ICE detained a Jewish bridal shop owner and his mother living in Englewood, N.J., a local elected official confirmed on Wednesday to Jewish Insider, warning of a growing trend impacting the Jewish community. 

Ari Ladino and his mother, who are originally from Bogotá, Colombia, run Luana Rose Modestly in Teaneck — a dress shop that opened in 2024 specializing in modest special occasion gowns and wedding dresses popular among local Orthodox Jewish women. 

The detainments were first reported by The Jewish Link, which said the local Jewish community grew deeply worried when Ladino and his mother, Chava Ladino — an artist and seamstress — stopped coming to the shop. The mother-son duo usually worked long hours there every day. 

There is no publicly available information regarding whether either Ladino holds a U.S. green card or the reason for their arrests. ICE did not reply to a request for comment from JI. 

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who is an immigration lawyer but is not representing the Ladinos, described the arrests as part of a broader, nationwide immigration crackdown that is affecting Jewish immigrants and businesses. 

“This is unfortunately something happening all the time where people are getting visits and businesses are frozen,” Wildes told JI. “This is happening all over the nation. I’m also seeing the commercial effect this is having. Businesses are frozen, lawns aren’t being manicured. There’s got to be a more effective way of executing our laws.” 

Wildes said the crackdown is impacting Englewood, a heavily Jewish suburb of New York City. 

“We have a lot of people coming back from Israel who stepped out of line in some fashion and they’re being detained. We have one client who flew back yesterday after going to vote in Israel and he only has a green card. He’s [an Orthodox Jew] with five kids. They’re detaining people in the airports.” 

Wildes, a former federal prosecutor, argued that immigration laws should be enforced more sensitively, particularly because many of those detained are not convicted of any crimes.

Some of the Trump administration’s deportation crackdowns have targeted foreign nationals and students involved in anti-Israel campus protests, threatening permanent deportations of international students at institutions like Columbia and UC schools. 

But Wildes asserted that while President Donald Trump “has been a stalwart supporter of the state of Israel,” when it comes to immigration, the “strict approach” is having “a residual commercial effect throughout our nation.”   

“We have to be sensitive in the way we execute laws,” he continued. “These are not hardened criminals and they should be treated with greater respect.”  

Rejecting a model of cultural preservation in favor of a religious and cultural heritage that is evolving, Rabbi Marc Angel argued on Monday that North America’s oldest Jewish congregation, New York’s Shearith Israel, serves as an example of enduring not as an ethnic relic in need of preserving but as a guide for the future of Diaspora Jewry.  

“People speak of preserving the Sephardic heritage. I do not agree,” said Angel, rabbi emeritus of the Shearith Israel — often called the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue — on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, which he led from 1969-2007. 

“You preserve fish, you preserve fruit, you preserve things that are dead. Something alive grows and evolves,” he continued. “We don’t want to ‘preserve’ a Sephardic heritage; we want it to live; we want to draw on our past and bring it to life in new ways, to breathe wisdom and spirituality that can continue to fill our lives and inspire our future generations.” 

Angel’s comments came during an address titled “Beyond Ethnicity: What Will Sephardic Judaism Mean 50 Years From Now?” during an evening reception for the second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, a gathering aimed at strengthening a Jewish community that organizers say has long operated in a Jewish institutional landscape shaped by Ashkenazi-dominated institutions.

The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue traces itself back to 1654. “People admire our history, as do I,” said Angel. “But when I look at our synagogue I don’t only see the past. I see a taste of the future of the Jewish people. We thrive as a synagogue in the Western Sephardic tradition, a tradition of formality, elegance, supreme reverence for God … but we are not an ‘ethnic’ congregation.”

Despite making up just an estimated 10% of the American Jewish population, today’s Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in the U.S. report higher rates of Jewish communal participation, a stronger connection to Israel and are more likely to say that being Jewish is somewhat or very much a part of their daily life compared to Ashkenazi Jews, according to a 2025 report by JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa). 

On the other side of Central Park, Angel recalled that when he first walked into the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue 60 years ago, at least half the congregants were Ashkenazi.“

And most of the Sephardim were themselves either married to Ashkenazim or their children were married to Ashkenazim. In other words, our congregation flourished as a Sephardic congregation because it attracted those of various backgrounds who found the Western Sephardic traditions to be spiritually compelling to them,” he said. 

Looking ahead to three or four generations from now, Angel predicted Sepharic practice will continue to attract all types of Jews. 

“There will be very few — if any — purely ‘ethnic’ congregations,” he said. Rather, Angel asserted, “Jews of many backgrounds will be found within the Sephardic orbit.”

“What will draw them to the Sephardic traditions? What are basic ingredients in Sephardic civilization that are relevant and meaningful to all thinking Jews, regardless of ethnicity?” he said. 

“Actually, we have a lot of powerful traditions — intellectual, cultural, synagogal — that will attract a great many people. I like to speak of ‘Sephardism’ — Sephardic civilization —- beyond ethnicity.” 

The two-day conference, which was held at the UJA-Federation of New York headquarters in Manhattan and concluded on Tuesday, featured speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes constituted nearly two-thirds of all religious hate crimes in the country last year, according to FBI data released last week: Out of the 2,408 religiously motivated hate crimes reported across the country, 1,528 were targeted against Jews. 

Anti-Jewish hate crimes also constituted the second-largest category of reported hate crimes of any kind in 2025, behind only anti-Black or African American hate crimes.

Jews remained the most-targeted religious group in the country. The total number of anti-Jewish hate crimes declined by 20% from 2024, when 1,938 anti-Jewish hate crimes were reported, and 1,832 incidents in 2023, making 2025 the third worst year on record for anti-Jewish hate crimes.

According to the FBI, anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2025 included three incidents of murder or non-negligent manslaughter; one incident of rape; 50 incidents of aggravated assault; 112 

incidents of simple assault; 505 incidents of intimidation; 920 incidents of destruction, damage or vandalism; 68 incidents of theft, burglary and robbery of various kinds; and six incidents of arson.

A total of 1,685 anti-Jewish offenses were recorded in 2025, impacting 1,746 victims, committed by 866 perpetrators.

The FBI reported that overall hate crime incidents decreased 7% year-over-year.

“Year after year, we’ve seen alarming rates of antisemitic harassment and violence in this country,” Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), who co-chair the Senate Antisemitism Task Force, said in a joint statement.

The two senators noted that antisemitic hate crimes remain higher than they were prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. 

“This report shows the dark reality for Jewish Americans: antisemitic attacks make up more than 62 percent of religiously-motivated hate crimes in the United States, more than double all other kinds of religiously-motivated hate crimes combined,” Rosen and Lankford continued. “We’re faced with nothing less than a crisis, and we need collective action.” 

They said that the data highlights the need to pass the Jewish American Security Act to respond and protect the Jewish community.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt emphasized in a statement that, “Behind every one of these numbers is a person who was targeted simply for being Jewish, whether through vandalism, intimidation, or violence.”

“We cannot allow a modest yet positive decline in the topline domestic numbers to obscure the reality that antisemitism remains one of the most persistent and dangerous forms of hate in this country and beyond,” Greenblatt continued, emphasizing that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks outside of Israel in more than 30 years.

In a release, the ADL noted that the data was consistent with its own findings that 2025 was the third-highest year on record for reported antisemitic incidents. The ADL’s data includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents.

Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick said, “Once again, the FBI’s data confirms what Jewish communities across this country already feel: the rising tide of hate means that we remain the most-targeted religious community in America,” noting that Jews constitute just 2% of the population but two-thirds of religious-based hate crimes.

Spitalnick also emphasized rising hate against other groups, arguing that “Jewish safety and the safety of our neighbors are inextricably linked — which is why we will never accept a strategy that protects one community by demonizing or ignoring another.”

She said that the slight decline in overall hate crimes is “welcome” but does not constitute safety and argued that a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to fighting hate remains necessary. She also emphasized that around 5% of the U.S. population was not covered by the data and that some local law enforcement agencies reported no hate crimes in areas where hate crimes are known to have occurred.

In 2025, 85.9% of all law enforcement agencies in the country submitted hate crimes data to the FBI — an optional program — covering 95.3% of the U.S. population. In some past years, reporting had been significantly hampered by non-participation by local law enforcement agencies, leading to what advocates said was an under-counting of hate crimes.

“The deeper problem is that we keep treating this crisis as a security problem to be managed rather than building resiliency to hate and extremism in the first place,” Spitalnick said, calling increased security funding necessary but “not a remedy” to hate.

“This new data tells us two things,” Spitalnick said. “Hate crimes remain far too high, and our national response is failing. We need the federal government to return its focus to protecting communities and building an inclusive, pluralistic democracy that is more resistant to hate in the first place.”

Some 150 rabbis, communal leaders and young professionals from a dozen countries will convene in Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday for the second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, a gathering aimed at strengthening a Jewish community that organizers say has long operated in a Jewish institutional landscape shaped by Ashkenazi-dominated institutions.

The conference, titled “The Art of Leadership,” will bring together rabbis and rebbetzins from Mexico City to Moscow, Cape Town to Queens, to lead sessions on halachic authority, mental health, pastoral care, connecting to Israel and what organizers describe as the urgent work of building long-lasting Sephardic institutions in the diaspora. 

“There’s clearly been a lack of [Sephardic] representation in a lot of mainstream Jewish institutions — in federations, in schools —- a lack of our needs being seen and heard,” said Ethan Marcus, managing director of Sephardic Brotherhood of America and co-organizer of the conference with Avi Garson, co-founder of The Habura, an online and physical Jewish study center. “Whether it’s a Moroccan, Turkish or Spanish Portuguese community, they may differ from what you would say mainstream Ashkenazi communities need,” Marcus told Jewish Insider. 

This year’s conference, Marcus asserted, is itself evidence that the status quo is beginning to change: It’s being held at UJA-Federation of New York’s headquarters and backed by a roster of major Jewish institutions, including the Orthodox Union — which hosted last year’s inaugural gathering — the Rabbinical Council of America, World Zionist Organization and KKL-JNF.  

“These organizations are stepping up and saying, ‘We want to hear from you and what your unique ideas and needs are, and what you also have to offer the wider Jewish world,’’” said Marcus. “We believe there’s a lot the wider Jewish world can take away from the Sephardic path we’re pushing. This idea of a middle-of-the-road [approach] steeped in Jewish traditions but fully engaged with the challenges and benefits of the modern world. To us that’s very much the Sephardic approach, and it’s something that all Jewish people can benefit from.” 

Speakers include Daniel Rosenthal, vice president of government relations at UJA; Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York; Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the WZO; and Caroline Bryk, senior director of Jewish day school strategies at Tikvah — alongside dozens of rabbis from across the globe.   

Despite making up just an estimated 10% of the American Jewish population, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in the U.S. report higher rates of Jewish communal participation, a stronger connection to Israel and are more likely to say that being Jewish is somewhat or very much a part of their daily life compared to Ashkenazi Jews, according to a 2025 report by JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa). 

On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, just blocks from where the conference is being held, the Sephardic community has been steadily establishing itself — anchored by institutions like the Moise Safra Center, the 14-story community center that opened on East 82nd Street in 2018 and marked a demographic shift for the neighborhood.

And yet, Garson had questions — which he laid out in a piece for La Djente, the national magazine of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America — that ultimately led to the creation of last year’s conference: Where is Sephardic leadership coming from? Where is it being trained? And who is going to lead and represent the community in the years ahead?

“One thing led to the other and we realized we should put everyone together in the same room,” Garson told JI, reflecting on the inaugural gathering, which focused on the theme of education. “We managed to get 40 rabbis and community leaders from six countries. We realized there’s a real deep ongoing desire to connect — for everyone to get together and discuss these issues and collaborate.”  

This year’s event, with a focus on leadership, comes as a “turning point in the Sephardic world — where all of these synagogues and people are recognizing we need to work together,” said Marcus. “We can be uniquely our own identities; the Sephardic world is not a monolith. Moroccan Jewish communities, Syrian Jewish communities all have their unique customs and traditions, but there’s a lot more that unites us than divides us. But we don’t have to get rid of our self-identities. Jewish unity doesn’t mean Jewish uniformity.” 

That openness extends to the conference’s slate of speakers — not just Sephardic rabbis, but Ashkenazi voices and some from outside the Jewish community entirely. The point, Garson said, is “to bring in good ideas and best practices to help our community, which in turn can help the Jewish community more broadly.”

He traced the notion back to Maimonides, the medieval Sephardic sage known for his intellectual openness, who famously championed: “Hear the truth, whoever speaks it.”

Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-FL) primary opponent, influencer Dan Bilzerian, is pushing blatantly antisemitic and pro-Adolf Hitler messaging in the closing days of Florida’s primary season.

Bilzerian has made no secret of the openly antisemitic tenor of his campaign, having said from the outset that he is challenging Fine because he is Jewish and pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Fine, the Jewish community and Israel.

But messaging and advertising from Bilzerian’s campaign has gained increased attention in the final days of the race, after Bilzerian posted a shocking video that leans into a series of blatant antisemitic tropes and overtones.

The two-and-a-half minute AI-generated video repeatedly calls Fine a “fat Jew” and accuses him of serving Israel over the United States. It describes Fine a “Jewish [supremacist]” and “Satan’s creepy little [minion]” over imagery of Fine hugging a bag of money.

It also calls Fine a “satanic whore,” over footage of horns growing out of his forehead, and refers to him as “Shylock.”

Over footage of Hitler, the video asks, “Should we revisit that Austrian painter’s opinions?”

It also suggests that Fine rapes children and calls for him to be tarred, feathered and imprisoned.

“Celebrating Hitler. Having horns grow out of the heads of Jews. Showing me violently assaulted,” Fine said in response to the video. “If this appeals to you, I don’t want your vote.   We have a choice on Tuesday, to embrace the kind of Nazism that led to the Holocaust or to repudiate this filth and reaffirm American values and character. Let’s send a resounding message on Tuesday.”

Bilzerian posted another AI video accusing Fine of staging an incident last week in which an unknown individual spray-painted a swastika on a Fine campaign sign outside of an early voting site.

Several prominent Republicans joined Fine in condemning the pro-Hitler Bilzerian ad.

“This brazen Nazi — who’s urging us to ‘revisit’ the opinions of Hitler— revels in Jew hate & defends Sharia law,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on X. “This evil has no place in the Republican Party.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said that Bilzerian is “disgusting” and that “every single Republican needs to condemn this evil, and every single news outlet needs to expose how bad and antisemitic he is.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Bilzerian’s messaging “possibly the most disgusting … I’ve seen” and said he had “taken Jew-hate to a new low.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the attacks “vile” and “disgusting” and said that all leaders on both sides should reject them.

“Antisemitism and outward hatred of Jewish communities have no place in our politics or in America, and we will continue to call them out wherever they arise,” Johnson said. “On Tuesday, voters will reject the revolting rhetoric, and I am proud to endorse [Fine] as he works to continue delivering results for every family in [Florida’s 6th Congressional District].”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-FL) said the video is “vile and has zero place in our politics, let alone the Republican Party.”

Several Democrats also denounced the video.

“The hateful campaign being run by Daniel Bilzerian in Florida is blatantly antisemitic and shocks the conscience,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said. “People of goodwill regardless of political affiliation must reject his vile attacks on the Jewish community. This cannot and will not stand.”

A group of Jewish House Democrats — Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Friedman (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Levin (D-CA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Brad Schnieder (D-IL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Eugene Vindman (D-VA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) — also condemned the attacks on Fine.

“We don’t agree with Randy Fine on much, if anything, and have condemned his racist, islamophobic statements,” the Democrats said. “But the grotesque, antisemitic campaign video posted by Republican Daniel Bilzerian has no place in America. We unequivocally condemn Bilzerian and his hateful antisemitic attacks.”

The Democrats urged social media platforms to take down the video and other antisemitic posts by Bilzeria, and called on the National Republican Congressional Committee and all Republicans to condemn and disavow Bilzerian and his backers.

Landsman also individually called out the post.

“This is a candidate for Congress, on the ballot in Florida on Tuesday. It’s blatant antisemitism, and could lead to violence against Jews,” Landsman said. “Unless he did this on his own, there is an AI company that created this. Which one? Plus, the social media platforms that don’t just allow this, but most likely boost it to millions. Everyone should be condemning this.”

Leaders in the Bay Area Jewish community are urging former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to speak out or otherwise address her endorsed successor Connie Chan’s decision to lean into Israel and AIPAC-related attacks on her Jewish Democratic opponent, state Sen. Scott Wiener, which some in the Jewish community view as antisemitic.

Pelosi has been a longtime ally of the area’s Jewish community and, until her final years in office, a reliable supporter of Israel, though she recently voted for an amendment to cut off U.S. aid to Israel. Pelosi — a top surrogate for Chan, who is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — has not commented on Chan’s stances or rhetoric on Israel, and did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Jewish Insider on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council and executive director of Bay Area Jewish Action, told JI he hopes Pelosi will “educate [Chan] about where the line is between criticizing the Israeli government and amplifying antisemitic tropes.”

“I don’t think Nancy Pelosi’s support for Connie Chan has anything to do with our community’s agenda,” Gregory continued. “We would ask Nancy Pelosi, who I believe has the Jewish community in her heart, to guide Connie Chan on these issues in the same way she is on many other issues.”

He said he plans to raise the issue with Pelosi directly.

Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition-Action, a separate grassroots group, urged Pelosi to speak out publicly.

“We call on Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who currently represents this district and has endorsed Chan, to publicly reject Chan’s antisemitic rhetoric,” Klima told JI. “Pelosi has been a longtime friend of the Jewish community. As a respected leader, we urge her to use her platform to make clear that Jew hatred has no place in public discourse and stand up to the growing normalization of antisemitism in our community.”

Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Chan’s campaign, said Chan is “unequivocal that there is no place for antisemitism, anti-Jewish hate, or harassment of Jews in our politics or our society, and our campaign strongly rejects and denounces any efforts to target Jewish people or communities.”

Krager added, “At the same time, criticism of AIPAC, its political spending, or scrutinizing the influence of any political organization or political lobby is well-founded. Connie believes voters deserve to know who is funding political campaigns and what interests candidates are accountable to. That standard applies across the board, regardless of the organization involved.”

Chan’s tactics gained particular attention this week when a fundraising message by Chan’s campaign — first shared by former Democratic Majority for Israel co-chair Todd Richman — circulated on X. The message read, “when children and families are being killed with American dollars, there is no room for careful political hedging.”

“I support a total arms embargo on Israel. I reject all corporate and lobbyist PAC money. And I will never stay silent on human rights. My opponent, Scott Wiener, continues to oppose a full arms embargo and receive donations from the Israeli lobby,” the message continued. “I know this makes me a target and the only way our grassroots campaign beats dark-money Super PACs is when everyday people stand up together.”

The message also touted the endorsement Chan received from TrackAIPAC, the anti-Israel group which has been accused of antisemitism for its pattern of targeting individual American Jewish donors and candidates for their political activity.

TrackAIPAC previously criticized Chan and accused her of receiving support from AIPAC or its affiliates, but she received the group’s endorsement after signing its anti-Israel pledge. Wiener is not endorsed by AIPAC. The only Israel advocacy group that is supporting his campaign is J Street.

Wiener, despite having shifted significantly to the left on Israel policy issues under pressure during the primary campaign, has continued to face antisemitic attacks from the far left, including being harassed into leaving a transgender community event in June.

Gregory, of the JCRC and Bay Area Jewish Action, said that Chan’s use of anti-Israel and anti-AIPAC rhetoric and ties to TrackAIPAC are “disgusting,” saying she’s “politicizing our community and lifting up an antisemitic Twitter account. TrackAIPAC, I think, is antisemitic.”

With the race tightening, Gregory predicted that rhetoric is only going to get uglier over the coming months, and “I think it’s unfortunate that now our community’s issues have become front and center, and in the way that [Chan’s] talking about this.”

Krager, the Chan spokesperson, said that Chan “has also been clear that she will not tolerate harassment or attacks against Jewish candidates, elected officials, donors, or community members” and “condemns conspiracy theories about American Jews and any effort to conflate Jewish identity with the positions of a particular political organization.”

“Connie is running to represent every San Franciscan. She has always been and will continue to be committed to engaging directly and respectfully with San Francisco’s Jewish community,” Krager continued. “She stands firmly against antisemitism while also standing up for the right to debate U.S. foreign policy and the role of money and influence in our politics.”

Gregory attributed Chan’s activity largely to ignorance on her part, explaining that he does not think she knows much about the Middle East and hasn’t engaged much with the Jewish community, something he said the community is trying to change.

“I think she’s amplifying bad advice she’s getting from people aligned with our detractors. She’s taken endorsements from unsavory groups,” Gregory said. “I’m still hopeful that we’ll have the opportunity to sit down with her and educate her about those red lines. So it’s not surprising, without a lot of that education, that she’s just kind of taking this campaign strategy hook, line and sinker.”

Klima, the Bay Area Jewish Coalition-Action spokesperson, said that she’s “shocked by Connie Chan’s messaging promoting the antisemitic organization Track AIPAC.”

“This organization targets Jewish politicians and community members, and spreads conspiracy theories about American Jews. The hypocrisy of vilifying AIPAC is particularly striking given that Chan is endorsed by the radical organization CAIR and received huge donations from several PACs,” Klima said. “We’re equally concerned about the ongoing attempts to push Jewish politicians out of public life here in the Bay Area, including the attacks against Scott Wiener and harassment directed at him on social media by local accounts.”

Chan received support in the form of independent expenditures from some super PACs rather than direct campaign donations.

Until recently, the political strategy of the American Jewish establishment could be summed up in two ways: Elect pro-Israel lawmakers to Congress and, at a much smaller scale, educate state and local officials about Jewish values and causes.

But a new model of Jewish political engagement is emerging to counter growing populist angst and surging antisemitism across the political spectrum: local efforts focused on school boards and city councils and statehouses. 

These Jewish activists are not shying away from the messy reality of politics: They aren’t here to make friends with everyone, acknowledging that not everyone is an ally. Their goal is to offer support — through door-knocking, organizing and their checkbooks — to candidates who have stood by the Jewish community in the post-Oct. 7 political firestorm, and to try to unseat those who have not. 

If you want to make a difference in the actual day-to-day lives of Jewish Americans, these activists argue, the place to do so is not Congress. It’s Sacramento, or Harrisburg, or the local Democratic Party committee meeting up the street. 

“All of these groups are starting to pop up because we realize that the infrastructure that the community has had in the past isn’t enough and isn’t working,” said Stefanie Clarke, a political strategist in Colorado who co-founded the Colorado Jewish Action Alliance. 

Like nearly all of the groups now operating in local politics, COJAA was born after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, when municipal governments in the U.S. became the newest front in Israeli-Palestinian culture wars. Anti-Israel rhetoric that often veered into outright antisemitism could suddenly be heard regularly in city halls and state legislatures. People who were elected to office because of their views on bike lanes or the environment were suddenly being pressured to weigh in on a contentious issue that originated thousands of miles away.

By law, tax-exempt nonprofits cannot engage in the political system. But a growing consensus is emerging that the apolitical approach necessarily adopted by the Jewish philanthropic world is not enough to address the intense partisanship of the moment, where incendiary antisemitic rhetoric has seeped into all levels of the political system. 

In places including Atlanta, Denver and Pittsburgh, first-time Jewish activists such as Clarke are responding with grassroots initiatives like COJAA. Elsewhere, existing Jewish communal institutions are incubating new political organizations that they are spinning off as independent entities — for example, in San Francisco, where the local Jewish Community Relations Council created an affiliated advocacy organization called Bay Area Jewish Action (BAJA).

“We are seeing an increasingly unhinged and violent-prone mob challenging elected officials for standing with the Jewish community, and so there is a risk in standing with us, however unacceptable that reality is,” said Tyler Gregory, the CEO of JCRC and executive director of BAJA. “We need to be able to do more than just verbally say thank you in a situation like that.”

What that looks like in practice differs from place to place. BAJA created a political network where members commit to donating a certain amount throughout the election cycle, and have opportunities to meet candidates in BAJA-organized forums.

Other efforts are bipartisan. COJAA endorsed 13 candidates in Colorado’s primaries this year, a mix of Democrats and Republicans. (The primary results were themselves mixed; seven of COJAA’s preferred candidates won.) Georgia Solidarity Network, based in Atlanta, sees its mission as educating lawmakers about the state’s Jewish community.

“Part of our theory of change is that you cannot meet the moment by just showing up in an election cycle and trying to get messaging out there,” Beacon Coalition founder Jeremy Kazzaz explained. “It requires people on the ground, and it requires conversations going all the time.” 

“Our legislators are incredible. But our legislators are blueberry farmers and used car sales lot owners and small-time lawyers in tiny towns who have no familiarity at all with the Jewish community,” Georgia Solidarity Network co-founder Alli Medof told Jewish Insider. “We really recognized that there was a need for us as a community to have a strong voice and presence in the legislature and to represent the concerns of Jewish Georgians.”

In Pittsburgh, a group called the Beacon Coalition spent the past year recruiting moderate Democrats to run for local volunteer positions in official Democratic groups throughout Allegheny County. Forty aligned Democrats won their races for small neighborhood seats that play an outsized role in party endorsements.

“Part of our theory of change is that you cannot meet the moment by just showing up in an election cycle and trying to get messaging out there,” Beacon Coalition founder Jeremy Kazzaz explained. “It requires people on the ground, and it requires conversations going all the time.” 

Each of these groups is independent, created and operated — and funded (for the most part) — locally. But they see an opportunity to connect with and learn from each other. 

Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the philanthropic behemoth that supports liberal causes and pro-Israel groups, convened a gathering earlier this year that brought together dozens of activists in the burgeoning local Jewish political ecosystem. 

“I’m deeply concerned about the rise in extremism that’s playing out in local politics,” the foundation’s senior director for U.S. Jewish grantmaking, David Rittberg, told JI. “I do think that Jewish community leaders as well as everyday Americans are waking up to the challenges that these dynamics are creating in a local political context.” 

Schusterman’s involvement in this space is an indication that Jewish philanthropists are taking problems at the local level seriously. Rittberg declined to comment on whether Schusterman has given grants to any of the groups, but said the foundation sees its role as being “a connector.” 

Many emerging local activists have looked to a group called New York Solidarity Network for advice. NYSN was formed in 2022 after New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter began pressuring local candidates to pledge not to travel to Israel, a request that at the time was seen as radical but has since become the norm in many Democratic primaries in liberal urban areas. 

Sara Forman, the group’s founding executive director, advises them that money is not enough — a pointed message at a moment when, at the national level, AIPAC’s super PAC just spent tens of millions of dollars backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in a failed Michigan Senate primary bid, and further damaged its image with Democrats in the process. 

“DSA has been incredibly successful at organizing community and at making people feel like they are part of something,” said Sara Forman, founding executive director of NYSN. “I think in the Jewish community, having local organizations mimic some of the same practices of DSA is a good thing. Make people feel included. Make people feel like their voice counts.”

“You can’t build something inorganically. There has to be a reason for people to want to come out and attend events, and want to knock on doors and make phone calls and organize their synagogues,” said Forman, who stepped down from NYSN in January. “Check-writing isn’t what’s going to make the difference here.”

The goal, instead, is building up American Jews’ appetite for grassroots political organizing in support of Jewish causes and candidates who support them. That’s a different position than the one taken by AIPAC in recent years, which has invested at the federal level in high-dollar political fundraising. But when groups such as DSA are able to recruit eager volunteers to campaign for far-left officials and show up to public meetings to voice support for anti-Israel measures, Jewish activists increasingly see a need to fight fire with fire. 

“DSA has been incredibly successful at organizing community and at making people feel like they are part of something,” said Forman. “I think in the Jewish community, having local organizations mimic some of the same practices of DSA is a good thing. Make people feel included. Make people feel like their voice counts.”

The success of a DSA-aligned faction in several major Democratic primaries this year has led many of these Jewish activists to now see their fight for communal safety as part of a larger battle within the party, about whether it will move left or to the center ahead of the 2028 presidential election. 

“I think the overlap between folks who are concerned about fighting illiberalism, extremism, antisemitism and virulent anti-Zionism deeply intersects with those of us who want to strengthen moderate factions on both sides of the aisle, in particular for us on the Democratic side,” Third Way President Jon Cowan told JI. “A lot of folks are coming to realize that those fights deeply overlap.”

“We know that the next phase for us is focusing more on the creeping threat of DSA,” Medof, from Georgia, said. “The way we think about this work is that the sorts of things that we’re fighting for are not just about what’s good for Jewish Georgians. They’re good for Georgia overall.”

Last week, The New York Times outlined a new effort by the centrist Democratic group Third Way to push back against the growing appeal of DSA-aligned groups and policies within the party. Third Way President Jon Cowan told JI that the organization is, for the first time in its history, working with groups at the local level. Third Way gave a grant to the Beacon Coalition this year to support its work and help the organization expand to Cleveland. 

“I think the overlap between folks who are concerned about fighting illiberalism, extremism, antisemitism and virulent anti-Zionism deeply intersects with those of us who want to strengthen moderate factions on both sides of the aisle, in particular for us on the Democratic side,” Cowan said. “A lot of folks are coming to realize that those fights deeply overlap.”

Building support for Israel is not what most of these groups see as their focus. They want efforts targeting Israel — like Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns — to fail, and for local governments to otherwise stay mum on one of the most intractable foreign policy issues in the world.

“We are about Jewish safety, security and engagement in civil life. We really don’t talk about Israel other than how the rhetoric around it endangers our community,” said Mindy Miller, a co-founder of the Colorado group. 

Not that that has stopped opponents from trying to tar the groups as, essentially, mini-AIPACs. 

“We’ve seen a trend with a very similar pattern of behavior targeting groups like Beacon, where there are Jewish Americans who are showing up in spaces as Jewish Americans and saying our community is important,” said Pittsburgh-based Kazzaz. “It’s a lot of boogeyman-ing, just name calling, ‘You’re a secret Republican.’”

Mostly, though, the new Jewish activists are finding curiosity, not animosity. People who are eyeing local positions are generally not running with Israel or Palestine as their top issue. But that doesn’t mean they don’t understand how thorny the discourse can be. 

“One of the things we say is we will never cancel you. There are no stupid questions,” said Miller, from Colorado. 

She wants to be a guide to help local politicians learn about the issues. And with financial and manpower resources that can help candidates in their campaigns, Miller hopes the Jewish community will now have a shot of being the first to reach those politicians. 

Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s bruising Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday is forcing many Jewish leaders in the state to confront an uncomfortable decision as they now look ahead to the general election in November.

Several Jewish Democrats in the battleground state are now indicating that they will break with a party they have long called home and instead vote for the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, in the November election, citing their continued alarm over El-Sayed’s hostile rhetoric toward Israel as well as remarks they have interpreted as indifferent to rising antisemitism, among other concerns.

“I can’t vote for El-Sayed,” Michael Horowitz, a Jewish community leader and Detroit businessman who supported Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate, told Jewish Insider. “So many things I find despicable about him, not the least of which is his close association with Hasan Piker,” the antisemitic Twitch streamer, who Horowitz said “demeans America, demeans Jews and demeans all but the most radical among us.”

Horowitz confirmed he was now “leaning strongly to Rogers,” a former congressman who narrowly lost in his bid for Senate last cycle. “And I have heard from many in the Jewish community who say they will be supporting Rogers,” he said on Wednesday.

Hannan Lis, a Democratic fundraiser and Jewish leader who splits his time between Michigan and Israel, was among those who had told JI before the primary that he would vote for Rogers in the general election if El-Sayed won the nomination, noting he knows “many” Jewish Democrats who plan to do the same.

His reservations about Republicans preserving their Senate majority by picking up the Michigan seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), he clarified, were superseded by his objections to El-Sayed’s stances on Israel and responses to antisemitism. “El-Sayed is no Democrat,” he claimed.

Dennis Bernard, a Jewish leader in Michigan who backed both Rogers and Stevens in their respective primaries, said that the “word is out on a few Rogers fundraisers targeting historical Jewish Dems,” efforts that he described as “co-led” with Jewish Democratic donors.

“Candidly,” he added, “the only area that may not jump on Rogers is the highly progressive Ann Arbor community,” which he called “very small.”

Bernard, national chair of government relations at the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI that it would likely take a few more days for such events to materialize as donors now “settle down and organize” in the wake of the primary. “Everyone is jumping in,” he said. 

One Democratic fundraiser in Michigan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive subject, said he was “absolutely certain” that “several large Jewish Dem donors” will be supporting Rogers. 

“I would guarantee there will be fundraisers for him hosted by high-profile Jewish Dems,” he told JI.

The fundraiser, who backed Stevens, said that hours after the race had been called on Wednesday he was “already contacted by Rogers surrogates” seeking to make inroads with Jewish Democrats whose support could prove consequential in what is expected to be a close race.

The surrogates’ pitch, as he put it: “Essentially that as Jews, we need to put our communal well-being ahead of the party.”

It remains to be seen whether the depth of Jewish Democrats’ fears of electing El-Sayed will ultimately translate to a meaningful boost for Rogers’ bid amid a national political environment that is less favorable to Republicans.

Still, Rogers and his supporters have said they are eager to court Jewish Democrats alienated by their party as support for Israel has emerged as a litmus test on the far left — particularly in Michigan, where Jewish Democratic leaders have recently voiced fears of antisemitic harassment from anti-Israel activists in the state.

Alyssa Brouillet, a spokesperson for Rogers, told JI on Sunday that his campaign was “beginning to see more and more Jewish Democrats coming to us who feel abandoned by their party.”

“Mike Rogers stands with the Jewish community in Michigan and across the country,” she said, “and he will continue fighting to make life better for working families all across the state.”

In a video ad posted to social media on Wednesday, Rogers highlighted his opponent’s close ties to Piker, featuring past comments in which the streamer said “America deserved 9/11,” among other controversial remarks that have faced scrutiny. “You are who your friends are, and Abdul El-Sayed’s are radical leftists who hate America,” Rogers wrote.

The Republican Jewish Coalition called El-Sayed “a direct threat to Michigan’s Jewish community” in a statement on Wednesday that urged Jewish voters in the state to get behind Rogers in the general election.

“To our friends in Michigan’s Jewish community, including the tens of thousands who have voted Democrat their entire adult lives and now find themselves politically homeless: this is the moment for real change and action,” said Matt Brooks, the RJC’s CEO. “There are more than 100,000 Jewish voters in the Wolverine State. We are not a rounding error, we are the decisive margin. Mike Rogers has earned your vote.”

Even as El-Sayed quickly won backing on Wednesday from national Democratic leaders hoping to unite the party for a must-win election, the Jewish Democratic Council of America stopped short of an endorsement, underscoring the extent to which the divisive primary has left some Jewish leaders rudderless after Stevens’ defeat. 

“While we are disappointed in the final result of the Michigan Senate race, the razor-thin margin isn’t the resounding win for the far-left that was predicted,” said Halie Soifer, the JDCA’s CEO. “We are proud of the race run by Rep. Haley Stevens, and we thank her for her consistent and principled leadership standing with Jewish Americans. We congratulate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on his victory after a difficult and divisive primary.”

Several nonpartisan Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, released statements on Wednesday condemning El-Sayed. 

Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, whose super PAC invested over $30 million on an aggressive effort to boost Stevens, said in a statement that the group’s “members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November,” indicating it intends to back Rogers in the general election.

AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, did not return a request for comment, but sources told JI the group was all but certain to support Rogers, who was recognized as a pro-Israel hawk while serving in the House from 2001 to 2015.

For his part, El-Sayed, who made his opposition to AIPAC a central feature of his campaign messaging, sought to ease tensions with skeptical Jewish voters on Wednesday, addressing what he called “an issue that has been focused on in this race.”

“To all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith,” he said in his televised remarks, “I want you to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety, is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”

But many Jewish leaders in the state suggested that they would be unmoved by such appeals — especially as El-Sayed has continued to use incendiary rhetoric while discussing Israel. In an interview on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday morning, for instance, he doubled down on his criticism of Israel, calling the Jewish state “bloodthirsty” while saying his critiques go beyond the government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His comments faced criticism from Democratic Majority for Israel, which said “El-Sayed should be working to build a bigger tent and earn the trust of Jewish Michiganders” but was instead invoking “an age-old antisemitic trope that is especially dangerous amid rising violence against Jews.”

Asher Lopatin, a rabbi who serves as director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and endorsed Stevens, told JI he has “heard from several people who say that they will campaign for Rogers and support him and tell others to vote for him.”

“I have not spent a lot of time looking into his positions,” Lopatin added, “but I can say clearly that I will not be voting for Abdul El-Sayed and I wish more Democrats would come out and say they will not be voting for him.”

Some Jewish Democrats in the state have confirmed privately that while they cannot bring themselves to vote for Rogers, they will leave their ballots blank or write in another candidate due to their reservations about El-Sayed.

Despite widespread objections to El-Sayed within Michigan’s mainstream Jewish community, others suggested that their loyalty to the Democratic Party outweighed those concerns. “I know Jewish Dems who will vote for Rogers,” Richard Lenter, a Jewish community activist in Detroit, told JI. “I am leaning toward voting for El-Sayed while holding my nose.”

Michigan state Rep. Noah Arbit, a Jewish Democrat who has been outspoken against antisemitism in his party, declined to confirm whether he would vote for El-Sayed, even as he expressed strong concerns about past comments in which the candidate has dismissed Zionists as “illiberal” and refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“Abdul’s rhetoric has been alarming and dangerous for my community,” Arbit, whose district in suburban Detroit includes a sizable Jewish constituency, said in a message posted to Facebook Wednesday morning. “There is a profound need for him to come to the table and attempt to repair the harm he has caused, to see what semblance of trust and confidence may be built.”

Hate crimes — particularly against Jews — have spiked in New York City during the first seven months of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration, new data from the NYPD shows.

The police department’s July statistics show general declines thus far in 2026 shootings and murders, and even in hate crimes against certain ethnic groups. But bias offenses were up overall last month, and during the entire period since Mamdani took office on the first of the year, with hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers continuing to make up the majority of such incidents.

“More than half of the confirmed hate crimes for the first seven months of the year, or 56.9%, were anti-Jewish hate crimes, despite Jewish New Yorkers making up only 10% of the city’s population,” the NYPD’s report states.

There were 23 confirmed hate crimes against Jewish people in July of this year, compared to 15 in July 2025. To date, the Jewish community has suffered 205 confirmed criminal antisemitic incidents during Mamdani’s first seven months at City Hall, compared to 189 such transgressions up to this point in the final year of Mayor Eric Adams’ tenure.

Mamdani, whose broadsides against Israel and its leadership have both powered his political ascent and provoked warnings over potential repercussions for the city’s Jewish community, faced questions over the uptick in bias crimes after an unrelated press conference Monday morning.

“There’s no room for hate in our city. It will never be tolerated, it will never be accepted, and we know that this is something that we have to fight with every single tool at our disposal,” the democratic socialist mayor said. “The work to uproot antisemitism out of the city is one that will continue until we see hate crimes come to an end in the city.”

The mayor again underscored his increased investment in a hate crime prevention program, which allocates millions of dollars to a range of nonprofits. 

July witnessed a double stabbing of an Asian American and a Jewish man on the holiday of Tisha B’Av, during which the assailant allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” as he passed a synagogue displaying the Israeli flag, before attacking the second victim, who was wearing a kippah. The accused, Raul Morales, now faces a raft of hate crimes charges.

Politico reported that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited The Jewish Center — the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the victim Moshe Grunhaus had been praying before the stabbing — on Friday to denounce “antisemitic rhetoric” and assure the community of her continued protection. 

Mamdani decided to keep Tisch, an Adams appointee, in her role when he entered office. Tensions between the two have surfaced on several occasions, most recently when the mayor continued to publicly toy with the idea of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite lacking the legal authority to do so.

Anti-Muslim offenses have also risen under Mamdani, but in much smaller numbers: five this past month compared to two the July prior, and 26 so far this year as opposed to 16 during the same period in 2025.

Members of Missouri’s Jewish community are working to turn out voters in Rep. Wesley Bell’s (D-MO) St. Louis-area congressional district as he faces down a rematch with former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Tuesday.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America has rallied its national membership, particularly in Bell’s district and the broader Midwest region, for an in-person canvassing effort as well as several phone-banking events.

“We are mobilizing our network across the Midwest to help get out the vote for Wesley Bell,” Jacob Spiegel, JDCA’s communications director, told Jewish Insider. “We’re continuing to mobilize our awesome network of volunteers to get out the vote for the candidates that represent our values.” The race is one of two that JDCA is currently prioritizing in its voter outreach efforts, alongside Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) Senate campaign in Michigan.

Bush was among the most vocally anti-Israel members of Congress while she was in office, and faced accusations of antisemitism. Bell has been a staunch supporter of the Jewish community and remained supportive of Israel even amid backlash at home, including voting against an amendment to cut military aid to the Jewish state.

Agudath Israel of America’s Missouri office has brought together local Orthodox rabbis in a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign that does not specifically back Bell — though members of the community who vote in the Democratic primary are very likely to support him.

Agudath Israel’s campaign has the support of all of the Orthodox rabbis in the district, who have filmed videos to encourage voter participation. One video, which features all of the local rabbis together, emphasizes the stakes of the election for the Jewish community both in the United States and in Israel.

Suri Botuck, the director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of Missouri, said that it took some time for the community to realize who was running in the election, but that the campaign has been in action for months, with a volunteer team with members of all of the Orthodox synagogues serving as ambassadors and experts for their congregations.

She said that as early as April, the community was working on voter registration efforts, and is now focused on early and absentee voting to ensure that voters cast their ballots, particularly if they have travel plans following Tisha B’Av, which took place last week.

The rabbis, she continued, are also making sure to get the word out at prayer services to emphasize the importance and responsibility of voting. “We are very grateful to them for their partnership.  They also appreciate the importance of getting out the vote,” Botuck said.

A social media campaign has also organically developed, with community members sharing selfies on WhatsApp when they go to the polls. Organizers have been sharing those photos over email, and are aiming to distribute fliers featuring those selfies to synagogues before Shabbat.

“It’s a great way that the community has all been engaged and participating, by having a little bit of fun,” she said.

Though Agudath Israel, as a nonprofit organization, is not endorsing candidates and is fully focused on voter turnout, Botuck said that other organizations and individuals are active in voter education efforts, including in a local Jewish political WhatsApp chat.

Botuck said that organizers have heard from community members that almost 20% of them have already voted, and will be scouring the board of elections data set to be released on Friday to make sure to contact those who haven’t yet voted before primary day.

She noted that early vote turnout was much higher among the Orthodox Jewish community in the 2024 primary than in the district at large.

“We’re a community that takes voting seriously. People know they have to vote, people get out to vote. They might need reminders, but it’s part of our culture,” she said. “We are voting and people just might need to know the information and the details of where, what and when.”

AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC has also continued to spend big to boost Bell and attack Bush, with ad spending now totaling $3.1 million, going after Bush as ineffective and disloyal to the Democratic Party.

A week out from the primary, Bush hasn’t seen comparable spending, either by her own campaign or by outside groups to back her up, leaving Bell’s message dominant on the ground. Braxton Payne, a local Democratic strategist, said that Bell seems to have the momentum at this point.

Jordan Blase, Bell’s campaign manager, noted to JI that the campaign has been on television with ads for weeks, in addition to the outside spending.

Blase said that the campaign has seen significant support from the Jewish community, similar to the previous cycle, where Jewish volunteers proved to be a significant force for the campaign.

Blase said that the campaign feels strong about its position going into the final days of the race, but is working strongly on field and get-out-the-vote operations.

She argued that the race is different from other districts where socialist candidates have dominated because — unlike those largely unknown candidates — Bush is well-known in the district and has a well-established record. “The district fired her for a reason,” Blase said.

She emphasized Bush’s record of missing votes, voting against Democratic priorities and condemning former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election, which Blase asserted is hurting Bush in the district.

Bush did not respond to a request for comment.

Several large Detroit-area synagogues emailed their congregants earlier this summer to urge them to vote in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — what seemed at first to be a somewhat bland call to make their voices heard and exercise their civic duty.

Then, as primary day drew closer, the messages took on a sharper edge from the usual staid, nonpartisan rhetoric that houses of worship might have sent in the past ahead of major elections. 

“While we aren’t going to tell you who to vote for and we have never sent a message like this in our congregation’s history, these are no ordinary times,” the leaders of Temple Israel, the Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield that was the site of a violent antisemitic attack in March, wrote in an email last month. 

The rabbis did not directly tell congregants whom to support in the Democratic Senate primary between Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official. Instead, they merely described a politician who sounded a lot like Stevens: “a candidate whose record, actions, and rhetoric demonstrate the strongest commitment to protecting Jewish lives by combating antisemitism, seeking federal security funding for American Jewish communities, and supporting Israel’s security and right to exist as a Jewish state.” (The Conservative Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield used similar language in a letter to its congregants in June.) 

El-Sayed, who has made attacking AIPAC a central tenet of his campaign, has refused to say whether he believes in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. El-Sayed condemned the Temple Israel attack — which did not result in any casualties aside from the assailant, a Hezbollah sympathizer who drove a truck into the synagogue preschool before opening fire — but said that “hurt people hurt people,” referring to the attacker’s ties to family members in Lebanon affiliated with Hezbollah who were killed in Israeli strikes. 

The email from a nonprofit religious institution was just one of many that are being forwarded between the inboxes of Jewish Michiganders in the final days of the Senate primary, which is open to all registered voters regardless of party affiliation. Rabbis’ unprecedented advocacy in the race reflects the urgency surrounding what many Michigan Jews view as one of the most important elections in their lifetime: between a moderate, pro-Israel lawmaker who has represented the hub of Detroit’s Jewish community for nearly eight years and an insurgent far-left candidate whom they view as dangerously misguided when it comes to matters of Jewish communal concern. 

Rabbi Aaron Starr, of Shaarey Zedek, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday that  Stevens is “a longtime friend of the Detroit Jewish community.” But he stopped short of publicly naming her as his preferred candidate. Still, he said that the stakes feel different in this election, prompting the stronger-than-usual message to congregants. 

“This is not difficult at all because I just feel it is so important,” Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who leads the Orthodox Kehillat Etz Chayim synagogue in Detroit and is director of community relations at the Ann Arbor Jewish federation, told JI. “We really have seen a lot of energy, I would say really just in the last month. People have woken up, I think, to this danger.” 

“We’ve spoken in condemnation of and in praise of elected officials’ and candidates’ rhetoric on both sides of the aisle,” he said of the synagogue’s past political commentary. “Yet this election feels like a more existential moment for the Jews of Michigan, of the United States and around the world.” 

Other rabbis are being more overt in their support for Stevens. Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who leads the Orthodox Kehillat Etz Chayim synagogue in Detroit and is director of community relations at the Ann Arbor Jewish federation, sent an email this week to his personal contact list urging them to vote for Stevens. He also noted that his position does not formally represent the views of his employers.  

“This is not difficult at all because I just feel it is so important,” Lopatin told JI. “We really have seen a lot of energy, I would say really just in the last month. People have woken up, I think, to this danger.” 

Three dozen members of Detroit’s Orthodox community, including several rabbis, signed a letter calling on observant Jews to support Stevens, whom they described as an “outspoken supporter of Israel and a devoted ally to the Jewish community.” 

Among Orthodox Jews, who are more likely than secular Jews to identify as Republican, there is an educational push to remind voters that in Michigan, they can vote in whichever primary they choose — Democratic or Republican — regardless of their party affiliation. 

“In the primary, many of the Democratic challengers to these candidates are hostile to our community. It is imperative to vote for those who support us,” the Orthodox Jewish leaders wrote. “Having a voice in deciding who the Democratic candidate is will be important no matter who you vote for in November in the general election. You do not need to be a registered Democrat to vote in the Democratic primary.”

“We need all the help we can get, the people we can get, to represent the Jewish population,” Gail Mash, an 81-year-old resident of a senior housing facility operated by the Detroit Jewish Federation, told JI. “There are people who are homebound and have nothing to do. This is the best thing they can do: take an active part and feel that they’re doing something for the community.”

The frantic email campaigns and WhatsApp chains are joined by the actual bread-and-butter of campaigning: phone banking and canvassing. Gail Mash, an 81-year-old resident of a senior housing facility operated by the Detroit Jewish Federation, calls herself and her group of politically engaged girlfriends the “Bubbe Brigade.” (Mash described herself as a former “Kennedy girl” who has been a Democrat her whole life.) 

The “Bubbe Brigade” makes phone calls each week to members of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, a grassroots group representing Jewish Democrats within the state party, and reminds them to vote. 

“We need all the help we can get, the people we can get, to represent the Jewish population,” Mash told JI in a phone call on Tuesday. “There are people who are homebound and have nothing to do. This is the best thing they can do: take an active part and feel that they’re doing something for the community.”

The Democratic Jewish Caucus campaigned with Stevens in the Detroit suburbs over the weekend at a canvassing event that was also promoted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a national group that is supporting efforts to rally Jewish voters for Stevens. JDCA is hosting more than a dozen phone banking events, and it has also made a five-figure digital ad buy in support of Stevens. 

“When Jewish Americans needed a champion, Haley Stevens stepped up,” the ad says. It touts Stevens as a leader in fighting antisemitism, “creating jobs” and “delivering for Michiganders.” 

Polling has shown El-Sayed with a small lead, though the dynamics of the race have shifted in Stevens’ favor since a third candidate, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, dropped out earlier this month. 

In the final debate of the campaign on Monday, El-Sayed repeatedly went after AIPAC and attacked Stevens for her support of the U.S.-Israel relationship. The rhetoric has left some Jewish Democrats in the state confused — and frustrated — at the way Israel, and its political supporters in the U.S., have become so central to a primary for a pivotal Senate swing seat. 

“We have concerns that are sometimes unique from other communities’ concerns,” Ari Weisenfeld, the director of state relations at Agudath Israel, told JI. “If you want your elected officials to take them seriously, whether that’s at the local, state or federal level, you need to get out and vote.”

“The Jewish community is just like, why is there this obsession with this organization that a lot of us do not have an affiliation with?” said Decky Alexander, who chairs the Democratic Jewish Caucus. “It is just mind-blowing that this is such a consumptive issue when we have real threats to our Constitution, our democracy and the economics that are going on.”

Early voting is already underway, but campaigning will continue until polls close on Tuesday. Ari Weisenfeld plans to travel to Detroit from his home in Connecticut to urge Orthodox Jews to vote. As the director of state relations at Agudath Israel, an Orthodox umbrella organization, Weisenfeld is not promoting a particular candidate — all he cares about is that observant Jews get out and vote. He plans to try to visit as many synagogues as he can for morning minyanim between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m, reminding people to vote. If people need a ride to the polls, he’ll provide it. 

“We have concerns that are sometimes unique from other communities’ concerns,” Weisenfeld told JI. “If you want your elected officials to take them seriously, whether that’s at the local, state or federal level, you need to get out and vote.” 

Germany remained the country with the most antisemitic incidents relative to its Jewish population in 2025, among Diaspora countries with major Jewish populations, according to a new report from leading Jewish groups released on Wednesday. 

According to the report, nearly 70 antisemitic incidents per 1,000 Jewish residents were recorded in Germany in 2025.

Not since the terror attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, more than 30 years ago has the Jewish Diaspora experienced as deadly a year as 2025. 

Worldwide, 20 people were killed last year in four antisemitic attacks across three continents — all in “J7” countries, the seven countries with the largest Jewish Diaspora populations —  including deadly incidents in Sydney, Australia, and Manchester, England. Eighty-five people were killed in the 1994 AMIA attack in Buenos Aires, which still marks the deadliest terror attack on Jews outside of Israel.

The data comes from the second annual Report on Antisemitism by the J7 — a global alliance formed in July 2023 by major Jewish organizations representing the seven largest diaspora communities outside Israel: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Argentina and Australia. 

Tel Aviv University published a study with the same findings in April.

The J7’s 52-page report tracked over 23,000 antisemitic incidents across J7 countries in 2025 — a 136% total increase and a 97% surge in violent acts compared to 2022, prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel.

While the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. plummeted by a third last year, assaults with a deadly weapon spiked, according to a May report by the Anti-Defamation League. The May 2025 killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington marked the first Jews to be killed in antisemitic attacks on U.S. soil since 2019. One month later, a Jewish victim died from her injuries sustained in a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo., at a march in support of the Israeli hostages. 

Every J7 country’s antisemitic incidents remain dramatically above pre-Oct. 7 levels. Australia saw the sharpest rise of antisemitic incidents since 2021 (+270%), followed by Germany (+215%), the U.S. (+131%) and France (124%). Anti-Zionism was a key motivation behind a significant share of incidents: 48% in the U.K., 45% in the U.S. and 23% in Germany.

The report also features a new “in focus” section highlighting Ireland, which saw 143 antisemitic incidents — a rate of 65 per 1,000 Jewish people — while the country lacks a national strategy to combat antisemitism and dedicated security funding for religious institutions. 

“The J7 Annual Report makes clear that antisemitism is no longer a temporary surge, but a sustained global crisis affecting Jewish communities across all seven countries,” said William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which represents the U.S. along with the ADL in the J7. Daroff called on governments, institutions and technology companies to “act with urgency, enforce the law, strengthen security and ensure that Jews can live openly and safely.”

Shockwaves from the Tisha B’Av stabbings on the Upper West Side reverberated through New York’s Jewish and Democratic party elected leadership on Friday, as some blamed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s invective against Israel, while others called more broadly to turn down the temperature on the rhetoric in the city.

Thursday afternoon, a man allegedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” stabbed first an Asian American and then a Jewish man near Central Park, a short walk from the second victim’s synagogue. Police quickly captured a suspect, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that her department was investigating the attack as a potential hate crime, though she noted that “mental health may have been a factor.” Both victims are in stable condition.

Several politicians, including New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and New York state Attorney General Letitia James offered sympathy to the Jewish community’s fears of a heightened threat environment but took time at a press conference outside the Modern Orthodox Jewish Center — which the second victim had just left — to emphasize the police chief’s statement that a probe into the attacker’s motives remains ongoing. 

Others, meanwhile, took square aim at inflammatory “rhetoric,” though did not say whose rhetoric they meant. The Upper West Side stabbings followed a wave of warnings from Jewish groups that the mayor’s intense, relentless focus on verbally assailing Israel might provoke violence on the streets of New York.

“There is no New York without us. We feel disregarded and disrespected and targeted through hateful rhetoric directed at us, and are undeniably being disproportionately targeted again and again and again,” said New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, drawing a parallel between the holiday’s commemoration of the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the spike in antisemitic hate crimes in the Big Apple since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. 

“We are demanding that the targeting of the Jewish community, that the singling out of the Jewish community, that the endless demonization of this community stop.”

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams highlighted that the potential mental illness of the alleged perpetrator, Raul Morales, did not preclude his having acted out of hate, or having been influenced by the language of elected leaders. But he, too, declined to mention the mayor by name.

“When people watch the news, when people listen, they hear what we’re saying. And even if you are unfortunately dealing with mental health issues, you too hear what people are saying,” said Williams, the first in the line of succession to Mamdani. “And so I’m just asking all of us, me included, we all have to take stock of what we’re saying and how we’re saying it so we don’t feed what is already in the atmosphere.”

Of the officials who participated in the Jewish Center press conference, only Assemblymember Micah Lasher — who won a primary last month to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) as congressional representative for the Upper West Side — openly called out Mamdani.

“When a place, and by extension the people who are inextricably linked with that place, are singled out, compared to the worst evildoers in human history, blamed for problems half a world away, the space between rhetoric and violence can vanish,” warned Lasher, who endorsed Mamdani in last year’s general election and worked with one of his closest political aides. 

“I beseech all those in a position of power, including our mayor, to hear our cry from the heart, to please help take the temperature down and provide leadership that makes every New Yorker feel safe in this glorious city.”

Jewish religious and community leaders took a much stronger line, openly pointing to the widely viewed video Mamdani released earlier this week attacking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the “architect of a horrific genocide,” and a mass killer and maimer of children. 

“When I was growing up, the only time we saw security outside of my synagogue or outside of my Jewish day school was when the mayor came to speak,” said The Jewish Center’s Rabbi Yosie Levine. “Today, every time the mayor speaks, we need the police to protect us.”

Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, also recalled how Mamdani named AIPAC — and AIPAC alone — when telling supporters they must battle “monsters.”

“When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, and calls those who support it monsters, he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted and unsafe,” said Goldstein, himself an Upper West Side resident. “Mayor Mandani, stop fanning the flames of hatred and division. The consequences are not abstract. They’re playing out on our streets.”

Other Democrats, including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and outgoing Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), openly linked the attack to diatribes against Israel, though without specifically calling out Mamdani. Assemblymember Nily Rozic alluded to Mamdani’s refusal to fully distance himself from and denounce the slogan “globalize the intifada,” which many recognize as a call to reignite the campaigns of Palestinian terrorism carried out under the same name.

“If you can’t fully condemn calls to ‘globalize the intifada,’ you should be prepared to confront the normalizing of that rhetoric. Words inflame, embolden, and lead to violence against Jewish communities,” the Jewish Queens politician wrote on X. “Leaders must reject hate — clearly, consistently, & without qualification.”

However, state Sen. Sam Sutton, a longtime leader in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, openly pointed blame at Mamdani for having “normalized” violence against Jews.

“When Mayor Mamdani & his allies relentlessly single out & demonize the world’s only Jewish state, they create a climate where antisemitic violence thrives,” the conservative Democrat wrote on X.  “Mr. Mayor, this is on you. The rhetoric must stop. Enough is enough.”

The mayor’s office did not directly answer questions about the criticism of his rhetoric. In an appearance on the local TV station NY1, the mayor praised the NYPD and noted one of the two victims was Asian American. But he maintained his attacks on Netanyahu have nothing to do with the Jewish community in New York.

“They are critiques of a political leader, not of people of a specific faith or a religion or a background, and my responsibility as the mayor of this city is to keep every New Yorker safe, no matter where they come from, what they believe in, or frankly, even if they agree with my politics,” he said. “My job is to keep them safe.”

The Trump administration withdrew its controversial subpoena requesting that the University of Pennsylvania provide lists of Jewish university affiliates and their personal contact information, according to a Thursday court filing. 

“With the support of many members of the community who have stood with Penn throughout, the University has been able to protect its employees’ rights and none of the subpoenaed personal contact information was disclosed,” a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had requested, as part of its investigation into antisemitism at Penn, lists of Jewish-related organizations on campus, their membership rosters and contact information for the employees involved, among other information.

The decision to drop the subpoena was welcomed by the campus Jewish community — which had spoken out against the administration’s initial request. 

“Over the past year, I have spoken with hundreds of students, faculty, and staff across the University of Pennsylvania regarding this issue,” Rabbi Gabriel Greenberg, executive director of Penn Hillel, told JI. “Every single person expressed objections to the attempt to compel the university to surrender data on Jewish identity and affiliation.

“While many in our community share Penn Hillel’s conviction that campus antisemitism requires urgent, sustained action, demanding ‘lists of Jews’ was a fundamentally incorrect and inappropriate way to address it.” 

Rabbi Rick Fox, who leads Meor Penn, told JI, “We are grateful that this resolution protects the privacy and safety of Jewish people on campus.” 

At the same time, Fox expressed hope that “this outcome motivates Penn to take every step to ensure that our campus remains free from antisemitism, anti-Israel bigotry and discrimination against students in all forms.” 

The decision follows a monthslong legal battle between Penn and the EEOC over the body’s authority to enforce the subpoena issued last July. The EEOC sued Penn in November, saying the subpoena was necessary to obtain contact information for potential victims of antisemitism, but the Ivy League university refused to comply, calling the agency’s methods “extraordinary and unconstitutional.” 

In March, Judge Gerald Pappert of Philadelphia’s Federal District Court ordered Penn to comply with the subpoena by May 1, but the school continued to withhold the personal contact information.

The subpoena was highly scrutinized by critics on campus who likened the move to Nazi-era methods of collecting information about Jews. Experts told JI in January that a more typical investigation might involve agency officials interviewing people who issued complaints directly with the agency, then visiting the campus and publicizing their investigation, calling the EEOC’s methods in the Penn case “incredibly unusual, if not completely unprecedented.” In April, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas defended the move, saying, “There is no other way to protect victims of harassment or discrimination unless you collect information about them.” 

The court filing did not explain the government’s decision to drop the subpoena. The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment from JI. 

ASPEN, Colo. — Joel Rubin, a former State Department official who led Jewish outreach for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, is now excoriating his former boss and the movement he has built for elevating stridently anti-Israel candidates — most notably former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

The anti-Israel and antisemitic wave that’s taken hold on the left as a result of the efforts of Sanders and his allies, Rubin said, is bad for the Jewish community and politically unwise for the Democratic Party and for the U.S.’ own strategic interests.

“I think what Sanders and the Sanders operation have done is shove into our system the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we’ve seen in a generation — if ever, certainly within the Democratic Party — and it’s by design,” Rubin said in an interview with Jewish Insider last week on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum. “It’s not by accident, and it’s very disruptive intentionally. The goal is to undermine Democratic unity and even rationality on Israel at this stage.”

He said that Sanders and his allies have directed anger and frustration toward Israel into a “highly unproductive debate about whether or not Israel should exist and whether or not we should support it or have any relationship” — rather than a “constructive” discussion of how the U.S. can work to resolve issues with a longtime ally and partner that plays an important role in American national security. 

Sanders, Rubin said, has become an “outright hostile actor.”

Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.

Rubin has been particularly critical of Sanders and progressive strategists for the “creation” and promotion of Platner, whom Rubin called a manufactured “fake test tube [candidate]” out of “central casting for the left.”

He said that he’s angry with Sanders, as well as other Platner backers including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), for continuing to promote Platner even through a litany of controversies, starting with his Nazi tattoo.

Khanna declined to comment.

Rubin said Sanders and his allies, and the candidates they have promoted, have taken a similar approach in campaigns around the country, counting on a backlash toward Israel and the pro-Israel Jewish community to launch them into office.

“I’m extremely disappointed. I feel like it violates the goals of promoting peace in the Middle East and the two-state solution, and I believe that it exacerbates the pain and distress that the American Jewish community is experiencing right now in Israel policy,” Rubin said. “I had higher hopes for a senator who is Jewish, and his team who knows very well what’s out there.”

He said that the American left is now following the model of former Labour party leader in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn — who faced a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission finding of antisemitism within the party under his leadership — and the movement is “no longer progressive — it’s something much darker.”

“It’s a hate-based narrative they’re promoting,” Rubin said. He said that Sanders and others on the left are on a mission to break the Democratic Party’s ties to the Jewish state and the U.S.-Israel relationship, with no argument for how that would produce a positive outcome. 

When he worked for Sanders’ 2020 campaign, Rubin said that he was “given latitude to communicate messages about him and his views on Israel and peace and antisemitism that were positive,” with a focus on solving issues and creating solutions, while disassociating from “the most hateful voices.”

“That’s no longer the case. I don’t know what’s going on inside that operation. There is no line. There is no bottom. There is no low,” Rubin said. “And what it’s doing now is gutting American Jewish confidence in the Democratic Party, which is not a way to win elections, and it’s unethical as well, considering American Jews have been a bedrock community supporting the Democratic Party.”

He said the party should be pushing for policies that move toward peace, which is “not what these people are advocating for.” He said that the effort is also playing into the hands of conservatives, allowing them to frame themselves as the only ones taking action against antisemitism.

“We need leadership, and the progressive community needs to stop scapegoating Jews for all problems in the world,” Rubin said.

Progressives like congressional candidates Scott Wiener in California and Brad Lander in New York as well as Khanna are “desperately afraid of saying anything somewhat rational about Jews and Israel for fear of being attacked” — but are facing attacks anyway, discovering that it’s impossible to satisfy far-left voices while they are pushed to take ever more extreme positions.

Rubin argued that policymakers and advocacy groups like J Street, for which he was the founding political director, have a responsibility to lead and to set boundaries of what is and is not acceptable discourse on Israel, to stand up to the extremes and to strongly reject antisemitism. “Right now, nobody’s stepping up,” Rubin said.

J Street did not respond to a request for comment. 

Rubin said that President Barack Obama, under whom he served, understood the importance of continuing the U.S.-Israel relationship and of treating pro-Israel American Jews as patriotic and leaders within the Democratic Party, even as he supported policies like diplomacy with Iran. He said that level of nuance and respect has vanished.

Rubin has never been aligned with AIPAC, and was critical of its strategies in this year’s primaries, but said that the left is targeting American Jews and supporters of Israel writ large through attacks on AIPAC — a phenomenon he has personally experienced. He compared it to the targeting and marginalization of Jews in a variety of professional sectors over the past three years.

“Any person who’s Jewish who expresses any level of support [for Israel], no matter where on the spectrum, is now a Jewish person who needs to be targeted for harassment, and is described as an AIPAC [supporter] trying to insidiously control the American political system for a foreign power,” Rubin said.

“The American Jewish community doesn’t deserve this,” Rubin continued. “The Jewish American community on the Democratic side has been a foundational funder, organizer, elected leader, organizational leader, powerful leading voice of infrastructure in the liberal openness of American life in the last 50, 60 years, and now we’re getting beaten up as if we were the opponent. It’s totally offensive and it’s politically dangerous for the Democratic Party to do that as well.”

Speaking to JI as the House was voting on an amendment to cut $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel, Rubin warned of the “moral hazard” of the vote, arguing that many Democrats in safe blue seats would vote in favor of the amendment for political signaling purposes — “pandering to the base” that is “very much moving into a hostile position” — knowing that the amendment was going to fail.

Rubin predicted, correctly, that moderate Democrats in purple districts, “the majority-makers,” would take a more nuanced view focused on the impacts of the policy and oppose the amendment.

He praised House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for opposing the amendment, but said that the Democratic Party is now in the midst of an “existential fight” over Israel as a result of Sanders and progressive activists making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “top-level issue” for the party and the left.

Rubin — who lives in Maryland — was also strongly critical of Van Hollen, saying the senator had “turned his back on the Maryland Jewish community,” despite its strong support for him in the past, particularly in his 2016 Senate race.

“The Jews of Montgomery County — our lane, our world, East Kensington — were his foundation of political and financial support,” Rubin said. “I can’t find a person who isn’t upset about what he’s done to turn his back on us.”

A Van Hollen spokesperson said in a statement, “Our office has heard from constituents from the Jewish community of Maryland who hold a wide array of views – including many that share the Senator’s concerns about the actions of the Netanyahu government. The Senator appreciates the diversity of opinions his constituents hold on these and other issues and will always respect and support their right to express their views and have a dialogue.”

Looking ahead to the 2028 election, Rubin said he’s seeing a shift in the Democratic Party. While candidates used to travel to Israel to show their support for Israel and the Jewish community, he said that candidates are going to Israel for “stunts” and for the purpose of “castigating the Israelis to curry favor with the base,” referring to recent visits by Khanna and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and predicted that other candidates would take a similar approach.

But he warned that this pandering to the Democratic base won’t win Democrats the presidency. 

“If we have a candidate that only talks to the base of the party, we are not going to win the middle ground states in the upper Midwest,” Rubin said, arguing that a candidate like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has been criticized by the left for his support for Israel and Jewish identity, is far better positioned to win the White House.

Rubin also said that the U.S. should and must maintain its relationship with Israel going forward, calling it “our best ally in the Middle East” on a range of issues including fighting shared enemies, intelligence sharing and joint development of weapons systems — in addition to a range of economic and non-military benefits that are often overlooked.

He said that Democrats can be leaders in highlighting the non-military benefits of the relationship, from climate technology to a potential trade corridor through the Middle East and broader regional normalization and integration efforts.

He said that a Democratic president should harness those opportunities and move toward a similar relationship that the U.S. has with other allies like France or Japan, “a rich, diverse, legislatively supported, strong relationship that does include military-to-military cooperation, coordination and sales, but that is not the the whole relationship.”

But Rubin said that the left and the Democratic base don’t seem to have the appetite for any of that, and “that’s bad for the United States.”

Most Americans say they are concerned about antisemitism in the country, yet more than half are unaware of recent major attacks targeting Jews, such as last December’s Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Australia, a new survey from Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate found. 

Underscoring this lack of awareness, the number of Americans who identify as allies of the Jewish community continued to shrink, according to the anti-hate group’s semiannual survey on U.S. antisemitism. 

The report, drawn from a survey of more than 7,000 online respondents from March 4 to April 3, is titled “Worse Than Before: Antisemitic Attitudes Reach New Levels Across the U.S.,” and indicates that responses to antisemitism among the American public are less forceful than they were in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel. 

After the Hamas attacks and the onset of the ensuing Gaza war, antisemitic attitudes surged in the U.S., peaking in mid-2024, the Blue Square Alliance found. These numbers have again worsened since August 2025, with negative stereotypes about Jewish people growing most sharply among younger Americans, according to the survey. Additionally, the survey found an uptick in the share of Americans who say they don’t consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic.

Further, the survey reveals a decline in the public’s desire to combat antisemitism. A plurality of Americans (47%) are now considered “unengaged” in combating anti-Jewish hate, and the share of those characterized as “active allies” has fallen to 23%, down from 30% in August 2025.

According to the group’s typology categorizing Americans according to whether they believe in anti-Jewish tropes, 30% of the population now holds antisemitic attitudes — the highest level recorded by the nonprofit since it began tracking in 2023 and a noticeable increase from 24% in August 2025. 

While most Americans say antisemitism is a serious problem, they are often blind to its proximity. The survey found a sharp disconnect — 61% said they would be highly concerned if a Jewish individual or business in their community were harassed, yet only 23% view it as a clear and present threat.

A 53% majority of Americans were unfamiliar with the December 2025 attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration, and 66% were unaware of the arson of the largest synagogue in Jackson, Miss., in January.

Fifty-five percent of Americans now believe Jewish people can handle antisemitism on their own — up 15 percentage points from June 2023. Gen Z and millennials are more than twice as likely as baby boomers (29% versus 13%) to view Jewish people as a threat to the unity of society.

Meanwhile, nearly one-third (32%) of Americans do not consider Holocaust denial to be antisemitic, up 13 percentage points since June 2023.

The Blue Square Alliance renamed itself from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism last year, an effort designed to awaken the broader public to anti-Jewish hate. The group’s new name is a reference to its blue square pins that have been distributed to interfaith communities nationwide and posted online as a symbol in the fight against antisemitism. 

Adam Katz, the group’s president, told Jewish Insider that the Blue Square Alliance’s ongoing campaigns, including its rebrand, are succeeding in making Americans more aware of antisemitism than they would be otherwise.  

“We’ve seen a significant lift in awareness of our brand [and] recognition of our brand [as people] wear or share the blue square and tend to be familiar with the work we’re doing,” said Katz. 

Responding to the survey results, Katz said he doesn’t think the solution is “a massive change in our programming, I think it’s continuing to push our programming as fast and as hard as we can.”

He said the group’s Super Bowl ad earlier this year that raised awareness of antisemitic bullying resulted in “nearly half of viewers [taking] action based on seeing the ad, they talked about hate and antisemitism with friends and family, they got more educated on it.”

“That tells us that the messaging works. We need to make sure that we are distributing it as targeted and precisely as we can,” said Katz.   

Still, he asserted that getting Americans consistently engaged in antisemitism remains “a real challenge.” 

“It’s a function of an extremely fragmented media landscape where everyone is consuming information from different sources and getting personalized feeds, so you have to work that much harder for things like antisemitism to feel proximate,” Katz said. “That’s why we see an almost dichotomous trend — a significant increase in people recognizing antisemitism as a major problem, and simultaneously a significant increase in people saying Jews can handle it on their own. They see it as something that is growing but not something close to them on their street, in their neighborhood. Therefore, they can allow themselves to be on the sidelines.”

Addressing the data that shows antisemitism is significantly higher among Gen Z and millennials compared to older generations, Katz said his organization “needs to focus there.”

“We need even more intense focus on young Americans and making sure we are really meeting them where they are as media consumption evolves.” 

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to friends and colleagues of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died on Saturday, and spotlight how Georgia’s Jewish community is approaching the state’s Senate race. We report on the confrontation between Rep. Ro Khanna and a group of West Bank settlers during his trip to Israel last week, and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to an attempt by top staffers to meet with Iran’s envoy to the United Nations. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Mitch McConnell, Dennis Baum and French President Emmanuel Macron.

We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

• Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrives in Washington today, where he is slated to meet this week with President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials. The trip comes as Washington has sought to pressure Baghdad to crack down on Iranian militias operating in the country, and as the U.S. and Iran continued to trade fire over the weekend, with the U.S. striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz overnight after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship, prompting Iran to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
• Current and former government officials and policy wonks are arriving in Aspen, Colo., today ahead of the start of the Aspen Security Forum tomorrow. Will you be in Aspen? Say hello to JI’s Marc Rod, who will be covering the forum this week.
• Israelis will go to the polls in new elections on Oct. 27, MK Ofir Katz, the head of the Knesset’s House Committee, announced on Sunday. Katz’s announcement kicks off the official countdown to elections, even as candidates have for months been campaigning as the date has remained uncertain.
• The House Rules Committee is meeting today to discuss the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent and has been opposed by Orthodox Jewish groups. The committee is also set to discuss legislation about State Department funding when it meets at 4 p.m.
• The Justice Department’s Leo Terrell, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Greg Stanton (R-AZ), author Dara Horn and the Philos Project’s Luke Moon are among those slated to speak today at the National Coalition Against Antisemitism & Hate Conference, hosted by the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council at the National Press Club.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S EMILY JACOBS

Following the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who was 71, this weekend, tributes poured in from lawmakers, administration officials and Jewish organizations, while Republicans and Democrats alike predicted Graham would be remembered as a legendary American political figure known for his ability to take political risks and find common ground in unexpected places.

Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace in the second Trump administration and one of Graham’s closest confidantes in Washington, spoke to the senator on Saturday afternoon, hours before paramedics were called to his Capitol Hill home after he experienced an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 

“He was extremely jazzed up in our last conversation,” Ortagus told JI. “He had just gotten off the phone with the president, and he was super excited about the Russia sanctions bill and the president deciding to go back into Iran. He could not have been happier when I spoke to him last night. He was in the best mood and in a great place. He spoke about how he felt like he was doing consequential work.”

“Nobody was expecting this. That’s for sure. Not even Lindsey was, or he wouldn’t have been running for another term,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who has had close relationships with both Graham and President Donald Trump, said of the senator’s sudden passing. “When a person cuts as wide a swath as Lindsey cuts, it is shocking. It will take some time to process the reality of it. It should really hit on Monday when we show up for work.”

“He was not afraid to be critical and he was never uncritical of friends. He believed that friends owe it to each other to try to enable them to do better,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “He had a vision, which was in effect the normalization of relationships throughout the Middle East, an extension of the Abraham Accords. He pursued it relentlessly.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) credited Graham with doing “a masterful job of pulling” senators from across the ideological spectrum “in the same direction” in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, swiftly organizing a bipartisan congressional delegation alongside former Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as he sought to salvage his long-standing efforts to achieve Saudi-Israeli normalization. 

Read the full obituary here, with additional reflections from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Fetterman (D-PA), former CIA Director David Petraeus and Sander Gerber here.

PEACH STATE PROBLEMS

In Georgia’s Senate race, tough choices ahead for the state’s Jewish community

For some Jewish voters in Georgia, this year’s Senate race offers no comfortable choice. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) votes to block weapons shipments to Israel have alienated some longtime supporters, while Republican nominee Rep. Mike Collins’ (R-GA) history of inflammatory rhetoric and controversial staffing choices has made him a nonstarter for others, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The dilemma: The Jewish community remains divided on the race — some prominent community leaders, including prominent longtime Democrats, say they can’t see themselves voting for Ossoff given his record. But they also say that Collins is an unpalatable choice for them given his own history. Yet, both candidates also maintain strong supporters: Ossoff supporters argue that the response to his votes against weapons shipments have been overblown, or support the stances he’s taken. Collins supporters say that, despite past controversies, he’s the more reliable advocate for Israel and the Jewish community, in part because of his evangelical Christian background.

Read the full story here.

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‘Rogue’ rhetoric

Abdul El-Sayed calls Israel a ‘rogue state’

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan running in the race’s far-left lane, on Sunday described Israel as a “rogue state” that has committed genocide and apartheid. El-Sayed made the comments in an interview with Manu Raju on CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

What he said: Asked whether he thought the Israeli government should be considered by the U.S. to be a foreign terrorist organization, El-Sayed answered, “It’s certainly a rogue state.” He continued, “I mean, they did a genocide. What about doing a genocide is not evil in your book? At baseline they do apartheid.”

Read the full story here.

Endorsement alert: Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) over El-Sayed for the seat he is vacating, touting Stevens’ having demonstrated “time and time again that she’s a fighter” and adding that the U.S. Senate “is not a place for on-the-job training.”

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SETTLER SCRUTINY

Khanna calls for investigation into West Bank altercation

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an investigation after the lawmaker said he was harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week, an incident Netanyahu attributed to a small group of “vigilantes,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Khanna’s claim: During his first known trip to Israel and the West Bank since October 2024, Khanna said that his delegation’s van had been surrounded, stopped and taunted last Wednesday by Israeli settlers. Israel Police said that officers on the scene did not witness any violence and that the group was stopped in a restricted zone. Police added that Khanna’s tour group leader was warned of a possible arrest and that the group was told that civilians were not permitted in the area, before being released.

Read the full story here.

Bonus: The New York Post reports that Khanna ignored efforts by the Israeli Embassy in Washington to arrange a meeting with former hostages and survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

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MEETING MISHAP

Mamdani pleads ignorance of commissioner’s plan to meet Iranian ambassador

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Friday that he had been unaware that top officials in his administration planned to meet with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier this month — calling the decision “an error” on the part of one of his most prominent and politically active commissioners, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

Mayor’s comments: Speaking after an unrelated event, the mayor maintained he only learned from a request for comment from City Journal that International Affairs Commissioner Ana Maria Archila and what the publication described as “two other senior officials” working under her had planned to sit down on Tuesday with Amir-Saeid Iravani of the Iranian Mission to the U.N. City Journal, affiliated with the right-of-center Manhattan Institute, reported that the State Department stepped in to preempt the meeting.

Read the full story here.

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FOLLOW THE MONEY

Radical GOP governor hopeful got cash from backers of far-left Dems

James Fishback, the GOP candidate for Florida governor whom critics call “openly racist” and “openly antisemitic,” ostensibly sits at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the likes of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. But the far-right and far-left politicians share more than just an aversion to Israel — they also overlap in donors, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman has found. 

Money matters: Among the 27 donors to give the maximum $3,000 contribution to Fishback’s bid for Tallahassee is New York-based philanthropist and financier Amed Khan. A longtime associate of the Clinton family and contributor to former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as to the Democratic National Committee, Khan’s public commentary and political giving has pivoted leftward since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Besides maxing out to Fishback, this cycle the investment banker and Quincy Institute board member has donated $7,000 to former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, the progressive Democrat whose tirades against “oligarchs” and “the establishment” — not to mention his rhetoric on Israel — made him a favorite of the online left before a rape allegation derailed his campaign. 

Read the full story here.

Targeting Fishback: The Front Line, a newly launched political nonprofit group aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), is making a $400,000 ad buy in Florida targeting Fishback over his past antisemitic comments and suggestion that he would not enforce the state’s antisemitism law if elected.

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Worthy Reads

AWOL on Antisemitism: In The Hill, Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), the co-chairs of the Senate’s antisemitism task force, call on Congress to pass the Jewish American Security Act. “Every single attack represents a violation of Americans’ freedom to safely practice their religion. Failing to confront the moral rot of antisemitism in our country is an abdication of our responsibility to uphold this fundamental right. We cannot continue to allow discrimination and violence to go unchecked. Yet despite the disturbing rise in antisemitism, not a single piece of federal legislation focused solely and directly on combating it has been passed into law since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.” [TheHill]

Lindsey’s Legacy: In The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich reflects on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) death, looking at how the South Carolina Republican navigated the Beltway bubble, local politics and his relationship with President Donald Trump. “It is perfectly on the nose that Graham’s departure would occur just a few hours before he was supposed to appear on Meet the Press. It would have been his 64th appearance on America’s longest-running public-affairs program. In the Meet the Press greenroom there used to be a prominent photo of Graham yapping away alongside his Senate sidekick, John McCain. McCain, for his part, appeared 73 times on Meet the Press, more than any other guest in history — something McCain was especially proud of. In early 2019, a few months after McCain died, Graham joked to me that his main goal in his remaining time on God’s green Earth (or God’s greenroom) was to beat McCain’s record. He never will.” [TheAtlantic]

White House Inc.: Tablet’s Armin Rosen spotlights the overlap between business and personal dealings among members of the Trump administration, using as an example Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany who serves as a senior advisor to the president on Middle East and African affairs despite his business interests in Africa. “The blurring boundaries between individual personalities and the basic functioning of the American government are characteristic of the second Trump administration, where jobs at the top of the system have been turned into prizes given out to allies and loyalists deemed worthy of having a shot at 10-figure prosperity. … But the result of this new ethos is that the pursuits of personal and public interest now bleed into one another with desensitizing frequency.” [Tablet]

A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.

Word on the Street

In The Atlantic, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, now the head of the country’s opposition, reflects on what he has learned about the American ethos during his time traveling the country, finding that “America is the place where the individual precedes the tribe and the story precedes history,” and as a place where loneliness “is not a glitch in the system; it is the raw material from which the system was built”…

Politico looks at how Vice President JD Vance’s rhetoric on Israel is alienating some Jewish Republican donors…

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized and has not made any public statements since a fall that he said left him “briefly unconscious” last month, released a photo of himself amid speculation over the extent of his illness, saying that he developed pneumonia while recovering from the fall…

The Washington State Democratic Party is facing criticism from Jewish communal leaders over a change to its party platform that linked rising antisemitism in part to the actions of the Israeli government…

The New York Times looks at the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America in smaller cities in upstate New York as the group seeks to extend its footprint around the state…

Graham Platner officially withdrew his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Maine, clearing the way for the Maine Democratic Party to replace him on the November ballot…

The Anti-Defamation League took out a full-page ad in the Maine Sunday Telegram, declaring of Platner, “The tattoo should have been enough” and warning that those who “traffic in antisemitism” often are associated with other “misconduct”; ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told JI, “At this pivotal moment, antisemitism is not only being normalized in our politics, it is at risk of becoming mainstreamed across society. When conspiracy theories, Nazi-linked symbols, ties to extremists or hatred toward Jews are excused or minimized, leaders cannot look away”…

PEN America President Dinaw Mengestu resigned after seven months in the role, following the organization’s publication of an article describing the harassment and isolation faced by Jewish and Israeli writers in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in Gaza; Mengestu said that the decision was in part because of the group’s opposition to cultural boycotts by pro-Palestinian activists…

The Atlantic explores efforts by the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to learn the truth about their parents, who were executed in 1953 after being convicted of spying for the Soviet Union…

The U.K.’s Home Office announced it will spend £250 million ($335 million) over the next three years to increase security and policing at Jewish institutions…

The Australian royal commission of inquiry into antisemitism heard from students and faculty about the antisemitism they experienced at universities in the country that predated the Oct. 7 attacks…

Australia’s education minister announced an overhaul of the country’s education standards that will now require universities to adopt a definition of antisemitism and develop transparent processes for reporting incidents of racism…

Politico does a deep dive into efforts by Norway, led by a former national team star player-turned-activist, to oust Israel from FIFA…

European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels today to discuss a potential ban on the importing of goods from West Bank settlements…

Deutsche Welle spotlights efforts by Dennis Baum, the Jewish heir to the Simson automobile manufacturing empire, to fight back against the use of Simson vehicles in political materials distributed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party…

Counterterrorism officials in France are investigating after a military-grade weapon was discovered in a vehicle in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in the north of Paris…

The Qatar Investment Authority, which owns a 10% stake in Volkswagen AG, blocked a deal between the German automaker and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems that would have seen Volkswagen produce vehicles supporting the Iron Dome missile-defense system….

Bloomberg looks at the challenges posed to global financial institutions by the growing rift between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that “has the potential to upend global investment flows”…

Former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who oversaw the Gulf state’s transition into an era of massive growth that also saw Doha deepen ties with Iran, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and establish Al Jazeera, died at 74; The New York Times’ obituary of Sheikh Hamad included a photo of the former emir with senior Hamas officials…

Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.

Pic of the Day

French President Emmanuel Macron and Charles Dreyfus, a grandson of Alfred Dreyfus, on Sunday inaugurated a statue of the military captain, who was the target of the antisemitic campaign known as the Dreyfus Affair. The Paris ceremony marking Dreyfus’ 1906 exoneration was held on the country’s first national day dedicated to the recognition of his innocence.

Speaking at the ceremony, Macron acknowledged that “the old demons of antisemitism have never completely disappeared from our country.”

Birthdays

Television writer, David X. Cohen turns 60…

Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, retired teacher, Howie K. Kipnes… Actor whose films have grossed more than $10 billion, his maternal grandmother was Anna Lifschutz, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Harrison Ford turns 84… Ridgefield, Conn., resident, Louis Panzer… Lecturer on the federal budget process following 37 years at various federal agencies, Johnny Cahn… Co-host of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN since 2001, Anthony Irwin “Tony” Kornheiser turns 78… Actor, best known for her role as Frenchy in “Grease,” Edith “Didi” Conn turns 75… Author of crime and suspense novels, he is also a conservative commentator, Andrew Klavan turns 72… Guide and educator at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Rabbi Dr. Eric Marshall Lankin… Senior manager of regulatory and legislative affairs at PJM Interconnection, Stuart Widom… Country music artist, Victoria Lynn Shaw turns 64… Television executive and producer, she was the president of HBO’s network’s entertainment division until 2008 and was responsible for commissioning “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and other hit shows, Carolyn Strauss turns 63… Film director and screenwriter, Shari Springer Berman turns 63… Author and journalist, Katie Roiphe turns 58… Chief legal officer and chief policy officer at HackerOne, Ilona Cohen… Owner of the D.C. area franchises of SafeSplash Swim Schools, Jennifer Rebecca Goodman Lilintahl… Founder of Omanut Collective, Sarah Persitz… Director of major gifts for the Southeast region at American Friends of Magen David Adom, Yishai Mizrahi… Creator, writer and producer of the TV show “Casual,” which ran from 2015 to 2018, Alexander “Zander” Sutton Lehmann turns 39… Former CEO at Art of Air Events and Entertainment, Ariana Gradow… Managing director at BDT & MSD Partners, Nicholas Avery Newburger… Managing partner at Surround Ventures, Jared Kash… Television and film actor, Wyatt Jess Oleff (family name was Olefsky) turns 23… Technology investor and executive, Eric A. Kohlmann… Reporter at Punchbowl News, Max Cohen… 

For some Jewish voters in Georgia, this year’s Senate race offers no comfortable choice. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) votes to block weapons shipments to Israel have alienated some longtime supporters, while Republican nominee Rep. Mike Collins’ (R-GA) history of inflammatory rhetoric and controversial staffing choices has made him a nonstarter for others. 

It’s “hard for me to support either one,” Norman Radow, a major Democratic donor in Georgia and a prominent figure in Atlanta’s Jewish community, told Jewish Insider, and called the November election in the key swing state a “tough choice for a lot of Jewish people.”

“It’s hard for me to imagine that I would vote for Ossoff,” he said. “There would have to be some epiphany or something so outrageous about Collins that I have to do it.”

But at the same time, he said that Collins, a far-right Republican with a history of controversies — including boosting an antisemitic post on X and employing a chief of staff who was revealed to be a member of a group chat with white nationalists where he discussed efforts to free a Holocaust-denying far-right activist from prison — may be an equally unpalatable choice. 

Cheryl Dorchinsky, the founder of the grassroots Atlanta Israel Coalition, similarly said that Ossoff’s positions on Israel have been “incredibly disappointing” — calling it a “very good example” of why she feels “politically homeless.” 

Dorchinsky said she needs to look into Collins, explaining that she hadn’t been aware of the antisemitism scandals that had dogged him. 

“I can’t say that I will be supporting Ossoff, and I hate that,” Dorchinsky said. “It’s just making me nauseous all around. …  I really want to feel good about voting again, [to] like who I vote for.” 

The race, then, offers a stark test of how defining the Israel issue will be for Jewish voters in Georgia, especially given Collins’ baggage. And they are feeling the weight of that vote in a purple state where their numbers — some 150,000 statewide — could make a difference. Ossoff defeated former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) by about 50,000 votes out of some 4.4 million cast in 2020, helping to flip the Senate to the Democrats.

“Our vote here really, really matters,” said David Lubin, a Jewish Democrat who ran for the state Senate. But, he added, “If you’re a Democrat, you’re struggling with Ossoff’s track record on Israel.” He called the election a “very tough, very difficult” choice for him and for other Democrats.

Lubin, whose daughter was killed in a terror attack in 2023 in Israel, where she had moved two years prior and was serving as a police officer, said that Ossoff “still has time to make his case for Georgia voters and to the Jewish community.” Lubin said he’s open to voting for Collins or leaving his ballot blank in November, but he’ll give Ossoff “every opportunity” to win him over before Election Day.

But Collins’ record also raises concerns for Lubin.“That’s where people really have to sit down, they have to look at the candidate up until you go to the polls and you have to take all the information you can gather … to make the best decision.”

In order to win his vote, Lubin said that he wants to see Ossoff make a “stronger commitment” to change his votes on Israel and engage more deeply with the Jewish community in fighting antisemitism. For Collins, Lubin said he also wants to see him engage more with the Jewish community, to be “very clear on his stance with Israel with us, and his stance on how he will fight against Jewish hatred.”

Not everyone shares the concerns about Ossoff.

Cary Levow, a supporter of pro-Israel causes and candidates who has hosted fundraising events for Ossoff, told JI that the race is not “a close call,” and that Ossoff will clearly be the stronger advocate for the Jewish community.

“Jon has been very pro-Israel, even though he’s taken a vote or two that kind of got breathlessly reported as anti- or pro-Israel, which, in my opinion, gets a little too binary,” Levow said, emphasizing that Ossoff has strong ties to and family in Israel.

Collins supporters, too, say that concerns about their candidate are overblown, and argue that he’ll be the more reliable advocate for Jewish community concerns.

Peter Korman, a Jewish Republican state committee member, said he’s known both Collins and his father, former Rep. Mac Collins (R-GA), and said that allegations of antisemitism against Collins are “slander,” emphasizing Collins’ opposition to anti-Israel protests following the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.

“He stood in support of Israel. He stood in support of the Jewish population here in Georgia and across the United States,” Korman said, insisting that there is “no indication” of “any antisemitism in Mike Collins’ background or his behavior, and I have personal experience with that.”

The wider currents at play in the Democratic Party nationwide are also figuring in the Ossoff-Collins race, observers note.

One Jewish donor in the state, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said they didn’t believe it was productive for the pro-Israel community to be strongly engaged in the Senate race, framing an Ossoff victory as essentially an inevitability even as they expressed disappointment with some of his votes.

The donor said some Jewish Democratic leaders have resigned themselves to voting for Ossoff despite their concerns, arguing that his positions are more moderate than those of the growing left flank of the party and that he continues to express support for Israel to pro-Israel donors.

The donor said that the more important focus for the Jewish community should be on defeating far-left candidates who don’t believe Israel has a right to exist.

In comments to JI about the concerns raised by Jewish community members, both candidates took shots at each other.

 “Mike Collins is a notorious bigot whose blatantly antisemitic behavior and harassment is completely out of step with Georgians’ values and will be resoundingly rejected in November,” an Ossoff campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Collins’ campaign accused Ossoff of pandering to anti-Israel radicals, and emphasized Collins’ staunch support for Israel.

“Jon Ossoff would rather cater to his out-of-state, Hezbollah flag-adorned, radical anti-Israel campaign supporters than to his own constituents in Georgia,” a Collins spokesperson said in a statement. “While Jon Ossoff voted to block weapons sales to Israel and refused to condemn the dangerous anti-Israel protests that erupted across our country after October 7, Mike Collins has never bowed to the woke mob and has always put America’s and Israel’s safety first.”

Collins has seemingly taken steps to distance himself from some elements of his record that have troubled members of the Jewish community. The staffer responsible for the antisemitic X  post, as well as the chief of staff who was in the group chat with white nationalists, are both no longer employed by him, according to Collins’ office.

Politico reported last week that his office had brought on a new chief of staff.

Meanwhile, a group of more than 115 leaders and members of Georgia’s Jewish community recently signed a joint statement, first shared with JI, condemning Collins’ social media activity and arguing that “Georgians deserve better.”

“Like most groups, Jews have a wide array of perspectives on issues. Yet our Jewish tradition binds us in a belief that we should all be practicing tikkun olam — working to make the world a better place,” the statement reads. “Our Jewish values also prohibit hate speech and racism — noting that all humanity is created in the image of the divine. Mike Collins’ posts run counter to our uniting principles, and we should not tolerate it, especially in a candidate for US Senate.”

Some Jewish voters in the state said they have no concerns about voting for Collins, seeing ousting Ossoff as crucial and expressing confidence that Collins’ evangelical Christian background will make him a reliable supporter of Israel and the Jewish community.

Korman, the GOP committeeman, said his concerns about Ossoff stretch back further than his votes on the arms sales to Israel, criticizing the senator for failing to speak out in favor of state-level legislation condemning the Oct. 7 attacks and codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

He alleged that despite his Jewish identity, Ossoff has failed to speak out or be a leader for the Jewish community amid rising antisemitism nationally and within the Democratic Party.

Asked about Collins’ own vote against the Antisemitism Awareness Act in 2024, which would have codified the IHRA definition’s use by the Department of Education, Korman said that he understood that Collins’ concerns focused on free speech issues.

Others are building new relationships with Collins after the primary. Kirk Halpern, an Atlanta Jewish business leader, said he wasn’t familiar with Collins before the race but reached out to Collins’ campaign to offer his help as soon as the Republican primary ended, due to his deep opposition to Ossoff.

He said that after Ossoff’s first vote to block arms sales to Israel, he committed that “as soon as a Republican opponent is [nominated] that I will do everything I can to support that candidate. … Jon Ossoff has been wrong on every key vote.”

Halpern said that Ossoff, being Jewish and speaking out and voting against Israel, “gives cover for those that are antisemitic” and who want to see Israel destroyed.

Pressed on concerns from other community members about Collins’ history, Halpern said that he has found, living in the American South, “that the strongest support for Israel … as well as the vitality of the American Jewish community comes from the evangelical Christian community, the sincerity and love that evangelical Christians have for Israel and the Jewish people is is very deep.”

Collins, he continued, is a member of that community. “I believe that his evangelical Christian faith and his love of Israel and of the Jewish people will make sure that going forward, mistakes don’t occur,” Halpern said.

“I also believe that the absence of leadership by Jon Ossoff and with Jon Ossoff being Jewish, that is so much more problematic for our community,” Halpern added.

Halpern is set to host a meet-and-greet for Collins with members of the Jewish community later this month and said he hears similar “tremendous, informed disappointment in Jon Ossoff” from Jewish friends on both sides of the aisle.

For some Jewish voters, Derek Dooley, the moderate Republican primary candidate backed by Gov. Brian Kemp, was their favored candidate, but Collins handily won a primary runoff last month. Radow, the Democratic donor, said that Dooley would have been a more compelling Republican option for him as well.

Emanuel Fialkow, an early backer of Dooley’s campaign, said he’s now fully behind Collins.

“He’s our only chance to get rid of Ossoff, who we feel is untrustworthy and ineffective,” Fialkow said. “It should not be that difficult to support our only ally in the Middle East, and to symbolically weaken them with a vote against funding for arms sales is ridiculous. It’s almost un-American.”

Fialkow said he believes that Collins has, “whether it be for political reasons or his own religious convictions, demonstrated unwavering support for our strongest ally [Israel].” 

He said he also has no concerns about Collins’ record on antisemitism, and said Collins has been “unwavering in his support in every conversation” that he’s heard about with Atlanta’s Jewish community.

One Jewish leader in the state said that Kemp, who has strong connections to the Jewish community, could have made a stronger play for the Jewish vote had he run for the seat. The leader said Collins — given both the concerns about his record and his comparative lack of relationships with the community — will have a tougher time picking up those votes. Whether Kemp decides to push his network to support Collins could also be a factor.

Ossoff, despite his votes on Israel, maintains a loyal and dedicated base among Georgia’s Jewish community — particularly in the face of a candidate with Collins’ record. His supporters argue that the backlash to his votes on Israel has been overblown.

Mike Greenwald, a member of Atlanta’s Jewish community who organized the statement of local leaders and community members, said he was “fairly horrified” at Collins’ nomination and that it was easy to find other Jewish Georgians who agreed. “He does not seem to be a friend of our community,” Greenwald told JI.

In addition to his social media activity and former chief of staff, Greenwald also raised concerns about Collins’ attendance at a New York City Young Republicans Club event alongside a member of Germany’s far-right AfD party.

He called Ossoff “an incredible friend to Israel,” emphasizing other votes the senator has taken in support of Israel and his work on hostage issues. He said Ossoff has been a champion on antisemitism, pointing to his support for federal nonprofit security grants for the community and other engagement with the Jewish community. 

“He does all of the things you would expect someone who is a champion for both Israel and the Georgia Jewish community to do, and it’s not surprising, because it’s genuine, and we’re very proud of him for that,” Greenwald said. He said many in Georgia’s Jewish community are particularly proud of Ossoff as the state’s first Jewish senator.

“The contrast, as you picture him continuing on as senator versus Mike Collins, is pretty stark and an easy call for us,” Greenwald said.

Levow, the Ossoff fundraiser, said, “There’s no real comparison here, if he’s a little uncomfortable with 2,000-pound bombs [being sold to Israel], versus someone who’s flirting with antisemitism and white nationalists,” 

“[Ossoff] has a very, very deep well of Jewish support,” he continued. “I haven’t really wavered from him. I don’t find any of his votes problematic, to be honest with you. I think history will look kindly on them, and they’re going to be evidently reasonable.”

He said that he sees the Jewish community, particularly younger Jews in the community, as highly supportive of Ossoff, noting that one recent Jewish community fundraiser drew around 70 supporters and raised $70,000. He said Ossoff has made frequent appearances at community events, including a speech at the area’s largest synagogue around Hanukkah.

“I think he’s done an excellent job for the Jewish community, for the state of Georgia, for the country,” Larry Auerbach, another Ossoff supporter, told JI, while raising concerns about Collins’ affiliations.

“Even if I didn’t appreciate and support Ossoff as much as I do, Collins is just somebody I could never tolerate for those reasons,” Auerbach said.

Auerbach called objections to Ossoff’s votes against arms sales to Israel “much ado about very little,” arguing that blocking the sales in question would have done nothing to hurt Israel’s operations in Gaza. He also highlighted Ossoff’s support for nonprofit security grants.

Ultimately, a Jewish leader in the state said, Ossoff is likely to pick up a substantial majority of the Jewish vote in the state — in part because most of the community generally votes Democratic.

“There will be those who vote for Collins 100% because of his support for Israel and are willing to be less concerned about the adjacent antisemitism,” the leader said. In the end, the leader continued, “Jon will probably get 70-65% of the vote — the Jewish community might increase its voting for Collins a little bit more,” but most voters will likely fall along party lines.

As the election nears, Radow, the Democratic donor, is waiting to see how things unfold.

“We’ll see how the race plays out, we’ll see how they debate, we’ll see what they say on the issues,” Radow said. “I think the Jewish community will have to make a choice. There are die-hard Democrats who’ll vote for a Democrat à la [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani, just because he has a D in front of his name. I’m not that Democrat.”

Radow, who had previously engaged with Ossoff and pressed him to change his votes on weapons sales, suggested he had essentially written off Ossoff on the issue. He said Ossoff has dodged calls and outreach in the weeks ahead of major Israel votes, and then sent out mass emails to those concerned by his positions “a week after” the votes. “I’m just not going to play that game with him,” Radow said. 

But his conflicted feelings about the pivotal race remain. He said that Collins being the GOP nominee “goes a long way to ensure that Jon’s going to win.”

Radow said Collins had once told him he believed the 2020 election was rigged, which was a “non-starter” for Radow, on top of Collins “surrounding himself with people that are not of moral character and I’ve heard … he’s said some antisemitic things along the way. For all those reasons, he’s not a compelling candidate for me.”

Following last year’s contentious assembly mired in allegations of antisemitism, the National Education Association — the nation’s largest teachers’ union — adopted new policies for its upcoming Denver convention aimed at preventing the same chaos, the NEA confirmed to Jewish Insider. 

“Leading up to this year’s Representative Assembly, we are taking significant steps to ensure all of our members are respected and supported at the event based on extensive feedback and consultation with the Jewish Affairs Caucus, Jewish members, and partners in the Jewish community,” an NEA spokesperson told JI.

“We have strengthened policies for addressing discriminatory or harassing conduct, streamlined the complaint process, and are empowering event staff and leaders to remove those who violate NEA’s standards. There will also be an expanded security presence at the Representative Assembly and we will continue rigorous outreach and engagement with caucuses, including the Jewish Affairs Caucus, and external partners.”

The new rules for the July 3-7 Representative Assembly include stricter conduct enforcement for delegates, electronic voting to prevent shouting on the floor, de-escalation training for staff and regular public reminders of assembly rules, according to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which said it worked with the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus to lobby the NEA for the changes.

At last year’s conference in Portland, thousands of delegates passed a measure that would have barred the union from using, endorsing or publicizing any materials from the Anti-Defamation League, though the decision was later overturned by NEA’s Board of Directors.

 Several Jewish teachers who spoke out against the resolution at the RA told JI they were “harassed and shouted down during the proceedings.” Other delegates from the JAC said they were surrounded in what appeared to be coordinated disruptions, and one member who referenced the victim of an antisemitic firebombing in Colorado said other attendees then laughed and applauded.

The episode was widely criticized by Jewish educators and their allies as antisemitic, exacerbating concerns about the growing marginalization of Jews within the teachers’ union following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks and the subsequent impacts in K-12 classrooms. 

JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick, who will lead a presentation titled “How Educators Can Confront Antisemitism & Hate and Defend Democracy” at the weekend convening, said that “as extreme voices on both ends of the political spectrum pit Jewish safety against democratic norms and values, it’s vital that we carve a different path forward.”

JAC Chair Alyson Brauning celebrated the NEA’s adoption of “clear standards for speech and conduct in all union spaces and promoting a greater understanding of the needs and concerns of Jewish members.

“We want to express our gratitude to NEA leadership for their work with the JAC on these new rules, and are expressing our hopes that these will be enforced as fully and fairly as possible,” she said.  

Some NEA members, including incoming JAC leadership who say they were excluded from drafting the new policies, are reserving their judgment as to their efficacy.

Naomi Rodriguez, a math teacher in Pennsylvania and the incoming chair of JAC who will start her term on Aug. 1, told JI that despite being a “proud union member,” she believes the “NEA has significant work to do.” 

“Unfortunately, I was not consulted about the agreement reached with JCPA,” said Rodriguez.  “Our members should never have to choose between supporting our union and protecting themselves. The real test will be on the Representative Assembly floor: whether the experience of Jewish delegates is tainted by dehumanizing rhetoric and identity-based attacks, and how our NEA leadership responds.”   

Josh Hirsch, an English teacher in Colorado and incoming vice chair of the JAC, told JI he was also not included in the discussions with JCPA and NEA. 

“NEA has appropriately spoken up for racial justice and immigration issues, like George Floyd and ICE raids, but when a man firebombed a peaceful Jewish gathering in Boulder just up the road from this convention, and when gunmen opened fire on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney killing 15 people, NEA stayed silent. That silence is a failure of our values, and NEA must step up publicly and stop sitting on the fence.” 

The ADL, which was targeted by the union, also criticized the manner in which the policies came about.

“We are extremely frustrated about a so-called ‘agreement’ with JCPA that was reached without all NEA JAC leadership and delegates at the table,” the ADL told JI. “Crafting commitments that affect Jewish educators without including their incoming representatives sends a troubling message. It risks reinforcing the very sense of exclusion that the changes are presumably meant to address.”

“NEA has a considerable amount of work to do to earn back the trust of Jewish educators after last year’s Representative Assembly, and in light of the unchecked rise of antisemitism within NEA and many state and local affiliates,” the antisemitism watchdog group continued. “NEA’s inconsistent enforcement of its own protections has sent an unmistakable message: Jewish educators are not a priority. That must change now.” 

Spitalnick and the NEA disputed these accounts and insisted that JAC leadership was consulted. “Our team was keeping ADL and other Jewish organizations closely in the loop,” Spitalnick told JI. “[We’ve] been in close touch with the incoming [JAC] leaders.” 

“Leadership represents the caucus in conversations like this,” she said. 

Jay Goldfischer, a teacher in Los Angeles County who has been an NEA member for 26 years, told JI that “on paper, the changes are in the right direction.”

He added, “Actions will speak louder than words once we’re on the floor at the convention.”

Goldfischer said he is going into the RA prepared for “antisemitic and exclusionary policies [being] considered — and that continues to send the message that Jewish educators aren’t a priority.” 

“What transpired at the Representative Assembly last year was really upsetting and I have serious concerns about what could happen this year,” he continued. “Last year was not a safe environment for Jewish delegates. I think it’s premature to claim that these new policies are going to ensure the safety of Jewish members and educators when already NEA’s enforcement has not been consistent in the past.” 

“I’m still stuck on the fact that they shouldn’t have to make new rules to make an education convention safe for Jewish delegates,” he continued.

When Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) narrowly prevailed in the Democratic primary for an open House seat in Phoenix in 2024, winning by just 39 votes in a deep-blue district, the Arizona lawmaker could attribute her success, in part, to strong backing from the local Jewish community as well as a surge of outside spending from a prominent pro-Israel group.

Many Jewish and pro-Israel leaders in the state and beyond were encouraged that Ansari, who identifies as a progressive, staked out what seemed at the time like a moderate approach to Middle East policy issues amid rising Democratic hostility toward Israel over the war in Gaza — particularly in the party’s far-left wing.

Ansari, an Iranian American and former vice mayor of Phoenix, drew a contrast with her top rival, Raquel Terán, a former state lawmaker and party chair who had raised concerns among Jewish activists over her lack of clarity on key issues, such as whether she supported aid to Israel. For her part, Ansari stressed her commitment to U.S. military funding for Israel “without additional conditions,” while saying in a position paper that the United States “must do everything in its power to stop” Iran “from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” which she argued “would pose an existential threat to Israel.”

Now, however, Ansari, 34, has largely turned away from the stances she embraced during her primary, aligning with a range of far-left policy positions that have led several Jewish and pro-Israel leaders to feel they were misled, they told Jewish Insider.

Alma Hernandez, a Democratic state representative in Tucson who had been one of Ansari’s top Jewish campaign surrogates in the 2024 primary, said she “was really excited for the idea of having someone like” Ansari in office, noting that she attended the congresswoman’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington to demonstrate her solidarity. 

“I have not talked to her since,” Hernandez said last week in an interview with JI. “I think a lot of folks in the community feel they were really used in a sense,” she added, alleging that Ansari “was very careful with all her words because she wanted the support and the financial backing” in a closely contested race. 

Hernandez added that she did not think she could reasonably support Ansari’s reelection or ask Jewish community members to get behind her as she had in the primary race two years ago.

In an interview with JI on Wednesday, Ansari said that she has received positive feedback from Jewish voters in her district about her position on Israel. “I do believe I still have significant support from the Jewish community in Arizona,” she added, affirming that her “relationship to Arizona’s Jewish community has always been, and will continue to be, one of deep engagement and mutual respect.”

“I’m sorry that some people may feel misled, but that’s not how I see it at all,” she said, arguing that her views on the Middle East simply underscore the extent to which “the context and the situation on the ground have changed dramatically since a couple of years ago.”

Ansari said her office keeps a log of local outreach that shows most of her constituents, “if not the vast majority, are pretty in line with the American public on this issue,” stressing voters overwhelmingly agree “that what has happened in Gaza has been atrocious, that we need to really consider using U.S. leverage on how to influence Israeli policy and deep opposition to the far-right Netanyahu government.”

Still, her erstwhile Jewish supporters said they felt betrayed by her shift and questioned her sincerity. “I still really can’t believe how she played us,” said one pro-Israel leader in the state who had enthusiastically backed Ansari’s 2024 bid and was granted anonymity to speak freely about frustrations with the freshman lawmaker. “I thought she was somebody different.”

In her first Middle East policy test as a member of Congress in January, Ansari broke with progressives in backing Republican-led legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials, even as she clarified it “wasn’t an easy vote.”

But since then, Ansari has adopted a more openly hostile approach to Israel that has fueled a mounting sense of disappointment among her Jewish allies who had believed she would strike a balanced tone while in the House. She is a co-sponsor of the Block the Bombs Act, which would impose sweeping new restrictions on weapons sales or transfers to Israel, for instance, and was an early backer of a Lebanon war powers resolution, introduced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), aimed at blocking U.S. support for Israeli military operations against Hezbollah, an Iranian terrorist proxy.

During an interview this week with Mehdi Hasan of the media outlet Zeteo that underscored her growing ties to the far left, Ansari said for the first time she believed that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza as well as Lebanon, citing a U.N. report released this month. “I just don’t think we can continue to mince our words or deny what so many credible actors and institutions and doctors are saying,” she said of her thinking.

Ansari told JI she was “deeply sympathetic” to Jewish colleagues and constituents who “find the term genocide to be extremely hurtful,” saying that she did not “believe that a word should be used as a litmus test” in political debates over Israel that have consumed several recent Democratic primary races.

“Ultimately,” she said, “being clear about what has happened in Gaza and what continues to happen is not to minimize the horrors of either the Holocaust or the violence committed on Oct. 7 by Hamas, and I continue to condemn that forcefully and continue to believe Israelis deserve to live in peace and security in the state of Israel, and I believe we need a secure Palestinian state.”

Elsewhere in the Zeteo discussion, Ansari said that she remained uncertain about where she would land on an anticipated House vote over an amendment led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to slash the annual $3.3 billion in military aid the U.S. is set to provide Israel in the 2027 State Department funding bill, a controversial effort that Jewish activists in Arizona have urged her to oppose, according to a recent email shared with JI.

She also vowed to reject financial assistance from pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, the latter of which endorsed her 2024 campaign and pumped more than $400,000 into the race to boost her bid, hailing her victory as proof “that being pro-Israel is not just wise policy, but also winning politics.” 

“I just don’t want anyone to think that any of my decisions are influenced by any organization,” she explained to Zeteo. “They never, quite frankly, have been or should.”

Speaking with JI, Ansari said she has continued to engage with DMFI and has a “respectful relationship” with the group, even as she now disavows its support. “I really do find the villainization of the members of these organizations to be very problematic,” she said of the pro-Israel community. “That’s why I have very much not been antagonistic, because I don’t want to give in to that.”

DMFI’s super PAC declined to comment on Ansari’s remarks. A spokesperson for AIPAC did not return a request for comment.

Ansari’s lack of interest in backing from AIPAC comes as the group’s brand has become toxic in a number of Democratic primaries, particularly those in progressive-minded districts. And her shift to a more skeptical position on the U.S.-Israel alliance is reflective of broader polling trends that show eroding support for Israel in both parties — especially among younger voters.

But according to a source with first-hand knowledge of the matter who spoke with JI on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive subject, Ansari had “worked tirelessly” in her primary to claim an AIPAC endorsement, crafting a position paper with its policy expectations in mind, meeting with AIPAC’s staff and pledging to visit Israel on an AIPAC-sponsored trip if elected to Congress. 

AIPAC held off on supporting Ansari because it was unconvinced about her views and out of deference to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who was backing Terán and asked the group to remain neutral in the primary, the source noted.

Not long after she had entered the House, Ansari privately reiterated her interest in visiting Israel on an AIPAC-led congressional delegation, according to the source. But despite her prior outreach, her team said then that she did not want an AIPAC endorsement — indicating that it was too early in her tenure and she needed more time to acquaint herself with the group.

Ansari did not dispute that account but added there were irreconcilable disagreements with AIPAC that precluded constructive conversation, not to mention an endorsement. “The truth, from my perspective, is that there was never any room for policy differences with AIPAC,” she said, while stressing that the group “continued to provide feedback on” her positions that she was “unwilling to make.”

Despite having voiced interest in visiting Israel with AIPAC, Ansari said she “could not justify taking part” in a trip last year, amid “the continuation of violence in Gaza” and “well into the Trump administration.” Her outspoken opposition to the war in Iran subsequently hardened her resistance to such a trip, she suggested.

One pro-Israel activist in Arizona said that Jewish leaders who got behind Ansari in 2024 and are now stung by her reversals should not necessarily feel surprised, noting she had no demonstrable record as a strong supporter of Israel prior to her campaign for Congress.

In some ways, Ansari’s evolution echoes that of Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), a fellow progressive who was elected in 2022 after making a range of commitments to uphold support for Israel that he has since reneged on in Congress, stoking disenchantment among local Jewish leaders who were initially energized over his campaign.

But while Frost had engaged in private diplomacy with DMFI to preempt attacks as he ran against the group’s preferred candidate, Ansari actively courted and accepted support from the pro-Israel community in her primary, a key distinguishing factor of the race featuring an opponent seen as more critical of Israel. 

Zachary Bell, a Jewish community activist in Phoenix who has spoken to Ansari about Israel and Gaza, said that he was “very happy with how she has responded” to the wars in the Middle East. “I am far from a super far-left, anti-Israel person,” he clarified. “I think there is a wide range of opinions on this issue in the Jewish community,” he added. “She has done a very good job seriously engaging with people across that spectrum.”

Bell volunteers with J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group, but said he was speaking for himself. J Street endorsed Terán, Ansari’s primary rival, in 2024, and it has not backed Ansari this cycle, as she runs unopposed for a second term in Arizona’s solidly Democratic 3rd Congressional District. 

A Jewish community leader in Arizona said Ansari’s shifting stances on Israel indicate that she no longer feels she needs support from former pro-Israel allies to continue holding her seat. “She’s packing her bags for reelection, and there is a weight limit,” the Jewish leader told JI. “Israel, right now, weighs too much for her.”

Adam Goodman, a Jewish activist in Phoenix who supported Ansari’s campaign in 2024, said he was aligned with the congresswoman “on many issues,” calling her “smart, pragmatic and engaging, with a long political career ahead of her.”

But while he had once praised Ansari as “unequivocal in her support for Israel,” Goodman suggested he has since grown disillusioned about the congresswoman’s current approach. 

“Unfortunately,” he told JI, “she is demagoguing Israel without holding other countries to the same standard.”

Ansari, for her part, said that her views were more carefully considered than her critics speculated and dismissed accusations that she is playing politics on Israel. “I’m not somebody who jumps on any sort of bandwagon,” she insisted to JI. “I think very deeply about foreign policy.”

“We are having quite the reckoning within the Democratic caucus and Congress about all of these issues right now,” she said.

In the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary, the Jewish community finds itself navigating a best-of-times, worst-of-times, head-spinning paradox — standing nervously between the promise of an ideal America and the peril of today’s America.

In conversation after conversation, Jewish thinkers who spoke to Jewish Insider about this unique moment expressed fear and concern about the increasingly precarious situation facing American Jews in one breath. In the next, they spoke glowingly about the unique gifts this country’s democracy has given to the Jews who live here. 

In spite of this deep ambivalence, or perhaps because of it, the Jewish community is all-in on the 250th. 

As one might expect of the city that arguably jump-started the American Revolution, no expense or antic is being spared to celebrate the country’s birthday in Boston. At the Esplanade, a park along the Charles River, comedian Jane Lynch is emceeing an evening of festivities that will feature musical performances by several Grammy winners. A revolutionary-themed drone show will be followed by a massive fireworks display with an orchestral accompaniment, all live-streamed on CNN. Revolutionary War re-enactors will, naturally, be on hand. (And playing the bugle.) 

In the nearby suburb of Newton Center, Rabbi Benjamin Samuels of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah is devising a memorable July Fourth celebration, though without the theatrics that typically accompany the holiday. Independence Day falls on Shabbat this year, so the usual hubbub and pyrotechnics will be inaccessible for Orthodox Jews like Samuels who do not drive, cook or use electronics on the Jewish Sabbath. 

Shaarei Tefillah congregants can expect something a little different. They will enjoy a July Fourth barbecue, though without the open flame; all the food will be grilled the day before and kept warm overnight. Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna, the preeminent historian of American Jewish history and a member of Shaarei Tefillah, will deliver the sermon at Saturday morning services. Any kids who join their parents at synagogue will get a red, white and blue ring pop. 

Samuels has lately spent a lot of time considering what it means to be a patriotic American — in particular, a patriotic American Jew — at a moment when large parts of the American Jewish community feel as though they are under attack. He recently edited an entire issue of an Orthodox journal, Tradition, on the topic.

Antisemitism is at levels not seen in generations. The future of the Jewish state has become a political lightning rod that is increasingly a decisive, and divisive, issue in major political campaigns. Eight in 10 American voters believe democracy in America is being threatened, according to a recent Georgetown University poll.

It’s a fraught time for American Jews to be throwing the country a 250^th birthday party. Or, at least, it would be easy to think that. 

But conversations with nearly two dozen rabbis, writers, historians and Jewish leaders from across the political and religious spectrum reveal a shared sense of hope in the American project — and a belief that this milestone semiquincentennial celebration presents a unique opportunity for American Jews to hold their heads high and reflect on what this democracy, even if flawed, has given to them. 

“I think it’s the right thing to be patriotic and participate in a celebration,” Samuels told JI recently. “For all of us who put an Israeli flag, or a ‘We stand with Israel’ poster, or a blue or yellow ribbon around our light post the past few years, put an American flag on your lawn. Every synagogue should have a program on July Fourth, which is on Shabbos this year, dedicated to the American Jewish experience, and celebrate the semiquincentennial.”

Anyone who steps outside their house on July Fourth is likely to stumble upon one of the hundreds of celebrations of America’s 250^th anniversary that will take place in neighborhoods, downtowns, boardwalks, parks and military bases across the country. They’ll be hard to miss; in Washington, the annual fireworks show on the National Mall is expected to use 40 times more fireworks than in typical years.

Some Jewish thinkers believe American Jews have a particular obligation to engage with this anniversary not just as Americans, but as Jews. 

“An anniversary is a good occasion to put things in historic perspective. As bad as things may feel in the moment, they’re still pretty great relative to the bulk of not even just Jewish history, but also American Jewish history,” said Franklin Foer, a journalist at The Atlantic who wrote a provocative cover story two years ago arguing that the “golden age” of American Jews is ending. “All the ways in which Jewish values and American values are not just compatible, but overlap and extend one another, is something that I think is really important to cultivate within American Jewry and within American Jewish education.” 

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he expects many Reform rabbis to address the 250^th in their sermons this week. 

“I think we’re renegotiating what it means to be a person of deep Jewish faith and a person of deep American patriotism. How am I going to make those not just coexist but really strengthen each other? And I think that’s the big question for this 250^th,” said Jacobs. For his part, he drafted a lesson applying a Haftarah reading from the Book of Isaiah to the Fourth of July, and used it to raise questions about the legacy of slavery in this country. 

Rabbi Michael Holzman, who leads Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, created an interfaith initiative called Faith250 that inspired dozens of synagogues to study America’s foundational texts with the rigor that Jews usually apply to Torah study. At Boca Raton Synagogue, in Florida, Rabbi Efrem Goldberg devoted the congregation’s all-night learning program on Shavuot in May to a series of classes about the past, present and future of Jews in America. (The final class, about spirituality in the U.S., did not begin until 5:00 a.m.)

Every bunk at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin will be spending Shabbat on July Fourth doing age-appropriate learning on the theme of being Jewish in America at the country’s 250^th, including exercises in writing their own prayer for the country. (Only English will be used on July Fourth at the camp, which usually sprinkles in Hebrew words for summer-camp words like “cabin” and “lake.”) Members of Kesher Israel, a synagogue in Washington, D.C., will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on July 5^th. 

The idea behind all of this is to get people to engage deeply with what it means to be American, an exercise they may be more used to doing in a Jewish context. 

“When you ask people, ‘Tell me about your American identity,’ they have a hard time answering the question,” said Rabbi Charlie Savenor, executive director of an organization called Civic Spirit, which helps faith communities promote knowledge of civics. He visited Ramah Wisconsin to help organize the Fourth of July programs.

“If I asked you that question about your Jewish identity, would your answer come quicker? 99% of the time people are like, ‘Yes. Passover, Seder, Shabbat. My bar or bat mitzvah.’ You name it, they’ve got something to say,” Savenor continued. “Part of what’s happened is that the American Jewish community — this ranges from unaffiliated all the way to Orthodox — has really invested the energy that we have a stake in this thing that we call Jewish life. And how much you choose to participate, at least you have some sense of where you fit into that picture. But America, which has become so divided and polarized — what it means to be American today has become somewhat confusing.” 

Uncertainty about what it means to be an American in 2026 is hardly just a Jewish concern. 77% of Americans say that the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed in how the country has turned out, according to a Gallup survey. 53% of American adults say they are very or extremely proud to be American — down from 81% a decade ago and 85% in 2006, Gallup found. Educators and politicians often lament the decline or even death of civics education, though Harvard professor Danielle Allen recently argued in The New York Times that, after slumping a decade ago, civics education is on the upswing. 

“An anniversary is a good occasion to put things in historic perspective. As bad as things may feel in the moment, they’re still pretty great relative to the bulk of not even just Jewish history, but also American Jewish history,” said Atlantic journalist Franklin Foer.

Rising political polarization complicates Americans’ feelings about how they relate to the country and how, or whether, they feel proud of it. And on top of that, a bipartisan, congressionally funded project to celebrate America’s 250^th was sidestepped by President Donald Trump in favor of a more partisan effort called Freedom250. 

“I think there has been an increasing linkage between patriotism and partisanship. There’s a sense that if the president I like is in office, then I’m patriotic, and if the president I don’t like is in office, that I’m less patriotic,” said Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former senior official in the George W. Bush administration. 

Chanan Weissman, who leads the institute that publishes the journal Sapir, argued that a crucial project is to figure out how to “recreate the value of nonpartisan patriotism, as challenging as that may be.” 

“A flag should not connote a party. It should connote a people. And more than any other group, the Jews should be advancing this,” said Weissman, who served in the Obama and Biden administrations. “We have to make sure that America is not just good for the Jews, as we say, but good for the type of place that a Jewish community can live and thrive and flourish in.”

At 2% of the population, Jews are not going to solve the major education-policy debates in this country, but there is a burgeoning push to help American Jews better understand the ideals and history of this country, and to do so as Jews. Organizations including A More Perfect Union, which promotes democracy as a Jewish value; the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, a pluralistic Jewish education center; the Tikvah Fund, a right-leaning “ideas institution”; and Pardes, an English-language pluralistic yeshiva in Jerusalem, released source materials about America250, often putting Jewish texts and values in conversation with America’s founding documents. 

“Civics education has declined pretty considerably, so it’s not even like this is what you learn in your civics classes,” Hartman President Yehuda Kurtzer told JI. “It has definitely declined as a notion of something I’m supposed to specifically learn as a Jew, that I’m actually responsible as a Jew for this place, for America, and I’m responsible to think about my commitments to America as a Jewish imperative.”

A collective recognition seems to be emerging that this major anniversary, coming as it does at a moment of challenge for American Jews, might actually present an opportunity for renewal, and for reclaiming a common narrative: that this country belongs to the Jews as much as it does to anyone else, but only if they don’t give up on it. 

“When Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention, he was asked by somebody, ‘What kind of government are we forming?’ He says, ‘A republic, if you can keep it,’” said author Dara Horn. “To me, the important word of that sentence is ‘you.’”

A republic is built on the premise that its core rights belong to every citizen equally. Religious freedom, pluralism, full citizenship in a representative democracy — these are values that, while not always fully realized for all Americans, have been the North Star that allowed Jewish life to flourish here. 

“Having known the weight of persecution and exclusion, Jews recognized in America’s founding ideals something rare in human history: the possibility of belonging without surrendering our identity,” a group of Jewish leaders, including the heads of several major organizations, former U.S. ambassadors and a number of prominent academics, said in an open letter marking America’s 250^th. 

“This is not toleration,” said Elliott Abrams, a longtime Republican foreign policy official. “Jews have the same rights as everyone else. This goes back right to the beginning.”

In 1790, President George Washington traveled the country after the Constitution was ratified. Following his visit to Rhode Island, he received a letter from the leader of Touro Synagogue, in Newport, explaining that Jews should have the same rights as other religious groups in America. Washington was so moved that he responded immediately in a now-famous letter espousing his belief in the principle of freedom of religion, including for Jews.

“May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid,” Washington wrote, referencing the Book of Micah. One year later, the Bill of Rights — cementing religious freedom as a core American right — was ratified.

What followed was not a straight line. Slavery undermined the universal values of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and Jim Crow undercut the promise of emancipation. Jewish immigrants escaping pogroms in Europe came to America in massive numbers in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, marveling at the Statue of Liberty as they arrived at Ellis Island, before a jingoistic Congress severely cut back on immigration a century ago. In the 1920s and 1930s, as Nazism progressed in Germany, public figures like Father Charles Coughlin and carmaker Henry Ford spread antisemitic messages to the American masses on the radio and in the newspaper. 

“This isn’t the first time that the country has been through an era when it seems not to be living up to its principles,” said Jamie Kirchick, a journalist who has published books about democratic backsliding in Europe and state-sanctioned discrimination against gay people working in the government. “I think that it’s just important to maintain an understanding and a belief in those principles.”

Sarna, the Brandeis historian, put it simply: “In America, we have very short memories.”  

“Look at the persecution of German Americans in World War I, or Japanese Americans in World War II. But they recovered. The same was true in the 19th century when Catholics were so mistreated, and now look today at the vice president. So when you look at the long term, there is a lot of reason for hope,” Sarna told JI. “I don’t know that I personally will live to see it, but looking further ahead, I could see things change pretty rapidly, and we will look back and be embarrassed at some of what’s going on.”

Still, just because antisemitism and hatred have existed in America since before its founding does not make this particular revival any more palatable. 

“I do think that we have responsibility, while being grateful and feeling responsible, to participate, advocate, vote, do civic duties and so on, but also realize that the lot of the Jew in exile is to constantly sleep with one eye open,” said Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, an Orthodox rabbi in Florida, offering a skeptical rejoinder.

Horn, the author, said she is often cast as the “prophet of doom,” having warned of modern antisemitism even before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza touched off the current wave. But she knows that title doesn’t tell the full story. 

“Think about the 150th anniversary of the United States, 100 years ago. 1926. Think about the situation of the Jewish community in America then. Pretty crap,” Horn said. Congress had just, essentially, closed the borders. Ford was spreading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. “It didn’t magically go away. It’s not because people were so good … and they rejected hate. That’s not what happened. This is the height of the [Ku Klux] Klan. What happened was American Jewish activism.” 

That’s the message Horn has for the high school and college students she addresses regularly. 

Lean in even further to the civic pathways on offer in this country. Run for office. Speak up. Change things. The most important attribute, she tells young people, is courage. 

“I think it’s a human instinct to say, ‘Well, we should just hunker down with our people, because that’s who we feel comfortable with.’ My message is no, no, we should not do that,” said Shuly Rubin Schwartz, who retired as chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary this week. “Thank God we are citizens. We can use our leverage here. We have the right to protest, we have the right to vote in the people that we want, and we have the opportunity, always, to be building bridges with others.” 

Rabbi Goldberg, at Boca Raton Synagogue, offered a skeptical rejoinder, citing a Talmudic teaching about being both respectful and suspicious. “I do think that we have a responsibility, while being grateful and feeling responsible, to participate, advocate, vote, do civic duties and so on, but also realize that the lot of the Jew in exile is to constantly sleep with one eye open,” said Goldberg. American University historian Pamela Nadell called this duality “the paradox of the American Jewish experience.”

In the three years since Oct. 7, the old canard of dual loyalty has come to the fore in American politics with a renewed vigor. An anti-Israel political movement that has been building for years is now making a dent in American politics, pushing the argument that supporters of the Jewish state are driven by the malign influence of a foreign nation and, thus, are insufficiently American. The vast majority of American Jews still maintain a connection to the state of Israel, so one question that Jewish leaders are considering is how to make sure that young Jews are taught to fully inhabit both identities. 

Nina Cohen, a history teacher at the Frisch School, a Modern Orthodox day school in New Jersey, developed a course on citizenship and belonging to dig into that tension. 

“The ‘dual loyalty’ accusation assumes a zero-sum relationship between Jewish identity and American citizenship,” Cohen wrote in an article last year in Hartman’s Sources journal. “Jewish high schools must teach students to recognize and navigate multiple loyalties — to family, faith, community, nation, and Jewish peoplehood — as a civic strength that enriches democratic participation rather than undermines it.” 

The promise of America, according to Jack Lew, a former treasury secretary, U.S. ambassador to Israel and chief of staff to President Barack Obama, requires that Jews not be forced to make that choice, or even to see it as a choice.

“We should be teaching people to be proud of being Americans, and proud of being Jewish, and proud to support Israel as a Jewish democratic state,” Lew told JI. “Those things, if they become choices, undermine the 250 years of progress and success.”

Lew devoted his career to public service, a path that he recognizes was only made possible because his grandparents and his father came to this country from Europe to create a new and better life for their children.

“I think that transition in one generation, from arriving not speaking a word of English to having a son, a child, who can serve at the highest levels of government, is an American story,” said Lew, who is now a professor at Columbia University. 

Anne Neuberger, who served as a deputy national security advisor in the Biden administration, argued in a Sapir essay titled “The Jewish Case for Public Service” that raising one’s hand to serve their country is the best antidote to antisemitism. 

“Rather than walking away, we should be investing our hearts, our intellects, and our labor into making this nation the sanctuary it was always meant to be,” Neuberger wrote. “Every young person should be encouraged to think seriously about how he might best contribute to that sanctuary.”

For Rabbi Scott Klein, his sanctuary is wherever his soldiers are. As a U.S. Army chaplain at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, his job is to advise soldiers, most of whom are not Jewish, on ethics and morality; when their unit has to jump out of a plane, for instance, he is right there with them, providing spiritual guidance.

As Klein prepares to celebrate 250 years of America with his soldiers and the local Jewish community in Fayetteville, N.C., he thinks the ethos of the Army offers a useful teaching for all Americans — Jewish and otherwise — at a moment that, for some, feels less celebratory than strained. 

“I think that the military remains one of the very few places where Americans from every zip code, background and belief system live, train and bleed together, and it proves that pluralism isn’t a source of weakness,” Klein said. “I hope to remind the Jewish community in the nation that religious freedom is not a passive luxury. It’s actively defended.”

“Rather than walking away, we should be investing our hearts, our intellects, and our labor into making this nation the sanctuary it was always meant to be,” said Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security advisor to former President Joe Biden. “Every young person should be encouraged to think seriously about how he might best contribute to that sanctuary.”

Twelve years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when the gunpowder of the Revolutionary War had cleared and the American experiment was still very much an experiment, something momentous happened: the Constitution was ratified. The document that laid out the governing structure of American democracy would, at last, be implemented.

The streets of America filled with parades of citizens cheering on the occasion. The Grand Federal Procession, the country’s official celebration, took place in Philadelphia on July 4, 1788. The spiritual leader of Congregation Mikveh Israel, a Philadelphia synagogue that still operates, marched arm-in-arm at the parade alongside one of the best known ministers in the young country. 

A feast was laid out after the parade. One of the tables was filled with kosher food — pickled salmon, bread, almonds, crackers and raisins. The full and enthusiastic inclusion of Jews in the festivities to ring in the ratification of the new Constitution marked a small, if meaningful, inflection point for religious minorities. 

“That symbolizes it to me: We always want to be American, fully American, embracing our role as citizens, our privilege and responsibility as citizens,” said Shuly Rubin Schwartz, the former JTS chancellor. “And we want to do so proudly as Jews.”

David Harris spent more than three decades leading the American Jewish Committee, where he navigated crises facing the Jewish community and built bipartisan coalitions to advance the group’s mission of supporting Israel and Diaspora Jewry.  

His book, Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs to Know, published by Oxford University Press last year, is Harris’ attempt to reach beyond the Jewish community — churches, classrooms and the “average New York Times reader.” His goal, he said, is to turn the “silent majority” into the “loud majority.”

Written in the shadow of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel, the book arrived at a moment of surging antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world. It traces antisemitism from its ancient roots through the Holocaust, the Soviet era and its recent resurgence — the explosion on college campuses and beyond after Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Harris, who quipped that he retired “for about 30 seconds” after serving as AJC’s CEO from 1990–2022, sat down with Jewish Insider on Thursday to discuss the book at a moment in which he said he has “never been more worried” about antisemitism — yet also remains optimistic about the Jewish future.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jewish Insider: Oxford University Press called you about writing this book in the fall of 2023 — weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks. You write that you were “honored but distressed by the need for such a book.” How much did the aftermath of the attacks reshape the book you thought you were going to write?

David Harris: That call was not directly related to Oct. 7, it was too close to the attacks to even have associated [the rise of] antisemitism with it. Antisemitism was surging [already] in general. They needed a book that would be easily accessible to a high number of people, to be able to reach the average New York Times reader. It was also meant for high school and college classrooms and churches. They understood the emerging problem and this was their contribution.

I wrote the book over the span of close to two years during the post-Oct. 7 period. Two things impacted me: the speed and virulence of which history was turned on its head. The worst day in Israeli and Jewish history since the end of World War II had before our eyes suddenly become directed at Jews, Zionists [and] friends of Israel who were suddenly seen as the perpetrators. Even with my understanding of the subject matter, I was stunned by how quickly and viciously it turned.

Number two is that I kept needing to add to the book because every day brought new events, insights and tragedies. At a certain point the publishers had to remind me this wasn’t a newspaper, we have to close the book at some point. There’s already room for a sequel, unfortunately. 

JI: How are you reaching a wider, non-Jewish audience? Does the average American want to read about antisemitism? What has been their reaction to the book? 

DH: Because Oxford University Press [is a major publisher], it’s not so easy for people who are otherwise ready to go after a book on antisemitism, such as the one that I wrote, to discredit or marginalize it with accusations like “Harris is a Zionist.” The publisher’s label is enormously important for the book’s credibility and reach. 

Jews are also an important part of the audience. I learned from writing the book. Others can learn from reading the book.

I wrote this book with the hope that I’d be able to speak to non-Jewish audiences as well. So when one of the largest Methodist churches in the U.S., in Kansas City, with more than 30,000 worshippers a week, invited me to come speak, I was in my happy place. They invited me to come and could not have been more gracious. The response was very good. There was also a large gathering of interfaith leaders while I was in Kansas City. I want to reach well beyond the Jewish community because antisemitism is not a Jewish problem that can be solved by Jews.  We need to engage good people, the silent majority, and help turn them into the loud majority.  

It seems to me the larger goal, and this book is only a part of it, is to reach and mobilize the heart of America to understand the situation and the implications not just for Jews but for liberal values for all of us. It may begin with Jews, it never ends with Jews. The people burning the American flag are the very same people trampling on the Israeli flag and threatening Jews. 

JI: Where do you see the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism — and has that line shifted since Oct. 7?

DH: For me, the line has not shifted. It’s just been more revealed. In the book I quote Natan Sharansky, one of my heroes, who wrote a number of years ago there’s “three Ds” to answer that question. When criticism of Israel evolves into delegitimization of Israel, demonizing of Israel and the use of double standards, it’s clear people cannot hide behind their defense of just being critical. 

It’s a more elegantly linguistic way of being antisemitic while claiming you’re only anti-Zionist. 

JI: The book documents the near-total disappearance of 850,000 Jews from Muslim-majority countries since 1948. Why does that history get so little mainstream attention, and why does it matter now?

DH: It’s a question I know all too well because I’m married to one of those 850,000 Jews and have been for 51 years. I’ve seen this issue play out through my wife’s experience post-expulsion from Libya in 1967 and I’ve seen it play out in my global diplomacy where every time I raise this issue I’m usually met by an eye roll — a complete lack of interest. 

One reason is the Palestinians have done an exceptionally good job of making the world believe they are the perpetual refugees and have elevated victimhood to a whole new level. Those 850,000 Jews really determined from the get-go that they were not going to create lifelong victimhood, they were going to build new lives. And they did very successfully, so they didn’t become professional storytellers of their plight and loss. 

But my wife says they are triple victims. First, they were expelled or forced to flee their country, their ancestral homeland. Two, the world looked away. Three, there is no trace of a 2,000-plus year history of the Jewish presence in Libyan history today. There is nothing, they’ve been completely wiped out. With the exception of Morocoo, that is true for most of these countries which these refugees had to flee.   

JI: There’s a chapter detailing the campus antisemitism surge. Jewish groups told Jewish Insider two months after the Oct. 7 attacks that they were taking an engage-and-influence approach with diversity, equity and inclusion frameworks that have been used to exclude Jews from protected minority status on some campuses, which some attribute to the rise in antisemitism. Then in 2024, the same groups said they were reassessing their embrace of DEI. What is your approach? Is DEI fixable? 

DH: For many years Jewish organizations relied on one weapon with campuses, so to speak. That was called reason, sitting down with the president or provost and reasoning with them to help them understand why antisemitism is unacceptable. Clearly, after Oct. 7 that dependence on reason was proven to be totally ineffective in most places. 

What instead is more effective is taking the gloves off — lawfare. I particularly applaud the students at Harvard, Penn, George Washington University and other schools who took the lead here. While sitting on campuses, they were suing those campuses for violation of their rights. The organizations that got behind the students, groups like the Lawfare Project and Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and law firms that have stepped up pro bono, all deserve huge credit.  

I retired for about 30 seconds after I stepped down from my position at AJC. I joined the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy because I thought they were really onto something regarding campuses that no one else that I knew was looking at carefully, long before Oct. 7, and that was foreign funding — where was it coming from? What was its intent? Why were universities in many cases violating American law by not reporting those gifts? Today it’s part of the national discourse to follow the money. These ecosystems directly and indirectly penetrated campuses at many levels, student organizations, faculty and staff, liberal arts, social sciences, Middle East study centers. They penetrated over many years in a very systematic and focused way. 

The combination of deep research and the ability to get the research into policymakers, in the university world and the political world together with lawfare are the strategies that I think are most effective. 

The students on campus are the frontline warriors of the Jewish people. They deserve the absolute backing of the American Jewish community.  

JI: You led AJC for more than 30 years — you’ve seen Jewish organizational leadership up close across decades of crises. How do you assess how today’s Jewish leaders have responded to the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism, and what would you tell them to do differently? 

DH: Our community is several steps behind where it should be. We are at war. It’s a war designed to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Israel. It has fueled antisemitism and in many cases attacked and isolated Jews. Unlike in Israel, I don’t see the war mindset, plans and leaders here. I sometimes wonder, if the American Jewish community had been asked to organize D-Day, could the community have actually come together and created a single, comprehensive plan and followed it? I’m not sure. Based on the post-Oct. 7 situation here in this country, I worry we are not where we should be — where we need to be. 

JI: You built AJC’s influence partly through bipartisan relationships. Is that model still viable, or does the current political environment force Jewish organizations to choose sides?

DH: It certainly elevates the importance of groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Democratic Majority for Israel. Support for Israel, in both political parties, can obviously no longer be taken for granted. That’s especially true now in the Democratic Party, all the more so after the primary election in New York earlier this week. 

But there’s also an emerging cultural war inside the Republican Party. While I operated for nearly 50 years in the nonpartisan space, and positioned AJC as a nonpartisan organization with outreach at the highest level to both parties, today I would say it’s particularly important Jewish groups are operating inside multiple parties in a very partisan way. 

It’s clear that we have enormous work to do in the Democratic Party. It was not long ago that [Sens.] Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) were the outliers when it came to Israel and the Middle East. Fast forward a couple of years and they are now the clear majority. Every Jewish organization looking for a Democrat from Washington lines up to invite Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). If he’s not available, they’re all baffled as to who else to invite from the contingent of Democrats in the U.S. Senate. 

The question for the 501(c)(3) groups that are nonpartisan is, what do they bring to the table? In an earlier era, Jews were seen as a very important constituency with many voices, reach and impact. I’m not sure what the power equation is today for nonprofit Jewish organizations and why people in Washington should listen to them as they would have a few years ago.

The challenge for Jewish organizations is how to restore their indispensability to the national conversation. Posting on X, issuing statements, if no one is reading them or thinking about the messaging then what’s been accomplished? There is a huge amount of work to be done. I hope and pray the American Jewish community is up to the task.  

JI: After immersing yourself in this history, are you more or less optimistic than when you started?

DH: I could not have spent 50 plus years in global Jewish advocacy without being a believer in the possibility of change for the better. I’ve seen it in my lifetime. I’ve seen the miracle of the rescue of Jews from the Soviet Union and the rescue of Jews from Ethiopia. 

I also understand as a Jew I’m commanded to believe in the possibility of a better tomorrow and not to succumb to despair. Having said all of that, I would be totally dishonest if I didn’t tell you that I’ve never been more worried in my adult lifetime than I am right now.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has long been a target of the far left in New York City, largely because of his outspoken support for Israel and his Jewish constituents.

But Torres emerged with a commanding victory over a far-left challenger in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, even as pro-Israel Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) were defeated by democratic socialist-aligned challengers. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a progressive backed by party leaders, was also defeated by a challenger aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. 

Observers attribute Torres’ landslide win against former New York Assemblymember Michael Blake to a variety of factors, including the different demographics of his district — which includes the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale, as well as some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city— as compared to the other three districts, his strength as a member of Congress and as a campaigner and Blake’s own weaknesses as a candidate.

Torres is popular in the district, has prioritized constituent services, has been a longtime presence in the district — as a city councilman from 2014 to 2020 before his time in the House — and maintains a strong reputation locally, Torres campaign spokesperson Benny Stanislawski said.

That’s in spite of the online vitriol that’s frequently directed the congressman’s way by the far left.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), in an MS NOW interview on Wednesday, pointed largely to the demographics of the districts — wealthier voters taking more of an interest in Middle East policy issues — as the reason for the differential results.

“What’s interesting is that, in some of those districts, which tended to be higher-income districts … there was an outsized focus on issues connected to the Middle East, the Middle East,” Jeffries said. “In other districts, for instance, in the South Bronx, Ritchie Torres was running against somebody who was heavily critical of Ritchie Torres’s position on Israel, and he won by fifty points.”

Strategists largely offered a similar assessment.

Torres is a strong fit for his district, as an Afro-Latino man who grew up in housing projects in the district, Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York Democratic strategist, said. 

The voting population in Torres’ district, overall, is less friendly to the far left than the other districts where left-wing candidates surged, and Torres retained strong support among both the Jewish community and older minority voters.

Blake didn’t benefit from the same institutional DSA backing that others received. Blake himself is not a DSA member and is “not particularly DSA-adjacent, although he’s tried to position himself there since the mayoral primary,” Jake Dilemani, another New York Democratic strategist, said.

“[The DSA] supports candidates who they think have the best shot at winning based on who the candidate is, but also who or what the district is,” Dilemani said. “They pick carefully where they engage, and I think a combination of, potentially, they couldn’t find a legitimate candidate for them to run, coupled with the district is not as favorable to a DSA candidate as some of the others, they wanted to use their resources wisely.”

Strategists said Blake is also known as being a politically unreliable striver — he pivoted during his recent mayoral campaign and congressional bid against Torres from being a supporter of Israel and ally of AIPAC to staunchly anti-Israel, for instance — who has run for a slew of different offices.

“I don’t know that anyone particularly took his candidacy all that seriously. He’s run for nearly every single office there is, with the exception of maybe king of England,” Dilemani quipped.

Blake also faced a barrage of attacks and scrutiny from the outset of his congressional campaign, something that was not the case for other candidates like Darializa Avila Chevalier, who defeated Espaillat.

“Torres is a better pol[itician] and a smarter campaigner. He just is,” Sheinkopf said. “The other guys … didn’t define their opponents. Torres knew that anything was possible. He has a smarter way of looking at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and he did what was appropriate to protect himself.”

Sheinkopf also speculated that Mamdani didn’t want to take a chance on Blake when he had other, easier targets that were more fertile ground for his brand of politics. DSA-style politics have typically thrived among younger populations newer to the area, a smaller contingent in Torres’ district.

Sheinkopf noted that Torres also significantly outraised Blake — he stockpiled millions in campaign cash even before Blake emerged as his leading rival.

And, strategists said, Torres’ outspokenness on behalf of Israel has been somewhat less prominent over the past year, even as the congressman’s views and positions have remained largely the same. Torres offered some criticism of Israel last year, similar to that expressed by some other pro-Israel Democrats.

“It’s smart on his part,” Sheinkopf said. “He understands that survival is important. Has he betrayed the pro-Israel community and the Jewish community as others have? The answer is no. Is he being smart about it? The answer is yes, and we should respect him for that.”

Strategists said Torres can’t count on his strong victory on Tuesday deterring future efforts to challenge him.

Dilemani emphasized that “two years is an eternity in politics,” and that it would be foolhardy to try to predict what might happen in the next race.

“The DSA people have no sense of what fits and what doesn’t fit … they will do it again because they can,” Sheinkopf said.

A manifesto allegedly left by the gunman behind Monday’s rampage in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, repeatedly targeted Jews and Zionists, specifically identifying “influential Zionists” among his intended victims, according to a copy of the document published by Rebel News.

A Jewish civilian, a police officer and the suspect were killed in the attack, while one other police officer was seriously injured but is in stable condition. On Tuesday, Quebec authorities identified the alleged suspect as Seth Hatfield, a 25-year-old man from Alberta. Police have not yet released a motive for the attack. 

The 104-page document, published in full by Rebel News, lists “valid potential class A targets,” including large investment banks, powerful politicians and “influential Zionists.” 

The manifesto included antisemitic conspiracy theories, stating, “The influence of Zionist Jews upon the western bourgeoisie is in fact so strong that in my other works I sometimes refer to the western ruling class itself as the Judaeo-bourgeois class.” It also repeatedly laments male loneliness and capitalist ideology. 

The Quebec coroner’s office confirmed that the civilian killed was Michael Mizrachi, 64. He has been described as an active member of the Jewish community and father of three who sold suits for a living. His local rabbi, Mendel Raskin, told Canadian media that Mizrachi was originally from Lebanon and had moved to Israel before settling in Montreal.

Montreal police declined to comment to Jewish Insider Tuesday on the ongoing investigation. 

The shooting comes as Jewish leaders across Canada have warned that law enforcement and the government have failed to properly address a historic rise in “systemic” antisemitism. 

Jewish communal groups are at loggerheads over the possibility of merging two related but distinct State Department offices: the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and special envoy for Holocaust issues.

Some Jewish groups recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in support of the concept of merging the two offices, while others have sent letters in recent  months opposing such a move.

Proponents of combining the two offices say that doing so consolidates linked issues under the authority of one envoy with ambassador-rank status, while maintaining the work of both offices. Opponents say that combining the two teams would undermine and diminish the work of the Holocaust affairs envoy and risk politicizing critical work on Holocaust restitution.

The reexamination of the two roles comes ahead of the expected retirement of Ellen Germain, who has served as special envoy for Holocaust issues since 2021. Advocates on both sides of the debate said they understand the State Department is considering whether to merge the two offices, though no final decision has yet been made. Multiple communal letters reference rumors about the possibility of a merger of the two offices.

The antisemitism envoy office focuses on combating antisemitism globally, and is led by a political appointee chosen by the president and confirmed by the Senate, who has typically changed with each administration. The Holocaust affairs envoy office focuses on Holocaust restitution and education issues, as well as combating Holocaust denial and distortion, and is led by an apolitical career Foreign Service Officer, often maintaining their role across multiple administrations.

The Department of State did not provide comment.

In a June 10 letter, groups and leaders including the Combat Antisemitism Movement, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Coalition for Jewish Values, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Orthodox Union, World Jewish Congress, Zionist Organization of America, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, former antisemitism envoy Elan Carr, former deputy antisemitism envoy Ellie Cohanim and former deputy antisemitism envoy Karen Barall, wrote to Rubio urging him to merge the two positions.

“The historical realities of global antisemitism and the preservation of Holocaust memory are inextricably linked. Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented and sophisticated surge in global anti-Jewish hostility, which frequently weaponizes Holocaust denial, historical revisionism, and the distortion of Nazi-era atrocities to fuel modern hatred,” the groups wrote. “Fragmenting our diplomatic response across two distinct offices dilutes administrative efficiency, risks duplicative efforts, and underutilizes vital Department resources at a time when maximum strategic impact is required.”

The groups said that combining the two offices “will streamline U.S. foreign policy implementation and provide foreign governments and international bodies with a singular, high- level point of contact in the form of [current antisemitism envoy] Ambassador [Yehuda] Kaploun, elevating the visibility and diplomatic weight of the SEHI portfolio” and help facilitate the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism worldwide.

The Holocaust issues office currently falls within the State Department’s Europe portfolio, while the antisemitism office has a global mandate.

Groups including the American Jewish Committee, American Joint Distribution Committee, Agudath Israel of America, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, The National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry and the World Jewish Restitution Organization — many of which deal directly with post-Holocaust and restitution issues — are opposing the move.

The Holocaust issues office “serves as a critical statement to the world of American values and moral leadership and of the singular significance that the United States attributes to commemoration, research and remembrance of the Holocaust, as well as the commitment of the United States in seeking justice for Holocaust survivors,” they said in a joint letter to Rubio in late April, a draft of which was obtained by JI.

The groups described the office as a critical resource for the Jewish community, which has received strong support from Congress. “In a world where there is less and less knowledge of the horrors of the Holocaust, and there are fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors, it is imperative that this office which is dedicated solely to these goals, continue to stand as a beacon showing the special commitment of the United States government to education about the Holocaust and the United States’ role in leading the quest for justice for the victims and their families internationally.”

The groups urged Rubio to appoint a “senior diplomat” to fill Germain’s role upon her retirement.

Numerous Jewish organizations have also weighed in individually, on each side of the issue.

In favor of a merger, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also wrote to Rubio this month in favor of combining the two offices. He said that combining the offices under a Senate-confirmed ambassador will “elevate the issue set; strengthen U.S. representation on key international fora like the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; and send a clear signal to foreign counterparts that the United States remains committed to these issues.”

“Ambassador Kaploun has made clear that the status quo must be broken if we are to finally achieve a small measure of justice. This means strengthening accountability, working with Jewish communities, and seeking results, not conferences and photo-ops,” Cooper said. “I look forward to supporting him in those efforts.”

The World Jewish Congress also expressed support for merging the two offices, arguing in a May letter to Rubio that the “Holocaust issues today differ from those of the postwar and restitution eras.”

“The central challenges now concern Holocaust denial and distortion, the erosion of historical memory, and the exploitation of Holocaust revisionism in service of contemporary antisemitism and extremism,” the WJC letter reads, adding that the issues are now far larger than Europe.

But that’s far from a consensus view within the Jewish community.

Opposing a merger, AJC CEO Ted Deutch separately wrote to Rubio in March to “respectfully underscore the critical importance of maintaining the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues as a separate, prominent, and fully empowered office within the Department, and to urge that the process of selecting a qualified Special Envoy be set in motion without delay.”

“Maintaining a dedicated and empowered Special Envoy ensures that the United States can continue to press governments to meet their commitments, resolve outstanding restitution matters, combat Holocaust distortion and antisemitism, and uphold justice for survivors and their families while it is still possible to do so,” Deutch said, particularly at a time of rising Holocaust denial, distortion and inversion, including by public figures and leaders, and when many Holocaust restitution claims remain unresolved.

Robert Williams, the USC Shoah Foundation’s chair and CEO, also urged Rubio, in a letter in late May, to keep the two positions separate.

“Merging these offices risks diluting their effectiveness. This is something we can ill afford in our trans-Atlantic relations or in our work in North America,” Williams said, particularly after Canada eliminated its own antisemitism envoy. “Respecting the relevance of the Holocaust and justice for the survivors, while simultaneously focusing the fight against antisemitism is only possible if State maintain[s] both offices with their complementary yet different strengths and areas of expertise.”

A source familiar with the situation said that some in the Jewish community feel that having a senior FSO in the Holocaust affairs envoy role has historically served the office well, insulating the position and the issues from politics.

The source said that some in the community see the move to combine the offices as driven by Kaploun, and believe it to be an effort by the antisemitism envoy to expand his influence over various issues relating to the Jewish community.

At the same time, the source acknowledged that there could be value in placing the Holocaust affairs envoy’s responsibilities in the hands of someone such as Kaploun, who has the ear of President Donald Trump, in addition to other senior officials.

Barall, who serves as the chief policy officer for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said that discussions about combining the two offices are longstanding, dating back to the Bush administration, when the antisemitism office was first established.

“We’re at a time where resources are limited, and combining expertise and budgets under a unified strategy can create greater impact without sacrificing the mission,” Barall said. “When you have two different offices working independently and in parallel of each other, it doesn’t benefit anybody.”

She said that it’s not helpful for the Jewish community and is confusing to foreign interlocutors to have two separate offices, which sometimes are undertaking duplicative or contradictory efforts.

Alyza Lewin, the president of U.S. affairs at CAM, echoed that argument, calling the current separation “awkward and inefficient” for interlocutors with the offices.

“It makes sense for the two offices to be combined, so that the issues are addressed together with one voice, with consistency, and it also, quite frankly, elevates the Holocaust issues today” under the supervision of a Senate-confirmed official reporting directly to the secretary of state, Lewin said.

She said that her understanding is that there would be no reduction in staff or resources to either office, and that the Holocaust affairs envoy’s staff would move to the antisemitism envoy’s team, ensuring no loss of expertise or capacity to work on Holocaust issues.

Lewin also argued that, with the shrinking number of Holocaust survivors, the work of the Holocaust affairs envoy is shifting toward a greater emphasis on issues like Holocaust memory, Holocaust denial and Holocaust education, which she said are a “key part” of modern antisemitism.

Opponents of a merger say that the extent of that shift is overstated, and that the issues of the Holocaust affairs envoy remain critical, and distinct, from those of the antisemitism envoy.

“I worry … that a merger brings with it a risk that these offices’ individual tasks will be harder to accomplish, and at least in the short term, and that could inhibit our ability to, A, push back against the world’s oldest hatred, and B, as the head of a Holocaust institution, ensure that we have a future that remembers, learns from, and respects the history of the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance over the long term,” Williams, the USC Shoah Foundation CEO, said.

He also argued that Holocaust restitution issues remain a critical and ongoing task and will not disappear in the near future — pointing to Congress’ recent passage of a new law relating to restitution issues and some countries that continue to resist restitution efforts.

Williams further argued that Holocaust education and antisemitism are related but ultimately distinct issues. And, he said, the U.S. should not necessarily model its own approach on other countries’ decisions to combine antisemitism and Holocaust issues into a singular role, though he said he did not doubt Kaploun’s personal capabilities and effectiveness.

“None of these countries have been as effective as morally clear and as useful in ensuring a future for the fight against antisemitism and a future that remembers and respects the Holocaust, as has the United States, and I think a major factor in that has been because we have divided labor effectively,” Williams said. He warned that consolidating the positions could ultimately open the door to antisemitism and Holocaust work being subsumed into a broader portfolio in some future administration.

Menachem Rosensaft, a Cornell University adjunct law professor involved for years in post-Holocaust issues and fighting antisemitism who has worked with multiple envoys in both offices, said that combining the two teams “risks undermining the effectiveness and the professionalism of the Holocaust-era office.”

“I think both are important offices, both are important areas, but they’re also different,” Rosensaft said. “One of them is a politically oriented office looking at contemporary manifestations of antisemitism abroad, and the other is an office whose purpose… is to effectively assist in Holocaust-era restitution, mostly benefiting Holocaust survivors and their heirs, and those are two very different functions.”

He emphasized that the Holocaust affairs envoy position is in some ways “much more sensitive and delicate” because it requires navigating complex bureaucracies in Europe, a task which he said is best left to an apolitical career official rather than a political appointee — even as he praised Kaploun’s credibility on the issue of antisemitism.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) emergence as a leading Democratic party critic of Israel — while affiliating with and embracing individuals and groups that have been accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism — is creating divisions within the local Jewish community in his Silicon Valley-centered district.

While Khanna maintains unified support from Jewish elected officials in the district, other Jewish community leaders say they feel abandoned, ignored and even attacked by their congressman, whom they once saw as an ally, as he faces what could be his most credible primary challenge in years.

For some in the district, ties with the congressman have been strained for years, and were further inflamed by the March attack on two Israeli Americans in San Jose’s Santana Row shopping district.

Khanna strongly condemned the attack but some in the community said his words rang hollow after months of escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. Some Jewish leaders in the district say that they saw a direct connection between Khanna’s incendiary language condemning the Jewish state and attacks such as the one their community experienced.

Two days after the attack, Khanna posted about how he is “proud to stand” with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as to join far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show, all of whom have faced criticism from the Jewish community — comments that prompted condemnation by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

Jewish leaders in the district who are now critical of the congressman said the community’s relationship with Khanna started out strong when he was first elected in 2016, but has significantly deteriorated over time, particularly in the past few years. Khanna’s Silicon Valley district includes substantial, concentrated Jewish and Israeli-American communities.

Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, a local grassroots advocacy group, said that Khanna was “warmly welcomed” by the Jewish community when he was first elected and that many in the community had supported him.

Khanna traveled to Israel three times while in office, and has expressed support for the Abraham Accords, voted in 2019 to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, condemned calls to “globalize the intifada,” voted in early 2024 to condemn the slogan “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and introduced a Holocaust education resolution in 2024. Amid rising antisemitism in recent years, he has touted appointing a point of contact for addressing antisemitism in the district on his congressional team.

But, Klima and other critics said, they’ve seen the congressman’s posture change over time.

“He’s become more and more divisive and more extremist in his views, that we never heard when he was first elected, especially since Oct. 7. It’s been a massive shift in the way that he communicates about things that we care about,” Klima continued.

“At this point, the community has really lost trust in him,” Klima said. “Much of the community is afraid of him, and much of the community is also very angry and feels betrayed by him.”

“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”

Khanna has frequently and repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, was among the first lawmakers to endorse calls for cutting off U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and led an effort for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, among a range of other stances and votes, and has repeatedly faced scrutiny for his affiliations with groups and individuals condemned by the Jewish community.

Later this week, he’s set to offer an amendment to strip a provision advancing U.S.-Israel cooperative programs out of the 2027 defense bill. Though one former Biden administration called the provision “quite unremarkable” and in keeping with existing programs, Khanna called it a “fusion” of the U.S. and Israeli militaries to prevent scrutiny and accountability for U.S. aid to Israel. 

Jewish elected officials supporting Khanna, in statements shared with Jewish Insider, praised the congressman for his support for a two-state solution and for engaging with local Jewish communities.

“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”

State Sen. Josh Becker added, “While Congressman Khanna gets a lot of ink for his criticism of Israel he gets less for his vocal support of a two state solution and Israel as a safe democratic Jewish state.”

Others, such as San Jose City Councilmember David Cohen, more broadly praised him for his work on local issues.

“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.

“Times are very difficult these days in Washington D.C., and Congressmember Khanna remains a steady advocate for our region and economy. We need people who understand the tech industry and also who bring money back to our community from the federal budget,” Cohen said. “He has shown courage and has been willing to face his constituents at monthly town hall meetings ever since he was elected. While I don’t agree with every position he takes, I admire his thoughtfulness and transparency.”

Cohen declined to speak further on Khanna’s foreign policy work or his relationship with the local Jewish community.

But others in the community feel that their concerns aren’t being heard or listened to by the congressman. Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, a Jewish nonprofit which runs a local JCC and other community programs and resources, said he’s communicated to Khanna directly that he thinks the legislator is out of step with his constituents.

“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.

Ivanov also accused Khanna of spreading a “blood libel” in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

Oded Shekel, executive director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, emphasized that members of the Jewish and Israeli community in Khanna’s district feel afraid, isolated and that they have to hide who they are, and don’t feel they’re getting the support they expect from their congressman.

Shekel said that he doesn’t necessarily think Khanna is personally or openly antisemitic, but that he is supporting and rationalizing extreme voices, to the point that has made many Jews like him feel that Khanna is the “strongest voice [that] hurts Jews in his district.”

Khanna joined a town hall in 2024 hosted by the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — a separate entity from Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action led by the same individuals — but the relationship has soured since then.

Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, a Khanna supporter, said he’d attended the BAJC town hall, and met with Jewish community members alongside Khanna to discuss the challenges that Jewish high schoolers were facing from antisemitism in the district, and how the congressman could address them.

“Good to hear directly from High School Students and their parents on the district issues,” Mayor Klein said in a statement. “It was valuable to hear firsthand about the harassment that Jewish Students had endured.

Mayor Klein also praised Khanna’s “bipartisan approach to leadership” on issues including “working to halt reckless foreign intervention” and the release of the Epstein Files, saying that Khanna, “consistently puts principles over politics.” He also praised Khanna’s engagement with constituents more broadly and work on securing federal funding for the district.

Daniel Klein of Jewish Silicon Valley described Khanna’s stances and statements as hostile to the Jewish community. He said that the violent attack in Santana Row, and other similar incidents, are the “natural maturation” of the rhetoric Khanna has used and elevated.

“I appreciate the congressman being outraged” about the Santana Row attack, “but statements and what he normalizes and who he platforms before these incidents, and then who he chooses to stand with and platform and normalize after these incidents, makes the community feel unseen and unsupported by the congressman,” Klein said he told Khanna’s office in the wake of the attack.

Yet, Klein said, Khanna’s rhetoric does not appear to have shifted substantially since the March attack.

“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.

Klima echoed that, expressing frustration that Khanna’s condemnation of the attack was quickly followed by a return to his usual rhetoric and activity.

In addition to Jewish elected officials backing him, Khanna maintains support among segments of the local Jewish community. Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI he continues to strongly support the congressman. J Street has endorsed Khanna, but Linder spoke to JI in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the progressive Israel advocacy group.

“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Linder, who was born in Israel and moved to the U.S. in high school, said. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.

He called critics “out of touch with the view of the majority of Jews right now” both in Khanna’s district and nationally, pointing to a Washington Post poll last year that found a majority of Jews are critical of the way the war in Gaza has been conducted.

He asserted that discontent with Khanna traces to a “vocal minority in the district, mainly led by right-wing Israeli expats that dislike Congressman Khanna” and are “out of touch with where our community is.”

“I consider Ro Khanna very pro-Israel. He is clearly anti-Netanyahu and anti- the policies of Israel’s right wing government, but so am I, and, I think, so are the majority of Jews in this district,” Linder said.

Critics of Khanna said that the congressman’s activity following the Santana Row attack matches a pattern they’ve observed repeatedly when Khanna is called out for conduct or statements they find offensive — Khanna will apologize, or offer targeted condemnations, but won’t substantially change his behavior, and ultimately continues doubling down.

They said this pattern ignores the way that Khanna’s own rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.

Klima emphasized that Khanna’s constituents have come to him on numerous occasions asking him to dial down his rhetoric. At this point, she said, his “symbolic condemnations” of antisemitism “ring very hollow.”

“He’s speaking out of both sides of his mouth, basically,” she said, adding that, as a longtime congressman, his comments “[legitimize] this rhetoric,” driving similar activity from other local officials as well.

Ivanov said it’s easy for Khanna to denounce antisemitic attacks or vandalism, “but as soon as he does that, he continues to spread the antisemitic conspiracy theories, to defend antisemitic speakers that are out there every day, fueling the antisemitism that leads to these actions.” 

“We will not accept Khanna’s pro-forma denunciation of antisemitic incidents while he himself continues to fuel antisemitism and defend antisemites,” Ivanov said.

Linder, the Khanna supporter, argued that Khanna has made clear that he “will speak with anyone” and “dialogues with people he disagrees with, and I respect that.” Khanna has expressed similar sentiments to JI in the past.

Linder said he strongly disagreed with the notion that Khanna’s rhetoric is fueling violence, and emphasized that the Santana Row attack was not charged as a hate crime. 

“I don’t believe there was sufficient evidence to show that it was hate-motivated,” Linder said. “The congressman came out very quickly and denounced that attack, denounced the violence, and I fundamentally am not a subscriber to the notion that criticizing Israel fuels antisemitism. I see a clear delineation between criticism of Israel and Jew hatred. I don’t believe the two are connected. As a matter of fact, I think some of the actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government, the extreme right Israeli government foment antisemitism.”

Shekel, a Khanna critic, said that, during conversations with Khanna about antisemitism that community members are facing, Khanna has expressed sympathy while pivoting to emphasize his disputes with various Israeli government policies.

“We feel that he is fixated, obsessed with Israel,” Klima added.

“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”

Klein said that some in the community see Khanna as not only ignoring their concerns but attacking the Jewish community for elevating those issues in the first place. He pointed to an incident in which Khanna shared on his X account a clip of Holocaust denying social media influencer Ian Carroll as one such instance. 

Klein said he and representatives of the local Jewish Community Relations Council sat down in person with Khanna’s staff about the video — “not only the fact that this person was platformed, the person wasn’t taken down immediately, and instead of listening to the Jewish community’s concerns, at least publicly, he seemed to attack the Jewish community instead.”

Klein also characterized Khanna as deflecting the concerns of the local Jewish community in conversations, offering a variety of excuses, including pointing to national polling on Israel policy issues. 

“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Klein said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”

Critics in the district see a political motivation behind Khanna’s rhetoric and positioning.

Ivanov said that he first met Khanna several years ago, when Ivanov was working for the American Jewish Committee. The congressman at the time emphasized “the importance of maintaining progressive support for Israel in American society. That has obviously changed over the past few years, where he has embraced this tide of vilification of Israel as a way to appeal to the rising popularity of bashing Israel among certain voters,” Ivanov said.

Klima said that the “general sentiment” among members of the Jewish community is that Khanna’s stance is “opportunistic” and that he’s following anti-Israel trends for the sake of popularity, rather than any “deeply held view.”

“We feel like he’s throwing us, his constituents, under the bus for his political game, because he feels like this is a win for progressives,” she said.

The congressman is widely seen as preparing for a presidential campaign in 2028.

Khanna’s frequent commentary about the “Epstein Class” — he was one of the leading advocates in the House for releasing files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — has also set off alarm bells for Khanna’s critics.

Klima said that many in the Jewish community read those references as code for the Jewish community writ large, “because of our history with him, our recent history with him.” She said that Khanna’s pattern of rhetoric and actions has sowed distrust of him and his motives.

Khanna has dismissed the notion that the phrase is antisemitic, pointing to Jewish elected officials who have also spoken about the “Epstein Class.”

Critics in the district say that Khanna has a lot of work to do to repair his relationships with the Jewish community — and that it will take more than the pro forma condemnations of antisemitism that they feel he’s been offering over the past few years.

Klein encouraged Khanna to “stop feeding the extreme left and the alt-right” on social media and called on him to apologize for “ignoring the Jewish community,” and “actually start listening to the organized Jewish community,” rather than the “fringes.”

Klima said that she  is fed up with what she sees as “symbolic gestures” by the congressman. 

“We feel like we’re just pawns in his political game, because the very next day, he’s back to the ‘genocide’ and his political obsession,” she said. “[He] is clearly hurting us and it needs to be something much deeper than just a statement.”

As an estimated 50,000 New Yorkers stretched along Fifth Avenue waving Israeli and American flags and Hebrew music echoed through the streets, this year’s annual “Israel Day on Fifth” parade carried a palpable sense of relief. For the first time since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, attendees could swap out their hostage pins and “Bring Them Home Now” signs for simple flags — marking the first parade since the attacks in which all hostages held by Hamas have been released and Israel’s war in Gaza has ended. 

Yet, the festivities unfolded against a remarkable backdrop: For the first time in more than six decades, the city’s mayor was notably absent from the bipartisan tradition. 

At a press conference at One Police Plaza on Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani affirmed his longstanding vow to boycott Israel Day parade, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which every Gracie Mansion occupant since Mayor Robert Wagner has attended, starting in 1965. 

“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” said Mamdani, who ran on an anti-Israel stance in last year’s election. “While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part.”

Mamdani’s police chief, Jessica Tisch, a self-proclaimed Zionist from a prominent New York Jewish family, served as grand marshal. Tisch and Mamdani together pledged a “comprehensive security plan” at the press conference to protect the celebration.   

Tisch said this year’s parade saw the “largest number of officers ever assigned to the event,” which included NYPD patrol units, plainclothes cops and teams from the intelligence and counterterrorism bureaus, amid a heightened threat environment, including the recent federal indictment of a Kataib Hezbollah commander for a thwarted plot to bomb at a prominent Manhattan synagogue. Every participant, spectator and vendor along the parade route, which stretched from East 62nd Street to 74th Street, underwent metal detector screening, and steel barricades were installed along several of the city’s major avenues, obstructing pedestrians. 

The Jewish community also mobilized its own security teams, deploying hundreds of volunteers from the Community Security Service, Community Security Initiative and Shomrim as well as Hatzalah emergency medical response. 

“We are grateful that tens of thousands of participants and spectators were able to gather safely and proudly in the heart of New York City,” Mitchell Silber, CEO of CSI, a joint program of JCRC and UJA-Federation of New York, told Jewish Insider. Silber called the day a “success” and credited the NYPD for “ensuring that everyone could celebrate without disruption or intimidation.” 

“The ability of the Jewish community and its supporters to come together openly and confidently is something we never take for granted. Today’s parade was a powerful demonstration of community pride, resilience and unity, and we thank all those who helped make it a safe and successful day,” said Silber, former director of intelligence analysis at the NYPD. 

While Mamdani’s boycott was intended to make a strong statement — and received widespread criticism from mainstream Jewish groups — attendees appeared largely unfazed. Some parade participants even mocked the absence by carrying cardboard cutouts of Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, who is a fellow Israel critic. Instead, attendees seemed focused on the notable figures marching — from politicians from both parties to social media influencers and the largest-ever delegation from the Knesset, including Speaker Amir Ohana and members of both the governing and opposition parties. 

“Today, we delivered a resounding answer to all those who hate Israel. This was the largest and most significant parade ever,” said Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York.

Spotted on the Jewish Agency’s float — receiving perhaps the loudest applause of the day — were Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of Omer Neutra, an Israeli American IDF officer killed on Oct. 7.

State Assemblymember Alex Bores, who is running in the Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District, was in attendance. Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the 10th District, boycotted the event, stating he would not attend “so long as Israel continues violating international law and Palestinian human rights in Gaza and West Bank.”

Goldman and former New York City Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Eric Adams marched in the parade. 

“This is Bloomberg sticking it to Mamdani,” a source familiar with the parade’s planning told the New York Post. 

Moshe Davis, former executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism under the Adams administration — who marched Sunday alongside Adams —  told JI, “There’s nothing like marching up Fifth Avenue at the Celebrate Israel Parade, tens of thousands of New Yorkers standing shoulder to shoulder for the unbreakable bond between Israel, the Jewish people and this city … To everyone who leads this city: this is what partnership looks like. This is what strength looks like. And it’s what builds a future for all New Yorkers.”

Surrounded by city leaders — including New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) addressed attendees.

“Today is a special day. We have this great parade, which I always attend, and it’s my granddaughter’s 4th birthday. The two are related,” said Schumer. “We must fight for her to grow up in a world that’s safe for the Jewish people. And I worry deeply about the future that they’re going to inherit.

“The Holocaust showed the world what Jews have known for millennia — that our security and safety is never safe as long as we lack a place of refuge, a homeland. We’re seeing an ugly resurgence of antisemitism across the world, driven by the same lies and libels that have tormented the Jewish people for generations. Except now, they’re transmitted at the speed of a fiber optic internet connection in 30-second clips on a phone in your pocket.” 

Looking out into the sea of blue and white, Schumer continued, “This is why a Jewish state is as important as ever. Antisemitism isn’t going away; it always lingers, always stalks in the shadows, waiting for the right conditions to explode into violence.”

In the contentious Democratic primary in Montana’s 1st Congressional District, Israel and antisemitism have become flashpoints in ways that members of the local Jewish community say they find concerning and potentially dangerous.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who currently represents the seat, is retiring at the end of his current term, and Democrats view it as a potential pickup opportunity in a favorable midterm climate. Former Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) narrowly won the district in 2024, despite losing statewide. However, the Cook Political Report rates the district as “Likely Republican,” and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t put the district on its target list at this point.

Though the district leans Republican, that hasn’t stopped a majority of Democrats in the field from racing to the left on Israel policy, a dynamic that was on clear display at a recent debate. 

Ryan Busse, a businessman and author who is the top fundraiser among the Democratic candidates, declared that the U.S. has been “forced into a war by another country,” alleging that Israel dragged the U.S. in its military campaign against Iran.

“This war that we’re fighting, that you’re funding, that your tax dollars are funding, is largely a war propagated by Israel,” Busse said. “I’m not taking any AIPAC dollars, wouldn’t dream of it. I think we should be really wide-eyed about the degree to which Israel has too much influence over our foreign policy. “

He also declared that Israel is not a “functioning democracy” and said that Israel is committing war crimes with American tax dollars and that he would fight to stop that aid in Congress.

Russell Cleveland, a Navy veteran and entrepreneur, said that Israel “has a right to exist without fear, but that doesn’t mean that those rights can infringe on other countries’ rights or other people’s rights to exist without fear as well” and said that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

He asserted that Israel is being held to a different standard than other countries and is effectively controlling U.S. policy.

“We have hitched our wagon so hard to Israel in turning a blind eye to their actions on a national stage that we’re willing to disregard what we would hold to account any other country for the same exact violence and war crimes and violations of international law,” Cleveland said. “We cannot allow another country to have that type of control on not only what we’re doing in terms of sending armaments and money, but also that’s an ally to the United States, so everything that they do, we too are responsible for.”

Sam Forstag, a wildland firefighter and union leader with the backing of prominent national progressives and D.C.-based groups, said that he agreed with Busse and Cleveland, also disavowing AIPAC support while blaming U.S. support for Israel for a lack of services and government assistance at home.

“We need to have strict enforced humanitarian requirements on any aid that we are providing countries overseas,” Forstag said. “That needs to apply to Israel, that needs to apply to any country, because if we cannot afford to feed our hunger, if we cannot afford to make sure that the elderly in this country are not living on the streets, we sure as hell cannot afford to rain cruelty in chaos overseas, Israel or Iran.”

Matt Rains, an Army veteran, rancher and photographer, was the only one of the four Democratic candidates to stake out an opposing view and offer a defense of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

He emphasized that he has spent time in the region, and that he understands “we need to value our alliance with Israel, and I am in support of that because I am against hatred, I’m against racism, I’m against antisemitism, I’m against terrorism.”

Rains said that actually working toward a two-state solution requires people who have firsthand experience and understand the situation on the ground, arguing that many draw incorrect conclusions from news reports.

Busse has been the top fundraiser in the field, pulling in $529,000, followed by Forstag with $448,000, Cleveland with $325,000 and Rains with $125,000. Cleveland, however, trails the rest of the field in cash-on-hand.

Antisemitic activity online has also cast a cloud over two of the candidates in the race.

Cleveland liked an antisemitic Instagram comment that read, “I wouldn’t vote for anybody who takes money from those stinking Jews,” on a post endorsing him.

Cleveland denied any knowledge of the post and disavowed it. He told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that his campaign “incidentally liked [this] comment” and that “My team and I do not condone these types of antisemitic comments, nor support them. … This is antisemitic. I don’t approve of that comment. I wouldn’t have liked it intentionally.”

Busse’s son Lander has also landed in hot water over a series of controversial social media posts which included a spat with a local rabbi.

The younger Busse responded to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that “Free Palestine is today’s version of Heil Hitler” with a gif of a “Breaking Bad” character saying, “Well, Heil Hitler b****.”

He also demanded that a local Chabad rabbi, Chaim Bruk, acknowledge that Israel is an apartheid state and conducting a genocide. When Bruk declined to do so, the younger Busse responded “aight then f*** you.”

He also said in another post “F*** ISRAEL.”

The elder Busse told the New York Post, “I don’t condone any language or actions that minimize the very real tragedy of the Holocaust, and I don’t condone any antisemitic behavior or language.”

He said he opposes antisemitism and that his son is “definitely not antisemitic in any way shape or form,” but denied having seen his son’s social media posts, which were subsequently deleted.

Bruk, the longest-serving rabbi in Montana, told Jewish Insider that he felt it was necessary to engage with Lander Busse as the son of a person running for office, when the younger Busse was spreading comments that could prompt hate against the Jewish community.

Bruk said that he also wanted to give the elder Busse “an opportunity to reach out and see if he has a very different opinion than his son — which he has not done as of today.”

Bruk argued that he’s seen little evidence that Busse’s own opinions differ from those of his son, noting that, while they haven’t engaged in the same sort of vulgarity, Busse, Cleveland and Forstag had all made concerning comments about Israel and Jews.

“I have always strongly opposed antisemitism and will continue to do so unequivocally. I am deeply troubled by the rise in antisemitic activity and rhetoric across our country, and I stand firmly with Jewish communities,” Busse said in a statement to JI. “At the same time, I am troubled by the current Israeli government’s policies and leadership. In my view, criticism of a government’s actions and policies should not be conflated with prejudice against an entire people or faith. We should be able to reject antisemitism in all forms while also engaging in honest and thoughtful discussion about the actions of governments, including Israel’s.”

But Bruk said he takes Cleveland at his word that he did not personally or intentionally like the antisemitic Instagram post.

Cora Neumann, a Jewish state senator who was a previous Democratic nominee for the 1st District seat, said she feels that many of the candidates for the seat are “getting pulled into national issues that don’t impact us, just to posture and play political games,” particularly when it comes to Israel.

She said she has found the attacks on AIPAC, which come despite the fact it hasn’t been involved in the race, “very problematic,” and has been concerned by candidates blaming Israel for the war in Iran. She said she has reached out to several of the candidates to share her perspective.

But she said she hasn’t seen many of the candidates in the race “take pause and think twice about the way you speak” about Israel, even after being warned that their rhetoric might fuel antisemitism, “which shows a disregard for a vulnerable population in the U.S. and around the world.”

“I think this is a poison that has taken hold in our party and it has made my family less safe, and there has been little to no action taken to combat it, locally or nationally,” Neumann told JI. “Democrats need to reflect on our values and who we are and if we really feel that this is acceptable. … Democrats need to seriously reflect on why they’ve let it get so out of hand.”

Asked about concerns from members of the local Jewish community about the way Israel and AIPAC have been invoked in the race, Cleveland said in a statement to JI that, “Being critical of the actions of Israel with regard to its military aggression and violation of international law is not antisemitic.”

“We cannot simply label criticism of any one country as prejudice just because many of us oppose more war, death and destruction. The best possible outcome in the region is one where all people, no matter whether they are from Israel, Palestine, or Lebanon, are treated equally and without prejudice,” Cleveland said. “I want peace for the people of Israel, just as I do for those in any other country or territory. I believe this can be achieved through application of freedom of religion, coexistence, and seeking strength through diversity. This, however, can only be achieved through strict adherence to international law and practice of equal rights of all people.” 

In an interview with JI, Rains, an Army captain who served in Iraq and traveled throughout the world in that role and a subsequent one as a photojournalist, said that he has a “vital perspective” of understanding the dynamics in the region firsthand, rather than being “told by other people how to think and believe” on the internet.

His travels took him throughout Israel and the West Bank, and he said that he found many of the media narratives that people in the United States hear about Israel and the conflict to be exaggerated.

He said he feels that the other candidates in the race are “jumping on [the anti-Israel] bandwagon” without a proper understanding of the situation. “You just want to scream because it’s truly a lack of understanding and knowing what is reality and what you’re just being fed through the internet and buying into.”

He said that growing animosity toward Israel and calls to cut off aid are jeopardizing a critical alliance, which will ultimately make the United States less safe and lead to more regional instability and more wars.

He said that he’s also been stunned by what he has seen as an embrace of antisemitism in the United States, pointing significant blame toward the Trump administration for spreading and normalizing “comments that are there to rile up people.” He said that he would be vocal as a member of Congress in emphasizing that antisemitism is not acceptable.

He called the spread of antisemitic rhetoric in the primary race “one of the most shocking things of this campaign.” He said he didn’t anticipate that the issue would be one that he would campaign on, but said he felt a responsibility to not “let hatred creep in” in his own party.

Rains’ photojournalism work also brought him to Myanmar, where he said he was the first photojournalist on the ground documenting the Rohingya genocide in the early 2010s. Having seen such atrocities firsthand — and encountering fierce police resistance to documenting them — he called the accusations of genocide against Israel “absolutely frustrating,” and criticized those in his party who have spread that narrative.

Having worked on strategic planning matters in Iraq, Rains said that he’s been frustrated by what he saw as a failure of proper planning in the U.S. operations in Iran. “The threat of the regime [was] horrific,” Rains said, but he doesn’t have faith in the Trump administration to ensure that Iran is more stable and has better governance at the end of war.

“My biggest frustration is there’s a risk — kind of what happened in Afghanistan when we left there — for a worse government to backfill and make it more hostile than it was,” Rains said.

Bruk and Neumann both spoke positively of Rains’ stance on issues of concern to and of his engagement with the Jewish community.

Bruk said Rains is the only one of the four Democratic candidates who has visited the local synagogue and Chabad center and “made it clear that he stands with the Jewish people and he stands with the people of Israel and their right to their own nation.” He said Rains and his campaign had reached out to visit the synagogue of his own initiative.

Bruk said it’s important to him that the growing Montana Jewish community has a representative who cares about them and who “isn’t ready to throw them locally under the bus because of some international issue with which they agree or disagree” — regardless of potential policy differences on Israel.

Neumann said that she’s also been impressed by the “moral clarity” Rains has shown on the issue and others.

“I think to be able to stand up against the intense headwinds and national pressure to speak on Israel, even if it’s not relevant to your constituents, to be able to stand up against that pressure shows incredible moral character, and that’s what I look for in candidates,” Neumann said.

Bruk said he’d also had a conversation with Forstag and was optimistic that his rhetoric would change going forward. “I think he genuinely didn’t realize that it’s not just about some lobbying PAC that gives, you know, very little money to Montana at all, but it ends up creating an environment in which Jews become fair game,” Bruk said.

He said that he felt from their conversation that Forstag didn’t realize that AIPAC had had little to no involvement in politics in the state. Bruk said he emphasized to Forstag that invoking AIPAC on the campaign trail can increase the dangers to the Jewish community.

“I don’t think he realized the practical ramifications,” Bruk said, and said he was comforted to see Forstag’s rhetoric seemingly shift since then.

Neumann said she also found Forstag to be “receptive and sensitive to feedback on how problematic this disproportionate focus on Israel is.”

A week after describing J Street as “a cancer within the Jewish community” for calling for the United States to restrict aid to Israel, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s envoy to Washington, doubled down on his critique of the organization, stating that the liberal advocacy group’s recent actions are “decidedly not pro-Israel.”

The remarks came during Leiter’s broader address on Thursday at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, during which he argued to the audience of over 300 Reform rabbis, lay leaders and teachers that American Jews need to respond to rising anti-Zionism and post-Oct. 7 hostility toward Israel with a stronger, more unapologetic form of Zionism and Jewish solidarity. 

“J Street does incalculable amount of damage to the interests of Israel,” Israeli Amb. Yechiel Leiter said at the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference, expanding on his previous critique of the liberal advocacy group.”

Watch more of what he said below or read our full story: https://ji.news/55×33

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) May 27, 2026

While Leiter expanded on his critique of J Street, receiving applause and a standing ovation at the end of his speech, his remarks were more measured than in previous appearances, focusing on what he described as the group’s role in supporting arms embargoes and amplifying accusations against Israel, rather than attacking the organization wholesale. His past comments — including describing J Street as “duplicitous” and “two-faced” — drew ire from many progressive Jews.

“I believe the tent, as we call it, should be wide and as inclusive as possible, but it cannot be inclusive to those who are contributing to the efforts of those seeking to collapse the tent. J Street does incalculable amount of damage to the interests of Israel,” he said. 

He continued, arguing that support for arms embargoes against Israel “endanger Israel” and  that “supporting such embargoes is not pro-Israel,” He also denounced the organization’s call for Leiter to investigate the allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinians outlined in a controversial opinion piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof earlier this month. 

“It is certainly not pro-Israel to push the canards peddled by Nick Kristof in The New York Times. Jewish dogs don’t commit rape. That was the last straw for me….It’s perfectly fine to have a different vision than the majority of Israelis as to what that peace should look like… but it’s unethical to undermine Israel’s democratically elected government. Friends, please understand, I did not call out J Street because I disagree with their vision of Israel. I call them out because their actions are endangering Israel,” he said.  

Leiter also said that senators he meets with on Capitol Hill have accused Israel of “genocide and starvation” and said lawmakers cite J Street as a source for those claims.

“Ask anyone in the know in Washington who is lobbying alongside [Sen.] Bernie Sanders [I-VT], who is responsible for 40 of 47 Democratic senators voting in favor of the arms embargo in Israel,” Leiter said. “They will tell you J Street.”

Northwestern University’s Jewish community is celebrating the appointment of Mung Chiang as the school’s new president, optimistic that the supportive environment he fostered for Jewish students during his tenure as president of Purdue University will help combat the antisemitism seen at Northwestern in recent years. 

“Purdue and Chiang have strong reputations for defending freedom of expression while not tolerating antisemitism,” Rich Goldberg, a senior advisor at Foundation for Defense of Democracies who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern, told Jewish Insider. 

But Goldberg added that Chiang, who has been president of Purdue since January 2023, has enjoyed “a university culture and state leadership that looks very different from what he will find in Evanston, Illinois.” Under Chiang’s leadership, Purdue avoided much of the campus unrest seen at other schools following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.

The appointment comes as Northwestern navigates the fallout from a turbulent chapter with antisemitism in recent years. 

In November, the Illinois school reached a $75 million settlement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen months earlier over allegations that administrators failed to address campus antisemitism.

Chiang, who assumes the role on July 1, “will need a new board chairman and other fresh faces who will have his back to fully enforce the federal settlement,” said Goldberg. 

Michael Schill, Northwestern’s former president, announced his resignation last summer amid a series of controversies during his brief tenure. 

When anti-Israel encampments emerged on college campuses across the country in spring 2024, Schill, who is Jewish, became the first university president to strike a deal with demonstrators. The deal allowed the students to avoid disciplinary action taken and acceded to several demands of the protesters, which drew strong condemnation from many Jewish leaders at the time. 

In an August interview with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Schill sounded  unfazed to hear that a Palestinian professor he hired as part of the deal with encampment protesters had once met with slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. 

At the time of Schill’s resignation, Jewish alumni expressed optimism that his departure, and the House interview being made public, would lead Northwestern leaders to make reforms. Henry Bienen, who served as Northwestern president from 1995-2009, assumed the role of interim university president in September. Bienen previously established Northwestern’s Qatar campus, which has faced scrutiny for faculty ties to Hamas.

Northwestern Hillel said it “congratulates Northwestern University on the appointment of Mung Chiang as the University’s next president. We are deeply grateful to Interim President Henry Bienen for his leadership and partnership, and we’re especially appreciative of his support for students and campus life during this period of transition.” 

Hillel at Purdue University declined to comment on Chiang’s record with the Jewish community. 

The Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern, a coalition of Northwestern students, faculty, parents and alumni, said in a statement that it “welcomes President-elect Chiang at a pivotal moment for Northwestern and higher education more broadly.”

Chiang “arrives with a reputation for academic excellence, technological innovation, institutional leadership, and support for free expression and open inquiry,” said CAAN. 

CAAN called on Northwestern’s new leadership to “ensure equal treatment and civil rights protections for Jewish, Israeli, Zionist students and faculty” and to “reinforce academic neutrality and viewpoint diversity.” 

At the same time, it said, “Northwestern’s challenges are significant and will require sustained leadership, transparency, and institutional courage. Federal scrutiny, governance failures, campus polarization, and concerns involving antisemitism did not emerge overnight, and meaningful reform will require more than symbolic change.” 

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) urged the Jewish and pro-Israel communities to go on the offensive against antisemitism and anti-Israel attacks, in remarks on Wednesday at an event hosted by the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., commemorating the 78th anniversary of Israel’s founding. 

Both lawmakers said they were fed up with constant attacks against the Jewish and pro-Israel communities — and against themselves and other pro-Israel lawmakers personally — for their stances, and urged the audience to forcefully push back and put those attacking the Jewish community and Israel on the defensive.

“No defense, only offense,” Gottheimer said. “I am sick and tired of people apologizing, of making excuses. We should feel proud of the U.S.-Israel relationship, of the independence, of what it’s done for America, of the bipartisan nature, historically, of the relationship and thank God we have Israel to help us fight terror, to stand for freedom and to stand for democracy.”

Moskowitz emphasized that lawmakers who support Israel are being held to a drastically different standard than they are about any other global conflict, just as, he argued, Israel is held to a different standard than other countries.

“We have to stop the defense. We as Jews feel like, ‘Oh, if we just educate them, if we just educate people, if we just give them the information, if we just talk to them, they’ll finally understand,’” Moskowitz said. “We have to flip the script. It’s enough of defending what Israel does. … We have to make the other side defend.”

He said that members of Congress should be grilled aggressively on their support for and relationships with extreme figures such as Hasan Piker and Tucker Carlson, and they should be forced to defend or justify the stances such figures have taken.

“We need all of you … to stand up, to fight back, to play offense, whether that’s against Hasan Piker, whether it’s Candance Owens, we need to make it very clear that’s not going to fly. You’re not going to mess with us. We’re coming for you,” Gottheimer agreed.

Other speakers at the event included Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter. Wright drew comparisons between President Harry Truman’s decision to recognize the state of Israel and President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran.

“The United States and Israel will prevail, and we will remove a massive threat, and we will bring years and decades of peace, prosperity and restoring confidence in the economic, social and cultural progress of this awesome region, the Middle East, anchored by the state of Israel,” Wright said.

He paid homage to Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, the two Israeli Embassy staffers gunned down last year in an antisemitic attack at the Capital Jewish Museum, not far from the location of Wednesday night’s event.

Wright also highlighted Israel’s technological and energy sector successes and innovations.

Other lawmakers in attendance at the event included Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Randy Fine (R-FL), Don Bacon (R-NE), Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

Other administration officials who attended the event included Sebastian Gorka, Josh Gruenbaum and Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun.

The annual event also included, for the first time, a dance floor, DJ and live music, to highlight and celebrate the end of the yearslong Gaza hostage crisis — following through on a slogan that emerged following the Hamas massacre at the Nova Music Festival on Oct.7, 2023: “We will dance again.”

A series of largely Democratic lawmakers painted an unusually dire portrait of the state of rising antisemitism and threats to the Jewish community in remarks at an Anti-Defamation League reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening.

Several emphasized the need for those in the audience, many of them young Jewish congressional staffers and Washington professionals, to continue speaking out and fighting for the Jewish community in a time of crisis.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the retiring former No. 2 House Democrat, said that antisemitism has escalated to the point that Jews are no longer guaranteed safety in the United States.

“There were two places in the world where Jews felt really safe. One, of course, was Israel, and the second was the United States of America,” Hoyer said. “That’s not true today, and that is a sad statement of what’s going on in the country today. So you all need to be involved. You all need to when you see something that’s not right, not fair, not just stand up, speak up and make a difference.”

Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) emphasized that efforts to fight antisemitism have often been met with additional hostility.

“It is a very scary time for the Jewish community,” Friedman said. “And to make matters worse, when we express that we’re scared and that there’s this rising level of hatred directed towards the Jewish community, we’re often met with people telling us that we’re not allowed to feel that way. And how dare we even say that there’s anything wrong with treatment towards Jews in this country?”

She offered as an example of “how bad it’s gotten” that her synagogue was graffitied this year with a swastika, and that she ended up in an argument online with local activists “who were trying to tell me why it was appropriate for people to put swastikas on the sides of buildings in the Jewish part of Los Angeles, where there are Holocaust survivors still living, why they thought that was OK and not antisemitic.”

Friedman used as another example a recent ad created by a super PAC backing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in his reelection race attacking a Jewish conservative donor, Paul Singer, who is supporting Massie’s opponent, which prominently featured a graphic of a Jewish star alongside the Singer’s face.

“A super PAC thought it was totally fine to do a hit on a candidate by showing one of their donors and by flashing a Jewish star behind that donor to let everyone know that, ‘Hey, if everything else we’ve said about this candidate isn’t convincing enough, they have a donor who’s Jewish,’” Friedman said.

“I don’t think anyone can sit this one out and you all being here is part of that effort, so thank you … for showing up, thanks for the work you do,” she concluded.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is running for Senate in Michigan and has faced attacks over her support for Israel and ties to the Jewish community, said that she would not “sugarcoat” the situation, explaining that “the faces of hate in this country have morphed into violent extremism,” with an increasing pace of violent attacks targeting the Jewish community, including in her own district.

“Extremist words matter. They absolutely matter,” Stevens said.

She also maintained that she is “unequivocal in declaring that I am very much a proud Zionist” in spite of facing attacks for that stance. “When I show my face in my community, every so often [I] get chased out because of violent extremism, because people feel so emboldened to shout at me that I am a ‘Zionist pig.’ That cannot be acceptable.”

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), whose congressional district was recently carved up by Tennessee Republicans, likely ending his career, warned that prejudice is still a real and very active problem. 

He recounted a story of when he ran for governor in 1994: “I went to a little radio station in Dixon, Tenn. — one person radio station, gravel road. [I] came in, talked to the man for a while and he said, ‘Son, you Jewish?’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘Good luck,’” Cohen recounted. “It ain’t changed a lot since then. Be careful. There’s a lot of mamzers out there. They don’t know us, but they don’t like us,” he said, using the Hebrew word for bastard.

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) said that it is “obviously a very bad time” for the American Jewish community and “in my opinion, it’s going to get a lot worse.” He urged the crowd “to lead through such difficult, chaotic, awful times.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) lambasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as emboldening and encouraging antisemitism.

“We see a mayor in New York City who has, in many respects, OKed his supporters engaging in antisemitic hate, engaging in conduct that threatens Jewish students and Jewish lives,” Lawler added. “We see these protests happening outside places of worship — these are real issues that we have to combat.”

He also emphasized that antisemitic influencers like Hasan Piker, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have been using antisemitism as a “grift” and playing on hatred to “make a buck” and create further division. 

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said that it is “unacceptably scary to be a Jew in the United States” and that the country is “violating the core promise that George Washington made” to the Jewish community in Rhode Island in 1790 that the country would be one of religious freedom and pluralism.

Auchincloss highlighted his efforts in Congress to combat antisemitism on social media, describing platforms as having become “failed societies online. It’s become so toxic, it’s become so rotten on these platforms that antisemitism is mushrooming as a symptom of something that is deeply rotten underneath.”

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA) said that Jews are “all feeling so threatened right now” and emphasized the need for broader understanding of antisemitism.

“They need to understand that anti-Zionism is kind of a new iteration [of antisemitism], if you don’t want another country wiped off the map,” Schrier said. “And I just think we all need to recognize that we all need to call it out, whether it’s in our party or another party.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that “antisemitism and racism are the gateway to the destruction of liberal democracy” and that “the extremism, the fascism, the racism and the antisemitism” are infecting politics in the U.S. and around the world.

He praised Hungary as an example of a country that had been able to buck such trends, ousting its longtime right-wing government.

Several of the lawmakers who addressed the group also offered remembrances about Abe Foxman, the former longtime ADL leader who died last weekend.

“We’re all thinking about Abe Foxman right now, who looms over this room in a powerful way and taught us so much,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said. “I think what he taught us most was to be courageous, to fight, to never back down. That’s my ask of you. It’s tough out there, by the way. The harder they hit us, the more fight I feel.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said that Foxman was “a giant, a hero of mine, hero of so many, and really built this organization practically from the ground up.” She said she’d been stunned by his death, having spoken to him at a Holocaust remembrance event at the Capitol just weeks ago.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also urged those in attendance to follow Foxman’s model, and emphasized the need for additional funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

In a statement, Lauren Wolman, ADL’s senior director of government relations and strategy, said the group was “honored to host our annual Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) reception celebrating Jewish Members of Congress and congressional staff.”

“At a time when many of these dedicated public servants are navigating rising antisemitism and growing challenges on Capitol Hill, the reception served as an important opportunity to celebrate their work and create a space for Jewish professionals to come together in community, connect with one another, and feel supported,” Wolman continued.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has not committed to joining a new federal education tax initiative being championed by Jewish community advocates to secure funding for Jewish day schools and yeshivas, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently agreed to adopt.

“Governor Sherrill will evaluate the program once the Trump Administration has finalized and published its rules. The Governor’s top priority is building New Jersey into the best public school system in the nation for all our kids,” Maggie Garbarino, Sherrill’s deputy press secretary, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. 

Starting in the 2027 tax year, the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, part of President Donald Trump’s 2025 flagship policy package, provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit — up to $1,700 annually — for donations to approved Scholarship Granting Organizations. These SGOs offer scholarships for a variety of K-12 public and private education expenses, including private school tuition, transportation and tutoring.

If states don’t opt in, taxpayers can still donate, but residents of that state won’t receive the benefit. 

While nearly all Republican governors have already opted in, their Democratic counterparts have been hesitant. Some critics have voiced concerns that the program has insufficient oversight against fraud or that it could divert public money to private schools. 

On Friday, a spokesperson for Hochul confirmed to JI that the governor told Jewish leaders at a private event hosted by Agudath Israel that she plans to opt in. 

The move makes Hochul the second Democratic official to join the program, following Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in February. Governors have to opt in by the end of the year for taxpayers to be eligible for the credit. 

Democratic leaders of other states with large Jewish populations have yet to say whether they intend to follow Hochul’s lead. In February, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said his administration “is awaiting federal guidance to address key questions about how this program would work.”

Shapiro’s spokesperson told JI on Monday that there are no updates on his stance. 

Spokespeople for Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger did not respond to requests for comment. 

Spanberger is in a different position compared to other Democrats — because her predecessor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, opted Virginia into the program shortly before leaving office, she would need to formally reverse that decision to prevent the state from joining.

The country’s largest Jewish federation, UJA-Federation of New York, has reached into the day school world to tap its next leader, naming longtime Jewish educator Michael Kay as CEO, Jewish Insider has learned.

In a generational change that signals the growing importance of day schools on the Jewish communal agenda, Kay, who currently serves as head of school at The Leffell School in Westchester County, N.Y., will succeed Eric Goldstein, 66, a former Wall Street lawyer who announced last June that he was stepping down after 12 years in the role. Kay, 46, will enter the position on Oct. 5.

Goldstein steered New York’s Jewish community through a series of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and the surge in antisemitism and multiple wars that followed. Though last year’s announcement set Goldstein’s departure for the end of the fiscal year in June, he will now remain in the role until Oct. 4. 

Kay inherits a key leadership position in a complex, often divided New York Jewish community. Over the last three years, new cracks have emerged and old ones have widened within the community in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. In November, exit polls showed that 33% of Jewish voters cast their ballots for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel who has clashed with Jewish leaders and organizations, including UJA-Federation of New York.  

Asked how he wants UJA’s relationship with Mamdani to look under his leadership during an interview with Jewish Insider announcing his appointment, Kay emphasized UJA’s commitment to advocating for the well-being of the Jewish community with local officials, “no matter who they are.”

“We have an obligation and a responsibility to work with our local elected officials no matter who they are to ensure that our needs are met and they are accountable for meeting those needs, as I said, well-being, thriving, safety, security,” Kay said. “I start the job in five months, I’m sure that there will be a lot of conversation between now and then with our government relations team about the specific best way to interact with City Hall to achieve that, but we’re not going to lose sight of what those goals are.” 

Joining the New York federation after 13 years at the Leffell School, an independent K-12 school with nearly 900 students  — formerly a Solomon Schechter school — Kay brings decades of experience in Jewish education to the role. 

Prior to Leffell, Kay also served as Upper School principal and director of Judaic studies at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., and led Camp Givah, a Jewish summer camp in upstate New York — both pluralistic institutions. He is also an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship.

Kay’s appointment comes as Jewish education and day school affordability have become priorities for the Jewish Federations of North America. Recently, the organization has lobbied governors to adopt a federal tax credit that could reduce the financial burden of Jewish day school tuition, marking JFNA’s growing foray into issues of day school affordability and school choice. Earlier this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated her intention to opt-in to the tax credit. 

Asked what he thinks the New York federation should do to advance day school affordability and Jewish education in New York, Kay acknowledged the role of childhood Jewish education in fostering long-term relationships with Judaism, stating that UJA has a responsibility to promote “Jewish engagement in all its forms.”

“I think it’s critically important. We have data showing that students who grow up experiencing Jewish education at a young age are substantially more likely to support Israel on their college campuses, and to take on roles of leadership in the Jewish community,” he said.

Kay is also a senior lay leader and member at Temple Israel Center of White Plains, the egalitarian Conservative congregation that he attends with his wife, Rachel, and their two children. 

Announcing his appointment, UJA-Federation highlighted Kay’s work in expanding and strengthening philanthropic support for The Leffell School, including through UJA’s Day School Challenge Fund, and his capabilities as a unifying leader, skilled in bringing people together across differences and partisan divides “through respectful dialogue.”

“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead UJA-Federation,” Goldstein said in a statement. “Michael has proven throughout his career an ability to bring the full spectrum of our community together, building trust across differences and harnessing our diversity as a source of strength. That experience will be invaluable to UJA’s next chapter.”

Entering his role the day after the bodies of three kidnapped and slain Israeli teenagers were recovered in the West Bank, Goldstein’s 12-year tenure as CEO of the continent’s largest Jewish federation provided a constant in a particularly tumultuous period for North American Jewry.

Goldstein, whose appointment — as the first Orthodox head of the organization — raised eyebrows within the New York community, led the organization through a period of rising domestic antisemitism. That period was bookended by 2017’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., and the 2018 deadly shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue that killed 11 congregants — and the recent set of deadly attacks on Jewish institutions following the Israel-Hamas war. Under Goldstein, in late 2019, the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York launched the Community Security Initiative, a program designed to protect the Jewish community from violent threats and antisemitic incidents. Since its inception, as threats against the community have continued to mount, the program has grown significantly. 

Goldstein also steered the organization both through funding shortfalls during the COVID-19 pandemic, forgoing his own salary for the 2021 fiscal year, and a massive influx of donations for emergency relief after the Oct. 7 attacks.

“We are deeply grateful to Eric S. Goldstein, whose 12 years of leadership leave UJA in a position of strength as we look to the future,” Marc Rowan, the federation’s board chair, said in a statement.

According to the federation, more than 40 candidates were considered for the role, in a search conducted by a 14-member search committee, led by Linda Mirels, the federation’s board president, and supported by global search firm Heidrick & Struggles. Kay’s selection was unanimous. 

“Michael is the right leader for this defining moment,” said Rowan. “He is battle-tested — unflappable under pressure and willing to take on the most pressing challenges facing our community, from the safety and security of the Jewish people to the urgent work of strengthening Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”

At the end of June, Mirels and Rowan, will both conclude their three-year terms. Suzanne Peck and David Wasserman, both of whom served on the search committee, will succeed Rowan and Mirels as president and chair, respectively. 

“Michael distinguished himself as a singular and compelling leader — a truly original thinker whose intellect, moral seriousness, and vision for Jewish life set him apart,” said Mirels. “He is an eloquent and persuasive communicator with a long record of inspiring the next generation of proud Jews and Zionists. The work ahead is real — strengthening Jewish identity and pride, deepening commitment to Israel, confronting rising antisemitism, and caring for global Jewry and New Yorkers in need. Michael is the leader our community needs for the work ahead.”

Amid the rise of a DSA-aligned mayoral candidate in the city, a senior Jewish community leader in Washington, D.C., excoriated the Democratic Socialists of America as an “evil” organization committed to driving Jews out of society.

Speaking on a webinar with other Washington-area Jewish leaders on Tuesday, Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, stridently criticized the far-left group.

“I think they’re a fringe, radical, antisemitic organization, and I happen to even think they’re evil,” Halber said. “They are trying to do in America what [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement] seems to do internationally, which is to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.”

He said that the group wants to make Jews feel “isolated” and force them to “renounce Zionism” and their connection to Israel in order to participate in the political process. Antisemitism is “core to their belief,” he continued.

Halber described the activist group as emboldened and energized during the second Trump administration — as numerous DSA-aligned candidates make gains in local and national elections — and said that the Jewish community “should view DSA with alarm, because they are having a radical impact.”

And, he added, the Jewish community should be “very, very wary of political candidates who go out and seek their endorsement and who wish to affiliate.”

The Metro DC DSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Halber said it’s the responsibility of Jewish organizations to come together with allies to expose the DSA as “the fringe of American society that most people in America would be repulsed by.”

Tali Cohen, the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington regional director, said on the webinar that she has been “astonished by the rhetoric coming out of the D.C. DSA chapter.” 

Cohen said the group is attempting to “isolat[e] the Jewish community through exclusionary policies” — requiring endorsees to cut ties with “the overwhelming majority of organized Jewish community institutions” — and has “embrace[d] antisemitism as an organizational orthodoxy” through its embrace of anti-Zionism.

“If you read DSA’s platform, they have disproportionately and overwhelmingly chosen to focus on the world’s only Jewish state,” she continued. “The selective focus can suggest that something else is at work beyond just policy concerns.”

Cohen also raised concerns about the group’s opposition to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and its efforts to defund the D.C. police, a project she said endangers the Jewish community.

The event comes following a high-profile clash between Jewish communal groups and the Washington DSA chapter over its endorsement questionnaire for the city’s mayoral race that required candidates to pledge to refrain from engaging with “Zionist lobby groups.”

Mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a DSA member endorsed by the group, said in response to the questionnaire that she would not attend events “promoting Zionism and apartheid.”

Alan Ronkin, the regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Washington, and ADL experts also spoke on the webinar.

Rep. Al Green (D-TX), a vocal critic of Israel competing in a closely contested runoff against a fellow House Democrat later this month, announced in social media posts on Monday that he had received a coveted endorsement from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the powerful former House speaker.

Jewish community leaders in the Houston area were surprised to see Pelosi’s endorsement, especially as it appeared to break with her precedent of declining to engage in member-on-member races.

It also fueled ongoing frustrations with Green’s alleged lack of outreach to Houston’s sizable Jewish community — a potentially critical constituency in what is expected to be a close election.

The endorsement wasn’t straightforward — by Tuesday afternoon, Green’s original post had been removed, raising questions about his claim. Neither Pelosi nor her team had confirmed the purported endorsement before it was suddenly deleted without explanation.

On Wednesday, however, the endorsement had been reposted across Green’s social media accounts, albeit with slightly altered imagery.

“Speaker Pelosi is a leader I have stood beside through the most consequential fights of our time,” Green said on Wednesday. “Her endorsement of our campaign is a profound honor. We carry this moment forward, together, for the people of New CD 18 and the country we love.”

The message was accompanied by a graphic that featured an image of Pelosi differing from the photo used in the initial post. “The honorable Nancy Pelosi endorses,” it said. “Proven fighter. Real results. Vote Al Green in the runoff election.”

Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, confirmed to Jewish Insider on Wednesday that Green’s new post was official, saying that her endorsement was “based in loyalty” to a longstanding colleague. Pelosi, who is set to retire at the end of her term, has traditionally avoided taking sides in House races between sitting members of her own party.

Krager declined to comment on why the original posts had been deleted. Green’s campaign also would not comment on the initial posts, only directing JI to his social media platforms “where you can find the endorsement from Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.” 

The confusion underscored some of the intraparty sensitivities surrounding the May 26 runoff election between two incumbents — Green, 78, and freshman Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX), 38 — now vying for a Houston-area House seat in a bitter fight caused by the state’s recent Republican redistricting.

While some House colleagues are supporting Green, according to his campaign site, Pelosi’s backing is a major pickup for the outspoken, 11-term lawmaker seeking reelection in Texas’ newly consolidated 18th Congressional District, redrawn to favor Democrats.

It also marks something of a change in their relationship — Green had publicly clashed with Pelosi during her time as speaker over his efforts in 2019 to impeach President Donald Trump, which she had opposed.

In the March primary election, neither candidate claimed more than 50% of the vote required to win the nomination outright and avoid a runoff. Green secured 44%, two points short of Menefee, a former Harris County attorney who took office in February after winning a special election runoff to fill the seat held by Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX) until his death last year.

Art Pronin, a Jewish Democratic leader who lives in the district, echoed others who have said that Green has all but disengaged from the Jewish community in recent years — contributing to a strained relationship with the veteran congressman.

Since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Green has also taken a noticeably hostile turn against Israel in his votes and public statements, local Jewish leaders say. Weeks after the attacks, for instance, Green was among just 10 House lawmakers who opposed a bill voicing support for Israel while condemning Hamas. He has otherwise supported House legislation calling the war in Gaza a genocide and consistently voted to cut military aid to Israel, among other moves seen as antagonistic. 

“Regardless of the rhetoric, showing up” to Jewish community functions “is really important,” especially in a tight race, Pronin told JI on Tuesday. “We don’t see him breaking bread.” Green’s long absence “could cost him the race,” Pronin suggested. “It’s going to be close, and I think that we’re in a situation where a lot of the community is feeling alienated from Green,” he said.

With a few weeks until the runoff, Pronin said he is leaning toward voting for Menefee because the new congressman has been a more active presence in the Jewish community, showing up at several events like a Passover Seder sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston last month. Meanwhile, Menefee has expressed a more “balanced view” with regard to Israel and Gaza, Pronin told JI, even as he has made only a limited number of public statements clarifying his own views on Middle East policy while in office.

During a tense debate on Monday, Menefee said he believed that Israel had committed “atrocities” and “war crimes” in Gaza, while acknowledging that Oct. 7 was “absolutely horrific.” He understood, he told the audience, “why a nation would want to wage war against a terrorist organization.”

Green, for his part, reiterated his charge that Israel had committed a genocide and accused Menefee of avoiding the term because, he alleged, his opponent is beholden to the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC. “He didn’t say genocide,” Green noted. “AIPAC won’t allow that.”

AIPAC, however, has not issued an endorsement in the race.

Last November, Rahm Emanuel, the tough-talking Democratic operative and prospective presidential candidate, took the stage of the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual conference in Washington to deliver a blunt word of warning about Israel’s declining reputation in the United States and around the globe.

“I don’t mean to be the party pooper, but look, this is not going to be helpful if we’re not going to be honest with each other,” he said on an opening panel, urging the crowd to reckon with a marked downturn in support for the Jewish state over its war in Gaza, particularly among younger voters. “Israel is extremely unpopular.”

Emanuel, a veteran Jewish politician and party official who had recently concluded a tour as U.S. ambassador to Japan in the Biden administration, acknowledged his message might not ingratiate him to the thousands of Jewish communal leaders in the audience who were no doubt deeply familiar with the issue he was highlighting.

“This may be the last time I’m asked to speak to you. I get it,” he said with a hint of indifference. “But we have to be honest about the task we have” for those “who believe that there is something special” to the U.S.-Israel relationship. “We have our work cut out, and it’s not here to get applause,” he told the crowd.

In hindsight, Emanuel’s frankly worded comments marked something of a turning point in his approach to Israel and the Jewish community, foreshadowing more recent remarks in which he has voiced harsh criticism of the country’s military tactics in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks and championed new policy proposals against American military aid to Israel.

Yet even as he builds a profile as a potential candidate willing to tell the Democratic Party hard truths and challenge orthodoxy on a range of issues from trans rights to child social media bans to age limits for politicians, Emanuel, 66, was reticent in exploring his views on Israel in more depth during an interview with Jewish Insider, which he had resisted for nearly a month.

“What I said couldn’t have been clearer,” he told JI last Thursday, referring to his recent comments on “Real Time With Bill Maher” calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel that raised eyebrows in the Jewish community. “There will no longer be U.S. taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of U.S. military equipment. Israel will be like every other ally. They can buy what they want, and they have to live within the restrictions.”

“You can decide to slice it, dice it, but that’s what it is,” he said.

While U.S. military funding to Israel has increasingly faced pushback in the Democratic Party, particularly on the far left, Emanuel’s argument that Israel no longer needs the sort of special treatment that he helped promote in the Obama White House has been striking to watch precisely because he has long been a staunch defender of the Jewish state and its founding ideals.

Emanuel, whose middle name is Israel and who speaks fluent Hebrew, holds a uniquely personal connection to the Jewish state. His late father, an Israeli immigrant born in Jerusalem, served in the Irgun, the Zionist paramilitary force that fought for Israeli independence. As a child, he spent summers in Israel and later volunteered as a civilian assistant to the Israel Defense Forces during the Gulf War. His son celebrated his bar mitzvah in Israel.

Emanuel, a moderate former congressman and mayor of Chicago, pointed out in the interview that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had himself proposed winding down U.S. military aid over the next 10 years, saying in January that the country had “come of age” and “developed incredible capacity” to continue on its own. 

Emanuel, however, said that he would instead suspend the assistance “immediately,” characterizing his position as “part of an overall policy” tied to Israel’s strategically secure position in the region as well as its political isolation on the world stage — both of which he argued have never been greater than now.

“If you or anybody thinks you’re going to continue the American taxpayers paying for this, good luck passing that in the U.S. Congress. You’re asking a president of the United States to spend X amount of political capital to do something that even Israel’s own prime minister acknowledged isn’t going to happen,” he said, referring to continued U.S. military aid.

The Jewish state “has made a decision to only lean on its defense and not lean on its diplomatic front,” he told JI, adding that Netanyahu had chosen to “walk away” from pursuing a two-state solution, support for which has declined in Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks and ensuing war in Gaza.

In his view, the U.S. should continue to stand with Israel only if its efforts in the region help contribute to peace. “Every risk you will take, the State of Israel takes, for peace, then America will stand by you,” he said. “We understand there’s risks. We have stood by Israel through thick and thin.”

“But,” he said, “when one friend in that relationship abandoned something that’s contrary to our interests and contrary, in my view, also to Israel’s interests,” it is reasonable, he suggested, to rethink that alliance.

“There will no longer be U.S. taxpayer subsidies for the purchase of U.S. military equipment. Israel will be like every other ally. They can buy what they want, and they have to live within the restrictions,” Emanuel said of his vision of the future of military aid to Israel.

His comments indicate that he is now embracing a fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-Israel alliance, abandoning even the pretense of tough love that once characterized his approach, among other moderate voices in the Democratic Party. 

For example, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a centrist Jewish Democrat who is also weighing a presidential campaign in 2028, recently reiterated his support for continued U.S. aid to Israel but said that it should be seen as “leverage” to exert pressure over the country’s use of American-made weapons.

“Rahm’s move tells you a lot about the politics of the Democratic Party on Israel now. And that is a sign of how Israel’s image has changed in the country,” said Dennis Ross, a former U.S. diplomat and Middle East negotiator who overlapped with Emanuel in the Obama administration.

Despite his strong attachment to Israel, Emanuel is reckoning with a changing party no longer broadly sympathetic to the pro-Israel perspective that had long been central to his political identity, even as he has tussled with Israeli leadership during his time as a public figure.

Last Friday, for example, Emanuel signaled he would back Graham Platner, the far-left Senate candidate in Maine now poised to become the Democratic nominee, even as the Marine veteran has called to block U.S. military aid to Israel while facing controversy over a Nazi tattoo he recently covered up.

“Whether it’s people chanting ‘Jews will not replace us’” in Charlottesville, “or somebody bombing Gov. Shapiro’s home, or somebody painting Nazi insignia on my fence, or the candidate saying ‘I did not know that was a Nazi’” insignia on his chest, “we’re going to have to confront this,” Emanuel told JI the day before announcing his support for Platner, while touting his record of fighting antisemitism.

“I’ve dealt with it when I ran for Congress,” he said on the phone from Chicago, noting that he was outside an Anne Frank exhibition opening in his home city. “And I’ve also been upfront when I think a decision is going to lead to the strategic and diplomatic isolation of, not only the State of Israel, but, more importantly, the Jewish people.”

Still, Emanuel seemed reluctant and even somewhat frustrated to answer further questions seeking clarity on the implications of his new approach to Israel and how he arrived at his position. He refused to confirm explicitly, for example, if he would back defensive aid for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which has recently emerged as a subject of intense debate in some corners of the Democratic Party.

It is a significant contrast with where Emanuel stood during his time as Obama’s chief of staff. In the White House from 2009-2010, Emanuel was one of Obama’s top consiglieres on policies relating to Israel. He was involved in initial funding to boost Israel’s Iron Dome system, an effort that culminated in a 10-year memorandum of understanding between the two countries that provides $3.8 billion in annual aid through 2028, which the White House touted, at the time, as “the largest single pledge of military assistance in U.S. history.”

In 2009, Emanuel shared more reassuring words in his address to the JFNA’s annual gathering, praising Netanyahu while citing his own familial ties to Israel as well as what he had called the “privileged point of view” from understanding the Jewish state’s “value as a homeland.”

“Those who have questioned” whether the Obama administration’s opposition to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and outreach to the Arab world “implies diminished support for Israel, that is not the intent,” he said, filling in for his boss. “It is not the case and it never will be. The truth is the opposite. Only through dialogue will Israel achieve the peace it seeks.”

Emanuel now takes a more jaundiced view of Israeli diplomacy, fueling his calls for an end to U.S. aid. “Under Prime Minister Netanyahu, in the last three years, you’ve lost Europe, you’ve lost the American public, and you picked up Somaliland,” he scoffed to JI, referring to Israel’s decision to formally recognize the secessionist region in the Horn of Africa last year. “As my grandmother would say, ‘Such a deal.’ That is your only diplomatic achievement.”

Julie Fishman Rayman, senior vice president of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee, called Emanuel’s views “disappointing and worrying,” arguing that U.S. security assistance to Israel “is not just vital to deterring further attacks and ensuring the survival of the state of Israel, but is integrally tied to safeguarding American interests in the region.”

Emanuel argued that his position on U.S. aid is a logical extension of sentiments he had conveyed in 2009 while in the Obama administration, when he repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu over settlement expansion in the West Bank, which the White House cautioned would jeopardize prospects for achieving a two-state solution.

“I went straight to the prime minister to his face and said, ‘What you’re doing is going to lead to the great isolation of Israel,’” Emanuel recalled, noting, as he often does, that Netanyahu called him a “self-hating Jew,” underscoring the highly personal tenor of their long-testy relationship. “Look, I have a longstanding relationship,” he explained. “I’m honest about it.”

But even as he argues that Israel is today “a different country from a sense of wealth and capacity,” he has strained to harmonize the motives now animating his current approach. He has dismissed speculation over the sincerity of his stance and whether it is rooted in a good-faith view of Israel’s economic standing or if it is instead a more cynical political calculation tailored to a rising anti-Israel faction in the Democratic Party.

Though in contrast with high-profile voices on the far left, Emanuel has shied away from charged rhetoric about genocide in Gaza, saying it is a legal question, as well accusations that Israel had tricked President Donald Trump into war with Iran, which he says ignores U.S. agency in the conflict. He has said it is a “mistake” to restrict arms sales to Israel, suggesting that he is not aligned with related resolutions that were introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last month and notably drew backing from most Senate Democrats.

Emanuel’s allies said in recent interviews that they were not surprised with his approach, saying that he has been building to this moment for some time. “Do I agree with him? Not necessarily,” former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who served with Emanuel in Congress, told JI. “But this is not a breakthrough position. He’s expressed those concerns for years.”

David Axelrod, a former chief strategist to Obama, likewise agreed in a text message to JI that “Rahm’s basic concerns about where Bibi is leading are not new,” using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Rahm, like a lot of us, has always believed a two-state solution was the only road to peace and Bibi has been deeply, irretrievably opposed and actively hostile to the notion.”

“You ask these questions like somehow I’ve changed. The prime minister used to articulate a two-state solution. He was for it. He’s the one that’s changed,” Emanuel said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One prominent Jewish Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss a charged issue, called Emanuel’s stance a practical response that “takes the wind out of the sails of the far left and the far right,” which have politicized funding for Israel. “As long as we’re giving aid to Israel, Americans will feel like they have a say in Israeli policy and how that investment is managed.”

But if that is Emanuel’s aim, he has not made it clear. In conversation with JI, he was hesitant to clarify his own positions when pressed. Asked if he would back Iron Dome funding, he said he had been “part of the financing” for a “joint project” that he called “key for Israel’s security” when it was first developed with the United States.

He declined to elaborate further about such aid. “U.S. taxpayers should not be in the position of subsidizing a country,” he reiterated. “You know my history with the Iron Dome,” he said. “I’m done. I’ve answered it.”

Though some allies of Emanuel are willing to indulge his views more favorably than other 2028 prospects with thinner resumes related to Middle East policy, a range of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations are now pushing back on his recent turn against U.S. military aid.

“It’s in America’s interests to keep our word and help a democratic partner shield innocent civilians from missiles,” Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, told JI, referring to the Iron Dome. “Reneging on the Obama administration’s signed agreement with our closest ally in the Middle East would send a devastating message to our allies, empower our enemies and do nothing to advance peace.”

Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, said that “Israel’s situation is not comparable to our other close allies.”

“Unlike Japan, South Korea and Germany, Israel does not have permanent U.S. troops on the ground,” he told JI recently. “It’s also surrounded by enemies who actively want to wipe it off the face of the earth. U.S. security assistance reflects that reality and the significant strategic benefits the aid provides.”

Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JI in a recent interview that he disagreed with Emanuel, even as he acknowledged the sentiment as a “legitimate view.” Still, he added that it is “in the U.S. interest” to continue providing military aid to Israel, “which anyway all goes to buying U.S. weaponry.”

Even some pro-Israel Democrats sympathetic to Emanuel and his perspective said his comments on military aid raise more questions than they answer. One influential Jewish Democrat who has long been acquainted with Emanuel, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive topic, expressed concerns that ending aid to Israel could stoke further calls from the far left to condition military funding or block future weapons sales outright.

For his part, Emanuel avoided commenting on the question of Israel’s qualitative military edge, which the U.S. is legally obligated to ensure but allies say could suffer without military aid. “I feel like we’re taking the same question from 50 angles,” Emanuel told JI. “I want Israel to fight for peace the way it’s proven that it’s fought in the last three years. That’s what’s missing,” he said last week.

“You ask these questions like somehow I’ve changed,” Emanuel said earlier in the call. “The prime minister used to articulate a two-state solution. He was for it. He’s the one that’s changed.”

Multiple Jewish homes, a synagogue and a Jewish center in Queens — which contains a preschool — were vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti overnight on Monday, leaving Jewish residents questioning their safety amid a spate of antisemitic incidents. 

“When rabbis and congregants arrived to pray this morning, they expected to be met with their usual loving community. When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence,” New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the city’s first Jewish council speaker, wrote on X. 

Menin, alongside Queens Councilmembers Lynn Schulman and Phil Wong, visited Congregation Machane Chodosh in Forest Hills, the impacted synagogue, on Monday morning. The Rego Park Jewish Center and two residential houses in Forest Hills were also targeted.  

The NYPD is searching for at least four individuals responsible for the vandalism, according to Menin. 

“With antisemitism on the rise here and across the globe, we will always stand up for our Jewish community and fight back against hate,” said Menin, adding that the graffiti will be removed once the NYPD completes its investigation.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on Monday afternoon that he was “horrified and angered” by the vandalism, which he called “a deliberate act of antisemitic hatred meant to instill fear.”

“I stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. Their safety, dignity, and belonging are non-negotiable,” Mamdani continued.

Gov. Kathy Hochul similarly condemned the “vile, targeted hate.”

Democratic state Assemblymember Sam Berger, who represents Queens’ nearby heavily Jewish neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills, told JI that his grandparents, who are Holocaust survivors, “lived around the corner from this shul. It’s mortifying.”

“I have a Jewish community that is seriously questioning whether it is still welcome in this city,” said Berger. 

“One of the sites houses a pre-K program, where young children, their families, and staff were greeted with swastikas and other hateful vandalism,” said Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. 

“This is not normal,” said Treyger, “and we need city leaders to act now.”

Sydney Altfield, CEO of Teach Coalition — which oversees security grants for Congregation Machane Chodosh and most other synagogues and schools in the area — said in a statement, “Waking up to swastikas on a synagogue, homes, and a Jewish center that houses a preschool is not just vandalism, it is a direct act of intimidation against an entire community. We’re working closely with synagogue leadership and guiding next steps to protect families and strengthen security in the short term.”

“This is exactly why sustained investment in security for Jewish institutions is so critical. It also underscores how important it is not only to secure that funding but also to ensure institutions can access it,” Altfield continued.

In January, Queens played host to a pro-Hamas protest that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early, where dozens of masked protesters chanted “We support Hamas” near the synagogue.  

Kenton — a suburb of northwest London that doesn’t ordinarily get international attention — has become one of the epicenters of the wave of antisemitic attacks sweeping England against Jewish individuals, synagogues and other institutions of Jewish life. It also happens to be where I grew up.

Last month, its synagogue was firebombed, causing some damage to the premises. Thankfully, no one was hurt. It is just one of the many incidents of antisemitic vandalism, harassment and violence across the U.K. that have made Jewish life all the more precarious in what was, previously, seen as a safe, close-knit Jewish community.

I moved to Israel as an adult, and have spent years covering the country as a journalist, most recently as Jewish Insider‘s Israel editor. In that time, the check-in calls have mostly gone one way, with friends from the U.K. touching base after terror attacks and through wars in Israel.

That dynamic has shifted in recent weeks. In a jarring role reversal, I have found myself checking up on Jewish British friends amid an alarming escalation of antisemitic attacks in London. 

Some will say the writing was on the wall, but there is a difference between knowing something is possible and watching it become real.

The numbers tell a stark story: Jews make up less than 0.5% of the U.K. population, yet government statistics released in Oct. 2024 found they accounted for a third of all religious hate crimes, amid a spike in antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. The most recent Home Office data shows Jewish people experienced the highest rate of religious crime: 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 Jews — compared to 12 per 10,000 Muslims, who faced the highest absolute number of such crimes but constitute a far larger share of the population. And these statistics were published prior to the accelerated frequency of attacks in the past weeks.

Two weeks ago, it was the firebombing of Kenton United Synagogue — a place I spent many happy moments with childhood friends — one of a string of such attacks on Jewish targets in Finchley, Watford and Hendon, all familiar names to Jewish Londoners. An Orthodox Jewish man was verbally abused and threatened while he was getting about his work in Slough. The situation escalated further on Wednesday, when two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, a suburb of London with a large Jewish population.

Police are investigating whether Iranian proxies are behind the spate of attacks, which began after Israel and the U.S. launched a war against the Islamic Republic at the end of February. Several of the attacks have been claimed online by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, a terrorist group linked to Iran, which has also claimed responsibility for similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands. “I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said last month. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Thursday, after the group claimed responsibility for the Golders Green stabbing attack, that authorities were investigating whether that claim is credible or “opportunistic.”

On Thursday, the British government appeared to finally shift into a higher gear. The national threat level was raised to “severe,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced several new policies aimed at protecting British Jews, and the government pledged £25 million (about $34 million) for increased security around synagogues, schools and community centers. For many Jews these steps were welcome — but long overdue. 

Meanwhile, Jewish Brits are rattled by the frequency and sense of normalization of the attacks.

“The climate here means there are so many people who are suitable for recruiting and radicalizing,” one fellow former Kenton resident, who now lives in another London suburb, told me. “And these attacks are becoming so normal. I am getting scared that the genie is out of the bottle and I am not sure how it is going to go back.” Another friend spoke of a “back-up plan” to living in Britain, while a mother of two described the fear she feels during pickup and dropoff at the Jewish school her daughters attend.

“At the moment, people across the Jewish community are waking up and almost expecting to find there’s been yet another attack,” Justin Cohen, news editor and co-publisher of the U.K.’s Jewish News, told me. “And this has now been going on for several weeks.”

“We’ve literally got to the stage where if there’s not an attack, there’s almost an element of surprise and relief,” Cohen said. “Most British Jews could never have imagined we’d have got to this stage.”

Of the U.K.’s recent move toward designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, Cohen remarked, “if it was the case that that could be done now, then it also could have been done many, many months ago, when the Jewish community has been warning about this for a long, long time.”

The Jewish newspaper’s front cover made waves on Wednesday, with a collage of platitudes from British politicians surrounding an image of the stabbing in Golders Green, with a banner headline reading “Bull$#@#bingo”.

“After each attack we hear the same words from politicians and other well-meaning figures: clichés like, ‘we’re all in this together,’ ‘thoughts and prayers,’ ‘an attack on Jewish communities is an attack on us all,’” Cohen said. “And while these words are welcome and indeed necessary, it’s time the government and all the authorities go so much further. Words are simply not good enough — and we said that after the arson attack on the ambulances, just down the road from the stabbings.”

“But since then, we’ve not seen further emergency action. The only way this is going to be addressed is by getting ahead of the curve and really addressing the underlying issues at play here,” Cohen continued. “That’s not to say this is going to be easy and there’s no one solution, but emergency, unprecedented action is the only thing that can possibly help address the situation.”

“Otherwise, our front page that has made such an impact and has been felt so deeply by the Jewish community this week, will be out of date by next week and something even worse, sadly, could happen,” Cohen said.

House Democrats and Jewish groups welcomed the passage of $300 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) on Thursday, while warning that funding for the program remains insufficient to fully protect the Jewish community and places of worship amid a surge in antisemitism.

The appropriation was passed through a bill funding most of the Department of Homeland Security, approved in the House on Thursday after receiving approval in the Senate. The move ends the monthslong shutdown of agencies including the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which operates NSGP.

While lawmakers welcomed the fact that funding marks an increase from the $274.5 million provided in fiscal year 2025, they cautioned that the $300 million still falls short of the need within the Jewish community, given the threat level. The grants are used to harden institutions, including synagogues and day schools, against physical attacks.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told Jewish Insider that $300 million is “nowhere near enough.” 

“It is just unacceptable that we are going in the wrong direction,” Wasserman Schultz said. “$300 million is backwards. We need a billion dollars with the explosive growth in antisemitism and antisemitic attacks.” 

Jewish communal groups as well as a bipartisan group of 150 House members called for an increase in funding for the program of up to $1 billion following several attacks including the car-ramming and shooting attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., in March.

“We need to make sure that every person who attends not just a Jewish institution, but any religious or community organization — that no one should have to fear being attacked in a public space like that,” Wasserman Schultz added. “We need to make sure that the funding is adequate to keep people safe.” 

The Florida lawmaker noted that she hopes Congress can unlock more funding for the program, saying that there is an “appropriations process that is ongoing, so hopefully we’ll be able to.” 

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told JI that the development is “good news,” adding that “hopefully we [Congress] will get these resources out the door as quickly as possible to protect our religious institutions.” 

“It’s better than nothing, right?” Gottheimer said. “It’s good news to get these resources out the door, and we certainly need to get them out the door, and so this is an important step.”

Still, Gottheimer said the amount is not enough. He stated that he plans to “push for a lot more for next year” and that he has “already taken action, written letters and laid down clear markers that we need a lot more.” 

“I think we need more because right now we’re running less than 50% fulfilled in terms of [grant] requests,” Gottheimer said. “So, obviously it’s not enough, especially with the threats out there. When you look at antisemitism and the surge in the rates, we obviously need to get a lot more help for our religious institutions so we can ensure religious freedom and protect our synagogues.” 

Gottheimer also expressed frustration with what he described as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “holding up the resources.” However, he said he hoped that the department’s newly installed secretary, former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, would mark an improvement. 

“She [Noem] had put a review on all of the resources, so a lot of the money didn’t get out the door because they were looking at all the procedures and so the money was being held up,” Gottheimer said. “I’m optimistic that our new secretary, and I spoke to him, will get these resources out the door.” 

Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) said he was unsure whether the newly allocated amount was the “right number,” but stated that he believed it could have a “positive effect.” 

“The synagogues and the Jewish day schools in my district and around me are really concerned about the rise of antisemitism,” Latimer said. “I’m not Jewish myself, but I can see that there’s a pointed effort to try and make people feel afraid in doing things that we believe everybody should be able to do.”

“I suppose you could always use more [funding],” Latimer added. “But if it’s going to go to the right purpose and it’s done without extra strings attached, as you never know how this administration will operate — but I would certainly say that Jewish communities should have this extra support and protection.”

Jewish communal organizations similarly applauded the funding, but urged for more down the line.

“This increase over last year’s funding level is an important and very welcome step,” Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said in a statement. “While sadly even more funding is needed for Jewish community security, this increased level of funding will surely help. We will continue working with members of Congress and our allies to fund NSGP at even higher levels in 2027 to meet demand.”

Lauren Wolman, senior director of government relations and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League, called the funding “an important step in protecting vulnerable communities amid evolving threats.” 

“NSGP is a proven, lifesaving program, but demand continues to far outpace resources. As antisemitic threats reach record highs, funding must keep pace. Turning our attention to FY27, we urge Congress to fund NSGP at $1 billion,” Wolman continued. “Now that DHS has reopened, we urge the Administration to ensure FY25 funds are disbursed promptly and [open applications for 2026 grants] in a timely manner.”

The Jewish Federations of North America also welcomed the move, saying in a statement that the funding will “restore critical operations at a moment when threats facing Jewish communities and other vulnerable populations remain alarmingly high.” It also encouraged the administration to release funds allocated for 2025 and open applications for 2026, and indicated that the organization would “fight for $1 billion for FY2027.” 

The hyperpartisan gerrymandering arms race is threatening to derail the careers of several of the strongest allies to the Jewish community within the Democratic Party.

A newly redrawn congressional map proposed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday targets four seats held by pro-Israel Democrats, raising concerns among many Jewish leaders at the state and national levels about the implications of losing pivotal voices helping moderate the Democratic Party’s rhetoric on Israel and antisemitism. 

The aggressive redistricting plan, the broad outlines of which were first shared with Fox News, appears to eliminate a pair of South Florida House seats held by two of the most vocal pro-Israel Jewish Democrats in Congress, Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as two districts in Tampa and Orlando held respectively by Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL), both of whom are viewed as dependable voices in support of Israel.

The map, which comes amid nationwide redistricting efforts from both parties, is expected to pass the Republican-controlled Legislature in a special session this week, though Democrats have said they intend to challenge it in court. Democrats currently hold seven of the state’s 28 congressional seats, after Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) resigned last week amid a House ethics investigation. Her seat did not seem to be affected by the map, which is facing accusations of partisan gerrymandering that could run afoul of state laws.

DeSantis has cast the new map as a necessary corrective meant to reflect the state’s changing population. But Jewish Democrats questioned the Republican governor’s motives, while expressing alarm that his plan threatens pro-Israel members, especially as the party has grown increasingly divided on Middle East policy and the rise of antisemitism.

The new congressional lines “risk drawing out members who have represented large Jewish constituencies for decades and dedicated their careers to combating antisemitism and strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a Jewish Democrat who is one of his party’s most outspoken supporters of Israel, told Jewish Insider on Monday. “Losing them would be a massive blow to Congress.”

Former Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL), a Jewish Democratic leader in South Florida, told JI he was troubled by the new map, calling the effort to “throw out” four pro-Israel members “very problematic” and “very dangerous” for the Jewish community, particularly amid dwindling Jewish representation in the House.

“When I was in Congress, there were a lot more Jewish representatives than there are today,” Klein noted. “It’s a big deal,” he said of the implications of potential redistricting.

Andrew Weinstein, a Democratic activist in South Florida close to Moskowitz and Wasserman Schultz, echoed that sentiment. “At a time when the Jewish community is constantly under threat, it would be a real loss to no longer have them in Congress,” he told JI in an interview, describing the two lawmakers as “proudly and openly supportive of” Jewish issues. 

“Their prominence, I would say, is an important factor,” he explained.

Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, dismissed the map as a “blatant attempt to push out pro-Israel Democratic champions in Congress.”

“It’s bad for our country, it’s bad for those who care about Israel and it’s a violation of Florida’s redistricting constitutional amendment,” he said in a statement to JI. “We urge lawmakers to reject this shameless partisan stunt.”

Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told JI that “South Florida is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the country, which is why most of South Florida is represented by Democrats — because historically, and certainly under” President Donald Trump, “it’s only Democrats who share democratic and Jewish values.”

She suggested that DeSantis’ plan could ultimately “backfire on the GOP and and benefit Democrats in November,” citing Trump’s low approval ratings as well as Republicans’ unilateral effort to formalize a new map without voter feedback, in contrast with recent successful Democratic redistricting efforts in California and Virginia.

Richard Stark, president of the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, told JI he was “outraged that the supposedly pro-Jewish governor of Florida seeks to eliminate the congressional seats of mostly Jewish members,” adding of DeSantis, “Not surprising and certainly not pro-Jewish.”

For her part, Wasserman Schultz claimed that “DeSantis drew up illegal, partisan maps in a backroom and made sure Fox News got them before lawmakers did.”

“This clear effort to steal more seats for Republicans shows his total contempt for Florida voters, who voted two-to-one in favor of a ban on partisan gerrymandering in our Constitution,” she said in a statement to JI on Monday. “This nakedly partisan scheme breaks state law. While Republicans focus on cherry-picking their voters, I’ll keep fighting for better jobs and schools and take on the healthcare and housing high-cost crisis that Republicans continue to ignore.”

Soto, meanwhile, called the map “illegal,” telling reporters on Monday he plans to continue to run in Florida’s 9th Congressional District — which could be significantly redrawn to favor Republicans.

Moskowitz told JI he would need to take a closer look at the map but that DeSantis’ effort could result in some “dummymander situations,” as other Democrats suggested in response to the effort. 

He said he did not believe DeSantis had intentionally targeted pro-Israel Jewish members. “DeSantis is just trying to eliminate Democrats,” Moskowitz said. “It just so happens that the Democrats in South Florida happen to be Jewish. If he wants four seats, where is he getting four seats from?“

Even as Jewish Democrats say they are worried that the new map could push dependable members out of Congress, some strategists expressed skepticism that the plan, pending further information, would have its intended effect of adding four new Republicans to the delegation.

Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist in Florida, said the map “clearly impacts both” Wasserman Schultz and Moskowitz, “but both will have a place where they can run and win — particularly this cycle.”

“Just based on what I know of these communities, this isn’t a map that guarantees a four-seat pick up by any stretch of the imagination,” he told JI, “and one can argue, might create some additional Democratic opportunities that didn’t exist before this map.”

Senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod and Washington reporter Matthew Shea contributed to this report.

Cait Conley and Beth Davidson, two of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District — among the most Jewish districts in the country — distanced themselves in a Thursday candidate forum from efforts by 40 Senate Democrats last week to block certain military sales to Israel.

Conley, a veteran who has worked in a variety of national security roles, said that she doesn’t believe that lawmakers should be trying to determine which specific systems should be provided to allies, but she also argued that the U.S. must continue to enforce global standards to ensure that all aid recipients are meeting U.S. standards.

“What I’m concerned about is what we are seeing is politicians now trying to make calls on what assistance should or should not go, whether this system or that, whether this thing or that, instead of actually relying upon the process that was designed where informed professionals are shaping what those packages are. There is a politicization of security that I do not believe is good for America’s national security or global stability,” Conley said during the Jewish Democratic Council of America forum.

She said that interference by lawmakers in determining what systems should be provided to Ukraine ultimately hurt the country’s ability to defend itself.

“I think we need to take politicians out of that equation and have a discussion on are the standards being met or not, and that is neutral to whatever ally we’re talking about,” she continued.

Conley also said she continues to believe in the importance of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, but also wants to see long-term peace, guaranteed by a trusted third-party peacekeeping force in Gaza supported by U.S. reconstruction aid.

Davidson, a Rockland County legislator, said that she wants to see the U.S. use diplomatic tools and oversight to help bring about peace, rather than threatening aid to Israel. “I never want to have to be in a position where we are not in a position to provide Israel the aid it needs to fully defend itself and keep not only Israelis but Americans safe,” she said.

But she added that, “before voting for more funding, I would want to see a plan of how we bring this [Iran] conflict to a close, especially with a second conflict going on right next door,” and said that the “illegal war in Iran is actually making it more difficult to implement the [Gaza] peace plan.”

“It’s more important than ever that we understand what is happening with our tax dollars, what aid is being used for, and ensuring that it’s truly making Americans, Israelis, Palestinians and everyone in the region more safe.”

Davidson, who is Jewish, emphasized that the challenges the Jewish community are facing are personal to her and her family, and that her involvement in her synagogue leadership was what led her to public service.

She said that it’s “no secret” that Jewish support has been key to Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) past victories in the district because Jewish voters “felt homeless in the Democratic Party.”

“I’m the strongest candidate in this primary, because with me, Democrats and Jewish Democrats in particular don’t have to choose,” Davidson said. “I bring a strong voice against antisemitism, but also in favor of clean water, gun safety, hunger relief, lowering costs for working families, fighting for affordable health care, a proven record that I bring on so many of the issues that we all care about. So if you felt homeless, you have a home in my campaign.”

Davidson accused Lawler of politicizing the fight against antisemitism, and of turning a blind eye to President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

She also highlighted her work to organize a solidarity event following the antisemitic stabbing attack in the predominantly Orthodox village of Monsey, N.Y., and to improve Holocaust education as a school board member.

Conley emphasized that she has past experience fighting antisemitism as an official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which sent teams to faith-based institutions to help them improve their security. She said that the administration should be increasing funding and support for such programs, alongside the Department of Education, instead of slashing them.

Effie Phillips-Staley, who is staking out the progressive lane in the race and has adopted an increasingly anti-Israel platform, did not attend the forum.

A group of Jewish District of Columbia residents gathered at the city’s municipal building on Wednesday for a scheduled meeting with Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. councilmember and one of the leading candidates in this year’s mayoral race, but she never showed, two people who were in the meeting told Jewish Insider. 

A staff member for Lewis George told attendees at the start of the meeting that she was having a busy morning, and they should begin the conversation without her. At the end of the meeting, when Lewis George still had not arrived, the staff member apologized that she was unable to attend. 

Lewis George’s attendance had been confirmed a day earlier by her staff. 

Ben Rosenfeld, Lewis George’s communications director, told JI on Wednesday that the meeting “was scheduled before the Council hearing calendar was revised,” and Lewis George had to attend a hearing “addressing drastic cuts to paid family and medical leave, which was scheduled for the same time.” 

In her place, Lewis George “was represented by senior legislative and office staff to meet with Ward 4 constituents and JCRC [Jewish Community Relations Council] leadership,” said Rosenfeld. “Councilmember Lewis George appreciates the opportunity to hear JCRC’s core priorities and shares these concerns in the upcoming budget process, including preserving the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund and ensuring houses of worship are supported amid a deeply concerning rise in antisemitism and hate.”

The meeting took place against the backdrop of a heated mayoral campaign, in which Lewis George has faced criticism from some in the Jewish community for her rhetoric around Israel and antisemitism. 

She told members of the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, of which she is a member, that she would not attend events that promote Zionism. In the DSA questionnaire, she criticized the JCRC of Greater Washington, a local advocacy group, for its approach to antisemitism, and ultimately earned the DSA’s endorsement. 

“I was offended by her last minute no show. This was her chance to meet with Ward 4 residents to discuss issues affecting them and their families, and she was the only councilmember to not show up for her scheduled meeting,” one of the meeting attendees told JI. 

The Wednesday meeting was part of JCRC’s annual D.C. Advocacy Day, which included meetings between Jewish Washingtonians and their councilmembers. The meetings were focused on local issues, like the city’s nonprofit security grant program and funding for early childhood educators. The two meeting attendees who spoke with JI said the meeting with Lewis George’s staff was generally positive and did not touch on the mayoral campaign controversies.  

Jewish community leaders also met with Phil Mendelson, the council chair, and Councilmembers Brooke Pinto, Brianne Nadeau, Christina Henderson, Charles Allen and Doni Crawford.

Ward 4, which Lewis George represents, is home to several major Jewish institutions, including Sinai Temple, Ohev Sholom Congregation and the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School, each of which had staff members at the meeting.

Greater Washington JCRC CEO Ron Halber called the meeting with Lewis George’s staff “thoughtful and productive,” and said he did not fault her for missing the meeting. 

“We meet regularly with policymakers and their teams throughout the year. We know that there are many demands on their time and we understand completely when unanticipated scheduling changes come up,” said Halber. “We deeply appreciate their commitment to our policy priorities and look forward to continuing our shared work together.” 

In February, Halber called the DSA endorsement questionnaire an “antisemitic manifesto” but has not specifically weighed in on Lewis George’s past comments about Zionism. 

Lewis George met privately last month with a group of Washington rabbis, where she apologized for her answers in the DSA questionnaire, a sentiment she has not shared publicly. Her chief competitor in the race, former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, has criticized Lewis George for her comments in the questionnaire.

This story was updated on April 23 to add comment from Greater Washington JCRC CEO Ron Halber.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore pledged that his administration “will always support Maryland’s Jewish community” in recorded remarks for an event Monday evening marking Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, at Beth Tfiloh Congregation in Pikesville, Md., a heavily Jewish suburb of Baltimore.

The Maryland governor, a potential Democratic presidential contender, said that it is his and his state’s “governing philosophy” to “unapologetically confront and condemn antisemitism and persecution wherever it arises,” to provide no refuge to hate, denial and conspiracy theories, to ensure that everyone feels safe to worship and to “realize the full promise of tikkun olam.”

“These are difficult times, but we’ll get through them together,” Moore said.

Moore emphasized the “responsibility” of those living today to commemorate the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust “because time does not carry memory forward on its own — people do.”

“We must work together to protect our history and condemn those who would try to deny it, and we can work together to be part of a change that we hope to see in the world, especially right here in Maryland, in this moment,” Moore continued.

He said that it’s important to continue to elevate the voices of Holocaust survivors while they are still living, and that it will be the “moral responsibility of our generation and our children’s generation to never forget.”

As Canadian Jewish families began celebrating the holiday of Passover, a commemoration of Jewish persecution and redemption, many found the ancient narrative colliding with a modern reality of rising fear at home. 

Early Friday, a Jewish-owned restaurant in Toronto was struck by gunfire for the second time in weeks — a targeted, 14-bullet assault that police called a “glaring example of domestic terrorism.” 

The incident marks the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks, highlighting what Jewish leaders describe as “systemic” Jew-hatred in Canada. And it is even leading some Jewish Canadians to consider their own kind of exodus from their country, with one communal leader saying that “the promise” that Jews could practice their faith openly in the country “has been broken.”

“There’s a real sense — and I don’t want to overstate it — but that the Jewish community in Toronto has felt under siege since [the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel],” Rabbi Debra Landsberg, who leads Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue in Toronto’s North York district, told Jewish Insider.

On March 2, Landsberg’s congregation was shot at several times, as her family and at least one staff member remained near the building following a Purim celebration. No injuries were reported, but the exterior and front lobby sustained significant damage. 

The shooting was the first in a series of three synagogue attacks in Toronto last month. One week after Temple Emanu-El was targeted, the front doors of Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue and The Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto were shot at in the middle of the night, causing damage to both buildings. 

In another recent incident, Canadian law enforcement arrested three Toronto-area men accused of planning violent kidnappings targeting women and members of the Jewish community. 

Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, said that last week’s restaurant shooting “the 12th incident of its kind in the latest wave of antisemitism and violence against the Jewish community in Canada.” UJA Federation of Greater Toronto warned that the incident should cause “all Canadians to be extremely concerned by what’s happening in our country right now.”   

Toronto police have responded to the surge of violence by deploying armed officers at Jewish institutions around the city, an effort that was ramped up during the Passover holiday. 

Canada has experienced some of the most severe manifestations of the global surge in antisemitism since Oct. 7. — with higher rates of antisemitic incidents than other countries but lower conviction rates. 

In the first two months of 2026 alone, 22 antisemitic incidents were reported in Toronto, representing approximately 62% of all reported hate crimes in the country, according to police. Based on population, a Jewish Canadian is 25 times more likely to experience a hate crime than any other Canadian, according to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).  

Some Jewish leaders told JI they have come to expect sluggish or nonexistent responses from law enforcement and political leadership, a failure that they say exacerbates the problem. 

One month after the synagogue shootings, no arrests have been made. Police say investigations are ongoing. 

A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Department told JI last week that “the synagogue shootings are being examined for potential links … information, evidence, and intelligence are being shared to determine whether there are any connections.” 

“There has been a systemic failure across jurisdictions to face antisemitism,” said Richard Marceau, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and general counsel at CIJA, an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada. Marceau asserted that society has “a complete misunderstanding” of what antisemitism is, whether it stems from “the far left, far right [or] Islamic circles.”

“There’s also a reluctance to act,” he said. “There’s a desire to say ‘we’ll just let a little steam out and the pressure will go away.’ There’s no consequences to what’s happening [so] people feel emboldened.” 

“In terms of fighting on the criminal legal side, the police are reluctant to press charges and go from a ‘let’s keep the peace’ mentality to ‘let’s enforce the law,’” continued Marceau, a former Bloc Québécois member of parliament. “Charges are dropped by the prosecution for no good reason. Often judges don’t understand what antisemitism is.” 

“If there’s one thing that should be clear it’s that Jews are under threat and this type of thing should not take such a long time,” Marceau said of the investigations into last month’s synagogue shootings. “There should be infrastructure to make sure that the people who attack are quickly found and identified.”

“There’s also a reluctance to act,” Marceau said. “There’s a desire to say ‘we’ll just let a little steam out and the pressure will go away.’ There’s no consequences to what’s happening [so] people feel emboldened.” 

Marceau noted some positive movement since the Toronto synagogue shootings. Bill C-9, which would amend the criminal code to strengthen penalties against hate-motivated crimes, protect religious spaces and ban public display of hate symbols, passed in the House of Commons last month. Marceau called for the Senate “to quickly pass it.” 

“All around, the authorities have been given a failing grade on this. All the lights are flashing on Canada’s dashboard — things need fixing and the fixing needs to happen now,” said Marceau.  

Landsberg, former president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, said that among her congregants, “everybody is just a little jumpier” since last month’s attack. “The police are responsive but not forthcoming with information. Visible police presence has been noticeable here and at other Jewish institutions. The care and concern from our police has been real.” 

But many questions remain, said Landsberg. “Whether or not they are able to solve this — and what it will take — and do they have the clear support of political leadership, to make Jews safe and feel safe? As time goes on, one imagines that we might live without ever having someone brought to account for this.”

“The political response has been complicated and underwhelming,” continued Landsberg. “Since Oct. 7 at least, the question of whether laws on the books are being implemented when it comes to hate crimes against Jews is an open question. I don’t know many people who are convinced that the law has been applied during some of these protests when there is classic imagery of Jews as rats.” 

Few Jewish institutions have been targeted as severely as Kehillat Shaarei Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue that has endured 10 separate attacks in the last two years alone. The congregation is also located in North York, but about 2.5 miles from most of Toronto’s Jewish life. 

Geographic distance hasn’t spared the synagogue from becoming a target of antisemitic incidents, the first of which occurred the Thursday before Passover two years ago when “about six or eight of our windows were smashed by somebody with a hammer who came in the middle of the night,” the congregation’s leader, Rabbi Joe Kanofsky, told JI. 

“We got through Pesach and then there was another by the same person, judging by the security tapes, who came back to get what he missed,” said Kanofsky. “He missed our doors, he came back to smash our glass doors and some more windows. We had a couple more things throughout the summer into the next year.” 

Other incidents included a sign outside of the synagogue calling for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 being set on fire and dead animals being thrown onto the property. The windows were also smashed several more times. 

Frustrated, synagogue leaders installed a black iron fence around the perimeter of the building in December 2024. That “slowed things down” until November 2025, said Kanofsky, “when we had somebody, possibly the same person, come smash the windows with a hammer again. That was our most recent and brought us up to 10 figures all together.” No arrests have been made in any of the attacks. 

Canada operates under three levels of government — federal, provincial and municipal — and Kanofsky expressed dissatisfaction with the political response, noting that certain branches have performed worse than others. 

“The municipal government seems to be wishing the problem away,” he said. “If they close their eyes they imagine it’s not so bad and maybe they’ll give a little money for increased security so the Jews can take care of that.” In March, days after the Toronto synagogue shootings, the Canadian government announced a new $10 million investment through the Canada Community Security Program to help Jewish institutions enhance security. 

“I haven’t heard much from the provincial government until the three shootings in March happened. Right after that happened, the provincial government called the meeting of rabbis. [Doug Ford,] the premier of Ontario, asked a lot of questions and listened, sharing his plans for beefing up security. After a long time, finally there was some attention from the provincial government, which oversees prosecutions. That’s where things are falling apart, things do not go to trial and if they do they are dropped.”  

“From the federal government, our representatives in Ottawa have been fairly supportive. There’s a bit of a degree of ‘it’s somebody else’s job’ and everyone points to someone else,” continued Kanofsky. “But the police are always there for us before and after we call. If the rest of the levels of government were as determined as the police, we probably would not have this problem.” 

While nearly half of Canadian Jews reside in Toronto — which is home to about 150 Jewish institutions — the problem extends beyond Canada’s largest city. In Ottawa, the country’s capital, a Jewish grandmother was stabbed in August while shopping at a kosher supermarket. In 2024, Jews in Montreal were granted an injunction to prohibit the spate of anti-Israel protests, which included chants of “death to the Jews” in Arabic outside of a school, occurring within 50 meters of dozens of Jewish institutions. 

In what The Atlantic recently called “Canada’s Polite Pogrom,” many incidents targeting Jews have been quieter, without broken glass or bones, but disruptive and exclusionary nevertheless. 

Eighty percent of Jewish doctors and medical students surveyed by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario reported experiencing antisemitism at work after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. In 2024, more than 100 Jewish doctors stopped acknowledging their affiliation with the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine in protest of what they saw as the school’s failure to protect Jewish students and faculty. Almost a third of Ontario’s Jewish doctors say they are considering leaving Canada because of hostile work environments, according to the JMAO survey. 

A group of Jewish teachers in British Columbia filed a human rights complaint against their own union, accusing the BC Teachers’ Federation of excluding, harassing and silencing its Jewish members. A federal investigation into Ontario’s K-12 schools found nearly 800 antisemitic incidents reported in elementary and high schools since 2023, many stemming from teachers’ conduct. The Toronto International Film Festival briefly dropped a documentary from its lineup that chronicled an Israeli grandfather’s experience rescuing his family from Hamas on Oct. 7, before a global effort successfully pushed for its reinstatement.  

Jewish life in Canada wasn’t always this way, said Irwin Cotler, Canada’s former justice minister. 

“When I was in the Ministry of Justice, at that time we had nowhere near the levels of antisemitism we’re witnessing now,” Cotler, who served as a member of Parliament, attorney general and Canada’s first special envoy on combating antisemitism, told JI. He called the current situation “an unprecedented explosion.” 

“One would have thought that the times since [Oct. 7] would have resulted in actions to combat antisemitism. We’ve had on a public level, tragically almost, denials that Oct. 7 took place or support and justification — even celebration — for it in the public squares,” he said. 

Upon completing his term as Canada’s special envoy on combating antisemitism in 2023, just before the Oct. 7 attacks, Cotler recalled reporting that “the conventional paradigm for combating antisemitism on the far right and far left was still true.” But, he continued, “the most important finding I had was that we were witnessing an increasing mainstream normalizing antisemitism and particularly in the campus culture, with an absence of outrage underpinned by indifference and a failure to appreciate that antisemitism is not only increasingly threatening Jews but that it’s toxic to democracies and an assault on our human rights values.”

If not addressed quickly, Cotler warned that there’s “a ticking bomb here in Canada for what will be the Bondi massacre occurring in Canada,” a reference to the December 2025 mass shooting at a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, that killed 15 people. 

“The synagogue shootings here are part of a pattern. We are experiencing not only the highest level of antisemitic incidents since tracking began in the 1970s, but the real disturbing data has been the dramatic increase in hate crimes targeting Canadian Jews. Hate crimes are different from other forms of antisemitism because they are identity crimes that target the whole community and reverberate within the whole community,” continued Cotler. 

Cotler described law enforcement and government as ineffective. “Arrests are not made or if they are made then charges are not laid. If charges are laid, prosecutions are not proceeded with, or if prosecutions are proceeded with the courts do not sustain it,” he said. 

Canada “needs a wake up call,” continued Cotler, “and it needs a whole government commitment at [all] levels to combat antisemitism. If the government gives a 10 percent increase in community security it’s basically telling Jews to protect themselves and giving a little more money to do that. That’s not a response. If you don’t have leadership at the governmental levels, lack of leadership will trickle down and start to become part of the culture of inaction. What we’re witnessing from the government are performative tweets and virtue signaling, but not effective leadership and action on the ground.”

Last month, frustration with political leadership deepened for many Jews with the election of Avi Lewis, a far-left Jewish anti-Zionist, as the leader of the New Democratic Party, widely described as Canada’s democratic socialist party.

“We are left with a deep sense of sadness,” Marceau and Rachel Chertkoff, senior vice president of community engagement at CIJA, said in a joint statement following the March 29 election. “When a leader declares that Zionism is inseparable from ethnic cleansing, he is not engaging in legitimate policy critique. He is telling Jewish Canadians that a core part of their identity is illegitimate. That is exclusion.” 

Cotler, who was friends with Avi Lewis’ father, Stephen Lewis, said the election left him “concerned — not about criticism of Israel, but engaging in obsessive preoccupation in calling out alleged Israeli genocide.”

As a member of Parliament, Cotler said he was “close” with the NDP. “The astonishing difference [is] now we’ve gone down the road where NDP is no longer a place Jews feel they can be at home,” said Cotler. “It’s tragic because of the important role Jews played in the founding of the NDP.” 

Landsberg noted that the writing was always on the wall: Canadian Jews would face a harsher reality than their American counterparts. 

Canada is “50-plus years slower in reaching integration. In many ways the American story — of freedom and exodus — has been integrated naturally, the early Civil Rights Movement, for example,” Landsberg said. “There isn’t that comparable norming of the Jewish story [in Canada]. The first Jew who made it into a political cabinet position wasn’t until the late 1960s, decades after there were Jews on the Supreme Court in the U.S. Same thing with leadership in medicine and universities. It’s much later here. It’s a much smaller community that is made up of many more immigrants. It’s a different community in that this is home but these are people who have had to flee homes already. Canada’s understanding of Jewish citizens as part of the multicultural story that it has been trying to create has played out differently.” 

Marceau, who splits his time between Montreal and Ottawa, has three friends who have left Canada because of antisemitism. “In discussions around Shabbat tables or at synagogue, [fleeing] is a constant conversation that is happening,” he said. “The promise that everyone could be openly themselves in Canada, to practice whatever faith they want — has been broken — certainly for Jews.” 

Similarly, Kanofsky said that among his 200-family congregation, “people have already received second or third passports through their parents or grandparents. People are gathering their documents. Younger families are looking into Central America or other places that might be more hospitable. These are people that if you would have asked five years ago would have said they have deep roots and are not going anywhere for the long term. The Canadian Jewish community had a very deep-seated feeling of being part of society and being protected. A lot of that has been deeply damaged by the complacency of the government over the last couple of years.” 

“Jewish communities will for sure learn from mistakes from the past and no one will stay longer than is necessary. People in our congregation have already gone on aliyah,” continued Kanofsky. “In a hurry, everybody gained a sense of mobility when they saw the inaction of the government.”

But, even when describing the boarded-up front lobby of her congregation — where leaders are still debating the type of shatterproof glass to install — Landsberg painted a picture of a resilient community with hope for the future.

“This is probably the same for Jews in the U.S.,” she said, “but there’s a sense of clarity that many people are really feeling a deep discomfort with how society here is handling this, and also the sense of strength [because] the Jewish people have been through a lot.” 

The FBI determined that the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., earlier this month was “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” officials said on Monday. 

Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit, said during a news conference that the assailant, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, made a video stating, “This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan in the United States. I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.”

On March 12, Ghazali rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the country, which has an active early childcare center. Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside the vehicle, who killed himself after his truck caught fire during the gunfight. No one else was killed. 

Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Ghazali was the brother of a Hezbollah commander who was killed by the IDF in Lebanon the week before the attack.

In the days following the attack, US officials said Ghazali was flagged by federal government databases as having connections to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the FBI revealed on Monday. 

If he survived, he would have been charged with providing material support to Hezbollah, Jerome Gorgon, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said. 

“This man acted under Hezbollah’s direction and control,” Gorgon said. “He intended to kill others, not just himself.”  

A new report by the American Jewish Committee, released on Friday, found that 73% of American Jews saw or heard antisemitism online in the last year and 21% said that the antisemitism they witnessed made them feel physically threatened.

Top officials at the group say that this pervasive antisemitism online is the fundamental root of the current wave of antisemitic sentiment society-wide, including violent extremist attacks on Jewish communities in the U.S. and globally, and that protecting the Jewish community requires making real progress in tackling that problem.

According to the group’s CEO, Ted Deutch, the report is the first comprehensive survey-based tracking of American Jews’ experiences with and opinions on social media, “and the results are alarming.”

Deutch told Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday that the report further finds that those pushing antisemitic content have found an “alarming number of ways” to avoid rules on various platforms to safeguard against hate.

Deutch, a longtime former House lawmaker, expressed frustration at the continued lack of action from Congress on antisemitism generally, amid a series of violent attacks across the country and the globe, drawing some parallels between that dynamic and his own struggles in the House to pass legislation in response to school shootings, as such events repeated themselves.

“If we stop it from spreading online, we’ve taken a dramatic step to preventing someone from showing up in D.C., killing two people, and saying, ‘I did it for Gaza,’ or someone in Colorado showing up, throwing Molotov cocktails with people at a march for the hostages, and killing someone there, and saying, ‘I did it for Palestine,’” Deutch said. “This needs urgent attention. It’s not getting it and it’s not acceptable.”

Speaking out against antisemitism is important, he said, “but you know what? We know where this starts, we know how it spreads. We have to do something to stop it there, so that we can stop the violence.”

He said that he’s concerned that Congress is becoming desensitized to the string of attacks on the Jewish community and isn’t responding with the action it warrants.

“The ability for Congress and policymakers around the country to simply move on, from one attack to another, the normalization of the antisemitic rhetoric that’s being used, the willingness to simply chalk this up to one extreme or another … You wind up accepting it. We cannot accept it,” Deutch said. “That sense of urgency does not exist. I don’t understand it.”

“I get it that this is a really hard time for Congress to legislate,” Deutch continued. “I understand that there are very strong feelings about everything that happens in politics, but I cannot understand how on an issue like this, when the data is clear and the impact of what’s happening is clear, that we can allow week to week, more attacks on synagogues, more attacks on schools.”

He said that ultimately, true security for the Jewish community won’t come through increasingly stringent physical security measures, but through a broader shift, “and that starts with what’s happening online” because the attacks across the country and the world “aren’t isolated incidents.” 

He said that he wants Congress, President Donald Trump and the American people to understand that, and to collectively work to tone down antisemitic rhetoric online and decrease its spread.

The report, compiled in collaboration with Cyberwell, an Israeli nonprofit aimed at fighting antisemitism online, offers a variety of recommendations for technology companies and platforms to respond to antisemitism on their services.

“The No. 1 reason that we have the antisemitism levels that we do today in the United States and around the world is because of the digital space,” Holly Huffnagle, AJC’s director of antisemitism policy, said. “We can’t just keep sitting by and observing and collecting data. We actually need to do something about this, and this is how we think is the best way to go forward in closing some of those gaps around enforcement on the platforms.”

The report found that, across social media platforms, only around one-third of American Jews report antisemitic content they see, in many cases feeling that doing so will be futile. Deutch said he found that data point the most concerning.

“If the Jewish community is essentially throwing up its hands … then that says an awful lot about them, and our larger population as a whole,” Deutch said. He argued it sends the conclusion to the population at large that “the battle is lost. We can’t afford that. This isn’t a battle that is lost. This is an ongoing effort that we all have to be a part of.”

Huffnagle said that the report, based in part on data from AJC’s annual poll of the Jewish community’s experience of antisemitism, is proof of what many in the Jewish community have long seen and felt — that antisemitism is rampant online — and shows that “they’re not alone.” 

The report offers a set of nine recommendations for tech companies: tightening enforcement mechanisms against those who support terrorism and antisemitic attacks; clarifying and strengthening policies on antisemitism; addressing coded antisemitism through emojis and euphemisms; consistently applying visibility restrictions on antisemitic content, ensuring that such measures are applied early and improving tools to prevent targeted harassment; ensuring that hateful content is not monetized or amplified and that users can’t evade restrictions; detecting and preventing AI-created and -driven antisemitic content; implementing better tools to prevent coordinated activity to boost antisemitic content; creating better reporting systems for antisemitism; and providing greater transparency and data access.

Legislatively, AJC is supporting the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, which would require social media companies to share more data with the public. Deutch said that lawmakers are “flying blind” when it comes to antisemitism on social media platforms, lacking the data internal to the platforms that they and civil society need to address the problem.

“The transparency … can help drive accountability and real policy change and real changes to community standards, so that we don’t have to see these kinds of data points repeat year after year,” Deutch said.

“We have to approach this with greater urgency,” he continued. “Congress can’t simply allow itself to fall into the same old argument about how to approach this, and should we be talking about liability or not, whether this is free speech or it’s not free speech. That’s not what this is about. This is about real threats to the Jewish community and the ability that social media companies have — and the urgent need that we all have — for them to act, to keep the Jewish community and, in turn, to keep society safe.”

Huffnagle said she hopes the report can help identify other “creative” solutions and approaches to addressing antisemitism, particularly outside of government and apart from longstanding debates in Congress like reforming liability protections for social media platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — an idea that Jewish groups have discussed for years but hasn’t seen movement on legislatively.

“I think we need to be creative,” she said. “Just because something’s being stalled doesn’t mean there can’t be movement elsewhere.”

Huffnagle said AJC is working with various platforms to tailor the group’s approach to the specific issues on those platforms — having developed a greater understanding of the distinct problem sets on each platform — rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach that they and others in the Jewish community previously had.

In spite of policy shifts at social media companies in recent years toward a more permissive posture, including less strict content moderation and less company-sponsored fact-checking, Huffnagle said that AJC maintains relationships with social media companies and that they have been receptive to and implemented some of the feedback that AJC has offered.

She added that engaging with the tech sector — not just law enforcement and government — is necessary to addressing the society-wide problem of antisemitism. Huffnagle emphasized that she wants to see real change come out of this report — not just a compilation of data and unfulfilled recommendations.

She acknowledged that the survey likely includes a blindspot when it comes to TikTok because AJC only surveyed adults, and the platform is highly popular among younger teens.

The survey found that a majority of American Jews (65%) are concerned that artificial intelligence chatbots will spread antisemitism, and 69% were concerned that information produced by AI will fuel antisemitic incidents.

AI, Huffnagle said, poses both “novel problems” as well as “helpful solutions.” It can both create and amplify antisemitic content, but can also help moderate content, particularly as platforms are scaling back on human moderators. But, she said, using AI for moderation can’t currently keep up with the pace of antisemitic content.

“It can be used for good. I see it. It’s just not nearly as efficient and sufficient to meet how it’s being used for bad,” Huffnagle said.

Deutch said another concern is that, without proper policies and transparency from social media companies, platforms may devolve into a “war … between the AI that’s targeting us and the AI that’s trying to protect us.”

Deutch and Huffnagle’s conversation with JI came on the same day that a jury ruled that Meta and YouTube were negligent in their design of their platforms, awarding a plaintiff $3 million, a landmark case finding that social media platforms are responsible for their platforms’ impacts on their users.

“The one conclusion that I think everyone should draw from these headlines is that the courts have now ruled that there is responsibility to the customer,” Deutch said. “The tech companies acknowledge that. They wouldn’t have their community standards if they weren’t worried about what’s happening to their users. … It’s time for these community standards to be enforced.”

Extensive security “preparations, training and practice” that had taken place prior to an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue earlier this month “greatly helped to dramatically mitigate what could have been so much worse in Michigan,” a Trump administration intelligence official said on Tuesday. 

During a security briefing webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization, ahead of the Passover holiday, Matthew Kozma, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, called for continued vigilance “given the threat that’s stemming from Iran, particularly in the Middle East, but also here at home.” 

He said that Americans should remain cautious of threats from “malicious actors, particularly ones encouraged by or empathetic to Iran,” as two upcoming events in the country — the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary — bring an influx of visitors into the U.S.

The briefing was held during what Michael Masters, CEO of SCN, described as “an elevated threat environment from Iran and its proxies,” ahead of the start of the Passover holiday next week.   

Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started nearly one month ago, Jewish institutions have seen a surge in attacks, including the one targeting Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. — one of the country’s largest Reform congregations — and three shootings outside of Toronto synagogues. 

​​Masters said SCN monitored over 8,000 direct calls for violence against the Jewish community in North America over a six-day period this month, marking a 137% increase over the average tracked and “the highest number we’ve ever tallied in that timeframe.”

Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who was on the scene following the Temple Israel attack, shared with attendees that he himself has been the target of death threats for supporting the Jewish community. 

Still, Bouchard doubled down on his support. “Something that I’ve said before, and I believe, is that if you target our Jewish community, we’re going to stand in front of them to protect them. And we’re coming for you.”  

The briefing concluded with Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America,  calling for “more resources at this time.”

“Temple Israel was one of the best, most secured buildings, having spent a significant amount of money of their dues budget and of their donors’ budgets on security, and yet we need additional levels of security,” Fingerhut said. “Our federations are committed to generating those additional resources, bringing those resources to our communities. But in addition, I have to mention that it’s the government’s responsibility, first and foremost, to protect its citizens in their places of worship, in their places of communal gathering.” 

Last week, in a letter to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, a bipartisan group of 150 House members asked the committee to provide $1 billion in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a massive expansion of the program that marks the first time lawmakers’ request aligns with the $1 billion that some Jewish groups have been advocating for. The program received $274.5 million in funding in 2025, but that funding has still not been distributed, according to the letter, which cited delays at FEMA, and lawmakers have not been provided customary data about supplemental funding rounds awarded last year.

“We need more resources and support from the government,” continued Fingerhut, who announced that JFNA will hold an advocacy fly-in in Washington in mid-May.

“We will be visiting every member of Congress, asking them for their support. We’ll be visiting the members of the administration, as well … to make sure that [they] know that every one of us has the right in this country to practice our faith and to gather together as a community in safety and security.” 

Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie criticized his Democratic primary opponents for pledging to avoid campaigning with elements of the Jewish community — an apparent jab at Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed rival Janeese Lewis George, who is facing backlash from Jewish leaders over her pledge to boycott events she described as promoting Zionism.

“Recent reporting has raised serious concerns about how some candidates for office in DC have pledged not to engage with the majority of Jewish organizations in exchange for political support,” McDuffie wrote in a campaign email on Tuesday. “That is wrong. Full stop.”

McDuffie did not mention Lewis George or any specific candidates in his email. 

Lewis George, who earned the endorsement of the Metro D.C. chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, wrote in a DSA questionnaire that she would not attend events focused on “promoting Zionism and apartheid.” She met last week with rabbis and local Jewish leaders who were concerned about her posture toward the Jewish community, Jewish Insider reported on Monday. 

She privately apologized for her responses and blamed them on a staff member, but has not expressed that sentiment publicly. 

“There is no place in this city for shutting out any community — especially in pursuit of political gain,” McDuffie wrote. “Not antisemitism. Not Islamophobia. Not racism. Not sexism.” 

The DSA questionnaire also asked candidates to refrain from affiliating with the Israeli government and “Zionist lobby groups.” In her responses, Lewis George defended her appearance at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington meeting in December, but said she was there to talk about immigration enforcement. 

She said she did not align with JCRC’s stance on Israel and Zionism, and that she disagrees with the organization’s “definition of anti-semitism that criminalizes dissent, and their attacks on activists.” 

“Leadership matters in moments like this,” wrote McDuffie. “As your next mayor, I will bring people together across lines of difference. I will engage every community in this city, especially when it is not easy or politically convenient.” 

Washington, McDuffie said, “must be a city where every resident — regardless of faith, race, gender, or identity — feels safe, respected and heard.” 

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, Norri Leder dedicated herself to fighting gun violence as a founding member of Moms Demand Action, the gun control group created after the shooting. 

And last year, there was another single defining moment that pushed her to create something new, just like she did after Sandy Hook: A candidate running in a Houston school board special election in 2025 sent out a mailer showing herself in a photo with a virulently anti-Israel politician. When Leder ran into the candidate at the polls, she told the candidate that she was “unknowingly alienating yourself, potentially, from members of the Jewish community.” The candidate had no idea.

“She asked me if there was a Jewish group that meets with candidates as they’re running,” Leder recalled. “I said, there are Jewish groups, but it occurred to me that many of them don’t have the bandwidth to meet on these races that are at much more of a local, state and county level as [candidates are] running for office.”

So Leder created one. Where she was once a single-issue activist fighting for gun control measures, now she is putting everything else aside to focus on Jewish communal concerns with her new organization, Houston Jewish Women Vote. Less than four months into its existence, the group has met with candidates running in local attorney, city council and judicial races in 2026. 

“We are narrowly focusing on physical security for the Jewish community, antisemitism, targeting of Jews in academic and professional settings, prayer in school and staying in your lane for state, local and county offices — just please don’t engage in foreign policy issues that undermine bridge building in the community and accomplish nothing in the world of foreign policy,” said Leder. “There’s a feeling of, we’re Jewish women, and a lot of us feel politically homeless right now. People feel good knowing that they’re participants and that they can exercise their voice.”

Houston Jewish Women Vote joins dozens of other Jewish advocacy efforts that grew out of the desperation people felt in the days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks to fill a void in local politics. 

In Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition was created when community activist Jeremy Kazzaz saw that local politicians were too afraid to criticize a colleague who posted pro-Hamas messages. The group is now urging Jewish Democrats in the Pittsburgh area to run for seats on the Allegheny County Democratic Committee to be able to help shape the party’s endorsements. 

In California, Israeli immigrants helped launch the Bay Area Jewish Coalition (BAJC), in part to help locals make sense of the many local races for positions most people have never heard of. 

“Even when we have special elections for things that seem totally unrelated, like the county assessor, which is in charge of property taxes and things like that, at this point, people are reaching out to us and saying, ‘Who do we vote for?’” said BAJC co-founder Keren-Or Reiss, who was born in Israel and now lives in San Mateo, Calif., where she works as a product manager at a tech company. “Is there someone here who’s going to somehow use this platform to spread hate or to normalize antisemitism against us?” 

Some in the Jewish community turned to religious practice after Oct. 7, or to supporting charities helping victims of the attacks in Israel, or to pro-Israel political advocacy through establishment groups like AIPAC, or some combination. Leder, Kazzaz and Reiss represent a new class of Jewish American activists: people who were disappointed by the apathy or even outright hostility that some co-workers, teachers, neighbors and local elected officials demonstrated towards Jews and Israelis suffering in the aftermath of Oct. 7, and who felt no one was doing what needed to be done to reach those leaders. 

“Local community members can’t just wait for institutions to have enough bandwidth to do everything. People can take responsibility to step up and engage. And that’s what people were doing,” said Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council. “Part of this revitalization of American Jewish life that we’ve seen has been this emergence of these activists.” 

They saw a new kind of opportunity in an American political landscape reshaped by Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza. Advocating for Congress to vote a certain way on weapons sales to Israel would not do much to affect the swell of antisemitism growing in their communities. Although the war was happening thousands of miles away, they understood that its impact would be local.

“Almost every other community and interest group is doing this on the local level, and not the Jewish community. So we’re really trying to close that gap,” said Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, which in 2024 became the first JCRC in the country to launch an affiliated advocacy arm to fundraise for candidates and engage in elections. “I think it’s a combination of Congress being sexier and there being fewer issues at the local level.”

After Oct. 7, it became clear that there were not, in fact, fewer issues locally. City council members who were elected to work on municipal governance were now tasked with voting on contentious ceasefire resolutions and calls to divest from Israel. School superintendents and principals had to decide how to respond to teachers who were bringing biased, anti-Israel instruction into the classroom. These were battlefields where existing Jewish communal infrastructure did not have the capacity to fight — either because their nonprofit status kept them from engaging in political races, or because they simply did not have the manpower to reach the hyper-local spaces where debates about Israel, Zionism and antisemitism were now front and center.

“Local community members can’t just wait for institutions to have enough bandwidth to do everything. People can take responsibility to step up and engage. And that’s what people were doing,” said Jeremy Burton, CEO of the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council. “Part of this revitalization of American Jewish life that we’ve seen has been this emergence of these activists.” 

The new Jewish activism did not begin in Jewish federation board rooms or congressional office buildings in Washington. It was grassroots campaigns that started in WhatsApp groups and recruited dozens of volunteers through word-of-mouth conversations. These were people who showed up to city hall hearings or met with candidates running for local offices that prior to Oct. 7 may have seemed irrelevant to Jewish concerns. 

For Sam Gechter, who works in tech in Boston, a call from a friend in early 2024 alerted him that the city council of Somerville, Mass., where he lives, was trying to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The language, Gechter recalled, was “atrocious,” pinning the blame for the war on Israel and hardly mentioning Hamas. 

“I got off the phone. I turned to my wife, who was standing next to me, and said, ‘We gotta start a WhatsApp right now of everybody we know in Somerville and get people to come and speak against this,’” Gechter told JI. “That was my moment of being politically activated.”

Soon, that WhatsApp group became Shalom Somerville, a group of Jewish people in the small Boston suburb — an uber-progressive city that neighbors the better-known Cambridge — committed to advancing “a Somerville that is safe for Jews and Israelis.” Despite nominally being an advocacy organization, Shalom Somerville has also become a lifeline for people who otherwise weren’t connected to Jewish institutions. 

“For a number of people who haven’t found their place Jewishly in the community, this has become their main Jewish community,” said Gechter. “We had, like, 150 people at our Hanukkah party. It’s gotten to be a pretty big group.”

New organizations that formed to focus on important but unglamorous posts like the county commission and municipal human relations councils are heading into a major election year with ambitious plans to activate Jewish community members to flex their political muscle. They want to show local officials that they ignore Jewish voters at their own peril — and that, conversely, Jewish voters will miss a chance to improve their community if they sit out these races that have a real impact on their day-to-day lives. 

“Around the country, there was this awakening, and an understanding that the cavalry wasn’t coming for anybody,” Chicago Jewish Alliance founder Daniel Schwartz told JI. 

Each local outfit has a different strategy. Mindy Miller, a former top aide to the Colorado Senate president, co-founded the Colorado Jewish Action Alliance to educate her former colleagues about topics that they never expected to address but that are now everywhere, even in state politics.

“We ask them what they think Zionism means because it’s been so weaponized, and I would say virtually all of them have been appreciative of being able to have those conversations without being fear of being canceled or called out or vilified, because they have to walk a tight rope,” Miller told Jewish Insider. 

Chicago Jewish Alliance founder Daniel Schwartz has taken a more confrontational approach. During the city council’s vote on a contentious ceasefire resolution in January 2024, he showed up at City Hall draped in an Israeli flag. He created a WhatsApp group — called the “Zionist Information Group” — to get Chicagoans out to protest. 

“Around the country, there was this awakening, and an understanding that the cavalry wasn’t coming for anybody,” Schwartz told JI. 

In Lexington, Mass., a suburb of Boston, a group called Lexington United Against Antisemitism, is focused on interfaith work, and connecting members of the town’s Jewish community with Christians. 

“Quickly we understood that people, actually, even in Lexington, know very little about Jews altogether. Jews — what do they think? What do they believe?” said Francine Jacobs, a retired Tufts professor who created LUAA. 

The group was founded several months before Oct. 7, but its founders have doubled down on their mission, particularly as some liberal Christians who are critical of Israel have taken stances that crossed into antisemitism.

“It took some of the steam out of our effort. There were some folks who just said, ‘Oh, Israel, I’m so angry about it, I just can’t hear the word Jew,’” said Stephen Van Evera, a retired MIT international relations professor, who is Christian and leading LUAA with Jacobs. “I mean, why are you connecting these dots that way? Do you really think that the Jewish community in Lexington is deciding how to fight the Gaza war?”

What drove many people to get involved was their kids. Viviane Safrin became an education activist in San Francisco after the pandemic, when she felt frustrated that public schools were not doing more to reopen. After Oct. 7, parents started calling her to report that their children had experienced antisemitism. So she created SF Jews in School, with the tagline “advancing Jewish inclusion in San Francisco schools.” 

“We respond to incidents. We guide families through working with their school. We also engage directly with principals and administrators to support them in ensuring that our schools are welcoming spaces, but we also celebrate our heritage. We build Jewish pride and belonging across the city,” Safrin told JI. “We bring apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah and sufganiyot for Hanukkah.”

Two thousand five hundred miles away, in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion, Dani Shaw created a WhatsApp group for 75 moms soon after Oct. 7. They wrote to the diversity, equity and inclusion director in their school district to ask to talk about ensuring Jewish perspectives were included in the office’s programming. They wound up meeting with the superintendent instead and having a productive conversation. But, shortly after, an op-ed in a high school newspaper that Shaw said spread “blood libels” against Israel caused the moms to step up their activism. 

“We created an organization called the Jewish Families Association with a board that consisted at the time of about 15 parents who were all representing different schools in the district,” Shaw told JI. There are now several other Jewish Families Associations in small school districts across Pennsylvania. “It’s really representation — a bridge between the parents and the administration, the school district, to make sure that these incidents, whether they be bullying or problematic curriculum, are dealt with appropriately.” 

The group in Lower Merion, a heavily Jewish suburb, supported three Republican candidates for school board last year. They all lost in the liberal town. Keeping activists engaged in the work is hard — “they have to get on with their lives and their livelihoods,” Shaw acknowledged — particularly because the group plans to remain volunteer-led and grassroots, with no fundraising arm. 

Fatigue is real. The work of building ties with dozens or even hundreds of local elected officials requires dedicated volunteers and resources. BAJC, the Bay Area group, created a voter guide in 2024 tracking dozens of races — work they want to replicate in 2026, even as they see some people in the community losing interest. 

“It’s a constant fight to activate the community. I wouldn’t take that for granted. People prefer to go and watch a football game than to go to a demonstration,” said Oded Shekel, a BAJC leader and an Israeli immigrant who is the CEO of a financial technology startup. “You need to find ways to keep people motivated, activated, connected. I think local fights are easier to connect to than, ‘Would you like to come and support, like, a D.C. bill that we are going to promote?’ Yeah, whatever, I don’t care. ‘Would you like to meet the school boards who actually create policies for the teachers or the kids in your class?’ That’s more likely.”

Not everyone who got involved in this work after Oct. 7 remains involved. But many still are. There is now an entire class of American Jews, many of whom were not engaged politically at all before, who now wholeheartedly believe that the way to make their communities safer and more welcoming is to get involved in local politics. And as both the Democratic and Republican parties face internal fissures over Israel at the national level, an awareness is starting to solidify that reaching politicians at the beginning of their careers, when they are unpolished and open-minded, is a winning strategy. 

“We’re not seeking to educate candidates about our issues once they announce for Congress. We want to have multi-year relationships and be able to explain the many nuances of Judaism and Zionism long before they’d like to run for higher office,” said Sam Jefferies, co-chair of The Kids Table, a political action committee in Washington state that is supporting “pro-Jewish” candidates. “You can’t solve antisemitism, but you can prevent antisemites from being in positions of power.”

In the 24 hours before a fringe Catholic political group planned to host a gala in Washington honoring a number of public figures who have faced accusations of antisemitism, several prominent members of the American Catholic Church stated unequivocally that antisemitism is not a part of their religious doctrine.

“The Jewish community is attacked at a far higher rate than any other religious group in the United States. If we Catholics, in truly living out the Gospel, are to defend religious freedom with integrity, we must clearly speak out against antisemitism,” Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, the archbishop of Portland, Ore., said in a video posted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Wednesday. 

Sample is the chairman of the religious liberty commission at the USCCB, the membership organization of current and retired Catholic bishops in the United States. The video was timed with the upcoming Easter holiday, which Sample said has “at times been the occasion for outbursts of hatred and even violence against Jews” by Catholics who collectively hold the Jews responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

“As Catholics, we are called to walk in the truth and so to reject the conspiracies and lies that lead to harassment and even violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters,” said Sample. 

On Thursday morning, Vince Haley, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, delivered greetings from President Donald Trump at the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Haley, who is Catholic, wrapped up his own remarks with a call for Catholics to take a stand against antisemitism. 

American Catholics have a responsibility, Haley said, “to render assistance to and speak out tirelessly in defense of our beloved Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens in the face of rising attacks and the tidal wave of hatred that is being manufactured against them.”

“Hatred toward Jewish people is ugly, despicable, an affront to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and surely an occasion of terrible grief for our Jewish mother, Mary,” Haley continued. “And such evil should be condemned loudly and often by all people of goodwill, especially us.”

Neither Haley nor Sample mentioned the Catholic Prayer for America Gala, an event being hosted on Thursday night in Washington by Catholics for Catholics, a far-right political advocacy organization with a mission of targeting Catholic politicians who they deem to be insufficiently supportive of their perspective on church doctrine. 

But the gala raised eyebrows across Washington when the organization announced just hours after Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of Trump’s policy toward Iran earlier this week that Kent would speak at the event. 

Kent, who has a history of ties to far-right extremists and sought the support of antisemitic influencer Nick Fuentes during a 2022 congressional run, claimed that the U.S. was driven into war by “Israel and its powerful American lobby.” 

The event’s lineup already featured a who’s who of right-wing media personalities who have faced accusations of antisemitism. 

Carrie Prejean Boller, a former beauty pageant contestant who was fired from the White House Religious Liberty Commission Task Force in February after a disruptive anti-Zionist tirade at a public hearing, will be speaking. She was invited soon after the blow-up at the hearing, and in the weeks since she has doubled down on posting antisemitic content online. 

At the Religious Liberty Commission hearing, Prejean Boller came to the defense of the far-right influencer Candace Owens, who since parting with the Daily Wire in 2024 has become a reliably antisemitic voice on social media. Owens will also be speaking at the Catholics for Catholics event, along with Michael Flynn, who served as national security advisor for the first 22 days of Trump’s first term. 

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📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned from his role today over opposition to the war in Iran, baselessly alleging that Israel had coerced the United States into what he characterized as a misguided military conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

In a letter to President Donald Trump, Kent, a former Green Beret who had reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, wrote that he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” claiming that the Islamic Republic “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Kent, a hard-right former congressional candidate with isolationist foreign policy leanings, has previously promoted conspiracy theories, echoed pro-Russia messaging and associated with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, among other controversies. He’s now expected to appear on the podcast of his ally and friend Tucker Carlson…

After being largely rejected by foreign leaders on his repeated calls to assist in the war with Iran, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that, “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! … WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”

Asked about the timeline of the war by reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon, Trump said, “We’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the … very near future”…

Reports indicate Iran’s security forces, despite being badly battered by the U.S. and Israel, are conducting renewed crackdowns on the Iranian public and potential dissenters. At least 500 people have been arrested since the start of the war, and new security checkpoints are being deployed for regime oversight…

Major U.S. airlines have extended their suspensions of direct flights to Tel Aviv as the war continues, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, with both United and Delta airlines not offering any direct flights until June.

The first direct flight on United Airlines between Newark Liberty International Airport and Ben Gurion Airport is available on June 16, while the first direct New York to Tel Aviv flight on Delta Airlines is available June 1. United’s direct flights from Israel to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles International Airport are also suspended…

U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack denied reports that the U.S. is encouraging Syria to deploy forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, as the IDF begins to carry out ground incursions in the south of the country…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to post “proof of life” videos on social media amid internet conspiracy theories that he has been killed and replaced by a look-alike…

Trump’s decision to withhold his endorsement in the Texas Senate GOP runoff all but guarantees that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will both appear on the May 26 runoff ballot, as neither have dropped out of the race ahead of this evening’s deadline…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills released her first attack ad against her Democratic primary rival in the race for U.S. Senate, oyster farmer Graham Platner, highlighting social media comments he made about sexual assault that have marred his campaign. In the ad, several women read disparaging comments made by Platner on Reddit over a decade ago relating to rape, and a picture of Platner’s Nazi tattoo — which he has since had covered — is displayed under a magnifying glass. “The closer you look, the worse it gets,” the ad’s narrator says…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the gamble being made by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as he expends political capital (and actual capital) backing his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate taking place today. Pritzker’s involvement has drawn the ire of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is backing Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), even though both Stratton and Kelly are Black. The race is seen as a test of Pritzker’s political clout in his home state…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day and the presence of former Irish President Mary Robinson in New York to accuse Israel of committing genocide and to praise Robinson’s controversial tenure as the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

“I think also of how she stood steadfast alongside the people of Palestine,” the mayor said in listing Robinson’s accomplishments. “I say this as over the past few years as we’ve witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many. For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new. For Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet former President Robinson has never been silent”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a rundown of the results of Illinois’ Democratic primaries, where polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is expected to face questions over the departure of her deputy, Joe Kent, at the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on worldwide threats, where she will testify alongside other intelligence agency heads. Gabbard said today after Kent’s resignation that, as commander-in-chief, Trump “concluded that … Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” but did not say whether she agrees herself in that assessment, something she is likely to be pressed on tomorrow.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified briefing on the war in Iran from State Department intelligence officials.

The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to be secretary of homeland security after Trump’s ouster of Secretary Kristi Noem.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will hold a hearing on rising antisemitism abroad.

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DOMESTIC FRONT

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Eighteen-year legal fight over the Iran-tied Alavi Foundation ends with a new group with similar leadership taking over its assets — and NYC skyscraper

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NAMING NAMES

Jonathan Greenblatt calls out Chris Van Hollen, Ro Khanna at ADL’s national conference

The ADL’s annual summit comes amid high-profile antisemitic attacks during the Iran war

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Following an attack last Thursday on Temple Israel and its early learning facility in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., the Jewish Federations of North America is making a renewed push for expanded security funding and resources to protect the Jewish community.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, antisemitic attacks have repeatedly prompted such efforts from Jewish community groups and advocates on Capitol Hill, but funding has remained stubbornly gridlocked. Currently, funding for community security under the Nonprofit Security Grant Program remains in limbo during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, with no signs of movement in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

In a letter sent to every member of Congress on Friday, JFNA Chair Gary Torgow and President Eric Fingerhut highlighted the significant degree of security support that Temple Israel received from its own membership, from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and JFNA. 

“We are grateful that philanthropic funding and security planning played a decisive role in ensuring no harm came to any of the children or staff at Temple Israel,” the letter reads. “However, safeguarding communities at risk of violence is not the responsibility of philanthropic organizations. Rather, it is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens in their places of worship and communal gathering.”

The letter emphasizes that the “Jewish community is under attack today like no other religious or ethnic group,” as a top target of hate crimes by a significant margin.

The letter urges increased funding for the NSGP at $1 billion and the prompt allocation of funds already appropriated that have not yet been disbursed for 2025. It also requests an end to restrictions on using NSGP funding to pay salaries for security personnel.

“The Jewish Community in Detroit has received important support from the state of Michigan and the Federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, but the funding levels currently provided across the nation to protect our communities are simply not commensurate with the escalating threat landscape that American Jewish communities face daily,” the letter states.

The letter additionally asks Congress to ensure that NSGP applications are quickly opened and processed and that reimbursements are promptly fulfilled, following significant delays to funding grants and reimbursements last year.

It also calls for additional funding for FBI counterterrorism personnel and field offices that work to protect Jewish communities, and increased federal funding for local law enforcement to protect Jewish institutions, so that those institutions don’t have to pay for such protection themselves.

“Finally, we urge all our political leaders to take action to confront antisemitic-fueled violence in the public discourse and on social media,” the letter concludes. “This virulent ideology surging across the political spectrum utilizes rhetoric that either normalizes or minimizes such hatred, manifesting in dangerous consequences, potentially far worse than what took place today.”

The letter precedes a visit by Torgow, Detroit Federation CEO Steve Ingber, Temple Israel Rabbi Jennifer Lader and Detroit federation security director Gary Sikorski to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The group is set to meet with both of Michigan’s senators and nearly every member of its House delegation.

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

European countries are largely rebuffing President Donald Trump’s calls to join the war with Iran and help secure the largely impassable Strait of Hormuz. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said today, “This is not our war; we did not start it,” while the French foreign ministry said, “Posture has not changed: defensive it is.” Poland, the U.K. and Italy similarly made clear they would not be participating in an offensive capacity…

On potential negotiations with Iran, Trump told reporters, “We don’t even know their leaders. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are.” He said new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “badly disfigured” and noted it’s “unusual” he hasn’t recently been seen in public.

Khamenei narrowly survived an airstrike on his compound on Feb. 28 as he briefly stepped outside, according to leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph, which reportedly contains remarks by an official in the office of deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to senior clerics…

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani denied reports that Israel is running low on missile interceptors, saying there is no “urgent problem” and that the military re-equips its supplies “in real time”…

Debris and missile fragments from Iranian attacks fell in the Old City of Jerusalem near several sensitive sites including the Western Wall Plaza and feet away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre…

Twenty-three Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote to Trump requesting a public hearing with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to understand their role in “lead[ing] diplomatic engagement with Iran”…

Representatives of the U.S.-led Board of Peace met with Hamas officials over the weekend in Cairo, Egypt, Reuters reports, in an effort to keep ceasefire negotiations on track even as the war with Iran proceeds. Aryeh Lightstone, an aide to Witkoff, reportedly represented the U.S. delegation, with more meetings expected this week…

Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian chronicles his experience receiving death threats from users of the prediction market platform Polymarket over his reporting on a recent Iranian missile strike in the city of Beit Shemesh…

Trump announced that Susie Wiles, his White House chief of staff, has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and will receive treatment while remaining in her post…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, tested out his measured, pro-Israel messaging in a series of recent podcast interviews, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. In his appearances on “Pod Save America” and “Higher Learning,” Shapiro made the case that, as the starting point for any public political conversation about Israel, the fact of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state must be respected.

“I think what is dangerous here … is for those who think Israel doesn’t have a right to exist in [the] conversation. That to me is a recipe for permanent war,” Shapiro told “Higher Learning” host Van Lathan. He also pushed back on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, his potential 2028 opponent, for saying Israel could be described as an apartheid state…

Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) reelection campaign is employing a community activist, Darrell Davis, who has criticized Democratic politicians, including Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) and a county executive, for taking money from pro-Israel groups and traveling to Israel, Politico reports.

Davis accused Latimer of being on the receiving end of a “Jewish organized spending spree” and taking “about $30 million to buy a congressional seat, to represent the interests of Israel,” which he called “a horrific threat to democracy.” About Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins’ trip to Israel, Davis wrote, “Why are they in Israel?? What more proof do people need that black Dems don’t give a sh*t about you. They are up for sale”…

The day before her primary election in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, far-left social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh removed language from her campaign website claiming “There is no acceptable scenario that leaves Hamas in charge of the Gaza Strip,” after she had faced criticism from the Hamas-friendly outlet Drop Site News over its inclusion. Her site says that the earlier language on the page “did not accurately reflect Kat’s views or the values of this campaign”…

And the closing drama in the Illinois Senate Democratic primary is Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s claim that she received a deathbed endorsement from civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, which the Jackson family said today he had never finalized. The late reverend’s support is seen as meaningful in the race, which includes multiple prominent Black candidates, as well as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)…

The Atlantic spotlights one of the main obstacles facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills in her Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against oyster farmer Graham Platner: her age. Mills, 78, “does not have a dicey Reddit history or a recently covered-over Nazi tattoo” but is still trailing in the polls, even as Platner continues to be plagued by scandals. “One likely factor: If she is elected, Mills would be the oldest freshman senator in history”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the tense runoff in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, where a fringe conspiracy theorist eked out a narrow victory over a sheriff’s deputy backed by the pro-Israel establishment.

All eyes will be on the Prairie State tomorrow, as several high-profile Democratic primaries will be decided across Illinois. Read JI’s coverage of the races to watch.

On the Hill, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its annual hearing on worldwide threats, with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, NSA Acting Director William Hartman and DIA Director James Adams.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on reforming U.S. defense sales.

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BREAKING POINT

Antisemitism meets America’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ ritual

Democrats began calling out those who traffic in antisemitic rhetoric when they offered platitudes after an attack on a Michigan synagogue

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UNDER PRESSURE

Ro Khanna facing new Democratic challenger hitting him from the political center

Tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal: ‘He thinks being racist against Jewish people is going to help him win the American left. I don’t care if he’s right. I just think it’s unethical and immoral’

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The vehicle ramming and shooting attack on a Michigan synagogue last Thursday was the latest example of a “direct connection between hatred of Israel and hatred of Jews,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a prominent Reform rabbi who leads Manhattan’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, said during a sermon on Friday evening.

From the pulpit, Hirsch urged both the Jewish community and U.S. elected officials — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — to take seriously the “moral and political blindness” that is “casting a darkening shadow over all that we hold dear.”

“We must grapple seriously with this phenomenon of antisemitism; not only for the sake of the Jews, but for the sake of America,” said Hirsch, one day after the suspect, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, drove a truck full of explosives through the front entrance of Temple Israel, one of the country’s largest Reform congregations, as 140 children were inside the building. 

Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali who killed himself when his truck caught fire during the gunfight with security officials. One other person —  the synagogue’s director of security, Danny Phillips — was injured.

“It is still the case that decent people see an attack on an American nursery school and are aghast at the brazen immorality, the unfathomable indecency, and the bottomless depravity. They send thoughts and prayers — and these sentiments are sincere. But there is an encroaching moral and political blindness in the West casting a darkening shadow over all that we hold dear,” said Hirsch.

He highlighted a connection between “hateful words and hateful deeds — between bad ideas and bad outcomes.” 

“There is a direct connection between the obsessive and frenzied incitement against Israel, and incitement against American Jews. Everyone knows this. Why is it even controversial to say?” said Hirsch. “If [far-right commentator] Tucker Carlson pulls out of nowhere wild blood libels against Chabad that they pushed America into war — will it surprise anyone if the next Bondi Beach [massacre] is being hatched as we speak? And those on the other end of the political spectrum who shout ‘globalize the intifada’ — they mean Oct. 7 brought to the West, the Midwest and West Bloomfield.”

Hirsch said society “must do the much harder work of eradicating ideologies of hate in our communities. It means facing the problem of extremism and antisemitism head-on. It means acknowledging with honesty that antisemitism today is not only the domain of white supremacists and neo-Nazis.”

Hirsch, a self-described liberal who voiced opposition to Mamdani throughout the mayoral election, called the mayor’s statement on the Michigan attack “half-fine.”

Hirsch said he “welcomed” that Mamdani “expressed his horror, emphasized that his thoughts are with the congregation, called the attack ‘antisemitic violence” and pledged increased NYPD presence at Jewish institutions in New York.  

“But unless you say the second half, the first half is just cover — a distraction — an evasion, a diversion from the source of the problem.”

“What about committing to using the bully pulpit of the mayor to influence greater tolerance for Jews in this city?” continued Hirsch. “What about castigating anti-Israel hate that so influences anti-Jewish hate? Help us understand why the attempted murder of children at Temple Israel is so morally clear while the actual murder and hostage-taking of children in their living rooms in Israel is so morally opaque?”

Hirsch condemned Mamdani’s recent decision to host Mahmoud Khalil, a former leader of Columbia University’s anti-Israel protest movement, at his official residence.  

“The issue is not Mahmoud Khalil’s right to speak, or his immigration status. It is that Mayor Mamdani hosted him for an iftar meal and proudly posted his picture as if he is some kind of heroic freedom fighter. This is the man who said about Oct. 7, ‘we could not avoid such a moment.’ This is the man who called for the ‘collapse of the Zionist project and the ideology that it’s built on.’ Along with upholding his asserted right to free speech, do you have anything to say about the actual content of Mahmoud Khalil’s speech?” 

This past Shabbat marked a gathering of “determination and defiance,” said Hirsch. 

“On some level, to be a Jew is, itself, an act of defiance. We will not cower. We will not cringe. We will not crawl. We have seen it all before, we have survived it all. We are not going anywhere. You can harm us, you can inflict pain upon us, you can kill some of us, but you cannot destroy us.”

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

A suspect was killed during an active shooter and car ramming incident at Temple Israel in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, Mich., this afternoon, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Armed synagogue security engaged the suspect with gunfire, and a security guard who was knocked unconscious is expected to recover. A preschool that was in session at the time of the incident was evacuated safely. Authorities are continuing to investigate the suspect’s identity and motive.

“Everyone is safe. All 140 students in our Susan and Harold Loss Early Childhood Center, our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe,” the synagogue wrote on social media. “This note is coming to you before we know anything about our future programming or services, or any investigation. We wanted you to know we are safe, and we love you all”…

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, issued his first public statement today that indicates he’s as hard-line as his late father: Khamenei demanded the U.S. shut all its military bases in the Gulf immediately and said he’ll continue to target the Strait of Hormuz in order to “pressure the enemy.” His statement was read on state media indirectly by a presenter, as reports indicate the 56-year-old was injured in an Israeli strike and he has not been seen in public since.

President Donald Trump did not seem dissuaded — he posted on Truth Social, “when oil prices go up” the U.S. makes “a lot of money,” but “of far greater importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons”…

Following a Republican convening this week focused on combating right-wing antisemitism, the center-left think tank Third Way urged fellow Democrats to follow the lead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in calling out antisemitism within their own party. 

“We certainly believe that Cruz was right and our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Matt Bennett, the group’s executive vice president for public affairs, told JI’s Gabby Deutch.

Similar comments from Third Way staff sparked a public clash with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who defended controversial left-wing figures including antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and said the true issue lies with the “neocons” in the party…

Less than a week until primary election day in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, outside spending in the race is approaching $9 million, the majority of which is aimed at boosting state Sen. Laura Fine, a pro-Israel Democrat. Nearly half of all outside spending has come from the Elect Chicago Women super PAC, widely rumored to be connected to pro-Israel groups.

Another PAC rumored to be connected to AIPAC, Chicago Progressive Partnership, has spent over $1 million attacking anti-Israel social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh, including a new ad that spotlights her support from James “Fergie” Cox Chambers Jr., a communist political activist and scion of the billionaire Cox family often involved in radical-left causes…

A new poll commissioned by the far-left advocacy group Justice Democrats finds Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) in a competitive race for his seat — he’s now neck-and-neck with his primary opponent, state Rep. Justin Pearson. Pearson, a progressive legislator, gained public attention for being expelled from the Statehouse in 2023 for participating in a gun control protest on the floor…

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Assemblyman Micah Lasher, his former staffer, in the hotly contested primary race for New York’s 12th Congressional District today, calling him “a key part of our team in City Hall.” Bloomberg plans to spend “millions of dollars” on a super PAC and ad campaign to boost Lasher, The New York Times reports, a notable effort by the popular former mayor to elevate Lasher among the pack…

Trump has delayed endorsing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Texas Senate runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, which Trump implied last week he would do imminently, instead using the potential endorsement to pressure Senate Republicans to change filibuster rules and pass his voter-ID bill. Paxton raised the stakes by saying he might drop out if the bill passes, a move that forced Cornyn to shift his stance on the filibuster…

The Boston Globe looks at Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) efforts to get on the Democratic primary ballot in his race against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), which will require him to receive support from 15% of delegates at the state Democratic Party’s upcoming convention. Moulton is attempting to recruit unregistered voters to become delegates in order to boost his chances, which observers are split on…

Politico uncovers the past political stances and writings of Morris Katz, the Democratic operative and anti-Israel whisperer now behind several high-profile progressive campaigns, when he lauded former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and derided progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)…

Shortly after the organization elevated a new political director who is closely tied to neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, College Republicans of America’s chapter at Georgetown University came under investigation by the school for a social media post in which it claimed “Muslims have no place in American society”…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, as he “stay[s] out of the politics of the war” in Iran “and remains focused on waging it”…

The Treasury Department issued sanctions against four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funneling money and resources to Hamas’ military wing, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reaction to today’s attack on Michigan’s Temple Israel from Jewish leaders and leading lawmakers.

The South by Southwest festival will hold its annual #openShabbat experience for Jews in tech, film and music tomorrow in Austin, Texas. 

A Saturday fundraiser for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) with an appearance by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Nunn’s home district in Iowa has been canceled; the event, called “Top Nunn” in reference to the “Top Gun” movies, had drawn scrutiny after several soldiers who had been stationed in Nunn’s district were killed in the course of the war with Iran. 

The Jewish Funders Network international conference starts Sunday in San Diego.

HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir performs at Lincoln Center in New York City on Sunday evening.

The Zionist Organization of America will host its Florida Superstar Gala Sunday evening, where it will honor Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel; Justice Department official Leo Terrell; and Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), among others.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

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POLITICAL TIGHTROPE

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Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she would likely have voted to authorize force against Iran if the administration had approached Congress properly before launching the war

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FEELING THE HEAT

UAE, more than Israel, absorbing bulk of Iranian strikes in war’s early weeks

Republican senators argued to JI that the war will ultimately be to the Gulf’s benefit, even if they’re feeling the pain now

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This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a key site of conflict in the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran — a spokesperson for the Iranian Armed Forces said in a video statement that the regime “will never allow even a single liter of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the benefit of America, the Zionists or their partners,” shortly after several ships were struck by missiles while passing through or near the strait…

The International Energy Agency announced its member countries will release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves in order to blunt the impacts of the war, the largest emergency release in history…

President Donald Trump told Axios that the war will end “soon” because there’s “practically nothing left to target” in Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials are reportedly preparing for at least two more weeks of hostilities…

Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea speaks to experts and former Trump administration officials about Qatar’s potentially changing calculus on hosting Iranian-backed Hamas leaders as Tehran continues to attack the Gulf state…

A preliminary U.S. military investigation has found the deadly strike on a school in Iran was caused by the U.S. as it was targeting a nearby Iranian base, sources told The New York Times…

The FBI recently warned California police departments that Iran may launch a drone attack in the state, ABC News reports. As of last month, “Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran,” the bureau’s alert read…

Israel is considering building a base in Somaliland, which it recently recognized as an independent country, in order to combat the threat of the Houthis, which are based in Yemen just across the Gulf of Aden…

Iran will not participate in the 2026 World Cup after the U.S. “assassinated our leader,” Iran’s sports minister told state media, shortly after Trump said he would still “welcome” the team’s participation. Iran’s national men’s soccer team was set to compete in June in Los Angeles and Seattle; several athletes from the country’s women’s team recently defected to Australia after playing in a match there…

Spain permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel, as the countries’ already tense relations worsen over Madrid’s opposition to the war in Iran…

House Republican leadership discussed ways to incorporate an expected emergency supplemental for the U.S. military into the budget reconciliation process, Politico reports, rather than attempting to rally support from Senate Democrats for the 60-vote threshold that would otherwise be required in the Senate on a stand-alone vote. The move would also sidestep a vote that could be politically challenging for some House Republicans…

Former Obama administration official Ben Rhodes, a leading Israel critic on the left, said on an episode of his “Pod Save the World” podcast that Democrats who vote in favor of funding for the war with Iran “should be primaried. I don’t want you in the Democratic Party.”

Rhodes and co-host Tommy Vietor referenced the four Democrats who voted against a war powers resolution in the House as ripe for primary challenges. Left unsaid: Three of the four — Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH), Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Jared Golden (D-ME) — represent GOP-leaning seats that would likely flip with a more progressive Democratic candidate…

In a sign of the political gulfs between the Israeli and American left, Yair Zivan, who is an advisor to Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, pushed back on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) after the senator criticized Israeli operations in Lebanon. 

“Senator, I work for the Leader of the Opposition in Israel and I’m writing this from a bomb shelter with my children. Israel is under attack by fanatical terrorists who want to murder us. It never ceases to amaze that your humanity never seems to extend to Israeli lives,” Zivan wrote on X…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he called New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to “check in on him and his wife to make sure they’re doing okay” after the attempted terror attack outside Mamdani’s official residence over the weekend. “As someone who’s had to deal with political violence, I know it can take a toll,” Shapiro said. The governor previously spoke with Mamdani after his win in November to express concerns over his rhetoric about Israel…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the far-right ties of the new political director of College Republicans of America.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on foreign influence in American higher education, including testimony from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Craig Singleton.

The annual weeklong South by Southwest festival kicks off tomorrow in Austin, Texas. Appearing at the summit, whose 300,000 attendees include many film and media professionals, is anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who will speak about “the system that tried to silence him, and the personal and political stakes of resistance.”

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