Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) and Rich McCormick (R-GA) are set to introduce legislation on Monday allowing the U.S. to send seized Iranian weaponry to U.S. allies.

The bill is the House version of the Seized Iranian Arms Transfer Authorization (SEIZE) Act introduced last month in the Senate by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

The SEIZE Act would allow the U.S. to quickly distribute to U.S. partners any weapons or other materiel confiscated by the U.S. in transit from Iran to its Houthi proxies in Yemen, by treating any seized weapons as part of the U.S.’ own stockpiles and authorizing the president to use Washington’s drawdown authority to distribute such weapons to U.S. partners.

Per administration data, the U.S. Navy seized 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, 194 rocket launchers, 70 anti-tank missiles and 700,000 rounds of ammunition between May 2021 and January 2023 during operations in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Drawdown authorities have been used at various points in recent years to supply U.S. allies including Ukraine and Israel.

“Iran — the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror — continues to arm terror proxies that threaten American troops, our bases, and our allies. The SEIZE Act ensures that when these illegal weapons are intercepted, they help our allies who need them, instead of our adversaries,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “Our bipartisan, bicameral legislation will cut through red tape, strengthen our strategic partnerships, keep Americans safe, and counter Iranian aggression.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced on Monday that it’s targeting Rep. Jared Moskowitz’s (D-FL) South Florida district as a potential opportunity to flip a Democratic-held seat in the 2026 midterms, honing in on one of the most heavily Jewish congressional districts in the country.

Moskowitz took office in January 2023 in the district that includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, including some of Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Coral Springs and Parkland. The district, once safely Democratic, has been trending increasingly competitive in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Florida redistricting cycle. The Cook Political Report rates the district “Lean Democrat.”

“Out-of-touch Democrat Jared Moskowitz has repeatedly bent the knee to the most extreme wing of his party instead of putting his constituents — and common sense — first,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said in a statement, pointing to his votes against government funding legislation and a bill banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. “Moskowitz is more interested in getting on TV than delivering for Floridians. With a strong Republican field ready to step up and challenge him, Moskowitz’s days in Congress are numbered.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not respond to a request for comment. Moskowitz was not on the DCCC’s initial list of endangered “frontline” incumbents. 

Moskowitz has cut a unique profile in Congress: he’s often shown a willingness to reach across the aisle in policymaking and has appeared on conservative media, even as he has also enjoyed sparring with Republicans. The former state senator also has bipartisan credentials back home, having been appointed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as the director of emergency management in the state, and later as a Broward County commissioner.

He has frequently worked with Republicans, and broken with many in his own party, on issues related to Israel, Iran and antisemitism, at times criticizing the Biden administration’s actions. Given that pro-Israel policy is a major priority for many voters in the district, it could become a focus on the campaign trail.

Moskowitz was briefly floated as a potential nominee for the Trump administration to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and is seen as having ambitions for a statewide campaign.

Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Florida, said that the district is “a jump ball,” noting that President Donald Trump and Republicans continue to gain ground in the state, but said that “the biggest issue the Republicans are going to have is that Jared is pretty skilled” as a politician. 

National Republicans did not make concerted efforts to flip the seat in the 2022 or 2024 cycles.

O’Connell said that the NRCC’s early campaign will likely be focused on attacking Moskowitz’s image and popularity to make him an easier target, before looking at specific candidates to recruit or back.

“If they can do that successfully and make the case that he’s not a common-sense Democrat but in fact someone who is hook, line and sinker a Democrat, they think that they can probably knock him off,” O’Connell continued.

Former state Rep. George Moraitis, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is the most prominent Republican to enter the race on the GOP side thus far. Moraitis is centering his campaign on issues including the economy and national security.

Jewish Democratic leaders in the district largely argue that Moskowitz is popular enough locally — particularly when it comes to pro-Israel policy — that he should be relatively safe from a challenge. Moskowitz won reelection in 2024 with 52% of the vote.

But the Republican inroads in the South Florida district are significant: After President Joe Biden won Moskowitz’s district by a comfortable 13-point margin in 2020, Vice President Kamala Harris barely eked by, with less than a two-point margin of victory four years later.

“I think they’ve underestimated Jared before, and they’ll continue to do that again. I’m convinced he’ll win reelection,” Mitch Ceasar, a former chair of the Broward County Democratic Party, told Jewish Insider. “And as to folks who sometimes think he takes an approach that’s not exactly in line with the party — well, he’s voting exactly in line with his district.”

Ceasar argued that, while the margins may be close, Moskowitz is a skilled campaigner and fundraiser and is deeply in tune with his district, making it difficult for Republicans to challenge him.

Former state Rep. Joseph Geller predicted that, in the more favorable environment Democrats are likely to face in 2026, Moskowitz will expand his margin of victory.

“They can make it a fight, [but] I don’t think they’re going to beat Jared,” Geller said. “That is a function of him doing what he needs to do, but I know Jared. He’s got to raise the money, he’s got to run the campaign, he’s got to get his message out, he’s got to have people see him. But he does those things. That’s why he’s in there to begin with.”

“If he does what he needs to do, and I have every reason to think he will, he will win,” Geller reiterated. He also urged progressives in the district not to “let perfect be the enemy of the good, and [Moskowitz] is a good congressman and a good public servant and a good Democrat.”

Ceasar said he did not have hard data on the issue, but speculated that the growing Orthodox Jewish community in the district, particularly in Boca Raton, may be driving some of the rightward shift in the district.

Geller attributed that shift more to trends unfavorable to Democrats nationally and statewide in the past two election cycles, more than any factors specific to the district itself. 

“I think Jared Moskowitz in ‘26 in a better environment does just fine,” Geller said. 

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Wednesday, days before the start of the school year — and months after the end of a chaotic school year that saw her testify before Congress about antisemitism and navigate the unruly fallout of the first anti-Israel encampment in the nation. 

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president, a university spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider. A source familiar said Armstrong has already been in touch with Hillel leadership at Columbia. 

News of Shafik’s resignation was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson. Shafik is the fourth Ivy League president to step down in the last year amid rising anti-Israel activism on campuses, following the University of Pennsylvania’s Elizabeth Magill, Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Cornell University’s Martha Pollack.

“I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that — working together — we have made progress in a number of important areas,” Shafik, who only started in the role in July 2023, wrote in an email to the Columbia community. 

“However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community. Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” she wrote.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, Columbia, like other American universities, saw an uptick in antisemitism and targeting of Zionist students. But in an April hearing before the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Shafik avoided the kind of viral moment that dogged her colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

But when she went back to Manhattan, she faced the first anti-Israel encampment at an American university. Her decision to call in the police to break up the demonstration set off a wave of anger among many students and faculty members on campus and sparked dozens of other solidarity encampments at other universities. 

From there, her leadership was under a microscope. Following a number of antisemitic incidents related to the encampment, several members of Congress from both parties went to Columbia to speak to Jewish students and show solidarity.

In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League said it is “saddened that the leadership of another flagship university has crumbled under the weight of antisemitism on its campus,” calling on the school to move quickly to fill the leadership vacancy before the fall semester.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), in a statement first shared with JI, cheered Shafik’s decision to step aside: “As a result of President Shafik’s refusal to protect Jewish students and maintain order on campus, Columbia University became the epicenter for virulent antisemitism that has plagued many American university campuses since Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel last fall.” 

“I stood in President Shafik’s office in April and told her to resign, and while it is long overdue, we welcome today’s news. Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief…We hope that President Shafik’s resignation serves as an example to university administrators across the country that tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences,” Johnson added.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that, under Shafik’s leadership “a disturbing wave of antisemitic harassment, discrimination, and disorder engulfed Columbia university’s campus” and students were allowed to break the law with impunity.

“Columbia’s next leader must take bold action to address the pervasive antisemitism, support for terrorism, and contempt for the university’s rules that have been allowed to flourish on its campus,” Foxx continued, 

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a prominent member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, crowed, “THREE DOWN, so many to go,” adding that her “failed presidency was untenable and that it was only a matter of time before her forced resignation.”

She added, “We will continue to demand moral clarity, condemnation of antisemitism, protection of Jewish students and faculty, and stronger leadership from American higher education institutions.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told JI that the resignation was “long overdue.”

“I have been calling for President Shafik to be ousted or resign ever since her abysmal failure to condemn Columbia’s antisemitic outbursts or ensure the safety of Jewish students on her campus,” Lawler said. “Let this be a lesson to all who waver in the face of evil.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said that “when President Shafik failed to enforce the code of conduct and protect Jewish students just trying to walk to class safely, she failed at her job and allowed a hostile, antisemitic environment to escalate.”

He asserted that similar treatment of any other minority group would have been quickly stopped by school administrators and that signs reading “go back to Poland” displayed just outside Columbia’s gates when he visited the campus have stuck with him.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called Columbia “ground zero for campus antisemitism in NYC,” urging the new leadership to “summon the moral clarity and the moral courage to confront the deep rot of antisemitism at Columbia’s core.”

But Columbia’s problems didn’t stop with the encampment. In late April, student protesters occupied a campus administrative building, leading to hundreds of arrests by police. (The charges have since been dropped against most student protesters.) 

Two days later, President Joe Biden condemned unlawful protests at U.S. universities. “Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation — none of this is a peaceful protest,” he said in a White House address in May. “It’s against the law.”

In May, the faculty of arts and sciences — which was mostly supportive of the anti-Israel encampment — approved a vote of no confidence in Shafik. 

Columbia made news earlier this month when three deans who had been placed on leave over exchanging antisemitic text messages resigned. 

And as recently as this week, lawmakers demanded that the school reimburse the New York Police Department for costs incurred in clearing the encampment on the Columbia campus.

Brian Cohen, executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, declined to comment on Shafik’s departure but praised Armstrong’s appointment as interim president. 

“I think very highly of Dr. Armstrong and I know many colleagues feel the same way,” Cohen told JI. “She is a strong leader — when there were issues that needed to be addressed at the Medical Center, Dr. Armstrong was quick to respond and to address the issues.”

Jewish Insider Congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed to this report.

The House is set to vote on Wednesday on a resolution calling for the presidents of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to resign in the wake of their controversial testimonies during a hearing on campus antisemitism last week, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told Jewish Insider.

The bipartisan resolution is being sponsored by Scalise along with Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). The resolution could prompt another divide among Democrats, a week after the House — including 95 Democrats — voted in favor of a resolution linking antisemitism and anti-Zionism, while a nearly equal number voted present.

The nonbinding resolution was announced hours after Harvard’s leadership announced it stood behind its president, Claudine Gay, and rejected calls for her resignation.

The resolution “strongly condemns the rise of antisemitism on university campuses” and “strongly condemns the testimony” by the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania on whether calls for Jewish genocide violate their schools’ codes of conduct.

Language in the preamble of the resolution says that Gay and MIT’s president, Sally Kornbluth, should “follow” former Penn President Elizabeth Magill in tendering her resignation.

“When the Presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violates university policies on bullying and harassment, Presidents Elizabeth Magill, Claudine Gay, and Sally Kornbluth were evasive and dismissive, failing to simply condemn such action,” the legislation reads.

The resolution could once again split the Democratic caucus. Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), a Jewish Democrat who chairs the House’s antisemitism task force, split with Stefanik last week over whether to call for the university presidents to resign in a letter to the schools’ leaders on antisemitism.

“All [Stefanik] cared about was calling for the resignation of university presidents to score political points,” Manning said on X yesterday. “I am working to make real changes to university codes of conduct so Jewish students and faculty are protected from hate. Rep. Stefanik is trying to get a soundbite & media hits.”

Manning ultimately sent a letter calling for changes to campus policies to combat antisemitism, along with a dozen Democrats, while Stefanik sent a similar letter with 73 other lawmakers, including Democrats Moskowitz and Gottheimer. 

Other Democrats have also accused Stefanik of being insincere in her concerns about antisemitism, in light of her support of former President Donald Trump.

The resolution will require support from two-thirds of the House to pass.

Seventy-four House lawmakers  wrote to the boards of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on Friday demanding that they immediately fire their presidents in response to widely criticized congressional testimony they delivered on antisemitism on their campuses earlier this week.

The presidents of the three schools have come under increasing scrutiny this week amid growing speculation that their jobs could be on the line following their refusal to say earlier this week that calls for Jewish genocide would violate their schools’ codes of conduct.

“Testimony provided by presidents of your institutions showed a complete absence of moral clarity and illuminated the problematic double standards and dehumanization of the Jewish communities that your university presidents enabled,” the letter reads. “Given this moment of crisis, we demand that your boards immediately remove each of these presidents from their positions and that you provide an actionable plan” to ensure the safety of the Jewish community on campus.

“Anything less,” than the steps they requested, the lawmakers continued, “will be seen as your endorsement… and an act of complicity in their antisemitic posture.”

The letter was led by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who questioned the presidents on the genocide issue, and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is the only other Democrat who signed the letter; the rest are Republicans.

The lawmakers said that the testimony makes it “hard to imagine” any Jewish or Israeli person feeling safe on their campuses when the presidents “could not say that calls for the genocide of Jews would have clear consequences on your campus.”

It adds that subsequent social media statements seeking to clarify or walk back those comments “offered little clarification on your campus’ true commitment to protecting vulnerable students in this moment of crisis,” describing them instead as “desperate attempts to try and save their jobs” and “too little too late.”

Shortly before the Stefanik-Moskowitz letter was released, a group of thirteen House Democrats wrote to the boards of the three schools urging them to re-examine their codes of conduct to make clear that calls for the genocide of Jews are not acceptable.

This second letter, led by Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Susan Wild (D-PA), includes similar language to the bipartisan letter regarding the presidents’ testimony and how it would make Jewish campus members feel unsafe, but stops short of directly calling for the presidents to be fired.

The lawmakers wrote that they felt “compelled to ask” if the presidents’ responses “align with the values and policies of your respective institutions.”

“The presidents’ unwillingness to answer questions clearly or fully acknowledge appalling and unacceptable behavior — behavior that would not have been tolerated against other groups — illuminated the problematic double standards and dehumanization of the Jewish communities at your universities,” the letter continues. “The lack of moral clarity these presidents displayed is simply unacceptable.”

The lawmakers requested that the schools update their policies to “ensure that they protect students from hate” and describe their plans for protecting Jewish and Israeli community members.

“There is no context in which calls for the genocide of Jews is acceptable rhetoric,” the letter reads. “While Harvard and Penn subsequently issued clarifying statements which were appreciated, their failure to unequivocally condemn calls for the systematic murder of Jews during the public hearing is deeply alarming and stands in stark contrast to the principles we expect leaders of top academic institutions to uphold.”

The letter notes that federal civil rights law prohibits discrimination against Jews on campus, and that criminal law bans hate crimes, violence and incitement to violence.

“Students and faculty who threaten, harass, or incite violence towards Jews must be held accountable for their actions,” the lawmakers wrote. “If calls for genocide of the Jewish people are not in violation of your universities’ policies, then it is time for you to reexamine your policies and codes of conduct.”

Signatories to the Democratic letter include Manning, Wild, Auchincloss, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Grace Meng (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).

All of the signatories to the Democratic letter are either Jewish or deeply involved with Jewish community issues on the Hill. 

Earlier this week, a third letter by six House Republicans from Pennsylvania — Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), alongside Congressmen John Joyce, M.D. (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Dan Meuser (R-PA) — called for University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill specifically to be fired.