Brett McGurk, the former Biden administration Middle East coordinator, has strongly disputed claims that Israel caused a delay in securing a hostage deal due to its insistence on maintaining a military presence in key locations in the Gaza Strip. Instead, McGurk argues, it was Hamas that held up the agreement with its maximalist positions, until its position ultimately weakened. 

Speaking Thursday at an Atlantic Council event alongside Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about his new book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, McGurk took aim at recent narratives from some of his former Biden administration colleagues surrounding the agreement.

While McGurk did not name his former colleague explicitly, his remarks directly referenced a social media post last weekend by Phil Gordon, the former national security advisor to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Gordon had suggested that a deal had finally been achieved in January 2025 because Israel had dropped its insistence on maintaining a military presence in the Philadelphi Corridor and conducting weapons checks in the Netzarim Corridor — implying a deal could have been struck months earlier had Jerusalem compromised sooner.

“I actually, David, had a former colleague who was not in the negotiations recently say the way they got the deal was that Israel dropped demands on [the] Philadelphi Corridor and these other things. Totally not true,” McGurk said. “Hamas accepted things they were not prepared to accept in the summer.”

Under the January agreement, Israeli forces remained in the Philadelphi Corridor for the entirety of Phase One, which provided for the release of 33 hostages. The agreement also included provisions for weapons checks on vehicles moving north through the Netzarim Corridor. McGurk argued that those terms were more favorable to Israel than what had been on the table the previous summer.

McGurk used as an example of Hamas’ intransigence a moment from his book which describes Hamas’ out-of-the-blue demand for 110 life-sentence Palestinian prisoners in exchange for nine ill and wounded civilians as, demonstrating how the terrorist group delayed the negotiation process even in times when Israel had agreed to the terms of a deal and was facing American pressure. 

Brett McGurk, a veteran national security official who has served in Republican and Democratic administrations, pushed back on Thursday against arguments from his Biden administration colleagues that former President Joe Biden should have applied more pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages sooner. 

Debate in Democratic foreign policy circles over the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza has intensified following the release earlier this month of McGurk’s new book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, in which he argues that Biden’s efforts to pressure Israel during hostage negotiations emboldened Hamas and complicated efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement.

In the book’s prologue, McGurk made the claim that “every time that Biden had curtailed assistance for Israel — or even threatened to do so — it had the perverse effect of emboldening Hamas, which would shut down the negotiations to release the hostages it was holding in exchange for a ceasefire.”

However, some of his former Biden administration colleagues have argued that Biden’s pressure on Israel was both necessary and effective. Among them are Phillip Gordon, who served as national security advisor to then-Vice President Kamala Harris, and Jake Sullivan, who served as Biden’s national security advisor.

Gordon — a prominent Democratic foreign policy voice, potential national security advisor in a future Democratic administration and a consistent critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza — argued that pressure on Jerusalem had worked and that “most” White House staff believed Biden should have taken an even tougher line against Israel.

“I would say most of my former colleagues think that President Biden should have put more pressure on Israel to conduct the war differently and end it sooner, and few think that the biggest mistake Biden made was to show daylight with Israel,” Gordon wrote on X on Saturday, in a direct reference to McGurk’s book.

In July, unrelated to McGurk and prior to the book’s release, Sullivan told The New Yorker, “I will say straightforwardly — we should have put more pressure on Israel to take a different approach.”

Speaking Thursday at an Atlantic Council event about his book, McGurk was asked by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius to respond to his colleagues’ statements and address whether Biden should have applied more pressure on Israel to end the war sooner.

But McGurk pushed back on that argument, saying there was no clear opportunity to reach a deal faster and challenging critics to identify the specific moment and action that could have secured an agreement sooner. 

“If there was a shortcut, Joe Biden would have taken [it]. And if somebody could point to a key moment in which we would have been able to get a deal sooner, I’m open to that conversation. But I don’t think there was,” McGurk said. “To say in 2026 [that we] should have done something. I think you have to say, ‘What, and in what moment?’”

McGurk pointed to repeated delays and shifting demands by Hamas as obstacles to the negotiations, including in May 2024, when the Biden administration put forward a ceasefire proposal that Israel accepted.

“Hamas doesn’t answer for five weeks. They then put on new demands that Israel answered at a very hard line, and the process kind of goes on and on,” McGurk said.

He also recalled negotiations in December 2024, when mediators were seeking a list of 33 hostages to be released as part of an agreement, but Hamas initially offered only 12, prolonging the process by another six weeks.

“All we need is a list of hostages coming out. Thirty-three hostages, and Hamas offered 12. And it took another six weeks to get the deal,” he said.

McGurk also pointed to an earlier breakdown during the November 2023 temporary truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, when Hamas refused to release younger women as agreed and proposed releasing older men instead.

“We have a deal for all women and children, and Hamas sends a message saying, ‘No, we’re not going to release the younger women. Let’s skip to the older men,’” McGurk said. He argued that accepting the change could have jeopardized the release of the remaining women.

Meanwhile, Elliott Abrams, who served as the Trump administration’s special representative for Iran, rejected Gordon’s criticism and said McGurk’s account was “persuasive,” arguing that the dispute reflects a broader shift in Democratic foreign policy.

“McGurk’s account and critique are entirely persuasive, and I find Gordon’s attack on it to be a sad display of the way the Democratic Party is moving,” Abrams told Jewish Insider. 

Abrams said Gordon was likely correct that many of his former colleagues favored greater pressure on Israel, noting that Gordon himself had advocated that approach. But Abrams argued that some officials’ criticism of Israel was also shaped by their future political ambitions.

“People whose main goal is a job in the next Democratic administration will be more and more critical of Israel — which is why McGurk should be honored for his candor and his refusal to bow to that kind of pressure,” he said.

Daniel Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under Obama and deputy assistant secretary of defense under Biden, offered a more nuanced perspective, arguing that both McGurk and Gordon had identified real dynamics that shaped the hostage negotiations.

“Hamas wanted to drag out the negotiations. They often delayed giving answers. They hoped to keep hostages while reaching an end to the war,” Shapiro said. “Also true, Netanyahu at times seemed far less interested in concluding a hostage deal than in pursuing his broader war aims.”

Shapiro agreed that public friction between the U.S. and Israel often complicated negotiations, as Hamas viewed the tensions as an opportunity to seek better terms. However, he noted that Netanyahu sometimes initiated the disputes himself, giving Hamas an opening to exploit divisions between the allies.

“Any time there was public friction between the United States and Israel, Hamas tended to pull back from negotiations and harden their positions, hoping the United States would deliver a better deal for them from Israel,” Shapiro said. “And also true is sometimes the public friction between the United States and Israel was initiated by Netanyahu. So some of the opportunities Hamas had that resulted from that friction was responding to things that were initiated from his direction as well.”

Shapiro also noted that Israeli negotiators have since suggested that an agreement could have been reached sooner — with senior team members like IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Setter and IDF Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon later stating that political delays caused missed opportunities for a deal in 2024 — and argued that the U.S. “was right to push Israel to recalibrate its operation in Rafah to allow Palestinian civilians to evacuate before the offensive and was right to express concern about a high rate of civilian casualties and insufficient humanitarian aid.”

Shapiro described the negotiations as “a messy and complex situation,” adding that the prolonged captivity of the hostages underscored how difficult it had been to secure a deal.

Jason Greenblatt, who served as the White House’s Middle East envoy during the first Trump administration, also rejected Gordon’s argument that Biden should have applied more pressure on Israel, agreeing with McGurk’s assessment that doing so would have strengthened Hamas’ negotiating position. 

“Those who argue that President Biden should have pressured Israel even more have it completely backwards,” Greenblatt said. “Pressuring Israel instead of Hamas rewarded the terrorists and gave them reason to believe that the longer they held out, the more concessions Israel would be forced to make.”

Former President Barack Obama criticized Israel’s security policy as having “ceded moral ground” and said that Israel’s founding had unjustly taken land from Palestinians in remarks in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this week.

At the same time, the former president also emphasized that both Israelis and Palestinians have a responsibility to change their approach in order to move toward peace.

“The fact is that the Jewish people for millennia were oppressed, discriminated against, killed. Europe was responsible for much of that. They understandably sought a refuge in a place where they had historic ties. That is undeniable,” Obama said, according to transcripts and recordings of his remarks. “What is also undeniable is that they took the land of people and they were expelled. And those people, understandably, said, ‘This is an injustice, and I want my land back.’”

The comments overlook that much of the original Jewish settlement in the land of Israel in the 1800s and early 1900s was on land legally purchased by Jews.

He offered strong criticism of Israel’s security strategy, arguing that military strength alone will not offer it long-term security and that its approach had “ceded moral ground,” a message he said he had delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“At some point to break the cycle, the stronger party has a responsibility by virtue of its strength,” he said. “If the attitude of Israel is now that, ‘We are the strongest army, most technologically advanced in the region, then our security is dependent on us simply doing whatever we please and taking whatever we want, and not making any concessions to anyone.’ That may work short term. It is a disaster for you long-term.”

He also criticized Israel for weakening potential partners for peace among Palestinians, which he claimed encouraged radicalism and destructive ideologies like those of Hamas. But he also condemned Hamas’ terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

“You could not have designed something that was less likely to produce meaningful change. In fact, it created the opposite,” Obama said of the attacks.

Ultimately, he continued, Israel and its citizenry need to “rethink, reimagine” how they are going to “live in this region — are you just going to be behind walls and wipe out everybody around here, or are you going to find some just way of defending yourself while still acting in an ethical, moral way?”

At the same time, he said that the Palestinian people will need to recognize that they will not defeat Israel through military means, “which means that we have to look to other examples of how changes come about, based on moral claims and ethical claims, and mobilizing and nonviolent strategies, and that’s going to take some time.”

The former president this week also recorded an ad offering his endorsement for anti-Israel Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He will be campaigning for El-Sayed on Oct. 24 — one of the few announced campaign stops he’s making for Democratic Senate candidates this month. 

James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, reiterated his sharp criticism of Israel at a CNN town hall on Wednesday, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of targeting Palestinian civilians and restricting humanitarian aid and declining to push back when pressed on the credibility of those claims.

Talarico made the comments while speaking on stage with Rabbi Holly Levin Cohn of Congregation Beth El Binah, a Reform congregation in Dallas, who told Talarico that she was “concerned with some of the things that I’ve been hearing lately about your stance on Israel and also on your support of the Jewish people.” 

Talarico, running in a solidly Republican state,began by noting that his seminary studies required him to spend his first year “learning the Hebrew scriptures” and spoke about having “deep love and respect for the Jewish people, for the Jewish scriptures.” 

Pressed by Cohn about how that changed his approach to Israel, which she said “can impact antisemitism,” Talarico responded that he tries to make sure his criticisms of Netanyahu are not perceived as opposition to Israelis personally. 

Talarico condemned the “death and destruction in Gaza” before acknowledging the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel and his belief in Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. He added, however, that he did not support Netanyahu, accusing him of using “collective punishment” against Palestinian civilians.

“I’m always very careful when I talk about this to make sure that my criticisms are directed toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not the Israeli people,” Talarico said. “I have, as you know, been very critical of Prime Minister Netanyahu. As a former teacher, seeing the death and the destruction in Gaza, seeing what’s happening to children in particular, makes me sick to my stomach.”

“I know that Oct. 7 was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and I believe that Israel, like any nation, has a right to defend its people, but I don’t believe that Benjamin Netanyahu has a right to wage war against civilians or use collective punishment or restrict aid to civilians, and so that’s what I’ve spoken out against,” he continued.

Cohn pushed back on Talarico’s claims about aid, arguing that the American media was not telling the complete story when it comes to Israeli efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the enclave.

Talarico did not dispute Cohn’s comments, instead expressing his support for peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution.

“Regardless of how we feel about the current situation, hopefully we can all come together to fight for a two-state solution where we have security for Israel and we have freedom and self-determination for Palestinians,” Talarico said. “What my hope, my prayer, actually, is out of this chaos, this death, this destruction, this bloodshed, something new can rise out of the ashes and I hope it’s a sustainable, durable peace for all people in the region.”

Cohn said she wants “to make sure that what you’re communicating is what people are hearing, as far as the perception of everything.”

“I take that feedback. As a leader, I know that my words carry weight, and I’m always trying to improve how I talk about things, especially something as sensitive and difficult and painful as the conflict in the Middle East,” Talarico responded. “You have my word that I’m going to continue to listen to all sides of this conflict. I’m going to continue to learn as much as I can so that I can lead with moral clarity in the United States Senate.”

Jewish leaders in Texas have expressed concern over Talarico’s positions on Israel being further to the left than they are comfortable with, amid what they’ve described as limited outreach to the state’s Jewish community. 

​U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met quietly in recent days with Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot amid the final stretch of Israel’s high-stakes election campaign, Jewish Insider has learned, the first known time U.S. officials have met with the former IDF chief of staff, considered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival in the contentious race. 

The meeting, according to a source familiar with the matter, focused on critical security concerns, including Gaza, West Bank escalation and rising settler violence.

​According to another source, the meeting went beyond formal diplomatic courtesy and served as a reconnaissance move by Washington to gauge Eisenkot’s regional outlook.

Neither side officially announced the meeting, and the Yashar party declined to comment.

News of the meeting comes less than two weeks before Israelis go to the polls, at a time when President Donald Trump has yet to endorse any of the leading candidates, including Netanyahu. Asked on Reshet Bet radio station why an endorsement hasn’t materialized, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli offered little detail beyond referencing Trump’s past supportive actions. 

Trump’s neutral posture toward the election, despite repeated questioning, has raised eyebrows in Israel. In a recent interview with Time magazine, when asked whether Netanyahu should seek another term post-Oct. 7, Trump pointed to his own administration’s achievements for Israel, such as moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, while avoiding direct praise for Netanyahu himself. Pressed further, Trump noted he “wouldn’t underestimate Bibi,” and admitted he knew little about Eisenkot.

Meanwhile, Israeli political sources tell JI that opposition figures are actively working to blunt the political impact of any potential last-minute Trump endorsement.

​

A year after the Anti-Defamation League exposed what it described as a coordinated campaign to inject antisemitic and anti-Israel narratives into Wikipedia entries, 91% of one banned editor’s contributions to six prominent articles on issues related to Israel remain in the live text, according to a new report.

The report, released Thursday by the ADL Center for Technology and Society, found that Wikipedia has failed to systematically review or correct edits to pages on Hamas, Zionism, the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza, even after banning editors involved in the alleged campaign. 

The online encyclopedia is maintained by volunteer editors, some of whom spend years mastering the site’s complex guidelines to keep its content accurate and up to date. On Wikipedia, coordinated editing occurs when multiple accounts work together to shape an article’s narrative. This typically involves repeatedly altering text, reversing other editors’ changes or steering discussions toward a preferred viewpoint. While coordinated editing is standard practice, it can violate site rules when used to manipulate content or circumvent its consensus-based editorial process.

The ADL’s analysis focuses specifically on activity involving articles about Israel, Jewish history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It found that while coordinated editing activity declined by about 95% since last year, 11 new editors continue to shape articles on Israel and the Palestinians, warning that the disputed content can also influence search results and AI-generated responses.

The ADL examined revision histories and editing patterns across prominent Wikipedia articles and their associated discussion pages, tracking the contributions of banned editors and identifying accounts that continued to shape content on Israel- and Palestine-related topics. The report analyzed 229 articles edited by at least two of the identified accounts.

Among the report’s examples, the ADL found that an October 2023 restructuring of Wikipedia’s “Hamas” article moved the bulk of material about the group’s antisemitism, use of human shields and human rights abuses to a separate, less-read article titled “Criticism of Hamas.”

On a “Gaza war” article, editors removed thousands of words documenting the Oct. 7 attacks, including evidence of sexual violence. The report also highlighted disputed language in a “Zionism” article that described the movement as achieved “through colonization,” as well as edits that maintained a skeptical framing of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attacks and questioned the circumstances of the Bibas family’s deaths in captivity.

The report follows the ADL’s March 2025 investigation, which documented coordination among approximately 30 editors who sought to reshape articles on Israel, Jewish history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by emphasizing criticism of Israel while downplaying Palestinian terrorist violence and antisemitism. 

An ADL spokesperson told Jewish Insider that Wikipedia has not engaged with the group since the 2025 report. The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2024, a group of Wikipedia editors voted to rate the ADL as an unreliable source on matters related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism, which led to concerns about reliability and editorial integrity at the world’s largest encyclopedia in the public eye. 

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called on the Wikimedia Foundation to audit the published work, and for companies that build search and AI products to stop presenting contested framing as settled fact.

“Banning individual editors was never going to be enough,” said Greenblatt. “The pages that millions of people read, and that AI tools learn from, still bear the marks of a systematic disinformation campaign that Wikipedia itself has sanctioned but never cleaned up. The most visited online encyclopedia that claims neutrality has to be willing to repair its own record.”

Families of Americans killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel said a State Department memorial event honoring their loved ones offered a meaningful recognition of their loss, with some calling on the U.S. government to take further action and investigate the attacks.

The State Department, in coordination with the American Jewish Committee, held a memorial service on Wednesday honoring the 46 Americans killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. The ceremony brought together senior Trump administration officials, lawmakers and family members of the Americans killed in the attacks.

Families who spoke with Jewish Insider after the ceremony described it as deeply moving, praising the administration’s efforts to honor their loved ones and saying they felt their stories had been heard. Some also stressed the importance of sharing those stories to counter antisemitism and preserve the memory of the attacks.

Alon Mesika, whose son Adir was murdered at the Nova music festival, said the ceremony stood apart from other memorials he had attended. Adir, who was born in New York in 2000, was killed after he and two friends tried to keep Hamas-led attackers from entering a shelter where he and other festivalgoers had sought refuge.

“I went to a lot of ceremonies, and this was something else. I felt it was something else. First of all, America invited us,” Mesika said. He described feeling deeply honored and physically shaken by the ceremony. “I was shivering all over the whole time. I was about to cry a little bit, but I kept it to myself. It was special.”

David Brief, whose son Yona died in November 2024 from injuries sustained fighting Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, said he came away with the impression that President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick understood the gravity of their experience and the broader significance of the attacks.

“I think he touched us because he understood where we’re coming from and what’s important to us,” Brief said of Rubio. “He knew how to speak to us, and he said the things that we wanted to hear.”

Brief said the ceremony reinforced his belief that the attacks should be remembered as part of a broader struggle against terrorism, not solely as a tragedy for Israel.

“We’re on the front lines, and that’s the reason why it’s so important to memorialize this — not just for what happened, but for what we need to do to prevent it,” he said.

Naomi Weiser — the mother of IDF Staff Sgt. Roy Weiser, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier killed while defending fellow service members during the Oct. 7 attacks — said the memorial was an important opportunity to share the stories of those who died.

Weiser said her son was stationed at an army base that served as a crossing point for humanitarian aid between Gaza and Israel when Hamas attacked. She said he and fellow soldiers fought for hours to defend the base and protect others from the attackers.

“Their stories being told is very important,” Weiser said. “There’s so much miscommunication going on in the world, so much antisemitism. They [antisemites] have one story, we have another, and the more our stories get told, the more we need the world’s support.”

Weiser said she hopes the event will help ensure that the stories of those killed during the attacks are heard more widely.

“It’s one of the reasons why it’s so important that we have the support of the State Department and all the organizations that brought us here today to get our stories out and to help combat this,” she said.

Beyond calling for the memorial to become an annual event, some families said they want the U.S. government to go a step further by investigating the attacks and pursuing accountability.

Ruby Chen, whose son Itay, an American-Israeli IDF soldier, was killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 and whose body was held in Gaza until November 2025, told JI that Congress should push for an investigation because Israel has yet to establish a state commission of inquiry, leaving families without answers or accountability for the American lives lost.

Several other families echoed his call for a U.S.-led investigation.

“If Israel is not capable of creating an investigation committee, then I think it is suitable and appropriate that the good people of the United States, the people in Congress, do provide us the answers that we’re looking for,” Chen said. “We’ve been waiting for [more than 1000] days to get those answers, and we have not gotten them.”

Chen also urged Congress to summon Israeli officials, including members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, to testify before an impartial inquiry.

“The United States has all the data, all the intelligence the Israelis provided them in real time. There’s no lack of knowledge,” Chen said. “Nobody should be afraid of the honest facts, including the prime minister.”

Chen also called on the Justice Department and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to pursue people he alleges helped finance Hamas, arguing that the U.S. should bring those responsible to justice in American courts.

“We know who these people are. We know the bank accounts,” Chen said. “The United States could do much more to suck out the oxygen from these terrorist organizations” and “bring these people to justice on United States soil.”

“I think [this] is the advocacy that we wish to see happening [in] Congress, that they would motivate the administration to do more on that topic,” he added.

Tom Shalom, whose 24-year-old brother Ram was killed by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Nova music festival, said his family still has unanswered questions about his death and similarly called for an investigation.

He said his family was not allowed to see Ram’s body before the funeral, adding that his family knows only that Ram took a rifle and fought back, while his mother continues to ask every day what happened to her son. 

“We really want an investigation about it and what happened exactly, because in Israel it’s not happening right now,” Shalom said. “I feel way more respect here [in the U.S.] than I have in Israel … It’s very important for us, and I hope it will come from — if it will not come from Israel, then from here [the U.S.].”

Many Diaspora Jews who care about the future of Israel have been watching the election campaigns in Israel unfold from afar.

And while Diaspora affairs do not rank high in Israelis’ concerns in Oct. 27 election — security and the economy are the top issues — most Zionist political parties have given thought to the issue, whether in their platforms or when candidates are asked about antisemitism and Israel’s connection to world Jewry.

Jewish Insider and its sister publication eJewishPhilanthropy, in partnership with Anu: The Museum of the Jewish People and the Peoplehood Coalition, conducted an election panel at the museum on Wednesday, moderated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, to hear how the parties plan to commit themselves to ties with global Jewry. The event was also supported by Anu’s Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue, the American Zionist Movement, Global Jewry, Belong, Masa and the Jewish Federation of Tulsa (Okla.).

The following are their answers, condensed for space and clarity:

Yashar, led by Gadi Eisenkot:

Alex Rif, who was born in Ukraine in the former Soviet Union and founded an activist movement for Russian-Israelis, spoke about the discrimination and harassment Jews faced in the Soviet Union, but said when they arrived in Israel, they were made to feel “not Jewish enough.” 

“My parents would tell me about times when people in the Soviet Union didn’t tell others that they were Jews because they were afraid. Unfortunately, we are going again to these times,” she said.

Rif said that “the issues of aliyah and absorption are in [Eisenkot’s] heart. … We have so many problems today. The antisemitism is rising. … [yet] this government, Netanyahu’s government, tried over and over to change the Law or Return, to cancel the grandchild clause” — meaning that anyone with one Jewish grandparent can immigrate to Israel — “and we’ve defended it.”

Rif called for “an international coalition to fight antisemitism,” to invest more in Birthright and Masa programs and to promote “an inclusive and respectful Judaism,” as well as protect the Law of Return.

Likud, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli did not attend as planned, and Likud did not send anyone in his place. Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionist Party, Shas and United Torah Judaism declined to participate in the panel, which meant that the current governing coalition was not represented.

B’Yachad, led by Naftali Bennett:

Moshe Kinley Tur-Paz, a lawmaker from Yesh Atid, one of the parties comprising B’Yachad,  was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Israel. He said that he has been “trying to bring the voice of the Jews around the world, of world Jewry to Israel … and because Bennett himself also comes from a family of [immigrants to Israel] this is something very lively and very committed in our party.” 

Tur-Paz said that while Diaspora Jews cannot vote in Israel, their position should be brought up in legislative debates, proposing a non-voting 121st Knesset member to represent them in parliament. In addition, he called for funding for more Hebrew learning around the world, and emphasized the need to connect young Diaspora Jews to Israel as well as to educate Israelis about world Jewry, which he repeatedly said was lacking. In addition, he called to form a task force to fight antisemitism.

Tur-Paz said that when he was a principal, he partnered the school in Israel with an Australian school so that the children could learn together online and connect. “Education is everything,” he said.

He also spoke about the Western Wall plan to allow pluralistic prayer services at the holy site, which was proposed and then shelved in the 2010s. “We need every Jew to feel in the [Jewish] Quarter as if it [belongs to] himself. … We will bring it back to the Jews of the world so everyone will feel that this is his land and it is his Kotel.” Asked why his party did not advance the issue when it was in power, Tur-Paz gave what he called a “scoop” that he had been drawing up legislation to do so before the coalition collapsed.

The Democrats, led by Yair Golan: 

Gaby Lasky, a former Knesset member best known as a lawyer defending Palestinians and far-left activists against charges in Israel, moved to Israel from Mexico by herself at age 15. “Israel is the state of all the Jews around the world,” she said. “We believe that the connection between the state and Jewish communities outside of Israel is part of our identity, is part of our responsibility.”

The Democrats, she said, “believe in the values of the [Israeli Declaration] of Independence. We believe that Israel has to be a democratic and Jewish state, and for those reasons, we fight for Israeli democracy. … We fight for Israel to be a Jewish state, and that means … all the [denominations] of Judaism, not only Orthodoxy. … We have to change in Israel the fact that only Orthodox [conversion] is accepted. … We all share in common one thing, and that is Tikkun Olam. We believe that we can change this place for the better, and we can only do it if we do it together.” 

Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Avigdor Liberman:

MK Oded Forer, a former cabinet minister and the former director-general of the Immigration and Absorption Ministry, said that Israel is “the land of all the Jewish people around the world. You’re a member of the Jewish people — this is your state. Even if you haven’t visited here once.” 

Forer said that the mission of encouraging Jews to immigrate to Israel “isn’t complete. We need the majority of the Jewish people to live in Israel. .. I’m sure that we can do it.” 

Forer called to help fund security and Jewish education for Diaspora communities. He also expressed appreciation for the generosity of Diaspora communities after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks. Reflecting on both, he said that Israel’s support for world Jewry should be “unconditional” and so should world Jewry’s support for Israel.

Reservists and Economy Party, led by Yoaz Hendel: Writer and former Knesset member (2010-2013) Einat Wilf, whose Oz party merged with Hendel’s, said that she had been one of the small number of Knesset members who devoted time to Diaspora issues and said she had an “absolute, ongoing, unbroken commitment to this relationship … and this will not change whether there are or are not votes in it.” 

She called for “more stable, organized, institutionalized, consultative mechanisms by which the Jewish people can have their voice heard and participate in having their voice heard, short of voting.”

“One of the ironic successes of Zionism is that Jews in Israel live in a bit of a bubble, and we do not realize how dangerous what is being built around us in the world,” Wilf said, adding: “We have one side of the political map that believes that changing of government will be enough [to reverse anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment]; it won’t, and another side who has made [antisemitism] into something permanent. There’s always going to be antisemitism, so there’s kind of fatalist helplessness to it. .. It’s also going to be good for us, that Israeli leaders, coalition and opposition live in a bit less of a bubble.”

Amcha Yisrael, led by Ofer Winter: 

Former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum spoke of choosing to move to Israel in 2001, and her experience defending Israel in international media, in English and in Spanish: “I’ve been fighting … for three years for the legitimacy of our country, for the legitimacy of a war that we didn’t start.”

“I believe that I’m the candidate that can represent the [English-speaking] voice in this country and Israel-Diaspora relations. We have a wonderful plan for aliyah, for Israel-Diaspora relations and for representing our country and the Jewish people,” she stated.

Hassan-Nahoum also called to reform the World Zionist Organization so that it is a more effective voice of the Diaspora. “Ninety percent of what they do with the money… is just give jobs to their friends, retired politicians. … There are people in this organization who have a job, that don’t show up to work. Most of them can’t even speak English or any [foreign] language. … The infrastructure, the apparatus exists. Let’s clean it up please.”

Blue and White, led by Benny Gantz:

Pnina Tamano-Shata, a Knesset member who was the first Ethiopian-born member of Israel’s cabinet as immigration and absorption minister, said that “the most important experience in [her] life” was when she moved to Israel at age 3, barefoot, with only the clothes on her back. 

“We know every step we take impacts the Jewish world,” Tamano-Shata said. “We have to take responsibility [and have] accountability in such a challenging time.”

Tamano-Shata also called to “bring the young generation to be connect[ed] with Israel, to get the tools to deal not only with antisemitism, with a lot of fields — culture, education, the Jewish people and traditions and so much more.” 

Tamano-Shata called for an “alternative vote,” without specifying what it would entail, to “give more influence to the Jewish community … [on] important issues that bother the Jews in [the] Diaspora.”

She also referred to the ongoing war in Ethiopia, and said that Jews there, including children, have been killed and kidnapped, and people need to think about them, as well.

Asked about her party’s stance on negotiations with Palestinians and support for a two-state solution — the view held by the majority of American Jews — Tamano-Shata said that while her party yearns for peace, a Palestinian state is out of the question at this point in time, particularly in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Israel First, led by Sharren Haskel:

Haskel, a Knesset member and former deputy foreign minister from Likud, was born in Canada and her family moved to Israel when she was a child. She said that having more immigrants in the Knesset helps address the issues that immigrants and Diaspora Jewry face.

Her party has a four-pronged program, beginning with educating Israelis and Diaspora Jews as young as possible to be connected to one another. The second is self-defense, including Krav Maga lessons and leadership programs. The third is strengthening Jewish identity, including free Hebrew lessons in Diaspora communities, and a Hebrew-speaking au pair program. Finally, Haskel called for reducing overhead and streamlining overlapping programs in Jewish organizations that receive Israeli government funding.

Haskel also posited that mixing religion and politics in Israel has been damaging to relations with the Diaspora and called for the separation of religion and state, while strengthening Jewish identity and values.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that the Biden administration should have acted “sooner and more forcefully” to restrain Israel during the war in Gaza, criticizing the Israeli government’s “horrific conduct” and accusing President Donald Trump of giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “blank check.”

Speaking at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea, Harris said the United States had fallen short of its “moral obligation to human rights and international law” by failing to use its influence to curb Israel’s actions in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. The remarks came during a broader speech focused on American leadership and artificial intelligence.

Harris largely avoided breaking publicly with former President Joe Biden’s policies toward Israel during her unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign, maintaining her support for Israel’s right to defend itself while expressing concerns about Palestinian civilian casualties.

Since leaving office, Harris has become more critical of the Biden administration’s response to the war. 

In her 2025 memoir, 107 Days, Harris criticized Biden’s public remarks about Palestinian suffering, arguing that his expressions of sympathy appeared inadequate compared to his more passionate declarations of support for Israel.

The comments come as Harris weighs another presidential campaign in 2028.

The Anti-Defamation League and Gratz College announced on Wednesday the launch of a free training program on antisemitism aimed at college administrators and faculty. 

The program comes amid continued scrutiny of universities over how they handle antisemitism on campus. 

The self-paced program, “From Recognition to Response: Antisemitism on Campus,” is meant to give higher education professionals a working understanding of how antisemitism shows up on campus today and what their institutions are legally required to do about it, according to the organizers. Participants who complete all modules and assessments will receive a completion certificate from both organizations, though the program does not offer continuing education credits. 

The coursework covers the relationship between Israel, Zionism and antisemitism; campus climate since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks; and institutional response protocols. It combines ADL’s campus and civil rights work with Gratz’s Holocaust and antisemitism scholarship, and it is open to administrators, faculty, student affairs staff and conduct teams nationwide. 

While the coursework covers institutions’ obligations under Title VI and Title VII, it includes a disclaimer that it is not intended to provide, and should not be construed as, specific legal advice. 

The initiative expands on Gratz College’s growing footprint in the field. The Philadelphia-area Jewish college launched what it calls the nation’s first interdisciplinary master’s program in antisemitism studies in 2024, complementing its established Holocaust and genocide studies curriculum.

Ayal Feinberg, director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz, said in a statement that the new partnership is designed to bring together “deep academic expertise and decades of practical experience to help higher education professionals engage with these questions with greater clarity, rigor and informed judgment.” 

“Understanding antisemitism requires more than addressing individual incidents — it requires understanding the history, ideas and contexts that shape how antisemitism appears today,” said Feinberg. 

American views of Israel, particularly among progressives, have become increasingly negative in recent years, a trend that has impacted Democratic primaries ahead of the midterms this year, boosting candidates that are explicitly anti-Israel or who boast about rejecting AIPAC. 

The Trump administration and Republicans on the Hill have maintained a close, positive relationship with Israel, but some of the American right’s vanguard and institutions have expressed views of concern to the Jewish state. 

But the U.S.-Israel relationship has barely played a role in the Israeli election. Voters have consistently put security and the economy or cost of living at the top of their concerns in polls, but they’re almost never asked about Israel’s international standing. 

One survey by the Israel Democracy Institute taken in late August and early September found that about half of Israelis said U.S.-Israel relations are very or fairly important to them in choosing a party, while 55% of Jewish Israelis said so. Voters for former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu (73%) and B’Yachad, the party led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, (66%) were most likely to view the issue as important.

Jewish Insider asked parties consistently polling above the electoral threshold for their strategy to turn the tide and improve U.S.-Israel relations, especially as the future of U.S. aid to Israel has become a flashpoint. 

Likud (led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu):

Boaz Bismuth, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and No. 21 on the Likud list, said that “when the Likud forms the next government together with its partners, it will maintain its principles and values and protect the state. That will not change, whoever is in power in America, whether Republican or Democrat.”

“Netanyahu has proven his capability of working with Democrats and Republicans, working with Presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden, and with President Trump … He knows the job. He protects Israel’s interests, whoever sits in the White House. … It was not always easy working with the Biden administration during the war [in Gaza], yet America has proven to be the best partner ever, not only because of shared interests, but because we share the same enemies, and we are fighting the same enemies.”

Asked about a possible turn against Israel in Congress after the midterms, particularly if Democrats regain the House and Senate, Bismuth added: “We see these apocalyptic prophesies, but in reality, in my committee, I know the events behind the scenes, and we can continue to trust our American allies just as they can trust us. … In meetings Netanyahu has with U.S. congressmen who come to Israel, he gives the same attention to Democrats as Republicans.”

Yashar (led by Gadi Eisenkot):

Lianne Pollak-David, No. 25 on the Yashar list, called the data showing 60% of Americans have negative views about Israel “scary,” and said, “We must take this very seriously.”

The best way to improve the relationship, Pollak-David argued, is to elect a different government. “American Jews and the American public understand the gap between the Israeli people and the government that led them until now, which followed the most extreme voices and did not represent the Israeli spirit or the deep values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

“The alliance with the U.S. is Israel’s greatest strategic asset. We don’t take it for granted and we need to rebuild its foundations for the next generation. First and foremost, we need to bring back what was once a holy principle, bipartisan support, and go back to a special relationship based on shared values and deep cooperation that does not only depend on the personal connection between the heads of state,” she said.

Pollak-David called to “rehabilitate the connection with the broader American public and start turning Israel from a country that is increasingly seen as a burden by the American public into a strategic partner that is an asset. … Practically, that means a new model for security ties, gradually moving from aid to partnership in research and development and joint investment. We already started with Pax Silica [a U.S.-led initiative to secure supply chains needed for AI development with allied nations], but we need more.” 

She also said Israel should send missions of young leaders, academics and others to meet with American Jewish communities, noting that polling also shows Israel’s favorability is in decline among young American Jews. “The current government is ignoring … the influence that everything that happens here has on [Diaspora Jewry], their personal security and antisemitism. We can’t control it, but there is no doubt the things are related.”

B’Yachad (led by Naftali Bennett):

MK Shelly Tal Meron, No.  29 on the list, also emphasized a need to return to a more bipartisan approach to the U.S.

“There is no question that the U.S. is Israel’s biggest, most important ally,” she said. Threatening our relations with the U.S. is a serious threat to our national security. During the last term, there were a lot of things said by different representatives of the government that insulted some of the people in the U.S. – more with the Biden administration than Trump.”

Meron argued that former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, No. 2 on the party list, would know how to repair the relationship as foreign minister. “He went to Lindsey Graham’s funeral – a great loss to the U.S.-Israel relationship – and made a point of speaking to Democrats, because we need to get everyone back on board supporting us.”

She also called for work to be done to improve Israel’s image among young Americans: “We need young influencers and people who are eloquent and know how to speak the language. … We need to get back to the basic values that we want to represent to the world and the U.S. … We need to go back to telling the liberal, democratic Israeli story that a lot of people around the world are not seeing.”

Meron also said that Israel needs to repair ties with American Jews, and have its representatives “respect them and respect the way they practice Judaism,” referring to derogatory remarks by Cabinet ministers about Reform Jewry.

The Democrats (led by Yair Golan): 

Knesset candidate Emilie Moatti, former head of the Knesset Subcommittee on International Relations and No. 14 on The Democrats’ list, said that the current government turned Israel “into a central obstacle to the future of the Middle East. Every U.S. administration saw us as a top ally in the Middle East, [but this government] totally burned ties with the Democrats. Even Trump ignores us and set facts on the ground with his 20-point plan for Gaza, about Saudi Arabia [and its civilian nuclear program], and I am concerned he will do that soon in Iran.”

Moatti pointed to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s condemnation of violence by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank, saying: “The Democrats condemn the violence by Jewish settlers in the territories. … The minute a change government [led by parties in the current opposition] rises, the violence in the territories will stop. It can end within 24 hours. It’s a matter of making a decision, and I’m certain it will be made.” 

Moatti also emphasized a need for greater engagement with the Palestinians: “In the past, American deals with the Saudis were contingent on normalization with Israel … If the government continues to think the Israel-Palestinian conflict isn’t a factor, here comes the Trump administration, which is super-friendly to Israel, to say it’s impossible.” 

She also expressed concern about losing liberal Diaspora Jews: “Protecting the well-being of Diaspora Jews is also Israel’s responsibility, and we cannot make them choose between being Jewish and being [American], British, French, Belgian. Liberal Jews are living with a feeling that the government of Israel is pushing them into a corner again and again.” 

Yisrael Beiteinu (led by Avigdor Liberman):

Liberman released a lengthy statement last week in which he predicted the next U.S. administration will recognize a Palestinian state on pre-1967 lines and support U.N. Security Council sanctions on Israel if the next government does not change the way it relates to the conflict with the Palestinians.

“It didn’t happen before now because Israel successfully neutralized this dangerous stance with its strong approval rating among Americans and as such had broad political support in both parties,” he wrote. “But politics has an iron law: The moment you lose public support, you lose political support. Today, our situation in American public opinion is at an unprecedented low. … What Netanyahu is doing today is, in effect, knowingly helping bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state.” 

“Israel’s endgame and goal must be eliminating Hamas in Gaza and dismantling the Palestinian Authority, including the Oslo Accords, but since there are no vacuums … we must coordinate in advance with the international community who takes control of Judea and Samaria and Gaza,” he added, saying he thinks Jordan is the right answer.

Liberman also called to establish an emergency team to raise awareness and improve Israel’s image in the world, with members from the Israeli government and Diaspora communities. 

Otzma Yehudit (led by Itamar Ben-Gvir):

Yishai Fleisher, 12th on the party’s list and the longtime international spokesperson for the Hebron community, told JI: “I think that [National Security Minister] Ben-Gvir is basically a centrist Republican in terms of his policies, and they make sense when you put it into that kind of framework and not how it’s been portrayed by the international community. It’s simple: law and order; bad guys behind bars; Jews have guns; cut down on illegal construction; stop the jihadist onslaught we see around the world that they want to do here. That itself creates a relationship, because we have Texan values, basically.”

“These are very simple policies, but for some reason the international condemnation has gotten [in the] way, so people have lost the simple understanding of these policies and what they’re about, which is law and order.”

Religious Zionist Party (led by Bezalel Smotrich): 

Smotrich, the finance minister, spoke about U.S.-Israel relations at the National Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem last week, saying that “the historic alliance between the countries is built on shared values, on faith and biblical tradition, on love of liberty and on the struggle against enemies who threaten the free world. Israel values America’s friendship and the support it has received over the years.”

“Because of that, the time has come to deepen the alliance and move from a relationship of dependence to partnership between two independent nations,” he stated. “Israel can and must take greater responsibility for its security, to develop its military and economic independence and stand up for its national interests by itself.”

Speaking to conservatives, Smotrich said that “Israel has an interest in the success of national conservatives in the U.S., as opposed to streams that seek to dismantle … families and nationalism, erase borders and blur the difference between democracy and terror. The world needs a strong, patriotic America that is connected to its values. We must strengthen our ties with the administration, with the central conservative camp and the American public to show that Israel is a strategic and security asset.” 

***

The Joint List declined to comment. Ra’am, Shas and United Torah Judaism did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on Tuesday dodged a question about his son-in-law, a white nationalist influencer who has apparently recorded and posted antisemitic and white nationalist videos while living on Collins’ property, at the second Georgia Senate debate.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) had hammered Collins on the issue, and Collins’ other ties to extremist figures including former congressional staff, at a previous debate last week, accusing Collins of hiring “half of the Third Reich.” 

Asked by the debate moderator about Ossoff’s accusations and his former staff, Collins said that he condemns “any sort of hate speech, antisemitism, hate of any kind, it’s abhorrent. I fire people when things happen.”

Asked about Sen. Jon Ossoff’s comments accusing him of hiring “half of the Third Reich," Rep. Mike Collins condemned “any sort of hate speech, antisemitism, hate of any kind" and said, "I fire people when things happen.” Read @marcrod97’s full coverage: https://t.co/t3PxpEE2kO https://t.co/s6C2upomiQ

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 14, 2026

“I’ll tell you, young people on both sides, Republicans and the whole DSA wing of the Democrat Party, we do have a problem with antisemitism and hate around the world,” Collins said. “These young people feel like they’ve been forgotten, and they’re just lashing out. And this hate speech has got to stop. We’ve got to educate them. We’ve got to help them by giving them opportunities.” 

Ossoff responded by pressing Collins to commit to ensuring that no more neo-Nazi propaganda would be shared from his home before the election. 

“I’m a little tired of this, Jon,” Collins responded. “There’s a crazy person in jail right now because of your rhetoric — threatened my son-in-law, threatened to kill me. Had another threat just yesterday. That’s because of you and your rhetoric that you’re out there spewing, just vitriol, hate.”

Collins sought to turn the tables on Ossoff, emphasizing his support for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and El-Sayed’s connections to antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and the Democratic Socialists of America.

“Mike, if any of those folks were based in my house, then I’d understand you’d ask me to take responsibility for them,” Ossoff shot back. “What I asked you, Mike, was can you commit for just three weeks to stop the production of neo-Nazi propaganda from your home? We all know what’s happening. Why can’t you stop it? Why won’t you commit right now to stop it?”

The two continued to talk over each other until moderators forced them to move on. 

Collins also defended his support for the Iran war, praising the administration for having the “leadership” to send in U.S. forces to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“My opponent and the Democrats, all they’re interested in is sending more money to Iran,” Collins said. “We’re in Iran to make sure they don’t get a nuclear bomb and destroy America, because that’s what they want to do. And I’ve got kids and grandkids, and we want to make sure that they have a future.”

Ossoff, for his part, called Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he voted to confirm, a “deep disappointment” and said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “has lied repeatedly about the war in Iran.”

Asked by a moderator about his stance on U.S. aid to Israel, Ossoff largely repeated an answer he offered at a previous debate, standing by his votes on resolutions to block arms sales to the Jewish state while emphasizing that he wants security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

“When it comes to selling weapons or giving weapons to a foreign government, we should assess in every case whether that foreign government is acting consistent with our interests, our laws and our values,” Ossoff said. “Israel had every right to go to war with Hamas after the despicable Oct. 7 terrorist attack. I also believe that it’s right for U.S. senators to ensure that American laws and international laws are being respected by those who fight with our weapons.”

The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, warned last week that countries participating in boycotts of Israel could face U.S. retaliation, raising the prospect of sanctions against Britain and other European governments. 

But Washington still has yet to clarify its policy, and it remains unclear whether the Trump administration plans to move forward with retaliatory measures.

Speaking in Washington last week, Dhillon sharply criticized the measures taken by European countries, describing the actions as involvement in BDS and a form of antisemitism. European officials, however, have argued that the sanctions are different from the BDS movement. 

“What we call this in the United States is the BDS movement. It is antisemitism,” Dhillon said while speaking in D.C. on Oct. 6. “And I think every country that is doing that is going to risk, while President Trump is in power, retaliatory or corresponding sanctions potentially.” 

One Republican congressional source told Jewish Insider that Treasury Department and Commerce Department officials had told their office that the departments were prepared to add those countries that announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements last month to the Treasury’s international boycott list, but the State Department was refusing to grant the clearance necessary to do so.

Reached for comment, a State Department spokesperson told JI: “We are not going to comment on internal deliberations speculated on by an anonymous source.”

The U.K. announced an import ban on settlement goods and sanctions on related entities on Sept. 9. 

The Netherlands introduced stricter measures on Sept. 22, including penalties of up to six years in prison for violations. Israel responded by revoking the diplomatic credentials of Dutch envoys in Ramallah.

France, Canada and other countries have also enacted or pledged similar restrictions involving the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The measures have drawn condemnation in Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned that Britain could face economic repercussions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously indicated that the U.S. would not join the sanctions. Republicans in Congress have also told JI they oppose them. Before Dhillon’s remarks, the administration had not publicly condemned the measures. 

A former U.S. administration official, speaking on background, confirmed the sanctions are not yet “settled administration policy” and noted that Dhillon’s comments could be strategic.

“Dhillon’s comment does not necessarily reflect settled administration policy. A decision to impose such sanctions would need consideration by Treasury, State, USTR, and above all the President; it’s not a DOJ decision,” the former official said. “It may reflect a decision to sanction the UK, or a warning shot meant to deter others from following the UK, or her view but not a final policy decision.”

The distinction between the European measures and the broader BDS movement could also become significant as the administration determines how to respond. European governments have presented their restrictions as measures targeting Israeli settlements rather than participation in the broader BDS campaign against Israel.

Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said the uncertainty comes against a complicated history of U.S. policy toward Israeli settlements and BDS.

“Israeli settlements have always existed in a gray area when it comes to U.S. opposition to BDS. President Obama excepted West Bank settlements from his enforcement of anti-BDS laws, and Biden sanctioned certain settler activities while officially opposing BDS.”

He said that ambiguity appears to have carried into the Trump administration as tensions between Israel and European governments over settlement policy have increased.

“This gray area now seems to be carrying over to the Trump administration, where coherent and consistent policymaking has never been a strong suit, precisely as the West Bank and U.S.-European ties become particularly tense more generally,” Ruhe said.

Ruhe also pointed to the administration’s previous responses to European actions targeting Israel as a possible indication of how Washington could respond to the latest measures.

“Though Amb. Huckabee repeatedly called settler violence ‘acts of terror’ and ‘criminal activity’ over the summer, Europe’s latest threats follow a pattern where the administration jumps at the opportunity to retaliate for sanctions, embargoes, and arrest warrants aimed at Israel from Europe,” Ruhe said.

Jason Greenblatt, who served as White House Middle East envoy in the first Trump administration, did not clarify whether he expects the policy to be officially implemented, however he noted that he would “strongly support such a policy.”

“Countries that do that should understand there can be consequences, even if they are long standing friends of the United States,” Greenblatt said. “When governments turn the BDS movement’s anti-Israel agenda and antisemitic ideology into policy, the United States has every reason to respond.”

Greenblatt further argued that just because certain countries are U.S. allies, it should not shield them from consequences when acting against Washington’s interests.

“Ambassador Huckabee publicly warned of consequences before Britain announced these measures last month, and Britain proceeded anyway,” he continued. “Friendship and history should not provide immunity when a government acts against U.S. interests and principles, and against one of our closest and most important allies.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spent years — and billions of dollars — seeking to transform his country into a global economic powerhouse. But the recent escalation in tensions with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen — including the deadly weekend strikes on Riyadh’s main airport — is putting into question whether such a strategy is compatible with the changing geopolitical reality and continued threats posed by Iran and its terror proxies.

Thirteen people were killed and hundreds injured in a strike on a passenger terminal at the airport on Saturday. Another individual was killed in a separate attack when a projectile struck the airport again on Sunday. One American was among those killed in Saturday’s attack, prompting questions over whether Washington will enter the fight.

The weekend attacks mark the most severe escalation since the fragile, four-year ceasefire between Riyadh and the Houthis collapsed over the summer following the July bombing of a runway at the Sana’a International Airport in Houthi-held territory in an effort to prevent Houthi officials from landing after attending the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yemen’s officially recognized government claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Houthis attributed the strike to Saudi Arabia and declared the Gulf state’s aviation hubs to be fair game.

Struggling to defend itself from the missile barrages, Riyadh has few options to protect its vulnerable assets. A defense treaty signed with Pakistan and Turkey has borne little fruit. Experts with whom JI spoke last month said that Saudi Arabia’s predicament is partly of its own making, citing Riyadh’s failure to use the years of quiet to prepare for potential future confrontations with the Houthis, as well as the Gulf state’s rift with the United Arab Emirates, which destabilized efforts within Yemen to combat the terror group.

The Saudi playbook for years has been to lean on diplomacy and deescalation in an effort to prioritize its own economic ambitions. It’s a strategy that did little to address the threats posed by the Houthis, leaving Riyadh vulnerable to the kind of situation it had hoped to avoid. 

The Saudi policy has long been something akin to Israel’s “mowing the lawn” approach to Hamas, as Israeli journalist Amit Segal points out. For the Israelis, much like the Saudis, containing the challenges posed by a well-funded Iranian terror proxy was easier than addressing the problem head-on. “The lesson of appeasing terror,” Segal suggests, “is the same.”

Compounding Riyadh’s predicament is the uncertainty over the U.S.’ potential involvement. Washington has so far stayed out of the active fighting between Riyadh and the Iran-backed terror group in Yemen, even as it has provided intelligence and targeting support to Saudi Arabia. 

But even U.S. support is not endless, owing to its own military constraints as well as domestic political realities. The U.S.’ own interceptor stockpile is low — so low that it is expected to take years to fully replenish, leaving Washington unable to provide the kind of defensive technology that Riyadh lacks. And while President Donald Trump has said the U.S. could join the active fighting, he is facing political headwinds at home, with the midterms just weeks away and Republicans poised to potentially lose a number of House and Senate seats in traditionally red districts and states.

On Saturday, Trump said the U.S. “may” join Riyadh’s military operations, despite its own ceasefire with the Houthis, which has held since May. “We’re going to look at it,” the president told reporters hours after the deadly attack. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.” A statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, expressed solidarity with Riyadh, but stopped short of offering military support or vowing retaliation for the death of the American citizen.

Now Saudi Arabia finds itself in an increasingly precarious situation. Its airports are under attack. Its East-West pipeline is intermittently shut down amid drone attacks. The Gulf state’s marquee fall conferences — the World Petroleum Council Energy Congress and the Future Investment Initiative, known as “Davos in the Desert” — are in doubt amid suspended flights and foreign travel advisories.

MBS spent years trying to build a society focused on economic progress, using diplomacy as a key tool in achieving it. The Houthis don’t need an all-out military win against Saudi Arabia — they have already established themselves as a disruptor: armed, ready and willing to engage in sporadic battles that paralyze the region.

There aren’t many places where an Orthodox Chabad mother of four and a secular Israeli social media strategist can debate Jewish life, Israel and dating — and still leave the conversation laughing.

That’s the premise behind “Chosen People Problems,” the podcast hosted by ChayaLeah Sufrin and Yael Bar Tur, whose friendship grew after they appeared on another podcast together. 

For the past four years, the two have built an audience by bringing their very different perspectives to conversations about the Jewish world, with the goal of making listeners — about a third of whom they said are not Jewish — feel less like they’re tuning into an interview and more like they’re overhearing friends at the dinner table. No topic is off that table: from Holocaust jokes to debating which Houthi terrorists are attractive. 

“And serious stuff, too,” Sufrin told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. “Oh, very serious stuff, too. But three years post-Oct. 7 we think everyone deserves a laugh,” added Bar Tur. 

Now the podcast is getting a bigger platform. “Chosen People Problems,” formerly called “Ask a Jew,” is relaunching with Ark Media, the media company behind Dan Senor’s podcast “Call Me Back.” Moving forward, listeners can expect a new weekly free episode alongside a second, exclusive “Ask Me Anything” episode for Ark+ subscribers.

“This is a dream come true for us that they approached us,” said Bar Tur. “We’re big fans of Dan [Senor] and Ark Media. We listen to ‘Call Me Back.’ We’re bringing in humor and saying the things people usually don’t say out loud, for better or worse.”

Beyond being “funny and not giving a sh*t,” as Bar Tur puts it, the duo’s appeal comes from the fact that they occupy “two parts [of Judaism] that don’t really talk to each other a lot.” That divide is not incidental to the podcast; it is what gives their conversations tension — and, they say, the potential to build bridges.

“I think that Yael really sees herself as an Israeli in a way that I can’t relate to,” Sufrin said. “I see myself as a Jew and I don’t have that Israeli identity. Yael comes at things most often from an Israeli perspective. As an Orthodox Jew, I’m often coming at things from a religious perspective, and that sometimes makes Yael uncomfortable. Sometimes the things that she says about how she views Jewish ritual or practice, I’m confused. But we talk through these things so much that it’s becoming normal.”

What keeps those differences from becoming divisive, Sufrin said, is a shared sense of what they ultimately want for the Jewish community. “The best part is both of us understand that we have the same goal in mind, and that’s to have a strong, safe, thriving Jewish world, whether it’s in Israel or the U.S.”

That combination of disagreement and common ground is also central to how they think about the podcast. “Someone described the podcast as ‘light but not shallow,’” Sufrin said. “We’re really talking about things that Jews around the country, and around the world, are talking about at their dining room tables. We’re just making it a public conversation.”

The hosts say they have found themselves agreeing more since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, but their differing vantage points remain part of what makes the conversations interesting. “We come from such different parts of the Jewish world that it brings something different: an added layer of bridge-building and seeing the other perspective,” Sufrin said.

When “Chosen People Problems” first launched, its conversations most often centered on pop culture or finding meaning in Jewish rituals and practices. But Oct. 7 changed the tenor of the show — and, the hosts said, the audience they were speaking to. In the aftermath of the attacks, they saw a surge of interest in Judaism from people who had previously engaged with their Jewish identities only occasionally, as anger, grief, confusion and a desire for community brought Jewish identity to the forefront of their lives.

“We were just talking about those things bluntly and it resonated,” Sufrin said. Bar Tur said many listeners felt isolated after Oct. 7, and that one of the best compliments they receive is, “I feel like I’m overhearing friends talking.” The relaunch with Ark, she said, is an effort to extend that sense of community beyond the two hosts themselves — creating a space for the Jewish diaspora to see itself as a single, if complicated, people. “It’s not just the Israeli people, or Orthodox people, or secular people,” she said. “It’s all of us.”

“Chosen People Problems” has featured guests — not always Jewish — from a broad range of backgrounds, including rabbis, journalists, political commentators, activists and comedians. 

“The best guests are ones we can be ourselves with, and they can be themselves. We want people to feel like they’re listening to a conversation, not an interview,” said Bar Tur.  

While not much is off limits for the show, Sufrin said a boundary is that they won’t bring on anti-Zionists. “We’re happy to talk with people who are thinking about the problems we’re facing right now, and sometimes just to laugh about it. It’s important to acknowledge there’s a problem and then be able to laugh,” she said. 

Their lineup has already featured prominent figures including CNN political analyst Scott Jennings, Foundation for Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz and Senor. So if they could have any Jewish person in the world — living or dead — sit down for an episode, who would it be? 

Sufrin said she would love to talk with sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who died in 2024. 

“I would want to talk to her about choosing to be a public Jew and holding on to her passion and Jewish pride, throughout all the different iterations in her life. She went from being a fighter in the [Haganah] to being a sex guru. Her Judaism always seemed centered and central to her identity. I would just love to have a conversation with her.”

Bar Tur’s pick is Irving Berlin, the Jewish songwriter behind the iconic holiday classic “White Christmas.” She even keeps a photograph of him in her apartment.

“I love his music,” she said. “A lot of these songs written by Jews were actually about the fantasy or yearning of what it would be like to celebrate Christmas. I’d just love to hear about that time and industry, and compare notes from today.”

Last Thursday’s Michigan Senate debate, where Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed framed Israel as a threat to the United States comparable to Iran and said he would not vote to send defensive aid to Israel even if it were under fire, proved to be a breaking point for some Jewish Democrats who were holding out hope that the Democratic nominee would moderate his views in the general election.

Community leaders said that they’re hearing from some previously undecided Jewish Democrats that, after they debate, they now plan to back Republican Mike Rogers.

“I think for a lot of pro-Israel Jewish Democrats, Abdul has made it easy. He’s not really made any accommodations whatsoever, and the debate was just the latest example,” said David Kramer, a prominent Michigan Democratic fundraiser and vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus. 

He told Jewish Insider he’s heard from members of his community that they felt the debate demonstrated that El-Sayed is “not giving an inch and he’s absolutely showing who he is.”

Kramer had previously said he wasn’t willing to vote for El-Sayed without changes to his rhetoric and platform.

“I’ve talked to a couple of people who were wrestling with the same choice as I am, who have said that based on the debate, that was kind of a final straw, and they are going to vote for Rogers,” Kramer told JI.

Another Michigan Jewish Democrat told JI that they are hearing similar feedback in their network.

El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Kramer said, “I think there were well-intentioned voters and community leaders, and even elected officials, who were hoping we’d get him to a better place, and he’ll need us, and he’ll want to embrace us, and it’s quite evident, at this point, that he’s not doing anything.”

Joan Lowenstein, a member of the Michigan Democratic Party Central Committee and president of the Jewish Federation of Ann Arbor, said she’s also heard from people in her community that the debate was a turning point. “I think people who did watch the whole thing really didn’t get anything new about what El-Sayed thinks, or what he was willing to do for Jewish safety — not at all.”

Lowenstein said the debate had “confirmed what I think about El-Sayed,” describing him as evasive and lacking in substantive policy proposals. On Israel, she said that his responses show a “lack of understanding that you would expect a senator to have” about foreign policy issues.

Kramer and Lowenstein are members of the Nonnegotiable Michigan campaign that has sought to pressure El-Sayed to make commitments to supporting Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and to Jewish safety in the United States.

Dennis Bernard, the national chair of government relations at the Jewish Federations of North America, who supported both Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Rogers in their respective primaries, said that El-Sayed’s response on whether Israel or Iran is more dangerous to the United States was “the defining moment for our community. … It’s an astounding comment.”

“At this point, if you still haven’t decided that there is enough out there as a Democrat not to vote for him, nothing’s going to convince you,” he said. “There were still a lot holding out. … After that debate, those who will go for Rogers have made their decision. El-Sayed did not help himself in our community. It was not a good performance. He had to have a better answer.”

Anecdotally, Bernard said that there’s intense discussion in the Jewish community about the race, with his social circle unanimously questioning how any Jewish voter at this point could support El-Sayed. Bernard said that he’d spoken to six lifelong Democrats on Saturday who were all planning to vote for Rogers. Bernard also said he’s never heard so much discussion in the Jewish community about ticket splitting.

Rabbi Aaron Starr, of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Mich., speaking in his personal capacity, said the debate left him “frustrated and sad” with both candidates spending more time “criticizing each other with personal attacks than helping us understand how they will help us work toward a better tomorrow for our children.”

“Dr. El-Sayed’s inability to affirm my basic needs has led me, and many others in my community, to confidently decide we simply cannot vote for him,” Starr continued, referring to the Nonnegotiable campaign’s core principles. Starr is a leading organizer of the Nonnegotiable petition.

He said that El-Sayed’s comments during the debate “reinforced” Jewish community members’ “deep concern about his candidacy, and reminded us that if Dr. El-Sayed’s position takes hold in the Democratic Party, Israel’s enemies will be emboldened, American Jews will be even more vulnerable, and America will be pulled into even more war –– not less, as Dr. El-Sayed claims to want.”

Starr said that he was “horrified, though not surprised” at El-Sayed’s hostility toward Israel and “refusal to condemn the Iranian regime and its proxies.” He added that “Dr. El-Sayed gave voice to centuries-old libels against the Jewish people by suggesting Israelis somehow manipulated an otherwise innocent America into a war. In this way, he denies America’s agency in choosing to defend itself and its allies against nuclear threats and belligerency.” 

Zach Nessel, the secretary of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, who spoke to JI in his personal capacity, said that he thought El-Sayed’s answer to the question about Israel and Iran showed he is “not really taking our national security seriously” and “doesn’t want to upset people who don’t have America’s national security interests top of mind.”

Nessel, the son of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is supporting El-Sayed, said he’s still undecided and doesn’t believe in sitting out elections, but feels “unenthusiastic” about both candidates.

He said he also found El-Sayed’s frequent attacks on AIPAC and its donors to be hypocritical when he has refused to address his own donors’ and associates’ support for groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, something that Rogers repeatedly hammered him on during the debate.

El-Sayed denied Sunday that any of his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and asserted that Rogers had only raised the issue to stoke Islamophobia.

“Now, I don’t think one man is perfectly represented by his donors, but it seems to be certainly very problematic,” Nessel said.

Decky Alexander, the chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, who plans to vote for El-Sayed, said she was broadly disappointed by the debate, calling it “a lot of theater” rather than a substantive exchange of ideas.

She acknowledged that many in the Jewish community did not think the “rhetoric around Israel and Iran in particular was helpful in this moment, particularly for Jews that are on the fence.” She said she was also “uncomfortable” with what she heard at the debate but said that the debate does not tell the “whole story.”

She added she thinks that El-Sayed’s joint event with Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) the previous weekend was ultimately more impactful for Jewish Democratic voters than the debate. “They want to hear from somebody … that affirms their own perspectives and values,” she said, describing Slotkin as a strong “ambassador” for El-Sayed.

Alexander said she and others in the community feel that the current political moment is existential in two respects: both for the pro-Israel Jewish community and for other elements of American society.

Lowenstein also said that she had received the anti-El-Sayed mailer that AIPAC’s United Democracy Project began circulating to Michigan Jews at the end of last week, describing it as an effective and targeted message, particularly coming in tandem with the debate.

But others take a different view, and said they haven’t heard much movement — in either direction — following the debate.

“From the people that I’ve spoken to, they all said that Rogers didn’t say anything new,” said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who said previously that he’s voting for Rogers but is no longer discussing his personal views on the race, given his nonpartisan role as director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. “On the other hand, the people that have reservations about Abdul El-Sayed, they also feel he avoided questions … he didn’t change his opinion at all. So there wasn’t any real movement on either side and it really hadn’t changed anything.”

He said that people who were struggling with their votes prior to the debate are still struggling, and some are still holding out hope for a change from El-Sayed.

Several Jewish Democrats also said that El-Sayed’s explanation that he didn’t issue a statement honoring the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel to avoid turning the event into “political theater” was unsatisfactory.

“It was a sorry excuse not to stand up for our community three years after the Oct. 7 attack,” Nessel said, adding that El-Sayed’s failure to speak up cast doubt on other comments asserting that he wants to protect and stand up for the Jewish community. “It’s a really simple ask, just to remember the tragedy of Oct.7 and condemn Hamas for killing 1,200 Jews and kidnapping 200 more.”

He said he thinks that El-Sayed stayed silent because “I don’t think anything he would say would have been true to his values and probably would have been inflammatory.”

Starr offered a somewhat different view.

“While at first I felt resentment at his lack of communication on Oct. 7, I actually appreciate Dr. El-Sayed’s explanation about why he chose not to address the Jewish community,” Starr said. “He recognized that because he couldn’t say anything that spoke to the anguish in Jewish hearts, he was better off not saying anything at all. That said, his inability to speak genuinely with sympathy to us on that heartbreaking day does reinforce why so many Jewish Michiganders are unable to vote for him.”

Alexander said that she called El-Sayed’s campaign to ask about the lack of a statement on Oct. 7 and said she hoped for a “recognition of the impact of this day on his Jewish constituents” but also said that it was likely a “no-win situation for him” politically.

“Is it the thing that is going to deter me from not voting for him?” she continued. “No, because I also understand he’s in this really complicated, political space that I am just not in.”

Lowenstein told reporters before the debate that she had been looking for Rogers to make commitments on civil rights and other issues she sees as tied to her Jewish values, and emerged somewhat encouraged by his responses, including his willingness to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to separate from the Trump administration’s stance on tariffs.

Nessel said he was disappointed in the performance of both candidates, saying that neither had done a good job of arguing their points or explaining their policy positions. He said that the debate could have been a “productive conversation and it just simply didn’t happen,” though he credited Rogers as being more willing and able to discuss policy specifics than El-Sayed.

“I might not agree with his ultimate conclusions when it comes to certain policies, but the fact that he expresses working knowledge and being able to at least understand the issues and explain it to the public is helpful,” Nessel said.

Bernard said he felt that El-Sayed appeared off balance and unwilling to address specifics, though he said that he “also would have liked to see Mike a little more senatorial.”

Lopatin said that hearing Rogers make a clearer declaration that he will not be a “rubber stamp for Donald Trump,” particularly when it comes to defending democracy and the Supreme Court, could be helpful to Rogers in reassuring Jewish Democrats still hesitant to pull the lever for him.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that she will opt New York into the new federal scholarship tax credit program, making her the second Democratic governor to do so since the administration published formal regulations for the program.

Hochul’s decision bucks intense opposition from teachers’ unions, but has won her support from the Jewish community, which has been urging governors to opt in. She had previously said that she was inclined to support the program but was waiting to see if the regulations contained any poison pill provisions.

Given New York’s substantial Jewish population, her decision to join the program will be one of the most consequential for the Jewish community. It could prompt action by other Democratic governors as well. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had been the only Democrat — until Hochul’s decision — to opt into the program.

“I’ve been clear from the start that New York would participate in the federal scholarship tax credit program if, and only if, all schools and students, including those in our public schools, could benefit,” Hochul said in her Friday statement. “After a careful review of the federal regulations, we believe this program has the potential to bring millions of additional dollars to New York students and families without taking a single dollar from public schools or our state or local budgets.”

She said that she would not “leave money on the table when it could help our kids” and that she has been “directly engaging with business leaders, who have committed to use this program to support public school students and their academic needs.”

The program will allow taxpayers to deduct up to $1,700 from their federal taxes through donations to scholarship granting organizations. Some Jewish community groups are supporting scholarship organizations to help students attend Jewish schools, but the scholarships can also help support public school students.

Hochul insisted that her “commitment to public education has not changed, and it never will.” Teachers’ unions have insisted that the program amounts to a federal private school voucher program and will sap funding from public education.

“We thank Governor Hochul for putting New York kids first,” Teach NYS, the New York branch of the Teach Coalition, said in a statement. “This is a historic moment for New York students and a testament to the power of collective advocacy.”

The group thanked the UJA-Federation of New York, Agudath Israel of America and various other groups, including the Catholic community, that have been advocates for the program.

Yeruchim Silber, the director of New York government relations for Agudath Israel of America, said it was a “tremendous day for education in New York.”

“This decision opens the door to millions of dollars in additional educational resources and opportunities for students in public and nonpublic schools alike, without taking a dollar away from public education,” Silber continued. “[Agudath Israel] is deeply grateful to the Governor and her team for recognizing the importance of this opportunity and ensuring that New York’s children and families will be able to benefit.”

Meanwhile, United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew condemned Hochul and vowed to work to roll back the policy.

“Giving up local control of public education to the federal government through the Trump administration’s private school voucher scheme is a failure of leadership. Gov. Hochul will bear the responsibility, but our students, educators, and families will bear the price,” Mulgrew said.

In Georgia’s first Senate debate on Thursday, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said he would defer to the International Criminal Court on whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, but said that he believes Israel has violated international law.

Ossoff also repeatedly hammered his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), as a bigot who had hired, amplified and even welcomed into his home and family antisemitic and white supremacist figures.

Collins’ official congressional account amplified an antisemitic post from a white nationalist Twitter account, his former chief of staff was a member of a group chat with white nationalists where he discussed using congressional authority to free a Holocaust denier from prison and his son-in-law is a white nationalist influencer.

“The question of genocide is a question of whether a government has the specific intent to destroy a national ethnic group, and that is a question for the International Criminal Court,” Ossoff said at the debate. “There is no doubt in my mind that Israeli forces prosecuting the war in Gaza violated the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law.”

Neither Israel nor the U.S. are members of the ICC.

Ossoff said that he “care[s] deeply about the security of the Israeli people,” including some members of his own family, as well as about innocent Palestinians, and said that he stands by his votes to halt arms sales to the Jewish state.

He went on to attack Collins for voting to sanction the ICC.

“His view is there should not be accountability for crimes against humanity, no matter who commits them, and that’s because the congressman is deeply disconnected from our state’s tradition of civil rights and human rights,” Ossoff said.

Sen. Jon Ossoff said during last night’s debate that whether the IDF committed genocide in Gaza "is a question for the International Criminal Court," but he has "no doubt" that Israel violated international law in the course of the war. https://t.co/SDjI8Cplgn

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 9, 2026

Collins responded by accusing Ossoff of being a far-left extremist, highlighting his support for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker’s backing — since retracted — for Ossoff. He also accused Ossoff of hating Israel and loving Iran.

Collins, for his part, faced grilling from both Ossoff and the debate moderators over his ties to various antisemitic and white nationalist figures, including his own son-in-law.

“You’ve hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office and you have promoted neo-Nazi content online,” Ossoff said. “Imagine running for the U.S. Senate while neo-Nazi propaganda is disseminated to an audience of millions from your home. That’s Mike Collins.”

Ossoff continued: “Mike Collins’ office intervened at the Department of Justice on behalf of a Holocaust denier, while his office was in cahoots with some of the nation’s most notorious white supremacists. Mike Collins is a bigot, and it’s disqualifying for a candidate for the U.S. Senate.”

Ossoff suggested that, had the Civil Rights Movement been happening today, Collins would have been personally involved in brutalizing protesters.

Asked by moderators about what conversations he’s had with his daughter and son-in-law about the latter’s online activity, Collins suggested that Ossoff’s attacks on him have endangered his family.

“That’s my family. That’s the craziness that John Ossoff has been spewing out there,” he said. “I actually had a crazy person get put in jail this weekend because he not only wanted to kill my son-in-law, but he wanted to kill me.”

He went on to say that he’s condemned racism, antisemitism and hate, regardless of the source, and said he’s told his son-in-law that as well, and said he’s fired staff with problematic ties when made aware of them.

“It’s wrong. We have no place in this world for that,” Collins said, going on to say that Ossoff has failed to condemn figures like El-Sayed and Piker. (Ossoff belatedly condemned Piker in August after Piker suggested that American Jews were responsible for inciting antisemitic attacks on themselves, months after Piker named him as among his favored candidates for the 2028 presidential election.)

Ossoff also attacked Collins over his support for the war in Iran and its impacts on gas and other prices domestically.

Ossoff said that the U.S. was “lied into” the war. “They told us last year that they obliterated Iran’s nuclear program. This year they told us it posed an imminent threat. So on top of the tariffs now, we have eight months of war, 18 Americans killed in action, hundreds wounded. Iran still has its uranium. Iran still has its drones and missiles,” Ossoff said.

Collins said that President Donald Trump “had every right to go in there and make sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon,” pointing to warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran was approaching nuclear weapons capability.

He said that Iran, were it to obtain nuclear weapons, would attack both Israel and the United States, and that it has been attacking and killing Americans for 47 years.

A planned study trip to Italy for some 100 Jewish early childhood educators from the U.S. and Israel was canceled after participants were required to sign a statement condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza, prompting organizers to conclude that the trip’s political litmus test made such a trip untenable. 

The educators — members of the U.S.-based Paradigm Project — were scheduled to travel to Reggio Emilia, Italy, from Oct. 11–16. Their goal was to study the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education, a method long embraced by Jewish preschools, and bring those insights back to their classrooms. 

But ahead of the trip, participants were asked to sign a statement declaring, “I distance myself from the occupation of Gaza and the violation of children’s and human beings’ rights in the occupied territories as well as in every places [sic] in the world,” according to a screenshot obtained by Jewish Insider. 

The dispute began publicly in Reggio Emilia earlier this month when parents affiliated with Reggio Children, an organization that oversees the educational approach and had been working with Paradigm, objected to the delegation’s arrival over claims that participants supported the IDF.  

According to the intended attendees, a protest had been organized specifically against the group’s participation based on their religious affiliation and connection to Israel. Reggio Children was also reportedly already working on a document for visiting delegations that would emphasize keeping “militarization out of schools.” 

“Our identities were made public, and our personal and institutional social media profiles were reviewed and characterized as demonstrating our support for Israel and the IDF,” Pesha Kletenik, head of Manhattan Day School and one of the educators who had planned to attend, wrote to her community. 

In a school-wide email on Wednesday, the principal of a Jewish day school in the mid-Altantic, which had planned to send three teachers on the trip, called the cancellation “a loss for our community in the near term — our teachers, and in turn, their students will not be enriched by this experience.” They attributed the cancellation to “the ripple effects of global antisemitism.” 

“We are sitting with what this means for our longstanding alignment to the Reggio philosophy,” they wrote. 

The Reggio Emilia Approach, developed in the northern Italian city after World War II, is an early childhood education philosophy centered on children helping to shape their own education. It emphasizes hands-on exploration, collaboration, creativity and close observation by teachers, with classrooms designed to encourage children to discover their interests rather than follow a determined curriculum. 

Many Jewish early childhood educators have embraced the approach in part because they see its emphasis on children’s individual potential, relationships and community as compatible with Jewish values. The Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative, which helped bring Reggio-inspired education to Jewish preschools in the U.S., describes its model as a combination of Reggio principles and Jewish ideas, saying the pairing works because of Reggio’s educational reputation and its “philosophic consistency with Jewish values.”

Responding to the pressure, the Paradigm ultimately canceled the trip and informed Reggio Children.

Paradigm said in a statement to educators on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, that the trip would not go on as planned. “The Paradigm Project is a professional learning network for early childhood educators from across the United States. They planned this trip for one reason: to learn from the Reggio Emilia Approach and bring what they learned back to the young children in their classrooms.” 

It said that such learning “requires a calm, open setting” and that, “in the current climate, we do not believe our educators could have the experience the program is meant to offer.”

Paradigm said it remains hopeful that the relationship has not been “irreparably harmed” and that it intends to engage in further dialogue about redesigning the experience and potentially learning together in the future.

A provision in the draft 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that aims to coordinate and enhance cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries has proven to be a significant source of controversy among Democrats, with even some senior lawmakers who defended the provision on its merits flipping against it under pressure.

And, as Congress will have only months to pass the NDAA when it returns from recess after the November elections, the provision may face some resistance from Republican lawmakers as well — an indication of skepticism of the U.S.-Israel partnership building among the GOP base as part of the debate between hawks and isolationists. 

“There’s nobody here who’s more of an ardent supporter of Israel’s right to exist and ability to defend themselves, but I don’t think we should integrate our military with anybody, not even the Bahamas,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) told the far-left outlet Drop Site News earlier this year. His office has declined to provide further comment.

Critics falsely assert the provision would merge the U.S. and Israeli militaries or otherwise compromise U.S. sovereignty and control of the U.S. military. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) also expressed opposition to the provision, and claimed that the White House and Pentagon wanted the provision removed from the bill. Neither have expressed such a view publicly, but did not respond to requests for comment.

Some in the far-right online sphere have previously criticized the provision.

Two other senators aligned with the restrictionist foreign policy wing of the party, Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) — who have also generally been strong supporters of Israel — were also noncommittal.

“I know there was a House version that was a little more controversial, but we’ll take a look,” Schmitt told Jewish Insider in late July. His office did not respond when asked if his stance has changed since then.

“Let’s see what happens with the NDAA. That’s going to be a long wait, I think,” Hawley told JI in early August. “I don’t know what version is going to come to us.”

Yet Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), who has sought a “middle path” on foreign policy between internationalism and restrictionism, while urging Republicans not to label each other “isolationists,” expressed strong support for the provision.

“I think [the concerns are] overblown. That cooperation is important. It’s cooperation that’s always existed,” Banks told JI. “I’m sure we’ll have a thorough debate on that one when it gets to the floor, but having served myself, I know how important that relationship is. Strengthening that relationship is more important than ever.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI in August he has not been concerned about Republican opposition to the provision. “I haven’t been worried about that, no,” Wicker said at the time. He declined to answer additional questions on the subject, and his office did not respond to follow-up questions.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican nominee for Senate, issued a statement Wednesday commemorating the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and bashing his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, while El-Sayed remained silent.

El-Sayed’s rhetoric and stances on Israel and other issues of concern to the Jewish community have been heavily scrutinized, and he is facing significant skepticism from traditional Jewish Democrats in Michigan, as some community leaders and elected officials say they plan to sit out the Senate race or support Rogers.

El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to multiple inquiries from JI about whether he planned to issue a statement on the Oct. 7 anniversary, and has not shared any such statement publicly.

“Three years ago today, the world witnessed in horror the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Rogers said. “This dark day is a sad reminder that evil exists all around us. And how we respond to evil determines how much it grows.”

Rogers went on accuse El-Sayed of stoking hate and violence, pointing to a fundraising message his campaign sent on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks criticizing Israel (his campaign has said it was sent in error); criticizing El-Sayed for campaigning with Hasan Piker, who has been dismissive of the attacks; and issuing a widely criticized statement following the terrorist attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich.

“Hate like that has no home in Michigan,” Rogers continued. “You have my work, I will always stand proudly alongside Michigan’s Jewish community, against terrorism, and for Israel’s right to defend itself. We must root out antisemitic hate in all forms — because when we say ‘never again,’ we must mean it.”

Rogers later called out El-Sayed for not issuing a statement.

“Radio silence from Abdul El-Sayed about the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. … I wish I could say this is shocking,” Rogers said in a late-afternoon post on X. “When people tell you who they are, believe them.”

Several Democratic lawmakers blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday for his statement on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel — which focused primarily on condemning Israel, the war in Gaza and Jerusalem’s alleged “ongoing genocide” and “apartheid.”

“He basically said ‘The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault,’” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said on X. “He needs the city’s antisemitism policy for himself. Just an atrocious statement.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) accused Mamdani of “[d]esecrating the memory of murdered, innocent Jews today of all days and refusing to even condemn Hamas,” calling the mayor’s statement “obscene.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who lost his primary race in part due to his support for Israel, said that Mamdani’s statement was “reprehensible.”

“In the guise of ‘grieving’ with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with,” Goldman said. “On this day of all days, the Mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel embraces extreme activism instead of balanced leadership.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) accused Mamdani of worsening Jews’ pain.

“Mr. Mayor, you’re right that today is painful for Jews. You’re also the one making it worse,” Gottheimer said. “Blame the victims. Trash Israel. Wife likes posts cheering the attack. Thanks for the clarity.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) did not explicitly mention Mamdani, but condemned critics of Israel who used the anniversary as an opportunity to bash Israel.

“The world demonizes Israel 365 days a year,” Torres said. “Perhaps, for just one day—October 7th—the critics of Israel could take a vacation from their hysterical hatred of the world’s only Jewish State and find it within themselves to express condolences for the thousands of Israelis murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and abducted at the hands of Hamas.”

Other Democratic leaders have also spoken out.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran against Mamdani, also criticized him, saying that Oct. 7 “should be sacred.”

“Yet even today, @NYCMayor cannot put aside his ideological obsession with Israel long enough to simply let Jews mourn,” Cuomo said. “At a time of rising antisemitism, words matter, and rhetoric has real-world consequences. There are 364 other days for politics. Today, remember the victims. Condemn Hamas. Stand with the Jewish community. It should not be difficult.”

Former New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop, who now leads the business advocacy group Partnership for NYC, called Mamdani’s statement “inappropriate and unnecessarily inflammatory.”

“At a time when heightened antisemitism is a real concern — one the Mayor himself has acknowledged — New York’s elected leaders should be focused on bringing our city together and addressing the urgent challenges facing New Yorkers, not creating further division,” Fulop said.

Former Florida Senate candidate Alex Vindman issued an implicit condemnation of Mamdani, saying, “You could save your selective ahistorical biased opinions on the whole history of Israel and Palestine (seemingly justifying October 7th) until say tomorrow. Your empathy could exceed your biases.”

Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s former ambassador to monitor and combat antisemitism under the Biden administration, also criticized Mamdani’s statement.

New York-based and national Jewish groups have condemned Mamdani’s statement as well.

The UJA-Federation of New York said that the anniversary “should have been a day” to stand with the victims and survivors of Oct. 7.

“Instead, Mayor Mamdani chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from the victims of Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk, the group continued.

William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, respectively CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said similarly in a joint statement, “There is a time for debate over Middle East policy. The anniversary of the October 7 massacre is not that time. Exploiting a day of profound grief to accuse Israel of genocide dishonors the memory of those who were murdered, deepens the pain of survivors and hostage families, and further alienates Jewish New Yorkers at a moment that should unite us in remembrance.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he’s spoken directly with Mamdani about his rhetoric, “but he once again found an opportunity to be callous toward Jewish pain.”

“He gave Hamas a single sentence and then spent the rest of his statement condemning Israel,” Jacobs said. “You cannot proclaim empathy and care for the Jewish community and then fail to show basic humanity toward us in our grief. Turning this anniversary into an indictment of the Jewish state is not only hurtful, and deeply offensive, but it also makes Jewish New Yorkers less safe.”

Democratic Majority for Israel said Mamdani’s statement “diminishes the gravity of the day and disrespects the victims.”

A slew of Republicans have also spoken out to condemn Mamdani, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL); Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jason Smith (R-MO) and Rudy Yakym (R-IN); U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Board Chair Jeff Miller; Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; and former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY).

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter also condemned Mamdani’s “dangerous lies” and called him a “defender of Palestinian terrorism, a promoter of antisemitism, and an advocate of anti-Americanism” as well as an ally of Hamas.

In spite of his staunch anti-Israel stance, Mamdani is still facing protests from further-left anti-Israel demonstrators today, accusing him of genocide and of betraying the anti-Israel movement. 

On the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that U.S. policy in the Middle East “must change dramatically” to ensure long-term peace.

He was joined by fellow senior congressional Democrats in calling for shifts in policy by the U.S. and Israel.

Jeffries said in a statement that, since the Oct. 7 attacks, “considerable suffering has plagued the Middle East. The horrific death of Palestinian civilians, destruction of civil society and devastation in Gaza is reprehensible and can never be allowed to happen again.”

He argued that, in order to permanently end the violence between Israel and the Palestinians, “for the good of the Israeli and Palestinian people, American policy in the region must change dramatically.”

Jeffries said that the U.S. must “commit to the creation” of a Palestinian state as well as “support a new generation of Palestinian leaders” and end the “egregious settler violence” by Israelis in the West Bank.

At the same time, Jeffries mourned and expressed solidarity with those who lost loved ones on Oct. 7 and those still recovering, including the former hostages. He also emphasized the surging wave of antisemitism since the Hamas attacks.

“The Jewish people are in a constant struggle for survival, as has been the case for thousands of years,” he said, adding that the U.S. must remain committed to Israel’s right to exist as well as removing Hamas from power and ending terrorism in the region.

In his own statement, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, appeared to call out Israel for continued fighting in the region while also recognizing the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and their loved ones.

“Further chaos, destruction, and violence is not the answer and will not make Israel safer,” Smith said. “Israel must work with the United States and partners in the region to bring this conflict to an end and find a way ahead that creates a sustainable, safe, and prosperous future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), generally a staunch supporter of Israel who has recently discussed his shifting stance on U.S. policy toward the Jewish state, said in a video statement that Israel’s military goals have been achieved and its approach should shift. 

Coons is in line to be the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next year.

“Israel has largely achieved its military goals, its objectives in Gaza and West Bank. Hamas has been beheaded and driven underground at great human cost to Palestinian civilians and a future two-state solution,” Coons said. “It’s now time to work tirelessly to find a path to lasting peace and adjust security for all.”

Coons also emphasized that the “wounds” to Israel from the attacks may never heal and recounted his meetings with the families of hostages.

Former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, the Republican candidate running against Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in South Florida, traveled to Qatar in 2024.

Singer and Moskowitz have been battling over which one of them is the stronger and more reliable supporter of Israel, in a district with a substantial Jewish population that could be up for grabs in the midterm election.

Singer argues that Moskowitz is overpowered by the anti-Israel wing of the Democratic Party, while Moskowitz argues that he’ll be a more important voice as a prominent pro-Israel Democrat than Singer would be in the GOP.

According to the Gulf Times, Singer met and was photographed with Qatari’s minister of municipality, Abdullah bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Attiyah, during a visit to the World Economic Forum with other mayors from around the U.S. The trip was first resurfaced by The Floridian.

“Scott Singer joined other mayors in a delegation for the World Economic Forum, at the same time a congressional delegation was there, meeting with our military at Al Udeid Air Base, the then-US ambassador, and other representatives from government and business,” Singer campaign spokesperson Michael Stwarka said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “He gained a better understanding of the complex relationship between our nation and Qatar, and their potential for influence in our educational system.

According to the the Gulf Times, the group “discussed avenues of cooperation between the Ministry of Municipality and the US cities in areas of shared interest, in addition to means of promoting them between the two sides, particularly smart cities and upgrading infrastructure, municipal services, agriculture, food security and waste management.”

Qatar has come under significant scrutiny in the Jewish and pro-Israel community since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, given its support for and hosting of Hamas leadership. The kingdom has also been accused of stoking antisemitism on college campuses through its substantial financial support for U.S. colleges and universities.

Stwarka — the Singer spokesperson — said that, when elected, Singer “will introduce legislation that bans federal funding going to any educational institution that receives foreign funds from any foreign nation. … Scott will always be a steadfast supporter of our closest ally Israel and continues to be a strong voice against antisemitism.”

Moskowitz has been a vocal critic of Qatar, calling for accountability for the country’s support for Hamas.

It was not immediately clear who paid for the trip.

Another member of the mayors group photographed alongside Singer is Dearborn, Mich., Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who has been accused of cultivating a hostile environment for Christian and Jewish residents of the city.

In one notable incident, Hammoud harangued a Christian pastor who spoke at a city council meeting against naming a street in honor of a local publisher who had expressed support for terrorist groups, with Hammoud telling the pastor he was Islamophobic and “not welcome” in the city, adding, “The day you move out of the city will be the day I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city.”

“Scott Singer does not share all the views of all who attended,” Stwarka said in the statement to JI.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel with a statement that opened with a denunciation of Hamas and the “horrific war crimes” it committed that day, but spent most of its length excoriating the Israeli response — drawing fierce criticism from mainstream Jewish organizations.

“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” the top of the statement concludes — before launching into the main body of his remarks attacking Israel. “The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” it continues.

The mayor then launched into a litany of familiar criticisms of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and of U.S. support for the Jewish state in a passage more than twice as long as his comments on Hamas and its victims.

“Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes,” the statement continues. “Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.”

The mayor concluded his statement with a call “to honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”

The decision to devote the bulk of his statement commemorating the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust to attacking Israel infuriated leading Jewish religious civic leaders.

“Today should have been a day for New York to stand with the victims of October 7, their families, and all those still living with the trauma of Hamas’s barbaric attack,” UJA-Federation of New York said in statement. “Instead, Mayor Mamdani chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel — not only inappropriately shifting the focus away from the victims of Hamas’s cruelty, but also placing Jewish New Yorkers at risk.”

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also released a statement, saying, “Mayor Zohran Mamdani chose this solemn day to advance his familiar attacks on the Jewish state. There is a time for debate over Middle East policy. The anniversary of the October 7 massacre is not that time. Exploiting a day of profound grief to accuse Israel of genocide dishonors the memory of those who were murdered, deepens the pain of survivors and hostage families, and further alienates Jewish New Yorkers at a moment that should unite us in remembrance.”

“Mayor Mamdani cannot give Jewish New Yorkers even a single day to mourn without gaslighting us and appropriating the trauma of Oct. 7,” Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding said in a statement, re-upping longstanding concerns that the mayor’s constant criticism of Israel feeds into the city’s spike in antisemitic hate crimes under his leadership. “His rhetoric fuels hostility toward Jewish New Yorkers. Today, he could have honored the victims and promoted peace and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, he chose to incite hatred.”

Andrew Gross, New York regional director for the American Jewish Committee, also criticized the mayor for what he described as injecting politics into a solemn occasion. 

“Today is about the 1,200 lives stolen on October 7, 2023, the 251 who were taken hostage, and the countless others who were terrorized by Hamas and continue to be haunted by the violence inflicted on them, their families, and an entire country that day,” Gross wrote in a statement to Jewish Insider. “It is not about the mayor or his efforts to advance a false political narrative. His decision to use October 7 to promote slander against the Jewish state and amplify rhetoric that puts Jewish New Yorkers at greater risk is especially painful and egregious.”

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, meanwhile, highlighted that the mayor’s statement made no reference to “Jews,” repeating a frequent criticism that Mamdani does not recognize or appreciate that many of the people he represents feel an affinity to Israel as a nation — even as he frequently and explicitly identifies New Yorkers of Palestinian background with events in Gaza and the West Bank.

“You are weaponizing a day meant for mourning the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust to recycle your usual antizionist talking points,” Greenblatt wrote to Mamdani on X. “The city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel deserves a mayor who can honor the dead without exploiting them.”

The mayor’s schedule indicated the mayor will attend first a vigil for the Oct. 7 victims before he “meets with Palestinian New Yorkers” on Wednesday. His office did not provide additional details.

JI reported in March that Mamdani’s wife liked multiple posts on Instagram celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks.

Ironically, Mamdani’s statement on X also prompted an outpouring of antisemitic commentary from the site’s users suggesting he was controlled by Jewish interests.