Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump praised Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for assisting the members of Iran’s women’s soccer team, who are in Australia competing in the Women’s Asian Cup, amid fears for their persecution should they be forced to return home.

The president had called for Albanese to grant the athletes political asylum, saying they would “most likely be killed” if they were repatriated to Iran, and later commended him for “doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation,” with five athletes “already taken care of, and the rest are on their way”… 

Trump disputed reports that the U.S. is preparing to deploy ground troops to secure nuclear material at the Isfahan enrichment site in Iran, telling the New York Post, “We haven’t made any decision on that. We’re nowhere near it.” He also told CBS News that “the war is very complete, pretty much,” and the U.S. is “very far” ahead of his initial four-to-five-week timeline…

Trump has communicated to aides that he would support the assassination of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, if Khamenei does not acquiesce to U.S. demands, including ending Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal…

The Lebanese government has requested direct negotiations with Israel, sending the message through U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, Axios reports. Washington and Jerusalem were reportedly skeptical about the idea, with Beirut thus far failing to disarm or rein in Hezbollah activities as the terror group continues to launch missiles into Israel…

NATO missile defense systems intercepted another Iranian missile heading for Turkey, a spokesperson announced today, the second time Iran has attempted to strike the NATO country’s territory…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened to impose “consequences” on Saudi Arabia for its unwillingness to join the U.S. campaign against Iran, as the U.S. evacuates its embassy in Riyadh and the kingdom continues to endure Iranian attacks, which have so far resulted in the deaths of two civilians and one U.S. servicemember. “Question — why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?” Graham wrote on X…

Talks to advance Trump’s 20-point peace plan in Gaza, including the issue of Hamas’ disarmament, have been at a standstill during the campaign against Iran, Reuters reports, as Gulf countries that pledged funds to help rebuild the enclave have come under fire and flight disruptions have prevented mediators from traveling…

The criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York today against the two Pennsylvania men who allegedly hurled improvised explosive devices toward a protest against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday stated that both men explicitly identified ISIS as their inspiration, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

“This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the Prophet [Muhammad],” Emir Balat, 18, told police, according to the charging documents. He also said he had hoped to pull off something “even bigger” than the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which he noted had caused “only three deaths”…

The White House moved today to designate the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity and announced plans to impose a Foreign Terrorist Organization designation on March 16, JI’s Matthew Shea reports, in the Trump administration’s latest crackdown against Muslim Brotherhood affiliates…

A new poll from the campaign of Rushern Baker, former executive of Maryland’s Prince George’s County, found him leading the crowded Democratic field seeking to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). Though a plurality of likely primary voters (28%) said they’re still undecided, Baker polled at 22% compared to former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn’s 15% and Hoyer-endorsed state Del. Adrian Boafo’s 3%…

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California officially switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent — he had filed for reelection as an independent, but said today he would leave the party for the rest of his term as well. The move narrows the GOP majority even further, 217-214, but Kiley said he’ll continue to caucus with Republicans, blunting the impact…

Politico looks at the flurry of independent candidates seeking to unseat congressional Republicans in GOP-leaning districts, clashing with local Democratic establishments in the process…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider — we’ll have a profile of Dario Amodei, the Jewish CEO of Anthropic, which sued the Pentagon today over its decision to label the AI company a “supply chain risk.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to receive a classified briefing on the status of the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran.

The Republican Jewish Coalition and conservative magazine National Review will hold a daylong symposium on antisemitism, with remarks from Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ted Cruz (R-TX); Noah Pollak, senior advisor at the Department of Education; Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy; Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights; and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Georgia’s 14th Congressional District will hold its special election to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), with more than a dozen candidates on the all-party ballot. The district leans strongly Republican but the GOP field is split among nine candidates, raising the possibility that the Democratic front-runner — retired Army Brig. Gen. Shawn Harris — could slip into the April runoff.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington earlier today ahead of tomorrow’s White House sit-down with President Donald Trump. Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov is traveling with the prime minister and will be reporting the latest developments over the next few days.
• Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Azerbaijan after meetings in Armenia.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on Syria with testimony from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s James Jeffrey and Andrew Tabler; Nadine Maenza, the former chair of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom; and Mara Karlin, the former assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, who is now at the Brookings Institution and Johns Hopkins’ SAIS. 
• The House Ways & Means Committee is holding a hearing on foreign influence in American nonprofits, while the House Judiciary Committee is holding one on Sharia law and political Islam.
• The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its Virginia Jewish Advocacy Day. Gov. Abigail Spanberger will be the event’s keynote speaker.

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Nearly two-thirds of Jewish Americans say they feel less safe than a year ago, according to the American Jewish Committee’s newly released annual survey of Jewish public opinion, reflecting a heightened fear of antisemitism in the aftermath of several high-profile attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions.

As notable: About one-third of American Jews reported being a target of antisemitism — whether it was physical or in a virtual space. Nearly one-fifth said they would consider leaving the country as a result of antisemitism, a number that’s been on the rise over the last several years (up from 6% in 2024). 

Young American Jews between the ages of 18-29 have faced the brunt of rising antisemitism, with 47% saying they were a target of antisemitism over the last year, compared to 28% among those 30 and over.  

At the same time, about two-thirds (65%) of Jews overall said they felt safe attending Jewish institutions, while 60% said they were not worried about being a victim of antisemitism in the next year. 

The polling, conducted by SSRS between September and October 2025, shows that both reported antisemitic incidents and fear of facing antisemitism have plateaued but are still near historic highs, when compared to the AJC’s previous surveys. (SSRS surveyed 1,222 Jewish respondents in one survey between Sept. 26-Oct. 29; it separately surveyed 1,033 U.S. adults between Oct. 3-5.)

Antisemitism continues to be particularly prevalent on college campuses, where 42% of students have reported anti-Jewish hate during their time in school — up from 35% in the AJC’s 2024 survey. The vast majority of Jewish parents (80%) said that the level of antisemitism on a campus plays a role in deciding where their student will attend college.

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

Regional Realignment: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead examines the shifting power dynamics in the Middle East, where a weakened Iran has empowered a grouping of Sunni countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, that are increasingly antagonistic toward Israel. “Many in Israel and the U.S. hoped that a deeper focus among the Arab states on economic modernization would lead at last to Israel’s integration into the region. Israel’s economic and technical achievements, as well as the prospect of easier access to American tech and trust, would win over Arab states seeking modernization and development. … These arguments still have weight, but for now they land with less force than Israelis would like. That is partly because some Arabs have found that tech and weapons access can be quietly negotiated with Trump friends and family members no matter what Israel thinks. And it’s partly because many Arabs now believe that regional stability is more threatened by Israeli resistance to the idea of a Palestinian state, even as a distant future prospect, than by the feeble moves of the moribund regime in Tehran.” [WSJ]

Target on His Back: The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein, whose mother survived the Holocaust, reflects on his experience as the target of antisemitic vitriol from followers of conspiracy theorist Nick Fuentes. “The problem was not really about how the story would be told, but how it would be received. To a rising generation, what happened to my parents had become distant history, like the Battle of Waterloo or the American Civil War. A subject to be read about in a textbook or revised for an exam. … In so far as [Fuentes] had an argument, it was that the Holocaust was completely irrelevant to him and his generation. There was nothing to be learnt from it. He wasn’t going to be put off blaming the Jews for all societies’ ills by the fact that at some point in history a similar argument had led Hitler to kill some British bloke’s grandmother. Almost instantly I was flooded — on social media, on my email — with taunting messages. There were thousands of them. It went on for weeks. And I am still getting them.” [TheTimes]

The U.S. Maritime Administration issued a public notice warning U.S.-flagged ships to stay “as far as possible” from Iranian waters and for captains to decline permission to Iranian forces seeking to board the vessels…

The Network Contagion Research Institute accused the Democratic Socialists of America, in a report released in late January, of activities that may run afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — alleging that the far-left group may be acting as an unregistered agent of various U.S. adversaries, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who is retiring at the end of this year, endorsed New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who previously worked for Nadler as an aide, as his successor in the state’s 12th Congressional District…

Campaign finance documents filed this week revealed that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $2.5 million to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro‘s reelection campaign in October…

Puck reports on concerns among Democratic operatives in Michigan that negative ads from Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow targeting each other could inadvertently boost far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed to victory in this year’s Senate primary…

New Jersey legislator Rosy Bagolie, a Democrat, is mulling a run for the House seat previously represented by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, providing moderate Democrats a potential alternative to Analilia Mejia, who won the Democratic special election primary to serve the rest of Sherrill’s current term and is planning to run for the full term later this year…

The Met Council’s David Greenfield, Rabbi Moishe Indig, Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice’s Audrey Sasson, United Jewish Organizations’ David Niederman, JCRC-NY’s Mark Treyger, Agudath Israel’s Yeruchim Silber, Teach Coalition’s Sydney Altfield, Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition’s Josh Mehlman, Marks JCH of Bensonhurst’s Alex Budnitsky were named to City & State New York’s Brooklyn Power 100 list…

The immigration case against Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, was dropped nearly a year after she was first arrested by immigration officials after co-authoring an op-ed critical of Israel in the Tufts student newspaper…

The Oklahoma State Charter School Board rejected a proposal for a Florida-based Jewish charter school that sought to open a virtual school in Oklahoma, a year after the Supreme Court blocked a similar effort by a Catholic school… 

The Gevura Fund and the National Jewish Advocacy Center filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Medford, Mass., over its recently adopted “Values-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance” that backs divestment from companies that operate in Israel…

Mark Zuckerberg purchased a home in the exclusive Indian Creek village in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County…

Len Blavatnik’s Access is set to accept an offer from i24 News owner Patrick Drahi to purchase Israeli television channel Reshet 13 in a deal estimated to cost $40-50 million…

Former Washington Post book critic Becca Rothfeld is joining The New Yorker days after Post management shuttered the paper’s books department and laid off hundreds of staffers across the publication…

Longtime National Council of Jewish Women staffer Jody Rabhan was named the organization’s new CEO, succeeding Sheila Katz, who stepped down in October, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports…

Former Israeli hostage and pianist Alon Ohel played alongside Idan Amedi and a number of other high-profile Israeli musicians at a one-night concert in Tel Aviv on Monday evening, titled “Alon Ohel, Playing for Life.”

Outgoing CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Robert Allen “Bob” Iger turns 75…

English businessman, who is the founder and owner of the River Island fashion brand and clothing chain, Bernard Lewis turns 100… CEO of privately held Metromedia Company and a board member of cruise line operator Carnival Corporation since 1987, Stuart Subotnick turns 84… Rabbi in Vienna in the 1980s, in Munich in the 1990s and in Berlin since 1997, Yitshak Ehrenberg turns 76… Swimmer, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Mark Spitz turns 76… Miami-based philanthropist with interests in aviation, real estate development, agriculture, silviculture and fixed income, Jayne Harris Abess… Host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” James J. “Jim” Cramer turns 71… CEO emerita of D.C.-based Jewish Women International, Loribeth Weinstein… Ethiopian-born, former member of Knesset for the Likud party, he is an activist for the Falash Mura community, Avraham Neguise turns 68… Syndicated newspaper columnist for the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby turns 67… U.S. senator (D-DE), Lisa Blunt Rochester turns 64… Former NASA astronaut, famous for his mezuzah in the International Space Station, he is a professor of astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California, Garrett Reisman turns 58… Member of the Maryland House of Delegates since 2003, Anne R. Kaiser turns 58… Senior director of philanthropic engagement for the central division of the Anti-Defamation League, Matthew Feldman… Executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities (the community relations voice of Ohio’s eight Jewish federations), Howie Beigelman… Israeli pop star (having sold over 1 million albums) and part of the duo “TYP” also known as The Young Professionals, Ivri Lider turns 52… Co-founder and principal at the bipartisan public policy firm Klein/Johnson Group, Israel “Izzy” Klein… Israeli rock musician, David “Dudu” Tassa turns 49… CEO at Citizen Data, she was a candidate for VPOTUS as the running mate of Evan McMullin in 2016, Mindy Finn turns 45… COO of Richmond-based Untangled Media Group, Michelle Levi Noe… Partner in the Washington office of Venable where he leads the firm’s autonomous and connected mobility group, Ariel S. Wolf… Revenue operations manager at Sygnia, Avital Mannis Eyal… Retired NFL quarterback, he was the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, now an MBA candidate at Wharton, Josh Rosen turns 29… Israeli singer, songwriter and dancer, Jonathan Ya’akov Mergui turns 26…

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

U.S. officials advised President Donald Trump that a large-scale military campaign against Iran is unlikely to topple the regime and could spark a wider regional conflict, The Wall Street Journal reports, a message that coincided with the president dialing back his warnings to Tehran over its violent suppression of protests.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reportedly weighed in yesterday, asking Trump to postpone any strikes, and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt have communicated similar messages.

U.S. officials told the Journal these developments have led Trump to hold off on strikes for now, though he directed military assets to be readied in case of action. The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier strike group is reportedly being moved from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East. 

In a similar vein, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited an Arrow missile defense battery site in Israel today and directed a drill simulating a missile attack, saying in a statement, “It is important that every citizen of Israel knows that the IDF is constantly prepared to defend the country”…

In the absence of military action, the U.S. is punishing Iran economically, issuing sanctions today against what it called “the architects” of the crackdown. The Treasury Department will “use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Among the sanctioned Iranian officials are Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security, who was “one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people,” according to the Treasury Department, and several commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces…

Turning to Gaza, American officials expressed their optimism about Phase 2 of the peace plan shortly after its launch yesterday, telling reporters, “For the first time in Gaza in almost a long time, there’s no Palestinian Authority and there’s no Hamas governing it.”

“We’ve talked to a number of Hamas people, and we’re hearing throughout the Arab world that people don’t want to be at war anymore. They want peace,” one of the officials said, claiming Hamas leaders “are indicating that there’s a real possibility” they will lay down their arms…

A new Emerson College poll released today shows the Republican primary for Texas Senate in a dead heat, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and his opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, polling at 26% and 27%, respectively. With Trump refraining from offering his endorsement to either candidate, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff.

On the Democratic side, state Sen. James Talarico is leading the primary over Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), 47-38%. Talarico has recently caused concern in the Texas Jewish community over his increasingly critical rhetoric on Israel, leading some to tell Jewish Insider that, without concerted outreach from his team, they’re likely to back Crockett…

A competitive Democratic primary is also underway in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, where surgeon Adam Hamawy entered the race today to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) with a profile that may help him break through the field.

Hamawy, of Egyptian descent, served as a trauma combat surgeon during the Iraq War, where he operated on Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who credits him with saving her life. In May 2024, he joined a delegation of American doctors to assist in health-care efforts in Gaza, where he was temporarily stuck during an Israeli border closure (he returned for a second mission in January 2025). 

Though Hamawy has not run for office before, he has spoken extensively about his experience treating “mass casualties” in the enclave and condemning Israel and the U.S.’ role in the “indiscriminate killing and destruction there.” Watson Coleman, also an outspoken critic of Israel, brought him as her guest to Trump’s 2025 State of the Union address…

Asked about his views on Israel, Antonio Delgado, New York’s lieutenant governor who is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul from her left, said in an interview released Tuesday that the U.S. should not “fund, provide weapons or diplomatic cover to any military operation that causes catastrophic civilian deaths or mass starvation … Otherwise, we are complicit.” 

Delgado pledged not to take money from AIPAC, though the pro-Israel group does not contribute to gubernatorial races, and Delgado took a 2019 trip to Israel as a member of Congress with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. 

Delgado further described Netanyahu as “deeply problematic” and a “war criminal,” but when asked if Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, he largely demurred. “I can see how people would want to argue it both ways and I’m sensitive to this, candidly, based on my own relationships,” he said. Delgado’s wife is Jewish and they are raising their children Jewish. “It’s hard to argue against scholars. … [But] wherever you fall on that question, we can’t fund it. … We can’t be complicit in it, anymore”…

A federal appeals court ruled today that former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the school’s anti-Israel protest movement, could be rearrested, JI’s Haley Cohen reports. Khalil was released in June from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, where he had been held for three months. 

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel decided that the federal district court in New Jersey that issued Khalil’s release did not have jurisdiction over the matter and that it should have been handled in immigration court, which is part of the executive branch overseen by the Justice Department, meaning Khalil is now liable to be rearrested.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani denounced the ruling, saying in a statement, “as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a profile of Amy Acton, the Jewish public health expert hoping to become the first Democrat to win an Ohio governor’s race in 20 years. 

The U.S. and Israel will sign a strategic framework on AI cooperation at the City of David tomorrow, led by Jacob Helberg, the U.S. under secretary of state for economic affairs, and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Erez Eskel, head of Israel’s National AI Directorate. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are also expected to be in attendance. 

Also heading to Israel is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who announced a last-minute trip this afternoon to meet with Netanyahu “at this crucial time in the history of the Middle East.”

Iran International will hold its second briefing of the week in Washington with former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus. Read JI’s coverage of Wednesday’s event here.

Honduran President-elect Nasry Asfura will travel to Israel over the weekend, where he is expected to meet with Netanyahu, Sa’ar and President Isaac Herzog, as well as visit Yad Vashem and the Western Wall. Asfura, who will take office later this month, met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington earlier this week and was hosted by AIPAC leadership.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Tuesday. Shabbat Shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump indicated that his threats to Iran are making an impact; he told reporters this afternoon, “We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, it’s stopped, and there’s no plans for executions,” referencing reports that an arrested protester was due to be executed today.

Trump later appeared to downplay protester deaths, calling it “one of those things … people were shooting at them with guns and they were shooting back.” It’s a notable change in tune from the president, who just yesterday told Iranian protesters to “save the names of the killers and abusers” and that “help is on its way.”

Asked if this means that military action against Iran is off the table, Trump responded, “We’re going to watch it and see what the process is, but we were given a very good statement” that the killing has stopped “by people that are aware of what’s going on”… 

Others are still bracing for potential military action: Some personnel were told to evacuate the U.S.’ Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by tonight, Reuters reports. (Recall that Iran launched several missiles at Al Udeid after the U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites last June.)

A number of airlines have canceled or suspended flights to Iran; the Lufthansa group, in addition to avoiding Iranian and Iraqi airspace, said it will only operate day flights to Israel and Jordan through Jan. 19, avoiding overnight trips.

IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin warned on social media to avoid rumors and misinformation about the evolving situation, saying the IDF is “prepared for defense and on alert for surprise scenarios”…

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the launch of Phase 2 of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan today, “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction.” This phase “establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza … and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,” Witkoff said. 

“The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage. Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,” Witkoff added, though the U.S. has not taken action on Hamas’ failure to return the body of Ran Gvili, the final hostage, in the three months since the terror group was meant to at the outset of the ceasefire agreement. 

It is still unclear how the U.S. and its partners will disarm Hamas or remove it from power, with the International Stabilization Force still not in place and foreign nations refusing to engage with Hamas militants…

Meanwhile, the midterms are picking up speed: New polling out of the Michigan Senate race shows Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) looking like the most electable Democrat against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), the expected GOP nominee. 

In a Detroit News poll testing general election matchups, Stevens and Rogers were tied at 44% each, while physician Abdul El-Sayed, who has made criticism of Israel central to his campaign, fared the worst, losing to Rogers 48-42%. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, another critic of Israel, would also trail, 46-42%, the poll found…

In the Garden State, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) secured the endorsement of Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) today, a meaningful show of support from the progressive-minded senator as Menendez may face a primary challenge from his left from Mussab Ali. 

Ali, who is expected to join the race shortly, is a vocal opponent of Israel and has been a champion for the anti-Israel protests and encampments that roiled college campuses in recent years; Kim has also been criticized by Jewish leaders for his support of measures blocking some arms sales to Israel… 

Trump will not be endorsing three Republican senators facing competitive reelection campaigns: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Politico reports. Cornyn and Cassidy are facing serious Republican primary opposition, while Collins is facing the likelihood of a hotly contested general election…

The State Department is indefinitely suspending immigration visa processing for individuals from 75 countries starting Jan. 21, building on the Trump administration’s total and partial immigration bans that already exist on nearly 40 countries. The pause will impact those looking to permanently immigrate who may “become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people,” the State Department said…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with Ryan Crosswell, the Marine veteran and former Republican looking to win the Democratic nomination in a key Pennsylvania swing district.

The technocratic Palestinian committee launched with Phase 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan — which will be headed by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister for the Palestinian Authority — is expected to hold its first meeting tomorrow in Cairo, also attended by Nickolay Mladenov, the former U.N. envoy to the Middle East now leading the Gaza Board of Peace.

The Israeli American Council kicks off its annual summit tomorrow in Hollywood, Fla., with a plenary including Adm. (res.) Daniel Hagari, the previous IDF spokesperson; Boaz Levy, the CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries; and Betsy Korn, the chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The suspect in the arson attack that destroyed Mississippi’s largest synagogue early Saturday morning confessed to targeting the building because of its “Jewish ties,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi more than 48 hours after the attack, the FBI said the suspect, Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, admitted to starting the blaze at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., due to “the building’s Jewish ties” and referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan” in an interview with the Jackson Fire Department. Pittman was charged with “maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive”…

President Donald Trump said Iranian officials made contact with the U.S. over the weekend and proposed restarting nuclear negotiations, telling reporters, “A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting,” referring to the U.S. potentially taking military action in Iran over its violent crackdown on protesters around the country. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also spoke with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days about the protests, Axios reports; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today that an Iranian government official who spoke to Witkoff “express[ed] a far different tone than what you’re seeing publicly.”

Trump is currently leaning toward authorizing military strikes rather than engaging in diplomacy, The Wall Street Journal reports, and he is scheduled to hold a briefing tomorrow with advisors, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, to make a determination…

California Jewish communal organizations released a joint statement today condemning state Sen. Scott Wiener’s remarks on Israel, after the Jewish House candidate said in a video statement yesterday that he is changing his position and will now call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. 

“We recognize that Senator Wiener has been a strong supporter of the Jewish community throughout the Israel-Hamas war and his many years of public service, and that he has directly experienced antisemitic attacks simply for being Jewish. Unfortunately, Senator Wiener’s newly stated position is both incorrect and lacks moral clarity. … We call on the Senator and our elected, civic, and education leaders to recognize and reflect on the consequences of their words in this fraught and polarizing environment,” the statement read…

In a major recruiting win for Senate Democrats, former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) announced her run against Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) today, JI’s Marc Rod reports, giving Democrats an outside chance of picking up the red-state Senate seat.

Peltola maintained a strongly pro-Israel voting record during her one term in the House, breaking on numerous occasions with a majority of her party to vote for measures supporting the Jewish state post-Oct. 7, including supporting a stand-alone Israel aid package opposed by many Democrats. Sullivan, for his part, has been a hawkish pro-Israel voice in the Senate, and has pushed for a more aggressive stance toward Iran…

Democratic Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo is launching a bid to succeed his former mentor, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), as the former House majority leader retires. Boafo, who served as campaign manager for Hoyer, is expected to be the party favorite in the primary, Politico reports. Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who rose to prominence after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, is also considering joining the race…

In another race to watch, Rep. Nellie Pou (D-NJ) in New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District gained another opponent in Tiffany Burress, a Republican political newcomer and wife of former NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress. On the first day of her campaign, Burress has already secured the backing of several GOP county chairs, as the party looks to flip the seat away from Pou after Trump unexpectedly carried the district in 2024…

Former Obama administration officials and Crooked Media hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes are hosting a fundraiser in Hollywood, Calif., on Thursday for Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left, anti-Israel candidate running for Senate in Michigan, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

El-Sayed, a physician and former director of the Wayne County Department of Health, has made his criticisms of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, blasting other candidates in the race as being insufficiently hostile to the Jewish state. Favreau, Lovett and Rhodes, on their “Pod Save America” and “Pod Save the World” podcasts, have also emerged as a vocal force against Israel and AIPAC in the Democratic Party, and have boosted prominent anti-Israel candidates in other hot-button primaries…

The future of the Israeli Lounge at the Trump-Kennedy Center is reportedly in peril, eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Judah Ari Gross reports, “unless a major donor from the Jewish community steps up and makes a large donation,” far-right commentator Laura Loomer said over the weekend. The center’s president, Richard Grenell, is seeking to renovate the space; Loomer has suggested Qatar may look to provide the funds for the room’s overhaul…

The New York Times reports on the brewing fight between states over the order of 2028 Democratic presidential primary elections…

Dina Powell McCormick, a banking executive, former deputy national security advisor to Trump and wife of Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), was named president and vice chair of Meta, reporting to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Axios reports. Zuckerberg said in a statement that Powell McCormick will focus on “partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s AI and infrastructure”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for more details on the motives and background of the suspected arsonist who set fire to the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., over the weekend.

President Donald Trump will receive a major briefing on avenues for responding to Iran’s violent suppression of protests, including cyber, economic and military options.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will deliver her State of the State address in Albany, where she plans to announce her proposal to create a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship and health-care facilities. (The legislation, while welcomed by major Jewish groups, would not have prevented the pro-Hamas protest that disrupted a Queens community last week, which took place approximately 300 feet away from the targeted synagogue.) New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to be in attendance.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Protests are escalating across Iran, with videos showing masses of demonstrators taking to the streets and security forces at times overwhelmed. Human rights groups estimate dozens of protesters have already been killed and reports indicate the country is experiencing an internet blackout. Storeowners are reportedly shuttering their businesses in an economic boycott, further deepening the economic crisis that spurred the unrest.

President Donald Trump reiterated his warning today that the Iranian regime will “have to pay hell” if “they start killing people, which they tend to do,” speculating that the deaths so far have been caused by stampedes and not law enforcement. Vice President JD Vance said at a press briefing that the Iranian regime “has a lot of problems” and that “the smartest thing for them to have done … is for them to actually have a real negotiation with the United States”…

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today that he is establishing a royal commission into antisemitism in the country, after the deadly terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney last month. The commission, considered a powerful tool in Australian governance, will investigate the scope and causes of antisemitism and make recommendations for law enforcement, in a report due on the year anniversary of the Dec. 14 attack…

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain would send “peacekeeping troops” to the Gaza Strip “when the opportunity presents itself.” Speaking to a gathering of ambassadors in Madrid today, he said, “Of course, we have not forgotten Palestine and the Gaza Strip … Spain must actively participate in rebuilding hope in Palestine.” Many countries remain wary of contributing troops to stabilize Gaza over concerns of being required to engage with Hamas…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today with Nickolay Mladenov, former U.N. envoy to the Middle East and soon-to-be representative of the U.S.-led Board of Peace in Gaza…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been silent thus far today about a protest taking place tonight organized by the radical anti-Israel group responsible for a similar protest outside the Park East Synagogue in November, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

The group posted the address of the real estate event they intend to protest, which is taking place at a synagogue in Queens’ heavily Jewish neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills. The synagogue canceled prayer services and two nearby schools, Yeshiva of Central Queens and PS 165, announced early closures. Democratic state Assemblymember Sam Berger, who represents the area, told JI that local principals, staff and parents are “very concerned.” The surrounding area has been “completely upended,” he said…

The New Jersey Legislature will not give further consideration to a bill seeking to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism into state law during this legislative session, the bill’s lead sponsor announced, after several years of the Jewish community’s urging for the measure to be adopted…

Rob Sand, the state auditor and Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa, announced he raised over $9.5 million in 2025, more than double the record for off-year fundraising for a gubernatorial election in the state. Sand told Jewish Insider in 2019, when he first took office as auditor, that he conducted what was “definitely the first audit” to ensure agencies were in compliance with a state anti-BDS law. “When you say [you are] willing to be supportive of your ally [Israel], you need to put your money where your mouth is,” he said at the time…

Far-left New York state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez joined the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) today in the progressive 7th Congressional District covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The Democratic Socialists of America and Mamdani are expected to endorse Valdez, a move that could prove consequential in the district that The New York Times said will “pit left against lefter.” 

Valdez, who has already brought on several of Mamdani’s advisors, was a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and pro-Israel political groups; her opponent, Antonio Reynoso, takes similar stances but is viewed as a more “traditional progressive” and is expected to secure Velázquez’s support, the Times reports…

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) officially announced his retirement today after serving 23 terms, one of the longest-serving House members in U.S. history. Speaking on the House floor, the former majority leader and pro-Israel champion warned he was “deeply concerned that this House is not living up to the founders’ goals” and that the country “is heading not toward greatness, but toward smallness, pettiness, divisiveness, loneliness and disdainfulness”…

In his first State of the State address since 2020 — and final before his term ends next year — California Gov. Gavin Newsom heralded his state as a “beacon” and a “policy blueprint for others to follow.” He denounced Trump and laid out a policy agenda including clean energy, increased wages and lowered housing costs, in a speech seen as laying the groundwork for his potential 2028 presidential run…

The Qatar Investment Authority and Emirati-based MGX, linked to a UAE sovereign wealth fund, participated in the latest fundraising round for Elon Musk’s xAI, which raised over $15 billion total. Gulf investors including QIA and the Saudi and Omani sovereign funds have taken part in previous fundraising rounds for the company that owns the Grok AI chatbot on X…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at how legislation in New Jersey to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism was scuttled — and who was behind the bill’s demise. 

The third season of the hit TV show “Tehran” will premiere in the U.S. on Apple TV tomorrow, after a delay of several years. The popular international thriller, which follows a Mossad agent operating undercover in Iran, was indefinitely postponed at the outset of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The season ran in Israel in December 2024, and Apple has announced the fourth season is already in production.

On Saturday, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt will sit in conversation with Rabbi David Wolpe about the “golden age of American Jewry” at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Qatar is the top country donating foreign funds to American universities, and Cornell University is its leading recipient, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

According to a new dashboard from the Department of Education, Qatar holds the No. 1 spot for funds provided to U.S. universities at a whopping $6.6 billion — $2.3 billion of which has gone to Cornell, making up the vast majority of the school’s $3 billion in foreign funding. Qatar has provided significantly more funds than the next leading countries, bolstering criticisms of the Gulf state’s influence over American higher education…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud this afternoon “to advance ongoing bilateral cooperation” following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November. Rubio and Al-Saud discussed issues including Gaza, Yemen, Sudan and Syria, according to a State Department readout.

The Saudi foreign minister also met with lawmakers on the Hill, including Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee…

Trump is expected to kick off the second phase of the Gaza peace plan next week, Axios reports, including announcing the formation of the Gaza Board of Peace. Among the countries expected to participate are the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, with former U.N. envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov at the helm…

In a Truth Social post this afternoon, Trump called for the U.S. defense budget to be raised to $1.5 trillion in 2027, an increase of approximately 50% from his 2026 request…

Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz, in a speech to the Knesset on Monday, warned the American right about the dangers of rising antisemitism within its ranks, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports.

“I stand here in Jerusalem to sound an alarm,” Illouz said. “We are used to enemies from the outside … but today, I look at the West — our greatest ally — and I see a new enemy rising from within.” Illouz, who was born and raised in Montreal, took the unusual step of speaking from the lectern in English.

The right-wing lawmaker called for American conservatives to reject what he called the “poison” of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, mentioning the podcasters by name. “They claim to fight the ‘woke left.’ They are no different than the woke left,” Illouz argued. “The woke left tears down statues of Thomas Jefferson, the woke right tears down statues of Winston Churchill … It is the same hatred of the West dressed up in a different costume”…

New York City Councilmember Julie Menin was unanimously voted speaker of the council today, as expected, after she announced in November that she had garnered enough support to secure the position.

Shortly after being elected, Menin, the first Jewish council speaker in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, said she will look to codify legislation to protect the Jewish community, including establishing safe perimeters for protests around synagogues…

A new poll by the Honan Strategy Group found Jewish and non-Jewish New York voters split in their views about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Forward reports. Fifty-five percent of non-Jewish respondents said Jews who say they feel threatened by Mamdani’s views on Israel are overreacting, while 53% of Jewish respondents said they are justified to feel that way. Fifty-one percent of Jews said Mamdani’s election is a troubling sign that antisemitism is being normalized, while 61% of non-Jews see it as evidence of healthy debate and diversity…

The New York Times lays out an ongoing lawsuit in New York over redistricting that could see the 11th Congressional District redrawn, which could impact the boundaries of Rep. Dan Goldman’s (D-NY) neighboring district and further complicate his reelection prospects…

In New Jersey, congressional candidates are raking in donations for what’s shaping up to be one of the state’s most expensive primary cycles ever. In the special election in the state’s 11th Congressional District to replace Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) announced he’s raised more than $1 million in the two months since he launched his bid.

Three Democratic candidates vying for Malinowski’s old seat in the neighboring 7th District, now held by Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), have also raised over $1 million each, including former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett. The large fundraising hauls are unusual for an off year, though Democrats see the 7th as a promising opportunity to flip a House seat, given that the swing district narrowly voted for Sherrill, a Democrat, in November…

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a far-right Republican, announced today he will not pursue a rematch against Gov. Josh Shapiro, to whom he lost decisively in the 2022 gubernatorial race, amid speculation that he would once again seek the office…

Warner Bros. rejected a hostile takeover bid from Paramount, in the latest development in the battle to acquire the media giant. The company’s board voted to maintain its existing deal with Netflix for $72 billion, calling Paramount’s amended $77.9 billion offer with a personal guarantee from Larry Ellison “inadequate”…

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 dynamics that may play out between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the newly inaugurated City Council Speaker Julie Menin as she plays a critical role in potentially providing a check against the mayor’s policy agenda.

Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center in New York City will host a screening of the documentary “The Road Between Us” about Gen. Noam Tibon’s historic rescue of his family amid the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, as well as a discussion with Tibon and director Barry Avrich. Read JI’s interview with Tibon and Avrich.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Bolstering concerns that Iran could attempt to strike Israel to rally domestic support amid nationwide protests, Iran’s Defense Council warned today that Tehran could act against its “long-standing enemies” over their “hostile behavior.”

The body, formed after the June war with Israel, said in a statement that “Iran’s security, independence and territorial integrity are an uncrossable red line, and any aggression or continuation of hostile behavior will be met with a proportionate and decisive response.”

“The long-standing enemies of this land” are “repeating and intensifying threatening language and interventionist statements in clear conflict with the accepted principles of international law, which is aimed at dismembering our beloved Iran and harming the country’s identity,” the statement continued, as President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene if Iran cracks down on the protesters…

Wrapping up a U.S.-mediated dialogue in Paris, Israel and Syria made progress towards improving relations as they agreed to accelerate the pace of negotiations going forward, considered a U.S. proposal to establish a demilitarized joint economic zone and agreed to set up a communication mechanism to facilitate coordination on military deescalation, intelligence sharing and diplomacy…

Domestically, midterm election year is in full swing: Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) officially launched his reelection bid today in New York’s 10th Congressional District, highlighting the date as the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his role as the House’s lead counsel during Trump’s first impeachment.

Goldman came out of the gate against his opponent, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, with a slew of endorsements, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA). 

Goldman told The New York Times that he understood his continued support for Israel “ran the risk of engendering a primary” in his progressive district but that he made his decisions based on “what I genuinely thought was best for the state of Israel, the people of Israel, Palestinian civilians and the future state of Palestine”…

Nearby in New York’s 12th Congressional District, George Conway, a former Republican lawyer and prominent critic of Trump who launched his run today as a Democrat, raised several concerns about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s approach to Israel and antisemitism in recent interviews, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Conway, who recently relocated to Manhattan in order to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), said in an interview with The New York Times that he was “disturbed” by Mamdani’s sharp criticisms of Israel, even as he called the mayor “a great politician” and voiced admiration for his “focus on affordability.”

Conway added in an interview with NBC News that he was “concerned about some of the language” Mamdani has “used in the past about Israel,” as well as the mayor’s recent decision to revoke a pair of executive orders related to Israel and antisemitism on his first day in office. “His focus really has to be on bringing people together,” Conway said of Mamdani, “not sending the wrong message to individual groups of people”…

In the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 17th Congressional District to take on Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Peter Chatzky, the deputy mayor of Briarcliff Manor, injected $5 million of his own money into his campaign, Politico reports. Chatzky has stood out from the crowd in the competitive swing district in the northern suburbs of New York City with his comparatively critical stance of Israel.

Cait Conley, meanwhile, a national security veteran strongly supportive of Israel who is considered one of the front-runners in the seven-person race to take on Lawler, announced yesterday that she raised more than $560,000 in the last quarter of 2025 and has over $1.2 million in cash on hand…

Former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) is considering mounting a run for Senate to challenge Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Axios reports. Peltola narrowly lost her seat in 2024 when Trump carried the state in the presidential election; if she does make a bid, she would give Democrats the opportunity to contest a red-state race, giving them an outside shot to win back the upper chamber…

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) died today at 65, Republican leadership announced. AIPAC mourned him as “an outspoken pro-Israel leader in Congress.” The congressman’s seat, a largely rural district he represented since 2013, was redrawn last year to be more favorable to Democrats, but a special election to fill his seat will be held under the old map friendlier to Republicans due to the timing of the vacancy…

Speaking at a press conference on the latest crime statistics out of New York City, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, standing next to Mamdani, said that antisemitic hate crimes in the city declined 3% from 2024 to 2025 but, at 57%, still make up the majority of all hate crimes reported…

In an interview released today on CNN commentator Scott Jennings’ podcast, Vice President JD Vance, asked about the rise of antisemitism in the conservative movement, said, “we need to reject all forms of ethnic hatred, whether it’s antisemitism, anti-Black hatred, anti-white hatred,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.

“I think that’s one of the great things about the conservative coalition, is that we are, I think, fundamentally rooted in the Christian principles that founded the United States of America and one of those very important principles is that we judge people as individuals,” Vance continued…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a deep dive into the geopolitical ramifications of Israel’s choice to formally recognize the African nation of Somaliland — and whether the U.S. might follow suit.

The New York City Council will vote to elect its speaker tomorrow, which is widely expected to be Councilmember Julie Menin. Menin, who will be the first Jewish speaker of the council, has already begun to push back on Mayor Zohran Mamdani, expressing her concern to him over his repeal of former Mayor Eric Adams’ executive orders related to Israel and antisemitism.

In Washington, the Atlantic Council will host a discussion on the “future of humanitarian assistance,” including remarks from IsraAID CEO Yotam Polizer.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Dominating the headlines, deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to charges including narco-terrorism during their arraignment in New York City today. “I am still president of my country,” Maduro told the judge, who set their next hearing for March 17.

At the same time, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, whom the Trump administration has said it will work with, was sworn in as interim president in Caracas, though she insisted that Maduro is still president and that he is being held hostage by the U.S…

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced today that he will no longer seek reelection to a third term after facing weeks of criticism due to revelations of widespread fraud primarily among the state’s Somali diaspora population. 

“I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all. Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences,” Walz, who has increasingly played to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, said in his announcement.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a moderate with a record of winning over independent voters, is considering running for governor in his stead, after she and Walz met yesterday. On the Republican side, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Speaker of the Statehouse Lisa Demuth are already vying for the office…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani denied that his executive order altering the relationship between the NYPD and his office — which appeared to indicate that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch would no longer report to him but to a deputy mayor — will be meaningful in its impact, telling reporters today that the commissioner “will continue to report directly to me … The executive order is in terms of the question of coordination.”

The direct line between the mayor and NYPD head has been in place at least since the terror attacks of 9/11, after which the commissioner began to hold daily intelligence briefings for the mayor. The National Jewish Advocacy Center called the restructuring “unprecedented” in a letter to Mamdani and said that “The close relationship between the NYPD and the Mayor’s Office has been key to averting disasters for the Jewish community,” including during Hanukkah last month.

The move came as Mamdani revoked an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and an anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions order, which also drew backlash from Jewish leaders…

Meanwhile, in one of his final acts in office, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter today reminding all K-12 superintendents and school boards in the state of their obligation to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism into their codes of conduct and discrimination policies, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

“As part of your compliance with Federal and Virginia law, you must implement the IHRA definition and its contemporary examples into your codes of conduct and discrimination policies to assess unprotected activity,” Miyares wrote, referencing a law passed by the state legislature in May 2023 requiring use of the IHRA definition by all state agencies… 

Harvard President Alan Garber said that the university was wrong to let professors express strong stances on controversial issues in the classroom, causing students to feel they couldn’t share their views, including faculty espousing anti-Israel views in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks. “It did happen in classrooms that professors would push this,” he said in a live taping of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s “Identity/Crisis Podcast” last month…

Leslie Grinage, Barnard’s dean and vice president of campus life and student experience, left her position today, the Columbia Spectator reports, after she came under intense criticism for her role in disciplining students who had violated school rules during anti-Israel protests on campus. Dozens of protesters staged a sit-in outside her office last year to demand the reinstatement of two students who were expelled after they disrupted a History of Modern Israel class…

Speaking in the Knesset today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and President Donald Trump “will not allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile industry, and we certainly won’t let it renew its nuclear program” and that the two leaders agree that Iran must have no enrichment capabilities, all of its enriched uranium must be sent out of the country and there must be close oversight of its nuclear facilities…

Netanyahu also met with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) in Jerusalem today…

The Israel Defense Forces and Moroccan Armed Forces signed a joint work plan for 2026 during the third meeting of their Joint Military Committee in Tel Aviv this week…

A man was arrested for vandalizing the personal residence of Vice President JD Vance in Cincinnati this morning. Nobody was home at the time. “As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. I’m grateful to the secret service and the Cincinnati police for responding quickly,” Vance said on X…

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 Judge Alvin Hellerstein, the 92-year-old Orthodox Jewish federal judge overseeing the trial of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Academic Engagement Network is convening a three-day “boot camp” in Miami Beach this week for university faculty combating antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus. Speakers will include Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal, the Atlantic Council’s Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, antisemitism researcher Miri Bar-Halpern and past president of the American Association of University Presidents Cary Nelson.

Tomorrow, former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and commentator Dan Senor will speak about “Israeli strategy in war and peace” in West Palm Beach, Fla., for the Palm Beach Synagogue’s “Critical Conversation Series.”

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Two men in Manchester, England were found guilty of planning a terror attack on the city’s Jewish community, in the same area where two people were killed in a car ramming and stabbing attack at a synagogue on Yom Kippur.

Police warned it would have been the “deadliest terrorist attack in U.K. history”; the would-be assailants were affiliated with ISIS and had obtained guns and ammunition for an extended shooting spree, which they indicated was revenge for Israel’s actions in Gaza. One told an undercover officer, “We start with the Jews and if there any Christians caught in the act, that is a bonus, but we start with the Jews”…

At the same time, British police dropped a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan, the rap duo who led “death to the IDF” chants at the Glastonbury music festival in June, citing “insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction”…

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem today pushing for additional information about Nonprofit Security Grant Program allocations, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports, as well as criticizing the $330 million funding allocation for the program proposed last week by Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“As I travel around Connecticut and hear from community leaders here and around the country, I am struck by the severely heightened anxiety and apprehension about physical threats to places of worship and community centers involving hate-based violence,” Blumenthal said.

The senator requested data on grant applications and acceptances, the reasons why FEMA has provided less funding than requested to some institutions and the resources FEMA provided to unsuccessful applicants for each year from 2023 to 2025…

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz walked back comments he made earlier today claiming Israel would reestablish settlements in the Gaza Strip; he said in a statement shortly after that “the government has no intention of establishing settlements” in the enclave and his comments were “made in a security context only.”

A U.S. official told Fox News about Katz’s initial remarks that “the more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries will want to work with them”…

Israel covertly airdropped weapons and ammunition to a Druze militia in Syria shortly after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, The Washington Post reports, over concerns of then-nascent President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s allegiances. Israel stopped providing weapons to the Druze after Al-Sharaa met with President Donald Trump in the White House earlier this year, though it continues to provide supplies including money, body armor and medical provisions.

“We were helping when it was absolutely necessary and are committed to minorities’ security, but it is not as if we are going to have commandos take positions next to the Druze or get in the business of organizing proxies,” one Israeli official told the Post…

At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council today, Iran accused the U.S. of violating its rights as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by insisting that the country have no domestic uranium enrichment. (The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency declared Iran in violation of the NPT in June.)

U.S. deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in response, “We’d like to make it clear to the entire world: the United States remains available for formal talks with Iran, but only if Tehran is prepared for direct and meaningful dialogue. … We have been clear, however, about certain expectations for any arrangement. Foremost, there can be no enrichment inside of Iran, and that remains our principle”… 

Estimated private funding of Israeli tech businesses reached $15.6 billion in 2025, according to early numbers from Startup National Central, a nonprofit that tracks and promotes the Israeli innovation ecosystem, up from $12 billion in 2024. “At the same time, deal volume declined to 717 rounds, the lowest in the last decade. This divergence tells a clear story: investors are doing fewer deals, but committing significantly more capital to each one,” the organization wrote….

Ben Sasse, the former Republican senator from Nebraska and previous president of the University of Florida, announced today that he has terminal Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. As UF president during the disruptive campus protests in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, Sasse was heralded for taking a uniquely firm stance against the protesters; he resigned from UF in July 2024 due to his wife’s failing health…

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

This is the last Daily Overtime of 2025 — we’ll be back in your inbox on Monday, Jan. 5. 

Until then, keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reporting on Jewish communal organizations’ 2026 legislative agenda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump in Florida next week (read JI’s Lahav Harkov’s preview of the meeting here), Zohran Mamdani’s first days in office after being sworn in as New York City mayor on Jan. 1, and more. 

Happy New Year!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Over a dozen of the Heritage Foundation’s top legal and economic staff are departing the think tank to join former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom group, in the latest sign of the continued internal dysfunction racking Heritage since its president, Kevin Roberts, embraced Tucker Carlson after he platformed neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

“Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence told The Wall Street Journal. 

More than 30 of Heritage’s employees have reportedly resigned or been fired in the last several days, and at least three trustees have also dropped their affiliation with the group. Josh Blackman, who announced he’s stepping down as senior editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, told Roberts in his resignation letter that his comments on Carlson “were a huge unforced blunder, and gave aid and comfort to the rising tide of antisemitism on the right”…

A straw poll conducted of attendees at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest summit found that the anti-Israel views of some of the event’s speakers were not largely shared by the audience — only 13% of respondents said they don’t view Israel as an ally of the United States (one-third thought Israel is a “top ally” while an additional 53% said it’s one ally of many).

Brent Scher, editor-in-chief of the conservative Daily Wire, wrote on X about the poll, “For those who think Tucker and Candace [Owens] are winning … they’ve convinced nobody.” The same poll found 84% of respondents would like to see Vice President JD Vance as the 2028 Republican presidential nominee…

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League finds that more than one-fifth of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s appointees to his transition team have extreme anti-Israel backgrounds, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. 

Among the advisors, Youssef Mubaraz, who was appointed to serve on the committee on small businesses, dismissed a Facebook video about Hamas’ widespread use of sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “propaganda,” according to the report. Mohammed Karim Chowdhury, a member of the worker justice committee, previously shared a post claiming that “Zionists are worse than Haman of ancient times, the Inquisition, and the Nazis.”

Mamdani said about the report at a press conference today that “we must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government” and that the “ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction”…

George Conway, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project group, filed paperwork today to join the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). The once decidedly conservative lawyer abandoned his affiliation with the Republican Party over his disagreements with President Donald Trump and became a significant donor of former President Joe Biden, though Conway’s decision to run as a Democrat himself is a step further than he’s gone before. 

The New York Times reported last month that Conway told a group of donors he would aim to act as a “wingman” to Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), also both lawyers fiercely opposed to Trump, if elected to Congress…

Meanwhile Erik Bottcher, a New York City councilman, dropped out of the NY-12 primary in order to run for a state Senate seat…

Brad Lander, the outgoing New York City comptroller trying to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), received an endorsement today from anti-Israel City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who has faced backlash from her sizable Jewish constituency for her refusal to explicitly condemn Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks and blaming Israel’s “unjust occupation of the Palestinian people” for the violence, her inaction on incidents of antisemitism in the district and her endorsement of calls to “globalize the intifada,” among other issues…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee echoed warnings Jerusalem is reportedly providing to the Trump administration around Iran’s preparations for another military conflict with Israel while speaking at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies conference today.

“Iran, I don’t know that they ever took [Trump] seriously until the night that the B-2 bombers went to Fordow. I hope they got the message but apparently they didn’t get the full message cause … they appear to be trying to reconstitute and find a new way to dig the hole deeper, secure it more,” Huckabee said…

The Trump administration is recalling senior diplomats from at least 29 countries, State Department officials told the Associated Press, largely from Africa and Asia with several in Europe and the Middle East, as part of its continued effort to “advance the America First agenda”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted the prime minister of Greece and president of Cyprus in Jerusalem today to “strengthen security, promote economic development and deepen the ties between our countries,” he said in a statement…

In the latest development in the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount amended its offer to acquire the company to include $40.4 billion of equity financing personally guaranteed by Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle and father of Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison. Warner Bros. had previously advised shareholders to reject Paramount’s offer due to concerns over its ability to provide the financing…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort at the end of the month.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s newly tapped director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, abruptly resigned this afternoon after her history of antisemitic online posts — including complaining about “money hungry Jews” — was unearthed, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Da Costa, who previously served as executive assistant to former Mayor Bill DeBlasio and was appointed by Mamdani yesterday, posted a series of antisemitic comments in 2011 and 2012, which were obtained by the Judge Street Journal.

Among other X posts — deleted along with her account today — Da Costa wrote in January 2011, “Money hungry Jews smh,” according to screenshots. “Woo! Promoted to the upstairs office today! Working alongside these rich Jewish peeps,” she posted in June 2011.

After outcry from the Anti-Defamation League and others, Mamdani’s team told JI that “Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and [Mamdani] accepted.” Da Costa said in her own statement that her posts were “not indicative of who I am” and had “become a distraction from the work at hand”…

In another incident of antisemitism proliferating online, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua garnered widespread backlash — including from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s foundation focused on combating antisemitism — for performing an antisemitic dance on social media on Tuesday, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, leading Nacua to issue an apology this afternoon.

During streamer Adin Ross’ livestream on Tuesday, he taught the wide receiver a touchdown celebration that ended with Nacua looking into the camera and rubbing his hands together — a stereotypical movement indicating greed that Ross’ fans refer to as his “iconic Jewish dance.” Ross then asked Nacua to perform the dance during the Rams’ game against the Seattle Seahawks tonight, to which Nacua agreed. 

In his apology, Nacua stated that at the time of the livestream, he had “no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetrated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people”…

In response to the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today that his government will introduce new legislation to strengthen hate speech laws in the country and allow the government to cancel or reject visas of people deemed likely to spread hate.

The move comes after Australia ignored repeated warnings from local Jewish communities and Israel that rising antisemitism in the country posed a threat to Jewish safety; Albanese conceded the point in his announcement, claiming, “Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect”…

Scott Singer, the Republican mayor of Boca Raton, Fla., announced a run for Congress today for the seat held by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). The district, already competitive, is facing a possible redistricting effort by state Republicans which would further endanger the pro-Israel congressman’s hold on it. Singer, who sits on the U.S. advisory board of Combat Antisemitism Movement, has been a strong supporter of Israel as well… 

NOTUS asked over 120 House Republicans if they intend to run for reelection amid rumors of a mass wave of retirements in the party. Several, including Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Mark Amodei (R-NV), gave noncommittal answers…

The State Department issued new sanctions today against dozens of ships and related companies involved in Iran’s “shadow fleet” used to evade existing oil sanctions, as well as against two International Criminal Court judges involved in prosecuting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing the judges’ votes against an Israeli appeal to drop arrest warrants for the two earlier this week…

President Donald Trump contradicted an announcement made weeks ago by Netanyahu’s office that the two have set a meeting at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., for Dec. 29, telling reporters in the Oval Office today, “We haven’t set [a meeting] up formally, but [Netanyahu] would like to see me. … He’ll probably come see me in Florida.”

Asked if Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will join them, as speculated by the signing of a major gas deal between Israel and Egypt yesterday, Trump said, “I’d love to have him. El-Sissi is a friend of mine”…

D.C. City Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist running for city mayor, committed to standing up for the Jewish community and taking proactive steps to ensure its security on a panel at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington breakfast this morning, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

Lewis George’s presence at the event and comments are particularly notable given that she’s a self-identified democratic socialist. (Many DSA-aligned elected officials across the country, including Mamdani, have had combative or nonexistent relationships with mainstream Jewish organizations in their cities and districts.)

“I learned at a very young age how important it was to loudly condemn and loudly stand up for our Jewish neighbors,” Lewis George said. She recalled that she realized through education programs in D.C. schools “how important it was that we support each other in solidarity, in our connected struggles, our connected history”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with a longtime Jewish activist mounting a bid for Washington, D.C.’s congressional delegate seat.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministers in Miami tomorrow to discuss implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. 

Turning Point USA’s AmFest continues over the weekend, including a debate over Israel on Saturday between political commentator Steve Deace and Christian nationalist leader Pastor Doug Wilson. 

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

In the wake of the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney and the deadly Yom Kippur attack in Manchester, the heads of Britain’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said they will change their policies on arrests in connection with the use of threatening slogans, including “globalize the intifada.”

“The words and chants used, especially in protests, matter and have real world consequences. We have consistently been advised by [the Crown Prosecution Service] that many of the phrases causing fear in Jewish communities don’t meet prosecution thresholds. Now, in the escalating threat context, we will recalibrate to be more assertive,” their joint statement read.

“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and those using it at future protest or in a targeted way should expect the Met and GMP to take action. Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests,” they pledged. The Israeli Embassy in the U.K. welcomed the move but called it “disappointing” that it only came “after more Jews have been killed”…

Daniel Flesch, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, emerged as a critical voice raising the alarm on right-wing antisemitism from within the institution in a speech on Monday night, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports, as the think tank continues to grapple with fallout from its president’s embrace of Tucker Carlson after his controversial interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

“The last couple of years, really for longer than that, the threat of antisemitism has largely been the domain of the left,” Flesch said at a Hanukkah party hosted by the Young Jewish Conservatives. “Now, in some ways, the call is coming from inside the house.”

Flesch continued, “Right now, the issue we’re facing is a threat to the West. We see it on the left. Now we’re seeing it to the right. And those like Tucker Carlson and others present the greatest threat, I think, on the right. They are anti-conservatives in the conservative movement, seeking to destroy our movements, and in so doing, destroy the future of the United States”…

And on the left, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro called out his fellow Democrats in The Atlantic for their own turn against Israel, including his former Obama administration colleague, Ben Rhodes, who has emerged as one of the leading anti-Israel voices in the party. 

“The story of the [Oct. 7] attack and its aftermath — so often ignored in commentaries about the past two years — affirms that what the United States was dealing with was not a genocidal nation out to destroy all Palestinians but a deeply imperfect democratic partner beset by enemies, actual genocidal enemies, and terrorists sworn to its physical destruction,” Shapiro wrote.

“But there is a darker danger to the approach that Rhodes and others endorse. … If the test of fealty for the Democratic Party becomes supporting international efforts to pressure Israel to define itself out of existence, or expressing indifference to the campaign of Israel’s enemies to destroy it, we will be in a much uglier place. That is not a policy that would meet any moral test … Those calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel need to be mindful that, perhaps inadvertently, they are abetting this camp”…

Brad Lander, the outgoing New York City comptroller challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), told the anti-Israel publication Zeteo News and its host Mehdi Hasan that politicians including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams and President Donald Trump are “delighted to weaponize antisemitism, to weaponize Jewish fear, against Muslims especially but really against inclusive, multi-racial democracy” in the wake of the Sydney terror attack. He also pledged to support efforts to recognize a Palestinian state if elected to Congress…

The Senate passed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act this afternoon, sending the bill to the president’s desk. Read JI’s coverage of the bill’s components, including the full repeal of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria and funding joint programs with Israel…

The Senate also finally confirmed Jared Isaacman to head NASA, after he was initially nominated last December but then pulled by the White House during a spat between Trump and Elon Musk, who backed his nomination, and renominated in November…

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Director Kash Patel’s right-hand, is contemplating leaving the bureau, multiple outlets report. Patel’s choice of Bongino for his deputy raised eyebrows at the time, given Bongino has no prior FBI experience — though he is a former Secret Service agent — and rose to prominence as a right-wing podcaster boosting claims that the 2020 election was “stolen”…

Israel signed its largest ever gas deal today with Egypt to the tune of around $35 billion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced. The White House had reportedly pushed Israel to finalize the deal to set the groundwork for a trilateral meeting between the three countries…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani today to “launch the seventh annual U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue,” working to “deepen cooperation on shared economic and strategic goals in the Middle East and across the world,” according to a readout from Rubio…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with a moderate New York Democrat hoping to reclaim the party’s pro-Israel bonafides in a state Senate race in the wake of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and coverage of a fiery speech by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro at the Heritage Foundation today on antisemitism on the political right.

Turning Point USA’s annual America Fest summit will kick off in Phoenix, Ariz.; Opening night will include speeches from Erika Kirk, now CEO of TPUSA after the killing of her husband; Shapiro; actor and activist Russell Brand; and podcast hosts Matt Walsh and Tucker Carlson. The organization’s attempt to navigate its messaging about the identity of the GOP, including its stance on Israel, in the wake of its founder’s death will be on full display as both pro- and anti-Israel commentators, including Shapiro and Carlson, take the stage.

In Washington, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold the last in its series of “Lox and Legislators” breakfasts in D.C. with speakers including outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

The Brooklyn Nets vs. Miami Heat NBA game taking place at the Barclays Center in New York will pay tribute to the victims of the Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney, including participation by the nephew of slain Rabbi Eli Schlanger.  

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The co-chairs of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism are urging Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to act more forcefully to protect Australia’s Jewish community and implement months-old recommendations from the country’s antisemitism envoy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

In a letter sent today, the lawmakers said that there were repeated “warning signs” before the Sunday massacre in Sydney targeting a Hanukkah celebration, including firebombings of synagogues, graffiti, assaults and threats of violence, which “have now led to a tragic reality.”

They noted that Jillian Segal, the Australian special envoy to combat antisemitism, released 49 recommendations to be implemented across a range of institutions in July, and questioned what the Australian government has done to enact that plan and how it will protect the Jewish community going forward…

The Coast Guard quietly implemented its new policy downgrading the status of swastikas from prohibited hate symbols to only “potentially divisive,” after having said it would scrap the change due to widespread backlash, including from members of Congress…

The Trump administration expanded its travel ban today to include individuals from five additional countries, among them being Syria, which the White House has otherwise been welcoming into the international community, as well as individuals with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents…

The Department of Defense is preparing for a major restructuring, The Washington Post reports, including consolidating U.S. Central Command, European Command and Africa Command under a new organization called the U.S. International Command. “Such moves would complement other efforts by the administration to shift resources from the Middle East and Europe and focus foremost on expanding military operations in the Western Hemisphere,” sources with knowledge on the matter told the Post…

The U.S. and Qatar are drawing up contracts for Doha’s acquisition of F-35 fighter jets, Israeli media reports, raising concerns about the Jewish state’s qualitative military edge among Israeli officials. In response, they are reportedly compiling their own package of requests from the U.S., including more advanced fighter jets and munitions…

A conference hosted by CENTCOM in Doha today with dozens of countries to work on the International Stabilization Force for Gaza did not make meaningful progress, a European official told The Times of Israel, including failing to adequately determine the force’s mandate and its role in disarming Hamas…

A new Siena poll of New York voters released today found 35% of Jewish respondents view New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani favorably, up from the 18% of respondents who said the same last month. Among all respondents, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul led GOP challengers in head-to-head matchups with both Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman; Hochul received around 50% of the vote to Stefanik’s 30% and Blakeman’s 25%… 

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, said today that her office would investigate a disturbing video of several Orthodox Jews being harassed and physically assaulted in the New York City subway…

The guest list for a New York Young Republicans gala last Saturday, which was attended by members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, also included a former producer for former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) show who was fired for posting an animated video depicting Jews as cockroaches counting money; Jared Taylor, the editor of a white supremacist website called American Renaissance; and a streamer who goes by Sneako, known for posting antisemitic content, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes also claimed he received an invitation, which was rescinded at the last minute…

Administration officials lined up to release statements in defense of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after a Vanity Fair interview released this morning quoted her maligning President Donald Trump and his top Cabinet secretaries, which she said was “disingenuously framed” (though Trump himself said he agreed with her characterization in the interview that he has an “alcoholic’s personality”).

In one of several conversations with author Chris Whipple, Wiles said about Trump’s October appearance at the Knesset, where he lauded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war effort, “I’m not sure [Trump] fully realizes that there’s an audience here that doesn’t love it.”

Whipple also asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio if he would challenge Vice President JD Vance in the 2028 Republican presidential primary, to which Rubio said, “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him”…

Months after the merger of Paramount Skydance brought new leadership to CBS News, including The Free Press’ Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, in part to address the channel’s perceived bias, Trump wrote on social media today, “For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!” Trump has previously spoken positively of David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO, who has engaged extensively with the White House, including about an ongoing bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery…

New York magazine profiles Weiss’ journey from The New York Times to The Free Press to CBS News, where her hiring allowed Ellison to “signal with a single stroke that the new CBS News was pro-Israel, anti-woke, and MAGA-amenable — all attributes Weiss spent years cultivating in L.A. and that could come in handy in Ellison’s dealings with the Trump administration”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a preview of the race for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, where Gov. Josh Shapiro’s endorsement in the Democratic primary may be a sign of how he hopes to build political capital as he prepares for a possible 2028 presidential campaign.

Conservative pro-Israel commentator Ben Shapiro will sit for a discussion tomorrow with embattled Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. Their conversation comes amid heightened debate on the political right about antisemitism and anti-Israel animus, sparked by Roberts’ defense of podcaster Tucker Carlson after he platformed neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. (Two more Heritage board members resigned today over the scandal.)

The Israeli Embassy in Washington will host its Hanukkah reception and Jewish members of Congress — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Dan Goldman (D-NY), David Kustoff (R-TN), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Max Miller (R-OH) and Randy Fine (R-FL) — will host the annual Capitol Hill Hanukkah celebration.

In the evening, President Donald Trump will deliver an end-of-year address to the nation.  

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Just a day after the deadly terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, U.S. authorities announced they had foiled an alleged terror plot by an anti-Israel, anti-American extremist group. The group — the Turtle Island Liberation Front — appears to also be one of the organizers of an anti-Israel protest that targeted a Los Angeles synagogue this month, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. 

Four members of the TILF were arrested over the weekend in the Mojave Desert over a plot to set off pipe bombs in a coordinated attack at midnight on New Year’s Eve targeting U.S. companies in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., authorities revealed today.

Earlier this month, TILF’s LA chapter posted a “call to action” on its Instagram urging followers to target the “bloody war criminals” and “genocidal monsters” from Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems and listed an address that corresponds with the Wilshire Boulevard Temple building where an event featuring a researcher from Elbit was taking place at the same date and time. Protesters entered the synagogue and disrupted the event, with one person shattering a glass vase and chanting profanities. Two people were arrested during the incident…

Jewish Senate Democrats released a joint statement on yesterday’s attack, saying, “The disturbing wave of antisemitism around the globe has struck anxiety and fear into the hearts of every Jewish community. Some have faced harassment, vandalism, and discrimination. Others, violence as brutal as what we saw yesterday in Sydney.”

“We must speak out against all discrimination, from heinous acts like today to the normalization of antisemitic rhetoric, and the attempts to blur the line between political disagreement and antisemitic hate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote. 

Missing from the signatories was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — he issued a separate statement yesterday calling antisemitism “a disgusting and cowardly ideology — and it is growing worldwide.” Sanders called for all to “come together to confront and defeat antisemitism wherever it exists — and we must be equally committed to fighting all forms of racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, and bigotry”…

Elsewhere on the Hill, Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), has not yet received a confirmation hearing due to behind-the-scenes opposition from his former opponent, Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), who defeated Walker in a heated primary race three years ago, NBC News reports. Walker will likely need to be renominated in 2026 in order to receive a hearing…

The White House conveyed its displeasure with Israel’s Saturday strike on a senior Hamas commander in a private message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. officials told Axios, calling it a violation of the U.S.-led ceasefire. 

“The White House message to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza,’” a senior U.S. official told the outlet…

A senior State Department official and two GOP members of Congress met Friday with members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has long faced accusations of extremism and pro-Nazi sympathies, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The State Department meeting is in line with the recently released National Security Strategy, which stated that it would be U.S. policy to boost anti-European Union and anti-immigration parties in the European Union.

Special Envoy Ric Grenell said that those criticizing the meeting “don’t understand tough diplomacy.” Responding to critiques online, Grenell wrote, “Talking is a tactic. We are tired of failed diplomacy where you don’t talk to people and think it’s a punishment. Your guy [former President] Joe Biden didn’t talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for 4 years while a war raged”…

Harvard Hillel’s Orthodox rabbi, Ethan Fried, and his wife, Bella, were placed on administrative leave on Friday pending an investigation, The Harvard Crimson reports. “The decision was announced less than four hours before the start of Shabbat in a Hillel WhatsApp chat for Orthodox students, without advance notice. Hillel leadership did not disclose the reason for the leave, which took effect immediately”…

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is laying the groundwork for another run for president in 2028, Axios reports, including expanding her book tour, appearing before the Democratic National Committee and changing her rhetoric to go after the “status quo”…

The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg writes about the alarming rise of antisemitism among America’s youth: “The research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic. This finding flies in the face of the folk wisdom that prejudice is the province of the old and will die out with them. That maxim may be true of some bigotries, but anti-Semitism is not one of them. Instead, in the United States, the opposite is happening: Anti-Jewish prejudice is growing precisely because it is the domain of the next generation, not the previous one”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for more reporting on the fallout of yesterday’s terror attack in Sydney, including political ramifications in the U.S.

Tomorrow, the Hanukkah celebrations continue in Washington with the White House Hanukkah reception and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) annual soiree, as well as in New York with a reception at The Jewish Museum hosted by UJA-Federation of New York and the Israeli mission to the U.N. and another hosted by American Friends of the Anu Museum of the Jewish People honoring Albert Bouria, CEO and chair of Pfizer, and Adonis Georgiadis, Greece’s health minister.

On the Hill, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs will co-host a briefing on Jewish-Muslim solidarity with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, featuring Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Lateefah Simon (D-CA), JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick and MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati. The MPAC has received criticism for its anti-Israel activism, including for backing a resolution by Rep. Rashia Tlaib (D-MI) claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza and for repeatedly accusing U.S. officials of being beholden to Israel.

Meanwhile in Doha, CENTCOM will host a conference with more than 25 countries to continue to work out logistics for the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) is preparing for a primary rematch in her deep-blue Durham-area district, where Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, whom Foushee beat in 2022, announced she will challenge her once again. 

The race will look different this time around — four years ago, Foushee was one of the first beneficiaries of the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC, which spent more than $2.1 million to help her defeat Allam, who has an extensive history of anti-Israel activism. The pro-Israel group was Foushee’s single largest donor in that race, which became the most expensive Democratic congressional primary in North Carolina history. 

Since then, though, Foushee has taken her own anti-Israel turn, including supporting efforts to block the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel, voting against numerous measures cracking down on Iran, the Houthis and the International Criminal Court as well as the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and announcing over the summer that she will not take money from AIPAC in 2026. It remains to be seen how the “AIPAC factor” will play into next year’s rematch, as both candidates now vie for the anti-Israel vote…

More candidate déjà vu: Former Rep. David Trone (D-MD) launched a primary challenge today against Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) to win back his old seat in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which he held from 2020-2024. Trone, the billionaire owner of Total Wine & More, has been a major AIPAC donor and was a staunchly pro-Israel member of Congress. 

During his failed 2024 Senate bid, though, where he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), he took a more critical line against Israel over its war in Gaza. Questioned at a campaign event by the anti-Israel group IfNotNow, Trone said, “What happened on Oct. 7 was absolutely horrendous and incomprehensible. But what’s happened since then is also horrendous and incomprehensible,” calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a large part of our problem”…

In nearby Virginia, local Jewish groups including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington issued a joint statement this afternoon calling for Sam Rasoul, the state delegate with a history of inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric who announced he’s exploring a bid for Congress, to resign his position as chair of the Education Committee in the state’s House of Delegates.

Without mentioning his potential congressional run, the groups said Rasoul is “no longer fit to serve” as he “uses his position and platform to regularly spew vitriol toward the Jewish people”…

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and an ally of President Donald Trump, joined the Republican primary for governor of Minnesota today, hoping to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who is running for a third term. Lindell, who rose to prominence for his promotion of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, ran for chair of the Republican National Committee in 2023, though Trump did not offer him his endorsement then…

In Indiana, Republican state senators dealt a political blow to Trump this afternoon when they joined together with Democrats to vote down a redrawn congressional map that would have given Republicans a leg up in the state. Trump and his allies had extensively pressured the GOP-held state Senate to pass the map with threats of primary challenges and potentially withheld federal funds…

With just weeks until his inauguration, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to meet with the New York Board of Rabbis today, CNN reports, which is led by Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. Hirsch was one of the foremost Jewish voices raising alarm bells during Mamdani’s election over his hostility to Israel. 

“Several rabbis who are attending are planning to propose a unified agenda, asking Mamdani to back away from his rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state” and his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, invitees told CNN. Several Jewish leaders also said they “will put pressure on other New York officials like Gov. Kathy Hochul and incoming city council speaker Julie Menin to not work with Mamdani more broadly if he follows through on promised anti-Israel moves and doesn’t provide more reassurances to Jews in the city”…

Politico chronicles Mamdani’s attempt to influence the city council speaker’s race between councilmembers Menin and Crystal Hudson, where Mamdani asked power brokers and organizations to hold off on their endorsements until he was able to assess the race himself. The mayor-elect’s sway seemed to be limited, though, as Menin, who was seen as less aligned with Mamdani, announced she had garnered enough support to win next month’s election, where she will become the first Jewish city council speaker…

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) prepared a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog requesting he pardon Netanyahu, Talking Points Memo scooped, weeks after Trump did the same. Without confirming if he had sent the letter, Fetterman stood by it: “It’s a pointless distraction,” he said about Netanyahu’s ongoing court proceedings. “I fully support it and I stand on the letter.”

In the correspondence, dated Dec. 2, Fetterman wrote, “In a world this dangerous, I question whether any democracy can afford to have its head of government spending valuable hours, day after day, in a courtroom rather than the situation room”…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee struck a new tone on Israel’s September strike in Doha, Qatar, on Hamas operatives, telling the Turkey-based outlet Clash Report, “There’s been some talk that Israel attacked the country of Qatar — it did not. … There was one missile, it was aimed at one person. Now, unfortunately, there were some people who were near that missile strike that were injured or killed from it, but that was not an attack on the nation of Qatar. If that’s the new standard, then the United States must apologize for going after Osama bin Laden while he was in Pakistan being protected by the Pakistanis.”

Huckabee’s comparison of Qatar harboring Hamas operatives to Pakistan harboring bin Laden differs from the Trump administration’s policy thus far, where it has embraced Qatar and forced Netanyahu to apologize for the strike…

The New York Times reports on Syria’s effort to rebuild its military, which was entirely dismissed upon the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

“The military’s new command structure favors former fighters from Mr. al-Sharaa’s former rebel group [an Al-Qaida affiliate] — even over those who may have more expertise, according to many soldiers, commanders and analysts. And religious minorities have not yet been included in the military, although Syria is a religiously and ethnically diverse country that has already witnessed waves of sectarian violence,” the Times writes…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with Soviet-born activist Izabella Tabarovsky on her new book, Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide, in which she encourages Jewish college students to reclaim their Zionism and take inspiration from the Soviet refuseniks of the 1980s.

The Hudson Institute will host a daylong summit on “Antisemitism as a National Security Threat” tomorrow, with speakers including Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, former State Department special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; author Walter Russell Mead; and CNN commentator Scott Jennings, among others.

The White House will host a meeting with representatives from Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates and Australia tomorrow to kick off an initiative strengthening supply chains for AI development.

Saturday night, Alex Edelman will appear at Washington’s Sixth & I synagogue to perform his new show, “What Are You Going to Do,” with shows to follow over the next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Philadelphia.

On Sunday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will host a Hanukkah brunch reception at his official residence.

That evening, the annual National Menorah Lighting will take place on the Ellipse, in front of the White House. 

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As President Donald Trump pushes ahead in rolling out Phase 2 of his 20-point Gaza peace plan, the critical U.S.-led International Stabilization Force continues to be mired in confusion, even as a U.S. official told The Jerusalem Post that they expect the ISF to be deployed to Gaza “at the beginning of 2026, with one or two countries initially participating.”

Which countries that will include is unclear — U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz publicly named Indonesia and Azerbaijan as countries that may provide troops to the force last month, and Indonesia has indicated openness in public comments. 

But an Azeri official told The Times of Israel that the country has not committed to doing so and has many of the same reservations as the other Muslim-majority countries still holding out — namely, wanting to ensure that the ceasefire will help to advance a Palestinian state and that their troops will not be required to engage with Hamas. The U.S. has failed to properly explain what they are asking of these countries, the Azeri official said.

Adding to the uncertainty, the U.S. official told the Post that the ISF “will not be deployed in areas controlled by Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” contrary to the goals outlined for the force in the peace plan…

Speaking at the Post’s conference taking place on Capitol Hill today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared to dismiss the feasibility of the ISF altogether: “There is no air force [that is] going to disarm Hamas. You will find a unicorn quicker. Only Israel can do it,” he said.

On the prospects of Saudi-Israel normalization, the South Carolina senator argued that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “is not going to recognize Israel until he gets an outcome better for the Palestinians, or he will get killed.” However, before Israel can cede ground on the issue, Graham said, “Hamas needs to go. Hezbollah needs to be disarmed. I am not even approaching normalization until Iran’s proxies cannot generate another Oct. 7”…

Also speaking at the conference, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar poured cold water on another one of the Trump administration’s priorities in the region — an Israel-Syria security agreement. “At the moment, the gaps between us and Syria have widened. They have raised new demands. Of course, we want an agreement, but we are now further from reaching one than we were a few weeks ago,” Sa’ar said, without providing details on the new developments…

Looking to the campaign trail, New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés dropped her prospective primary bid against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) today, following the entry of Comptroller Brad Lander into the race.

Avilés, who had been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a statement, “My neighbors know that the era of dark money in politics, of letting AIPAC and the real estate lobby call the shots, must end. … What’s clear from my years in public services is that Dan Goldman has fundamentally failed our communities. A split field runs too great a risk of allowing him another damaging term.” Avilés did not, however, offer Lander her endorsement.

Along with the exit of former state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who bowed out yesterday also to avoid a split progressive vote, the primary is unfolding as a head-to-head matchup between Lander (who appeared to get hacked today on X) and Goldman. 

In one of his first statements about the congressman since launching his challenge, Lander told the New York Daily News that he and Goldman “have some disagreements” about Israel and Gaza, but the issue is secondary to fighting back against Trump, which he feels he can do a better job of. The comments raised questions about Lander’s apparent strategy — one of Goldman’s biggest political strengths is his credibility with the Democratic base over his role leading the 2019 impeachment efforts against Trump… 

The New York Times digs into Trump’s decision not to dissuade Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman from joining the GOP primary for New York governor, where Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is already running. 

“Mr. Trump’s refusal to use his influence to halt Mr. Blakeman — and his subsequent neutrality since the announcement — sent shock waves through Republican circles, where many party loyalists had already committed to supporting Ms. Stefanik and wish to avoid a primary,” the Times writes…

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show” and close confidant of the slain conservative influencer, has placed Turning Point USA on the pro-Israel side of the right’s debate about the U.S.’ support for the Jewish state… with caveats.

Kolvet told the Christian Broadcasting Network that, despite the weaponization of Kirk’s legacy by anti-Israel actors, TPUSA stands firm that “Israel has a right to exist, that it has a right to defend itself, that we fully reject hatred of Jewish people, antisemitism, all that stuff.”

But, “when it comes to how much we should fund Israel,” he warned, “should the status quo, the foreign policy status quo be continued, should it be altered? Those kinds of things are worthwhile debates to have,” otherwise “you’re going to alienate the young people that Charlie worked so hard to bring into the fold.”

Kolvet also asserted that the conservative tent, while continuing to embrace Israel’s right to exist, should be big enough to accommodate those who don’t. Kirk was “committed” to having Tucker Carlson speak at TPUSA’s annual AmericaFest, taking place next week in Arizona, Kolvet said, “and that is not going to change.”

But even as Carlson appears on opening night, so will Ben Shapiro, and “maybe the coalition needs to find a way to stay together and be big enough to have both of those perspectives in it, because I think if not, then we’re going to find ourselves in a really tricky spot in 2026, 2028”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with anthropology student-turned founder of the Movement Against Antizionism, Adam Louis-Klein. 

On the Hill, the House Homeland Security Committee will hear from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent and Michael Glasheen, operations director of the national security branch of the FBI, on “worldwide threats to the homeland.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the U.S. response to crimes against humanity in Sudan amid its ongoing civil war. 

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is set to launch a primary challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) as soon as tomorrow, Politico reports, with an endorsement from Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani — after Mamdani declined to give him a position in his administration. 

Goldman was one of the New York Democratic holdouts who did not endorse Mamdani during his election, largely over concerns about his rhetoric on Israel, but Goldman’s district, which covers Lower Manhattan and a section of Brooklyn that includes the progressive enclave of Park Slope, voted overwhelmingly for the mayor-elect.

The primary matchup will likely serve as a test of the Democratic electorate’s support for continued mainstream pro-Israel representation in New York City, as Goldman and Lander, both of whom are Jewish, take markedly different stances on Israel. Political strategists told Jewish Insider in October that Lander will be a formidable candidate, though Goldman, who is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, will have the financial and incumbent advantage…

Axios unpacks the “Tea Party-style revolt” by progressives in the Democratic Party after the last-minute entry of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) into the Texas Senate primary yesterday and amid concerns by party leadership that their favored midterm candidates in Maine, Michigan and Iowa are falling behind expectations. 

“Some Democratic senators are openly questioning their party’s leadership and working against [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer in primaries. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have spoken to, or plan to speak to, candidates challenging the party establishment’s picks, sources familiar with the discussions told Axios”…

Pressed on his position about AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel and the “Israel lobby” at large, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, considered a top 2028 presidential contender, told progressive Gen Z podcaster Jack Cocchiarella that AIPAC “has never been involved with me, I’ve never received a dollar from them in my entire political career, so I’ve had an opinion on that going back decades now.” 

Asked if he would take AIPAC funds at any point in his political future, Newsom said, “I don’t take tobacco money, oil money, I’ve never taken AIPAC money, there’s certain absolutes that are the lines that have been drawn for decades for me, and those will continue.” The pro-Israel group has not been involved in gubernatorial nor presidential races…

FBI Director Kash Patel signed bilateral security agreements with Qatar today, in a move that is drawing renewed scrutiny to potential conflicts of interest surrounding his past lobbying for the Gulf emirate, the details of which he has failed to disclose, JI’s Matthew Kassel reports.

During a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha, Patel signed two memorandums of understanding with his counterpart “to advance mechanisms of security cooperation and coordinate efforts in training, the exchange of information and capacity-building,” according to Qatari state media. Neither Patel’s visit to Doha nor the agreements with Qatar have been publicly announced by the FBI. 

Patel, whose brief tenure leading the FBI has been mired in ethics controversies, drew scrutiny during his confirmation over undisclosed consulting for the Qatari government — provoking accusations that he improperly avoided registering as a foreign lobbyist…

The Columbia University task force overseeing efforts to combat antisemitism on campus released its fourth and final report today, spotlighting Columbia’s lack of full-time Middle East faculty who are not “explicitly anti-Zionist,” JI’s Haley Cohen reports.

According to the report, “Columbia lacks full-time tenure line faculty expertise in Middle East history, politics, political economy and policy that is not explicitly anti-Zionist.” The absence of ideological diversity is having an impact on course offerings — in listening sessions, the task force said it heard from students that classes at the university more often than not treat Zionism as entirely illegitimate…

On another New York campus facing allegations of antisemitism, New York City Jewish leaders sent a letter to the chancellor of the City University of New York yesterday condemning a recent interfaith event on campus that devolved into an antisemitic tirade by a Muslim leader as well as the school’s lackluster response, The Times of Israel reports. 

The signatories — which include New York City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz; Mark Treyger, head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York; Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York; and Miriam Elman, head of the Academic Engagement Network, among others — called for CUNY to amend its student code of conduct…

Responding to a video that purports to show the Syrian Army chanting in support of Gaza amid celebrations on the anniversary of the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote on social media, “War is inevitable.” The Trump administration has been working to deescalate tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus…

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on the Hill today where the two “officially launched their effort to rally Speakers and Presidents of Parliaments around the world to join them in nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2026,” according to a joint statement. 

Ohana also met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, also visiting Capitol Hill, met with Fetterman and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID)… 

The bilateral meetings continued overseas as well: Mike Waltz and Danny Danon, the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to the U.N., respectively, continued their joint visit to Israel today with stops at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Kerem Shalom humanitarian aid crossing into Gaza and the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat. They also held a meeting with the family of Ran Gvili, the last deceased hostage still held in Gaza…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reporting on U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack’s off-message comments on the Middle East putting him at odds with Washington.

On the Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will host the Congressional Menorah Lighting, with remarks from Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad).

 The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled “Understanding Judea and Samaria: Historical, strategic, and political dynamics in U.S.-Israel relations,” with speakers including Eugene Kontorovich, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America; and Jon Alterman, chair in global security and geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Elsewhere in Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Also taking place downtown, the Aspen Security Forum will hold its Washington meeting featuring remarks from Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Mike Turner (R-OH), John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL); Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal; NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska; and representatives from the Heritage Foundation, American Jewish Committee and American Enterprise Institute, among others.

Across the river, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will host the Virginia edition of its annual “Lox and Legislators” breakfast, headlined by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA).

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 29 at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. 

Netanyahu is expected to depart Israel for what will be his fifth meeting with Trump in the U.S. this year on Dec. 28 and return on Jan. 3, meaning that the prime minister will begin 2026 stateside. Palm Beach is the only expected stop during the trip, according to Israeli media. 

The agenda for the end-of-year meeting has not been announced, though it is likely to cover implementation of the second phase of Trump’s peace plan, Hezbollah’s rearmament in Lebanon and efforts to reach a potential security agreement in Syria…

As 2025 winds down and we head into a midterm election year, headlines abound on the campaign trail: Sam Rasoul, a Palestinian American Virginia state delegate with a history of inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric, announced today that he is considering running for Congress in 2026, pending the outcome of a redistricting effort in the state, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Rasoul, a Roanoke Democrat who chairs the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, came under fire from prominent Jewish Democrats in the state earlier this year for a series of posts on social media, including ones in which he claimed “Zionism has proven how evil our society can be” and that Zionism is a “supremacist ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its way.”

In a fundraising email announcing his intention to formally explore a congressional run, Rasoul made his opposition to Israel a central part of his pitch. “Virginians are looking for bold, experienced, progressive leadership that meets this moment and delivers results by … ending all military aid to Israel, which has waged a genocide in Gaza using our taxpayer dollars in violation of American law,” Rasoul wrote…

In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) filed paperwork to run for the Senate this afternoon, just hours ahead of the state’s deadline. She’s set to hold a press conference this evening formally announcing her candidacy.

The progressive lawmaker, seen as a tough sell for a general election in a solidly Republican state, hopes to take the seat of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is facing his own high-stakes primary. But first, Crockett will need to prevail in the Democratic primary against state Rep. James Talarico, considered a rising star in the party, who raised over $6 million in the first few weeks after his launch in September and has taken a critical view of Israel in his campaign.

Anticipating Crockett’s entry into the race, former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) announced this morning he’s switching his candidacy from the Senate to Texas’ newly drawn 33rd Congressional District, which he used to represent parts of in the House. He’ll now face a primary against Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX), who is running in the 33rd after her seat in the neighboring district was redrawn…

In Colorado, far-left candidates are lining up to take on establishment Democrats: Denver-area state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, launched a primary challenge to Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) today, and Melat Kiros, an attorney who was fired in 2023 for criticizing her own firm in anti-Israel social media posts, secured the Justice Democrats’ backing last week for a primary bid against Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)…

Hill watchers are waiting to see when Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) will host members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, which she said on social media last month would be happening in December… 

Politico’s Ian Ward discusses the intra-MAGA movement to turn the Republican Party away from Israel with the figures leading the charge: Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative; former Trump advisor Steve Bannon; podcasters Tucker Carlson and Dave Smith; and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Mills said “he sometimes feels like a moderate compared to some of the Gen-Z conservatives. ‘They’re hardcore,’ Mills told me. ‘Frankly, some of them are so radicalized that they are, like, openly sympathetic to Hamas, which [they see as] close to pure freedom fighters’”…

On that note, a new survey by the Yale Youth Poll found that younger voters, and especially the conservatives among them, hold overwhelmingly more critical views of Israel and of the Jewish people than older generations, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. 

In a list of antisemitic statements — including “Jews in the United States are more loyal to Israel than to America,” “It’s appropriate to boycott Jewish American-owned businesses to protest the war in Gaza” and “Jews in the United States have too much power” — 70% of respondents overall disagreed with all three; however, only 57% of 18-22-year-olds and 60% of 23-29-year-olds said the same. 

Among those ages 18-34 who self-identified in their responses as “extremely conservative,” a sizeable majority of 64% said they agreed with at least one of the listed statements, far more than any other subgroup of younger voters — 38% of 18-34-year-olds overall said the same, already a notable minority…

The newly merged Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery today, after Netflix announced it had acquired the media giant last week. Paramount said in an initial press statement that its bid — which values Warner Bros. around $108 billion, compared to the Netflix deal, which valued it around $83 billion — was backed by the Ellison family (David Ellison co-founded Oracle, while his son, David, runs Paramount) and investment firm RedBird Capital. However, a securities filing shows the bid is also backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Emirati-owned L’imad Holding Company, the Qatar Investment Authority and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for updates on executive and legislative efforts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Armayo will hold a signing ceremony in Washington tomorrow for an agreement to renew diplomatic relations between the two countries, which have been largely frozen since 2009.

The Jerusalem Post will kick off its conference on Capitol Hill, with a theme of “The U.S.-Israel Strategic Alliance: Security, Technology, and Strengthening Ties with American Jewry.” Headlining the two-day event are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, several Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers.

Nearby, B’nai B’rith International is marking the 50th anniversary of the infamous U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism on the Hill. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the gathering by video, along with remarks by B’nai B’rith CEO Dan Mariaschin, historian Gil Troy, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Ben Cohen and former Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL).

On everyone’s minds and calendars: The yearly Washington-area holiday party scramble begins this week. Tomorrow evening, the Jewish Democratic Council of America will host its fourth annual Hanukkah party and the Vandenberg Coalition will hold its holiday party.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

With one foot already out the door of Gracie Mansion, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced at the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism last night that he’s signing an executive order barring city agencies from participating in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. His message to his successor, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani? “If the incoming administration wants to reverse [the executive order], that is on their watch.”

Mamdani responded today, telling reporters, “The mayor is free to issue as many executive orders as he’d like with the less than 30 days that he has in office, and then we will be taking a look at every single one once we actually enter into City Hall”…

Several democratic socialists are eyeing a run for New York’s deeply progressive 7th Congressional District, a Brooklyn and Queens-area seat where Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez is retiring, The New York Times reports. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso entered the race today, though he said the Democratic Socialists of America, which he had approached to support his candidacy, conveyed it is looking to “run one of its own members,” setting up what’s likely to be a tense intra-faction race. Velázquez has held various anti-Israel positions during her decades in Congress, including recently co-sponsoring a Code Pink-backed resolution accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza…

The federal government announced today that anyone who was employed by Columbia University between Oct. 7, 2023-July 2025 and experienced discrimination based on “their Jewish faith, Jewish ancestry, and/or Israeli national origin, and/or because they objected to or complained about such harassment” can now apply to receive part of a $21 million fund Columbia was required to create as part of its agreement with the federal government.

“This resolution represents the largest [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] public settlement in nearly 20 years for any form of discrimination or harassment. In addition, in the EEOC’s 60-year history, this is both the largest EEOC settlement for victims of antisemitism to date, as well as the most significant EEOC settlement for workers of any faith or religion,” the commission said…

Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the “Uncommitted” movement and previous chief of staff to former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), declared his candidacy for the Michigan state Senate today. “When the establishment was funding genocide abroad while failing to deliver for working families here at home, I took action and led a historic anti-war movement that mobilized one million pro-peace Democratic voters to demand change,” he said in his campaign launch video…

Israeli media reports President Donald Trump will announce the beginning of the second phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan in the next few weeks, according to senior American officials. The move is thought to take place before Christmas, shortly after which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House for the fifth time since the beginning of the year…

The head of an anti-Hamas Palestinian militia in Gaza that received backing from Israel was killed in a “clash” today, an Israeli official told The New York Times. Israel said it provided arms to his group, the Popular Forces, as a counter to Hamas, which the militia denies…

The U.S. declined to sanction Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA officials for payments to terrorists under its “pay-for-slay” policy, which the White House had threatened to do last month, after Abbas fired the minister responsible for authorizing the payments, The Times of Israel reports…

Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia announced their intent to boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers declined requests to hold a vote to boot Israel from the competition. Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed Israel’s continued participation, saying the country “deserves to be represented on every stage around the world”…

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

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a profile of the first Hasidic Jew to serve in a government role that required Senate confirmation.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw is taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington tomorrow, with President Donald Trump expected to attend. Iran now plans to send representatives, its sports minister said, after initially boycotting the draw when several members of its delegation were denied visas to enter the U.S.

Meanwhile, the two-day Reagan National Defense Forum will kick off in Simi Valley, Calif. Among the guests and speakers at the national security confab: Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Adam Smith (D-WA); Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase; Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome at the Department of Defense; Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of 8VC; Leon Panetta, former secretary of defense; and many more representatives of the U.S. military, European nations, defense contractors and think tanks.

In Qatar, the Doha Forum will begin Saturday, a diplomatic gathering cosponsored by a panoply of elite institutions featuring discussions on Israel, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Ukraine, international tribunals and other topics of geopolitical interest. Among the high-profile speakers are Tucker Carlson, in conversation with the Qatari prime minister; Carlson’s business partner Neil Patel; and Carlson’s investor Omeed Malik, who will speak alongside Donald Trump Jr. Read more about the gathering from JI’s Matthew Shea.

Nearby, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to arrive in Israel Saturday night for his first visit since taking office, weeks after Germany announced it would lift its partial arms embargo on Israel. Merz is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and visit Yad Vashem. 

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

ESPN college football commentator Paul Finebaum has decided not to enter the Republican primary to replace former Auburn football coach and outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), AL.com reports, after he told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs last week that he was weighing a bid.

Finebaum said he was “appreciative of my bosses at ESPN for allowing me to explore this opportunity. But it’s time for me to devote my full attention to something everyone in Alabama can agree upon — our love of college football”…

Also staying out of the fray, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), a member of the Squad, has decided not to challenge Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), instead seeking reelection to her own House seat, she said in a statement. If she had run, Pressley would have been a formidable primary opponent to both Markey and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who is also in the race, as all three have staked out anti-Israel positions…

After AIPAC bought a series of digital ads on Instagram and Facebook targeting Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) for his comments claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza, Khanna released a video statement today saying AIPAC wants to “prevent me from having a seat at the table in the leadership of our country”…

Asked about Tucker Carlson’s interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit in Manhattan today, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said, “The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. And so, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson”…

Dhillon also called New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “antisemitic demagogue,” diverging from President Donald Trump, who held a friendly Oval Office meeting with Mamdani last month, and said that, under the incoming mayor’s administration, the Justice Department would be “responding with law enforcement, to the extent that the city of New York fails to protect Jews”…

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke on stage about her experiences with students in her class at Columbia University, where she teaches about international relations, following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks: “When you would try to talk to [the students] to engage in some kind of reasonable discussion, it was very difficult because they did not know history, they had very little context and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda”…

Abroad, after Trump pushed Israel yesterday to maintain a “strong and true dialogue” with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today while visiting Israeli soldiers who were wounded in southern Syria, “In good spirit and understanding, an agreement can be reached with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles.”

He said Israel’s requirements for such an agreement would be the demilitarization of a buffer zone in southern Syria and that the Syrian Druze community be guaranteed protection by the government…

Israeli media reports that Israel plans to present Morgan Ortagus, U.S. deputy special envoy to the Middle East, who is visiting the country today, with intelligence proving Hezbollah is rearming in southern Lebanon…

An Israeli delegation visited Germany this week to begin the handover of an Arrow 3 missile defense system, which Berlin purchased in 2023 for $3.5 billion, Israel’s largest arms deal to date. The system is set to be deployed tomorrow in Germany, the first country outside of Israel to operate it, in an effort to bolster European air defenses against Russia…

The chief of the West Midlands Police force in the U.K. admitted in a parliamentary committee hearing yesterday that the report presented to the Aston Villa soccer club that led fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team to be banned from attending a game in Birmingham, England, last month included false and fabricated information.

The report referenced a November 2023 match between Maccabi and the West Ham soccer team that never took place, and claimed that Maccabi fans had harassed and assaulted Muslim communities during a match in Amsterdam, which Dutch law enforcement said did not occur…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar engaged in a public spat with Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness at a Foreign Ministry event in Jerusalem today over the Dublin City Council’s shelved vote to remove former Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park. 

In a brief back and forth, Sa’ar accused the city council of only walking back its “antisemitic proposed decision” after international uproar and said, “There’s nothing in your system right now that can defend you from that virus of antisemitism except [for] external pressure and exposing the antisemitic nature of this government of Ireland … We will continue to expose you until you will understand that you cannot deceive the world”…

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for reporting on recent efforts by Iran International, an independent Persian-language broadcaster, to bring the voices of U.S. policymakers to Iranian citizens.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the nominations of Yehuda Kaploun to be special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and Tammy Bruce to be U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a nomination hearing for Jared Isaacman to become head of NASA.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a vote to designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a foreign terror organization. 

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will hold its “Lox & Legislators” Maryland Legislative Breakfast tomorrow morning, including appearances by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD) and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.

The Israel Policy Forum will host its annual benefit in Manhattan honoring board members Bob Elman, former president of the American Jewish Committee, and Bob Sugarman, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and of the Anti-Defamation League.

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone today to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and expanding peace agreements, and Trump invited Netanyahu for another visit to the White House “in the near future,” according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office…

The readout did not mention any discussion of Syria, despite Trump posting on social media this morning that “it is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State.” He said Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa “is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together.”

Trump did not denounce any specific Israeli actions, though the comment came just days after the IDF clashed with gunmen during an arrest operation in southern Syria, which Syrian state media said killed 13. Israeli media reported today that the Trump administration is frustrated with Israel over its continuing military action in Syria and the issue is expected to feature prominently in Netanyahu’s next White House visit…

On the Hill, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to discuss and vote on Wednesday on legislation that aims to classify the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a terrorist group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

The legislation may go further than the Trump administration’s recently announced efforts on the issue, which do not directly aim to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood in its entirety, but rather focus on its branches…

Israel’s Iron Beam system, which intercepts missiles with lasers, will be delivered to the IDF for initial use at the end of the month, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research and Development Directorate, who made the announcement at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University today, said “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.”

The use of the laser system will drastically lower the costs of missile defense, with each use of the Iron Beam costing around $3, as opposed to about $50,000 per Iron Dome interceptor. As such, it will cost significantly less for Israel to intercept a rocket than it costs for its enemies to produce them, at $5,000-$10,000…

On the campaign trail, former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is challenging Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) to reclaim her former seat in Congress, posed for a photo with Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel influencer who defended the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were killed, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

The influencer posted a photo last week from what appears to be a recent American Muslims for Palestine conference — Christensen is wearing an AMP lanyard and speaker badge — alongside a smiling Bush, with the caption “We’re coming for you AIPAC”…

Evanston, Ill. Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat, who is currently running for Congress to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), denounced the agreement reached between Northwestern University and the Trump administration to restore the university’s federal funding in a statement today. 

“As a Jewish person, I am disturbed by the Trump administration’s disingenuous use of the very serious crisis of antisemitism to justify its actions. Of course, we know that this administration isn’t actually concerned about antisemitism — in fact, this administration has proven to be filled with overt Nazi sympathizers,” Biss wrote.

Jewish leaders associated with the school told JI’s Haley Cohen that they are cautiously optimistic that the deal — which, among other stipulations, ends the university’s 2024 agreement with anti-Israel student protesters — will improve campus climate for Jewish students…

Meanwhile, a Harvard student who was charged with assaulting an Israeli peer during an October 2023 “die-in” on university campus shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks was hired by the university in August as a graduate teaching fellow, the Washington Free Beacon reports…

In a New Yorker feature on rising political violence, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro discusses his understanding of what motivated the alleged attacker who firebombed the governor’s residence last Passover. “The prosecutor felt it was important to introduce into evidence the bomber’s claims that he did that because of ‘what I did to the Palestinians,’ so clearly there was some motivation because of my [Jewish] faith,” the Democratic governor said. 

“But I think it is dangerous for you or anyone else to think about those who perpetrate these violent attacks as linear thinkers, meaning that they have a left-wing ideology or a right-wing ideology, or that they have a firm set of beliefs the way you might or I might. These are clearly irrational thinkers.”

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) also recounts in the piece his experience being intimidated by a group of protesters staging a sit-in outside of his home in October 2024, recalling “that he and his family spent the day trying to get the protesters to leave, working with both local authorities and the Capitol Police, but they ‘would not move.’ His son was in the final stages of practicing for his bar mitzvah; that evening, he recited the Torah while the protesters chanted pro-Palestinian slogans outside”… 

No stranger to threats of political violence, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said today three of his New York offices were targeted with bomb threats in emails with the subject line “MAGA”…

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

Keep an eye out in tomorrow’s Jewish Insider for a preview of the special election taking place tomorrow in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. 

Israel Hayom is hosting a conference in New York City tomorrow featuring American and Israeli officials and public figures, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); Strauss Group Chair Ofra Strauss; and Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, as well as released hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates will hold a celebration marking the country’s 54th National Day at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.