenon — akin to a Democratic version of the Freedom Caucus.

“It will lead to more gridlock and dysfunction, and hard-working families will pay the price for this,” Gottheimer said. “The socialists have put their own personal hatred above our national security and our promises to our allies. And I think we’ve got to call out hate when we see it, we’ve got to fight to keep our party from being hijacked by socialists.”

He argued that the socialist wing is not the majority of the party, but it does represent a growing faction.

“It’s a growing cancer, and we can’t let it spread, and we cannot ignore it,” Gottheimer said. One part of that, he continued, is rejecting efforts to make Israel policy and antisemitism a litmus test on the campaign trail.

Gottheimer said he was particularly disturbed by an incident in the final days of the New York primary campaign in which a Brooklyn coffee shop told Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) he was unwelcome and publicly attacked Goldman on social media over his views on Israel. He said that there is clearly antisemitism at play in the broader movement that helped drive the far-left primary victories in New York.

“When no one says anything after a member of Congress is told by a small business you’re not welcome here because you’re Jewish … that speaks to a larger problem,” Gottheimer said.

Gottheimer said the Tuesday primaries were a win for those who “hate America and hate the U.S.-Israel [relationship].”

“This was a night where bomb throwers won, and problem solvers lost,” Gottheimer said. “Those who believe deeply in supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship, but beyond that, believe deeply in fighting antisemitism — your candidates didn’t win.”

Other moderate Democrats, such as Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), are also calling for the moderate wing of the party to get organized and mobilize in the face of increasing successes by socialists, arguing that centrists have been caught flat-footed and complacent by an increasingly coordinated far left.

Suozzi and Rep. Adam Gray (D-CA) recently launched a new effort, The Promise to America, to bring together moderates.

The effort is built around a pledge to embrace capitalism and reject socialism, support moderation and reject extremism, support security locally and internationally, work toward fiscal discipline, support government competence and solutions and embrace patriotism.

On Thursday, the group announced that Gottheimer and Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY), Don Davis (D-NC), Kristin McDonald Rivet (D-MI), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Janelle Bynum (D-OR), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) and Susie Lee (D-NV) had also signed the pledge, joined by Democratic House candidates Jessica Killin, Jamie Ager, Bobby Pulido, Marlene Galán Woods and Paul Barringer.

Daily Kickoff

Trump’s Turkey treat

Plus, how Ritchie Torres outplayed the far left

Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, in Washington.

By

JI Staff

June 25, 2026

Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to moderate and establishment Democrats who are raising alarms over the surge of socialists in Tuesday’s New York City congressional primaries and report on how Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) dodged the DSA wave in the city. We cover last night’s Senate vote to block a Democratic-led war powers resolution seeking to end military operations against Iran and report on the shouting match between President Donald Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) that preceded it. We also report on the Trump administration’s consideration of Turkey’s eligibility to receive F-35 fighter jets. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Dan Goldman, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Judy Chu.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

Jewish and Israeli aid and rescue organizations are preparing to send teams to Venezuela after the poverty-stricken South American country was hit by massive back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday night, representatives of the groups told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. At least 164 people have been pronounced dead so far, and the number is expected to rise considerably as search efforts get underway, with some projections putting the death toll into the tens of thousands. Read more here.
Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg is hosting the State Department’s two-day Pax Silica Summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Attendees include representatives from the signatory countries to the strategic initiative — which include Israel, Qatar, the UAE, India, Germany and the U.K., among others — and senior business executives.
On the Hill, acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules W. Hurst III will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing to be permanently appointed to the role — Hurst is likely to face questions about the Trump administration’s $88 billion supplemental funding request, largely to cover the cost of the Iran war, sent to Congress on Wednesday.
The House Committee on Education and Workforce will mark up the No Antisemitism in Education Act, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is slated to testify at an oversight hearing in the House Appropriations Committee.
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship‘s third annual conference wraps up in London today. Speakers at the summit, which focused on the future of Western civilization at the 250th anniversary of the United States, included House Speaker Mike Johnson; Energy Secretary Chris Wright; former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers; and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner.
The Texas Democratic State Convention begins today: The three-day event will feature remarks from Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. Activists are set to consider close to 20 resolutions critical of Israel.
The annual Aspen Ideas Festival, which brings together leading figures from politics, business, media and academia, kicks off in Colorado with an opening session featuring Aspen Institute leaders and journalists Fareed Zakaria and David Brooks.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

There’s little doubt that socialism is on the march within the Democratic Party after the latest primaries, with extreme candidates who would have been dismissed as nonviable prevailing in numerous congressional primaries and mayoral contests from coast to coast.

Factor in the political resilience of far-left Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner despite numerous scandals and the momentum of anti-Israel Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in a contested Michigan primary despite facing well-funded opposition, and there’s the potential of radicals toppling mainstream candidates well outside the deep-blue confines of major urban centers.

Ultimately, that’s a major question looming for the Democratic Party’s future — and the health of our democracy. Is the rise of socialism primarily a product of urban angst and college-age naivete, or does it have staying power beyond the most-progressive precincts in the country? Can left-wing candidates prevail in swing districts, far away from the urban progressive centers that make up its base? Or will they end up being more of a noisy but powerless faction in Congress?

Either way, socialist candidates have gone from a curiosity that rarely won any congressional seats to riding a Democratic Socialists of America-organized grassroots wave that now has to be reckoned with. You could count the number of Squad members on one hand when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and her like-minded allies were first elected in 2018 and 2020. Now their representation is poised to double from its previous peak — and AOC now counts as downright pragmatic, compared to several of her soon-to-be-colleagues.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

SOCIALIST SWEEP

Some moderate Dems raise alarms over NYC results, while others dismiss them as localized phenomenon

Congressional candidate Claire Valdez speaks during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at Kings Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City.

Some moderate and establishment Democrats are raising alarms over the surge of democratic socialists in New York City congressional primaries on Tuesday — which took down two Democratic incumbents. But others are dismissing the phenomenon as one localized to New York City and not applicable to the party at large, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod, Matthew Shea and Christina Sher report.

Wider view: Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), a longtime Democratic leader from Queens, lamented Tuesday’s results, particularly Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s (D-NY) loss. Meeks told reporters that the party as a whole is not a socialist party, and that socialist ideas are very much out of step with the country overall. “That’s not where America is, that only happens in certain parts — like New York City now, apparently — deep, deep, deep blue,” Meeks said. If the entire party follows the same path, “that means that all the other seats that are not [deep blue], we can never win, which means we will never be in the majority, and we [will] never get anything done.”

Read the full story here with additional comments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Eye on Washington: Having conquered New York City with a stunning primary night sweep on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is wasting no time in moving on Capitol Hill. In an uncharacteristically long question-and-answer session at an unrelated announcement on Wednesday, the mayor announced he would sit down later in the day with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

TORRES TACTICS

How Ritchie Torres dodged the DSA wave in New York City

Representative Ritchie Torres, during an interview in New York, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has long been a target of the far left in New York City, largely because of his outspoken support for Israel and his Jewish constituents. But Torres emerged with a commanding victory over a far-left challenger in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, even as pro-Israel Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) were defeated by democratic socialist-aligned challengers, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Standout factors: Observers attribute Torres’ landslide win against former New York Assemblymember Michael Blake to a variety of factors, including the different demographics of his district — which includes the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale, as well as some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city — his strength as a member of Congress and as a campaigner and Blake’s own weaknesses as a candidate. Torres is popular in the district, has prioritized constituent services, has been a longtime presence in the district — as a city councilman from 2014 to 2020 before his time in the House — and maintains a strong reputation locally, Torres campaign spokesperson Benny Stanislawski said.

Read the full story here.

Concession speech: Goldman, a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat who was unseated in a bitter primary on Tuesday, warned in his concession speech that antisemitism “will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don’t lean in and speak out,” JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.

ON THE HILL

Senate blocks effort to advance war powers resolution in reversal after heated GOP meeting with Trump

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

The Senate voted on Wednesday night to block a Democratic-led war powers resolution seeking to end military operations against Iran, after a heated meeting between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans where he berated a handful of lawmakers over their votes in favor of a successful war powers resolution the previous day, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.

How it happened: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rand Paul (R-KY), supporters of previous war powers efforts, changed their votes on the resolution on Wednesday, which had previously passed a procedural hurdle — Cassidy now voting no and Paul voting present. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) again voted yes, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted no. The final vote was 50-47. Cassidy, who engaged in a shouting match with Trump in the meeting over his recent war powers votes, told reporters after the meeting that he would not change his vote until he had been briefed on the war. Hours later, Cassidy received a private briefing on the war from Vice President JD Vance and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Read the full story here.

Supplemental request: The Trump administration on Wednesday formally sent an $87.6 billion supplemental funding request to replenish stockpiles and otherwise cover the costs of the war with Iran to Congress, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.

SHOWN THE DOOR

Acting DNI Pulte forces out top Gabbard deputy Will Ruger

Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2026.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte forced out Will Ruger, the deputy director for mission integration, from the agency as part of a series of cuts said to be targeting the “deep state,” according to CBS News. Ruger previously held senior positions at groups tied to the libertarian Koch network, and had been affiliated with the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Background: Ruger had been a vocal opponent, prior to his government service, of both the maximum pressure sanctions campaign against Iran and potential U.S. military operations against the regime. He was also a defender of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Ruger’s role included overseeing the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

Read the full story here.

ANKARA OPPORTUNITY

Vance: Admin is reviewing Turkey’s eligibility to receive F-35 fighter jets

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a meeting with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House on September 25, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the administration is “confirming” Turkey has fulfilled its obligations under U.S. law in order to receive advanced F-35 fighter jets, which Ankara has long sought but has been barred from purchasing since 2020 after it acquired the S-400 air-defense system from Russia, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Christina Sher report.

Legal requirement: U.S. law requires the secretaries of state and defense to certify to Congress in writing, prior to any F-35 transfer, that Turkey no longer possesses the S-400 system and has provided credible assurances it will not acquire similar Russian air-defense systems. Latest reports indicate the S-400 system is inactive but still intact in Turkey, which would not fulfill the obligations required under law to lift the sanctions.

Read the full story here.

Strait security: Lawmakers and Middle East analysts are expressing support for Washington’s reported agreement to help Oman strengthen its maritime intelligence and monitoring of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the move could help secure free access to the critical waterway and deter Iranian influence, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

SCHOOL CONTROVERSY

Massachusetts principal under fire for apologizing to Arab students for Holocaust lesson

A Massachusetts middle school principal is receiving criticism from Jewish groups for apologizing to Arab students who he claimed “felt unseen” during a Holocaust education lesson, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Back and forth: In a message sent to seventh graders via a school portal, a screenshot of which was obtained by JI, Diamond Middle School Principal Johnny Cole said the lesson at the Lexington, Mass., school was aimed at teaching the students to recognize hate and to speak out against it, something he called “an important goal.” Cole then apologized after he said some students’ families had expressed that the lesson left them feeling “unseen.” Cole wrote, “Some of you felt like your own history, your identity, or your community was left out or erased. Some of you left that session feeling less safe, not more. We have heard this from families, and we believe you.”

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

Radical Shift: Reason’s senior editor Robby Soave examines Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier’s record as she is set to become what he calls Congress’ “first campus radical.” “In 2019, when I published my first book, Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump, I predicted that the era’s campus protesters would not shed their radicalism when they graduated college and moved out into the so-called real world — rather, they would force the world to conform to their quixotic expectations. This would be particularly felt in the areas of American life most susceptible to their influence: education, media, entertainment, and eventually, politics. Now that day has finally arrived. Welcome, congresswoman.” [Reason]

The Socratic AI Method: The Economist examines the rise in philosophers being hired by AI firms. “Some of the lessons that philosophy can offer AI researchers are ancient. The Socratic method — as described by Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher — uses feigned ignorance and sequential questioning to clarify meanings, spot contradictions and reveal ramifications. Many current AI systems tend towards sycophancy. Models trained in the Socratic method, says Jörg Noller, an expert on philosophy and AI at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, are less keen on people-pleasing and more willing to pursue the truth.” [Economist]

House Majority Math: Joel Wanger, DMFI PAC’s chief political officer, breaks down the results from Tuesday night’s primary elections. “Here’s the thing about House Majority math, and it’s something I’ve said before: it isn’t won in New York City or San Francisco. It’s won in places like San Diego and South Texas — and that’s exactly where pro-Israel Democrats had some of their best nights this cycle, nominating strong general-election candidates in competitive seats. … The pattern I’ve tracked all cycle keeps repeating: pro-Israel Democrats win decisively when they take primary challenges seriously and early, build broad coalitions rather than narrow ones, and talk about the kitchen-table issues — affordability, economic anxiety — that are actually driving voters right now. Where that didn’t happen, races were close. Where it did, they weren’t.” [Substack]

No Socialist Takeover: The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer argues that the Democratic Party is not being taken over by democratic socialists as a unified national force, but rather is becoming more ideologically diverse and locally shaped. “The modern Democratic Party, by virtue of its class and ethnic diversity, has always been ideologically heterodox. An approach that works for a Zohran Mamdani or a Janeese Lewis George will not necessarily work for a James Talarico in Texas or a Mary Peltola in Alaska. Many people outside of the democratic socialists’ cities and districts will focus on whether the candidates’ stances on Israel and Palestinian rights reflect a shift within the party (and they do) and the fact that they differ from more centrist Democrats (also correct). But whether they succeed as leaders and politicians will depend on much more local concerns — matters such as jobs, public safety, and affordability.” [Atlantic]

Word on the Street

Israeli and Lebanese officials have reportedly denied a claim by a State Department official, cited by Reuters, who said that Israel had withdrawn from some of the southern Lebanese territory it has held during its war against Hezbollah…

Saudi Arabia is planning to host reconciliation talks between Gulf countries and Iran, a diplomat with knowledge of the arrangements told Agence France Presse. The summit, aimed at mending ties between Gulf nations, Iran and possibly other regional neighbors in the aftermath of the war, will be independent of ongoing U.S.-Iran talks, the diplomat said…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday; pictured sitting next to the secretary of state in a working lunch with MBZ was Michael Boulos, Trump’s son-in-law, whose father serves as a senior advisor to the president on the Middle East…

Bahraini National Security Advisor Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa met separately with Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Lindsey Graham(R-SC) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Rep. Brian Mast(R-FL) during a visit to Washington…

FBI Director Kash Patel hosted Qatari Interior Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani in Washington…

CENTCOM announced that the U.S. killed senior ISIS leader Ali Husayn al-‘Ulaywi in an airstrike in northwest Syria last Friday…

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced a resolution to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Americans and relief organizations involved in saving Jewish Holocaust refugees…

An intelligence report obtained by journalists from the Israeli public broadcaster Kan details how Qatar became a central channel of economic and military strength for Iran, helping it to circumvent sanctions after the 2018 cancellation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and also after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel…

A Kuwaiti air-defense officer shared a firsthand account of the opening moments of Iran’s missile and drone attacks on the Gulf country, describing at a conference in London the frantic five minutes as ballistic missiles filled the sky and the air-defense network scrambled to respond…

Vice President JD Vance and his allies are embracing his role as the public face of President Donald Trump’s Iran deal, Semafor reports, arguing that backing an end to the conflict distinguishes him from the GOP’s neoconservative wing and strengthens his standing with the MAGA base ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run…

The New York Times traces a generational and ideological shift on the American right toward viewing Iran as a pragmatic country the U.S. can learn to live with — a pivot led by Trump but driven by other factors that include younger Republicans’ war fatigue and waning support for Israel…

New Lines Magazine spotlights the unrest surrounding a resort project in Albania’s Vjosa-Narta protected area by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump that has sparked unprecedented mass protests in the country; the demonstrations have evolved from an environmental campaign to a broad expression of frustration with long-serving Prime Minister Edi Rama…

Ari Emanuel, TKO CEO and Mari Group founder, is in advanced talks to buy theater group ATG for $6 billion…

Morris Dancyger, a child survivor of Auschwitz who built a successful pharmacy and real estate career and co-founded the first modern art gallery in Calgary, Canada, died at 86…

Pic of the Day

Haredi demonstrators blocked major highways in Israel on Wednesday, causing massive traffic disruptions, in a nationwide protest against the imprisonment of yeshiva students who fail to comply with military draft orders.

Birthdays

Hunter Bishop #21 of the Scottsdale Scorpions bats during the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game at Salt River Fields on November 13, 2021 in Glendale, Arizona. (Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

Free agent center fielder, formerly in the San Francisco Giants organization, he was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft, Hunter David Bishop turns 28…

Music publicist in the 1970s and 1980s for Prince, Billy Joel and Styx, later an author on human behavior, Howard Bloom turns 83… Founder and CEO of Bel Air Partners, a financial advisory firm for automotive retailers, Sheldon J. Sandler turns 82… Real estate developer in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Las Vegas and Miami and founder of The Continuum Company, Ian Bruce Eichner turns 81… Florida resident, Joseph C. Goldberg… Southern California-based mentor, coach and consultant for business executives through Vistage International, Gary Brennglass… Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Sonia Sotomayor turns 72… Former member of the Knesset for the Meretz party, Michal Rozin turns 57… Founder and CEO of The Agency, a high-end real estate brokerage, Mauricio Umansky turns 56… Managing director of A-Street, an investment fund focused on seeding and scaling innovative K-12 student learning, Mora Segal… Senior media and PR specialist at Hadassah, Helen Chernikoff… Israeli philosopher, writer and publicist, he teaches at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Midreshet Lindenbaum, Rabbi Chaim Navon turns 53… Founder and director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh, Israel, popularly known as the “Zoo Rabbi,” Natan Slifkin turns 51… Former fashion model and television presenter, Michele Merkin turns 51… Deputy director of government relations at Bread for the World, Zachary Silberman… President of Gratz College in Melrose Park, Pa., Zev Eleff turns 41… One-half of the husband-and-wife duo known for their YouTube channel h3h3Productions with more than 1.3 billion views, Ethan Edward Klein turns 41… Organizational change management specialist at CACI International, Isaac Snyder… VP of strategy at Saint Paul Commodities and co-founder of Veriflux, Daniel “Dani” Charles turns 39… Family Medicine Residency Faculty at Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., Avital Mintz-Morgenthau, MD… Senior reporter and writer covering the White House for CNN, Betsy Klein…

SOCIALIST SWEEP

Some moderate Dems raise alarms over NYC results, while others dismiss them as localized phenomenon

‘That’s not where America is, that only happens in certain parts — like New York City now, apparently — deep, deep, deep blue,’ Meeks said

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Congressional candidate Claire Valdez speaks during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at Kings Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City.

By

Marc Rod

Matthew Shea

Christina Sher

June 25, 2026

Some moderate and establishment Democrats are raising alarms over the surge of democratic socialists in New York City congressional primaries on Tuesday — which took down two Democratic incumbents. But others are dismissing the phenomenon as one localized to New York City and not applicable to the party at large.

Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), a longtime Democratic leader from Queens, lamented Tuesday’s results, particularly Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s (D-NY) loss.

Meeks told reporters that the party as a whole is not a socialist party, and that socialist ideas are very much out of step with the country overall. He said he doesn’t see the party headed in that direction, potentially outside of certain cities.

“That’s not where America is, that only happens in certain parts — like New York City now, apparently — deep, deep, deep blue,” Meeks said. If the entire party follows the same path, “that means that all the other seats that are not [deep blue], we can never win, which means we will never be in the majority, and we [will] never get anything done.”

Meeks told reporters that he believes in capitalism, not socialism, but argued that free markets and opportunities are fully compatible with assistance to help uplift those in need.

He criticized chants of “you’re next” targeting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) at candidate Claire Valdez’s victory party on Tuesday night as unproductive, and noted that ousting Jeffries would deprive New York of a potential speaker of the House, who would also be the first Black House speaker in history.

Meeks said he hopes that the far left doesn’t become a Democratic version of the GOP’s House Freedom Caucus, which routinely sparks gridlock on the House floor with various obstructionist tactics.

“You can’t criticize the MAGAs and then be like the MAGAs, that’s inconsistent,” Meeks said. “That’s why we have the most unproductive Congress right now. … We shouldn’t be that, we want to be the opposite of that. We want to be productive, we want to be able to go help folks.”

Meeks noted that Black and Hispanic communities in Espaillat’s district overwhelmingly sided with the congressman — with newcomers more supportive of his challenger, Darializa Avila Chevalier.

“I understand that neighborhoods don’t always stay the same … but we got to look at the people that have been there for a long period of time, also, so that they are not just pushed to the side. And how do you work collectively together to bring folks together?” Meeks said.

Pressed on whether some of the candidates’ past statements suggest they want to eliminate Israel, rather than see coexistence and a two-state solution, Meeks told Jewish Insider that “we’ll see when they get there” but “if you go by what they’ve said in the past, that would worry me if they stay [there].”

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), a leading moderate, told JI, “The results in New York City should be a wake-up call for every common-sense Democrat,” arguing that mainstream Democrats are being caught flat-footed by the far left. He called for the party to “reject extremism and embrace common sense.”

“The DSA is not the Democratic Party, and if moderates don’t organize, the far left will continue pushing our party toward an agenda that is increasingly disconnected from mainstream voters,” Suozzi, a co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, said. “Americans want leaders who solve problems and bring people together. They also expect Democrats to confront antisemitism clearly and unequivocally.”

He told reporters that Democratic moderates have to “work harder to organize. It’s not enough to just talk at a cocktail party” and complain, they need to “do the hard work necessary to provide solutions to the problems people face in their lives.”

Suozzi told JI that Democrats “should be able to support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself and still work toward a lasting peace that protects innocent lives” and “cannot allow those who excuse antisemitism, tolerate anti-Jewish hatred or traffic in division to define our party.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said that the night was a victory for those who “hate America and hate the U.S.-Israel policy.

“This was a night where bomb throwers won, and problem solvers lost,” Gottheimer said. “Those who believe deeply in supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship, but beyond that, believe deeply in fighting antisemitism — your candidates didn’t win.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called the winning NYC candidates “a treasure for Republicans,” referencing some past incendiary comments by Chevalier.

Meanwhile, multiple Democrats facing DSA-aligned challengers say they’re not concerned that the results are an omen for their own races.

Asked whether he’s worried about his primary challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a former DSA member who dominated internal Democratic Party proceedings, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) laughed and said simply, “No.”

Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who is facing off next month against former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), also said he doesn’t see how Tuesday’s results are applicable to his own race.

“Why would primaries in New York concern me in my race?” Bell told JI. “All politics are local and our base, the folks in St. Louis, are going to make and we’re going to make our case — democracy in action.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told JI “they’re making blue seats bluer” and are “not helping us take control of Congress,” but also said that the DSA is “uniquely a New York problem” that doesn’t impact him in Florida. Moskowitz faces a primary challenge from DSA-endorsed challenger.

At the same time, Moskowitz described anti-Israel trends as a larger problem within the Democratic Party.

“I’m concerned about the entire movement, [through]out the whole party,” Moskowitz said. “It’s not just what happened in New York last night.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the primaries show that the party as a whole is energized.

“There’s tremendous energy in the Democratic Party in the more moderate places, like we saw in the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, like Iowa this year, and from the more progressive places like New York, and we’re all fighting hard together to stop [President Donald] Trump,” Schumer said.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the No. 3 House Democrat, said he’s “not at all concerned” about the growing socialist bloc employing similar tactics to the Freedom Caucus, and downplayed the idea that radical nominees would be a drag on other Democrats in the midterms.

“They’re going to put folks in ads all the time,” he said, referring to concerns that Republicans will highlight far-left Democrats to defeat other members of the party. “Republicans don’t have a track record to run on, so they’re going to use other issues. We’ve seen that time and time again.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said that you “never want to read too much into what’s essentially a local or regional political context.”

He said that he sees the results as an “indisputable” sign of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s role as “the commanding political force” in the New York City area, and added that “there’s a lot of energy on the progressive side of the political equation in America today. That also seems pretty clear.”

Asked about the role Israel had played in the races, particularly the race between Goldman and Brad Lander, where there were few other obvious policy differences between the two candidates, Raskin noted that both Goldman and Lander “described themselves as liberal Zionists.”

He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obviously unpopular in the Democratic Party, and argued that there are many in the party who strongly support Israel but reject Netanyahu, “and that sentiment undoubtedly carried the day.”

“It’s a loss to us on the Judiciary Committee to have Dan Goldman go because he was such an excellent prosecutor and he’s a great cross-examiner of administration witnesses and agendas,” Raskin continued. “But that race undoubtedly turned on questions of the Middle East.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a potential 2028 presidential contender, also said the results aren’t a reflection of the whole country or party.

“All politics is local,” Gallego said. “I think that’s what you … see right there. The candidates who ran very localized campaigns, that helped them [win].”

Gallego added that the results show the party is a “big tent, and that’s kind of coming through right now.”

“Every state is different, every place is different, every candidate’s going to be different,” he said.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for two cycles, said that the results reflect the voter base in New York City.

“Those are really deep blue districts, so you expect that kind of vote in a Democratic primary,” Peters said.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) also emphasized that his state is distinct from deep-blue New York City and said, “I think pundits are doing what pundits are doing. The takeaway from last night is that the Democratic Party is a big tent, and we’re having a robust conversation about how to make the lives of ordinary people better.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the outgoing No. 2 Senate Democrat, said he doesn’t know much about the races beyond that Mamdani-backed candidates won. He said he wasn’t aware of the fact that the candidates all shared an anti-Israel approach but called it “worrisome.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said he hadn’t followed the races closely enough to understand the outcomes, but said, “I am a Virginia elected official, and Virginia is what I know really well. I just don’t know enough about New York politics — and I think it would be not a good idea to extrapolate New York City to a national level.”

Meanwhile, members of the far left are treating the results as a mandate for the Democratic Party and a signal of rising popularity for their chosen policies.

“Last night, voters across New York delivered a powerful message: the era of status quo politics is over,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said. “If Democrats regain control of Congress next year, they must listen to the people who put them in office. Status quo establishment policies are not enough. We must be bold. We must take on Oligarchy. We must represent working families and create a government that works for all, not just the few.”

He also called the victories a rebuke of AIPAC, the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries and other moneyed interests.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said the results on Tuesday were “the beginning of a new, strong, bold Democratic Party” and pointed to other progressive victories outside of New York City.

ON THE HILL

Senate blocks effort to advance war powers resolution in reversal after heated GOP meeting with Trump

Sens. Bill Cassidy and Rand Paul, supporters of previous war powers efforts, changed their votes on the resolution, which had previously passed a procedural hurdle

Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

Emily Jacobs

June 25, 2026

The Senate voted on Wednesday night to block a Democratic-led war powers resolution seeking to end military operations against Iran, after a heated meeting between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans where he berated a handful of lawmakers over their votes in favor of a successful war powers resolution the previous day.

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rand Paul (R-KY), supporters of previous war powers efforts, changed their votes on the resolution on Wednesday, which had previously passed a procedural hurdle — Cassidy now voting no and Paul voting present. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) again voted yes, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted no. The final vote was 50-47.

Cassidy, who engaged in a shouting match with Trump in the meeting over his recent war powers votes, told reporters after the meeting that he would not change his vote until he had been briefed on the war. Hours later, Cassidy received a private briefing on the war from Vice President JD Vance and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

“I am reassured. I had my briefing. My criteria is met,” Cassidy said. “As long as I’m reassured that there’s honesty and that, as they’re depicting events, it’s playing out appropriately, I’m reassured. But again, you want to trust but verify.”

Cassidy had said earlier in the day that he did not believe the administration’s prosecution of the war was on track to achieve the goals it laid out. Following that conversation, Cassidy changed his tune.

“I think it’s plausible that they are achieving the objectives, as they laid it out,” Cassidy told Jewish Insider. He added that he wants to “see events transpire the way they depict them, but they had plausible explanations for how they’re achieving those objectives.”

Cassidy said he had passed a note to Witkoff, who attended the Senate meeting with Trump, asking him for a briefing, and the White House had called within the hour to set it up.

The Louisiana senator has emerged as a key swing vote since losing his primary to Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA).

Paul, the earliest GOP vote in favor of war powers efforts, said his present vote came in deference to the administration’s negotiating strategy.

“My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times. But since hostilities seem to be over and the president asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so,” Paul said. “My vote of present is a way to give the president more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”

concession speech

Ousted Dan Goldman warns antisemitism will be ‘undoing of our democracy’

The defeated New York congressman pointed to antisemitic attacks during his campaign while urging Democrats to remain a broad coalition

(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) speaks at a news conference on June 18, 2025 in New York City.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 24, 2026

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat who was unseated in a bitter primary on Tuesday, warned in his concession speech that antisemitism “will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don’t lean in and speak out.”

“Jews have given back so much to this country,” the two-term lawmaker said. “As history has taught us, antisemitic tropes and stereotypes, some of which I heard personally on this campaign, will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don’t lean in and speak out — even if it’s not politically expedient.”

Goldman, who was resoundingly defeated by Brad Lander, the former city comptroller backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, faced blowback during the campaign over his support for Israel and ties to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC — some of which invoked hostile antisemitic rhetoric.

In the final days of the primary, a Brooklyn coffee shop Goldman patronized wrote in an incendiary online post it was banning him over his pro-Israel views, calling him a “genocide enabler” and saying his purchase “probably” came from AIPAC — which endorsed him but did not engage directly in the race.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said Monday it had opened an investigation into the cafe for discrimination, though Goldman clarified he did not believe the incident warranted legal scrutiny.

“Every day I tried to approach this job with integrity, with seriousness and courage to stand up for what is right, even when it was not politically expedient,” the ousted congressman said in his concession speech, in an apparent reference to his defense of Israel over the course of the primary.

Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who rose to national prominence as the lead counsel during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, shared a range of progressive policy views with Lander, a fellow Jewish Democrat who identifies as a progressive Zionist.

Despite their agreements on several key issues, the race ultimately became a referendum on support for Israel in the Democratic Party and Goldman’s refusal to disavow his Zionist ideals. He lost by more than 30 points, with 90% of the vote tallied as of Wednesday.

Lander, who accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and called for ending U.S. aid to the Jewish state, largely aligned his campaign with the anti-Zionist far left as he touted his endorsement from Mamdani, a key ally who also played a decisive role in helping elevate two democratic socialists with records of vocal anti-Israel activism to the nomination on Tuesday.

In his victory speech, Lander, who won a decisive 66% of the vote in New York’s 10th Congressional District, praised Goldman “for how he responded to some of the toxic rhetoric that he and his staff faced over the past couple days,” saying his opponent had acted “with grace and with gratitude.”

“That is something we need more of in our politics,” Lander added.

Even as he raised alarms about antisemitism on the left, Goldman called on his supporters to “remember the enemy to all that we want and all that we hope for is in the White House, not in our own party.”

The Democratic Party, Goldman said, “has always been at its strongest when it has welcomed a broad coalition of voices united by those shared democratic values of equal rights, social justice, human rights.”

“We have never required unanimity of opinion to stand together against the forces that truly threaten our democracy,” he argued in his concession speech. “And we should not demonize, or push away, anyone who shares our mutual goals.”

A spokesperson for Goldman did not respond to a request for an interview on Wednesday.

2028 watch

Prospective 2028 Democrats rally against Trump’s Iran agreement

Several Democrats considering presidential bids have cast the Iran agreement as evidence of weak leadership, arguing that Trump has been outmaneuvered by Tehran

Meg Kinnard/AP

Former U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel speaks to voters as he participates in the South Carolina Democratic Party's "On the Road" series on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Abbeville, S.C.

By

Gabby Deutch

June 24, 2026

Among the Democrats mulling a presidential run in 2028 — a group that is ideologically divided, each with their own diagnosis about what’s wrong with the Democratic Party and how to fix it — there was a unified reaction in February when President Donald Trump decided to attack Iran: opposition to a war they viewed as reckless and unconstitutional.

As those Democrats respond to the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that Trump announced last week, another consensus is emerging, which holds that the deal is just another example of Trump’s ineffectual leadership — yet another instance, these Democrats argue, of Trump getting taken advantage of and undermining the American people.

“They’re negotiating a deal that, truthfully, every single detail we continue to hear just looks like the Iranians continue to do better than us. I think they should have been the one to write The Art of the Deal, not Donald Trump,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a TV interview on Tuesday.

Rahm Emanuel, the former U.S. ambassador to Japan, member of Congress and chief of staff to President Barack Obama, offered a similar quip at a recent Financial Times event after describing the deal as “the memorandum of misunderstanding.”

“While the president thinks he wrote a book called The Art of the Deal, they’re going to teach him a lesson, which is the Persian lesson: the art of the negotiation,” Emanuel said. “And he just got schooled, unbelievably.” He called the war with Iran “the single worst — and there’s a lot of competition for it — American national security mess that I’ve ever seen.”

The MOU offered immediate sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic and launched a 60-day window for nuclear negotiations.

The 2028 contenders who have commented on the deal have generally done so without much detail. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized the agreement in an interview with CNBC on Monday, though he shared little in the way of specific critiques or concerns.

“I think what’s clear is the Trump administration, the president, specifically chose to enter this war and had absolutely no plan when he went in, and that’s why he’s got no idea how to get out,” said Shapiro. “The president created a mess, and now he’s dispatched JD Vance … to try and figure out a way out of it, and seemingly both of them are getting played by the Iranians.”

A spokesperson for Shapiro declined to comment further.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11, 2025. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has used the deal as a political talking point. He was asked by reporters on Monday and Tuesday to respond to a social media post where Trump called on Pritzker to seek his help in responding to gun violence in Chicago. In response, Pritzker referred to Trump’s Iran negotiations as a reason why he would never want to ask Trump for help.

“This is the president who wants to blame everybody else for algae that showed up at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.,” Pritzker told reporters during an event in Illinois on Tuesday, “the same president that thinks that after bombing Iran, that they should pick up the phone and call him, and indeed, who’s failing to put together an agreement that is anywhere near as good as the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], that was the agreement that he ripped up as president of the United States.”

Last week, he said at a Punchbowl News event that the deal sounds like it is “really just a cessation of hostilities and pushing off into the future negotiations about things.”

Some Democrats considering a 2028 run are avoiding the question entirely for now.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on the day the U.S. began its campaign in Iran referred to the American actions as an “illegal, dangerous war,” has thus far not weighed on the MOU. Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for Newsom, said that “Trump’s reckless war” has been costly to Americans. “That’s a bad deal for hardworking Americans, plain and simple,” Martinez said. He declined to comment on the MOU.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have also criticized the war but so far refrained from discussing the agreement.

Most potential Democratic 2028 contenders view the Iran war as a hard-to-solve morass, with little offered in the way of alternatives to a war and deal that they oppose. Merely criticizing Trump for an unpopular war appears to be enough.

Shapiro acknowledged that he wants the U.S. to come out ahead in the war, but he said he doesn’t see how that will be possible with Trump leading the negotiations.

“I’m on Team USA. I want us to win, but this is the problem when you have a president who is just hell-bent on creating chaos around the world,” Shapiro said on CNBC. “What we need instead is steady-handed leadership, and we don’t have that right now.”

Pritzker pointed to the 2015 Obama nuclear deal as the best-case alternative, although that deal is now defunct.

“It’s a real question whether there’s any advancement at all of U.S. interests,” said Pritzker. “I think the question I think we’re all going to have to ask is, is this any better than the JCPOA that was already in place when Donald Trump tore it up in his first term?”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks to reporters (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

It was a line that former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also mulling a presidential bid in 2028, echoed recently.

“This is a president who has proven himself to be entirely self-indulgent. And we will see what happens in the coming hours and days in terms of the negotiation. And really, it’s a concept of an agreement,” Harris said last week at a speech during a conference in Vienna. “Whatever is being negotiated, this president is going to declare victory, and we’ll end up where we were after the JCPOA and call that a victory.”

Far-left lawmaker Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has said he is considering a 2028 run, called the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran “welcome news that Americans should support.” But he said it “delivers Iran a better deal” than the JCPOA that Trump “spent years ridiculing.” His message got a boost on X on Tuesday from former Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

“Wise words from my friend,” Blinken wrote.

ESTABLISHMENT WIN

Micah Lasher, experienced lawmaker with close ties to Jewish community, wins race to replace Nadler

The longtime Democratic insider prevailed in the crowded primary for the country’s most heavily Jewish congressional district, where the candidates’ views on Israel were a key focus of the race

John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a House candidate, during a primary election night watch party in New York, on June 23, 2026.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 23, 2026

New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a Jewish Democrat, claimed victory on Tuesday night in a hard-fought primary for a coveted House seat in the heart of Manhattan, according to the Associated Press.

Lasher had won 39% with most of the vote tallied by the time his race had been called. He prevailed over a fellow assemblymember, Alex Bores, who pulled in 35%, as well as Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion, who came in third with just 10% — followed by Nina Schwalbe and George Conway, both in single digits.

Lasher, 44, a longtime member of the Democratic establishment in New York, pitched himself as the most experienced candidate in the race, leaning into his identification as a policy wonk. He was backed by the district’s retiring congressman, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul. He also drew a significant share of outside support from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $10 million to help boost Lasher’s campaign.

The closely watched primary became one of the most expensive on record, due in part to outside spending from AI-linked super PACs that helped to raise Bores’ profile as a leading advocate for industry regulation.

The race also focused heavily on Israel — though most of the top contenders were largely aligned on key issues. The district, New York’s 12th, is home to the largest Jewish constituency in the country, and many Jewish voters identify with the sort of liberal Zionist sentiments that Lasher expressed during the campaign.

In contrast with other primaries in New York City where Israel emerged as a lightning rod, the race to succeed Nadler was marked by more moderate views on Middle East policy. Lasher backed U.S. funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and opposed efforts to condition aid that single out Israel, for instance.

Lasher is now all but assured a seat in Congress thanks to the heavily Democratic tilt of the district.

“I think the message I send to Jewish voters is 44 years being a proud Zionist Jew and, God willing, another 44 years,” he said at a Jewish community forum in May, drawing applause from the audience.

Still, Lasher raised frustrations near the end of the race that the conversation had become too narrowly focused on Israel.

“I spend a great deal of time wrestling with the challenges and the horrors of what is going on in Israel,” Lasher noted earlier this month. “I am not obsessed with Israel, and I worry sometimes that our political dialogue — and the political dialogue in this race — is obsessed with Israel.”

BLINKEN WEIGHS IN

Tony Blinken praises Ro Khanna’s view of the Iran war

Blinken is the second top Biden administration official to champion Khanna, a likely 2028 presidential prospect and outspoken critic of Israel

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C, on January 14, 2025.

By

Marc Rod

June 23, 2026

Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken offered support for Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) stance on the Iran war and the U.S. deal with Iran in a post on X on Tuesday.

Blinken praised the “wise words from my friend [Khanna],” reposting a Fox News op-ed by the congressman making the case that “stopping the Iran war is good. But Trump’s deal is worse than the JCPOA.”

He’s the second prominent former Biden administration official to draw closer to Khanna in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential primary, joining former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who has reportedly been advising Khanna behind the scenes as he prepares for a presidential run.

The comments also come as some progressive presidential contenders call for the Democratic Party to purge its ranks of foreign policy advisors who served in the Biden administration, given its general support for Israel.

Khanna, in the op-ed published on Fox News’ website, praised the “welcome news” of the end of the war in Iran, but called the war “a self-inflicted disaster that cost American lives and burned through taxpayer dollars” and said the deal reached is more favorable for Iran than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from which President Donald Trump withdrew.

“The details of the ceasefire released this week show that Vice President [JD] Vance woefully misled Americans on at least five accounts when he claimed the administration’s deal was better than the JCPOA that President Obama negotiated in 2015,” Khanna continued. “A better deal for ending this war would have been anchored in tough diplomacy and economic pressure rather than blunt force.”

The only times in the op-ed Khanna mentioned Israel — a frequent target of criticism by the congressman — were to argue that “through tough diplomacy” the U.S. could have worked with Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah so it could not threaten the Lebanese people or Israel, and “used Iran’s temporary loss of military capabilities as an opportunity to restart negotiations over a two-state solution for Israelis” along the lines of the Arab Peace Initiative.

Analysis

How Hoyer’s team helped pro-Israel allies organize against left-wing opposition

In throwing his support behind Adrian Boafo, Hoyer is using his connections to party leaders and ties with pro-Israel groups to boost his hand-picked choice to the nomination for a safely blue seat

Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) speaks at a press conference in Washington, DC on February 24, 2025.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 23, 2026

As Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) prepares to step down at the end of his current term, the former Democratic House majority leader is staking his pro-Israel legacy on a little-known candidate who he hopes will uphold his long-standing commitment to maintaining a close relationship with the Jewish state.

In throwing his support behind Adrian Boafo, a 32-year-old Maryland state delegate who is among nearly two dozen Democratic candidates running in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District primary on Tuesday, Hoyer, 87, is using his connections to establishment party leaders and ties with pro-Israel groups to boost his hand-picked choice to the nomination for a safely blue seat.

United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, has emerged as the biggest spender in the race, investing more than $5.7 million as part of an aggressive effort to promote Boafo launched by Hoyer and his allies.

The well-funded foray is a useful illustration of the degree to which planning and organization helped put Boafo in contention for the seat Hoyer has held for 45 years, in contrast with recent primaries where UDP and other pro-Israel advocacy groups have been relatively cautious with their engagement while being outflanked by the far left.

A UDP source, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race, said polling showed Boafo was not in the lead when Hoyer endorsed him in January. “It’s a super close race that could go either way,” the source told Jewish Insider on Monday, stressing a high level of undecided primary voters. “Many candidates are in contention.”

One Jewish Democrat in Maryland told JI that Hoyer “put a heavy finger on the scale” in the race, calling in “chits” with influential Democratic officials who gave endorsements to Boafo, such as Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) — both of whom are featured in UDP’s ad blitz that began late last month.

Boafo also gained support from Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC led by Brian Romick, a former longtime senior aide to Hoyer. The group backed him on its first slate of non-incumbent endorsements not long after Hoyer had expressed his preference in the race. Boafo is a former campaign manager for Hoyer.

In New York City’s closely watched primaries on Tuesday, meanwhile, UDP and DMFI PAC have largely been absent from key races where far-left challengers are threatening to unseat pro-Israel incumbents. Polling has indicated that Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is facing long odds against Brad Lander, a former city comptroller, while Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) hopes to fend off Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist insurgent with a long record of anti-Israel activism.

Both Lander and Avila Chevalier have been buoyed by endorsements from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — who is using his own early political capital on a risky gambit to help lift a slate of candidates that has angered the Democratic establishment.

Mamdani has also joined forces with the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, which is flexing its local organizational muscle to help Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, a state assemblymember who is facing off against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a progressive backed by retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).

Even as far-left super PACs like American Priorities, a new group created to counter AIPAC’s spending in Democratic primaries, have been surging money into New York City, UDP has remained on the sidelines — with the exception of money it recently funneled to a pro-Espaillat super PAC disclosed in campaign filings late last week. Still, the pro-Israel group has not been directly engaged in New York City, despite its historic support for Goldman and Espaillat.

UDP has reason for caution, as AIPAC’s brand has become toxic among a growing number of Democrats who have vowed to reject its support and view it as a noxious presence in contested primaries.

Pro-Israel activists speculated UDP chose to stay out of a crowded House contest in New Jersey this month featuring some credible moderate candidates because it had earlier bungled its involvement in another race in the state with an aggressive spending strategy that inadvertently helped elevate a far-left Israel critic to a seat in the House.

In the June primary, some Jewish leaders in New Jersey questioned if UDP’s lack of involvement had helped the nominee, Adam Hamawy, avoid credible opposition — even as he faced scrutiny over his past ties to a radical Muslim cleric convicted of terrorism.

Now, however, UDP is embracing a more proactive approach in Maryland as it seeks to push Boafo past the finish line on Tuesday, in a maneuver suggesting that it is comfortable courting a moderate voter base that Hoyer has represented as a staunch supporter of Israel as well as a close AIPAC ally.

While UDP has faced backlash from the left, the response has been largely reactive. In recent weeks, for instance, the group has drawn criticism from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a vocal detractor of Israel, who has accused AIPAC and crypto-linked interests in the race of “trying to buy” the seat, which extends southward from the eastern Washington suburbs of Prince George’s County. Van Hollen has not made an endorsement in the race.

Meanwhile, three Democratic primary candidates, including Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and businesswoman Quincy Bareebe, teamed up to decry the flood of outside spending that is shaping the race.

“Special interests don’t spend money out of civic goodwill,” Baker said last week. “They spend the kind of money that we see because they expect someone to work for them.”

Dunn, who faced opposition from UDP in a separate race last cycle, has claimed Boafo is “benefiting from the MAGA donors who fund AIPAC.”

In an unusual move, UDP released an ad last week seeking to counter the negative attention in which Hoyer himself spoke in a direct-to-camera appeal.

“You’ve probably seen the attacks on Adrian Boafo,” Hoyer said. “Let’s get something straight. Adrian is a man of deep integrity. He has the courage to stand up to any special interest. I trust him. You can, too.”

For his part, Boafo pledges on his campaign site to “strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance and ensure” it “has the security assistance it needs to defend itself,” but has distanced himself from UDP, saying in response to Van Hollen’s remarks “that big money has no place in politics.”

His comments illustrate how even as AIPAC seeks to build new relationships amid declining support from Democratic members, its preferred candidates are — at least publicly — keeping the group at arm’s length.

If Boafo prevails in Tuesday’s primary, though, his victory could also help AIPAC to reset the narrative, while providing the group with a potential blueprint for engagement in future races as it seeks to fend off the anti-Israel left.

STANDING STRONG

Collins accuses Platner of antisemitism, defends support for Israel

Collins said her Senate opponent makes AIPAC sound like ‘some sort of evil foreign influence, and that is absolutely wrong’

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

June 22, 2026

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) accused Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner of antisemitism and defended her support for Israel in a Fox News interview on Monday.

“I remain a very strong supporter of Israel, the one democracy in the Middle East, our true ally in the Middle East,” Collins said when asked about increasing hostility to Israel and AIPAC among the American public. She attributed such trends to “rising antisemitism in our country that Graham Platner certainly is part of, and has been since his high school days. That’s been a consistent theme throughout his entire life.”

WATCH: Sen. Susan Collins accused Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner of antisemitism and defended her support for Israel in a Fox News interview on Monday.

“I remain a very strong supporter of Israel, the one democracy in the Middle East, our true ally in the Middle… pic.twitter.com/iShufv15PM
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) June 22, 2026

Collins pointed to Platner’s accusations of genocide against Israel and his comments praising Hamas’ tactics in a raid that killed multiple Israeli soldiers, as first reported by Jewish Insider in April, calling his activity “appalling.”

“AIPAC is made up of Americans who care deeply about our relationship with Israel,” Collins continued. “Platner makes it sound like this is some sort of evil foreign influence, and that is absolutely wrong.”

PAC PLEDGE

Ro Khanna signs pledge from antisemitic group TrackAIPAC to win endorsement

TrackAIPAC has garnered ongoing accusations of antisemitism for its targeting of individual Jewish donors with, in many cases, tenuous ties to pro-Israel organizations

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.

By

Marc Rod

June 22, 2026

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) announced last week that he had been endorsed by the anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has faced widespread accusations of antisemitism, after he became the first politician or candidate to sign a new “pledge” promulgated by the group.

TrackAIPAC has garnered ongoing accusations of antisemitism for its targeting of individual Jewish donors with, in some cases, distant or long-ago ties to pro-Israel organizations, fueling accusations that the group aims to broadly stigmatize Jewish political participation. Its inconsistent methodology and practices for determining which politicians it labels as “pro-Israel” have also generated criticism.

The group faced further scrutiny for endorsing antisemitic Texas Democratic candidate Maureen Galindo, though it belatedly revoked its endorsement after her antisemitic stances gained widespread national attention.

The “PEACE Pledge” requires signatories to reject any support from AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, Republican Jewish Coalition, Christians United for Israel “or similar organizations and large donor networks promoting unconditional support for Israel” and to “reject spending and funds routed by groups like AIPAC and their allies through intermediary organizations or coordinated donor activity.”

The pledge is “pretty common sense. It means that we shouldn’t be sending our tax dollar money for foreign wars overseas. We should be spending it here at home,” Khanna said in a video before signing it. “It says that we shouldn’t be taking money from AIPAC or all of its affiliate PACs or bundled money from those organizations, and that we have to recognize the genocide that took place in Gaza.”

“I am proud to be the first Democrat to take this pledge to reject money from AIPAC and affiliated groups, recognize the genocide in Gaza and oppose aid to Israel and military sales that kill civilians,” he added.

Khanna has recently increased his national profile through vocal criticism of Israel, ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run. He joins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) as the third potential 2028 presidential candidate endorsed by TrackAIPAC, which has faced persistent accusations of antisemitism.

TrackAIPAC has in some cases previously labeled J Street support as verboten pro-Israel funding, as well as targeted individual donors who have previously had ties to pro-Israel groups, even if their donations are not given in connection to those groups.

But a Khanna campaign spokesperson said that the pledge does not require Khanna to reject support from J Street or from individual pro-Israel donors.

“Ro believes strongly in the political participation of the Jewish American community. He is proud to be endorsed by J Street and engages with many synagogues and leaders, including those who may not share all his views,” the spokesperson said.

The pledge also demands that signatories recognize the war in Gaza as a genocide and support legislation to that effect; oppose any military aid to “any country whose security forces are committing gross violations of human rights, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide”; and oppose sanctions on the International Criminal Court, among other measures.

It appears to demand that signatories not support anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation, as well as legislation addressing anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism: “I pledge that I will oppose all measures to restrict protected First Amendment speech and assembly, including the exercise of longstanding economic tools of expression, including by opposing measures that aim to limit these freedoms through the conflation of criticism of a foreign country with any form of bigotry.”

“The pledge does not require support for BDS and Ro has not supported it. It says that you cannot criminalize BDS, which has always been Ro’s position as a supporter of the First Amendment,” the Khanna spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also noted that Khanna “believes in dialogue and engagement to bring peace,” and noted that he recently met with leaders from the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — who have described Khanna as actively hostile to and endangering the Jewish community — as well as the local Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish federation.

The spokesperson said he has also met with AIPAC members. And, the spokesperson noted, Khanna recently scored a decisive primary victory. Khanna’s challenger had sought to cultivate support among Jewish voters.

Tali Klima, a spokesperson for the Bay Area Jewish Coalition, said in a statement following the initial publication of this story that the group “reluctantly” met with Khanna following the recent primary, but had asked his office not to publicize the meeting.

“Despite assurances, Khanna has once again chosen to leverage a private meeting for his agenda and to insinuate that he is open to dialogue and inclusion of our perspectives. We are disappointed but not surprised by his team’s actions,” Klima said.

Klima said that during the meeting, her group and other Jewish leaders “reiterated how his rhetoric and political agenda hurt our community. Indeed, we gave him examples of recent antisemitic attacks against children right in his district.”

“Although he promised to ‘tone down’ his rhetoric, he has since proceeded with business as usual, for example, by signing the ridiculous anti-AIPAC pledge,” Klima continued. “We will not accept his attempts to excuse vile anti-Israel propaganda that fuels prejudice, harassment and assaults against us.”

TESTING THE WATERS

Van Hollen says he’s considering presidential bid, wants Israel to be 2028 litmus test

The Maryland senator also praised Graham Platner’s Senate candidacy, even as other leading Democrats have kept their distance

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks at a campaign event for Maryland Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

By

Marc Rod

June 20, 2026

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a leading critic of Israel in the Senate, publicly confirmed for the first time this week, after visits to key primary states, that he is considering a 2028 presidential bid — and argued that criticism of Israel should be a key litmus test for the emerging field.

Van Hollen has become an increasingly outspoken and virulent voice against Israel in the Senate and taken trips to states that will play a pivotal role in the 2028 presidential primary, fueling speculation that he is scoping out a presidential run.

“I went to New Hampshire because I was invited, but I would say kind of kicking the tires a little bit,” Van Hollen said on the “On NOTUS” podcast this week.

Asked whether he thinks any Democratic presidential candidate will be viable without criticizing Israel and supporting conditioning aid to the Jewish state, Van Hollen responded, “I think a Democratic presidential candidate should believe in the United States’ foreign policy based on advancing our values and our interests. And if you want to advance our values, you cannot apply one set of standards just to our adversaries and another to our friends and be taken seriously in the world about it.”

“I think any credible Democratic presidential candidate has to be willing to hold the government of Israel accountable when it’s violating human rights and violating international law and violating US interests because the Israeli-Palestinian issue, conflict goes to the heart of so much of the instability that we’ve encountered and paid for in the United States over decades,” Van Hollen continued.

He also argued that any Biden-era officials who don’t “plainly acknowledge how wrong they were and make it clear that lessons have been learned and that they would follow a very different approach” toward Israel should not be able to serve in any future Democratic administration.

Van Hollen also defended Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee who has drawn controversy for his Nazi tattoo, far-left views and numerous scandals and controversies, as “the candidate in that race who is fighting for working people” and “somebody who’s going to shape things up and actually respond to the pocketbook issues of the people of Maine.”

COMMON DENOMINATOR

Mamdani’s House candidates attack Israel in closing arguments

Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier are all demonizing the Jewish state in the runup to Tuesday’s primary

Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

By

Will Bredderman

June 20, 2026

The battle for three Democratic congressional primaries in New York City has been defined by a conflict more than 5,000 miles away, with candidates spending the final days before Tuesday’s primary echoing the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that helped elevate Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power.

All three of the mayor’s favored contenders for the House — former City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier — underscored their criticism of Israel and its U.S. supporters as early voting began in the contested districts.

Avila Chevalier took time in a televised debate on Tuesday to accuse the country of “apartheid” while seeming to compare the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the IDF in the Gaza Strip to gentrification in the district where she hopes to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and other majority-minority areas.

“I saw so many connections between what was happening to Palestinians there in Palestine and what was happening to so many communities across the U.S., particularly Black and Latino communities, who have been priced out and pushed out of our homes,” said Avila Chevalier, who — like most candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America — draws her strongest support from predominantly white and highly educated residents of the district.

“When we talk about displacement in the West Bank and Gaza, it is a very similar, visually similar situation, where people who have been in a place for generations, are being displaced because of corporate interests, because of folks who are coming in, claiming the land over, and buying it up and kicking the people who live there out.”

Avila Chevalier, who has come under fire for attending an anti-Israel demonstration one day after the Oct. 7 attacks, added during the debate that the “very institutions” involved in both the Holy Land and urban America are the same.

Valdez, vying against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the seat of retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), has similarly brought Middle Eastern issues into the race for the district spanning parts of Brooklyn and Queens. As a new PAC, Real Fight NYC, began spending hundreds of thousands on ads attacking her record and boosting that of her opponent, the sculptor-turned-socialist lawmaker inaccurately suggested pro-Israel interests were behind the effort.

“Is it actually AIPAC?” Valdez speculated in a thread on X. “This is a well-established pattern from AIPAC and its affiliates, especially when there’s only one candidate who’s been clear and consistent against the genocide.”

Reynoso in fact has been a fierce critic of Israeli policy during the race, and the American Federation of Teachers subsequently identified itself as the main sponsor of the ad campaign. Valdez has neither apologized for nor retracted her remarks.

Even former City Comptroller Brad Lander, the lone self-described progressive Zionist among the mayor’s endorsees, spent his final TV face-off against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) on Monday criticizing the incumbent for his past support for aid packages to Israel and his refusal to call the military campaign in the Gaza Strip “a genocide.” The day before, Lander held a rally with Mamdani and a bevy of left-wing Jewish and Muslim activist groups, which he took as another occasion to condemn Israel.

“We’re united around a belief that a better world is possible — one in which we don’t compromise on anyone’s humanity. One in which we are not complicit in occupation and genocide,” he wrote on X. “One in which everyone has a home they can afford, with no bombs falling on it, in a place where they are both safe and free.”

Mamdani, for his part, vowed at a rally for the trio Thursday evening that they would help combat “monsters” that he claimed dominate the political process. The only such quarry he called out by name, though, was AIPAC.

“AIPAC, for whom the only thing more frightening than democracy being allowed to run its course is an end to genocide and [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu’s wars,” the mayor told the roaring crowd.

Analysis

Trump’s Iran deal sidelines Israel as regional tensions shift into new phase

In Israel, the deal is being met with dismay across the board

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

By

Melissa Weiss

June 15, 2026

A year and a day after Israeli fighter jets first opened fire above Iran, setting off a year of intermittent fighting and numerous failed negotiations, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that an agreement with Iran to end the war had been reached. A signing ceremony set for later this week in Switzerland — which is expected to be attended by Vice President JD Vance — will kick off a 60-negotiation period to address Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

For Americans, the deal closes a chapter that saw high gas and food prices as well as schisms in the GOP as the party’s wings fought over how the war should be fought and ended. Among Democrats, legislators and activists from the party’s progressive wing — from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to the National Iranian American Council’s Trita Parsi (who additionally gloated, “Netanyahu failed!”) — praised the deal.

But Israel was not part of the negotiations, nor did it have final say in what was in the agreement inked between Washington and Tehran. As the Is were dotted and Ts were crossed on the agreement, tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — already on display following Israel’s threatened escalation last week in Beirut, followed by an actual escalation on Sunday when Israel struck Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood — deepened. In a call on Sunday after Israel conducted the strike — later claiming to have killed a senior Hezbollah commander — Trump told Axios he had conveyed to Netanyahu that he “was so pissed off.” Netanyahu, Trump said, “has no f***ing judgement. I let him know that.”

In Israel, the deal is being met with dismay across the board, as neither of the war goals laid out by Netanyahu last June — removing Iran’s “existential threats” to Israel and ending Tehran’s support for its terror proxies across the region — have been met, even after a year of fighting.

With elections in the country fast approaching, Netanyahu, who has long billed himself as “Mr. Security,” is already finding himself on the receiving end of criticism from across the political spectrum. Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman blasted the deal as “catastrophe from Israel’s perspective,” while prominent right-wing Israeli journalist Amit Segal posted an ominous quote from former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”

The question now is what, exactly, is in the agreement. Iran’s state-linked Mehr agency reported that under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. will release $12 billion in frozen assets to Iran before talks begin.

Fox News reported that the $12 billion figure, as well as other reports of the deal’s stipulations, are incorrect, and that officials within the Trump administration are growing frustrated over rumors about the contours of the agreement.

Calls for the deal’s text to be made public have come from even Trump’s staunchest supporters. Commentator Mark Levin said he has “asked for days, why can’t we, the people, see the damn MOU?” Levin added that he had “never seen anything like this. If it is a great outcome for peace, then release it.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on X on Sunday that he was “somewhat concerned” that Iran’s account of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal diverges sharply from what the U.S. negotiators are claiming, and demanded Vice President JD Vance personally present the deal to Congress.

The vice president, who two months ago traveled to Pakistan for high-level negotiations with Iranian officials, has increasingly become the public face of the Iran talks. In an interview last week that aired yesterday on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Vance said he believed “that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program” in the long term.

For Vance, the success or failure of the deal, and of the negotiations to follow, could become one of the defining political issues of his rumored 2028 presidential bid — one in which he will likely find himself up against Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what could be a bruising primary.

With the deal’s signing later this week, the military phase of the war — begun just over a year ago — will conclude. But what comes next is the political phase, which will determine Iran’s nuclear future, Israeli security policy and the direction of U.S. foreign policy in the region for decades to come.

protest politics

El-Sayed suggests anti-Israel activists indicted because of beliefs, not alleged criminal conspiracy

‘It's a lot more about what you're advocating for that gets you indicted or not indicted, rather than what you did,’ El-Sayed said

Evan Cobb for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks with customers and barbers at Blazin Wade Cuts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

June 14, 2026

Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, suggested at an event on Friday that the Trump administration had indicted a group of anti-Israel demonstrators at the University of Michigan for their beliefs, rather than their actions.

The eight defendants, including a former staffer on El-Sayed’s campaign, who were indicted Friday have been accused of a campaign of intimidation against university officials they saw as pro-Israel and vandalism of local Jewish organizations.

“It’s a lot more about what you’re advocating for that gets you indicted or not indicted, rather than what you did,” El-Sayed said, at a Friday campaign event, according to The Detroit News.

Speaking to reporters after the event, El-Sayed said that it’s “just wrong, full stop” to target families, businesses and property as the indicted individuals alleged did, but also drew a contrast between the treatment of the eight indicted individuals and the Trump administration’s mass pardon of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“I believe in justice, because I believe that when you break the law, you should be held accountable, but I don’t love watching our justice system treat people differently based on what it is that they were advocating for,” El-Sayed said. “Targeting people, families, properties, businesses is wrong, of course it’s wrong, but it’s also wrong when Jan. 6 terrorists do it. To watch the same Trump administration use these terms in certain ways — I think we all need to be asking the questions.”

El-Sayed previously faced criticism for his response to the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., which some saw as excusing or rationalizing the attack.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) on X condemned El-Sayed for his “equivocation.”

“The reported planned violence and intimidation at the University of Michigan is wrong. This is simple and any leader should be able to say so,” she said. “The fact my opponent cannot bring himself to say that is concerning.”

In remarks to reporters, she said that she was “concerned about [El-Sayed’s] repeated patterns of embracing political violence and being out of step with Michigan voters,” pointing also to his decision to rally with far-left influencer Hasan Piker at the University of Michigan.

“We need leaders who are going to showcase leadership and be the leaders that we deserve, not continue to divide us and compensate for when people commit violence or threaten violence for political purposes,” she said.

Her comments have prompted scorn from El-Sayed’s campaign and allies.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) responded to Stevens’ X post by copying Stevens’ wording to criticize Stevens for refusing to describe the war in Gaza as a genocide.

Roxie Richner, El-Sayed’s communications director, accused Stevens on X of “sid[ing] with the Trump administration” and said she “can’t string two coherent sentences together.”

“Leadership requires that you have moral clarity and can say words that make sense when put in order,” Richner continued.

ACROSS THE AISLE

Stefanik praises Shapiro, Fetterman as exceptions on antisemitism

The New York Republican praised the Pennsylvania Democrats’ responses to post-Oct. 7 campus antisemitism, arguing that most of their party failed to show similar leadership.

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to be Ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill on January 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

By

Emily Jacobs

June 11, 2026

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) praised Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on Wednesday, arguing that both Democrats’ forceful condemnations of campus antisemitism after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks made them outliers in their party on the issue.

Speaking on a webinar with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America to discuss her book on campus antisemitism, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, Stefanik noted Shapiro was a rare Democrat to call for the resignation of Liz Magill, the former University of Pennsylvania president, after she struggled to answer Stefanik’s questions during a December 2023 committee hearing on whether calling for the genocide of Jews constituted bullying or harassment. (Magill resigned days after the hearing amid mounting criticism of her testimony.)

“There’s a huge challenge within the Democrat Party right now with this rise of antisemitism. I do highlight in the book that Fetterman was a really important voice that condemned without hesitation,” Stefanik said. “Josh Shapiro, he was governor of Pennsylvania when this happened. Penn was among the worst, and you had very weak leadership from Liz Magill. He called for her resignation immediately as well.”

“There are a few examples, but that’s outside of the norm of the Democratic Party and what we’re seeing play out both in the public polling, but also in some of these primary elections,” she continued, referencing the increase in anti-Israel candidates who have won recent Democratic primary contests.

Stefanik suggested that a number of Democratic candidates had won recent primaries despite leading campus encampments themselves, though she did not specify anyone by name and it was not clear who she was referring to.

“It was only the House Republicans who conducted these hearings. The Senate at the time was controlled by Democrats. They didn’t have a single hearing on the crisis in higher education and the skyrocketing antisemitism. That, in and of itself, I think shows the lack of prioritization,” Stefanik said. “Politically, look at what’s happening in these Democrat primaries. You now have the leaders of the pro-Hamas encampments running for Congress and getting elected in these Democrat primaries. So, I make the case in the book that what happens on these campuses has a direct line into what’s happening politically.”

BLEAK ASSESSMENT

Fetterman: Outlook for Jews in Democratic Party is ‘bleak’

The Pennsylvania senator heavily criticized the normalization of anti-Israel platforms and the validation of extreme views among Democratic voters

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) talks with reporters after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

By

Matthew Shea

June 10, 2026

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a stalwart ally of Israel and the Jewish community who has become increasingly isolated within a Democratic Party facing internal friction over its Middle East policy, warned on Wednesday that the outlook for Jewish voters within his party has become “bleak.”

“I’m not a member of the Jewish community, but if I was one, it would be bleak as a Jewish voter in the Democratic Party,” Fetterman said, speaking at a conference hosted by the Culture for Peace Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing “sustainable peace” by bringing together political leaders and researchers, in Washington. “If [Democratic voters are] willing to support these kinds of candidates across the map — look in Michigan [Abdul El-Sayed], look at the one in Maine [Graham Platner], look at New York City [Mayor Zohran Mamdani], look across the map — these are defined by how much anti-Israel rhetoric you can cram into your platform.”

Fetterman expressed concern that the trajectory of the party will continue to “deteriorate,” noting that he “refuses to be part” of what he claims to have predicted would occur within the Democratic ranks. He added that he is “constantly disappointed but not surprised by the way things have drifted within the party.”

“I expect that it’s going to continue to deteriorate,” Fetterman said. “A lot of these extreme views were validated during the midterms. It’s stunning, astonishing to me, the kind of people with these views who [Democratic voters] will now choose to be their representatives. It’s heartbreaking to me, but unsurprising, and that’s what history would have predicted will happen.”

The Pennsylvania senator pointed specifically to Platner’s victory in the Maine Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, calling it a “capstone” example of deterioration within the party, taking concern with the amount of people “defending” the scandal-plagued candidate.

“I think the capstone of that recently was where you have the kind of garbage candidate like Platner — like full-on Nazi ink on his body — and now you have people defending it,” Fetterman said. “I read an interview with a Maine voter where [a woman said] she would not vote or support someone if they have an Israeli flag tattoo, but it’s OK that [Platner has a Nazi tattoo] on his body. That’s how insidious it’s become within the party, and the calculus where it’s OK to have these views.”

Fetterman stated that the problem is most acute among the “young generation,” arguing that the environment on college campuses and behavior of certain Democratic candidates have contributed to the alarming shift.

“The young generation’s been lost, and that’s 100% on social media,” Fetterman said. “If the Democratic Party is convinced that Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran were the wronged party, that’s absurdity.”

“If you are angry, blame Iran — don’t blame America, or don’t blame Israel for demanding that they turn over their nuclear dust,” he continued. “Don’t keep hostages, don’t attack Israel, don’t fire thousands of rockets into northern Israel. This response was entirely appropriate.”

On the war in Iran, Fetterman discussed his decision to be the sole Senate Democrat to vote against multiple war powers resolutions, clarifying that it was a “pro-no-nuclear-weapons-for-Iran” vote rather than a pro-war stance. Despite his isolation in the caucus on that specific measure, Fetterman insisted he stood on the “right side” of history.

“Can’t we just agree that every single Democrat in the caucus would agree that we can never let Iran build a nuclear bomb?” Fetterman said. “When someone [the Trump administration] actually tries to make sure that doesn’t happen, why can’t you support that?”

Fetterman recalled that Democrats once stood firmly and unanimously against Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. However, he argued that a policy position that used to be mainstream for Democrats has now “become a controversial one.”

Fetterman further asserted that support for Israeli military objectives has also become “controversial” within the Democratic Party. Nonetheless, he emphasized that he will continue to back Jerusalem’s operational goals regardless of the shifting political tides.

“This might be controversial for Democrats now, but I’ll say it again. I think it’s magnificent the way Israel continues to this day to eliminate people in Hamas and everyone that is tied to [the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks],” Fetterman said. “Everyone should be held accountable and pick off the new leaders before the new business cards even come in.”

Ultimately, he warned that an Iranian nuclear breakout would carry severe consequences for the Middle East and economic fallout globally.

“I can’t imagine the circumstances in the Middle East if that happened,” Fetterman said. “If you think gas is too expensive today, let Iran become a nuclear power because they could do anything and charge any kind of toll once they’re nuclear. They would be truly untouchable, and this is why as a Democrat I’m willing to embrace perhaps the most toxic thing a Democrat can do right now.”

Daily Overtime

Pentagon prepares for ‘busy’ night in Iran

Plus, Ron Klain goes to bat for Platner

Getty Images

A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after explosions were reported in the city during the night on March 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 10, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

After the U.S. conducted strikes yesterday in Iran, President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office this morning that the U.S. would “hit them hard again today” and told Fox News that he may target Iranian power plants and bridges because Tehran is “tapping the United States along” in negotiations.

As Trump convened his national security team in Washington this afternoon to discuss military options, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters CENTCOM will be “busy tonight” with “bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran”…

Trump also revealed today that he directed the U.S. military last month to “execute a secret mission” to assist oil tankers and other commercial vessels in transiting the Strait of Hormuz, an effort that “has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil” and over 200 commercial ships moving through the waterway. His Truth Social post was a clarification of earlier comments that seemed to suggest the U.S. was stealing this oil directly out of Iran; U.S. operations to facilitate passage in the strait have been previously reported…

Trump provided Fox News with new details of the downing of the U.S. Army helicopter earlier this week, describing how an Iranian drone became lodged between the two pilots in the cockpit who guided the helicopter into the sea, where they were rescued “for the first time in U.S. military history” by an unmanned sea drone…

Qatari mediators visited Tehran today in the hopes of pushing Iranian officials to engage more effectively in negotiations with the U.S., Axios reports, after Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with their intransigence over the last two weeks, even as he continued to signal the two sides were approaching a deal…

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, the highest-level U.S. official to publicly visit the Gulf since the Iran war began…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an “antisemitic dictator” today after Erdoğan condemned Israel’s “network of murder” in Syria and Lebanon and threatened a “very clear and strong response” if Turkish interests in the region were jeopardized. Netanyahu said Erdoğan, whom he accused of supporting Hamas, lacks the moral authority to criticize Israel.

Trump, when asked in the Oval Office about the potential for war between Israel and Turkey, described Erdoğan as a “hell of a leader” and said, “I don’t think that will happen as long as I’m president”…

More than 20 countries, including the U.S., issued a joint statement condemning “lethal plotting and malign actions” by Iran’s security forces working with international and local criminal groups in Europe, North America and Australia, including their efforts to target “Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities and interests”…

The Department of Justice indicted eight individuals associated with the University of Michigan for allegedly threatening university leaders, law enforcement, businesses and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit over the conspirators’ perception of their “purported financial support of Israel.”

The individuals “discussed methods by which to harm the targets and their families, including poison, bombs, and psychological torture,” engaged in extensive vandalism and threw jars filled with noxious chemicals into homes, according to the department…

An immigration judge ordered earlier this month that Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi be deported to Jordan, after a lengthy legal battle in which the Trump administration claimed Mahdawi has been involved in and supported terrorist violence. Mahdawi, who has not been charged with a crime, is still seeking review of his removal proceedings in federal court…

The Senate Education and Natural Resources Committee advanced the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons (HEAL) Act by a voice vote…

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a memo to donors, acknowledged that the “political fundamentals in Maine remain challenging” for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to retain her seat against scandal-plagued challenger Graham Platnerand called it a “fatal mistake to assume Platner is too damaged to win”…

Trump offered Collins his backing today after having long been at odds with the senator: Asked if she has his full endorsement, Trump said, “She does, because she’s a sane woman. She’s not my best friend at all … but she’s a sane person and she’s a respected person.” He called Platner a “thug,” a “phony” and a “bad person”…

Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to President Joe Biden, defended Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi symbol in a comment responding to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Instagram, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports: Klain claimed the Totenkopf “was a skull and crossbones to remember [Platner’s] fallen comrades from his service in Afghanistan,” an explanation Platner’s campaign has not previously offered…

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, running against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the 10th Congressional District, denied to JI’s Will Bredderman that he’s backing Darializa Avila Chevalier in her race against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) — even as the two appeared together in an ad paid for jointly by both of their campaigns…

Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg, running in the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th District, came out yesterday in support of the Block the Bombs Act, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports, despite having previously expressed skepticism about the bill seeking to broadly restrict weapons sales to Israel…

Meanwhile, Public First Action, the PAC linked to AI giant Anthropic, is spending $1.2 million on a Knicks-themed ad in support of Schlossberg’s opponent, Alex Bores, who has become a leading advocate for AI regulation on the campaign trail. The ad is set to air tonight during Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Politico reports…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the state of play in Israel’s elections, taking place this fall.

The House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will hold a closed-door markup of the 2027 defense spending bill.

Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) will speak at a Progressive Policy Institute event on “Working Toward a New Era of Patriotism and Democratic Renewal” at the National Press Club in Washington.

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SIDESTEPPING QUESTIONS

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Ally Appeal

Goldman: Jewish community needs non-Jewish allies to effectively fight antisemitism

The congressman said he’s confident Congress will pass the Jewish American Security Act by the end of the year

Marc Rod

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) speaks at a press conference announcing the Jewish American Security Act being introduced in the House on June 10, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

June 10, 2026

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), the chair of the House antisemitism task force, argued in an interview with Jewish Insider on Wednesday that the Jewish community needs non-Jewish allies to help fight antisemitism, following a press conference introducing the Jewish American Security Act (JASA), a bipartisan and bicameral package aimed at tackling attacks on Jewish institutions, campus antisemitism and online antisemitism.

“It’s really important that we gain and bolster allies from outside the Jewish community, because ultimately antisemitism is hate, and hate is easily transferable, and history has taught us that,” Goldman said. “The way we are going to combat antisemitism is not just through Jewish advocacy but through a broad coalition of people who support the democratic value of equal rights and social justice, and so we’re excited that this bill can be a vehicle towards bringing people of all backgrounds together to fight.”

Though some in the Jewish community feel that they’ve been abandoned by longtime allies since the Oct. 7 attacks, Goldman argued that it’s important to continue to reach out to and cultivate allies, in part because “Jewish community is too small to do it ourselves, and we need allies.”

Asked whether there are groups outside the Jewish community supporting JASA, Goldman said, “Broadly speaking, I’ve had really meaningful conversations with a lot of leaders in other communities, and I think that there is a recognition that it is incredibly important to have a united front against hate.”

In spite of Congress’ now yearslong struggle to pass legislation to address the significant rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, Goldman said he’s confident that Congress will pass JASA before the end of the year.

The New York congressman said that “part of the reason you see such widespread bipartisan support, and you see so many of the Jewish organizations supporting it, is because we worked very intentionally to streamline it into things that can get bipartisan agreement, so that we can actually get it passed.”

“I’m very optimistic that we are going to pass it this year, because of that broad bipartisan support and because there are no poison pills,” Goldman continued.

He said that the bill’s sponsors have spoken to leadership on both sides of the aisle about the bill, and have received support for it.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the lead Republican cosponsor of the bill in the House, said at the press conference that, as a representative of one of the largest Jewish communities in the country, “this issue matters.”

“I am grateful for the local law enforcement agencies in my district that coordinate very closely with our synagogues and with our yeshivas to protect our Jewish students, but it is not enough. We need additional resources to ensure everyone’s safety in New York. We’ve seen firsthand why this program matters,” the lower Hudson Valley Republican said, referring to Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding. “As a practicing Catholic who goes to church, fact is, I can walk into my church without fear. I can walk into my church without passing a security guard stationed outside. Jewish Americans don’t have that luxury, and it’s outrageous, and it should anger each and every one of us.”

He said the bill would also improve protections for Jewish students “by ensuring colleges and universities have clear accountability and enforcement mechanisms” and “increas[ing] transparency and accountability for online platforms as antisemitic content continues to spread across the internet.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a cosponsor of the bill, said at the press conference, “This bill shouldn’t be necessary. It shouldn’t be necessary. We shouldn’t have to do this. We’re not doing this because it’s optional. We’re doing it because it is necessary.”

“If people stop trying to hurt Jewish kids in preschools, we won’t have to build walls around them. If people stop trying to blow up synagogues, then we wouldn’t have to have armed guards at every entrance, but we’re seeing all over the country now people going to synagogues to stage foreign policy protests,” Moskowitz said. “We see people in the street, Jews in the street, wearing a Jewish star, having to put that Jewish star away, and if they don’t, they’re accosted.”

He said he saw firsthand the impact and necessity of NSGP funding when he served as Florida’s director of emergency management, where he was responsible for administering those grants at the state level.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY), another supporter of the bill, told JI that antisemitism is an issue she’s been focused on since she was on the campaign trail, and said that the bill tackles many issues she pledged to address as a candidate.

“It talks about putting pressure on social media platforms to moderate hate speech, because we know that that is the hotbed of what is stirring up these hateful feelings — where people hide behind their computers, they say vicious vile things, and they create a lot of false information out there in the universe,” Gillen said.

She added that the security funding increase proposed in the bill, which puts NSGP funding at $1 billion, is also critical. “We saw they got a little bit more of a bump in [the] homeland security [appropriations bill], but we need a [much] bigger bump. There is a tremendous need across my district, and it’s not even just synagogues or yeshivas, it’s also other places of worship.”

Also speaking at the press conference were Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America; Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Jessica Bernton, director of congressional affairs at the American Jewish Committee; Lauren Wolman, senior director of government relations and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League; and Elizabeth Cullen, director of government relations at Hadassah.

MAINE CHARACTER

Graham Platner survives scandals to win Dem nomination, will face Sen. Susan Collins

In his victory speech, Platner railed against the political establishment and criticized U.S. wars in the Middle East

Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Graham Platner, Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, arrives to speak during a Fighting Oligarchy event in Portland, Maine, on May 25, 2026.

By

Josh Kraushaar

June 9, 2026

Maine Democrats rallied behind scandal-plagued oyster farmer and military veteran Graham Platner as their Senate nominee against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in Tuesday’s primary, turning to a left-wing outsider running against the political and institutional establishment as its standard-bearer for the general election.

Platner — whose controversies, including his now-covered Nazi tattoo and abuse allegations, have unnerved many Democrats — will be a political test over whether his brand of progressive populism can win over swing voters in a state critical to the Democrats’ hopes of winning back the Senate.

“In trying so hard to understand me, [the media] failed to understand that this is not about me at all. This is a movement about us, about the far too many, working far too hard and struggling far too much,” Platner said in his victory speech.

Attacking “forever wars,” Platner railed against the Trump administration’s war in Iran, and slammed Collins for “closing hospitals while using our tax dollars to destroy them halfway around the world.” (The line was an apparent attack against Israel’s targeting of Hamas terror infrastructure that was often lodged in medical facilities during the war in Gaza.)

Platner won about 72% of the primary vote despite Gov. Janet Mills remaining on the ballot, a solid enough showing amid all the controversies that should mute any calls for him to drop out of the race. In a statement on Platner’s victory, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) reiterated their support for the nominee: “In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”

Mills, for her part, did not mention Platner at all in her statement about the election results.

The most recent polls in the race, conducted as Platner’s scandals hit the news, suggest a highly competitive matchup between Collins and Platner. Maine is the only state Trump lost in the 2024 presidential election that is represented by a Republican in the Senate, but Platner’s personal baggage is complicating the party’s path to victory.

Collins, meanwhile, is one of the most politically resilient senators, winning reelection even when the political environment for her party has been less than favorable.

Platner was surrounded by mostly older women as he delivered his victory speech, a critical constituency for him to win in the general election in the state with the oldest median population, especially given the allegations of abuse towards several ex-girlfriends.

In other primary news on Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) coasted to renomination, though he only won 58% of the GOP vote against weak competition.

In his victory speech, Graham railed against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), two isolationist, anti-Israel GOP lawmakers who left or were ousted from Congress. “What did we prove tonight? That South Carolina is Trump country, not Massie country. We proved tonight that nobody gives a damn what Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks about who to vote for in South Carolina,” Graham said.

In South Carolina’s governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, will face state Attorney General Alan Wilson in a runoff for the nomination. Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) lagged well behind in the primary, with Mace’s fifth-place finish serving as a disappointing conclusion to her congressional career.

Daily Overtime

Helicopter down, Iran tensions up

Plus, Israeli confidence in Trump hits new low

U.S. Navy via Getty Images

A U.S. Sailor signals the launch of an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 70, on the flight deck of the world's largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), while supporting Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 9, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced today that Iran was responsible for downing a U.S. Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz last night, and vowed to respond out “of necessity.” Trump had reportedly told aides his “red line” for resuming military action would be if Iran killed any more Americans, though he confirmed in his post on Truth Social that both American pilots involved were “safe and uninjured.”

Later, however, in a call with The Wall Street Journal, Trump appeared to downplay the incident, saying it “wasn’t a big deal” and that “the pilot is fine”…

Top GOP lawmakers echoed Trump’s initial assessment that the U.S. must respond: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea that Iran should face “significant consequences.” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, similarly said the U.S. must “vigorously respond,” and Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) pushed for “decisive action”…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled that Tehran is distancing itself from the episodeand not claiming it as a direct attack on the U.S. He said in a statement, “Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire. To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave”…

Trump, speaking to ABC News, openly mused about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “even wants to continue” and run in Israel’s upcoming elections, slated to take place this fall. “He’s a wartime prime minister. We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he’s a wartime prime minister,” Trump said…

A gunman from Lebanon entered Israeli territory and fired on IDF troops, who killed him before he crossed the border fence, the IDF said. The infiltration set off a widespread search for potential accomplices, though none were found…

Before the latest round of missile fire between Israel and Iran, U.S. and Iranian negotiators had focused their discussions on four major elements of a nuclear deal, officials told The New York Times, even as the Trump administration has said nuclear issues will be discussed in a subsequent round of negotiations.

The key points reportedly include how long Iran will suspend uranium enrichment, diluting the country’s stockpile of already enriched uranium, dismantling three of its major nuclear facilities and “snap” inspections of all relevant sites inside the country…

A new survey from the Israel Democracy Institute found the share of Israelis who believe the country’s security is a primary consideration for Trump has plummeted to 44%, down from 60% who said the same in March at the beginning of the Iran war, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

It’s the lowest level of Israeli trust in Trump since the institute began tracking the metric when he was elected to a second term in November 2024, coming as Washington and Jerusalem seemingly diverge on their strategies and ultimate goals of the war with Iran…

Twenty-one countries issued a joint statement urging Israel not to implement a new law requiring international NGOs wanting to operate in the West Bank and Gaza to register with and be vetted by the Israeli government, calling the law “part of a broader pattern of restrictive measures” that “constrain the urgently needed humanitarian response.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the concerns and claims of the countries as “completely unfounded and detached from reality” as it said there are “immense amounts of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip”…

Randy Villegas, a left-wing Democrat running to unseat Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) in California, claimed victory today in the jungle primary over Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat who had been favored by pro-Israel leaders as well as the party’s national leadership, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC had spent heavily to help Bains with a $500,000 TV ad buy opposing Villegas…

United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, is spending $2 million on an initial ad buy this week to boost Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat, a UDP spokesperson confirmed to JI’s Matthew Kassel. The ad touts Stevens’ record fighting for the auto industry, opposing Medicare cuts and working to cap insulin prices in Congress…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out for timely analysis of today’s primary election results in Maine, Nevada and South Carolina from Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar — premium JI subscribers like you will receive it first.

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup of the HEAL Act, a bipartisan bill examining Holocaust education efforts across the country.

The Culture for Peace Institute will hold a conference in Washington with speakers including State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun; Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK); and Reps. Nick LaLota (R-NY), Randy Fine (R-FL), Andy Barr (R-KY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).

Elsewhere in Washington, Iran International will hold a town hall focused on the conflicts in Lebanon and Iran, featuring the Middle East Institute’s David Hale and Alex Vatanka as well as Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

In the evening, lawmakers will take the field for the annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park.

In New York, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will hold its annual antisemitism convening, bringing together communal professionals, experts and others to discuss efforts to combat antisemitism.

New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Councilmember Julie Won — the top Democratic candidates for New York’s 7th Congressional District to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) — will face off for a debate on local news channel PIX11.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation will honor New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, former Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot and Gazan human rights lawyer Moumen Al-Natour at its gala in Manhattan.

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LEFT COAST

Anti-Israel Democrat Villegas declares victory in California House primary

The left-wing activist beat out Jasmeet Bains, a moderate who had been boosted by DMFI and party leadership. Villegas will face GOP Rep. David Valadao in November

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Randy Villegas, running for California's 22nd Congressional District walking neighborhoods in Bakersfield, Calif., on Saturday, May 23, 2026.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 9, 2026

Randy Villegas, a left-wing Democrat running to unseat Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) in California, claimed victory on Tuesday in the jungle primary over Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat who had been favored by pro-Israel leaders as well as the party’s national leadership.

“Voters in the Central Valley have spoken and they have declared that the Valley is not for sale,” Villegas, a progressive activist and political science professor, said in a statement a week after the state’s primaries. “Despite the onslaught of outside corporate money spent against us, we have shown that working people are ready for change.”

While the race in California’s 22nd Congressional District has not yet been officially called for either Democrat, Villegas had 31% of the vote with nearly three-quarters counted as of Tuesday, leading Bains by four points. Valadao, a vulnerable Republican incumbent, claimed 42% of the vote in the top-two primary election.

Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC had spent heavily to help Bains, a doctor and assemblymember, investing in a $500,000 TV ad buy opposing Villegas, according to federal filings. (The group also opposed a Democratic candidate, Ammar Campa-Najjar, who lost to a pro-Israel Democrat in a San Diego congressional race.)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had included Bains on its “Red to Blue” program and launched a joint ad buy with her — efforts that stoked ongoing tensions with leading progressive lawmakers who had backed Villegas.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republican super PAC, also intervened in the primary to boost Villegas — in an apparent effort to elevate a Democrat viewed by party leadership as weaker than Bains in the general election.

The Cook Political Report has rated the district as a toss-up.

In contrast with Bains, who expressed support for “Israel’s right to exist, defend itself and live in peace as a secure nation,” Villegas called Israel a “genocidal regime” and vowed to vote against additional military funding to the Jewish state if elected.

American Priorities, a new super PAC launched to counter AIPAC’s involvement in congressional races, invested aggressively to bolster Villegas’ campaign.

Villegas was also endorsed by Track AIPAC, the controversial social media account that supports anti-Israel candidates and has faced accusations of antisemitism.

Morris Katz, a progressive consultant who advised Villegas’ campaign, called the candidate “exactly the kind of voice we need in Congress.” Katz has played a pivotal role in elevating candidates with antagonistic views towards Israel into office.

“He’s going to flip this seat and lead the fight against a corrupt political establishment,” Katz predicted in a social media post on Tuesday.

LASHING OUT

Micah Lasher says he’s ‘exhausted’ by political ‘obsession’ with Israel

The Democratic congressional hopeful aired his frustration when asked about his stance regarding U.S. aid to the Jewish state at a candidate forum

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Micah Lasher campaigns and distributes flyers as he runs to represent Congressional District 12 on Lexington Avenue.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 9, 2026

Micah Lasher, a Democratic New York state assemblymember running to fill the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in Manhattan, raised concerns on Monday that “the political dialogue” in his primary “is obsessed with Israel,” a key topic of discussion in the heavily Jewish 12th Congressional District.

Lasher, who is Jewish and a supporter of Israel, made the remarks while participating in a candidate forum at B’nai Jeshurun, a synagogue on the Upper West Side. The forum was the latest of several Jewish community events ahead of the closely watched June 23 primary election.

During the forum on Monday night, the moderator, New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg, asked Lasher where he stood regarding continued U.S. aid to Israel — a question that has been repeatedly posed to him and his opponents throughout the race.

Lasher, in a position shared by most of his top rivals, has said he backs funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and opposes efforts to condition U.S. aid to Israel that single out the Jewish state.

Rather than answering Goldberg’s question directly, Lasher sounded increasingly frustrated as he described feeling “exhausted by the obsession on a plot of land the size of New Jersey.”

“I care about the survival of Israel as a Jewish state. I am heartbroken by the killing of Palestinians. I will look at every policy question through those lenses,” he said.

When Goldberg noted, “We’re in a synagogue,” Lasher countered, “The leading proponents of the idea that antisemitism is different from anti-Zionism will tell you being in a synagogue doesn’t mean that your life is about Israel.” He added that there are housing and childcare issues they should be focusing on.

“I spend a great deal of time wrestling with the challenges and the horrors of what is going on in Israel,” Lasher said. “I am not obsessed with Israel, and I worry sometimes that our political dialogue — and the political dialogue in this race — is obsessed with Israel.”

In concluding his remarks, Lasher stated that his “answers will be complicated” and “will not fit into 90 seconds.”

“I’m tired of the obsession on this topic in this campaign,” he said to applause.

Daily Overtime

Trump warns Bibi: ‘You will be on your own’ if…

Plus, AIPAC wades into Mich. Senate race

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 8, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Israel went forward with a plan to escalate its strikes on Iran today, “you will be on your own very soon,” the president recalled in an interview with Axios, after which the Israeli leader reportedly called off the attack. Trump also claimed the U.S. and Iran are nearing a “phenomenal deal. We are getting everything we wanted”…

Netanyahu subsequently said in a video statement that, while Israel is “holding its fire” against Iran, Jerusalem has “a full right to self-defense” and is “exercising it to the extent necessary” — a message he said he relayed “with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.” But Netanyahu warned that if Iran resumes its attacks on Israel, the IDF would respond with “overwhelming force”…

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in an address today that Iran’s simultaneous military strikes and diplomacy are part of an intentional strategy and that, though Tehran is seeking to end the war, it does not want to normalize relations with Washington…

U.S. forces disabled another empty oil tanker attempting to sail to Iranian ports today after it failed to disobey orders to stop by firing a precision munition into the ship’s engineering and steering spaces, CENTCOM announced. It’s the seventh such vessel U.S. forces have disabled since the blockade began…

Thirty-eight Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), demanded in a letter to Trump that the administration provide Congress with the legal opinion backing its determination that U.S. hostilities against Iran have ended, given the ongoing strikes and U.S. presence in the region…

At next week’s G7 summit in France, which Trump will be attending, European leaders will attempt to secure the president’s support for a U.K. and France-led effort to de-mine the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reports…

The J7, a coalition of Jewish communal organizations representing the seven largest Jewish Diaspora populations, urged Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize action over further study after he announced Ottawa’s new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion would examine rising antisemitism in the country.

Arguing that the problem has already been well documented, the groups called for a “whole-of-government” response focused on enforcement and countering extremist ideologies and terror movements…

United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-aligned super PAC, began buying ad time in Michigan today, in what appears to be the pro-Israel group’s first foray into the state’s heated Democratic Senate primary…

The Wall Street Journal interviews activists Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, who, along with consultant Morris Katz, recruited Graham Platner to run for Senate in Maine. The two said that their own vetting process of Platner did not turn up the Nazi tattoo he had on his chest, nor the full extent of his controversial Reddit posts, but they believed none of what they had seen at the time “will or should stop him from becoming a U.S. senator”…

The two factions of Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Satmar community united behind Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). Reynoso, a native of the district, clashed with some of the Hasidic sect’s leaders as a city councilmember but rebuilt relationships in subsequent years. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has found allies in the Satmar sect while in office, is backing Reynoso’s opponent, Assemblymember Claire Valdez…

Ahead of tonight’s Knicks NBA Finals game against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden, The Forward examines the chant sweeping New York City — “My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish, my Christian Dior, Knicks in four!” — and what it says about the city’s identity…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the view from Washington on Trump’s attempt to pressure Netanyahu not to retaliate to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attacks.

Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina will hold their primary elections tomorrow.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a markup of various bills, including one to direct the State Department to impose sanctions on the leaders and family members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese civil war.

The House Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY 2027 spending bills for Labor, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security.

The Atlantic Council will kick off its two-day Global Energy Forum with remarks from Energy Secretary Chris Wright; Ben Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy; and representatives from Kuwait, Egypt, Syria and more.

Agudath Israel of America will celebrate the opening of its new office on Capitol Hill with a tribute to its longtime vice president for government affairs, Rabbi Abba Cohen, who is set to step down after 37 years at the organization.

Stories You May Have Missed

PROMISES AND PERILS

As AI reshapes society, Jewish leaders grapple with what comes next

Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone: ‘When we ascribe human attributes — emotions, consciousness and soul — to AI, we risk transforming a sophisticated instrument into an idol’

Read more

DAMAGE CONTROL

Democrats grilled over Graham Platner’s baggage

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Mark Warner declined to defend the embattled Maine Senate candidate, but Rep. Ro Khanna said he’ll continue to support him

Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Graham Platner, Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, arrives to speak during a Fighting Oligarchy event in Portland, Maine, on May 25, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

June 7, 2026

Top Democrats faced questions over Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s scandals on Sunday, days after The New York Times shared details of abusive behavior alleged by past romantic partners.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has endorsed Platner, said he continues to support him even as he criticized Platner’s past behavior and said his campaign should not attack his accusers, while Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to offer any support for Platner and said that Platner and Maine voters will need to address the scandal.

Khanna, who campaigned with Platner in Maine after last week’s Times scoop, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Platner’s past actions were “misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong, but they didn’t come as a surprise to a lot of the folks in Maine,” arguing that the state’s voters knew the presumptive Democratic nominee went through a dark period after his time serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He took accountability, he himself has said that it was shameful,” Khanna said, explaining that he continues to support Platner because of his policy platform. “The Maine voters that I met said they don’t like it. They knew that he had these chapters. They are willing to extend him grace and redemption, and they’re focused now on what he’s running for.”

He said that if there was “evidence of violence” or “evidence of sexual assault” he would not be supporting Platner.

One of Platner’s ex-girlfriends interviewed by theTimes detailed instances when Platner was physically aggressive, including forcing her into a room and preventing her from leaving. She said he had also grabbed her hard enough to leave marks.

“Even according to The New York Times piece, they said there was no harm, no injury. There was toxicity, and there was verbal intimidation, which I condemn,” Khanna told host Margaret Brennan. “But Graham has made it clear that there was no evidence of violence. That to me is a red line.”

He also defended Platner’s ex-partners, and said that Democrats should not be attacking them, praising them for coming forward, even as Platner’s campaign has disparaged one of the accusers as a Republican operative.

“They should not attack her. They should not attack The New York Times reporters who wrote the story,” Khanna said.

In an interview with ABC News’ “This Week,”, Warner declined to offer any support for Platner, and suggested he wants to stay far away from the issue.

“If the allegations are true, they are disturbing. End of the day, though, Maine voters are going to decide this,” Warner continued, adding that he’s focused on his own reelection campaign in Virginia.

Asked about whether Platner has handled the issue properly, Warner said that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign appeared to rewrite the rules of what was acceptable in the political realm. He suggested that similar activity would likely have been considered more damaging in decades past.

“At the end of the day, American voters will make those decisions,” Warner said. “I don’t know Mr. Platner, I’ve never met him. I would just say this: the allegations [that] are made, I think you ought to have at least some attempt to prove … or disprove them, if that’s the case.”

He said that he wishes “all candidates in both parties maybe held themselves to a different standard,” before again reiterating that it’s up to Maine voters to judge whether Platner’s past is disqualifying.

Jeffries also declined to offer support for Platner in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing” show.

“Violence against women in any way, shape or form is unacceptable. It’s a red line, and nobody should cross that,” Jeffries said. “Any abuser who comes forward has to be treated with dignity and respect.”

He said, however, he isn’t involved in the Maine Senate race and that he hasn’t spoken about the race with Khanna.

Asked whether Platner’s candidacy, and Platner’s attacks on AIPAC and the pro-Israel community, are evidence that the Democratic Party has an antisemitism problem, Jeffries said that Platner is “going to have to speak for himself,” but that antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

“We should all be committed to crushing antisemitism and all other forms of hatred into the ground,” Jeffries said.

Pressed subsequently about Adam Hamawy, the Democratic New Jersey Congressional nominee with a history of connections to convicted terrorists and terrorist organizations, Jeffries — who congratulated Hamawy on his victory last week — repeatedly sidestepped the issue.

“I haven’t spoken to him, he’s going to have to speak for himself and address these allegations,” Jeffries responded, when asked about Hamawy’s testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the terrorist mastermind known as the Blind Sheikh, before pivoting to attacking the administration over the war in Iran and high gas prices.

Pressed again, he criticized Republicans for their own hateful comments and the administration for the rising cost of living.

DEMS DEBATE

Jewish concerns at the forefront of closely contested race to succeed Nadler

At a debate days before the start of early voting, all leading Democratic contenders for the NY-12 seat declined to call Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

New York state Assemblyman Micah Lasher campaigns and distributes flyers as he runs to represent NY-12 on Lexington Avenue.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 7, 2026

The four leading Democrats running in a closely contested Manhattan primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) all declined to describe Israel’s military conduct in Gaza as genocide during their first televised debate on Thursday evening.

Micah Lasher, an assemblyman who is backed by Nadler and other Democratic leaders in New York, called the number of Palestinian casualties “horrific” but characterized the question as “one of a set of definitional debates that does more to divide people of good faith than it does to find common ground.”

Alex Bores, a fellow assemblyman who has gained left-wing endorsements even as a defender of Israel, said he was “not comfortable” using the word, while Jack Schlossberg, a Kennedy scion and social media influencer, told the PIX11 debate moderator that he was “less interested in what we call it than what we do about it.” George Conway, a former Republican who is now an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, said he did not think Israel’s war “meets the threshold” for genocide.

Their broadly unanimous responses underscore the political landscape shaping the June 23 primary race to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District, a seat home to the largest Jewish constituency in the country and where many voters identify with liberal Zionist sentiments.

In contrast with other congressional primaries in more progressive districts in Brooklyn, Queens and Upper Manhattan — where Israel has emerged as a flashpoint — the race for Nadler’s coveted House seat in the heart of Manhattan has been largely marked by a consensus view among the top candidates who have all generally voiced continued support for the Jewish state.

One notable exception stems from their differences over U.S. military aid to Israel, a topic of discussion at Thursday’s debate — which also focused on issues such as Trump’s immigration agenda and AI policy, a divisive source of industry-linked outside spending in the race.

Lasher and Bores have both agreed that the U.S. should consistently enforce the Leahy Laws — which prohibit security funding to foreign military units that engage in human rights violations — rather than singling out Israel for conditioned military aid, a position they each highlighted during the debate.

Meanwhile, Schlossberg continued to argue against future weapons sales to Israel amid wars in Iran and Lebanon, even as he reiterated his support for aid to boost Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system that has recently faced growing pushback from the far-left flank of the Democratic Party.

Conway, for his part, said simply that he opposes efforts to block offensive or defensive weapons to Israel, which he called “our one true, steadfast ally in the region.”

With days remaining until early voting, the debate was the latest of several forums in which the candidates have faced questions on Israel and other issues of particular concern for Jewish constituents, whose support could tip the scales in what polls have shown will be a close election.

On Wednesday evening, several of the candidates gathered at Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Cultural Center on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for the most recent Jewish community forum, moderated by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

The event, which was attended by Bores, Lasher and Schlossberg, featured some lesser-known candidates: Laura Dunn, a civil rights lawyer, and Nina Schwalbe, a public health expert. Conway did not participate in the discussion.

Among the key topics covered were aid to Israel, the Iran war and instances where “anti-Zionism blurs into antisemitism,” as Halie Soifer, JDCA’s CEO, put it while moderating the event.

Lasher, who has identified as a “proud Zionist Jew,” said that “while anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not precisely the same thing, I think we need to acknowledge they often go hand in hand,” citing recent protests outside of synagogues in New York City at which demonstrators have voiced support for Hamas.

“Holding Israel to a standard that is applied to no other country, making Jewish people feel unwelcome in any environment, these are all examples of antisemitism,” Lasher said.

Daily Overtime

Platner’s other shoe drops

Plus, John's bolting to a guilty plea

Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald via AP

Senate candidate Graham Platner acknowledges the large crowd that attended Platner's town hall, Sept. 25, 2025, at Bunker Brewing in Portland, Maine.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 4, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Three women who were romantically involved with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner told The New York Times in a detailed exposé that the presumptive Democratic nominee had been “toxic,” physically threatening, misogynistic and unfaithful during their yearslong relationships.

One former partner, Lyndsey Fifield, confirmed Jewish Insider’s reporting from October that Platner had known what the Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest represented and had taught her the word for it, calling it “my Totenkopf”…

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, intends to plead guilty to illegally retaining sensitive national security information, CNN reports, a charge that could carry up to five years in prison…

Trump told aides he would only consider resuming military action against Iran — besides the skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz, which the administration has insisted do not qualify as warfare — if Iran were to kill American troops, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal…

Trump lambasted the House’s “meaningless vote” yesterday passing an Iran war powers resolution “right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing,” he mused…

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters today that the ceasefire announced yesterday with Israel would take effect only after Hezbollah approved of the proposal, given that it’s contingent on the terror group’s disarmament and withdrawal from southern Lebanon; Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem then rejected the agreement, calling the negotiations “absurd, humiliating and insulting,” and claiming Hezbollah’s withdrawal at this time would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals”…

Israel and Hezbollah then continued to exchange fire in southern Lebanon, where a UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed today after a mortar shell struck a U.N. position in the area. The IDF said the launch trajectory of the mortar “clearly indicates” it was launched by Hezbollah…

The House rejected a war powers resolution by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) that aimed to block U.S. support for the Israeli operations in Lebanon, after House Democratic leaders publicly came out against the effort. But the Democratic leaders said they would support a future effort by Tlaib along similar lines that will include carveouts for other U.S. operations inside Lebanon, indicating that Tlaib’s next effort is likely to pick up greater Democratic support…

Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion memorandum of understanding on nuclear cooperation, Iranian state media reported…

The Times takes a look at how Qatar and the U.S. came to dominate the global liquefied natural gas market and how disruptions to Qatari exports amid the Iran war are exposing the risks of that concentration while potentially increasing America’s energy and geopolitical leverage…

In its markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the House Armed Services Committee blocked by a voice vote an effort to strip out a relatively routine provision on cooperation with Israel, which has become the subject of criticism and misinformation online. Both the chairman and ranking member of the committee said that critics were misrepresenting the provision and what it entails…

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee proposed providing $315 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a slight increase from 2026 funding levels but far below the $1 billion that supporters of the program in the House and Jewish and other faith communities have advocated for, JI’s Marc Rod reports. Jewish groups called the proposal appreciated, but vastly inadequate, given the current threat level…

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called out recent AIPAC and crypto-linked spending in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), where AIPAC’s super PAC has invested heavily in support of Hoyer-endorsed Adrian Boafo, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports. Van Hollen accused the “outside groups” of “trying to buy this congressional seat,” and said the groups “do not have the voters’ interests at heart”…

A week after winning his primary runoff against anti-Israel Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) co-sponsored the Block the Bombs Act. Menefee was seen as the more pro-Israel choice in the race, who Jewish community leaders hoped would provide a fresh start after their relationship with Green collapsed…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno as his military secretary, after his previous military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, became director of the Mossad earlier this week. Markizeno, who currently serves as military secretary to Defense Minister Israel Katz, has “extensive experience in coordinating between the political echelon and the military echelon,” Netanyahu said in a statement…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Israel will open its first embassy in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, calling the rise of center-right Prime Minister Janez Janša, whose government was approved by the country’s parliament today, a “new chapter” in Israel-Slovenia relations after “years of the hostility of the previous government”…

The Times interviews Iranian soccer federation head Mehdi Taj, who said the Iranian national team’s U.S. visas have still not been approved less than two weeks before the team is set to play its first World Cup match in the country, while the team trains in Mexico rather than its planned home base in Arizona. Taj was formerly a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the new art exhibit at Manhattan’s Altneu synagogue grappling with the end of American Jewry’s “golden age.”

We’ll be watching to see how the latest revelations about Platner‘s past play out on the campaign trail ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, where Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is still on the ballot. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is expected to join Platner at his Get Out the Vote rally in Bar Harbor, Maine, tomorrow evening.

We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

Stories You May Have Missed

SITTING IT OUT

UDP faces questions from N.J. Jewish leaders why it stayed on sidelines against Hamawy

Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is seen during an exclusive interview at in New York, United States on April 24, 2024.

Hamawy, despite his past ties to a convicted terrorist, faced minimal scrutiny from outside groups — including many of his primary rivals

Read more

SPENDING DISPUTE

Van Hollen accuses AIPAC of ‘trying to buy’ congressional seat in Hoyer succession race

Adrian Boafo, the recipient of AIPAC’s support, said he agrees with the senator ‘that big money has no place in politics’ and that he would work with Van Hollen in Congress to ‘end Citizens United once and for all’

Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks during a rally around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 2025.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 4, 2026

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Thursday called out recent AIPAC and crypto-linked spending in the crowded Democratic House primary in Maryland to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), accusing “outside groups” of “trying to buy this congressional seat.”

“I think voters need to be aware that these outside groups do not have the voters’ interests at heart,” he said during a press conference.

His comments came days after AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, invested more than $1 million in a television ad buy to boost Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate endorsed by Hoyer as well as other prominent Democrats in the state.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for UDP, shot back at the senator, an outspoken critic of Israel who in March called AIPAC anti-American in an address to the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street. “Once again, Chris Van Hollen is deliberately misrepresenting our views and discriminating against millions of pro-Israel Democrats who are members of AIPAC,” Dorton said.

Van Hollen, who is seen as a possible presidential contender in 2028, has not issued an endorsement in the June 23 primary to represent Maryland’s 5th Congressional District — making him a high-profile holdout among state leaders who have thrown their support behind Boafo, including Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD).

Dorton called Boafo, viewed as a favorite to win the nomination, “a strong and principled Democratic fighter,” and said UDP is “proud to stand with leaders like Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Congressman Steny Hoyer to help get him elected.”

Boafo, for his part, said he agreed with Van Hollen “that big money has no place in politics” and vowed to “work with him in Congress to end Citizens United once and for all,” referring to the Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on independent political spending by corporations.

“My campaign has been laser focused on the issues of affordability, health care and standing up to this president who has destroyed our economy, including our federal workforce,” Boafo said in a statement to JI shared by a campaign spokesperson, adding that his “coalition is focused on delivering results to the people of Maryland’s 5th District.”

The packed primary also includes Rushern Baker, a former Prince George’s County executive; state Sen. Arthur Ellis; Quincy Bareebe, who challenged Hoyer in 2024; and Harry Dunn, the former Capitol police officer who ran for a separate House seat in Maryland last cycle and drew outside attacks from UDP that are fueling his renewed criticism of its engagement in his current race.

In a recent statement denouncing the group, Dunn accused Boafo of “benefiting from the MAGA donors who fund AIPAC.”

Boafo, 32, is also backed by Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC — which is led by Brian Romick, a former chief of staff to Hoyer.

“We support Adrian Boafo and believe he’s the best candidate for the district,” Romick said in a statement to JI. “We hope Sen. Van Hollen will vocally and specifically oppose all super PAC spending, and not just the spending he disagrees with.”

In his remarks on Thursday, Van Hollen suggested candidates who accept AIPAC’s financial backing are not aligned with prevailing Democratic sentiment on Middle East policy.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that voters do not support unconditional votes in support of the conduct of the government of Israel,” he said, while adding, “For a long time AIPAC has had a pretty free hand.”

Exclusive

Senate lawmakers introduce bill to establish coordinated Middle East air-defense acquisitions

Sen. James Lankford said the bill would help ensure ‘Israel and our partners have what they need before the next attack comes, not after’

Tom Brenner/Getty Images

Birds fly near the Pentagon

By

Marc Rod

June 4, 2026

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK) are set to introduce a bill on Thursday directing the Pentagon to develop a coordinated air- and missile-defense acquisition strategy with Israel, Abraham Accords members and other Middle East allies.

The Optimizing Acquisition Strategies for Integrated Security (OASIS) in the Middle East Act, which expands on existing legislative and administrative efforts to establish a coordinated air and missile defense system throughout the Middle East to protect the U.S. and its partners, would aim to ensure that the necessary resources are in place to protect the U.S. and its allies in future conflicts, sponsors said.

It builds on past legislation sponsored by the co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus, including the DEFEND Act, and comes ahead of the Senate’s markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. Previous Abraham Accords caucus projects have been incorporated into past years’ NDAAs.

“Iran’s reckless and destabilizing behavior underscores why we must work together to ensure we have sufficient air and missile defense resources to respond to Iranian aggression and keep our allies, like Israel, safe,” Rosen said in a statement, referring to Iran and its proxies’ attacks throughout the region. “Our bipartisan bill will provide a clear framework to support DOD’s efforts to develop an integrated air and missile defense acquisition strategy for the region.”

Lankford said that Iran’s “aggression cannot go unanswered.”

“The OASIS in the Middle East Act makes sure the Department of War has a coordinated strategy so Israel and our partners have what they need before the next attack comes, not after,” Lankford continued. “Standing with our allies is not optional; it is a core American commitment, and this bill ensures we back that commitment up with real resources and real strategy.”

SITTING IT OUT

UDP faces questions from N.J. Jewish leaders why it stayed on sidelines against Hamawy

Hamawy, despite his past ties to a convicted terrorist, faced minimal scrutiny from outside groups — including many of his primary rivals

Islam Dogru/Anadolu via Getty Images

Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is seen during an exclusive interview at in New York, United States on April 24, 2024.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 4, 2026

Adam Hamawy’s victory on Tuesday in a closely watched congressional primary in New Jersey, which elevated an outspoken critic of Israel whose past ties to a convicted terrorist had drawn scrutiny during the campaign, is raising questions over why the far-left Democrat did not face outside opposition from the pro-Israel group AIPAC or its well-funded super PAC.

Hamawy, who won 28% of the vote in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, prevailed with a modest plurality over the multi-candidate primary field competing to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). With 93% of the vote counted on Wednesday, Brad Cohen, the mayor of East Brunswick and a Jewish Democrat who touted his support for Israel while identifying as an AIPAC member, placed second with 15%. Hamawy is all but assured a seat in Congress next year as the district heavily favors Democrats.

Despite a double-digit deficit, Cohen’s performance exceeded many expectations, indicating that he likely could have finished in a stronger position with help from AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, some local Jewish leaders suggested in interviews on Wednesday.

While Cohen posted relatively robust fundraising figures, pulling in $700,000 over the course of the race, he struggled to keep up with Hamawy, a plastic surgeon and Army veteran who claimed just over $1 million. Notably, Hamawy also drew support from a newly created super PAC, American Priorities, launched as a left-wing counterweight to AIPAC, which spent more than $1.5 million in the primary to bolster his ascendant campaign.

UDP’s conspicuous absence as American Priorities aggressively promoted Hamawy during the final days of the primary allowed the new group to shape the narrative as he drew skepticism over his efforts to downplay a decades-old association with a radical Muslim cleric convicted of inspiring the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well as his work for a now-shuttered al-Qaida-linked front group in Bosnia.

Such vulnerabilities were the sort that UDP would presumably have been eager to exploit to thwart an extreme detractor of Israel who had argued against the country’s Iron Dome missile-defense system that protects civilians from attacks.

UDP, which looked at all of the candidates in the crowded field, had considered backing Cohen but ultimately determined he did not have a credible chance of winning, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a confidential matter.

Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for UDP, defended the group’s choice not to engage. “We play in races where we have a reasonable opportunity to win,” he explained in a brief interview with JI on Wednesday. “This was a multi-candidate field with obviously the anti-Hamawy vote very split.”

“We didn’t see a path to victory,” Dorton said broadly of the primary. “We did a careful analysis of the race, including polling, and came to the conclusion not to get involved.”

Steve Klinghoffer, a Jewish community leader and philanthropist and a former AIPAC board member, strongly disagreed with UDP’s assessment. He said he had “numerous conversations” with AIPAC to try to convince the group to get involved in the primary but declined to share what he had been told in response.

“If they stay out there’s a good reason,” noted Jason Shames, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, who said he spoke with AIPAC about the primary and got the sense that the group did not “see much upside” in being directly involved. “I give them the benefit of the doubt,” he told JI, calling the group “very careful” and “more strategic” than critics might think.

“In my assessment, this was a missed opportunity, and it’s greatly disturbing,” Klinghoffer told JI, calling the primary “highly winnable” and citing “private polling that showed it would be closer” if AIPAC had devoted its resources to the contest.

Still, Jewish and pro-Israel leaders in New Jersey were largely divided about AIPAC’s decision, with some saying they trusted UDP’s calculus and others expressing more skepticism about its motivations.

“If they stay out there’s a good reason,” noted Jason Shames, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, who said he spoke with AIPAC about the primary and got the sense that the group did not “see much upside” in being directly involved. “I give them the benefit of the doubt,” he told JI, calling the group “very careful” and “more strategic” than critics might think.

Ben Chouake, the president of NORPAC, a pro-Israel advocacy group in New Jersey that endorsed Cohen, said there were more complex challenges at play that had influenced the result beyond AIPAC’s decision to hold its powder.

“We supported Brad Cohen and raised a fair amount of money for him and tried to put together a ground game within the Jewish community,” he told JI. “But I don’t think our community, as a whole, is as unified as it needs to be.”

But he believed AIPAC’s involvement “absolutely” could have made a difference in the race, saying the vote tally was not insurmountable. “I think it was a worthwhile effort for us,” he stressed. “I’m not upset that we did it.”

Cohen, who sought to draw attention to Hamawy’s controversial past ties in the closing stretch of the race, did not respond to messages from JI seeking comment.

Even as UDP now sits on a nearly $95 million war chest to use in the midterms, it also has reason to stay on the sidelines, as the AIPAC brand has become increasingly toxic among Democrats who have vowed to reject its support.

The super PAC had also endured an embarrassing setback in March in a nearby northern New Jersey Democratic special election, where it spent heavily to block Tom Malinowski, a moderate former congressman who had expressed interest in conditioning U.S. aid to Israel. The foray backfired, however — propelling a progressive activist with far more antagonistic positions on Israel to the House.

The reputational damage stemming from that effort still lingers in New Jersey, according to some Jewish leaders. One pro-Israel leader speculated that AIPAC simply “got gun-shy,” after its handling of the March election. Outside the state, UDP has otherwise shown a penchant for caution — most recently investing in a Democratic congressional race in a Maryland district home to a more moderate constituency.

“My guess is they probably were afraid this time that by coming in to support Brad, it might have harmed a very good candidate,” a Jewish Democrat told JI, noting it “raises a question of what AIPAC’s strategy” is going forward. “I think they need to also look in the mirror” and “assess this terrain very carefully” in weighing “what they’re going to do in the future.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a tougher climate for AIPAC and other pro-Israel PACs, especially on the Democratic side,” Mark Levenson, a Jewish community leader in New Jersey, told JI. “The environment has changed.”

Amid a national political landscape now favoring anti-establishment, left-wing sentiment of the sort espoused by Hamawy and his progressive allies in other key races, AIPAC likely “understood its brand had taken a hit, particularly in New Jersey,” said one Jewish Democrat who viewed Hamawy’s election as a troubling sign of the party’s direction. “AIPAC called it wrong previously.”

“My guess is they probably were afraid this time that by coming in to support Brad, it might have harmed a very good candidate,” the activist said on Wednesday, noting it “raises a question of what AIPAC’s strategy” is going forward. “I think they need to also look in the mirror” and “assess this terrain very carefully” in weighing “what they’re going to do in the future.”

Dan Cassino, a political scientist and pollster at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said it was “hard to imagine that there were a lot of Hamawy supporters who would have turned against him because AIPAC was opposed to him,” given their already jaundiced view of the group.

“If AIPAC had gotten involved very early, and thrown around enough money to dissuade some candidates from running, they could have made a difference,” he told JI. “But once that field was set, I don’t think they could have changed the result,” he said, pointing out the “risk that getting involved in a race that led to another win for a disfavored candidate would hurt AIPAC’s credibility even more.”

Micah Rasmussen, the director of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, argued it “would be foolish to blame AIPAC for the results of the election,” saying the “single thing that could have changed the outcome is for the field of candidates to have consolidated behind one candidate as a viable alternative to Adam Hamawy.”

“Whatever else might be said about AIPAC, they are not political novices,” he told JI. “No one can believe they sat on their hands because they couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

“You’re really left to wonder,” Rasmussen mused, “whether they view Adam Hamawy as a foil or a lightning rod for Jewish voters across the country.”

RESOLUTION RESOLVED

House passes war powers resolution to block military action against Iran

The resolution passed 215-208, with four Republicans breaking ranks to vote for the resolution, and all present Democrats remaining united on the issue for the first time since the war began

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

U.S. Capitol Building on January 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

June 3, 2026

The House passed a war powers resolution on Wednesday that would halt U.S. military operations against Iran, after House Republicans postponed an expected vote on the resolution for more than a week, in an ultimately futile effort to stave off defeat.

The resolution passed 215-208, with four Republicans breaking ranks to vote for the resolution, and all present Democrats remaining united on the issue for the first time since the war began. Six Republicans and one Democrat were absent for the vote — so the resolution likely still would have passed even with full attendance.

The vote comes after the Senate advanced a procedural vote on a similar resolution, and is a notable signal of opposition from Congress to the war in Iran, even if President Donald Trump can veto such a resolution if it passes the Senate. Some Republicans have suggested that the underlying 1973 War Powers Act is unconstitutional or invalid, and should be challenged in court or ignored by the administration.

A final Senate vote on the war powers resolution that advanced last month is still pending.

Republican Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Tom Barrett (R-MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) broke ranks to support the resolution. Davidson and Massie are libertarian-leaning isolationists, while Barrett and Fitzpatrick represent hotly contested swing districts.

Davidson voted for a war powers resolution at the outset of the conflict, but voted present and then against subsequent resolutions, before flipping his vote back to yes on the latest vote.

Fitzpatrick told reporters his vote was an issue of the law. The War Powers Act gives the administration 60 days to conduct military operations without congressional approval.

“We’re past the 60 days, so you have two choices: you either follow the law or you change the law,” Fitzpatrick said. “You can’t violate the law, that’s not an option. … I don’t see what’s complicated about it. Bring it to Congress, debate it on the merits and have us vote. That’s the way the system’s supposed to work.”

The administration has claimed that its military operations against Iran that began in February have concluded, and that its continued limited strikes against Iranian targets do not qualify as warfare.

Barrett, who introduced a limited Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iran, offered a similar stance in a statement.

“Congress has the exclusive authority under the Constitution to declare war and authorize the use of force,” Barrett said. “The War Powers Act of 1973 delegates some of that authority to the president for a limited period of time. That authority has expired, so my consistent belief is that it is time for Congress to decide the scope of the mission and the appropriate limits on the use of force in Iran.”

Other Republicans argue the legislation sends a message of weakness and division and strips the U.S. of leverage in the midst of negotiations.

“I think what it signals to Iran is that, especially from the Democratic standpoint, it gives them confidence to try and drag these negotiations out. So I think it undermines the position of the United States of America,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, told reporters. “They’re actively undermining the United States position in these negotiations, so, from my standpoint, I think it’s foolish, and that’s why I voted no.”

Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), the sole Democratic holdout on previous votes, also flipped his vote to support the resolution in Wednesday’s vote.

Golden said that, after the 60-day mark of the Iran war passed, the statutory cutoff for military operations undertaken without congressional authorization, he believed the war could not continue without such approval. But he described a war powers resolution the House voted on last month as textually flawed and outdated.

“The passage of my War Powers Resolution is a significant bipartisan rebuke of President Trump’s illegal and costly war in Iran, and the first step toward ending it once and for all,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Greg Meeks (D-NY) said in a statement. “The passage of this WPR today signals a significant turning point: more and more Republicans are listening to their constituents who do not want another open-ended war in the Middle East. Now the Senate must take up this measure and make clear to the President that enough is enough.”

Daily Overtime

Bibi fast-tracks aid wind-down

Plus, Rubio defends Israel's Lebanon strikes

ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference at the Prime minister's office in Jerusalem on August 10, 2025.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 3, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNBC’s Sara Eisen today that he wants to start the process of winding down U.S. aid to Israel in the final two years of the Trump administration, as both countries work toward reaching a new memorandum of understanding, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

“We’re now working on a memorandum of understanding which will bring down the aid,” Netanyahu said. “I want it to start in the last two years of the Trump administration and I want it to keep going down, coming to zero.” His comments suggest he’s looking to begin phasing out aid even while the current MOU is set to provide Israel with $3.8 billion in U.S. military assistance annually through FY 2028…

Despite President Donald Trump’s public acknowledgement of a confrontational phone call with Netanyahu regarding Israeli operations in Lebanon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio largely defended Israel’s attacks against the Lebanese terrorist group, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Rubio said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today that Hezbollah reached out to the U.S. government through Lebanese authorities and said that it would stop launching missiles into Israeli territory if Israel did not attack Beirut, but Hezbollah went back on that agreement and launched rockets at Israel within hours…

Trump avoided directly answering a question from reporters this afternoon if the U.S. ceasefire with Iran still stands, after Iran launched several ballistic missile attacks around the region last night.

“There is a reason for certain things, and there’s usually a reason that sometimes makes sense. We got it, we nipped it in the bud very quickly … but some people would say they were slightly provoked because we took a strong action for a different reason. So they were reciprocating,” the president said…

Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) told JI’s Emily Jacobs on Tuesday that they both believe antisemitism is worse on the left than on the right, arguing that the electoral success of far-left candidates with antisemitic records in Democratic primaries distinguishes the left from the right, as similarly controversial candidates have struggled in GOP primary contests…

The anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC pledged to spend $2 million backing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s chosen congressional candidates: former City Comptroller Brad Lander, running to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY); Darializa Avila Chevalier, challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY); and Claire Valdez, running to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). All three candidates have denounced super PAC spending in the past…

Maine Senate candidate and presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner released an internal poll showing he still leads his general election opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), by a margin of four points after potential voters are told about his most recent scandals. The latest figures from Platner’s camp mark a drop from the roughly eight-point advantage the Democratic candidate has held in previous polls…

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), state Sen. Scott Wiener and Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who was endorsed by Pelosi, will advance to the general election. With half of votes counted so far in the jungle primary, Wiener won 41% and Chan received 28%, while Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy tech entrepreneur aligned with the anti-Israel left, came in third with 15%…

In Montana’s 1st Congressional District, where Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is retiring, smokejumper Sam Forstag prevailed in the Democratic primary, where several of the candidates, including Forstag, had expressed views critical of Israel. Forstag now faces an uphill battle against Trump-endorsed Republican military veteran Aaron Flint in the general election, given the district’s GOP leanings…

The NYPD arrested an NYU student today for raising a flag that displayed swastikas and a Star of David atop a university building last month. The perpetrator was a fourth-year NYU student at the time of the incident and has not yet received a diploma, a university spokesperson told JI’s Haley Cohen. The New York Times reported that the man is named Alexander Stepnowsky, a music technology student who was charged with a hate crime and trespassing…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at why pro-Israel groups chose not to engage in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District to oppose anti-Israel Democratic nominee Adam Hamawy in yesterday’s primary election.

The House Armed Services Committee will hold a markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, where Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he will attempt to strip out a routine provision facilitating expanded U.S.-Israel cooperation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will testify before the House Ways & Means Committee.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Councilmember Virginia Maloney will meet with Manhattan Holocaust survivors at UJA-Federation of New York headquarters to mark Holocaust Survivor Day.

Brandeis University’s Jonathan Sarna will sit in conversation with Princeton’s Laura Arnold Leibman at Temple Emanu-El in New York City to discuss the Jewish experience of the American Revolution, a month ahead of the U.S. Semiquincentennial.

UN Watch will hold its annual gala in Geneva, where the group will honor free speech and women’s rights activists Abnousse Shalmani and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Stories You May Have Missed

PAC PLAY

AIPAC betting big on pro-Israel Democrat and party favorite in Maryland

Del. Adrian Boafo, Democratic candidate for Maryland’s Fifth Congressional District, speaks during a press conference to kick off a series of meet-the-voter events, at Kenhill Center in Bowie, Md., on Monday, March 2, 2026.

State Del. Adrian Boafo is Steny Hoyer’s favored candidate, and is getting support from Democratic leaders across the state

Read more

SHARED ASSESSMENT

Fetterman, McCormick say Democrats have worse antisemitism problem than GOP

‘We don’t have many people in the Republican Party who are running for office with Nazi tattoos on their chests,’ McCormick said, referring to Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner

AJC

Sens. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) speak with American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch at AJC's Global Forum in Washington on June 2, 2026.

By

Emily Jacobs

Marc Rod

June 3, 2026

Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) said on Tuesday that they believe antisemitism is worse on the left than on the right, arguing that the electoral success of far-left candidates with antisemitic records in Democratic primaries distinguished the left from the right, as similarly controversial candidates have struggled in GOP primary contests.

The Pennsylvania senators spoke to Jewish Insider on the sidelines of the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum, where they headlined the closing plenary alongside AJC CEO Ted Deutch with a discussion on promoting bipartisanship amid expanding domestic political divisions.

While both men acknowledged on stage and to JI that antisemitism exists within the conservative movement, they rejected the notion that it had taken hold of the GOP, arguing that the rise of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine and Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb’s nomination for a Philadelphia-area House seat showed that the Democratic Party had already normalized antisemitism within their party.

Last month, Republican voters in Kentucky’s 4th District ousted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the few anti-Israel Republicans in Congress, largely because President Donald Trump endorsed his primary opponent, Ed Gallrein. The outcome was cheered by the Republican Jewish Coalition as an example of party leaders showing no tolerance for antisemitism within the party.

“Look at the people that are winning the primaries in our party right now and look at their views on Israel. We’re old enough to remember that if somebody had a Nazi tattoo, they’re a Nazi sympathizer, but now it’s like, that’s OK. People will defend that, or they’ll just kind of explain that away,” Fetterman said of Platner and Rabb. “In our state, too, Rabb. He won, and he ran on being very, very anti-Israel. So that’s the one thing that’s not just acceptable, it’s actually a virtue.”

“Candidates and Democrats will campaign and proudly stand with Hasan Piker. This is an individual [who said] that Hamas is 1,000% better than Israel and all other kinds of things, [including that] America deserved 9/11. They will campaign with this guy, it’s like their new mascot,” he continued.

Fetterman told JI there is nothing “more damaging a Democrat can believe in” than the right of Israel to fight its enemies, and that, “For me, it’s probably the biggest concern, these people who are winning in the Democratic Party.”

Fetterman said that there is “no daylight” between the two senators on Israel or opposing antisemitism, while McCormick said they have been “joined at the hip.” Both argued Israel and the Jewish community face greater challenges from the left than the right.

“My party has a more significant problem with Israel and standing up for it, although there are fringe elements in his party as well,” Fetterman said. “I’ve isolated myself more in my party, but if you witness who is winning a lot of these primaries, even Chris Rabb in our state and the tattoo guy [Graham Platner], these are intensely anti-Israel people that are part of the primary crowd.”

McCormick echoed that, pointing out Platner’s standing in primary and general election polls and saying, “It’s certainly, I think, more pervasive on the left right now, but we have to fight back on both sides.”

“But I don’t think we can have equality there,” the Pennsylvania Republican continued. “We don’t have many people in the Republican Party who are running for office with Nazi tattoos on their chests, with mainstream Democrats going to Maine to campaign for Graham Platner, so I do think that this problem has really gained traction and become a very significant part of the Democratic Party.”

“[Neo-Nazi] Nick Fuentes is a good example. When he’s speaking out, I’m saying, ‘No, no, that’s not part of my party, that’s not part of my values, that’s not someone I want to have to Thanksgiving dinner, and we shouldn’t platform those voices as well,’” he explained. “But I would differentiate between social media, where there’s certainly a lot of that, and what’s happening on the ground.”

McCormick, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, argued that the Jewish people faced two attacks in recent years, the first being Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel and the second being a “second surprise attack” in the form of surging global antisemitism.

“What came after — on the campuses of University of Pennsylvania, on the streets of Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh, where a young campaign worker on my campaign was attacked — was this rise of antisemitism and hatred and hateful rhetoric,” the GOP senator said on stage. “That also strengthened my conviction that we need to stand up.”

Asked by JI about what concerns him regarding right-wing antisemitism, McCormick pointed to the platforming of voices like Fuentes by prominent podcasters in the conservative movement, though he did not mention any podcast hosts by name.

“I believe in free speech, but anyone who promotes pro-Hitler, pro-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theories should not be platformed,” he said.

McCormick told JI that he’s “skeptical that diplomacy can work” with Iran, and said that if the efforts are unsuccessful, Trump or a future president will need to take military action against Iran again.

Fetterman warned that Iran would only become more powerful with a nuclear weapon and have more leeway to impede transit in the Strait of Hormuz and drive up global energy prices.

“I am outraged at the lack of condemnation of our allies or everyone collectively demanding Iran has to relinquish its nuclear materials. I mean, every democracy, every one of our allies, we should be demanding that,” he continued.

In spite of recent Saudi hostility toward Israel and the United Arab Emirates, McCormick said he remains “optimistic that Saudi Arabia and other countries will eventually join the Abraham Accords, especially after seeing the threat of the Iranian regime.”

“If you look at the UAE and Bahrain, which have openly embraced the Abraham Accords and deepened their relationships with Israel in a short period of time, the demonstrated value of those partnerships have been born out through their collaboration during Operation Epic Fury. Only time will tell if they’ll come to the table, but I’m optimistic,” he said.

Daily Kickoff

Jersey’s Blind Sheikh-Up

Plus, AIPAC boosts Boafo

DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images

Dr. Adam Hamawy speaks during an AFP interview after meetings on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, on June 14, 2024.

By

JI Staff

June 3, 2026

Good Wednesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we break down the results of yesterday’s primaries, and report on AIPAC’s backing of Adrian Boafo as the Maryland Democrat and party favorite runs to succeed Rep. Steny Hoyer. We talk to Senate Republicans about their skepticism over the White House’s decision to name Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief, and report on the decision by leading Senate Democrats to back Graham Platner as the Maine Senate candidate faces new controversy. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Makan Delrahim, Harmeet Dhillon and David Baerwald.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik, Matt Shea and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

We’re keeping an eye on primary night returns in California, where most races have yet to be called. Those include the race for Los Angeles mayor, where Mayor Karen Bass has already advanced to the November election and will face either reality star Spencer Pratt or Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, and the governor’s race, where Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra lead Tom Steyer, with some three million ballots yet to be counted. More below.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to appear on CNBC at 10 a.m. ET for an interview with the network’s Sara Eisen.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will testify before the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Appropriations Committees today, while the House Homeland Security Committee will hear from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is on Capitol Hill today, amid a push from progressives to regulate AI.
Elsewhere in Washington, Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, will hold a memorial event with the Argentine Embassy at the U.S. Institute of Peace ahead of the 32nd anniversary next month of the bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America is hosting a forum for candidates in the NY-12 Democratic primary tonight at Manhattan’s Streicker Center.
Iran continued overnight to escalate its attacks on Kuwait, which said this morning that an Iranian drone struck its airport, causing multiple injuries and suspending flights into and out of the Gulf nation. The passenger terminal at the airport, which reopened on Monday after closing due to the war with Iran, was struck in the attack, which a senior Kuwaiti defense official said involved “a number of hostile drones.” Hours earlier, the U.S. struck an Iranian facility in retaliation for attacks by Iran on both Kuwait and Bahrain that failed to hit their targets.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Democrats nominated a mix of pro-Israel moderates and anti-Israel ideologues in Tuesday’s primaries across the country, but the biggest red flag for the party is the emergence of a New Jersey nominee with past terror ties prevailing in a closely watched congressional contest.

Plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy prevailed with 28% of the vote in a crowded Democratic primary field in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

Hamawy was a former associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheikh, who was convicted of inspiring the terrorists who engineered the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Hamawy later served as a defense witness during Abdel Rahman’s 1995 trial, and volunteered around the same time in Bosnia with a group later shuttered as a front for al-Qaida.

Hamawy, with the support of left-wing groups, some progressive lawmakers and the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC, defeated his opponents with regional bases but limited support outside their local communities. No pro-Israel groups or other moderate-minded outside PACs decided to spend money on anti-Hamawy attack ads, allowing him to consolidate enough backing from his base to prevail with a relatively small plurality.

Despite his baggage, Hamawy is expected to win election to Congress in November, given the central New Jersey district’s heavily Democratic electorate.

In more favorable news for pro-Israel moderate voters, Democrats nominated former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett, who flew missions over the Straits of Hormuz, to run against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in a major battleground district.

“I just feel very strongly that Israel has a right to defend itself and has a right to exist, and that the United States needs to be able to support Israel, and it shouldn’t be partisan,” Bennett told Jewish Insider last August. “I think we should be supporting Israel as an ally, regardless of political party.” She also told JI she supports continuing U.S. aid to Israel without restrictions or conditions.

Kean, who has represented the 7th Congressional District since 2022, has been missing from Congress for the last several months with an undisclosed illness. His uncertain personal circumstances have made Democrats bullish about their prospects in the swing district, which Kean only won by five points in 2024.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

PAC PLAY

AIPAC betting big on pro-Israel Democrat and party favorite in Maryland

In one of its largest independent expenditures of the campaign cycle, the super PAC affiliated with AIPAC spent nearly $1.2 million this weekend to help boost Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate running in a packed Democratic primary to succeed longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

What this means: While the super PAC, United Democracy Project, has invested heavily in several House primaries this year, its latest salvo is particularly notable because AIPAC has frequently avoided engaging openly in contested races as a growing number of Democratic candidates have disavowed accepting funds from the pro-Israel group. In Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, which spans southward from the eastern Washington suburbs of Prince George’s County, UDP’s aggressive play suggests that it is comfortable openly courting a more moderate constituency that Hoyer has represented as a prominent supporter of Israel and close AIPAC ally.

Read the full story here.

UNCONVENTIONAL PICK

Senate Republicans skeptical of Bill Pulte as intelligence chief

Senate Republicans on Tuesday expressed skepticism about President Donald Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte, a lawyer and Trump ally who has been working on housing policy issues and has no known intelligence or national security background, as acting director of national intelligence, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Throwing cold water: “I don’t see any evidence of qualifications for that job, but as you know the Senate doesn’t have a role to play in acting [appointments],” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said. Cornyn would be a crucial swing vote on the Senate Intelligence Committee if Pulte is nominated for the permanent role, and was recently defeated in his primary by a Trump-backed challenger. “He doesn’t seem very qualified,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), also recently defeated by a Trump-backed primary challenger, agreed.

Read the full story here.

Bonus: The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into Pulte’s effort to be named acting DNI, reporting that in conversation with Trump, “Pulte made the case that he would be an unyielding advocate for the president’s foreign policy agenda and he signaled support for the war in Iran.”

PLATNER POSITIONS

Senate Dems wary after latest Platner revelations, but stick by him

Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)

Senate Democrats sounded wary of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after the latest revelations that he had engaged in sexual conversations with numerous women while married, but most aren’t yet calling for him to leave the race, or throwing their support behind Gov. Janet Mills, who still remains on the primary ballot even after suspending her campaign, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Schumer sidestep: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who recruited Mills to run for the seat to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) but got behind Platner after Mills dropped out, met with Platner in Washington on Tuesday and repeatedly offered a terse response when asked about Platner at a press conference, offering neither effusive support for nor criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I met with Graham Platner today. We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” Schumer said.

Read the full story here.

Big break: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to fully back Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Tuesday, when asked at a press conference about her run in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which has historically been represented by a Black lawmaker. Given that she is a member of House leadership, a longtime Democratic congresswoman and an incumbent, it’s highly unusual for Jeffries not to offer his full support to Wasserman Schultz, as he traditionally has done for incumbents of all stripes and affiliations.

ROCKY RESPONSE

Most Colorado electeds remain silent on SJP praising last year’s antisemitic firebombing

Run for Their Lives hosts a march in honor of people kidnapped in Gaza on June 8, 2025 in Boulder, Colo., a week after a firebombing attack on the march. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

Colorado’s elected officials remained largely silent after the CU Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine chapter posted a statement supporting the perpetrator of a deadly antisemitic firebombing on the attack’s one-year anniversary, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. “Today, Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine publishes this statement in support of Mohamed’s decisive act of resistance against a genocidal global order,” Boulder SJP — which is an unsanctioned campus group — wrote Monday in a since-deleted Instagram post. “We stand with him.”

Muted response: Only Rep. Gabe Evans directly condemned the statement, telling JI it was “utterly deplorable.” Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO) and Jeff Crank (R-CO) both condemned the attack in statements to JI on Tuesday, but neither addressed the SJP statement directly. Other members of Colorado’s congressional delegation, including Democrats Diana DeGette, Brittany Pettersen and Joe Neguse and Republicans Jeff Hurd and Lauren Boebert, did not respond to requests for comments from JI. Neguse represents the area where the attack occurred.

Read the full story here.

IRAN TALK

Rubio: Iran sanctions relief only for nuclear concessions, not for reopening Hormuz

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a House Appropriations Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on June 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S. is not offering Iran any sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and that sanctions relief would only be on the table if the Islamic Republic made concessions related to its nuclear program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Step by step: The secretary of state described the diplomatic talks as two-phased: The current phase is focused on getting Iran to agree to reopen the strait and to commit to enter further negotiations on disposing its highly enriched uranium and on “severe and long-term limitations and/or cancelation of enrichment.” In exchange, the U.S. would lift its blockade of Iranian ports. The second phase would entail technical discussions on Iran’s nuclear program and fissile material, in exchange for potential U.S. sanctions relief, and could take months to work through, and would be conditions-based.

Read the full story here.

MOU-ving forward: In separate testimony in the House Appropriations Committee, Rubio confirmed that, as part of negotiations over the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding covering military aid, the U.S. and Israel have been discussing an Israeli proposal to wind down U.S. military aid to Israel.

ROUTING OUT HATE

DOJ’s Harmeet Dhillon condemns antisemitism as ‘devastating and antithetical to our values’

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon speaks at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington on June 2, 2026. (AJC)

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said on Tuesday that the Trump administration will continue its legal battles against Harvard University and UCLA, accusing both institutions of continuing to neglect the civil rights of Jewish students and faculty, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

What she said: Dhillon made the comments while appearing at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, where she condemned what she described as “egregious examples of antisemitism that have transpired here at home on American soil” since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as “devastating and antithetical to our values as a nation.” The assistant attorney general highlighted the department’s most recent lawsuit against Harvard in March, saying that the Ivy League university had been “tolerating race and national origin discrimination against both Jewish and Israeli students.”

Read the full story here.

View from abroad: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) revealed on Tuesday that senior Emirati leaders expressed concern to him about rising antisemitism in the United States during his trip to the United Arab Emirates last week.

Worthy Reads

The Politics of Virtue and Vice: The New York Times’ Ross Douthat considers the impact of the “amoral center” on the upcoming midterms, where candidates such as Maine Democrat Graham Platner and Texas Republican Ken Paxton have already found success in spite of moral shortcomings. “In this environment, the upright moralist becomes an inherently untrustworthy figure — not because he might be secretly a hypocrite but because he might be entirely sincere, and in his sincerity end up imposing a stringent morality that’s alien to your own. Whereas the sinner, the disreputable character, seems more reassuring because his vices double as a promise that he won’t be too fanatical.” [NYTimes]

Pulse on Pulte: The Atlantic’s Shane Harris considers President Donald Trump’s motivations in naming Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. “The president has shown no sign that he wants a DNI who can coordinate the work of 18 intelligence agencies and harness the power of a multibillion-dollar global-espionage network to provide senior government leaders the best up-to-the-minute information about threats to U.S. national security. No, what Trump has made very clear is that he wants a DNI who will selectively declassify government documents that help fuel conspiracy theories, use the authorities of the state to enact political retribution against his enemies, and try to persuade Americans that Venezuela and maybe the Democratic Party are rigging elections by fiddling with voting machines.” [TheAtlantic]

Time Lapse: The Free Press’ Aaron MacLean explains the stalled negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, which have now gone on for longer than the active conflict between the countries. “Perhaps the president’s apparently urgent need to keep negotiations going has to do with his need to keep the financial markets calm … The first (and, in retrospect, defining) example of this trend was Trump’s original ceasefire announcement on April 7, when he claimed that the Iranian side had agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz in return for the pausing of hostilities. But Iran did not open the strait, and the president allowed the ceasefire to proceed anyway. On numerous occasions since, Trump has threatened military action if the Iranians don’t open the strait or otherwise comply with his demands regarding their nuclear program. But for nearly two months full of threats like this, he has not followed through at all.” [FreePress]

Infantino’s Impact: The New Yorker‘s Sam Knight looks at the extent to which FIFA head Gianni Infantino has influenced the trajectory of the league. “The governments that Infantino has worked most closely with as FIFA president have been Putin’s, the Emir of Qatar’s, the Trump Administration, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, it is a self-selecting group. FIFA has to deal with rulers who have the wealth, and the disposition, to put on the largest events. ‘A lot of the sucking up is exactly as a multinational corporation will do,’ a former FIFA committee member told me. ‘It’s the behavior of Coca-Cola, of Siemens, of Mercedes.’ In 2024, Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, became an official FIFA sponsor. On the other hand, Infantino’s fascination with autocracy seems to be more than just a matter of the people whom he does business with. In 2021, he and his family lived in Qatar, which hosted the following year’s World Cup.” [NewYorker]

Word on the Street

President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social site that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which in April ended in a failed assassination attempt, would be rescheduled for July 24 at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria; Trump added that he planned to attend the rescheduled event at the hotel, which he used to own…

Elias Irizarry, a convicted Jan. 6 Capitol rioter, was tapped by the Trump administration for a role in the irregular warfare and counterterrorism section of the Pentagon’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office…

The White House sent a fresh slate of diplomatic nominations to the Senate for approval, with few nominations to fill critical vacancies across the Middle East and North Africa, even as the Iran conflict has increased the need for coordination and dialogue in the region, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…

The Wall Street Journal looks at Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divergent opinions over how to wind down the war with Iran, with the White House preferring diplomacy and Israel pushing for intensified military action against Iran and its regional proxies…

Trump confirmed an Axios report that he had called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” during a phone call earlier this week, telling the New York Post he was “a little bit perturbed at [Netanyahu’s] constantly fighting with Lebanon,” but insisted the two have “worked very well together” and that he liked the prime minister “a lot,” calling himself a “wartime president” and Netanyahu a “wartime prime minister”…

The United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is planning to build a multi-fuel pipeline that will allow gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to bypass the Strait of Hormuz…

In a rare moment of bipartisanship at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin agreed to work together to get delayed Nonprofit Security Grant Program FY 2025 grants “out the door as quickly as possible”; Murphy called the issue an area of “deep agreement,” with both pledging to get the number of funded applications “as high as we can”…

The leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose members constitute nearly 45% of House Democrats, is encouraging members to vote for a war powers resolution led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) that aims to prevent any U.S. cooperation with or assistance for the Israeli operations in Lebanon, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

In an address at the gala of liberal organizing group T’ruah in New York City on Tuesday night, which was bookended by standing ovations, Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly shouted out his candidate for Congress in the audience, former city Comptroller Brad Lander, and touted his proposal to pump an additional $26 million in city funds into his Office to Prevent Hate Crimes…

Jewish leaders and elected officials in New York are condemning the participation of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli officials in Sunday’s Israel on Fifth parade, saying they did not have advance notice regarding the country’s delegation to the parade; Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which organized the parade, told The New York Times that “there was a complete lack of transparency” with regards to the Israeli delegation, and that the Israeli consulate in New York refused to provide names of delegation members to the JCRC ahead of the parade…

Makan Delrahim, the chief legal officer of Paramount, told the Los Angeles Times that “some of these people” who oppose Paramount’s effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discover “are trying to inflict harm on this transaction, really because of their own antisemitic views”…

Longtime “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley was fired by CBS after clashing with network executives, as well as the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, at a staff meeting earlier this week…

A federal judge issued a temporary order blocking NOTUS from rebranding as The Star, following a lawsuit filed last week by Washington Star Publisher Dovid Efune after Efune acquired the outlet, which last published four decades ago, and relaunched it as a Substack…

The New York Times reviews The Fire Agent, David Baerwald’s semi-fictional account of his grandfather’s years as a spy for the U.S.…

U.K. Green Party leader Zack Polanski signed onto a petition calling on the government to investigate British-Israeli citizens who served in the IDF…

Israir said that a flight set to land in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was forced to reroute to Croatia mid-flight after being denied landing permissions by Slovenian authorities in a move the airline said was politically motivated…

The family of a British couple who was arrested last year in Iran and sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of espionage said that the two had lost an appeal to overturn their convictions…

Indonesia and Qatar are deepening defense ties, with plans to sign a defense cooperation agreement in the near future; earlier this week, Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with his Indonesia counterpart in Jakarta…

Career foreign service officer and diplomat Donald Bruce Cofman, who served as spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel from 1987 to 1991 and remained in his posting through the duration of the Gulf War, died at 87…

Pic of the Day

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met in Fiji with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on Tuesday during a trip to open Israel’s embassy in the Pacific island nation.

Birthdays

British singer Sir Elton John (R) receives a Crystal Award from the hands of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Chairperson and Co-Founder Hilde Schwab during a ceremony ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018 annual meeting, on January 22, 2018 in Davos, eastern Switzerland. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Chairperson and co-founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Hilde Schwab, pictured with Sir Elton John, turns 80…

Longtime San Fernando Valley, Calif., resident, Richard J. Munitz turns 88… Attorney, author and 2024 candidate for Congress, she was awarded both a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. from Yale, Jan Schneider turns 79… Tel Aviv-based attorney who served as an overseas representative to the French parliament, Daphna Poznanski-Benhamou turns 76… Former first lady of the United States, Jill Biden turns 75… Retired director for legislative strategy, policy and government affairs at AIPAC, Ester Kurz… Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he heads its program in Judezmo (or Ladino) studies, David Monson Bunis turns 74… President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from 2007 to 2021, Eric S. Rosengren turns 69… Chief cantor of Vienna’s Israelitische Kultusgemeinde since 1992, Shmuel Barzilai turns 69… Rabbi emeritus of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Steve Leder turns 66… Racquetball player, he won two World Championships and 10 Canadian Championships, now an advertising account executive in Winnipeg, Sherman Greenfeld turns 64… Former White House national security communications advisor in the Biden administration, now serving as director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, John F. Kirby turns 63… Founding member of the rock band Phish, Michael Eliot Gordon turns 61… Member of the British Parliament for the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2024, Jonathan Djanogly turns 61… CEO of Azrieli Group, one of the largest real estate development firms in Israel, she serves on the boards of both the Weizmann Institute and Tel Aviv University, Danna Azrieli Hakim turns 59… U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York, Judge Ronnie Abrams turns 58… CEO of Ridgeback Communications, Andrew Samuel Weinstein… Executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys (Calif.), Jason Moss… Actor and model best known for her role as Nicole Walker on the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” Arianne Zucker turns 52… Los Angeles-based PR consultant at Winning Progressive, Eric M. Schmeltzer… Major gifts officer at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, Lauren Becker… Senior director of experiential marketing at the International Rescue Committee, Sophie Oreck… Chief of staff and special advisor to the president of the Baltimore Ravens, Adam Neuman turns 36… Chief political officer at Israel on Campus Coalition, Brandon Beigler… D.C.-based reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering immigration policy, Michelle Hackman… Gold Glove-winning center fielder for the San Francisco Giants, Harrison Bader turns 32…

ANALYSIS

Hamawy victory overshadows mixed primary night for pro-Israel Democrats

Despite his baggage, Hamawy is expected to win election to Congress in November, given the central New Jersey district’s heavily Democratic electorate

Islam Dogru/Anadolu via Getty Images

Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, is seen during an exclusive interview at in New York, United States on April 24, 2024.

By

Josh Kraushaar

June 3, 2026

Democrats nominated a mix of pro-Israel moderates and anti-Israel ideologues in Tuesday’s primaries across the country, but the biggest red flag for the party is the emergence of a New Jersey nominee with past terror ties prevailing in a closely watched congressional contest.

Plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy prevailed with 28% of the vote in a crowded Democratic primary field in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

Hamawy was a former associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheikh, who was convicted of inspiring the terrorists who engineered the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Hamawy later served as a defense witness during Abdel Rahman’s 1995 trial, and volunteered around the same time in Bosnia with a group later shuttered as a front for al-Qaida.

Hamawy, with the support of left-wing groups, some progressive lawmakers and the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC, defeated his opponents with regional bases but limited support outside their local communities. No pro-Israel groups or other moderate-minded outside PACs decided to spend money on anti-Hamawy attack ads, allowing him to consolidate enough backing from his base to prevail with a relatively small plurality.

Despite his baggage, Hamawy is expected to win election to Congress in November, given the central New Jersey district’s heavily Democratic electorate.

In more favorable news for pro-Israel moderate voters, Democrats nominated former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett, who flew missions over the Straits of Hormuz, to run against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in a major battleground district.

“I just feel very strongly that Israel has a right to defend itself and has a right to exist, and that the United States needs to be able to support Israel, and it shouldn’t be partisan,” Bennett told Jewish Insider last August. “I think we should be supporting Israel as an ally, regardless of political party.” She also told JI she supports continuing U.S. aid to Israel without restrictions or conditions.

Kean, who has represented the 7th Congressional District since 2022, has been missing from Congress for the last several months with an undisclosed illness. His uncertain personal circumstances have made Democrats bullish about their prospects in the swing district, which Kean only won by five points in 2024.

Democratic voters in the neighboring 11th Congressional District overwhelmingly renominated left-wing Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ), who was the surprise winner in a special election primary earlier this year after AIPAC’s super PAC spent money attacking the more moderate former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ).

But while Mejia won a whopping 82% of the Democratic vote against her long-shot opposition, there was a significant protest vote against her in the towns with a large Jewish constituency: Livingston and Millburn.

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ), a pro-Israel Democrat, comfortably brushed back a challenge from far-left, anti-Israel candidate Mussab Ali, winning 70% of the primary vote.

New Jersey wasn’t the only state holding consequential primaries. In Iowa, the high-stakes Senate race is all set after Democrats nominated the more moderate state lawmaker Josh Turek, the favorite of the party establishment, over progressive state Sen. Zach Wahls.

Turek will face Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). Iowa has lately been a reliably Republican state, but given President Donald Trump’s depressed approval ratings, Democrats are optimistic they can put the seat in play.

In California, the first wave of results suggest the likelihood of a general election matchup between Democratic former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican who was backed by President Donald Trump, though there are many ballots remaining to be counted. Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, a Democrat, lags behind the top two vote-getters in third place.

In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, it’s looking likely that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, will be facing Republican former reality show star Spencer Pratt in the general election. DSA-aligned City Councilmember Nithya Raman so far is trailing Pratt in third place.

In the race to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), state Sen. Scott Wiener will face Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — with the virulently anti-Israel Saikat Chakrabarti lagging far behind Chan.

Meanwhile, at least one of the two Democrats endorsed by the pro-Israel Democratic group DMFI is heading into a general election. The DMFI-backed San Diego Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert is comfortably ahead of Ammar Campa-Najjar, who was viewed as a less reliable supporter of the U.S.-Israel alliance. Von Wilpert will face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor, in the swing district.

But in the battleground district of Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), the DMFI-endorsed candidate, state Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, is narrowly trailing her left-wing, anti-Israel challenger Randy Villegas.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

Despite past terror ties, Hamawy prevails with narrow plurality in N.J. Dem primary

Democrats also nominated pro-Israel former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett in a neighboring district to run against Rep. Tom Kean Jr.

DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images

Dr. Adam Hamawy speaks during an AFP interview after meetings on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, on June 14, 2024.

By

Josh Kraushaar

June 2, 2026

New Jersey, the state with one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, has become something of a political nightmare for Jewish voters who have seen Democrats turn to far-left, virulently anti-Israel candidates in this year’s primaries.

That trend continued Tuesday night as Democratic voters in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District nominated plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy, despite his past affiliations with Islamist extremists, who prevailed with about 28% of the vote in a crowded Democratic primary field.

Hamawy, with the support of left-wing groups, some progressive lawmakers and the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC, prevailed over his opponents with regional bases but limited support outside their local communities. No pro-Israel groups or other moderate-minded outside PACs decided to spend money on anti-Hamawy attack ads, allowing him to consolidate enough backing from his base to prevail with a relatively small plurality.

Hamawy was a former associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheikh, who was convicted of inspiring the terrorists who engineered the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Hamawy later served as a defense witness during Abdel Rahman’s 1995 trial, and volunteered around the same time in Bosnia with a group later shuttered as a front for Al-Qaida.

Despite his baggage, Hamawy is expected to win election to Congress in the November general election, given the central New Jersey district’s heavily Democratic electorate.

Democratic voters in the neighboring 11th Congressional District also overwhelmingly renominated left-wing Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ), who was the surprise winner in a special election primary earlier this year after AIPAC’s super PAC spent money attacking the more moderate former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)

But while Mejia won a whopping 82% of the Democratic vote against her long-shot opposition, there was a significant protest vote against her in the towns with a large Jewish constituency: Livingston and Millburn.

In more favorable news for pro-Israel moderate voters, Democrats nominated former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett, who flew missions over the Straits of Hormuz, to run against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in a major battleground district.

“I just feel very strongly that Israel has a right to defend itself and has a right to exist, and that the United States needs to be able to support Israel, and it shouldn’t be partisan,” Bennett told Jewish Insider last August. “I think we should be supporting Israel as an ally, regardless of political party.”

She also told JI she supports continuing U.S. aid to Israel without restrictions or conditions.

Kean, who has represented the 7th Congressional District since 2022, has been missing from Congress for the last several months with an undisclosed illness. His uncertain personal circumstances have made Democrats bullish of their prospects in the swing district, which Kean only won by five points in 2024.

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ), a pro-Israel Democrat, comfortably brushed back a challenge from far-left, anti-Israel candidate Mussab Ali, winning 70% of the primary vote.

Daily Overtime

The case of the missing ambassadors

Plus, Trump's unconventional pick for intel chief

Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

International flags at the State Department in Washington.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 2, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump again dismissed reports that Iranian negotiators have cut off dialogue with the U.S. as “false and erroneous,” writing in a post on Truth Social that discussions have continued “four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today”…

About the current talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that the U.S. is not offering Iran any sanctions relief in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and that sanctions relief would only be on the table if Tehran makes concessions related to its nuclear program in the next phase of negotiations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The Trump administration sent a fresh slate of diplomatic nominations to the Senate for approval today, but noticeably absent was a full-throated push to fill critical ambassadorial vacancies across the Middle East and North Africa, even as the Iran conflict has increased the need for coordination and dialogue in the region, JI’s Matthew Shea reports.

The newest list of nominees included only two names for the MENA area: Donald Blome, tapped to serve as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs — a role that acts as the principal advisor on U.S. foreign policy across the region — and Nick Oberheiden, nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Egypt…

In a highly unusual move, Trump appointed Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as acting director of national intelligence, after DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she will resign effective June 30. Pulte, who has no prior experience in an intelligence role, has been a staunch Trump loyalist and led some of the president’s retribution efforts against his political adversaries…

The fourth round of Israel-Lebanon diplomatic talks began at the State Department today, and is expected to last through tomorrow…

At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council yesterday requested by France, every country except for the U.S. called for Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon and deescalate military hostilities in the country…

The heads of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations met today with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of the country’s General Intelligence Service, in Cairo, where they discussed U.S.-Egypt relations and Middle East security…

A new poll of 600 likely voters in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary conducted for the campaign of physician Abdul El-Sayed found him leading the pack with 34% of the vote, two months ahead of Election Day. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) came in second with 31% and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow trailed at 19%…

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, appearing at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in Washington, condemned the “egregious examples of antisemitism that have transpired here at home on American soil” since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as “devastating and antithetical to our values as a nation,” JI’s Emily Jacobs reports…

The backlash to the participation of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli politicians in the Israel Day on Fifth parade in New York City over the weekend continues: Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which organizes the parade, told The New York Times that he had been blindsided by their attendance.

“There was a complete lack of transparency here,” Treyger said, adding that the Israeli consulate in New York had declined to share with him who would be attending. Dan Rosenthal, a top official at the UJA-Federation of New York, wrote on X that both New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Smotrich “believe in a one-state solution”…

White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang announced that the Correspondents’ Dinner will be rescheduled for July 24, after April’s event was cut short by a shooting attack. Trump said he will once again give remarks at the gathering, which will take place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the results of today’s high-stakes Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, where plastic surgeon Adam Hamawy, whose past terror ties have raised red flags about his candidacy, is the favorite to win.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be back on the Hill testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will appear before the House Homeland Security Committee.

State Department antisemitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun and the Argentine Embassy in Washington will co-host a commemoration ceremony at the U.S. Institute of Peace marking the 32nd anniversary of the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), with remarks from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) and AMIA President Osvaldo Armoza.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America will host a candidate forum for the New York 12th Congressional District Democratic primary at the Streicker Center in New York City.

Stories You May Have Missed

Hard Ro To Hoe

Khanna’s hostile turn towards Israel divides Silicon Valley Jews

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.

His critics once saw him as an ally, but fear he’s pandered to extremists as he raises his national profile ahead of the 2028 presidential election

Read more

Hard Ro To Hoe

Khanna’s hostile turn towards Israel divides Silicon Valley Jews

His critics once saw him as an ally, but fear he’s pandered to extremists as he raises his national profile ahead of the 2028 presidential election

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.

By

Marc Rod

June 2, 2026

Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) emergence as a leading Democratic party critic of Israel — while affiliating with and embracing individuals and groups that have been accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism — is creating divisions within the local Jewish community in his Silicon Valley-centered district.

While Khanna maintains unified support from Jewish elected officials in the district, other Jewish community leaders say they feel abandoned, ignored and even attacked by their congressman, whom they once saw as an ally, as he faces what could be his most credible primary challenge in years.

For some in the district, ties with the congressman have been strained for years, and were further inflamed by the March attack on two Israeli Americans in San Jose’s Santana Row shopping district.

Khanna strongly condemned the attack but some in the community said his words rang hollow after months of escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. Some Jewish leaders in the district say that they saw a direct connection between Khanna’s incendiary language condemning the Jewish state and attacks such as the one their community experienced.

Two days after the attack, Khanna posted about how he is “proud to stand” with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as to join far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show, all of whom have faced criticism from the Jewish community — comments that prompted condemnation by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

Jewish leaders in the district who are now critical of the congressman said the community’s relationship with Khanna started out strong when he was first elected in 2016, but has significantly deteriorated over time, particularly in the past few years. Khanna’s Silicon Valley district includes substantial, concentrated Jewish and Israeli-American communities.

Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, a local grassroots advocacy group, said that Khanna was “warmly welcomed” by the Jewish community when he was first elected and that many in the community had supported him.

Khanna traveled to Israel three times while in office, and has expressed support for the Abraham Accords, voted in 2019 to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, condemned calls to “globalize the intifada,” voted in early 2024 to condemn the slogan “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and introduced a Holocaust education resolution in 2024. Amid rising antisemitism in recent years, he has touted appointing a point of contact for addressing antisemitism in the district on his congressional team.

But, Klima and other critics said, they’ve seen the congressman’s posture change over time.

“He’s become more and more divisive and more extremist in his views, that we never heard when he was first elected, especially since Oct. 7. It’s been a massive shift in the way that he communicates about things that we care about,” Klima continued.

“At this point, the community has really lost trust in him,” Klima said. “Much of the community is afraid of him, and much of the community is also very angry and feels betrayed by him.”

“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”

Khanna has frequently and repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, was among the first lawmakers to endorse calls for cutting off U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and led an effort for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, among a range of other stances and votes, and has repeatedly faced scrutiny for his affiliations with groups and individuals condemned by the Jewish community.

Later this week, he’s set to offer an amendment to strip a provision advancing U.S.-Israel cooperative programs out of the 2027 defense bill. Though one former Biden administration called the provision “quite unremarkable” and in keeping with existing programs, Khanna called it a “fusion” of the U.S. and Israeli militaries to prevent scrutiny and accountability for U.S. aid to Israel.

Jewish elected officials supporting Khanna, in statements shared with Jewish Insider, praised the congressman for his support for a two-state solution and for engaging with local Jewish communities.

“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”

State Sen. Josh Becker added, “While Congressman Khanna gets a lot of ink for his criticism of Israel he gets less for his vocal support of a two state solution and Israel as a safe democratic Jewish state.”

Others, such as San Jose City Councilmember David Cohen, more broadly praised him for his work on local issues.

“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.

“Times are very difficult these days in Washington D.C., and Congressmember Khanna remains a steady advocate for our region and economy. We need people who understand the tech industry and also who bring money back to our community from the federal budget,” Cohen said. “He has shown courage and has been willing to face his constituents at monthly town hall meetings ever since he was elected. While I don’t agree with every position he takes, I admire his thoughtfulness and transparency.”

Cohen declined to speak further on Khanna’s foreign policy work or his relationship with the local Jewish community.

But others in the community feel that their concerns aren’t being heard or listened to by the congressman. Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, a Jewish nonprofit which runs a local JCC and other community programs and resources, said he’s communicated to Khanna directly that he thinks the legislator is out of step with his constituents.

“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.

Ivanov also accused Khanna of spreading a “blood libel” in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

Oded Shekel, executive director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, emphasized that members of the Jewish and Israeli community in Khanna’s district feel afraid, isolated and that they have to hide who they are, and don’t feel they’re getting the support they expect from their congressman.

Shekel said that he doesn’t necessarily think Khanna is personally or openly antisemitic, but that he is supporting and rationalizing extreme voices, to the point that has made many Jews like him feel that Khanna is the “strongest voice [that] hurts Jews in his district.”

Khanna joined a town hall in 2024 hosted by the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — a separate entity from Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action led by the same individuals — but the relationship has soured since then.

Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, a Khanna supporter, said he’d attended the BAJC town hall, and met with Jewish community members alongside Khanna to discuss the challenges that Jewish high schoolers were facing from antisemitism in the district, and how the congressman could address them.

“Good to hear directly from High School Students and their parents on the district issues,” Mayor Klein said in a statement. “It was valuable to hear firsthand about the harassment that Jewish Students had endured.

Mayor Klein also praised Khanna’s “bipartisan approach to leadership” on issues including “working to halt reckless foreign intervention” and the release of the Epstein Files, saying that Khanna, “consistently puts principles over politics.” He also praised Khanna’s engagement with constituents more broadly and work on securing federal funding for the district.

Daniel Klein of Jewish Silicon Valley described Khanna’s stances and statements as hostile to the Jewish community. He said that the violent attack in Santana Row, and other similar incidents, are the “natural maturation” of the rhetoric Khanna has used and elevated.

“I appreciate the congressman being outraged” about the Santana Row attack, “but statements and what he normalizes and who he platforms before these incidents, and then who he chooses to stand with and platform and normalize after these incidents, makes the community feel unseen and unsupported by the congressman,” Klein said he told Khanna’s office in the wake of the attack.

Yet, Klein said, Khanna’s rhetoric does not appear to have shifted substantially since the March attack.

“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.

Klima echoed that, expressing frustration that Khanna’s condemnation of the attack was quickly followed by a return to his usual rhetoric and activity.

In addition to Jewish elected officials backing him, Khanna maintains support among segments of the local Jewish community. Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI he continues to strongly support the congressman. J Street has endorsed Khanna, but Linder spoke to JI in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the progressive Israel advocacy group.

“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Linder, who was born in Israel and moved to the U.S. in high school, said. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.

He called critics “out of touch with the view of the majority of Jews right now” both in Khanna’s district and nationally, pointing to a Washington Post poll last year that found a majority of Jews are critical of the way the war in Gaza has been conducted.

He asserted that discontent with Khanna traces to a “vocal minority in the district, mainly led by right-wing Israeli expats that dislike Congressman Khanna” and are “out of touch with where our community is.”

“I consider Ro Khanna very pro-Israel. He is clearly anti-Netanyahu and anti- the policies of Israel’s right wing government, but so am I, and, I think, so are the majority of Jews in this district,” Linder said.

Critics of Khanna said that the congressman’s activity following the Santana Row attack matches a pattern they’ve observed repeatedly when Khanna is called out for conduct or statements they find offensive — Khanna will apologize, or offer targeted condemnations, but won’t substantially change his behavior, and ultimately continues doubling down.

They said this pattern ignores the way that Khanna’s own rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.

Klima emphasized that Khanna’s constituents have come to him on numerous occasions asking him to dial down his rhetoric. At this point, she said, his “symbolic condemnations” of antisemitism “ring very hollow.”

“He’s speaking out of both sides of his mouth, basically,” she said, adding that, as a longtime congressman, his comments “[legitimize] this rhetoric,” driving similar activity from other local officials as well.

Ivanov said it’s easy for Khanna to denounce antisemitic attacks or vandalism, “but as soon as he does that, he continues to spread the antisemitic conspiracy theories, to defend antisemitic speakers that are out there every day, fueling the antisemitism that leads to these actions.”

“We will not accept Khanna’s pro-forma denunciation of antisemitic incidents while he himself continues to fuel antisemitism and defend antisemites,” Ivanov said.

Linder, the Khanna supporter, argued that Khanna has made clear that he “will speak with anyone” and “dialogues with people he disagrees with, and I respect that.” Khanna has expressed similar sentiments to JI in the past.

Linder said he strongly disagreed with the notion that Khanna’s rhetoric is fueling violence, and emphasized that the Santana Row attack was not charged as a hate crime.

“I don’t believe there was sufficient evidence to show that it was hate-motivated,” Linder said. “The congressman came out very quickly and denounced that attack, denounced the violence, and I fundamentally am not a subscriber to the notion that criticizing Israel fuels antisemitism. I see a clear delineation between criticism of Israel and Jew hatred. I don’t believe the two are connected. As a matter of fact, I think some of the actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government, the extreme right Israeli government foment antisemitism.”

Shekel, a Khanna critic, said that, during conversations with Khanna about antisemitism that community members are facing, Khanna has expressed sympathy while pivoting to emphasize his disputes with various Israeli government policies.

“We feel that he is fixated, obsessed with Israel,” Klima added.

“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”

Klein said that some in the community see Khanna as not only ignoring their concerns but attacking the Jewish community for elevating those issues in the first place. He pointed to an incident in which Khanna shared on his X account a clip of Holocaust denying social media influencer Ian Carroll as one such instance.

Klein said he and representatives of the local Jewish Community Relations Council sat down in person with Khanna’s staff about the video — “not only the fact that this person was platformed, the person wasn’t taken down immediately, and instead of listening to the Jewish community’s concerns, at least publicly, he seemed to attack the Jewish community instead.”

Klein also characterized Khanna as deflecting the concerns of the local Jewish community in conversations, offering a variety of excuses, including pointing to national polling on Israel policy issues.

“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Klein said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”

Critics in the district see a political motivation behind Khanna’s rhetoric and positioning.

Ivanov said that he first met Khanna several years ago, when Ivanov was working for the American Jewish Committee. The congressman at the time emphasized “the importance of maintaining progressive support for Israel in American society. That has obviously changed over the past few years, where he has embraced this tide of vilification of Israel as a way to appeal to the rising popularity of bashing Israel among certain voters,” Ivanov said.

Klima said that the “general sentiment” among members of the Jewish community is that Khanna’s stance is “opportunistic” and that he’s following anti-Israel trends for the sake of popularity, rather than any “deeply held view.”

“We feel like he’s throwing us, his constituents, under the bus for his political game, because he feels like this is a win for progressives,” she said.

The congressman is widely seen as preparing for a presidential campaign in 2028.

Khanna’s frequent commentary about the “Epstein Class” — he was one of the leading advocates in the House for releasing files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — has also set off alarm bells for Khanna’s critics.

Klima said that many in the Jewish community read those references as code for the Jewish community writ large, “because of our history with him, our recent history with him.” She said that Khanna’s pattern of rhetoric and actions has sowed distrust of him and his motives.

Khanna has dismissed the notion that the phrase is antisemitic, pointing to Jewish elected officials who have also spoken about the “Epstein Class.”

Critics in the district say that Khanna has a lot of work to do to repair his relationships with the Jewish community — and that it will take more than the pro forma condemnations of antisemitism that they feel he’s been offering over the past few years.

Klein encouraged Khanna to “stop feeding the extreme left and the alt-right” on social media and called on him to apologize for “ignoring the Jewish community,” and “actually start listening to the organized Jewish community,” rather than the “fringes.”

Klima said that she is fed up with what she sees as “symbolic gestures” by the congressman.

“We feel like we’re just pawns in his political game, because the very next day, he’s back to the ‘genocide’ and his political obsession,” she said. “[He] is clearly hurting us and it needs to be something much deeper than just a statement.”

Daily Overtime

Middle East tensions from Beirut to Bab el-Mandeb

Plus, Huckabee says next MOU will end Israel aid

Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images

Pro-Iranian Hezbollah supporters wave the party flags during a ceremony in a southern Beirut suburb on May 5, 2026.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

June 1, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump announced that Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for the terror group halting its attacks on northern Israel, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement instructing the IDF to strike Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital.

While Trump said he had a “very good call with Hezbollah” as part of the negotiations, the Lebanese Embassy in Washington later clarified that the message was relayed through Lebanese officials rather than communicated directly from the president to the terror group.

Netanyahu said after the announcement that he had informed Trump that “if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” while the IDF will continue hitting targets in southern Lebanon as planned…

The news came hours after Iranian state-linked media reported that Tehran had suspended negotiations with the United States and warned it could direct its proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, to target shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — another critical global trade route — in response to Israel‘s continued military operations against Hezbollah…

Trump disputed the reporting, writing on Truth Social this afternoon that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” despite having told NBC News earlier in the day that he would welcome a pause in talks if the reports were accurate. “I think we’ve been talking too much, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told the outlet. “I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time”…

Amid the diplomatic dance, military operations have escalated: The U.S. struck several sites in Iran over the weekend after Iran downed an American MQ-1 drone. U.S. forces also intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait last night, CENTCOM said…

Michael Makovsky, the president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, criticized the Trump administration’s recent handling of the U.S. war in Iran, telling Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs on Friday, before the events of this weekend, that the “U.S. has lost the plot on Iran” and that a deal with the regime now “wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on”…

Responding to claims from former National Counterterrorism Center head Joe Kent that U.S. aid to Israel does not confer benefits to America, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee defended the relationship and said the next U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, after the current one expires in 2028, will end aid to Israel and “be based on trade”…

Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks celebrated his group’s role in ousting Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in his primary election earlier this month at the organization’s “America 250”-themed gala held last night in Manhattan, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

“Being anti-Israel in today’s Republican Party is not — unlike the Democratic Party — a path to success,” said Brooks, who called defeating Massie a “critical victory” for the direction of the GOP and conservative movement…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told CNN that he believes Israel is being unfairly singled out for criticism as a Jewish state: “For those who do not want there to be a Jewish state, oftentimes they will predicate their views on this notion that being grounded in a religion and being a democracy can’t coexist,” he said.

“I think it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of that view when there are 46 majority Muslim nations, 23 of which have Islam as their official religion … and only one has Judaism as their official religion, and yet we’re focused on just the Jewish state,” Shapiro continued. (Important to note: While Israel has a Basic Law declaring it the nation-state of the Jewish people, the country does not have an official state religion)…

El Al announced it will restart nonstop flights between Israel and San Francisco on Oct. 25, citing high demand for the route between the tech hubs, which was paused in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three weekly flights will be numbered LY49, in a nod to the San Francisco 49ers NFL team…

The Israeli Ministry of Defense said France has barred Israeli officials from participating in the Eurosatory defense show in Paris later this month. Israeli defense firms, which can participate but will not have a dedicated Israeli national pavilion, can only showcase air-defense systems and are prohibited from displaying offensive weapons systems…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for coverage of tomorrow’s key primary elections across the country — including House races in New Jersey, California, Montana, Iowa, New Mexico and South Dakota, California’s gubernatorial race and Montana’s open-seat Senate race — several of which will serve as a referendum on the Democratic Party’s progressive versus establishment divide.

On the Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will speak at a House Appropriations Committee hearing. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will also hold a closed intel hearing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog will attend a command change ceremony at Mossad headquarters to inaugurate Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the new head of the agency, after the Israeli High Court rejected petitions today calling for Gofman’s appointment to be annulled on ethical and procedural grounds.

The Israel Democracy Institute will kick off its two-day Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society in Jerusalem.

Stories You May Have Missed

ANGELENO AFFAIRS

Wide-open Los Angeles mayoral race could hinge on support from Jewish voters

Spencer Pratt, from left, Karen Bass and Nithya Raman are shown on a television while journalists work as they take part in the Los Angeles Mayoral debate at Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA.

The race features an embattled Mayor Karen Bass facing a spirited challenge from her right in reality TV star Spencer Pratt, and from her left in City Councilmember Nithya Raman

Read more

Daily Kickoff

Three-way fray in LA

Plus, Theo Baker schools Stanford

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Spencer Pratt, from left, Karen Bass and Nithya Raman take part in the Los Angeles Mayoral debate at Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA.

By

JI Staff

June 1, 2026

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we spotlight the Los Angeles mayoral race, where Mayor Karen Bass is locked in a close three-way race against Republican Spencer Pratt and DSA-affiliated Democrat Nithya Raman ahead of tomorrow’s primary, and cover yesterday’s Israel Day on Fifth parade in New York City. We report on Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s trip to the United Arab Emirates last week, where he met with UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, and talk to Theo Baker about his new book about power structures at Stanford, where he’s a student. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Shmuel Ben Ezra, Ilan Shchori and Andy Baker.

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

We’re keeping an eye on the escalation in Israel’s north and in southern Lebanon as the IDF and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire. Efforts to reach a ceasefire over the weekend following an hours-long meeting on Friday between Israeli and Lebanese security officials fell short, with Hezbollah rejecting a proposal from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Iran-backed group end its missile and drone attacks against Israel in exchange for Israel agreeing not to resume attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut. The escalation comes amid a deeper Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon, and the IDF’s capture of the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle.
On Capitol Hill, the House is expected to vote on war powers resolutions on both Iran and Lebanon later this week, while the Senate is likely to vote on final passage of an Iran war powers resolution that cleared a procedural vote before the Memorial Day recess.
The American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum continues today in Washington. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, author Dara Horn and historian Jonathan Sarna are slated to speak at this morning’s plenary, while JI Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar will address attendees this afternoon alongside Axios’ Barak Ravid and Kan’s Gili Cohen for a panel about the upcoming U.S. midterms and Israeli elections.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington is holding a memorial this morning for slain staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were killed in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum last May.
This afternoon, the Israeli Embassy in Washington will host an event with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on the Isaac Accords Fund.
In Israel, the Knesset is holding its first reading of a bill to dissolve the body and trigger elections. The Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish, Black, senior and faith caucuses are jointly holding a debate this evening for the state’s open Senate seat. Democrats Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and physician Abdul El-Sayed are all expected to participate.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

The latest revelations that Graham Platner, the Democrats’ anti-establishment, far-left standard-bearer in the Maine Senate race, was sending sexually explicit texts to as many as a dozen women while he was married — an issue his wife raised to campaign staff as a potential liability — is another sign that the candidate’s extensive baggage may be too much for the party to handle. (As commentator Haviv Rettig Gur posted on X: “I’m starting to think that SS tattoo might have been a red flag.”)

Meanwhile, a New York Times interview, published over the weekend, with leading New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Adam Hamawy about his past affiliations with Islamist extremists is going to raise more red flags for Democrats.

Asked about his travels with Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheikh,” who was connected to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Hamawy downplayed the spiritual leader’s jihadist sermons. “He wasn’t preaching death and destruction all the time,” Hamawy said. “He had certain views that he spoke in certain forums, but that’s not what he did every single day.”

With the calendar now turned to June, it’s yet another reminder that Democrats are on the verge of nominating some truly radical and damaged candidates for congressional office as a critical mass of primaries take place this month.

Many of the races are taking place in safely blue seats, so Democrats haven’t raised that much concern over candidates such as Hamawy, whose terror ties (including volunteer work for what was later revealed as an al-Qaida front group) at the very least, raise questions about suitability for public office.

But others, such as Platner, are running in battleground Senate seats where the stakes couldn’t be higher. In California and Montana, candidates are running in swing districts where the battle for the House majority will be fought.

If May was the month that tested President Donald Trump’s power over the Republican Party (lesson: he’s still firmly in control of GOP voters), June will be the month that determines whether the Democratic Party is going to abandon its moderate moorings and nominate a roster of radicals.

The stakes couldn’t be higher — especially for Jewish Democrats, who have been among the leading voices alarmed by the rise of these candidates, who, not surprisingly, often hold virulently anti-Israel views and don’t have a problem mainlining antisemitic rhetoric.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

ANGELENO AFFAIRS

Wide-open Los Angeles mayoral race could hinge on support from Jewish voters

In the closing weeks of the Los Angeles mayoral primary, the two candidates challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass — from both the left and the right — had a lot to say on areas of interest to Jewish Angelenos, which was particularly notable in a race in which those issues have, for much of the campaign cycle, not been front and center. The race features an embattled Mayor Karen Bass facing a spirited challenge from her right in reality TV star Spencer Pratt, and from her left in City Councilmember Nithya Raman, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Community issues: In a race that appears to have the three leading candidates bunched together in a three-way tie, the winning votes could come from anywhere, and recent outreach by Pratt to the Jewish community suggests he knows that winning over Jewish Democrats could help him make it to the general election. The Los Angeles metro area is home to roughly 560,000 Jews, although not all of them live in the city of L.A. That means that a pressing question facing moderate Jewish voters who have supported Bass, a liberal Democrat and former member of Congress, is whether taking a chance on Pratt is worthwhile.

Read the full story here.

PRIDE AND PROTECTION

Israel Day parade marked by celebratory crowd and large police presence

Israel Day parade in New York City on May 31, 2026. (Haley Cohen)

As an estimated 50,000 New Yorkers stretched along Fifth Avenue waving Israeli and American flags and Hebrew music echoed through the streets, this year’s annual “Israel Day on Fifth” parade carried a palpable sense of relief. For the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, attendees could swap out their hostage pins and “Bring Them Home Now” signs for simple flags — marking the first parade since the attacks in which all hostages held by Hamas have been released and Israel’s war in Gaza has ended, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Pulse check on Fifth: For the first time in more than six decades, the city’s mayor was notably absent from the bipartisan tradition. While Zohran Mamdani’s boycott was intended to make a strong statement, attendees appeared largely unfazed. Instead, attendees seemed focused on the notable figures marching — from politicians from both parties to social media influencers and the largest-ever delegation from the Knesset, including Speaker Amir Ohana and members of both the governing and opposition parties.

In the crowd: Spotted on the Jewish Agency’s float were Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of Omer Neutra, an Israeli American IDF officer killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. State Assemblymember Alex Bores, who is running in the Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District, was in attendance, as were Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and former New York City Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Eric Adams. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), flanked by city and Jewish communal leaders — including New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein — addressed attendees.

Read the full story here.

BOOKSHELF

21-year-old author Theo Baker says he feels more Jewish as a result of antisemitism at Stanford

In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, 21-year-old author Theo Baker discussed his new book, How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, in which he reflects on his turbulent college years and lays bare an elite university corrupted by Silicon Valley’s pursuit of power. Weeks away from graduation, Baker spoke with JI about his past four years on campus, the role that technology plays in rising antisemitism — and what the future might hold for universities.

Turning point: “In fall 2022, I went home for Thanksgiving and said, ‘There’s so much antisemitism at Stanford.’ I was shocked by that … As soon as I arrived at Stanford — even in the first week — someone asked me, ‘Why are all Jews so rich?’ By the end of that year — and this is before Oct. 7 —- someone in my dorm, a kid who was Jewish, talked about being Jewish for the first time and someone put a bunch of swastikas and an image of Hitler on his door later that day. So Jewishness is an identity and not one I would have placed much investment in prior to coming to college … Certainly, I, like many college students in the last few years, have been made to feel more Jewish just by the circumstances around us.”

Read the full interview here.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Anti-Israel super PAC’s funding bolstered by GOP-linked donors

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) departs a closed-door GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol January 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

A recently launched super PAC positioning itself as a progressive counterweight to AIPAC’s involvement in Democratic primary elections has accepted financial contributions from a number of individuals who have also donated to Republicans, campaign filings show. The financial support for American Priorities PAC, created in February, has come even as AIPAC and its super PAC have faced backlash from critics on the left who accuse it of meddling in Democratic primaries as a sort of front group for GOP-funded attacks against anti-Israel candidates in safely blue districts, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

PAC picks: American Priorities is investing significantly in New Jersey’s 12th District race on Tuesday on behalf of Adam Hamawy. The super PAC, in another race in California, is boosting Randy Villegas, a progressive critic of Israel running for a red-leaning seat held by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who is endorsed by AIPAC. Those investments have been fueled, most notably, by at least $525,000 from Hussein Mahrouq, a Texas businessman who has backed far-right Republicans including the recently ousted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), both of whom have been accused of using antisemitic tropes about Jews and Israel.

Read the full story here.

TRIP TALK

Gottheimer meets with top officials in UAE

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) meets with UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the UAE, May 28, 2026

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) visited the United Arab Emirates in his capacity as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last week, meeting with National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Readout: “The United States and the UAE are close partners, and I am grateful for the warmth our hosts extended throughout this trip,” Gottheimer said in a statement to JI. “The UAE has stood firm throughout Iran’s relentless missile and drone attacks on Emirati cities and demonstrated the enduring strength of the Abraham Accords by engaging in a deeper partnership with Israel than ever before. We are completely aligned that Iran cannot continue threatening its neighbors.”

Read the full story here.

Worthy Reads

The Ties That Fray: Matthew Schmitz, the religion editor of The Washington Post’s opinions page, warns that “Democrats’ traditional Jewish alliance is fraying as never before” as anti-Zionist activism has crossed boundaries into antisemitism. “Antisemitism is rising on the left and the right, but its presence in the Democratic Party is particularly jarring. Jewish support for the Democratic Party was sealed during the New Deal era, when Jews rallied to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jonah Goldstein, a leader in New York’s Jewish community who made the mistake of running for mayor as a Republican in 1945, joked in Yiddish that Jews had three veltn, or worlds: di velt (this world), yene velt (the other world) and Roosevelt.” [WashPost]

Calling on Congress: In Fox News, Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay, was killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and his body held in captivity, calls on Congress to create a bipartisan committee to investigate the attacks, in which dozens of Americans were killed. “We are seeking justice, but not only for those who carried out the murders. Also for those who financed, enabled and armed them as well. … When Americans are killed in a war zone, Congress has a duty to determine what happened, why it happened and who bears responsibility. That duty does not disappear because geopolitics are complicated. It does not pause because allies may be implicated. American lives cannot be subject to selective accountability. For decades, the United States has operated on a clear standard: kidnapping and killing Americans must carry consequences.” [FoxNews]

MBS’ Brotherhood Two-Step: In Alhurra, Abdulaziz Alkhamis observes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s opposition to Muslim Brotherhood elements inside Saudi Arabia while backing Muslim Brotherhood offshoots in conflicts in the region and in Africa. “When the state wages war on the Brotherhood’s discourse at home while aligning with its affiliates abroad, it hands critics a potent argument: Why is political Islam considered a threat in Riyadh but a necessary partner in Yemen or Sudan? That question alone is enough to complicate Saudi Arabia’s new national narrative, weaken the rhetoric of the modern state, and create an opening for advocates of ‘reconciliation,’ ‘accommodation,’ and political reintegration.” [AlHurra]

Syria As the New Strait: In Foreign Policy, the Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister looks at Syria’s efforts to position itself as a “transformational corridor” and logistics hub in the region amid the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. “Syria could become one alternative overland artery in a network of new ones, spanning from the Gulf, to Egypt, to Jordan. This would be of enormous global significance — to regional states and Gulf energy producers, to customers in Europe, and, of course, for Syria itself. Iran’s shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz has also surged maritime shipping insurance rates, which, even if peace returns, are not expected to return to pre-conflict levels, thereby making overland transit structurally competitive.” [FP]

Word on the Street

The U.S. struck several sites in Iran over the weekend after Iran downed an American MQ-1 drone, while Kuwait said early Monday that it was being targeted by missiles and drones that triggered sirens across the Gulf nation…

U.S. officials told The New York Times that American forces had helped some 70 vessels transit through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks as the key waterway remains largely closed amid stalled talks between Tehran and Washington…

The report comes days after President Donald Trump reportedly asked senior officials to make some changes to a draft ceasefire proposal with Iran, prompting a new back-and-forth with Tehran over the reworked items, which largely focus on Iran’s nuclear program…

The Financial Times spotlights Operation Jailbreak, a recent hackathon convened by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll during which defense firms and startups worked to build inter-operative weapons systems; FT reports that Driscoll wants to send some of the solutions from the hackathon to CENTCOM’s areas of operations in the Middle East within the next month to assist in countering Iranian drone threats…

The office of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that the Syrian leader spoke by phone to Trump on Sunday about regional developments and the Syrian economy…

Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) introduced legislation to prohibit funding for UNIFIL, which has faced criticism for its inability to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon’s south, after Oct. 1, 2027…

Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL), Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) introduced legislation to establish a National Park honoring Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and the network of schools for Black students that he founded…

Politico reports that the New York chapter of the Working Families Party declined to endorse Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in his reelection bid over his failure to support the Block the Bombs Act as the New York Democrat faces a primary challenge from democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier…

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed an executive order requiring the state’s public schools and universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in investigating complaints and directing the state’s Board of Education to provide educational materials about antisemitism, Israel and American Jewish history…

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally signed the state’s buffer zone bill, which enacts a 50-foot security perimeter around religious institutions, into law on Sunday at the Met Council’s annual legislative breakfast…

PBS interviews the father of slain Israeli Embassy staffer Yaron Lischinsky on the anniversary of the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in which Lischinsky and his partner were killed, about how he plans to honor his son’s legacy…

The Washington Post spotlights the “enduring mystery” of the post-World War II lives of Louis “Speedy” Weber and his wife, Frances, whose letters to each other while Louis was stationed in Europe during the war were recently digitized by the USO…

In The Wall Street Journal, Gil Troy reflects on the origins of anti-Zionism on the 81st anniversary of Iraq’s Farhud, the pogrom that marked a turning point for Iraqi Jews and initiated the mass exodus of the country’s Jewish community…

Far-left streamer Hasan Piker and Young Turks co-founder Cenk Uygur said they were both banned from the U.K. ahead of their scheduled upcoming appearances at London’s SXSW convening; Piker accused London of acting at “the behest of Israel,” while Uygur, who is Piker’s uncle, said the U.K.’s Home Office called him a “serious risk to the public order”…

Italian authorities canceled a Kanye West show scheduled for July in Emilia-Reggiano — as well as a concert by rapper Travis Scott slated for the following day — amid concerns from the country’s Jewish community over West’s past antisemitic rhetoric; West was previously slated to perform in the U.K., France, Switzerland and Poland at concerts that have since been canceled, with some countries revoking his entry visa…

Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 4-3 in the UEFA Champions League match on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary, the second year in a row the Qatar-owned team has won the league’s championship…

Australia’s royal commission investigating antisemitism in the country rejected an effort by the government to keep confidential official minutes from Cabinet meetings between 2020-2025 that pertain to the government’s budget for counterterrorism enforcement…

Far-right attorney Abelardo de la Espriella will face off against far-left activist Ivan Cepeda in Colombia’s presidential runoff next month after Sunday’s election in which no candidate reached the requisite 50%…

The Financial Times profiles Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, the son of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed who is being groomed to lead the Gulf nation…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Shmuel Ben Ezra to serve as national security advisor and head of the country’s National Security Council; Ben Ezra, who oversaw the development of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile-defense system, will replace Gil Reich, who had been in the role in an acting capacity since October 2024 after Netanyahu fired Tzachi Hanegbi from the position…

Historian Ilan Shchori was named the senior vice president of B’nai B’rith International; Shchori, who is based in Tel Aviv, will also serve as the organization’s lead historian…

Longtime Newsday journalist Cara Trager died at 71…

Marion Miliband, a Holocaust survivor whose sons, David and Ed, went on to become leading figures in U.K. politics, died at 91…

Pic of the Day

Rabbi Andrew Baker, who is retiring as the American Jewish Committee’s director of international Jewish affairs after 47 years with the organization, was honored by AJC Board of Governors Chair Melanie Nelkin at last night’s plenary session at the AJC Global Forum in Washington.

Birthdays

Amy Schumer attends the premiere of Focus Features’ “Lorne” at Alice Tully Hall on April 09, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Comedian, writer, actor, director and producer, Amy Schumer turns 45…

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, pianist and conductor, he has taught at Yale, SUNY Purchase, Cornell, Brandeis and Harvard, Yehudi Wyner turns 97… Holocaust survivor as a child, he served as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel for 10 years and twice as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau turns 89… NYC-based attorney, author of two books regarding the history and operations of El Al, owner of 40,000-plus pieces of memorabilia related to El Al, Marvin G. Goldman turns 87… Grammy Award-winning classical pianist, Richard Goode turns 83… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Shimon Ohayon turns 81… Retired attorney in Berkeley, Calif., Thomas Andrew Seaton… Pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay area, longtime AIPAC activist, Elliot Charles Lepler, MD… Former member of the Knesset for the Shinui and the Hilonit Tzionit parties, Eti Livni turns 78… Founding editor of The American Interest, a bimonthly public policy magazine that is on hiatus since 2020, Adam M. Garfinkle turns 75… Former editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News and co-author with Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Matthew Winkler turns 71… Senior business editor at NPR for 25 years until his scathing review of liberal bias at the network in 2024, now a contributing editor at The Free Press, Uri Paul Berliner… Founding rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, N.Y., Rabbi Moshe Weinberger turns 69… Former IDF officer and now a London based political scientist and journalist, Ahron “Ronnie” Bregman turns 68… Member of the Knesset for the Shas party for 16 years ending in 2015, Amnon Cohen turns 66… Owner of MLB’s Athletics, his parents were the co-founders of Gap, Inc., he is a board member of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Foundation, John J. Fisher turns 65… Poet, performance artist and essayist, Adeena Karasick turns 61… Founding editor and publisher of the Dayton Jewish Observer, Marshall J. Weiss… Television personality and matchmaker, Sigalit “Siggy” Flicker turns 59… Actor, voice actor and film director, Danielle Harris turns 49… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer, Spencer J. Ackerman turns 46… Partner in Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, Daniel Tannebaum… President and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein turns 42… Musician, songwriter, author, actor and blogger, Ari Seth Herstand turns 41… Former CEO of The Good Food Institute, Ilya Sheyman turns 40… Political reporter for NBC News until last year, now a newspaper editor in Maine, Alex Seitz-Wald… Senior writer at Barron’s covering the Federal Reserve, Nicole Goodkind… Head of responsible AI policy at Palantir, Naomi S. Kadish… Executive business partner at Lyft, Isabel Keller… NYC-born Israeli pair skater, she competed for Israel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Hailey Esther Kops turns 24…

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Anti-Israel super PAC’s funding bolstered by GOP-linked donors

A top donor to American Priorities PAC, which has backed far-left Democratic candidates, has donated to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Greg Abbott

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) departs a closed-door GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol January 10, 2023 in Washington, DC.

By

Matthew Kassel

June 1, 2026

A recently launched super PAC positioning itself as a progressive counterweight to AIPAC’s involvement in Democratic primary elections has accepted financial contributions from a number of individuals who have also donated to Republicans, campaign filings show.

The financial support for American Priorities PAC, created in February, has come even as AIPAC and its super PAC have faced backlash from critics on the left who accuse it of meddling in Democratic primaries as a sort of front group for GOP-funded attacks against anti-Israel candidates in safely blue districts.

AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has taken far more from GOP-linked donors than its new rival, American Priorities — now funded largely by a handful of deep-pocketed contributors. UDP supports both Democrats and Republicans.

But American Priorities, which has thus far only supported Democrats and pledged to spend at least $10 million during the midterms, has not acknowledged that the source of some of its funding is from donors who have at the same time given to GOP candidates and groups — and more extensively than previously reported.

A spokesperson for American Priorities did not respond to a request for comment about whether the group is comfortable with such financial support and how it views the donations in relation to AIPAC’s own pro-Israel fundraising.

American Priorities, which has raised $5.4 million thus far, has sought to mimic AIPAC’s playbook of spending aggressively in progressive congressional districts to elect its preferred primary candidates. The new group is investing significantly in New Jersey’s 12th District race on Tuesday on behalf of Adam Hamawy — a plastic surgeon who opposes all U.S. aid to Israel and whose past ties to a convicted terrorist mastermind as well as a now-shuttered al-Qaida-linked group in Bosnia have drawn scrutiny in the final weeks of the election.

The super PAC has vowed to spend around $2 million by the end of the crowded primary — where Hamawy has been surging — and it recently reached $500,000 in another race in California boosting Randy Villegas, a progressive critic of Israel running for a red-leaning seat held by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who is endorsed by AIPAC.

Those investments have been fueled, most notably, by at least $525,000 from Hussein Mahrouq, a Texas businessman who has backed far-right Republicans including the recently ousted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), both of whom have been accused of using antisemitic tropes about Jews and Israel.

In 2024, Mahrouq, one of the top contributors to American Priorities, also gave $100,000 to boost Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and donated $25,000 to Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, state filings show.

Meanwhile, American Priorities accepted a $5,000 contribution from Omar Khawaja, a personal injury lawyer in Houston, who in March donated to a super PAC supporting hard-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won last week’s GOP primary run-off in the state’s closely watched Senate race. Khawaja has also contributed to a Republican House candidate in Texas as well as Massie, who is among the most vocal critics of Israel in the GOP congressional caucus, according to filings.

Moiz Ali, an entrepreneur and investor in Texas who gave $150,000 to American Priorities in March, also donated to Massie last fall — shortly before he drew a challenger, Ed Gallrein, who defeated the libertarian congressman earlier this month with the backing of President Donald Trump. AIPAC also spent heavily against Massie, a top target of the group this cycle.

Another American Priorities donor, Nadeem Baig, a gastroenterologist in New Jersey who gave $50,000, has previously contributed to former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), former Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), all of whom have been known as staunch supporters of Israel. LaHood is backed by AIPAC, while Lance served as a co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus before he was unseated in 2018.

In a statement shared with Jewish Insider by a spokesperson for Mahrouq, he called himself “an independent businessman, not affiliated with any political party,” and said that his “support has always been guided by what I believe is in the best interest of the United States, its economic strength, security and long-term prosperity.”

“I have supported individuals and organizations across the political spectrum when their positions align with those priorities,” he continued. “My focus is not partisan politics, but rather promoting policies that strengthen America, encourage opportunity, and serve the interests of American citizens. I believe decisions affecting our country should be made based on what is best for the United States, independent of pressure from any foreign government, foreign interest group or partisan agenda.”

Mahrouq was the only American Priorities donor reached for comment by JI who shared a response.

The contributions to Massie and Greene in particular suggest anti-Israel sentiment can transcend partisan boundaries, in the way pro-Israel advocacy has been seen as a bipartisan effort connecting Democrats and Republicans.

Still, American Priorities has only backed Democrats, while AIPAC has championed bipartisan advocacy — even as it has stirred controversy over its engagement in Democratic races that show the group is navigating mounting hostility toward Israel from candidates and elected officials.

American Priorities is led by Hannah Fertig, a strategist with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the far-left group Justice Democrats, which also gave to the super PAC and is likewise backing Hamawy in his primary on Tuesday. “We want our foreign policy views to reflect where the Democratic base has moved, particularly on Gaza, and on unconditional U.S. military to Israel,” Fertig told Semafor in March following the group’s launch. “We’re seeing this as a generational inflection point, and we launched because there’s a huge gap in the progressive spending ecosystem.”

ANALYSIS

Democrats’ June primary test: Can the party stop its radical flank?

Renewed scrutiny of congressional hopefuls Graham Platner and Adam Hamawy highlight the potential for far-left candidates to complicate the party’s midterm ambitions

Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Graham Platner, Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a Fighting Oligarchy event in Portland, Maine, on May 25, 2026.

By

Josh Kraushaar

May 31, 2026

The latest revelations that Graham Platner, the Democrats’ anti-establishment, far-left standard-bearer in the Maine Senate race, was sending sexually explicit texts to as many as a dozen women while he was married — an issue his wife raised to campaign staff as a potential liability — is another sign that the candidate’s extensive baggage may be too much for the party to handle. (As commentator Haviv Rettig Gur posted on X: “I’m starting to think that SS tattoo might have been a red flag.”)

Meanwhile, a New York Times interview, published over the weekend, with leading New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Adam Hamawy about his past affiliations with Islamist extremists is going to raise more red flags for Democrats.

Asked about his travels with Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheikh,” who was connected to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Hamawy downplayed the spiritual leader’s jihadist sermons. “He wasn’t preaching death and destruction all the time,” Hamawy said. “He had certain views that he spoke in certain forums, but that’s not what he did every single day.”

With the calendar now approaching June, it’s yet another reminder that Democrats are on the verge of nominating some truly radical and damaged candidates for congressional office as a critical mass of primaries take place this month.

Many of the races are taking place in safely blue seats, so Democrats haven’t raised that much concern over candidates such as Hamawy, whose terror ties (including volunteer work for what was later revealed as an al-Qaida front group) at the very least, raise questions about suitability for public office.

But others, such as Platner, are running in battleground Senate seats where the stakes couldn’t be higher. In California and Montana, candidates are running in swing districts where the battle for the House majority will be fought.

If May was the month that tested President Donald Trump’s power over the Republican Party (lesson: he’s still firmly in control of GOP voters), June will be the month that determines whether the Democratic Party is going to abandon its moderate moorings and nominate a roster of radicals.

The stakes couldn’t be higher — especially for Jewish Democrats, who have been among the leading voices alarmed by the rise of these candidates, who, not surprisingly, often hold virulently anti-Israel views and don’t have a problem mainlining antisemitic rhetoric.

While Platner’s expected nomination and Hamawy’s potential one are generating the most attention, several under-the-radar races will have a direct bearing on the Democrats’ midterm prospects.

In California’s congressional races, the pro-Israel advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel has been involved in two swing-district races where the group fears left-wing candidates could jeopardize the party’s chances of a pickup. In the seat held by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), the group endorsed Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains and has been airing ads on her behalf in the Central Valley-based district.

Bains is facing a Democratic challenge from school board trustee Randy Villegas, who has landed endorsements from many of the leading anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress and who many Democrats fear could cost the Democrats a seat if he’s the nominee against the battle-tested Valadao.

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) in a San Diego-area district, the pro-Israel group has endorsed San Diego Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, who is running against Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is of mixed Palestinian and Mexican American descent and has twice unsuccessfully run for Congress. The district was redrawn to elect a Democrat, but it still remains a competitive battleground.

In Iowa, Democrats will be choosing whether to nominate the party-favored state Rep. Josh Turek, the more moderate candidate, or go with a true-blue progressive in state Sen. Zach Wahls. The nominee is expected to face Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) in a state that Democrats hope will become competitive, given the rough national environment for Republicans.

And in Montana’s 1st District, in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Jewish leaders are alarmed by several candidates in the Democratic primary field over their anti-Israel rhetoric and online antisemitic activity. Army veteran Matt Rains appears to be the most mainstream Democratic candidate of the four in the race, but lags behind in fundraising.

The district has been solidly Republican since its creation, but in a Democratic wave, it’s competitive enough that it could flip. Given the extreme rhetoric of some of the Democratic candidates, however, that prospect would be less likely.

Also of note: Los Angeles voters will be determining which two candidates will square off in a runoff for mayor. Assuming embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass finishes in the top two, her opponent will either be running further to her left (Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman) or to her right (reality star Spencer Pratt). The matchup will determine whether the campaign focuses more on catering to progressive voters or moderates disenchanted with the direction of the city.

Big Sky Battle

Most Montana Democrats running for Rep. Ryan Zinke’s seat slam U.S.-Israel relationship

Two of the four Democrats in the race have also faced scrutiny over antisemitic activity online

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.

By

Marc Rod

May 29, 2026

In the contentious Democratic primary in Montana’s 1st Congressional District, Israel and antisemitism have become flashpoints in ways that members of the local Jewish community say they find concerning and potentially dangerous.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who currently represents the seat, is retiring at the end of his current term, and Democrats view it as a potential pickup opportunity in a favorable midterm climate. Former Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) narrowly won the district in 2024, despite losing statewide. However, the Cook Political Report rates the district as “Likely Republican,” and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t put the district on its target list at this point.

Though the district leans Republican, that hasn’t stopped a majority of Democrats in the field from racing to the left on Israel policy, a dynamic that was on clear display at a recent debate.

Ryan Busse, a businessman and author who is the top fundraiser among the Democratic candidates, declared that the U.S. has been “forced into a war by another country,” alleging that Israel dragged the U.S. in its military campaign against Iran.

“This war that we’re fighting, that you’re funding, that your tax dollars are funding, is largely a war propagated by Israel,” Busse said. “I’m not taking any AIPAC dollars, wouldn’t dream of it. I think we should be really wide-eyed about the degree to which Israel has too much influence over our foreign policy. “

He also declared that Israel is not a “functioning democracy” and said that Israel is committing war crimes with American tax dollars and that he would fight to stop that aid in Congress.

Russell Cleveland, a Navy veteran and entrepreneur, said that Israel “has a right to exist without fear, but that doesn’t mean that those rights can infringe on other countries’ rights or other people’s rights to exist without fear as well” and said that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

He asserted that Israel is being held to a different standard than other countries and is effectively controlling U.S. policy.

“We have hitched our wagon so hard to Israel in turning a blind eye to their actions on a national stage that we’re willing to disregard what we would hold to account any other country for the same exact violence and war crimes and violations of international law,” Cleveland said. “We cannot allow another country to have that type of control on not only what we’re doing in terms of sending armaments and money, but also that’s an ally to the United States, so everything that they do, we too are responsible for.”

Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader with the backing of prominent national progressives and D.C.-based groups, said that he agreed with Busse and Cleveland, also disavowing AIPAC support while blaming U.S. support for Israel for a lack of services and government assistance at home.

“We need to have strict enforced humanitarian requirements on any aid that we are providing countries overseas,” Forstag said. “That needs to apply to Israel, that needs to apply to any country, because if we cannot afford to feed our hunger, if we cannot afford to make sure that the elderly in this country are not living on the streets, we sure as hell cannot afford to rain cruelty in chaos overseas, Israel or Iran.”

Matt Rains, an Army veteran, rancher and photographer, was the only one of the four Democratic candidates to stake out an opposing view and offer a defense of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

He emphasized that he has spent time in the region, and that he understands “we need to value our alliance with Israel, and I am in support of that because I am against hatred, I’m against racism, I’m against antisemitism, I’m against terrorism.”

Rains said that actually working toward a two-state solution requires people who have firsthand experience and understand the situation on the ground, arguing that many draw incorrect conclusions from news reports.

Busse has been the top fundraiser in the field, pulling in $529,000, followed by Forstag with $448,000, Cleveland with $325,000 and Rains with $125,000. Cleveland, however, trails the rest of the field in cash-on-hand.

Antisemitic activity online has also cast a cloud over two of the candidates in the race.

Cleveland liked an antisemitic Instagram comment that read, “I wouldn’t vote for anybody who takes money from those stinking Jews,” on a post endorsing him.

Cleveland denied any knowledge of the post and disavowed it. He told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that his campaign “incidentally liked [this] comment” and that “My team and I do not condone these types of antisemitic comments, nor support them. … This is antisemitic. I don’t approve of that comment. I wouldn’t have liked it intentionally.”

Busse’s son Lander has also landed in hot water over a series of controversial social media posts which included a spat with a local rabbi.

The younger Busse responded to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that “Free Palestine is today’s version of Heil Hitler” with a gif of a “Breaking Bad” character saying, “Well, Heil Hitler b****.”

He also demanded that a local Chabad rabbi, Chaim Bruk, acknowledge that Israel is an apartheid state and conducting a genocide. When Bruk declined to do so, the younger Busse responded “aight then f*** you.”

He also said in another post “F*** ISRAEL.”

The elder Busse told the New York Post, “I don’t condone any language or actions that minimize the very real tragedy of the Holocaust, and I don’t condone any antisemitic behavior or language.”

He said he opposes antisemitism and that his son is “definitely not antisemitic in any way shape or form,” but denied having seen his son’s social media posts, which were subsequently deleted.

Bruk, the longest-serving rabbi in Montana, told Jewish Insider that he felt it was necessary to engage with Lander Busse as the son of a person running for office, when the younger Busse was spreading comments that could prompt hate against the Jewish community.

Bruk said that he also wanted to give the elder Busse “an opportunity to reach out and see if he has a very different opinion than his son — which he has not done as of today.”

Bruk argued that he’s seen little evidence that Busse’s own opinions differ from those of his son, noting that, while they haven’t engaged in the same sort of vulgarity, Busse, Cleveland and Forstag had all made concerning comments about Israel and Jews.

“I have always strongly opposed antisemitism and will continue to do so unequivocally. I am deeply troubled by the rise in antisemitic activity and rhetoric across our country, and I stand firmly with Jewish communities,” Busse said in a statement to JI. “At the same time, I am troubled by the current Israeli government’s policies and leadership. In my view, criticism of a government’s actions and policies should not be conflated with prejudice against an entire people or faith. We should be able to reject antisemitism in all forms while also engaging in honest and thoughtful discussion about the actions of governments, including Israel’s.”

But Bruk said he takes Cleveland at his word that he did not personally or intentionally like the antisemitic Instagram post.

Cora Neumann, a Jewish state senator who was a previous Democratic nominee for the 1st District seat, said she feels that many of the candidates for the seat are “getting pulled into national issues that don’t impact us, just to posture and play political games,” particularly when it comes to Israel.

She said she has found the attacks on AIPAC, which come despite the fact it hasn’t been involved in the race, “very problematic,” and has been concerned by candidates blaming Israel for the war in Iran. She said she has reached out to several of the candidates to share her perspective.

But she said she hasn’t seen many of the candidates in the race “take pause and think twice about the way you speak” about Israel, even after being warned that their rhetoric might fuel antisemitism, “which shows a disregard for a vulnerable population in the U.S. and around the world.”

“I think this is a poison that has taken hold in our party and it has made my family less safe, and there has been little to no action taken to combat it, locally or nationally,” Neumann told JI. “Democrats need to reflect on our values and who we are and if we really feel that this is acceptable. … Democrats need to seriously reflect on why they’ve let it get so out of hand.”

Asked about concerns from members of the local Jewish community about the way Israel and AIPAC have been invoked in the race, Cleveland said in a statement to JI that, “Being critical of the actions of Israel with regard to its military aggression and violation of international law is not antisemitic.”

“We cannot simply label criticism of any one country as prejudice just because many of us oppose more war, death and destruction. The best possible outcome in the region is one where all people, no matter whether they are from Israel, Palestine, or Lebanon, are treated equally and without prejudice,” Cleveland said. “I want peace for the people of Israel, just as I do for those in any other country or territory. I believe this can be achieved through application of freedom of religion, coexistence, and seeking strength through diversity. This, however, can only be achieved through strict adherence to international law and practice of equal rights of all people.”

In an interview with JI, Rains, an Army captain who served in Iraq and traveled throughout the world in that role and a subsequent one as a photojournalist, said that he has a “vital perspective” of understanding the dynamics in the region firsthand, rather than being “told by other people how to think and believe” on the internet.

His travels took him throughout Israel and the West Bank, and he said that he found many of the media narratives that people in the United States hear about Israel and the conflict to be exaggerated.

He said he feels that the other candidates in the race are “jumping on [the anti-Israel] bandwagon” without a proper understanding of the situation. “You just want to scream because it’s truly a lack of understanding and knowing what is reality and what you’re just being fed through the internet and buying into.”

He said that growing animosity toward Israel and calls to cut off aid are jeopardizing a critical alliance, which will ultimately make the United States less safe and lead to more regional instability and more wars.

He said that he’s also been stunned by what he has seen as an embrace of antisemitism in the United States, pointing significant blame toward the Trump administration for spreading and normalizing “comments that are there to rile up people.” He said that he would be vocal as a member of Congress in emphasizing that antisemitism is not acceptable.

He called the spread of antisemitic rhetoric in the primary race “one of the most shocking things of this campaign.” He said he didn’t anticipate that the issue would be one that he would campaign on, but said he felt a responsibility to not “let hatred creep in” in his own party.

Rains’ photojournalism work also brought him to Myanmar, where he said he was the first photojournalist on the ground documenting the Rohingya genocide in the early 2010s. Having seen such atrocities firsthand — and encountering fierce police resistance to documenting them — he called the accusations of genocide against Israel “absolutely frustrating,” and criticized those in his party who have spread that narrative.

Having worked on strategic planning matters in Iraq, Rains said that he’s been frustrated by what he saw as a failure of proper planning in the U.S. operations in Iran. “The threat of the regime [was] horrific,” Rains said, but he doesn’t have faith in the Trump administration to ensure that Iran is more stable and has better governance at the end of war.

“My biggest frustration is there’s a risk — kind of what happened in Afghanistan when we left there — for a worse government to backfill and make it more hostile than it was,” Rains said.

Bruk and Neumann both spoke positively of Rains’ stance on issues of concern to and of his engagement with the Jewish community.

Bruk said Rains is the only one of the four Democratic candidates who has visited the local synagogue and Chabad center and “made it clear that he stands with the Jewish people and he stands with the people of Israel and their right to their own nation.” He said Rains and his campaign had reached out to visit the synagogue of his own initiative.

Bruk said it’s important to him that the growing Montana Jewish community has a representative who cares about them and who “isn’t ready to throw them locally under the bus because of some international issue with which they agree or disagree” — regardless of potential policy differences on Israel.

Neumann said that she’s also been impressed by the “moral clarity” Rains has shown on the issue and others.

“I think to be able to stand up against the intense headwinds and national pressure to speak on Israel, even if it’s not relevant to your constituents, to be able to stand up against that pressure shows incredible moral character, and that’s what I look for in candidates,” Neumann said.

Bruk said he’d also had a conversation with Forstag and was optimistic that his rhetoric would change going forward. “I think he genuinely didn’t realize that it’s not just about some lobbying PAC that gives, you know, very little money to Montana at all, but it ends up creating an environment in which Jews become fair game,” Bruk said.

He said that he felt from their conversation that Forstag didn’t realize that AIPAC had had little to no involvement in politics in the state. Bruk said he emphasized to Forstag that invoking AIPAC on the campaign trail can increase the dangers to the Jewish community.

“I don’t think he realized the practical ramifications,” Bruk said, and said he was comforted to see Forstag’s rhetoric seemingly shift since then.

Neumann said she also found Forstag to be “receptive and sensitive to feedback on how problematic this disproportionate focus on Israel is.”

Daily Overtime

Leiter’s J Street critique takes measured tone

Plus, Jill Biden's advice to Joe on Bibi

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

May 28, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Despite recent clashes between the U.S. and Iran — including Iranian missile and drone attacks around the region last night — negotiators from both countries have reportedly agreed to terms for a 60-day ceasefire with continued negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. sources confirmed to the White House press pool.

President Donald Trump has not yet given his stamp of approval to the deal, Axios reports, and has told mediators he wants a couple of days to consider it…

In the meantime, Iranian state media reported a renewed exchange of fire in the Strait of Hormuz this afternoon, as Iranian forces were said to have fired “warning shots” at four vessels and engaged air defenses against a “hostile aircraft”…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the U.S. “will not tolerate any effort to impose a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz,” specifically cautioning Oman that the Treasury Department will “aggressively target” any actors involved in facilitating such tolls. Bessent said during a press conference this afternoon that he spoke with the Omani ambassador to the U.S. this morning who assured him Muscat has no plans to do so…

In an excerpt of her forthcoming memoir, View From the East Wing, shared with The Atlantic, former First Lady Jill Biden recalls leaving her husband notes on the bathroom mirror during his time as president, including her views on Israel’s war in Gaza. “Net has to stop,” she once wrote, in a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Before a phone call between him and President Joe Biden, she advised, “Be strong. Don’t let BN use your goodness”…

A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel,” Nira Dayanim reports for Jewish Insider.

Speaking today at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism summit at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan, Leiter was resolute, but more measured in his criticism: “I believe the tent, as we call it, should be wide and as inclusive as possible. But it cannot be inclusive to those who are contributing to the efforts of those seeking the collapse of the tent,” he said…

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) announced today that he would seek reelection in a new South Florida House district recently drawn to favor Republicans, after his own was largely erased, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports, setting the stage for what is expected to be a costly and competitive race…

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) met with UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi today, where the two “reviewed the distinguished strategic relations” between the UAE and U.S…

Kip Talley, the chief of staff to Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) — who is currently the front-runner for the GOP runoff in Georgia to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) — used his position to push to free Charles Johnson, a notorious Holocaust denier who was jailed for contempt of court, according to text messages reviewed by Slate. Talley sent the messages in a group chat that also included neo-Nazis Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer…

A new Democratic super PAC called Project 218 dropped nearly $400,000 in support of progressive organizer Sue Altman in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary, just days ahead of the election next week. The paid ads are intended to counter the nearly $1.5 million spent by the anti-Israel American Priorities super PAC in support of Altman’s opponent, Adam Hamawy, who has faced scrutiny over his work with a group tied to Al-Qaida…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is considering endorsing democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier in her insurgent bid to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), according to The New York Times, changing course from his pledge to back Espaillat, which came after the congressman endorsed Mamdani in the mayoral general election…

UJA-Federation of New York purchased 20,000 bags of Bamba peanut snacks in response to the Park Slope Food Coop’s decision to boycott Israeli-made products, which the federation intends to distribute at the Israel Day parade in the city on Sunday…

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, seen as a potential presidential contender, ruled out a run for the White House in the next election, telling a local Fox outlet, “I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028”…

CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss tapped former New York Times and Vanity Fair contributor and documentarian Nick Bilton as executive producer of “60 Minutes,” after the former head of the program, Tanya Simon, was fired today amid disagreements over issues including editorial independence of the top-rated weekly news program…

Mutra, a high-end kosher restaurant in North Miami run by Israeli chef Raz Shabtai, received a Michelin star today, which the restaurant said makes it the first fully kosher establishment to do so…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how Israel and antisemitism have become a flashpoint in the Democratic primary for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. A sneak peek:

“Though the district leans Republican, that hasn’t stopped a majority of Democrats in the field from racing to the left on Israel policy, a dynamic that was on clear display at a recent debate.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) will host his annual Famous Fish Fry tomorrow in Columbia, S.C., an event that has evolved into a key stop for Democratic presidential hopefuls. Among those with an eye on 2028, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are expected to attend the gathering.

Israeli and Lebanese military representatives are expected to hold discussions at the Pentagon tomorrow, Israeli media reports, without diplomatic representation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Singapore, where he will deliver remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defense summit, on Saturday.

The annual “Israel Day on Fifth” parade will take place in New York City on Sunday, with organizers predicting “one of the biggest turnouts ever” as well as the largest-ever Knesset delegation, JI’s Will Bredderman reports. Breaking with 61 years of tradition, Mayor Zohran Mamdani will skip the festivities, while NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will serve as grand marshal.

Elsewhere in the city on Sunday, the Republican Jewish Coalition will hold its gala celebrating the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the United States with speakers including U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running for New York governor.

In Washington, the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum kicks off on Sunday with a plenary featuring former Israeli hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and AJC CEO Ted Deutch.

We’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

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MACKINAC MOMENT

At Mich. Senate debate, McMorrow says Dems have an antisemitism problem

Meanwhile, Rep. Haley Stevens avoided a question about receiving support from pro-Israel donors, while Abdul El-Sayed blamed rising antisemitism on white supremacy

Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Mallory McMorrow, a candidate for U.S. Senate, campaigns at the Michigan Democratic Nominating Convention

By

Gabby Deutch

May 28, 2026

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow offered a straightforward answer when asked at a debate on Thursday, alongside the other two Democrats vying for an open Senate seat in Michigan, whether there is an antisemitism problem in the Democratic Party.

“There is,” said McMorrow. She told the story of an attendee at last month’s Democratic Party convention in Detroit who yelled an antisemitic slur at her Jewish husband, in front of their young daughter.

“That is terrifying. We need to be able to state very clearly that what the Netanyahu government is doing is wrong, that the violence needs to end, that we need to bring about long-term peace and security for Palestinians and for Israelis, and that turning that into not an anti-Netanyahu, but an anti-American Jewish message is dangerous,” McMorrow said, earning applause from the room.

The other two candidates — Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed — did not directly address the question about Democrats.

Stevens condemned “rising political violence and extremism,” including the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, in her district, which she said was carried out by a “homegrown terrorist.” She described herself as a lawmaker who is “leading on combating antisemitism in a bipartisan way. That does not have to be a partisan thing.”

El-Sayed said he understands discrimination because he has faced it himself. He blamed antisemitism in the U.S. on white supremacy.

“I know that antisemitism and Islamophobia tend to go hand in hand, and the real issue when it comes to either of them is the scourge of white supremacy,” he said, while arguing that respecting American Jews does not require supporting Israel.

The Democratic primary for the open Senate seat in Michigan is one of the most contentious in the country, and antisemitism has become a major issue, alongside U.S. foreign policy and support for Israel. It is perhaps the most high-profile seat where debates about the role of AIPAC might actually have an impact on the outcome.

Stevens, a longtime ally of the pro-Israel group, was the early frontrunner in the race but has faced attacks from her opponents for not criticizing AIPAC.

Presented with an opportunity on Thursday in a primary debate to help voters understand why she continues to receive support from the pro-Israel advocacy group, Stevens chose not to speak about the group at all.

“You take money from AIPAC. Walk us through what that money means and what it buys, and maybe what it doesn’t,” one of the debate’s moderators asked Stevens, as part of a question about how much influence individual donors have over their decisions.

“Michiganders are frustrated because we have not done comprehensive campaign finance reform. Mike Rogers will not vote for comprehensive campaign finance reform like I have in the House of Representatives,” Stevens said, referring to former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the expected GOP nominee for Senate. “We squarely need to put people at the front of our agenda.”

She also said she is “deeply proud to have grassroots support coming from grocery clerk workers to retired teachers to factory workers and the like,” and named some of the politicians who have endorsed her, including former Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

When asked about her views on foreign policy, Stevens attacked President Donald Trump for the “harmful and ridiculous” steps he took to pare back U.S. humanitarian aid abroad, and pledged to focus on peace.

“We need to see the United States work with our allies to achieve lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine, between the people of Israel and Palestine and of course between China and Taiwan,” said Stevens. “But when you remove the tools from our tool kit, you fail this country and you fail us, to allow us to work alongside our allies.”

Both McMorrow and El-Sayed used Thursday’s debate to remind voters that they do not accept donations from AIPAC. (AIPAC has not made an endorsement in the Senate race, but it has encouraged its supporters to donate to Stevens’ campaign.)

“I have not taken a dime of corporate PAC donations. I have not taken a dime of AIPAC donations,” said McMorrow, who is endorsed by the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street.

El-Sayed, who regularly accuses Israel of genocide and has said he struggles with the question of whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, slammed Stevens for taking AIPAC supporters’ donations.

“Let me tell you what absolutely would not shape my perception [of foreign policy]: it’s AIPAC money,” said El-Sayed.

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Moskowitz says he will run in Florida’s new 25th District after redistricting

The 25th overlaps with the congressman's former district, which was largely dismantled, but leans more Republican

Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Sept. 8, 2025.

By

Matthew Kassel

May 28, 2026

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a Jewish Democrat who is among the most vocal supporters of Israel in Congress, announced on Thursday that he would seek reelection in a new South Florida House district recently drawn to favor Republicans, after his own was largely erased, setting the stage for what is expected to be a costly and competitive race.

“The American people are struggling to afford a regular way of life. Many barely have enough money for their bills and feel squeezed by rising costs,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “We must work together to bring back the American dream for the middle class in America. I have never hesitated to work with anyone across the aisle if I think it’ll improve the lives of my constituents.”

The two-term congressman won’t be unfamiliar to voters in the new 25th Congressional District, the product of recent Republican-led redistricting that dismantled his current seat. The recently approved House map overlaps in many ways with his previous constituency, stretching along Florida’s coast from Delray Beach down south to Miami Beach. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, even as the district leans Republican.

Moskowitz’s campaign said the district is estimated to be 25% Jewish, a demographic that makes him a strong fit for the seat, according to election analysts.

“Political extremism is expanding, and antisemitism is spreading and becoming mainstream,” he said on Thursday, adding, “When I see people in my own party talking about concentration camps or deporting Jews, I am going to be an immovable object to that movement. My kids are never going to hide in attics,” referring to an antisemitic activist who had sought the Democratic nomination to a congressional seat in Texas.

Moskowitz is facing a left-wing primary challenge from Oliver Larkin, who had also been running in the congressman’s old 23rd Congressional District. The GOP primary for the 25th District is more crowded, and includes former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, former state Rep. George Moraitis and Joe Kaufman, who previously ran against Moskowitz in 2024. Moskowitz reported nearly $1.22 million on hand at the close of the most recent quarter, which ended in March.

Maureen O’Toole, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement that Moskowitz had “just sealed his own political fate,” claiming that “by choosing to run in a district President Trump won by nine points, he has guaranteed a loss in November.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a fellow Jewish Democrat whose South Florida seat was also eliminated, announced last week that she would run in the state’s 20th Congressional District, a safe Democratic seat that has been represented by a Black lawmaker for more than three decades.

MINNESOTA MANEUVERS

Angie Craig will not seek Dem Party endorsement amid opposition from left-wing activists

Craig will be facing off against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the state’s August Senate primary

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) arrives for a vote in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

By

Matthew Kassel

May 27, 2026

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), a moderate Democrat running for Minnesota’s open Senate seat, said on Wednesday that she would not seek the support of the state Democratic Party at its convention being held this weekend — effectively ceding that endorsement to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, her left-wing opponent.

Craig, who will still run in the Aug. 11 primary, said “the DFL endorsement process just doesn’t reflect the full scope of the party that we are and the purple state that we have become,” referring to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Minnesota’s Democratic affiliate, which was already expected to back Flanagan.

“Most Minnesotans don’t have the luxury of choosing a sub-caucus over a Saturday soccer game with their kids. Most Minnesotans can’t choose a convention over a closing shift. And most Minnesotans can’t put a delegate vote over driving their dad to a doctor’s appointment,” she said in a press conference while criticizing the DFL’s endorsement process.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Flanagan’s campaign countered that “DFLers overwhelmingly consolidated behind” the lieutenant governor “because they’re hungry for a leader who will stand up to corporate power, not bend to Republicans, and fight unapologetically for working people.”

Last month, Craig’s campaign called on the DFL to launch a formal investigation into a series of alleged instances of antisemitic activity among delegates in advance of its state convention, which has navigated mounting intraparty divisions over Israel.

Daily Overtime

Trump adds Abraham Accords fine print to Iran deal

Plus, Lasher sits out buffer bill victory lap

GPO

Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan during the Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

May 27, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting today at the White House, President Donald Trump signaled that he may not agree to a deal to end the war with Iran if Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not join the Abraham Accords. “I think those countries owe it to us,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure we should make a deal if they don’t sign.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was vague about the prospects and timeline for such an agreement with Iran, saying, “I think there’s been some progress and some interest, and we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made”…

The White House also denied reports from Iranian state media about the contents of an apparent draft agreement, calling it a “complete fabrication.” Among other details, the deal would have seen Iran maintain some control over the Strait of Hormuz in conjunction with Oman; at the Cabinet meeting, Trump said about the prospect, “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up”…

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, maintained in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech, including for extreme views, does not take away from its opposition to antisemitism, claiming that “the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid”…

Reps. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) met today in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, where they discussed regional issues including Lebanon and Syria. Both lawmakers are active on issues of Middle East policy in Congress and were some of the first members to visit Syria, where Hamadeh’s family is from, after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad…

Despite publicly billing himself as the candidate most critical of Israel in the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District, Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg told a group of supporters at Manhattan’s exclusive Harmonie Club earlier this month that he has “been a stronger supporter of Israel than I ever thought I would be standing here today with you, because of educating myself on the issue,” according to a recording obtained by Politico. “I probably would have continued funding Israel’s offensive weaponry within the years following Oct. 7,” he told the group.

Schlossberg denied that the comments mark a change from his previous stances, and said that he has consistently opposed all weapons sales to Israel while supporting funding for the Iron Dome…

Several Jewish New York state legislators, including Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Simcha Eichenstein, Nily Rozic, Kalman Yeger and Aron Wieder and Sen. Sam Sutton, released a statement applauding the Legislature’s passage yesterday of a bill establishing a 50-foot buffer zone around religious institutions, calling it a “strong message to the Mayor that the Jewish community is not afraid to stand up.”

Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who was a sponsor of the bill and is running for Congress in the 12th District, did not sign on…

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan announced the appointment of former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian as its new CEO, with her term set to begin on Sept. 8. A Persian Jew born in Tehran, Farhadian has had a storied legal career including clerking for the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, serving as counsel to former Attorney General Eric Holder and teaching at NYU and Columbia law schools…

Far-right activist Bo French won the Republican nomination for a spot on Texas’ powerful oil and gas regulatory commission in yesterday’s primary runoff, heading to a general election against Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, the only Jewish member of the Texas state Legislature (who also identifies as agnostic and “multireligious”)…

Harvard has selected four new Radcliffe Fellows for the 2026-2027 academic year who have histories of anti-Israel activism, The Washington Free Beacon reports, including an English professor from Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University, which has ties to Hamas…

The Heritage Foundation added four new members to its board, including Israeli American conservative political theorist Yoram Hazony, after several members resigned in the aftermath of Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson over his interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the Trump administration’s decision to keep many ambassador positions vacant, as the clock ticks down for any potential nominations before the end of the current Congress.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will deliver the commencement address at Yeshiva University’s graduation ceremony at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, N.Y.

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ANALYSIS

Democrats reject antisemite in Texas while Trump tightens GOP grip

The results painted a picture of a volatile electorate in both parties

(Stewart F. House/Getty Images)

Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an election night watch party held by the Lone Star Liberty PAC at the Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center on May 26, 2026 in Plano, Texas.

By

Josh Kraushaar

May 27, 2026

In last night’s Texas primary runoffs, Democrats successfully prevented a virulent antisemite from becoming the party’s nominee in a battleground House race, while voters also ousted one of the party’s longtime anti-Israel lawmakers for a younger, more pragmatic replacement.

On the Republican side, President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was the decisive factor in Paxton’s sweeping victory over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a widely respected pragmatic conservative who served for years in party leadership.

The results painted a picture of a volatile electorate in both parties. A late push by the Democrats’ House campaign arm and the pro-Israel advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel helped prevent sex therapist Maureen Galindo, who advocated putting pro-Israel Jews in internment camps as part of her campaign message, from winning a valued nomination in Texas’ swing 35th Congressional District.

Johnny Garcia, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy long touted by national Democrats as a top recruit, won the Democratic nomination by 28 points (64-36%) despite finishing in second place in the primary. He will face Republican Air Force veteran Carlos de la Cruz in the general election.

DMFI’s political action committee touted its role as an early endorser of Garcia’s campaign, and for being one of the first and few groups to raise the red flag on Galindo’s extreme views. In its victory statement, DMFI also condemned the efforts from a secretive GOP group to spend nearly $1 million on Galindo’s behalf, in hopes of elevating a more vulnerable Democratic candidate to the general election.

On the positive side, an extremist was defeated thanks to leading Democratic Party organizations and officials rushing to condemn her candidacy. It’s a sign of how institutions can use their power to unify in speaking out against hate. On the other hand, she still won over one-third of the runoff vote despite the full-court press from Democrats to oppose her, a sign that it may take aggressive measures simply to stop a crank from prevailing.

Pro-Israel leaders also cheered the resounding defeat of Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has alienated the Houston Jewish community with his anti-Israel votes in Congress in recent years and lackluster constituent services. Green lost by nearly 40 points to Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), who was just elected to Congress in a neighboring district and was forced to run against his colleague as a result of redistricting.

AIPAC tweeted a congratulatory note to Menefee after he prevailed, cheering his “victory tonight over one of the most outspoken anti-Israel voices in Congress.” Menefee, a former Harris County attorney, was generally a critic of Israel’s wartime actions during its campaign in Gaza, but unlike Green, refused to describe its war against Hamas as a “genocide.” He also said during a debate against Green that he understood why a democratic nation would want to wage a war against a terrorist group.

And in a suburban Dallas district that pitted former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) against his successor, Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX), Allred prevailed in the battle of the two experienced politicos. Allred was the party’s unsuccessful nominee for the Senate in 2024 and considered another Senate campaign before pivoting and deciding to run for the House again.

The race generating the most national headlines was Paxton’s resounding victory over Cornyn by 28 points (64-36%) — proving another example of Trump’s endorsement power in Republican nomination fights. Cornyn had been one of the state’s most popular Republican elected officials before facing growing grassroots opposition from the right over his pragmatism and lack of deep MAGA bona fides. Paxton, despite facing considerable personal baggage, sensed Cornyn’s vulnerability with the base — and in the end, parlayed a Trump endorsement to victory.

This month alone, Trump defeated five of seven targeted Indiana state senators for resisting redistricting efforts, ousted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in primaries over perceived disloyalty and handily dispatched the battle-tested Cornyn. Trump is struggling to maintain support with many Americans, but within the Republican Party, his grip is still tight.

TAKING AIM

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore accuses Netanyahu of committing war crimes

Moore, to Politico: ‘I think that the state of Israel has a right to exist, but I also think that so do the Palestinian people’

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore participates in a discussion on bipartisanship at the National Press Club on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

By

Gabby Deutch

May 26, 2026

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview with Politico, arguing that the Israeli premier has committed war crimes and that his actions make American Jews less safe.

Moore, a Democrat with close ties to Maryland’s Jewish community, reiterated his support for Israel’s existence. But he strongly criticized Netanyahu’s leadership.

“I think that the State of Israel has a right to exist, but I also think that so do the Palestinian people,” Moore said, when asked if he considers himself a Zionist. “From what we’ve seen from Bibi Netanyahu, I just do not know, and nor believe, that he is putting the same measure of focus on Palestinian lives as he does on Israeli lives.”

Moore declined to say whether he believes Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to a genocide, saying instead that the matter will be left to international courts to decide.

“I think that it’s going to have to be international tribunals [that] figure that out, but I do think this,” Moore said. “I know as a military person that you cannot use food as a negotiating tool. That is a war crime, and I think Bibi Netanyahu has committed war crimes.”

When asked whether Netanyahu should be in prison, Moore dodged the question.

“Look at it this way. First of all, he’s actually under investigation and indictment already right now,” said Moore. “But also if you look at what’s happened in Lebanon, even just since the start of the Iran war, he’s annexed and taken over 10% of Lebanon. That, again, is a war crime. I just don’t know how we can continue tolerating these types of actions by Bibi Netanyahu.”

Further, Moore continued, Netanyahu’s actions put Jews in Israel and America at risk, and complicate efforts to combat antisemitism.

“He’s not making Jewish people safe. He’s not making Israelis safe. He’s not making Jewish people in this country safe. We’re dealing with such a rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black. We’re dealing with such a rise of hate,” Moore said. He referenced a recent incident of antisemitic graffiti at an elementary school in Olney, Md., outside of Washington.

“This is real, and we have to be able to deal with this rising level of hate,” said Moore. “But the challenge that I have is I don’t know if Bibi Netanyahu actually believes that there should be Palestinian safety or Palestinian peace.”

Daily Overtime

Shapiro calls out Dem efforts to vilify AIPAC supporters

Plus, the IDF targets Hamas' succession plans

Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11, 2025.

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

May 26, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

No agreement has materialized between the U.S. and Iran today, as the Iranian Foreign Ministry denounced U.S. strikes in the country last night as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” and warned Tehran “will leave no act of aggression unanswered”…

The IDF carried out a strike against Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’ new military commander in Gaza and one of the “architects” of the Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement, days after Israel killed his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad…

The IDF has also expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah beyond the security zone established in the ongoing Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, in an effort to combat drone attacks by the terror group on Israel’s northern communities. Netanyahu said at the start of a Security Cabinet meeting today that Israel is “operating with significant forces on the ground and taking control of strategically dominant positions” in Lebanon.

U.S. officials reportedly approved of the plan but warned Israel “not to bring down buildings in Beirut,” for fear of impacting talks with Iran…

Iran has begun restoring some internet access for its citizens, an Iranian official and watchdog groups said today, curbing what is reportedly the longest nationwide internet shutdown in history at nearly three months long…

Mike Needham, a close advisor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will transition from the State Department, where he serves as counselor and head of policy planning, to deputy national security advisor and assistant to the president at the White House…

Netanyahu is considering appointing his advisor Caroline Glick to the position of Israeli consul in New York, according to Israel’s Channel 12. Glick has drawn scrutiny for her repeated criticisms of the Reform and Conservative movements as well as liberal Israel advocacy groups…

CENTCOM denied reporting by The Wall Street Journal that it has restarted “Project Freedom” and said U.S. forces are “not currently escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.”

And the State Department called reports that the U.S. and Israel are working to strip Jordan of its custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem “categorically false”…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro warned in an interview with Politico that efforts within the Democratic Party to single out AIPAC as “toxic” could be seen as silencing Jewish voices in the American political system.

“Do I agree with every political decision they’ve made, every endorsement they made? Of course not,” Shapiro said of the pro-Israel group. “I think what we have seen is a weaponization of that. … When you have people who are advocating for issues that they feel strongly about and they are having their voices silenced, I think that’s a problem in our system”…

In a letter sent to Trump today, more than 90 House Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), called for the administration to “fully dismantle” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and to rethink its operations “not only in Gaza, but across the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

UNRWA has “perpetuated the refugee crisis and reinforced the conditions that have allowed terrorism to persist,” the lawmakers wrote, arguing that in serving as the primary provider of public services in several countries, the agency “has reduced incentives for host governments to pursue long-term solutions”…

The Justice Department sued UCLA today for allegedly violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act due to its “deliberate indifference to race and national origin discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students”; it’s the Trump administration’s latest move in its legal campaign against the school, as it also pursues a Title VII lawsuit alleging UCLA discriminated against its Jewish and Israeli employees…

The final version of a New York state “buffer zone” law will make it a Class B misdemeanor — one of the lowest levels of criminal offenses — to “knowingly” infringe on the right of access or egress to a religious institution, or to cause those entering or exiting to fear for their safety from a distance of less than 50 feet, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

The bill, which is expected to pass as part of a package around the state budget, is less punitive than the original legislation endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which would have charged such obstruction as a felony, but doubles the buffer zone from its original distance of 25 feet…

The Park Slope Food Coop, a high-profile progressive Brooklyn institution with around 17,000 members, is set to vote this evening whether to enact a BDS policy against selling Israeli-made products, an issue that has ignited a political flashpoint among New York Democrats and caused the vote to go virtual, with organizers citing security concerns.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) has encouraged members to oppose the measure, while his congressional primary opponent, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, said he would vote against it if he was a member but would not tell others to do so. City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement today that the “proposed boycott serves to further divide New Yorkers” and that she hopes the co-op will reject the effort…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined, in an interview with a local news outlet, to endorse a candidate in New York’s 12th Congressional District — where he noted he is a constituent — calling it a “pleasure” to serve with both Micah Lasher and Alex Bores in the state Assembly…

After doubling down on his claim that presumptive Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi Totenkopf is “disqualifying,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) reiterated today that he still will not endorse Platner’s opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history. Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers. … Regardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate and I’ll keep working hard to make it happen”…

Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, condemned as “crazy and disgusting” a video of a man in the city dressed as Adolf Hitler stomping on an Israeli flag…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for results from today’s primary runoff elections in Texas, where we’re tracking the races between Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate; antisemitic conspiracy theorist Maureen Galindo and establishment-backed sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia for the Democratic nomination in the 35th District; and Reps. Al Green (D-TX) and Christian Menefee (D-TX) in the member-on-member primary for the newly redrawn 18th District.

Trump will convene a Cabinet meeting tomorrow at the White House — relocated from the historic Camp David in Maryland due to weather — where the issue of negotiations with Iran is expected to feature prominently on the agenda.

Stories You May Have Missed

PLANNING AHEAD

Pro-Israel groups grapple with the future of Israel funding

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Jewish and pro-Israel groups seem at pains to clarify how they are now assessing an issue that has long been key to their advocacy — particularly as the conversation around funding and the possibility for a new MOU has rapidly evolved in recent months

Read more

RED FLAGS

Josh Shapiro warns of ‘very dangerous’ efforts to target AIPAC supporters in Democratic Party

Shapiro, to Politico: ‘When you have people who are advocating for issues that they feel strongly about and they are having their voices silenced, I think that's a problem in our system’

Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11, 2025.

By

Gabby Deutch

May 26, 2026

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro warned of the dangers of efforts within the Democratic Party to single out AIPAC, telling Politico in a new interview that painting the pro-Israel group as “toxic” could be seen as silencing Jewish voices in the American political system.

“I think it’s been used cynically by some to try and silence certain voices, to try and say that certain people participating in politics shouldn’t count, or should be viewed in a toxic way,” Shapiro said in the interview, which was released on Tuesday.

Where some Democrats have recently distanced themselves from AIPAC, Shapiro declined to do so.

“Do I agree with every political decision they’ve made, every endorsement they made? Of course not,” said Shapiro. “I think what we have seen is a weaponization of that. And I think that is a danger for our system. When you have people who are advocating for issues that they feel strongly about and they are having their voices silenced, I think that’s a problem in our system.”

Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, declined to say whether he would accept support from AIPAC, which does not get involved in state or presidential races, nor did he address AIPAC’s tactics or its involvement in any particular race.

He cautioned that efforts to vilify the group have sometimes crossed a line into targeting American Jews’ political advocacy, noting that sometimes Jewish donors who currently or have in the past supported AIPAC are tarred just for being part of the political process.

“I think it does get blurred because now what you are seeing is not ‘AIPAC money,’” said Shapiro, “but you’re getting the Jews who give to that candidate who also support AIPAC. I think it’s very dangerous in our system, if you are trying to silence certain voices based on their race, based on their faith, based on their particular ideology.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is warning about the dangers of efforts within the Democratic Party to single out AIPAC.

“I think it’s been used cynically by some to try and silence certain voices, to try and say that certain people participating in politics shouldn’t count, or… pic.twitter.com/uighmwoMgu
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) May 26, 2026

Shapiro, who is one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in the U.S., described a “dramatic spike in antisemitism across this country.” He condemned the Islamophobic attack on a mosque in San Diego last week in which three people were killed while also pointing out that, overall, antisemitism is a much larger problem than other forms of hate.

“There is rising hatred and bigotry targeting people across the board, but it is also undeniable, and no one’s pain is greater or more important than others, but from a data perspective, there has been a dramatic spike in antisemitism that is unmatched elsewhere, and that’s a problem,” said Shapiro.

Asked whether he plans to run for president, Shapiro declined to answer. But he said his family had to consider whether he should run for reelection this year in Pennsylvania after an arson attack on the governor’s mansion last year on the first night of Passover.

“My family and I spent a bunch of time thinking about running for reelection. It is hard for me as a dad to know that doing this job I love, this job I find great purpose in where I get to help people, puts my kids’ lives at risk,” said Shapiro. “I’m not going to cower. I’m not going to be fearful.”

DOUBLING DOWN

After Mills withdrawal, Auchincloss reiterates Platner’s Nazi tattoo ‘disqualifying’

‘I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,’ Auchincloss told CNN

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) participates in the House Transportation Committee hearing on Thursday, June 27, 2024.

By

JI Staff

May 26, 2026

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said on Monday that Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi Totenkopf was “disqualifying,” weeks after Gov. Janet Mills’ departed from the Democratic primary race, leaving Platner as the party’s presumptive nominee challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

“I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss told CNN. “I hope Maine voters agree with me. I think it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner’s brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country.”

Jewish Insider reported last year that Platner had on at least one occasion identified the tattoo on his chest as a Nazi SS symbol, known as a “Totenkopf,” to a former acquaintance and had been fully aware of the tattoo and its meaning well before entering the race to replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), even bragging about having it.

Platner has since covered up the tattoo and dismissed wrongdoing, claiming he had no idea the tattoo symbol was a Nazi insignia when he got it with fellow Marines while in Croatia in 2007.

Far-left Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti, a cofounder of Justice Democrats who is mounting a bid for the seat being vacated by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), rebuked Auchincloss, writing on X, “Auchincloss is essentially endorsing Susan Collins in Maine. Absolutely no excuse for a Democrat in the House to back a Republican for Senate in a crucial swing seat. Auchincloss should be primaried. His primary election is September 1 in a safe, D+11 seat.”

Last year, Auchincloss became the first elected Democrat to call on Platner to drop out of the Senate race in Maine after news of his tattoo emerged.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has campaigned with Platner, dismissing criticism of him and describing him as “my kind of man.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has also defended Platner, saying “people should have second chances.”

candidate critique

Moskowitz, Gottheimer concerned by Rabb’s primary victory following Bondi post

‘I have never and would never support any such heinous conspiracy theories,’ Rabb pushed back in a statement to JI

U.S. House of Representatives

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)

By

Marc Rod

May 25, 2026

Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) expressed concerns about Chris Rabb’s Democratic congressional primary victory in Philadelphia this week, which is likely to send the Pennsylvania state legislator to Washington next year in a deep-blue district.

They expressed particular concern about a post shared on Rabb’s Instagram account that described the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney as a false flag operation, which Rabb’s campaign has attributed to an unnamed former staffer and disavowed.

In a new statement to Jewish Insider, Rabb pushed back, emphasizing his connections to the Jewish community and explaining that the post was shared by a former contractor with whom the campaign had cut ties, without his approval.

Moskowitz noted that mass shootings are a particularly personal topic for him given that he graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of one of the largest school shootings in U.S. history.

“I had a shooting at my high school, 14 kids were killed, three adults. [Former Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene called that a false flag event. To see someone on my side of the aisle see a mass shooting and call it a false flag is obviously tremendously disappointing,” Moskowitz told JI on Thursday.

He said that such rhetoric also feeds into a cycle of escalation that leads to comments like those from antisemitic Texas Democratic congressional candidate Maureen Galindo, who called for imprisoning and castrating Zionists.

“How did we get here?” Moskowitz asked. “It’s because of statements like [Rabb] said, and statements that many other people say, and the stuff that goes online. It’s the constant escalatory behavior.”

Gottheimer said he was “deeply concerned about the things [Rabb] has said and shared” as well as “who he campaigned with,” naming Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who has repeatedly espoused antisemitic sentiments and support for terrorism in particular.

“Whether that was some sort of campaign gimmick or his deeply felt beliefs — we’ll see,” Gottheimer said.

Rabb pushed back hard in a lengthy statement to JI, again denying any knowledge of the Bondi Beach post.

“The Bondi Beach Instagram story was reposted to my account without my knowledge or consent by a vendor with whom my campaign has severed ties. Accusations to the contrary are extraordinarily troubling because they misrepresent my deep and enduring commitment to combatting antisemitism and standing with the Jewish community here in Philadelphia and around the world. There is no place for such destructive and shameful hate,” Rabb said. “I have never and would never support any such heinous conspiracy theories.”

Rabb also emphasized longtime connections to the Jewish community — growing up in a Black and Jewish neighborhood and working with Jewish communities during his time in office to fight white Christian nationalism and bigotry, and noted the longtime alliance between the Black and Jewish communities to fight racism.

“These accusations ignore my life-long connection to the Jewish community amid multi-generationial ties to Jewish friends and neighbors borne of shared struggle and resistance to systems of harm,” Rabb continued. “I am proud that Philadelphia’s Jewish community was at the heart of my campaign – including many volunteers and staff, all the way up to our campaign manager. In Congress, I will do everything in my power to prevent violence against Jewish folks — or any other people — because I firmly believe in protecting and supporting the safety and equality of all.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who endorsed Rabb, defended him.

“I was concerned about [the Bondi Beach post], but they said it was someone on the staff and he disowned it immediately. He disavowed it,” Raskin said. “I spent some time with him, and he’s a very smart and thoughtful and decent guy.”

SWITCHING SEATS

Wasserman Schultz, whose district was redrawn, announces plans to run in neighboring district

Her decision has sparked frustration from Black Florida Democrats, who say that the seat should be represented by a Black lawmaker

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

By

Marc Rod

May 22, 2026

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) announced Friday that she plans to run in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which has been represented by a Black lawmaker for more than three decades, after her current district was redrawn by Florida Republicans in an effort to secure more seats in the House.

The decision will pit her against scandal-plagued former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who is running again for the seat despite recently resigning ahead of an anticipated expulsion effort, progressive activist Elijah Manley and others running primary challenges against Cherfilus-McCormick.

Her decision has also sparked frustration from Black Florida Democrats, who say that the seat should be represented by a Black lawmaker.

In an announcement statement, Wasserman Schultz and her supporters emphasized Wasserman Schultz’s experience and seniority in the House as a key asset for the community.

“We cannot let Trump destroy Broward County’s power. Having somebody with that experience right now in these turbulent times is so important. … I’ll use all my seniority and clout in Washington to continue to make our lives more affordable and make Broward a safer, less expensive place to live, raise a family, and retire,” she said. “Some people do a lot of talking. I work hard to deliver results.”

Wasserman Schultz has served in Congress for more than 20 years, and is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, a member of House Democratic leadership and a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman. She one of several pro-Israel Democrats, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL) and Kathy Castor (D-FL), who have had their districts redrawn by redistricting in the state.

Wasserman Schultz has long prided herself on representing a heavily Jewish constituency, joking to Jewish audiences about the number of Jewish retirees in her district.

State Sen. Shevrin Jones, the incoming Florida Democratic Senate leader, expressed disappointment with Wasserman Schultz’s decision while calling her a friend. He said in a statement he’s spoken to her about the issue and emphasized that “Black representation is a non-negotiable for me.”

“Everyone deserves to have a seat at the table to ensure our communities are represented by those with their same lived experience. This is not about Debbie because she has shown she can lead; that’s not the argument nor should it be the fight, at least not mine,” Jones said. “My fight is for Black representation, and I am in the business of expanding it, not diminishing it.”

In a joint statement, the Florida Legislative Black Caucus also criticized Wasserman Schultz’s decision.

“Congresswman Wasserman Schultz’s decision to pursue reelection in this historically Black district, despite explicit requests from the Black community to seek candidacy in a neighboring district, is disheartening,” the statement reads. “Building trust with Black leaders and constituents should be paramount for anyone seeking to represent a majority-Black district. Unfortunately, the actions taken by Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz suggest a failure to prioritize these essential values, perpetuating a narrative of performative allyship rather than meaningful connection.”

Manley condemned Wasserman Schultz as a carpetbagger and compared her to Florida Republicans who redrew the state’s congressional districts.

Wasserman Schultz told Politico she had engaged with more than 100 community leaders in the district, many of them Black, before making her decision, again emphasizing the need for an experienced lawmaker.

Other candidates in the race include Luther Campbell, a musician and free speech advocate, physician Rudolph Moise and former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness.

SCOOP

Janeese Lewis George’s political director shared videos calling Israel ‘evil’ and supporting BDS

Makia Green is a D.C. activist who founded a nonprofit that advocates for prison abolition

Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George speaks during the Free DC candidate forum, an event for constituents to meet and question candidates for mayor.

By

Gabby Deutch

May 22, 2026

The highest-paid staffer on Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George’s campaign has a social media history showing deep-seated hostility toward Israel and adherence to far left views on the Middle East, according to a review of the staffer’s public posts.

Makia Green, Lewis George’s political director, posts frequently on Instagram, often a mix of photos or videos of herself alongside TikTok videos that she downloads and shares to her own profile. Green is a local activist who founded a nonprofit called Harriet’s Wildest Dreams that advocates for prison abolition.

In the months after the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, Green’s posts on Instagram, where she has 6,400 followers, regularly centered on anti-Israel advocacy.

One video she shared in Dec. 2023 called Israel an “imaginary state.” Another post that month featured a video with someone saying “Israel is a bitch, so evil.”

In November, weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, Green shared a video of a woman who called it “sickening” that Israeli actress Gal Gadot was screening footage of Hamas’ atrocities.

At least two posts featured videos that appeared to defend the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen that began attacking Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea after Oct. 7. One, from Jan. 2024, showed an Irish parliamentarian criticizing the European Union for its concern about the Houthis’ attacks on global shipping.

A Dec. 2023 post included a video with a woman who said that “Yemen is the only nation militarily backing the people of Palestine.” The caption to the post expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The captions to many of Green’s posts in late 2023 and 2024 called on her followers to advocate for the Palestinian cause. In Jan. 2024, she wrote “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” alongside a video showing pro-Palestinian protesters with bullhorns outside the home of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), shouting that his wife should be “ashamed.”

Green’s posts reveal a deep commitment to BDS, including calls to boycott Starbucks because of its support for “genocide.” (Starbucks was the target of anti-Israel activists in the fall of 2023 because of its posture toward pro-Palestinian members of its union.)

“My views are my own,” Green’s Instagram bio states. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Green’s posts have come under scrutiny as Lewis George continues to face questions about her own views on Israel.

At a candidate forum hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council on Thursday, Lewis George was asked to specify her views on Zionism — an issue that has become a flashpoint in the race after she said in a Democratic Socialists of America endorsement questionnaire that she would reject the “Zionist lobby.”

Lewis George said at the event that she would not exclude any segment of the Jewish community but avoided sharing her opinion about Zionism. She is a member of the Metro DC DSA chapter and earned the group’s endorsement in the mayoral race.

“I will refrain from going on any political junkets to Israel. I will also not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid,” Lewis George wrote in the DSA questionnaire.

Asked whether she supports BDS, Lewis George did not answer, but said she supports “the right of all people, including Palestinians, to use nonviolent strategies like boycotts and calls for divestment to build a more just world.”

A spokesperson for Lewis George’s campaign did not respond to multiple inquiries seeking comment about whether Green advises Lewis George on Israeli-Palestinian matters or if their views align.

In her anti-Israel messages, Green also regularly took aim at Democrats. One video she shared in Dec. 2023 showed a man describing both Donald Trump and Joe Biden as “horrible choices.” In a post several months later, Green shared a video encouraging Democrats to support the Uncommitted movement to protest Biden’s support for Israel. She routinely highlighted anti-Israel protests at events hosted by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

In one post with a “ceasefire” caption, from Jan. 2024, Green boosted a video that escalated from criticism of the president to the entire country.

“F*** the United States government and every member that belongs to that shit,” a woman said in the video.

ON THE HILL

House Republicans delay Iran war powers vote, ahead of potential passage

The vote is postponed until June, after the Memorial Day holiday

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol Building on May 21, 2026 in Washington, DC.

By

Marc Rod

May 22, 2026

House Republicans postponed a vote on a war powers resolution on Iran, which was expected to pass given a series of GOP absences and Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-ME) anticipated flip to support the effort.

The vote now will not take place at least until the beginning of June, after the House’s weeklong Memorial Day recess, but Republicans can’t put the vote off indefinitely given House rules.

The previous war powers resolution failed in a tied vote last week. But eight Republicans — only one of whom was likely to vote for the resolution — were absent for Thursday’s votes, with only two Democrats not present. Only four Republicans and two Democrats were absent for the previous war powers vote.

Democrats said that the margins would have been sufficient to secure passage of the resolution. House Republicans kept the previous vote open for more than 45 minutes — even though it was scheduled to last just five minutes. The delay unfolded as both Republican and Democratic leaders huddled on the House floor, with Democrats repeatedly shouting for the vote to be closed.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) tacitly acknowledged the attendance issues following the vote.

“Well, we just had some members that weren’t there that wanted to be recorded on it, so we’re going to be giving them that opportunity when we come back,” he told Punchbowl News.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), one of the few Republicans who was expected to support the resolution, predicted to Politico that the resolution would pass when it next comes up for a vote.

Democrats have been openly frustrated at the delay. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the three top Democrats in the House, accused House Republicans of having “failed this country.”

“The Republican-controlled House continues to behave like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump administration. Republicans cowardly pulled a scheduled vote on a War Powers Resolution — legislation that would have passed with bipartisan support and required the President to end the conflict in the Middle East,” the three said.

They accused Republicans, ahead of Memorial Day weekend, of having “refuse[d] to show up and be accountable to the brave service members that have been recklessly put in harm’s way.”

“The American people will remember in November,” the Democratic leaders said, in reference to the midterms.

The Senate advanced a similar war powers resolution earlier this week through a procedural vote, and is also expected to take a final vote on the measure after the recess, the result of which may also depend on attendance.

Regardless, even if the resolutions pass both chambers, President Donald Trump has the ability to veto them.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), whose extended absence from the House for more than two months has gained increasing attention, resurfaced Thursday, contacting reporters and Republican officials after weeks of silence amid an unspecified health condition.

Kean reportedly told National Republican Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) that he would be returning to work in June — potentially securing another “no” vote for Republicans, should he return immediately after the recess, according to reporters who spoke to Hudson.

Daily Overtime

DNC autopsy omits Israel mention

Plus, see JI's summer reading list recs

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Committee members wait for the beginning of a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaw Committee in Washington, DC

By

JI Staff

Danielle Cohen-Kanik

May 21, 2026

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch has compiled our team’s summer reading list to kick-start the long weekend. Take a look at the new releases we’re recommending from this spring, as well as books we’re looking forward to in the coming months…

President Donald Trump struck a confident note on the U.S.’ ability to secure Iran’s already enriched uranium, telling reporters in the Oval Office today, “We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.” He’s also still hinting at renewed military operations: “We’re going to either make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon or we’re going to have to do something very drastic,” he said…

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander — who polls show running well ahead of Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in next month’s Democratic primary — broadened his already sweeping criticism of Israel in a speech to a Queens mosque earlier this month, suggesting the country’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon could constitute genocide, JI’s Will Bredderman reports…

More than 2,000 New Jersey rabbis and lay leaders signed a petition to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and state lawmakers urging them to take prompt action to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“We were deeply dismayed that legislation to adopt the IHRA definition was recently shelved for political reasons, despite broad support in the legislature and clear evidence of rising antisemitism,” the letter, which was organized by the Jewish Majority, reads, referencing former Gov. Phil Murphy’s efforts to quash the bill last year…

Critics of Qatari funding of American universities are watching Northwestern University’s incoming president, Mung Chiang, to see how he handles the school’s upcoming contract renewal for its satellite campus in Doha, JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

Northwestern’s contract to operate its campus in Qatar (NU-Q) is set to expire at the end of the 2027-2028 academic year. Interim President Henry Bienen said earlier this month that the NU-Q review process is “ongoing” and would be left up to the university’s new leadership…

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin released the DNC’s long-awaited 2024 election “autopsy” today, ending months of pressure from activists demanding answers for the party’s losses last year; the 192-page document, the contents of which Martin disavowed, does not mention the party’s policies on Israel, Gaza or the Middle East, which critics had alleged sank Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid…

A new poll conducted for the Jewish Voters Resource Center found American Jewish voters’ top priorities in the midterm elections are the “future of democracy” and cost of living, with antisemitism ranked as the third most important issue, though it was the No. 1 “dealbreaker” that would cause a candidate to lose their vote. Israel ranked fifth among most important issues, while the Iran war — which 62% of American Jews disapproved of — ranked nearly last.

Ninety percent of respondents said they were concerned about antisemitism in the U.S., including 63% who said they were very concerned. Only 16% of respondents said they think Israel’s war in Gaza was a success, while the rest were nearly split in considering it a failure or being unsure…

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog said today that he does not view J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group, as a pro-Israel organization, JI’s Marc Rod reports, weighing in on the escalating war between his successor, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, and J Street.

“To me, to be pro-Israel is to draw a clear line between criticizing Israeli government policies — and supporting anti-Israel agendas and libels de-legitimizing the State of Israel,” Herzog said on X…

The Senate abruptly departed for its Memorial Day recess, not set to return until June, without taking up the partisan reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement and security for the White House ballroom; the primary source of the delay is opposition from Republicans to the administration’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, expected to give payouts to Jan. 6 defendants and other Trump allies. The House is also set to depart a day earlier than anticipated…

Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov published in a series of posts on X a 15-point plan to “complete the implementation” of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. Hamas’ disarmament, Mladenov said, would not be “unilateral” or require “immediate surrender”; instead, it would be a “phased, Palestinian-led and internationally verified process” that would see arms transferred to the Palestinian technocratic committee governing Gaza rather than Israel…

The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General is conducting an investigation into the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the Financial Times, focused on how the now-defunct aid organization spent a $30 million federal grant it received last June…

The Atlantic’s David Frum argues that rising antisemitic violence in the West — such as the attack on his hometown synagogue in Toronto when a gunman fired 20 bullets at its exterior — makes recent media coverage of Israel especially dangerous, criticizing Nicholas Kristof’s dubiously sourced New York Times column alleging systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli officials as “the new blood libel”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the results of this afternoon’s expected Iran war powers vote in the House, which could pass, depending on attendance. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), until now the lone Democratic holdout, is expected to flip his vote in favor.

President Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks tomorrow in Rockland County, N.Y., at a campaign event for Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), as the congressman faces a competitive reelection in his swing district.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Sweden tomorrow to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers; from there, he will embark on a three-day visit to India, stopping in several cities for meetings on energy security, trade and defense cooperation.

On Sunday, the left-wing “Pod Save America” will host a Michigan Senate Democratic primary forum with candidates Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and far-left Abdul El-Sayed, who has been championed by the podcast’s hosts.

In observance of Shavuot and Memorial Day, we’ll be back with the Daily Overtime on Tuesday. Chag sameach!

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