Dogged by his vote to impeach President Donald Trump in 2021, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) lost his bid for reelection on Saturday night, finishing in third place in the Louisiana Republican primary behind Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) and state Treasurer John Fleming.

Letlow and Fleming, the top two finishers, will now compete in a runoff, which will be held on June 27. Cassidy only received 25% of the primary vote, lagging well behind Letlow, who received 45% of the vote, and Fleming, who won 28%.

The race offered another strong signal that Trump’s backing is the most important factor in Republican nomination fights. Of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump at his 2021 impeachment trial, only two remain in the Senate. One of them, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), faces her own difficult reelection. 

The results also come two weeks after Trump and his political allies successfully ousted five Republican state senators in Indiana primaries, after they opposed the Trump administration’s push to redraw the state’s congressional lines to further favor Republicans.

Cassidy, first elected to the Senate in 2014, had long been one of the more bipartisan members of his caucus, using his experience as a doctor to take the lead on health care issues. He drew close scrutiny for his decision supporting Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be confirmed as health and human services secretary in his role as HELP Committee chairman, despite holding serious misgivings over Kennedy’s record opposing vaccine requirements. 

In his concession speech, Cassidy told supporters: “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. But you don’t pout. You don’t whine. You don’t claim that an election was stolen from you.” 

The next big test of Trump’s influence in party politics will come on Tuesday, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a virulent opponent of Israel, will face off against Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein, a Navy veteran. Trump allies and outside pro-Israel groups have poured millions into the race to defeat Massie. Polls show the race is competitive, with Gallrein holding late momentum. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) will enter Tuesday’s closely watched primary against Ed Gallrein, a Navy veteran and farmer backed by President Donald Trump, politically damaged — but it remains to be seen whether he’s taken enough hits to end his career in Congress.

Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based GOP strategist and CNN political analyst, said that he’s spoken to operatives on both sides of the race who are very confident in victory. “Based on some of the polling I’ve personally seen and heard about, it feels like Massie’s image has been severely degraded by the sustained campaign that’s been run against him,” Jennings told Jewish Insider.

The question is whether Massie’s image has been tarnished enough to cause his defeat, or if he’ll emerge wounded but still standing. Jennings said that Massie has built a “popular brand” in the district during his seven terms in office, but also hasn’t before faced a full-frontal assault from Trump and the associated avalanche of spending.

Al Cross, a professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and a political columnist, said he’s “loath to make predictions about that race, but Gallrein clearly has the momentum.”

He explained that Gallrein has received significant positive coverage in pro-Trump media, has stronger support among older voters, who are more likely to turn out, has a significant advantage in outside spending and has Trump’s influential endorsement. 

A Quantus Insights poll conducted this week showed Gallrein with a lead outside the margin of error, tallying 48% support from GOP voters, with Massie at 43%. Eight percent of voters remained undecided. 

In another late-breaking boost for Gallrein, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced its endorsement of the veteran on Thursday, a sign it sees Massie as vulnerable. 

Ultimately, Jennings said the race will be a test of voters’ willingness to support a representative who has been at odds with Trump. He said the influx of anti-Massie advertising has made the break between the two men clear to voters in a way that it may not have been before.

“The most popular Republican in the district is Donald Trump. And the thing Republicans want more than anything else in this world is for Donald Trump to succeed and for his party to help him succeed,” Jennings said. “And if they come to believe that you are an impediment to that success, they will punish you.”

“Now that having been said, there are certainly libertarian/contrarian voters in that district,” Jennings added, noting that the state has a long “contrarian streak,” particularly in Massie’s district.

But, voters also tend to harbor suspicions of first-time candidates they aren’t familiar with, Cross said, and Massie and his supporters have been working aggressively to frame Gallrein as untrustworthy, deceitful and not committed to the president.

Cross noted the recent polling as another positive sign for Gallrein — though he cautioned against putting too much stock in the results in a district where turnout could vary significantly from county to county.

Various Jewish and pro-Israel groups have poured money into the race attacking Massie and boosting Gallrein. The Republican Jewish Coalition has spent nearly $4 million, the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project has spent $3.2 million against Massie and Christians United for Israel allocated six figures to buy dozens of billboards across the district.

The pro-Massie campaign has also waded into antisemitic territory, most recently with a television ad by a Massie-allied group attacking conservative Jewish donor Paul Singer, superimposing his head alongside a large Star of David.

Meanwhile, William Paul, son of the state’s junior senator, Rand Paul (R-KY), went on an antisemitic tirade against Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in a Washington bar this week claiming that Jews would be responsible if Massie lost the race. 

Massie on Thursday announced plans to introduce the “AIPAC Act,” which would require the pro-Israel group, whose members are American citizens and do not take instruction from the Israeli government, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He said that the legislation would apply to interest groups supporting other countries as well.

The congressman has long described AIPAC and its members as vectors of malign foreign influence, accusations that critics say lean into antisemitic dual loyalty tropes.

The open race for mayor of Washington, D.C., has been largely uneventful ahead of next month’s primary — so much so that the first TV ads run by the leading candidates, Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George, sound nearly identical. Both candidates tout affordability and safety on the campaign trail, with promises to build more housing and stand up against President Donald Trump. 

But if elected, Lewis George’s victory would mark a significant shift away from the centrist brand of politics espoused by outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser over the last 12 years, and would instead hand a major win to Washington’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter, of which Lewis George has been a member for years. 

Lewis George has faced criticism throughout the campaign from some in the Jewish community for comments she made on a DSA endorsement questionnaire pledging to boycott events that “promote Zionism” and criticizing Jewish activists’ approach to combating antisemitism. Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, on Tuesday called DSA an “evil” organization that seeks “to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.” 

DSA has activated its small but growing membership to knock on doors for Lewis George, a member of the D.C. Council, tapping into a grassroots energy that they hope translates into success at the ballot box. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), one of two DSA members currently serving in Congress, attended a recent DC DSA rally alongside Lewis George. 

DSA’s Metro DC chapter is relatively small. Yet its current roster of roughly 3,400 members represents a massive increase from its pre-2016 nadir of just 200 members — and mirrors DSA’s growing clout nationally. 

“For most of the ‘80s and ‘90s and 2000s, DSA was a small organization with maybe 5,000 or 8,000 people at the most. I would say the average age was probably over 60, maybe higher than that,” said Peter Dreier, an emeritus professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles. “Then Bernie [Sanders] ran for president in 2016 and started talking about democratic socialism in a way that made sense to, particularly, a lot of young people, and he kind of opened the door to people to be in DSA.” 

Overall, DSA is still a small organization on the fringes of Democratic politics. Even the highest membership counts — adding up DSA’s local chapters — don’t top 100,000. But the unexpected popularity of Sanders’ 2016 presidential run sparked a resurgence of interest in democratic socialism not seen in generations, and that has continued well past his two campaigns. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 42% of Democrats have a positive image of capitalism, down from 54% a decade ago, while 66% have a positive view of socialism.  

“If [young people] don’t remember the Cold War, then what do they think when they hear the word socialism? There’s still a battle over that, but they’re more likely to think, ‘Oh, countries that have more equality, or students that get free or almost free higher education, everybody has access to healthcare,’” said Dreier. 

“We are going to raise money and develop a plan over the course of the next few months to try to make them toxic, to make it unacceptable for major figures in the party or anybody actually running for office to be affiliated with the DSA, the way it should be unacceptable to be affiliated with [neo-Nazi influencer] Nick Fuentes if you’re running as Republican,” Third Way’s senior vice president for public affairs, Matt Bennett, said. 

The key question now facing capital-D Democrats — one they sound unsure of how to answer, or perhaps unwilling — is how to handle an insurgent faction that has galvanized people over its straightforward messaging on corporations (bad), taxing the rich (good) and Medicare for All (necessary), while at the same time promoting far-left positions like prison and police abolition that are nowhere near the Democratic mainstream. The group has long promoted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, as well as calling for an arms embargo on Israel, and its members passed a resolution last year affirming their commitment to anti-Zionism. On Oct. 7, 2023, DSA released a statement holding Israel accountable for the Hamas attacks and calling on members to take to the streets to protest U.S. support for Israel. 

The centrist Democratic group Third Way plans to launch a major PR campaign against DSA in the coming months, one of the group’s executives told JI, arguing that its far-left positions and incendiary brand of politics will be harmful for the party’s electoral prospects. 

“We are going to raise money and develop a plan over the course of the next few months to try to make them toxic, to make it unacceptable for major figures in the party or anybody actually running for office to be affiliated with the DSA, the way it should be unacceptable to be affiliated with [neo-Nazi influencer] Nick Fuentes if you’re running as Republican,” Third Way’s senior vice president for public affairs, Matt Bennett, said. 

In the decade since Sanders’ 2016 campaign, DSA has had an outsized impact on national politics. The 2018 congressional victory of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a DSA member, raised the group’s profile. A steady stream of more than 200 DSA-aligned candidates have been elected to state and local offices since, culminating with the election of DSA member Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City last year. 

“To the degree that people need to pay attention to DSA, it’s because they built this kind of political machine,” said Micah Sifry, a journalist focused on left-wing political organizing. “In a time when people are, for the most part, not very organized, the ability of any small group, relatively speaking, to punch above its weight grows.” 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, New York has the largest bench of DSA-affiliated state lawmakers. The group has slowly but steadily been gaining electoral power in state and local offices in some unexpected places, too, like Minnesota, Colorado, Delaware and Wisconsin. The group’s largest foothold is in city council races, where a small but committed cadre of volunteers can swing elections in low-turnout races. 

National Democratic leaders are divided about how to treat the small but vocal socialist minority in the party. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to support Mamdani in the primary election but ultimately endorsed him ahead of the general election last year. Weeks later, Jeffries voted in favor of a Republican-led resolution condemning socialism. He has been skeptical of the left-wing ideology throughout his political career: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism,” he said in 2021. A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment this week when asked if he believes Democrats should be welcoming socialists into the party. 

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has been more open-minded about socialists. Asked by Fox News last year whether progressives like Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez make his job harder, he said no. 

“The party is a big tent. But just like we have to believe it’s a big tent, the DSA also has to believe it’s a big tent, and I’m not sure they do,” Brian Romick, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, said. “Democratic leaders want to win elections, and that means a big tent, and that means that Democratic base voters and pro-Israel voters and moderate people who maybe voted for [Donald] Trump sometimes because they’re concerned about prices have to be in the tent.” 

“I don’t think they make it difficult at all,” Martin said in August 2025. “The difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is that we’re a big tent. We have lots of people in that tent from all of the different ideological wings, from conservative Democrats, to centrists, to progressives, to these new leftists.” A DNC spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.

Brian Romick, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, told Jewish Insider this week that he is concerned about the inroads DSA is making in the party. He agreed with Martin that the Democratic Party should be a big tent, but noted that DSA members — who are at times intent on putting litmus tests even on would-be allies — don’t extend the same understanding to more moderate members of the party.

“The party is a big tent. But just like we have to believe it’s a big tent, the DSA also has to believe it’s a big tent, and I’m not sure they do,” Romick said. “Democratic leaders want to win elections, and that means a big tent, and that means that Democratic base voters and pro-Israel voters and moderate people who maybe voted for [Donald] Trump sometimes because they’re concerned about prices have to be in the tent.” 

The questionnaire Lewis George filled out in Washington to earn DSA’s endorsement reveals how important hard-line opposition to Israel is to the organization, which requires even candidates for local offices with no connection to foreign policy to all but disavow the Jewish state. Most voters who support DSA-aligned candidates likely are not drawn to them because of their views on the Middle East; Mamdani’s message was first and foremost about affordability. But DSA’s growing reach among Democrats gave a foothold to anti-Israel views that may have once been rare, though global attention on the war in Gaza also contributed to shifting Democratic orthodoxy on the conflict. (Other far-left groups like Justice Democrats have played a role, too.)

Zach Shartiag, a Jewish Democratic campaign operative from Chicago, told JI that Democrats he has talked to who support DSA candidates generally do not do so because of DSA’s stance on Israel, even if the activists are themselves critical of Israel.   

“People might be very anti-Israel now, but at the same time, it’s like, what does that have to do with local politics?” said Shartiag, who is currently working on a congressional campaign in Hawaii. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, just in general, normal humans, and it’s like, ‘Yeah, I might be against what Israel’s doing, but what does that have to do with the local and the city and the state?’” 

The full picture of DSA’s influence in the party will not be known until all the votes are tallied at the end of this year’s midterm elections. A number of DSA-affiliated candidates are gaining ground in congressional primaries, such as Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, who has garnered progressive endorsements in a Philadelphia-area open seat, and New York state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who has Mamdani’s backing for her congressional campaign. 

Still, the election outcomes in states across the country this year will present only a partial picture of where the Democratic Party is moving. In the same year that Mamdani won in New York City, for instance, Democratic moderates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. 

The only certainty, then, is that the battle between centrists and socialists will continue into 2028. 

“I think you’re going to have a real mixed verdict, with us yelling about our side and the left yelling about their side,” Third Way’s Bennett acknowledged. “So what that means is, unsurprisingly, we’re going to go into the presidential primary season with the two camps demanding that they are right.” 

Washington, D.C., will be buzzing with events on Friday evening bringing in Shabbat 250, a national Sabbath marking the 250th birthday of the United States. 

Several Jewish organizations have been planning celebratory gatherings, both in Washington and across the country, to commemorate Shabbat 250 since President Donald Trump encouraged Jewish Americans to observe Shabbat this weekend in his Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation. 

The proclamation marked the first time a U.S. president had called for a national Shabbat, prompting some Jewish leaders to rush to organize events.

“There will be a number of events taking place around town for Shabbat 250,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), told Jewish Insider. “In observance of the Sabbath, I’ll need to walk everywhere, so I hope to make it to as many gatherings as possible.”

Shemtov said the message he’s taken from his conversations with fellow Jewish leaders going into this weekend is one of gratitude toward the president for including the national Sabbath in his JAHM proclamation and of hope that the venture would prompt more Jewish Americans to keep Shabbat.

“I’m obviously delighted by the president’s call to observe Shabbat, because this reinforces Jewish identity with Jewish observance and tradition. I hope those who don’t yet observe Shabbat will choose to do so, and those who already observe will choose to share with a friend who doesn’t yet know about this beautiful cornerstone of our heritage,” Shemtov said. “I would imagine that those Jewish people who were in America 250 years ago could not have imagined our good fortunes today and must be kvelling.”

“Some Jewish leaders have said that much like Shabbat gives us a break from the week for renewal and recalibration, their hope is that this Shabbat will be a moment of reprieve from partisan political battles for even just one day,” he continued.

The most difficult ticket to snag is the White House’s official Shabbat 250 reception, which is slated to take place at 6 p.m. ET in the Indian Treaty Room. While Trump and Vice President JD Vance are not expected to be in attendance, Trump administration staffers have been invited to and are expected at the gathering. 

Several invite-only dinners are taking place around D.C. after the White House event concludes and before sundown on Saturday. Details for many events are being kept under wraps due to security concerns.

One of those receptions is being co-sponsored by the American Association of Jewish Lawyers & Jurists and the Combat Antisemitism Movement. The gathering, titled, “Shabbat 250 Dinner: A Celebration of the President’s National Sabbath,” will feature a “family style” Sabbath meal and an afterparty dubbed “Farbrengen 250,” according to an invitation obtained by JI.

An event organizer described the gathering to JI in a statement as an “off-the-record dinner” bringing together “Jewish members of the administration, Capitol Hill staff, media and policy professionals in celebration of the president’s National Sabbath.” The organizer told JI that guests will receive “the usual kippot and benchers” and copies of Charlie Kirk’s book on Shabbat. The wine served at the event will be donated by Psagot Winery, the Israeli vineyard located in the West Bank.

“We were incredibly moved by President Trump’s call for a national Sabbath as part of the USA250 commemorations,” Arie Lipnick, advisory board chairman of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told JI in a statement. “In that spirit, CAM is excited to help bring together more than a hundred Jewish members of the administration, Hill staff, media and policy professionals in celebration of America and Shabbat.”

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

FAMILY TIES

Alex Bores’ father, a key ally in his son’s House campaign, celebrated Israeli deaths, equated Zionists with Nazis

Alex Bores has invoked his labor bona fides through his union chief father in his run for the heavily Jewish Manhattan seat

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PHILLY FRONTRUNNER

Far-left state Sen. Chris Rabb surging ahead in Philadelphia primary

Rabb is facing off against state Sen. Sharif Street, a former state Democratic Party chair, and Ala Stanford, a physician and activist

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When a group of Jewish Democratic activists and donors convened in Washington this week for the annual leadership summit of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, the message seemed to be one of defiance: defiance against President Donald Trump, to be sure, but also a defiant attitude pushing back against some of the recent shifts within the party. 

JDCA’s primary objective is to elect Democrats. But as more Democrats have taken positions critical of or outright hostile to Israel, JDCA’s top activists made clear this week that another major concern is making sure pro-Israel Jews continue to be welcome in the party. 

“We are fighting to ensure that the views and values of Jewish Americans continue to find their political home in the Democratic Party in Michigan and beyond, and we have work to do,” Halie Soifer, the group’s CEO, said on Tuesday night. She noted that the JDCA hopes to help defeat Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left candidate who appears to be rising in the polls. 

“It’s clear there’s one candidate whose views are antithetical to ours, and we want to ensure he’s defeated,” said Soifer, though she did not name El-Sayed directly. JDCA has not endorsed either of his opponents, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow or Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). 

“We at JDCA only support Democrats, but we do not support them all,” Soifer told the summit. “We understand it’s not just about electing Democrats. It’s about electing Democrats who align with us, and this includes efforts to ensure that candidates who have espoused anti-Israel and/or antisemitic views are defeated before November.” 

Over the two-day gathering, a parade of high-profile speakers from Democratic leadership — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), along with Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), respectively the former House speaker and majority leader — addressed the convening. Their appearances seemed designed to affirm that Democrats remain pro-Israel and committed to fighting antisemitism. 

“We have to decisively confront antisemitism from wherever it comes from,” said Jeffries. “I will always hold firm in my support for the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and eternal homeland for the Jewish people.” 

Schumer did not specifically discuss Israel but raised concerns about the increasing use of the word “Zionist” as a slur. 

“I’ve long said we must fight antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears, even if it’s in our own party. I’ll continue to do so,” said Schumer. “Today, antisemitism takes all different forms: Holocaust denialism, conspiratorial delusions of Jewish or Zionist control of the world, replacing the word ‘Jewish’ with the word ‘Zionist’ to demonize Jewish communities.”

The outgoing Democratic leaders were not as sanguine, instead offering a note of caution about how the dynamic towards Israel has shifted within the Democratic Party. 

“Always, but right now, we really have to work together to make sure that support for Israel is, without question, bipartisan,” Pelosi said. “It doesn’t mean we don’t have our differences of opinion … but it should not weaken the fact that we have bipartisan support. That has always been the tradition, and we must make sure we get through this place where we are, where there may be some doubt in people’s minds as to whether that is a value.” 

Pelosi is retiring at the end of this year, as is Hoyer, who was even more blunt: “How many of you have been anxious yourselves about rhetoric heard from some Democratic officials and candidates? We ought to be,” he said. 

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said he hoped to prove that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) does not speak for the party on matters related to Israel, though he noted with worry that Sanders’ attitude — one that is deeply critical of Israel — appears to be on the rise.

“It’s clearer and clearer to me that there is real alarm about a fundamental break between Democrats as a party and Israel as a nation, and I’m going to do everything I can to resist and oppose that break, while criticizing [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his values and decisions,” said Coons. “I’m trying to be an effective and engaged voice with a perspective that you just heard and not have Bernie Sanders be the only senator whose perspective and attitude is heard across the country.” 

Forty Senate Democrats voted last month for a Sanders-authored resolution attempting to block some arms sales to Israel, a record high. Coons said he knows those senators still support Israel’s right to exist, but cautioned that being too critical of Netanyahu can give cover to people who are actually anti-Israel. 

“I strongly support Israel’s right to exist, its right to be a Jewish homeland and a democracy, and its value to the American people as a partner and ally,” said Coons. “I think we are at risk of some of my colleagues, in trying to send a message to Netanyahu or in opposition to his policies and stances, to be misunderstood as abandoning that commitment.” 

Coons said that on the campaign trail, and on recent trips around the country, he hears “profound concern about where’s the Democratic Party going on Israel.” Some Jewish politicians who addressed the JDCA summit expressed a deeper sense of unease and discomfort about their Jewish identity, against the backdrop of rising antisemitism. 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who spoke at a cocktail reception Tuesday evening, talked about how challenging it is to be a Jewish elected official in the current environment.

“It has become deeply, deeply complicated to be a Jew in America,” said Slotkin. “There’s not a single day that goes by for myself representing the state of Michigan that I am not feeling torn.” 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered a jolt of energy to the room with an impassioned speech about his community’s support for immigrants in the face of ICE enforcement activity, which resulted in the killing of two American citizens by ICE agents in his city in January. When a JDCA member asked him for advice on how to respond to others in the Democratic Party who have made anti-Zionism a political litmus test, he expressed concern. 

“It has been deeply concerning for me personally, as a proud Jew,” Frey said. “I am a great supporter of the endurance of our American Republic, a big believer that America should continue to exist, and an adamant opponent of Donald Trump. The same thing can apply to Israel.”

Ultimately, though, the gathering was a political pep rally — a chance for Democratic activists and donors to hear from politicians at all levels of government and gin up excitement ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Everyone who addressed the gathering all but guaranteed that Democrats would take back control of the House and Senate. 

The conversations seemed meant to ressure Jewish Democrats about both the party’s fortunes for November and its treatment of pro-Israel Jews. One JDCA activist described the group’s work as “grasstops,” which was demonstrated by the appearances from top party leaders. 

But the anti-Israel sentiment that has steadily grown within the party over the past three years is not coming from party leaders; it is driven by far-left activists. Whether JDCA has a plan to counter that grassroots energy remains to be seen — and the answer will only come at the ballot box later this year. 

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

HEATED BACKLASH

Israeli officials, AJC slam Nick Kristof’s NYT column as modern-day ‘blood libel’

Kristof, citing testimonies from victims, alleged that Israeli security forces and settlers committed sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners; critics argue he relied on Hamas propaganda

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SOUNDING THE ALARM

Lawmakers offer dire warnings about rising antisemitism at ADL reception

Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said antisemitism has worsened to the point that Jews aren’t guaranteed safety in the U.S.

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Good Wednesday morning.

SOUNDING THE ALARM

Lawmakers offer dire warnings about rising antisemitism at ADL reception

A series of largely Democratic lawmakers painted an unusually dire portrait of the state of rising antisemitism and threats to the Jewish community in remarks on Tuesday evening at an Anti-Defamation League reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Several emphasized the need for those in the audience, many of them young Jewish congressional staffers and Washington professionals, to continue speaking out and fighting for the Jewish community in a time of crisis.

Unvalidated: Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) emphasized that efforts to fight antisemitism have often been met with additional hostility. “It is a very scary time for the Jewish community,” Friedman said. “And to make matters worse, when we express that we’re scared and that there’s this rising level of hatred directed towards the Jewish community, we’re often met with people telling us that we’re not allowed to feel that way. And how dare we even say that there’s anything wrong with treatment towards Jews in this country?”

Read the full story here with additional comments from Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

Dem divides: Hoyer, a pro-Israel stalwart and a former House majority leader, said on Tuesday that Jewish Democrats “ought to be” concerned about the critical way that some of their Democratic colleagues talk about Israel, in remarks at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s annual leadership summit, where he was honored with an award marking his upcoming retirement, after 45 years in Congress, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports. 

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HEATED BACKLASH

Israeli officials, AJC slam Nick Kristof’s NYT column as modern-day ‘blood libel’

Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times column alleging widespread Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners was certain to generate intense debate and scrutiny, given the sensitivities involved in covering such a highly charged subject. But after it was published on Monday, his opinion piece, headlined “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” has faced particularly heated backlash, including accusations of antisemitism and claims Kristof relied on discredited sources to advance his message, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Pushing back: Despite the direct testimonies he presented, critics have countered with a range of rebuttals, claiming that he drew a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, that his column overstated the existence of alleged misconduct and that his broader assessment rests on questionable data and sources that weaken his central thesis. The American Jewish Committee expressed concerns about Kristof’s decision to cite allegations that Israel had trained police dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, a claim critics have rejected as a thinly sourced conspiracy theory, saying the allegation represented “a modern-day blood libel in the ‘paper of record.’”

Read the full story here.

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NAME AND SHAME

DSA is ‘evil,’ trying to drive Jews out of polite society, D.C. Jewish leader says

Amid the rise of a DSA-aligned mayoral candidate in the city, a senior Jewish community leader in Washington, D.C., excoriated the Democratic Socialists of America as an “evil” organization committed to driving Jews out of society. Speaking on a webinar with other Washington-area Jewish leaders on Tuesday, Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, stridently criticized the far-left group, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Icing out: “I think they’re a fringe, radical, antisemitic organization, and I happen to even think they’re evil,” Halber said. “They are trying to do in America what [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement] seems to do internationally, which is to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.” He said that the group wants to make Jews feel “isolated” and force them to “renounce Zionism” and their connection to Israel in order to participate in the political process. Antisemitism is “core to their belief,” he continued.

Read the full story here.

Slotkin signals: Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington on Tuesday if she still calls herself a Zionist, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “I believe in a Jewish State of Israel, yes. And that to me isn’t a radical thing to say and I always have,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.

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CANDIDATE FORUM WATCH

Bores breaks with Our Revolution on approach to Israel

New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, a leading Democratic primary candidate for an open House seat in Manhattan, said on Tuesday that he disagreed with Our Revolution, the left-wing advocacy group that recently endorsed his campaign, over its opposition to U.S. military funding for Israel, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.  

What he said: Speaking at a candidate forum hosted by West Side Institutional Synagogue and moderated by JI’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar, Bores said that even as he welcomed the endorsement because of such shared interests as AI regulation, he was not aligned with Our Revolution’s approach to Israel, a key issue in the heavily Jewish 12th Congressional District. “They asked me specifically about my position on Israel, which is well-documented and different from theirs,” Bores explained. “I said the same thing I say in every room.”

Read the full story here.

Cash flow: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his administration would allocate $26 million annually toward anti-hate crimes measures, signaling that the significant funding increase — promised during the campaign season — would go toward a program that funds both leading Jewish organizations and left-wing nonprofits, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.

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ON THE FENCE

Mikie Sherrill to ‘evaluate’ N.J. adoption of federal Education Freedom Tax Credit

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has not committed to joining a new federal education tax initiative being championed by Jewish community advocates to secure funding for Jewish day schools and yeshivas, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently agreed to adopt, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Wait-and-see approach: “Governor Sherrill will evaluate the program once the Trump Administration has finalized and published its rules. The Governor’s top priority is building New Jersey into the best public school system in the nation for all our kids,” Maggie Garbarino, Sherrill’s deputy press secretary, told JI on Tuesday.

Read the full story here.

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TRANSITION

UJA-Federation of New York taps Leffell School’s Michael Kay to serve as next CEO

The country’s largest Jewish federation, UJA-Federation of New York, has reached into the day school world to tap its next leader, naming longtime Jewish educator Michael Kay as CEO, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports for Jewish Insider. Kay, who currently serves as head of school at The Leffell School in Westchester County, N.Y., will succeed Eric Goldstein, 66, a former Wall Street lawyer who announced last June that he was stepping down after 12 years in the role. Kay, 46, will enter the position on Oct. 5.

City Hall relationships: Asked how he wants UJA’s relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to look under his leadership during an interview with JI announcing his appointment, Kay said, “We have an obligation and a responsibility to work with our local elected officials no matter who they are to ensure that our needs are met and they are accountable for meeting those needs, as I said, well-being, thriving, safety, security.”

Read and watch the full interview here.

Nostra Aetate Award: Reflecting on his tenure as the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said it would be “difficult” to serve in his former position without the friendship of Jewish people, noting that Jews are a “respected part of the fabric” of New York City. Dolan was speaking at the American Jewish Committee’s Manhattan headquarters on Tuesday, where AJC honored him with the Nostra Aetate at Sixty Award for his work combating antisemitism and improving Catholic-Jewish relations, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

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Pic of the Day

The family of slain Israeli American hostage Omer Neutra, who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and his body taken to Gaza, was awarded an honorary degree from Binghamton University at a reception hosted by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (left) to mark Jewish American Heritage Month.

Birthdays

Emmy Award-winning film, television and stage actress, Zohra Lampert turns 89…

Professor emerita of Yiddish literature at Harvard University, she is presently a distinguished senior fellow at The Tikvah Fund, Ruth Wisse turns 90… Actor and producer, Harvey Keitel turns 87… Ophthalmologist in South Florida, he is the father of Facebook’s former COO Sheryl Sandberg, Dr. Joel Sandberg turns 83… Former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at American Jewish University, Samuel Edelman turns 78… Professor of mathematics at Princeton since 1987, he was a winner of a 1991 MacArthur genius fellowship, Sergiu Klainerman turns 76… Former FDA commissioner in the 1990s, then chief science officer for COVID-19 response during the Biden administration, David A. Kessler turns 75… Retired editor and columnist for the New York Post, he was also managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, Eric Fettmann turns 73… Rabbi Uren Reich turns 70… Chief rabbi of the city of Shoham in central Israel, chairman of the Tzohar organization and rabbi for the Ezra youth movement, Rabbi David Stav turns 66… Founder and former CEO of LRN, a legal research, ethics and compliance management firm, Dov Seidman turns 62… Past chair of JFNA’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board and of the Hartford (Conn.) Federation, Carolyn Gitlin… Retired NFL defensive lineman, he played for the Raiders and Panthers, Josh Heinrich Taves, a/k/a Josh Heinrich, turns 54… Ice hockey player, she won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Sara Ann DeCosta-Hayes turns 49… U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) turns 49… CEO of Friedkin Philanthropies, previously chief Jewish life officer at JFNA, Sarah Eisenman… Former Israel director for J Street, then the chief of staff for Israel’s Ministry for Regional Cooperation, Yael Patir … Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords, she was previously a member of the House of Commons, Baroness Luciana Berger turns 45… Software entrepreneur, Google project manager, then Facebook engineering lead, Justin Rosenstein turns 43… Israeli rapper, singer, songwriter and actor, known by his stage name Tuna, Itay Zvulun turns 42… Retired NFL offensive lineman for seven NFL teams, now a regional manager at Rocksolid, Brian de la Puente turns 41… Actress, writer, producer and director, best known as the creator, writer and star of the HBO series “Girls,” Lena Dunham turns 40… Hannah Sirdofsky… Co-founder in 2018 of Manna Tree Partners, she is the daughter of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein… Chief of staff and senior program manager at Jigsaw, a unit within Google, she is an alum of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Raquel Saxe Gelb… Therapist in Philadelphia, Bela Galit Krifcher turns 33… Law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Dore Lev Feith turns 30… VP of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, Jesse Martin Arm… Gold medalist for Israel in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Linoy Ashram turns 27… 

There will be a number of items on the agenda when the two most powerful men in the world — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping — meet in Beijing tomorrow, chief among them tech and AI. The president is bringing with him a roster of top business leaders, including Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.

And while emerging technologies will be a major topic of conversation during the three-day trip, most eyes — and markets — are on the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

“We have a lot of things to discuss,” Trump told reporters before departing for China. “I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.” Nonetheless, the president said, “We’re going to have a long talk about [Iran]. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you.”

Beijing has, after all, been playing a major role in the U.S.-Iran conflict — even if it has done so from the margins: serving as the largest importer of oil from the Islamic Republic in violation of U.S. sanctions, meeting with top Iranian officials (including last week’s sit-down between Xi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi) and transferring weapons to Iran through third countries.

Indeed, the summit, delayed from earlier this year due to the war, comes amid reports of a U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran has restored access to 30 of its nearly three dozen missile sites, and days after Washington rejected an Iranian response to a U.S. proposal that fell short of the Trump administration’s demands.


China’s interest isn’t purely power-driven: it’s also economic. Being able to purchase Iranian oil at steeply discounted prices — owing to Tehran’s global economic isolation — has meant that China has not felt the same financial pressures as the West.

Trump, who has spent much of his second term welcoming leaders to Washington, will be on Xi’s home turf, face-to-face with a leader who is opting not to use his leverage to push Iran into making concessions. The longer the uncertainty continues, the more restless even the president’s most fervent supporters will get — especially with the midterms approaching.

That dynamic is already beginning to play out on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, JI reported on divisions among Republican senators over whether the U.S. should reengage militarily with Iran, while last week, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), who is facing a tough reelection battle in his swing district, became the first GOP lawmaker to introduce an authorization for use of military force in Iran.

All of that is good for Xi, and gives him little incentive to use China’s economic and diplomatic leverage over the Islamic Republic, which while knocked down a few pegs, has managed to maintain control despite the severe blows it has been dealt.

The Iranian regime has been able to survive in large part because it knows how to play the long game: to drag out negotiations, give breadcrumbs instead of the whole loaf and wreak just enough havoc to serve as a disruptor without prompting massive retaliation. It has enough to survive, for now.

Xi finds himself in a similar dynamic: unbound by pending elections, unaffected by rising energy costs and distanced from military action in the Middle East, Beijing is — unlike Trump — does not need a quick resolution to the conflict. 

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

DEMOCRATIC FAULT LINES

Race to replace Pelosi offers early test of whether progressive Jews welcomed on the left

State Sen. Scott Wiener has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and is open to conditions on offensive aid to the Jewish state, but is still derided as a ‘Zionist’

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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Israel’s business leaders see opportunity amid war, political shifts

‘I’m not an investment advisor, but you can see that if you were not in Israel in the past two years, you probably missed out, if Israel was not part of your portfolio,’ Seffy Zinger, chair of the Israel Securities Authority, told JI

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With President Donald Trump reportedly mulling the resumption of military action against Iran, fault lines are opening up among Senate Republicans over the prospect of a renewed military effort.

Some prominent Senate Republicans publicly called for the U.S. to resume military operations this weekend, after Trump dismissed as a nonstarter Iran’s latest negotiating proposal. Other colleagues joined them on Monday.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said he thinks military operations must resume. “It’s the only thing that’s going to work, unfortunately,” Scott told Jewish Insider. Asked whether the administration needs to seek congressional approval to resume fighting, he said, “I think the president should go forward.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reiterated that he “hope[s]” Project Freedom, the administration’s effort to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, is resumed, after writing to Trump on X on Sunday that it’s time to “get back to business.” He said that he would not expect the administration to come to Congress for authorization if that effort were to continue.

Others are leaving the prospect of military action on the table without fully ruling out a diplomatic path, while offering varying degrees of skepticism about how realistic a deal actually would be.

Asked about resuming the war, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “We need to clear the Strait of Hormuz, and I support doing that by whatever means necessary.” Cornyn faces a competitive primary runoff in late May, and a hotly contested general election race in November should he be victorious in the primary.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said that the U.S. “has a problem” as long as the Iranian regime remains in place and has the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon, “and we’re going to have to address it one way or the other.”

“I’m hopeful for a diplomatic solution, but I don’t think these fanatics over there necessarily believe that a diplomatic solution is what they really want,” Rounds continued. “I think they’d rather martyr themselves, and I think they’d murder millions of their own people if they could.”

“I think we all want to get this resolved as quickly as possible,” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said. “I would say, let’s focus right now. Let’s see if China wants to play a role in this, and we should probably know more by this weekend. But I don’t think anyone wants to end this in a decisive way more than President Trump.”

He predicted that the war would be a major topic of conversation in Trump’s meetings with leaders in Beijing later this week.

“The whole world’s watching right now,” Budd continued. “But look, we need to resolve this permanently, and we want to resolve it as soon as possible. And I know that’s President Trump’s goal.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), among the most prominent advocates in the Senate for keeping the war brief, praised the administration for notifying Congress at the beginning of the month that it considered hostilities concluded, and urged the administration not to reengage.

“I welcome his statement that the president sent … saying that the original operation — he had terminated those hostilities. That’s a good thing. That’s a good outcome. I certainly hope that will hold,” Hawley said. “I think we’re in a posture now where he’s clearly trying to conclude a long-term peace, which I think is good. But I welcomed his statement that hostilities have terminated.”

He praised Trump for not following his colleagues’ calls to return to war.

“I want to applaud the termination of hostilities,” Hawley said. “He’s been urged to return to full scale bombing, to his original bombing campaign by many of my colleagues over the last two weeks. He’s very pointedly not done so. … I’m glad that so far the president’s not listened to my colleagues who want to do something very different.”

Hawley dismissed followup questions about whether he believed that the hostilities had indeed terminated as the administration claimed, with U.S. forces remaining in the region and continuing certain operations even during the ceasefire. 

The administration faced a 60-day statutory deadline to conclude operations against Iran without congressional approval under the War Powers Act at the end of April. Hawley said the administration appears to be following the same precedent set by the Obama administration during operations in Libya.

“The ‘war’ is a very broad term. The statute speaks particularly to ‘hostilities,’” he said.

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

HISTORY LESSONS

Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf leads players, high school students on Holocaust Museum trip

The players also toured the National Museum of African American History as part of the D.C. visit

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RACE TO WATCH

In America’s largest Jewish district, Democratic candidates split over Israel, antisemitic protests

As Alex Bores and Jack Schlossberg woo the left, Micah Lasher emerges as favorite among Jewish voters

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President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. ceasefire in Iran is “unbelievably weak” and on “massive life support” after rejecting the regime’s latest proposal to end the war. 

Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday during an event on expanding maternal healthcare access. Asked about the status of the ongoing ceasefire, Trump described it as being at its “weakest” point and criticized the last offer sent by the Iranians in ongoing peace talks as “a piece of garbage.”

“It is unbelievably weak, I would say. I would call it the weakest right now,” Trump said of the ceasefire. “After reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn’t even finish reading it. I said, ‘I’m not gonna waste my time reading it.’ I would say it’s one of the weakest, right now. … I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctors walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living.’”

The comments come ahead of the president’s reported Monday afternoon meeting with his national security team, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. 

The group is set to discuss next steps in Iran, according to Axios, including a potential return to military action and possibly resuming Project Freedom, the operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, after Trump suspended it last week.

Several Republican lawmakers have begun to urge the president to return to military operations, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), who told Trump on X that he’s “been generously patient with the murderous Iranian Islamist regime” but it’s time to “get back to business” and “restart Project Freedom.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday it’s “time to consider changing course” from the diplomatic route. “Project Freedom Plus sounds pretty good right now,” he added, referencing a plan by Trump to involve other countries in the mission to open the strait. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) said bluntly in response to a post from the White House, “Start bombing again. It is the only thing they understand.”

Trump also said on Monday that he was “disappointed” with Kurdish leaders in Iraq for not following through with supporting an armed offensive against the Iranian regime, accusing them of not providing arms to the Iranian people in an effort to spark a popular uprising.

The Iranian people, Trump said, “have no weapons, they have no guns. We thought the Kurds were going to give them weapons, but the Kurds disappointed us. The Kurds take, take, take, and they have a great reputation in Congress. Congress says: ‘Oh, they fight so hard.’ They fight hard when they get paid. So I’m very disappointed in the Kurds.”

“I said it wasn’t going to work,” he continued, referencing reported U.S. and Israeli efforts to convince Kurdish leaders to launch a ground invasion of Iran. “I said they’ll never get there and I was right. I like to be right, in this case [it’s] too bad, but we sent some guns with ammunition and they were supposed to be delivered, but they kept it. I said they’re gonna keep it, but what do I know?”

Kurdish leaders have denied U.S. claims that they held on to weapons that American forces provided to them to pass along to the Iranian people, or that they received any arms from the U.S. in the first place. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed to Jewish leaders on Thursday that she will opt into a new federal education tax initiative, a move promoted by community advocates to help fund Jewish day schools and yeshivas. 

Starting in the 2027 tax year, the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, part of President Donald Trump’s 2025 flagship policy package, provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit — up to $1,700 annually — for donations to approved Scholarship Granting Organizations. These SGOs offer scholarships for a variety of K-12 public and private education expenses, including private school tuition, transportation and tutoring. 

If states don’t opt in, taxpayers can still donate, but residents of that state won’t receive the benefit. 

A spokesperson for Hochul confirmed to Jewish Insider that the governor told Jewish leaders she will opt in. 

The move would make Hochul the second Democratic official to join the program, following Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in February. 

While nearly all Republican governors have already opted in, their Democratic counterparts have been hesitant. Some critics have voiced concerns that the program has insufficient oversight against fraud or that it could divert public money to private schools. 

New York would be the 30th state to opt in. States have the next several months to choose to participate. 

Teach Coalition, an Orthodox Union-run organization that advocates for government funding and resources for yeshivas and Jewish day schools, as well as Jewish Federations of North America, have for months lobbied governors and met with Jewish communities to educate on the initiative. The tax credit push marks the first time JFNA has waded into the issue of Jewish day school affordability. 

Hochul’s “support for this program puts New York at the forefront of expanding educational opportunity and positions the state as a leader among blue states looking to empower families,” said Sydney Altfield, CEO of Teach Coalition. “We are also deeply grateful to the parents, advocates, educators, and community leaders whose voices helped make this moment possible. This is bigger than New York. Blue states across the country will now be watching closely.” 

State Rep. Houston Gaines is in many ways a prototypical House candidate — the 36-year-old Georgia native has served in the Statehouse since 2019, and quickly jumped into the race to replace Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who is running for Senate, picking up the backing of President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

But he faces a potentially potent challenge in Tuesday’s GOP primary from Ryan Millsap, a real estate and film industry executive who is pumping $4 million of his own money into his congressional bid and made a name for himself locally in a protracted legal battle against far-left agitators who camped out on his land to protest a proposed police training center.

The race has turned into a nasty — and heated — battle between the two men.

Gaines is leaning on his background in the state Legislature in his run, arguing to Jewish Insider in an interview that “we need folks in Congress who know how to get things done” and that he’s “proven in my time in the state Legislature” that he delivers results on a variety of issues. He emphasized his focus on public safety issues and immigration, as well as supporting farmers and the Second Amendment.

The solidly Republican district includes parts of suburban Atlanta, as well as the college town of Athens and rural areas in northeast Georgia.

Millsap told JI in an interview that his interest in running for office started with his “five-year war with Antifa.” Far-left agitators set up camp and destroyed property on Millsap’s land next to a police training facility site, with which Millsap was not involved, known derisively to critics as “Cop City.” He said that elected officials refused to take action against the trespassers out of fear of violence.

“We can’t just sit around as a society and let violent criminals rule our political process and take over our lands because we’re afraid of violence,” Millsap told JI. “That is capitulation to a bullying enemy. … I found that the career politicians were largely spineless, feckless and unwilling to take any risks because they don’t want to risk their careers.”

He said the demonstrators have also graffitied his house and threatened his wife. He said his goal in running for Congress is to prevent the far-left from overrunning the country.

Millsap accused the Republican “cabal” of smearing him to “protect their rubber stamp candidate” — Gaines — a “30-year-old kid who didn’t have any real life experience.”

He also argued that Trump’s endorsement hasn’t been decisive in the district in the past, and suggested that the president’s support for Gaines was a “political deal that was negotiated by Speaker Johnson and the RINO [Republican in Name Only] cabal in Congress” because Johnson “doesn’t want to deal with Ryan Millsap.”

Gaines argued that Millsap is trying to misrepresent his legislative record, and framed the executive as a carpetbagger from California who until recently cast himself as a moderate Republican who had donated to Democrats. “This guy is trying to cover up and hide all the things that he’s done, and some of the things that he has said are just horrific,” Gaines said.

Gaines was referring to comments — some of which were reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ProPublica in 2024 — in which Millsap allegedly complained about “nasty Jews,” among other disparaging remarks about Jewish business associates, and other racist comments. 

Those remarks, from alleged texts between Millsap and his ex-girlfriend, were revealed as part of litigation involving a former lawyer for Millsap’s company, who also claimed Millsap made a range of other antisemitic and offensive comments in the workplace.

“It’s just horrific,” Gaines told JI. “It’s just totally unacceptable for someone in public life. As a Christian, I’ll always stand against antisemitism and what my opponent has said is just, in my opinion, disqualifying.”

At the time of the original AJC/ProPublica reporting, Millsap appeared to acknowledge the veracity of the text messages — as did his ex-girlfriend — and apologized in a statement, while emphasizing that he had won the case against his former lawyer, received punitive damages and planned to file a formal complaint against the lawyer.

“Unfortunately, in the course of this litigation, comments which I never intended to share publicly have come to light, and people I care about and who have put their trust in me have been hurt. I want to extend my sincere apologies to my dear friends, colleagues and associates in both the black and Jewish communities for any and all pain my words have caused,” he said at the time. “My sincere hope is that the bonds and friendships that we have forged speak far louder than some flippant, careless remarks. I intend to work privately with all of you to use this as an opportunity to have a healthy and authentic dialogue about race and culture, in a productive, not destructive, manner.”

Millsap now argues that the alleged comments may have been fabricated by his former lawyer, and that their veracity can’t be taken at face value.

“The guy who is responsible for creating all of this supposed mess is a disgraced attorney of mine who tried to extort me for $24 million, was sued because of that and now owes me close to $6 million,” he said. “Everything he claims as hearsay is utterly fabricated and false.”

Regarding the text messages, Millsap said that he has “no recollection of anything like this,” but his public relations team at the time urged him to issue an apology. He said has found out since then that “we have no idea where this data came from, we have no idea of if it’s real or false,” adding that “it just appears like it’s whole-cloth creation” by his ex-lawyer.

Pressed on why neither he nor his ex-girlfriend denied or questioned the veracity of the messages at the time, Millsap said, “these are very old claims and I am not antisemitic.” But he appeared to acknowledge he could have made those or similar comments, in a different context.

“I’ve been doing business with Jewish friends and colleagues, and I’m married to a Jewish woman,” he continued. “But in the midst of all of life, would we ever say anything that somebody could take out of context and try to twist? I’m not willing to say that that’s absolutely impossible, but in the context that it’s being used, it’s absolutely impossible. I’m not antisemitic. I’m not against Jewish people.”

He said that he’s had “nothing but great experiences” throughout his life with Jewish friends and colleagues, but said that it’s “not impossible” that he might have “joke[d] with them.”

“Have I ever had any bad experiences in business with all kinds? Yes. And would there be any context under which I might refer to having bad experiences? Sure. But these particular texts are not credible,” he continued.

He also framed the article in ProPublica, a left-leaning nonprofit investigative journalism group, as part of a long-running far-left campaign against him tied to the police training complex protest.

More broadly, Millsap said there is “no place in America for people to be abused for their religion” and that he is willing to “go to the mat for Jewish people” to worship as they choose. 

Gaines said he’s “proud” of supporting antisemitism legislation in the state Legislature, of working with local groups combating antisemitism and of championing legislation to force greater disclosure of foreign funding to Georgia schools, which he said has sought to force anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages into school curricula.

He called Israel one of the U.S.’ “strongest allies” and said that he would stand with Israel in Congress, as he said he has in the state Legislature. He praised Trump’s “bold and decisive action to decimate” Iran’s nuclear capacity, regime and other aggressions. He called slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “one of the worst people in the history of the world” but said there are “still a lot of bad folks in Iran” against whom he is glad the administration had continued to take action.

Amid the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, he praised Trump’s peacemaking efforts, while emphasizing that an Iranian nuclear weapon or continued sponsorship of terrorism “[is] not peace.” He said he also wants to ensure that Israel does not face “constant threat on every single border, because that’s not peace.” He expressed confidence that the administration would be able to secure favorable solutions to both challenges.

Millsap praised Israel as “a bunch of studs,” describing the country as “filled with fighters, guys who are committed to their homeland and committed to defending their homeland,” something he said the U.S. and Israel share in common.

“When we combine as a force, we are unstoppable. You see that in Iran,” he continued. “We’re very, very lucky, and I think Israel is lucky too. It’s a special, beautiful relationship between two countries that value their own cultures and value their own freedoms and are willing to be great allies and [work] together to protect each other. That’s all you can ask for in an ally.”

Millsap said he has visited Israel several times, including a monthlong backpacking trip at age 20, and has done business deals with Israeli businessmen. He said he supports continued military aid to the Jewish state.

He said Trump has “earned my trust” in military engagements, describing Iran as a longtime enemy of the U.S. and Israel. He said he does not want to see the war in Iran turn into a long-term “slog” but that he wants to see the U.S. move quickly to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities and gain control over its oil flows to stop its support for terrorism and strike a blow against China, the primary importer of Iranian oil.

“If Trump pulls this off and secures all those things cleanly, it will turn out to be a stroke of genius that he went in, along with Israel, and pulled this off. It will be a hugely important geopolitical event that will shape global politics for the next 50 years,” Millsap said.

The U.S. halted its short-lived effort to help stranded ships leave the Strait of Hormuz after Riyadh denied it the use of Saudi bases or airspace, NBC reported.

President Donald Trump announced he was pausing the effort, called “Project Freedom,” on Tuesday, one day after it began, writing on Truth Social that the reversal came “based on the request of Pakistan and other countries … to see whether or not the agreement [with Iran] can be finalized and signed.” 

Amid the U.S. move to aid ships that had been stuck in the Strait of Hormuz for weeks, Iran launched missiles at the United Arab Emirates.

According to NBC, Gulf allies were surprised by Project Freedom, and Riyadh took the step of barring U.S. military aircraft from taking off from Prince Sultan Airbase or flying over the country.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly did not change his position after a call with Trump, forcing the U.S. to pause the endeavor.

Qatar and Oman were also surprised by the announcement regarding the Strait of Hormuz, NBC reported. Trump spoke with the emir of Qatar after launching Project Freedom. 

The White House said in a statement that “regional allies were notified in advance.” 

Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, announced while unveiling President Donald Trump’s U.S. counterterrorism strategy on Wednesday that U.S. officials will meet with representatives from several foreign governments this week to ask for assistance in combating terrorism emanating from Iran and elsewhere.

Gorka, who also serves as a deputy assistant to the president and oversaw the drafting of the strategy, told reporters that as part of the strategy, the U.S. intends to seek more support on the counterterrorism front from allies who want to be “measured as a serious nation” by the Trump administration. 

The strategy covers how the administration will respond to threats from Islamic terrorist organizations at home and abroad, drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere and domestic political groups accused of inciting violence. 

On combating threats from Islamist groups, the strategy places a heavy emphasis on Iran, calling the country “the greatest threat to the United States emanating from the Middle East.” It states that “decisive actions by the president … will continue until the regime in Tehran is no longer a threat to the United States.”

The U.S. will use “kinetic, intelligence, and cyber operations against Iranian-backed terror proxies who plot against Americans … Iranian dissidents and Israelis in our country,” it continues. 

The strategy further states that the U.S. views the Muslim Brotherhood as “the root of all modern Islamist terrorism,” and says the Trump administration will “continue to designate its branches across the Middle East and beyond as [Foreign Terrorist Organizations] to crush the organization everywhere it operates.”

Gorka detailed to reporters how the U.S. is turning increased attention to Africa amid growing terrorist threats, describing “straggler” ISIS terrorists from Syria and Iran who had migrated to several African countries in search of “ungoverned space” to take over.

The president signed the official document behind closed doors at the White House on Monday alongside senior administration officials. 

Gorka announced the strategy’s finalization while speaking at the James W. Foley Freedom awards dinner at the National Press Club on Tuesday evening. Gorka brought a copy of the strategy with him on stage and held it up for the audience of hostage advocates, telling the crowd that Trump had signed the document on Monday and it would be available to the public on Wednesday morning.

Gorka read a brief section of the strategy that referred to the return of U.S. hostages and wrongfully detained Americans abroad as a top priority.

“Countries that wrongfully detain our citizens run the danger of being designated as state sponsors of wrongful detention, with all the attendant consequences that accrue,” Gorka said. “And as the regimes in Iran and Afghanistan know, there are true consequences to that designation.”

The strategy’s signing and release comes as Gorka, who has been one of the most ardent defenders of the U.S. war with Iran in the Trump administration, has been reportedly lobbying the president to consider nominating him as the next director of the National Counterterrorism Center. The role is currently being filled in an acting capacity by Joe Weirsky, a Marine and Army Special Operations Command veteran, following the resignation of former NCTC Director Joe Kent in protest of the war. 

President Donald Trump encouraged Jewish Americans to observe Shabbat next weekend in his Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation issued earlier this week, marking the first time a U.S. president has called for a national Shabbat.

The president wrote in the proclamation, issued on Monday, that he urged American Jews to “observe a national Sabbath” from sundown on Friday, May 15, 2026, to sundown on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The Shabbat coincides with Rededicate 250, Trump’s national prayer event commemorating “250 glorious years of American independence” as part of his Freedom 250 initiative, the public-private partnership overseeing the Semiquincentennial of the United States. 

“Throughout this historic year, we rejoice in the triumph of the American spirit and rededicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all,” the proclamation reads. “From sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great Nation. This day will recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty.”

“I call upon Americans to celebrate the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies,” it continues. “I further call on all Americans to celebrate their faith and freedom throughout this year, during this month, and especially on Shabbat to celebrate our 250th year.”

The decree went on to highlight the resilient nature of the Jewish people and encourage religious tolerance. 

“This month, we celebrate the contributions that Jewish Americans have made to our way of life, we honor their role in shaping the story of our Nation, and we remember that religious devotion, learning, and service to others are enduring pillars of a thriving culture,” it read. “Through every trial and triumph, the contributions of Jewish Americans have shaped our past, have strengthened our communities, and will continue to inspire American greatness for generations to come.”

U.S. presidents have been recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month annually since 2006, the result of a bipartisan, bicameral push by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and the late Sen. Arlen Specter, who was a Republican at the time. Wasserman Schultz has led the House resolution recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month every year since. 

This year’s White House proclamation marks the first time that the call for a national Shabbat has been included.

A source who engaged with the White House as they were drafting the proclamation and planning Rededicate 250 told Jewish Insider that the White House Faith Office made overtures to several Jewish leaders to inquire about “what would be appropriate to do for people who are Jewish.” The office, the source said, “emphasized that this was a directive from the president. He asked them to make sure that Jewish Americans are comfortable at this faithful celebration.”

“They floated various ideas, but they discussed how they would like to do something that would be comfortable for Jewish people. They thought it would be a good idea to mark Shabbat,” the source said, adding that officials with the Faith Office “conveyed to us that this idea of helping ensure there will be something for the people of the Jewish faith came from the president.”

The White House did not respond to JI’s request for comment, though Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach — the former DocuSign chairman and Ariba co-founder who served as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment in the first Trump administration — released a statement celebrating the news.

“This national observance is a moment to step away from the noise, reflect, and give thanks as we prepare to mark 250 years of American independence,” Krach said. “It honors the enduring contributions of Jewish Americans and offers a simple but powerful chance for people of all backgrounds to come together, unite in prayer, and remember the freedom that binds us as a nation.”

The announcement was also lauded by several Orthodox leaders. 

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), heralded the development, telling JI that the Trump White House has been especially accommodating to the Jewish community.

“This White House is one of the most openly and obviously religious White Houses in many years. I have noticed an unprecedented and extraordinary effort to ensure a particular comfort level for Jewish Americans,” Shemtov told JI. “I’ve been invited to the White House on many occasions in various administrations. I’ve been invited several times in this administration, and every time, when we review what I’m going to do, they say I should do what makes me religiously comfortable.”

“I’ve been asked several times to participate in events,” he continued of this administration, “I was told each time that I should pray the way which I feel comfortable and that it’s important to them that people of the Jewish faith feel comfortable practicing our faith in whatever way we want.”

Stephen Flatow, president of the Religious Zionists of America – Mizrachi, released a statement calling the inclusion of a national Shabbat in the proclamation “especially appropriate.”

“The president’s proclamation is a meaningful tribute to the Jewish role in the American story and to America’s historic promise of religious liberty,” Flatow said. “For generations, Jews in America have been blessed with the freedom to build synagogues, educate our children, observe Shabbat and contribute fully to the civic life of this great country.”

“As America prepares to mark 250 years of independence, the call for a national Shabbat of gratitude is especially appropriate,” he added. “Shabbat is not merely a day of rest. It is one of the great pillars of Jewish faith, family and continuity. America gave Jews the freedom to keep Shabbat; Shabbat gave Jews the strength to remain Jews.”

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was temporarily pausing “Project Freedom,” the three-day-old operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, at the request of Pakistan and due to progress in negotiations — hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio heralded the start of the operation. 

The president wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday evening that all elements of Project Freedom, a U.S. mission to escort commercial vessels safely through the Strait of Hormuz, “will be paused for a short period of time” in order to see if a “[peace] agreement can be finalized and signed.” 

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, however, “will remain in full force and effect,” Trump noted.

The president said that the decision had been made “based on the request of Pakistan and other countries” as well as due to the “great progress” made toward “a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”

The comments came a few hours after Rubio held a lengthy press conference at the White House, where he repeatedly insisted that the U.S. had completed Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s name for the war in Iran, and was now solely focused on Project Freedom, as well as diplomatic efforts.

“Operation Epic Fury has concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal,” Rubio said. “He would prefer to sit down and work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed. That’s the route he prefers.” 

“That is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen,” he continued. “And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we’re the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there, and that’s what we’re undergoing now,” Rubio said of launching Project Freedom.

The nation’s top diplomat emphasized on multiple occasions that any future U.S. attacks on Iran should be viewed with a different lens than prior instances of fighting. 

“What’s really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation — this is a defensive operation. What that means is very simple: There’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first,” Rubio said. 

He also acknowledged that any peace agreement with Iran would need to address its nuclear enrichment, and allow for the U.S. or others to remove any enriched material currently in Iranian facilities buried in the U.S. and Israeli strikes in June of last year.

“As far as the negotiation is concerned, I think the president’s been clear that part of the negotiation process has to be not just the enrichment, but what happens to this material that’s very deep somewhere that they have still have access to if they ever wanted to figure it out,” he added. “That has to be addressed, and that’s being addressed in the negotiation.”

The secretary of state could not say if the president had followed through on his public musings to send weapons to Kurdish groups and Iranians looking to take up arms against the regime, but again tried to create distance between any prior offers and Project Freedom.

“I think what the president is expressing is the desire that he wishes the Iranian people had an ability to fight back against some of these things that are happening to them,” Rubio said. “And I would view that as distinct and separate from the specifics of this operation that was ongoing before it concluded, and certainly different from the operation that’s going on now.”

LOS ANGELES — While the world’s attention has been fixed on Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and a team of American bureaucrats have spent the last few months quietly working to turn President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace into a fully functioning entity. 

The fledgling international organization — billed by some as an alternative to the U.N., although Waltz insists there is room for both — has the astronomically large task of governing and rebuilding Gaza. Waltz is bullish on the possibility that the morass of Gaza can be worked out peacefully, with enough buy-in from countries who are willing to finance the creation of a new governing and police structure in Gaza.

“​​The contributions keep coming in for both the international stabilization force and the new police force. That training is standing up in both Egypt and Jordan. It’s going to take time, but all of those pieces are moving forward,” Waltz told Jewish Insider during an interview on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. 

One lingering challenge to Waltz’s premise of a peaceful Gaza is Hamas’ grip on power, which remains a huge variable in a plan that is largely contingent upon the U.S. and Israel’s defeat of Hamas. The terror group still controls large swathes of Gaza, even if not all of it. It will be loath to hand over that power willingly. Waltz swore that Hamas “will never again rule Gaza,” whether as a result of “diplomatic action or military action.”

“I wouldn’t expect a terrorist organization like them to just roll over and hand over everybody, but once we’ve cut off any other path for them, then I think they have no other choice,” said Waltz. 

Hamas, he argued, will not put down its arms unless compelled to do so. If Hamas feels squeezed enough — if the U.S. has enough leverage — then the group will have no choice but to give in, according to Waltz.

“At the end of the day, Hamas has a choice to make. Those negotiations are going on as we speak. [Nickolay] Mladenov laid out a demilitarization plan, a plan to decommission their weapons,” Waltz said, referring to the Bulgarian diplomat who heads the Board of Peace. “I’m going to remain optimistic, as horrific an organization that Hamas is.”

The deck is now stacked against Hamas, Waltz argued. He pointed to the Gulf states and Arab nations that are members of the Board of Peace — places like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to signal that Hamas is deeply isolated.

“They really have no option,” said Waltz. “They’re either going to do this the easy way or the hard way. And let’s all pray they do it the easy way.” 

Still, he acknowledged that the group’s hold on power remains strong.

“I think they’re [Hamas] unfortunately still exerting control over portions, but we’ve also seen pushback from local tribes, local families,” Waltz said of Hamas. He noted that the Board of Peace-affiliated National Committee for the Administration of Gaza has plans to take over government services. But that will be only in the parts of Gaza not controlled by Hamas. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has for months been raising the alarm about the growing threat of antisemitism on the American right. During a visit to Los Angeles for the Milken Institute Global Conference, he called for elected officials — including in his own party — to take a clear stand on the issue. 

“I don’t want to wake up in five years and find ourselves in a country where both major political parties are unequivocally anti-Israel and unapologetically antisemitic. And I think that is a very real threat,” Cruz told Jewish Insider in an interview on Monday at the Milken conference. 

Among populist young conservatives, where the MAGA ideology of President Donald Trump has given way to an isolationist, America First worldview, Cruz sees a big shift on Israel. 

“Every elected official is going to have to decide where he or she stands, and what you believe,” said Cruz. “As Ronald Reagan said more than 50 years ago, this is a time for choosing, and each person can decide where he or she stands.”

When pressed about Vice President JD Vance — who, through his choice of staffers and comments suggesting skepticism of interventionist policies, is increasingly seen as sympathetic to younger conservatives’ worldviews — Cruz did not come to the vice president’s defense. 

“You got my answer,” Cruz told JI.

The Texas Republican was at Milken to speak on a panel about economic mobility. But Cruz was also eager to talk about what he saw as exciting developments in the war with Iran. He called for what he described as “regime collapse” in Iran: the U.S. working to free Iran from authoritarian religious leaders without necessarily sticking around to replace them with a new leader. 

He called for a more muscular U.S. approach to Iran; he wants to see the U.S. arming the Iranians, the Kurds and the Peshmerga — whatever it takes to bring down the Islamic Republic. 

“Removing that regime from power is unambiguously in America’s national security interest. Now, that does not mean we should engage in nation-building, and I have no delusions that we’re going to go transform Iran into some democratic utopia [or] we’re going to turn Iran into Switzerland. That’s not our job,” said Cruz. “For 25 years, Republican foreign policy has operated under what [former Secretary of State] Colin Powell described as the Pottery Barn rule: ‘You break it, you buy it.’ I think that’s nonsense.” 

Good Monday morning.

UNSTEADY GROUND

Mideast ceasefires shaky on three fronts, as Trump declares Iran’s terms ‘not acceptable’

Iran’s latest proposal for a ceasefire is unacceptable, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, as the tenuous ceasefire in Lebanon continued to hold in name only and as Israel weighed whether to resume combat in Gaza, citing Hamas’ refusal to disarm, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. “It’s not acceptable to me,” Trump told Israeli public broadcaster Kan of Iran’s proposed ceasefire terms. “I’ve studied it; I’ve studied everything. It’s not acceptable.” 

State of play: Iran submitted a proposal on Thursday that reportedly includes an end to the fighting, after nearly a monthlong ceasefire, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in the next 30 days. Talks about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear plan would only begin after that, with an initial offer of a 15-year pause in uranium enrichment. On Sunday, Trump announced “Project Freedom,” an endeavor by which, he wrote on Truth Social, the U.S. would “guide … ships out of these restricted waterways” in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Read the full story here.

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SCOOP

Brandeis Center files Title VII complaint against the National Education Association

A leading Jewish legal group has filed a bias complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Education Association, alleging the country’s largest teachers’ union violated civil rights law by discriminating against its Jewish members, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned. 

What it says: The complaint, filed Monday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, highlights several incidents in which the NEA — which represents over 3 million educators — allegedly breached Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees, resulting in the spread of antisemitism in K-12 public schools. 

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RESOLUTION REJECTED

New School rejects student government vote to cut ties, defund Hillel

The New School rejected a student government vote on Saturday to defund and sever ties with the private New York City university’s Hillel chapter, a vote that prompted condemnation from local lawmakers and Jewish groups, while drawing praise from a controversial Muslim advocacy organization, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. 

Move to cut ties: On Friday, the New School’s student senate approved a resolution to strip funding and cease collaboration with Hillel, the world’s largest Jewish student organization. In a 38-page report, the student organization alleged that Hillel violated international law by running programming in Israel, including Birthright trips and volunteer opportunities with the Israel Defense Forces. 

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CAMPUS BEAT

University of Michigan apologizes for faculty leader’s anti-Israel commencement speech

The University of Michigan apologized after the outgoing chair of the faculty senate, who has a history of anti-Israel advocacy, delivered an unapproved jab at Israel at a commencement ceremony on Saturday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Going off script: Derek Peterson, a tenured professor of history and African studies, praised “the pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,” during his campus-wide commencement address to loud cheering from students. The university’s president, Domenico Grasso, said in a statement later on Saturday that the remarks were “hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community” and noted that Peterson had “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony.” 

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CAMPAIGN CONTROVERSY

Far-left Pa. candidate pushed Bondi Beach conspiracy theory

Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb — a Democrat seeking the Philadelphia House seat of retiring Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) — shared an Instagram post blaming the massacre of Jewish Australians at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on “Zionists,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. In the aftermath of the attack, in which 14 were killed and 40 injured, Rabb’s account shared disinformation insinuating the slaughter was a false flag perpetrated by Israeli interests, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports. 

What it said: “We all know the gunmen were likely Zionists themselves,” read the post, which used an emoji in the place of the word “gun.” Shortly after the attack, the alleged assailants were identified as a father and son whom authorities linked to an offshoot of the Islamic State. A Rabb campaign spokesperson asserted to the Inquirer that the candidate not only did not share the post himself, but that he had “no knowledge” of it, and blamed a former staffer for posting it.

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tucker to the times

Tucker Carlson touts relationship with Vance, slams Trump and Rubio in NYT interview

In a wide-ranging New York Times interview published on Saturday, far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson offered an unusually personal defense of Vice President JD Vance, describing him as a close friend while suggesting he is being undermined by hawkish forces inside the White House amid tensions over the administration’s military actions in Iran, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports.

Carlson’s comments: “I couldn’t be a bigger fan of him as a man,” Carlson told Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro. He added that Vance is “in a tough spot” because his long-held foreign policy views clash with the administration’s decision to attack Iran in February. Carlson took a swipe at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, baselessly alleging that backers of Washington’s top diplomat have been engaging in “nonstop treachery” against Vance. “There are people in the White House who want to hurt JD Vance and have wanted that since the very first day. They were bitter. They wanted Marco Rubio to be the choice as vice president,” Carlson said.

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Pic of the Day

The Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center hosted the opening on Friday of an exhibit titled “Plates of Hope and Color” that included 180 original works created by Israeli artists, musicians and “lone soldiers” from around the world with no family in Israel.

Birthdays

Medalist in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Arielle Townsend Gold turns 30…

Former chairman and CEO of American International Group, once the largest insurance company in history, then chairman and CEO of the Starr Companies, Maurice Raymond “Hank” Greenberg turns 101… Executive director of the Texas A&M Hillel for 30 years, now a security consultant for the tourism industry, Peter E. Tarlow turns 80… U.S. special envoy for climate change in the Obama administration, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Todd D. Stern turns 75… Trustee of the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, Lee Sherman… Partner at NYC-based Mintz & Gold, he was EVP and general counsel for both the Las Vegas Sands and News Corporation, Lawrence “Lon” A. Jacobs… Northern Virginia-based portrait artist, Ilisa G. Calderon… CEO at Gigawatt Global, Yosef Israel Abramowitz turns 62… Member of the House of Representatives (D-VT), Rebecca A. “Becca” Balint turns 58… Triathlete, she has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and is a winner of international ironman competitions, Joanna Sue Zeiger turns 56… Director of congregational education at NYC’s Park Avenue Synagogue, Bradley Solmsen… Former Florida state senator and state attorney for Palm Beach County from 2013 to 2025, Dave Aronberg turns 55… Chair and director at NYC’s Department of City Planning until last month, Daniel Garodnick… Mechal Wakslak… Executive advisor at Veterans Community Project, he served as the secretary of state of Missouri, Jason Kander turns 45… Chief operating officer at Repair the World, Jessica Chait… Tech entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder of both Vine and HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov turns 42… SVP at BerlinRosen, Allison Fran Bormel… Chief development officer at Ramah Darom, previously with Americans for Ben-Gurion University and AIPAC, Rebecca Leibowitz Wasserstrom… Script writer at Disney, Steven A. Rosenberg… Adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Shana Mansbach… Manager of public policy and external affairs at Meta / Facebook, Sasha Altschuler… Actor best known for voicing the title character of the animated film “Finding Nemo,” Alexander Gould turns 32… Partner in the client services group at Signum Global Advisors, Elliot Miller… Finance lead at Shopify, Olivia Breuer… 

Iran’s latest proposal for a ceasefire is unacceptable, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, as the tenuous ceasefire in Lebanon continued to hold in name only and as Israel weighed whether to resume combat in Gaza, citing Hamas’ refusal to disarm.

“It’s not acceptable to me,” Trump told Israeli public broadcaster Kan of Iran’s proposed ceasefire terms. “I’ve studied it; I’ve studied everything. It’s not acceptable.” 

On Saturday, Trump said that he “can’t imagine that [Iran’s ceasefire terms] would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to humanity and the world over the last 47 years.”

Iran submitted a proposal on Thursday that reportedly includes an end to the fighting, after nearly a monthlong ceasefire, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in the next 30 days. Talks about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear plan would only begin after that, with an initial offer of a 15-year pause in uranium enrichment.

On Sunday, Trump announced “Project Freedom,” an endeavor by which, he wrote on Truth Social, the U.S. would “guide … ships out of these restricted waterways” in the Strait of Hormuz. 

“Countries from all over the world … have asked the United States if we could help free up their ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz. … Many of these ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for largescale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner. … If, in any way, this humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” the president added. 

In response, Iran warned the U.S. Navy not to enter the Strait of Hormuz, saying: “We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces.” Iranian national security official Ebrahim Azizi posted on X that “any American interference in the new maritime regime of the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the ceasefire.” 

CENTCOM said that U.S. military support for the effort will include “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members.” However, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal that “Project Freedom” was not expected to involve U.S. Navy warships escorting the stranded vessels. 

In Israel, proceedings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial were canceled on Monday, following the previous night’s meeting of his “inner cabinet” to discuss matters of national security.

The meeting, of a forum that includes Israel’s defense, foreign, finance and national security ministers, rather than the full Security Cabinet, reportedly convened to discuss resuming the war in Gaza. According to the Trump administration’s plan, Israel would only withdraw from Gaza, allowing reconstruction, after Hamas’ full disarmament, for which an April 11 deadline was set. 

Hamas told the Board of Peace on Sunday that it would not give up all of its weapons, offering to further negotiate the matter in the framework of establishing a Palestinian state. 

On Saturday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported multiple incidents in which terrorists crossed the Yellow Line dividing Gaza between Hamas and Israeli control. Soldiers opened fire on the terrorists, killing three and wounding one.

Hezbollah in Lebanon has also said it has no plan to disarm, as exchanges of fire continue between the terrorist group and the IDF, and Israel and Lebanon negotiate a ceasefire and normalization.

A Lebanese lawmaker in Hezbollah’s faction said that the terrorist group is “capable of thwarting all the objectives of these negotiations” between Israel and Lebanon, which include disarming Hezbollah, and “will not implement” their results.

Monday evening marks the start of of Lag BaOmer, a Jewish holiday whose traditions have become entangled in discussions of the security of northern Israel amid ongoing rocket and missile attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Tens of thousands of Jews, mostly from Hasidic communities, gather each year on Lag BaOmer on Mount Meron to pray at the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. However, the Israel Police has limited outdoor gatherings to 200 in light of fears that the site may become a target. In addition, Israel’s largest civilian disaster took place at the site in 2021, and there were concerns pilgrims may again be trampled by fleeing mobs if missile sirens are sounded. Police remained on alert that some will attempt to circumvent police barriers to visit the site. 

Over the weekend, a major restock of over 6,500 tons of munitions and military equipment arrived in Israel from the U.S. over air and sea in a 24-hour period. The cargo included military trucks, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and more, Israel’s Defense Ministry said.

On Friday, the State Department notified Congress that the U.S. sold 10,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems, which turn non-guided rockets into precise weapons, to Israel, the UAE and Qatar for $992.4 million each

In addition, Israel announced on Sunday that it would acquire two squadrons of F-35 and F-15IA jets from the U.S., which Netanyahu said would “bolster Israel’s overwhelming air superiority.”

At the same time, Netanyahu said that Israel is working on greater arms independence and plans to allocate over $100 billion to domestic munition production in the next decade, “ensuring we are not dependent on foreign sources.” He added that Israel will “develop groundbreaking Israeli-made aircraft [that] will change the entire picture.”

Netanyahu also said Israel is working on “a special project to thwart the drone threat.”

“It will take time, but we are on it,” he promised.

The combination of history and polling is pointing to the likelihood of a Democratic wave election in the 2026 midterms, which would give Democrats control of the House and a fighting chance to claw back a Senate majority.

Polls show Democrats holding a sizable edge on the generic ballot, their favored candidates are running competitively even in red states and congressional districts, all while President Donald Trump’s approval rating is sagging amid high gas prices, executive overreach and an uncertain outcome in the aftermath of the war in Iran. 

But the one X-factor keeping Republicans competitive is the Democratic Party’s lurch leftward in the last year, leading to the emergence of extreme, exotic and out-of-the-mainstream candidates in pivotal battleground races. 

Indeed, a new poll commissioned by The Argument magazine finds that the generic ballot shows Democrats have been stuck with a six-point lead for a while even as Trump’s job approval has declined precipitously in the last several months. They’re voting to put a check on the GOP’s dominance of Washington, without endorsing the direction of the Democratic party. 

“Democrats still have tangible policy misalignments with many voters who dislike Trump,” The Argument concluded in its polling analysis. 

All told, the question becomes: Will the anticipated Democratic wave closely resemble the Democrats’ version of the GOP Tea Party election of 2010? In that election, Republicans swept into power in the House but far-right and extreme Senate candidates in key races blew golden opportunities, costing Republicans the upper chamber. 

That dynamic repeated itself in 2022, when many experts anticipated a Republican wave election, but the party’s nomination of hard-line MAGA candidates in battleground contests led to a marked underperformance. 

The alternative outcome is that partisanship and tribalism now run so deeply that an individual candidate’s flaws — even seemingly disqualifying ones — don’t mean what they used to. Right now, Democratic primary voters look like they’re ignoring personal baggage in favor of candidates that are the most ideologically progressive, personally authentic and who are burning hot with rage against Trump and the leadership class. 

On the Senate side, Maine Democrat Graham Platner fits that profile to a tee, and is all but locking down a primary victory against longtime Gov. Janet Mills, the favorite of the party establishment. If he’s the nominee, he’d then face Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who has a record of winning tough races even in dismal environments for her party.

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed holds both a radical record and support from a dedicated progressive base of young voters and Arab Americans. That has put him in contention for the Democratic nomination, but many Democrats fear he’d lose the seat to former Rep. Mike Rogers, the expected Republican nominee. 

And in Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan holds lots of left-wing baggage but that’s not hurting her insurgent primary campaign against Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), a more traditional and moderate Democratic contender. Former sportscaster Michele Tafoya is the GOP favorite in this race.

There are even more House races where problematic candidates are in contention in swing districts — like Ammar Campa-Najjar in the race of retiring Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Colorado state Rep. Manny Rutinel, running to unseat Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO). 

If 2010 offered any lessons, it’s that ideologically extreme, problematic candidates typically underperform expectations. That often makes the difference in a battleground state or district, where the margin of victory is typically close. It’s easy to get nostalgic for a time when a candidate like Christine O’Donnell (who notoriously proclaimed she was not a witch!) was as exotic as it got in politics. Now one of the Democrats’ leading Senate candidates is known for proclaiming he’s “not a secret Nazi.”

But given the tribalism of the current environment and the intense anti-Trump sentiment among Democrats and independents, do voters care about candidate quality anymore? Last November, Virginia voters elected an attorney general who survived revelations that he wished violence on a political opponent, only mildly underperforming the rest of the Democratic ticket. 

This year’s midterm elections will put that proposition to the test. With strong battle-tested moderate recruits — like former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola — in purple and red states, Democrats are expanding the Senate map and giving themselves a fighting chance for a clean sweep. 

But they risk jeopardizing those gains with some (potentially) not-ready-for-primetime players in the biggest battlegrounds of all: Maine and Michigan.

A gunman who attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on Saturday night appears to have been acting alone, but is not currently cooperating with authorities, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday morning. 

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and other Cabinet officials were rushed out of the Washington Hilton ballroom, where Trump was attending the WHCD for his first time as president, after shots were fired around 8:40 p.m. on Saturday.

The gunman had rushed a security checkpoint one floor above the ballroom armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives and was tackled by law enforcement, D.C. police chief Jeffery Carroll said at a press briefing hours after the incident. 

Trump released images and security camera video of the moment on Truth Social, where the attacker is seen running past security, who react quickly. He did not reach the ballroom.

The gunman was arrested and taken to a local hospital, though officials say he was not shot during the altercation. One Secret Service officer was shot but was saved by his bulletproof vest, Trump said, and no other injuries were reported.

The suspect has not been named publicly but anonymous law enforcement officials identified him to The New York Times as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, Calif. Federal authorities swarmed his home in the Los Angeles area hours after the attack. A LinkedIn account appearing to be connected to Allen indicates he was a video game developer and a part-time teacher.

Blanche said the gunman took a train from Los Angeles to Chicago and from Chicago to Washington where he checked into the Hilton as a guest a day or two before the event. It appears from the initial investigation that the suspect “set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche added. 

An apparent manifesto by the shooter sent to his family members and obtained by CBS News said he was targeting administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” because he didn’t want their “crimes” to “coat [his] hands.” He said he would not target “Mr. Patel” — referring to the FBI director — Secret Service, Capitol Police or National Guard troops. “In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls),” he added.

He further criticized what he called the lack of security at the hotel and apologized to his parents “for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for ‘Most Wanted,’” as well as to his colleagues and students for saying he had a personal emergency.

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Sunday that the suspect was being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer, among other charges, and would be arraigned on Monday.

Trump, speaking from the White House briefing room shortly after the incident, praised law enforcement and members of the media for their response — a change in the president’s usual acrimonious tone with the press. He insisted that the WHCD be rescheduled shortly, and further used the incident to justify the construction of his White House ballroom.

A who’s who of the leading names in media, tech and global and domestic politics are flocking to the nation’s capital for the scores of exclusive parties surrounding the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this Saturday — where President Donald Trump will make his first-ever appearance as president and deliver a roast of the political press corps. 

The correspondents’ dinner, and the parties thrown in its honor, have always generated enough fanfare to maintain its status as the biggest weekend of the social calendar in Washington. This year, however, is being treated inside the Beltway as the most high-profile WHCD weekend in at least a decade, the result of Trump’s decision to participate in this year’s dinner after boycotting it for his entire presidency.

In addition to Trump’s roast, guests will be entertained by Oz Pearlman, a famed mentalist known for his mind-reading tricks. Pearlman, who is Jewish and was born in Israel, marks a shift from the traditional entertainment choice at the dinner, which is usually a monologue delivered by a comedian. Those comedians’ jokes about Trump were a factor in why the president has skipped previous dinners, and the White House Correspondents’ Association canceled its planned entertainer last year over backlash to her past comments.

The dinner could make for some awkward moments: one of the WHCA’s award winners this year is a team from The Wall Street Journal, for reporting on Trump’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — an article that led Trump to sue the Journal. And that’s not to mention Trump’s routine hostility toward and criticisms of the media more broadly. It is unclear if the president will be present for the award ceremony.

Celebrities have historically flocked to Washington for WHCD weekend, though the number of famous names willing to appear for the dinner or other events dwindled during the first Trump administration. That trend began to reverse during the Biden administration, though it picked up again last year when Trump returned to office. 

Nicki Minaj, the rap superstar who has become an advocate for the Trump administration, will be attending the dinner as a guest of the Washington Times. No other media organizations have announced celebrity guests for their respective tables at the dinner. 

Regardless of a diminished turnout of famous faces, this weekend will be jam-packed with nonstop events, and it has already begun.

Trump’s announcement in early March that he would attend Saturday’s dinner — leading many senior administration officials to also make plans to attend the festivities and Donald Trump Jr. to organize an ultra-exclusive event at his Executive Branch Club in Georgetown on Friday night — prompted an avalanche of interest from major companies, U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and dignitaries, top corporate powerbrokers and domestic political firms. 

Boeing, Meta and Amazon swiftly organized intimate, invite-only gatherings for this weekend or became lead sponsors for events being hosted by D.C.-area embassies, media outlets, political operatives and high-profile consulting groups. Foreign ambassadors stationed in the U.S. and others looking to connect with the president’s circle or the broader Washington political orbit began calling in favors to get on the guest lists for all of the weekend’s events, making invitations all-the-more difficult to secure for those who have attended in the last decade. 

The parties start early on Friday with Axios Live’s annual WHCD weekend kickoff brunch at 9:00 a.m., followed by MS NOW’s brunch at 11:00 a.m. and Punchbowl News’ WHCD weekend kickoff gathering the publication’s townhouse in Capitol Hill at noon. 

Meghan McCain’s “Renegade Women’s Cocktail Party” at The Graham in Georgetown starts at 4 p.m. while YouTube’s official WHCD party at Floreria Atlantico in Georgetown and the Motion Picture Association’s reception at the Downtown headquarters begin at 5:30.

Later that night, Semafor is hosting a “house party” at the private residence of its founder, Justin B. Smith, starting at 8 p.m.; Creative Artists Agency’s annual Friday evening party, sponsored by Vanity Fair, will take place this year at 7:30 p.m. at the Belgian ambassador’s residence near Georgetown; and United Talent Agency will host their annual “Celebration of American Journalists” at 9:00 p.m. at Osteria Mozza in Georgetown.

The Qataris are once again hosting a Friday evening correspondents bash with Washingtonian magazine, which starts at 8 p.m. at the Georgetown Four Seasons, which Qatari Ambassador Meshal Al Thani is slated to attend. At 7 p.m., doors will open for the Daily Mail’s party with Brunswick Review Business Magazine at the British ambassador’s residence.

Saturday’s festivities start at 11 a.m. with the annual White House Correspondents’ garden brunch, hosted by Tammy Haddad at the Beall-Washington House in Georgetown. Ahead of the dinner, Puck is hosting a “penthouse pre-party” on the rooftop of The Hepburn, located next to the Washington Hilton. At the Hilton, where the dinner is taking place, The Wall Street Journal and ABC News have their respective annual pre-dinner receptions at 5:30 p.m. The Washington Post has a cocktail reception at the Hilton starting at 6 p.m., the same time that Politico’s pre-dinner event with CBS News — featuring new CBS News honcho Bari Weiss — takes place just down the hall. 

Alongside the dinner, Substack is hosting its “New Media Party” at 8 p.m. at the Renwick Gallery, located blocks from the White House; afterward, MS NOW and NBC News have dueling parties starting at 11:30 p.m., with the former hosting theirs at Dupont Underground in Dupont Circle and the latter hosting theirs at the French ambassador’s residence in Kalorama. Time’s WHCD afterparty at the Swiss ambassador’s residence in Woodley Park begins at 11 p.m.

On Sunday, NOTUS and Politico are hosting a brunch at the home of Robert Allbritton starting at 11:00 a.m., and CNN’s “WHCD Weekend Finale” brunch reception starts at 12:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump was honored alongside CBS News’ White House correspondents at a private event at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday night hosted by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison ahead of the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.

The gathering, which was not open to the press, marked what is expected to be Trump’s sole appearance at a WHCD event outside of the dinner itself, which he is set to attend for the first time as president on Saturday. CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was among those in attendance, though Deadline reported on Thursday that most of those invited were “from Paramount corporate, rather than the news division.”

An invitation to the dinner described the event as an “intimate gathering in celebration of the First Amendment honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House correspondents.”

Dozens of protesters gathered across the street from the Institute of Peace to protest the dinner and Paramount’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which Ellison has been lobbying the Trump administration, the Department of Justice and Congress to approve. 

Opponents of the merger — including thousands who signed onto a letter earlier this month raising concerns about the potential deal — have said it will result in higher costs and fewer opportunities and jobs for those in the industry.

Attorney Norm Eisen, a co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action; Alvaro Bedoya, who served as FTC commissioner under President Joe Biden; Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Becca Balint (D-VT); and Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, a left-wing consumer advocacy group that organized the protest, were among those who spoke at the demonstration. 

The White House did not respond to Jewish Insider’s requests for comment on the dinner.

President Donald Trump convened senior U.S., Israeli and Lebanese officials at the White House on Thursday for the second round of Israeli-Lebanese peace talks, during which the parties agreed to a three-week extension of the ongoing ceasefire. 

The talks were originally slated to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department, but the president had the summit moved to the Oval Office in order to participate and lead the negotiations. Trump and Rubio were joined at the meeting by Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadah Mouwad. U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham was also in the room.

Trump announced the ceasefire extension in a post on his Truth Social platform at the conclusion of the talks. “The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote on the platform. “I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun. It was a Great Honor to be a participant at this very Historic Meeting!”

Speaking afterward to press alongside Vance, Rubio and the four ambassadors, the president expressed his hope that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would meet during the ceasefire, ideally at the White House. 

Vance and Rubio both credited Trump as the catalyst for securing the ceasefire extension at the meeting, with each asserting that the president’s direct participation pushed all sides to want to leave with deliverables. “The president wanted to be personally involved, and I’m glad he was because it made it possible to get this extension,” Rubio said.

Trump said that Hezbollah’s refusals to disarm and cease attacks on Israel and its forces were main topics during the talks, and noted that he would not prevent the Israelis from responding if hit by Hezbollah. Still, he said, Israel’s overall approach to the war against Hezbollah would shift to a more “surgical” approach.

“Israel is going to have to defend itself if they’re shot at, and they will. I would never say that they can’t,” Trump said. “It’d be nice if they wouldn’t have to bother with that, but if something happens, they’re going to have to defend themselves, as you know, but they’re going to do it carefully and they’re going to be surgical as opposed to beyond surgical. There’s a lot they can do, but Israel is going to have to defend itself.”

Despite the ceasefire announcement, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel, with Hezbollah taking credit for an attack on Shtula, a border community in northern Israel as officials gathered at the White House for peace talks. On Friday morning, the IDF said that in response to those rockets, it struck Hezbollah military structures used to plan and carry out terror attacks in the areas of Kherbet Selem and Touline in southern Lebanon.

Leiter praised the Trump administration’s efforts to reach a diplomatic solution and improve relations between Israel and Lebanon, though he noted that such a goal could not be achieved without making the defeat of Hezbollah a core focus.

“To put the emphasis repeatedly in our talks on Israeli withdrawal is to fall into the trap, once again, of putting the emphasis in the wrong place. If we continue down that path, we are doomed to failure, and failure, friends, is not an option,” Leiter said. “If, on the other hand, we put the focus on the root problem, Hezbollah and its murderous intentions with regard to Israel, I have no doubt that we will succeed in eliminating the Hezbollah menace and achieving peace between our two countries.”

The president insisted the Iranian leaders would need to cut off its funding for Hezbollah to secure a peace deal to end the U.S. war in Iran, responding affirmatively when asked if that was “a must” for him. 

Trump also said he would “make sure” that Lebanese laws criminalizing official communications with Israel were “ended very quickly,” criticizing the policy as “crazy.”

“I think we’ll have to end that. That’s something we’re gonna have to end,” Trump told reporters after being asked about the laws. “That’s a good start. It’s a crime to talk with Israel? Well, I’m pretty sure that that will be ended very quickly, OK? I’ll make sure of that. And I know Lebanon doesn’t want that. We’ll end it. Will you work on that please, everybody? That’s crazy.” 

Rubio touted the ceasefire extension in Lebanon as a win for all parties involved, arguing that the pause in fighting “gives everybody time to continue to work on what’s going to be a permanent peace between two countries who want to be at peace.” Still, he warned that Hezbollah remained a significant barrier to achieving that aim.

Israel and Lebanon, Rubio argued, “are victimized by the same terrorist organization, a terrorist organization that no doubt has victimized Israel, but has also victimized the people of Lebanon. The people of Lebanon deserve to live in a country that’s peaceful and prosperous. They have an opportunity to do that. They have a history of that, and what’s standing in the way is a terrorist organization that operates within their national territory. That threat needs to be eliminated.”

President Donald Trump’s effort to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a longtime thorn in his side, got another big-money boost as Christians United for Israel Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the Christian Zionist group, announced that it is spending six figures to blanket Massie’s congressional district with dozens of billboards hitting the congressman over his opposition to the Iran war.

“For one full month, CUFI Action Fund will dominate Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District outdoor advertising space by securing every available billboard in the district, creating a broad and highly visible message presence across the region,” CUFI Action Fund senior director Ari Morgenstern told Jewish Insider. “The buy spans key communities across the district, ensuring the message reaches voters in both local population centers and along major commuter and travel routes.”

Morgenstern said that the billboards are expected to reach “1.487 million adult impressions each week,” along major roadways across the district. The Kentucky primary election, where Massie is facing off against Trump-endorsed Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, is on May 19.

The billboard displays an image of President Donald Trump atop the American flag alongside Massie atop the Iranian flag, with the captions “Kentucky = Trump Country,” “Tell Massie: Support Peace Through Strength” and “No Support for Iranian Regime.”

The campaign banks on the notion that GOP primary voters in the deep-red district remain strongly supportive of the Iran war.

AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC is also going on the offensive against Massie with a substantial TV ad campaign, which focuses on Massie’s opposition to the war in Iran. The Republican Jewish Coalition has spent $3.5 million in the district to oppose Massie as well.

Massie’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely until negotiations are complete, reversing course from recent comments that he did not plan to extend the deadline again. 

Trump said on Truth Social that he was making the decision at the request of Pakistani negotiators and “based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so,” so that Iran’s “leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.” 

“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” Trump continued.

The news came shortly before the ceasefire was set to expire — Trump had said it would expire Wednesday evening, while Pakistani officials said Tuesday night. Vice President JD Vance had been set to leave for the discussions in Islamabad early Tuesday morning but postponed his trip, instead staying in Washington. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the White House Tuesday afternoon, shortly before Trump made the announcement.. 

The news represented a stark reversal of Trump’s own comments made earlier Tuesday: Asked on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” if he would extend the ceasefire to allow time for negotiations to continue, Trump said, “Well, I don’t want to do that.”

He said further that he preferred resuming military operations to extending the ceasefire. “I expect to be bombing, because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with, but we’re ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go.”

A White House official confirmed to reporters early Tuesday evening that, “In light of President Trump’s TRUTH Social post confirming the United States is awaiting a unified proposal from the Iranians, the trip to Pakistan will not be happening today. Any further updates on in-person meetings will be announced by the White House.” 

The official did not say that Vance’s trip was canceled, and his spokesperson could not immediately be reached by Jewish Insider to confirm if the vice president was planning to make another trip to Pakistan for talks. 

In response to the news, Pakistani Prime ‌Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a statement thanking Trump for “graciously accepting our request to extend the ceasefire to allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to take their course.” 

Sharif referenced “the second round of talks scheduled at Islamabad for a permanent end to the conflict” in his statement, posted to X, though he did not provide a date.

A weekend of diplomatic turbulence has deepened fault lines in Israel over the ceasefires in Lebanon and Iran, with public opinion split along political lines over whether President Donald Trump is serving Israeli interests — or overriding them.

The most recent poll on the matter, taken before the Lebanon ceasefire was announced and published by Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday, found that 51% of Israelis oppose a ceasefire with Hezbollah and only 29% support it. Among voters for Netanyahu’s government, 64% oppose a ceasefire and 18% support it. Nearly half (48%) of Israelis do not trust President Donald Trump to consider Israeli interests in negotiations with Iran, while 33% do trust him. Most voters for Netanyahu’s coalition (59%) trust Trump while 24% do not. 

Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon on Thursday, before any known progress had been made in talks between Jerusalem and Beirut toward dismantling Hezbollah, already made waves in Israel. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted on Friday to draw the same delicate balance as he had regarding Iran the previous week, asserting that Israel has “brought about monumental achievements” in Lebanon, created a buffer zone along the northern border and destroyed much of Hezbollah’s missile stockpile. However, he added, “we have not yet finished the job,” but said Israel was “provid[ing] an opportunity to advance an integrated diplomatic and military solution with the Lebanese government,” at Trump’s request.

Within an hour of the release of Netanyahu’s statement, Trump published a Truth Social post in which he “PROHIBITED” Israel from continuing to bomb Hezbollah targets, adding: “Enough is enough!!!”

Jerusalem reportedly asked the Trump administration for clarifications in light of the strong language in the post, which contradicted language in the ceasefire allowing Israel to act “in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.” 

Two IDF soldiers were killed in Lebanon over the weekend by explosive devices planted by Hezbollah. The IDF continued striking terror targets in Lebanon, such as “a loaded and ready-to-fire launcher,” saying that “Hezbollah has continued its terrorist activity, in violation of the [ceasefire] agreement.” On Monday morning, IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged residents of dozens of areas of southern Lebanon to stay away for their safety.  

Trump said in his Friday Truth Social post that “the U.S.A. will get all nuclear ‘dust’ created by our great B2 bombers,” apparently referring to Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Yet, Iran has denied any concessions on the nuclear file, and resumed its blockade of the Straits of Hormuz as long as the U.S. continued to block vessels going to and from the Islamic Republic. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the U.S. and Iran are negotiating a 15-year suspension of uranium enrichment and the conversion of highly-enriched uranium into fuel, rather than removing it from Iran, as well as lifting sanctions.

With the ceasefire in Iran due to end on Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance is set to travel to Pakistan for a second round of talks on Monday, but Iranian state media has said officials do not plan to attend.

Shira Efron, a senior fellow at RAND who serves as the think tank’s distinguished chair for Israel policy, told Jewish Insider that “there is no question that the tone – ‘prohibited’ in upper case, ‘enough is enough’ – struck a sensitive note in Israel, and people are talking about a vassal state.” 

Efron tied Trump’s comments from Friday to those at the end of last year’s 12-day war against Iran, when he said “I’m not happy with Israel … They don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” She also connected the comments to the pressure Trump has put on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, as well as Israeli and American flags lining some of Israel’s busiest highways for much of the last two months.

“These are things that make Israelis say, ‘Have we lost our agency?’” she said.

Israelis are also disappointed because they feel the government overpromised to bring security to the residents of the country’s north, Efron said, noting that “it takes a long time to disarm terrorist organizations.” 

“There is a sense of confusion as to how the president, who has been so tightly aligned with Prime Minister Netanyahu, could issue a blanket, almost punitive warning to Israel to stop bombing Hezbollah, that had been bombing Israel incessantly with hundreds of missiles and drones,” Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs told JI.

Efron said that the ceasefires are “the package deal. We’re clearly the junior partner here. The U.S. wants us to stop in Lebanon because that’s what’s required to give the Islamabad talks a chance to succeed.” 

Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, called Trump’s remarks “draconian.”

“There is a sense of confusion as to how the president, who has been so tightly aligned with Prime Minister Netanyahu, could issue a blanket, almost punitive warning to Israel to stop bombing Hezbollah, that had been bombing Israel incessantly with hundreds of missiles and drones,” he told JI. 

“This is not a ceasefire by Hezbollah,” Diker added. “Israel agreed to back off to see what the Americans would do. We’re in this waiting period.”

Diker argued that Netanyahu “played it extremely well in going with the president, while maintaining very strict red lines about Israel’s demands to continue to be able to defend itself against Iranian aggression and Hezbollah.”

The mandate of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon “is to try to separate Hezbollah from its Iranian patrons and try to coalesce the Lebanese government that had reached out to Israel,” Diker said.

Efron called the negotiations between the Lebanese government and Israel, including possible peace and normalization, “a stab in the eye for the Iranians. It’s not what they want,” but tying a ceasefire in Lebanon to the talks with Iran — or the resumption of fighting with Hezbollah in the event of the war in Iran starting up again — is a “strategic negative … connecting two fronts, which you want to prevent.”

Efron argued that “Trump is doing Israel a favor” in pushing the Lebanon ceasefire, because “there is a declining marginal utility in continuing the military effort beyond what was done at first. … It’s better to try serious negotiations with Lebanon that are required if we are ever to disarm Hezbollah.”

“This has become the war of Hormuz, not what Israel was concerned with. Israel is concerned with three threats,” Shira Efron, a senior fellow at RAND who serves as the think tank’s distinguished chair for Israel policy said, naming Iran’s nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and proxy war.

Diker, however, said it was unclear whether the Lebanese government would be able to help disarm Hezbollah, pointing out that the Iranian ambassador remains in Beirut even though he was nominally expelled by the government weeks ago. “From a perception standpoint, that tells the whole story,” he said.” 

With regard to negotiations with Iran for a longer-term ceasefire, Efron said that “Israel is almost a bystander. Clearly, its positions are factored in, but Israel is not at the table.” 

“This has become the war of Hormuz, not what Israel was concerned with. Israel is concerned with three threats,” Efron said, naming Iran’s nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and proxy war.

“If the reports are accurate, Israel is getting far less than it wanted,” she added. “If the best we get is no enriching uranium for 15 years and some deal about highly enriched uranium, nothing about missiles and proxies, and Iran will get all this money from frozen funds – How is that much better than the [2015 Iran Deal]? … It’s a little too early to say, but if this is the agreement, clearly there will be a sourness on the part of Israel. Even the biggest cheerleaders of this war are not happy about it. … It will be hard to sell to the people as an actual victory.” 

Diker said “clearly Israel has not finished the mission to deny the Iranian regime of highly-enriched uranium, ballistic missiles or its proxy strategy. It has not accomplished any of those goals.”

That being said, Israel “achieved Prime Minister Netanyahu’s immediate goal … act[ing] heroically in seriously degrading the Iranian regime’s ballistic capabilities … [and] definitely achieved the goal of preventing an immediate existential threat from being carried out,” Diker said. “Clearly Israel is in a much better position today, having destroyed the majority of [Iran’s] ballistic missiles, which were a shield for the nuclear weapons program.” 

From the Iranian perspective, however, the regime “succeeded very consequentially, stood up to the ‘Big Satan’ and ‘Little Satan’ in a six-week war, and they’re still standing,” Diker added. “That, in my assessment, has caused them to act in a far more daring way. That’s why they closed the Strait [of Hormuz] again, because they figured they brought Donald Trump to heel and Israel to heel.”

“I do think they’re overplaying their hand as an apocalyptic jihadistic Islamic regime, because they are driven primarily by ideological religious fervor. They are not primarily rational actors,” he added.

Efron noted that it is “difficult to assess the outcome of war in the short term,” and “Israel may be really happy because in two or three years Iran will be done for.” That being said, Efron said she is “dreading the [regime’s] revenge on the Iranian people.” 

Diker said that Israel is still “determined to dismantle this apocalyptic regime … [otherwise] we are going to be in this for another four, five, six years. We can’t afford to allow this window of opportunity to close.” He referred to outgoing Mossad Director David Barnea’s speech at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony last week, in which he said that Israel’s mission in Iran will end “only when this radical regime is replaced.” 

“We hope that the president will be in it for the long run,” Diker added.