New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his team refused to condemn social media posts from the co-founder of the group ‘Hot Girls for Zohran’ that boosted antisemitic and pro-Iran voices and bashed police and leading U.S. politicians.

The refusal came one day after Jewish Insider revealed Kaif Gilani — a finance professional who spearheaded a social media, merchandising and volunteer canvassing operation  supporting the mayor’s election last year — had shared conspiracy theories from a Holocaust revisionist and a video cheerleading ex-Hamas military chief and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, along with posts insulting law enforcement and various political figures. 

From City Hall on Thursday, Mamdani would only stress that Gilani’s organization operated independently of his official election effort.

Asked by a reporter about his association with Gilani, Mamdani said, “This was an individual leading an outside group and was never paid for by our campaign. If New Yorkers want to know my views then they can hear it directly from me.”

When JI pressed the mayor directly whether he condemned the content of Gilani’s posts, Mamdani refused to respond and left the room, similar to how he fled questions on the matter from Politico on Wednesday. His press secretary maintained he had answered the question. 

Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec acknowledged that the mayor had posed for photos with Gilani, but would not say anything about his view of the activist’s promotion of conspiracy theories of Israeli involvement in 9/11 and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as the amplification of explicit pro-Iran and pro-Hamas messaging, or of posts asserting that “all cops are going to hell” and “there’s no such thing as a good cop.”

“As the mayor says, if you want to know what he thinks, you can hear it from him,” Pekec said.

The mayor also did not answer a question from another reporter of whether he knew Gilani or had given him a referral to the campaign of former City Comptroller Brad Lander, whose congressional bid Mamdani has endorsed. 

JI discovered that Gilani, through a company he formed in November, had been the highest-paid consultant to Lander’s congressional campaign — though Lander, a self-described progressive Zionist and outspoken Israel critic, insisted through a spokesperson that his team had been unaware of Gilani’s posts and terminated his contract after JI shared its findings.

The highest-paid consultant for former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s congressional bid is the founder of the “Hot Girls for Zohran” campaign — and a prolific X user who has shared posts lauding Hamas and insinuating Israeli involvement in 9/11 and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, all while attacking police and Democratic elected officials.

Among the 21 payments appearing in the first campaign finance filing from Lander — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed candidate against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — the largest is $15,000 disbursed to a company called Brain Child LLC for “Website and social media.” State corporation records reveal that the two-and-a-half-month-old firm belongs to Kaif Gilani and is based out of his triplex Brooklyn apartment.

According to his LinkedIn, Gilani serves as the vice president of the enterprise data office at Citi (the financial company did not confirm or deny this when reached for comment, but said it is “investigating the matter”). But Gilani gained attention, often using the name Kaif Kabir, during the 2025 mayoral campaign as one half of the team behind “Hot Girls for Zohran”: a viral merchandising, social media and volunteer canvassing effort backing the insurgent democratic socialist.

“Hot Girls for Zohran” also organized such high-engagement events as a Mamdani look-alike contest and a costumed Halloween bash profiled in Vanity Fair. In a photo posted to Substack, the future mayor posed with Gilani holding up one of the group’s signature T-shirts.

But amid all the fanfare, Gilani’s X account — from which he tweeted as @chunkyfila, after formerly using his own name as a handle — passed unnoticed, despite numerous extreme views he expressed or amplified on the platform. After Jewish Insider requested comment, Gilani deleted his X and LinkedIn profiles; he also set his Instagram profile, which also uses @chunkyfila as a handle and formerly linked an empty — now deleted — account for Brain Child, to private.

A representative for Lander, a self-proclaimed progressive Zionist who has been deeply critical of Israel during its war against Hamas, maintained that the campaign was unaware of the posts JI uncovered at the time it contracted with Gilani. They added that they have ended their relationship with his firm as of Tuesday in response to JI’s findings.

“We were not aware of these tweets when we hired them. As soon as we became aware, we terminated their contract. They definitely do not reflect Brad’s views,” said spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. “Brad has denounced and condemned Hamas, the October 7th attacks, and the sexual violence that they committed on after [sic] October 7th, on many occasions.”

Hitt did not answer, however, how the campaign came to hire Brain Child in the first place, or whether it would scrap any products the company created for Lander’s congressional bid.

Gilani’s social media activity includes numerous posts and retweets assailing Israel, which he has called a “settler project country.” In January 2025, just a few months before “Hot Girls for Zohran” launched, Gilani retweeted a post by Holocaust revisionist Ian Carroll — a recurring guest on Tucker Carlson’s show — in which Carroll suggested that Israel was implicated in the Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 attacks.

Giliani also retweeted a conspiratorial post from Carroll which read, “AIPAC purchased the seats of about 90% or more of our current congress. JFK famously wanted them registered as a foreign agent right before he was shot.” The post further repeated the long-debunked “dancing Israelis” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims Mossad agents had advance notice of 9/11.

The pinned post at the top of his Instagram is a photo of posters bearing the slogan “long live Palestine” and showing the entire territory of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip swathed in a keffiyeh with no boundary lines. Last May, he shared another X user’s assertion that “‘Israel has a right to exist’ is a racist, anti-Palestinian dog whistle which implies the extermination of the Palestinian People.”

Gilani has also repeatedly authored or promoted tweets sympathetic to or supportive of Hamas, in March 2024 sharing a post claiming that the bargaining table position of the terrorist organization — which rejects Israel’s existence and which initiated the latest wave of the conflict with its rampage into Israeli territory on Oct. 7, 2023 — is “we want lasting peace and our basic human rights.” 

He also retweeted a clip of former Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in October 2024 after he masterminded the previous year’s attacks, with a caption that read, “Does the world expect us to be well-behaved victims while we are getting killed? For us to be slaughtered without making a noise?” Gilani also retweeted a post that attacked stylistic differences between the Time cover honoring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, as “Person of the Year” and the issue announcing Sinwar’s death as “A tale of two ethnicities.”

In November 2023, Gilani reacted to a tweet decrying a Hamas rocket that struck an Israeli kindergarten in Sderot by writing, “I thought this was satire for a second.” He further boosted tweets mocking or dismissing Jewish Americans’ concerns about rising antisemitism, retweeting one post stating that such fear “makes me laugh” because of how American Muslims purportedly downplay their own experience of Islamophobia, and another that sneered “really love the internet when I can watch videos of a Jewish pogrom in the West Bank where 3 Palestinians were killed and then see people on the Upper East Side tweeting about how unsafe they feel as Jews in New York after a Democratic primary election.”

He also shared multiple posts denying or downplaying well-documented incidents of antisemitic violence during November 2024 riots in Amsterdam.

In October 2024, after Iran launched more than 200 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, he reposted a tweet, the text of which stated, “One side is cartoonishly evil in this war, and it ain’t Iran.” On June 13, 2025, when Israel severely damaged Iranian nuclear sites and military installations, Gilani tweeted about the news, saying, “May Allah protect the children of this earth. Those who have to learn about the perils of war before getting to experience the simple pleasures of this dunya.” One day later, he retweeted a post stating “Tell Iran we voting for a Muslim in NYC please let them know lmao.”

Gilani has also repeatedly signal-boosted individuals and organizations linked to the global propaganda network controlled by Beijing-based tech mogul Neville “Roy” Singham, including CODEPINK, BreakThrough News and pundit Rania Khalek, who first became famous as an apologist for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on Russian state-owned media.

And in July of last year, Gilani retweeted a post asserting “there is no negotiating with Israel,” which the user labeled “a racist supremacist state.” He also shared another post that called for “overwhelming military force” against Israel over its policies toward Gaza. 

He also shared multiple posts urging Mamdani not to abandon the slogan “globalize the intifada,” a phrase that has been invoked at anti-Israel demonstrations and criticized as an anti-Jewish call to violence, and which the now-mayor has distanced himself from but refused to condemn.  

That same month, he retweeted a post from a now-deleted account that denied the extensive evidence of sexual assaults conducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, denouncing such assertions as “so obscenely racist it’s disgusting anyone remotely believed that shit.”

In a statement to JI, Gilani did not directly address the content or substance of any of his tweets. Rather, he insinuated that he was being singled out for his Muslim faith. He denied holding any animus toward Jewish people, and maintained those he knows personally hold the same views as he does. 

“My critiques of the Israeli government as it carries on a U.S.-backed slaughter are not antisemitism, they are indicative of a basic level of morality and empathy for others,” he wrote in an email. “I’m grateful for my many Jewish friends who share my opinions. Free Palestine.”

Gilani has also gone after leading Democratic politicians, including some with whom Mamdani and Lander would need to work to achieve their policy aims. 

In 2020, Gilani referred to then-candidate Joe Biden as “a pedophile with dementia,” while in 2024 he quote-tweeted the then-president with the message: “My prayer is that your heart stops beating.” He has also asserted that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “is going to hell.” He also urged a primary campaign against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), writing to City Councilman Chi Osse: “Let’s get his ass.” Mamdani reportedly discouraged Osse from running against Jeffries, and intervened to block an endorsement of his candidacy from the Democratic Socialists of America.

Gilani has also lashed out at City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican representing parts of Brooklyn. In May 2024, Gilani tweeted at the lawmaker, “You’re a f*cking idiot and your face resembles that of a horse.” 

He has also attacked Mamdani’s close ally Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), tweeting at him “u a f*cking b*tch fr.”

Gilani has vented strong anti-police sentiments, having written that “all cops are going to hell,” as well as “there’s no such thing as a good cop” and “we literally do not give a f*ck about videos of cops or military on their knees. we won’t be satisfied until the entire racist system is on its knees.” He has also tweeted “f*ck the police” on at least two occasions. 

As the NYPD cleared the anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University on May 1, 2024, Gilani retweeted a post which stated, “Cops are violent psychopaths who pray for a moment like this where they get to live out their rotten fantasies of beating and killing protestors,” and added, “Reform isn’t real.” Additionally, Gilani shared a statement from activists at Emory University that labeled police “pigs.”

Besides his political and religious musings, Gilani’s feed consists largely of references to sports gambling, cryptocurrencies and lewd jokes.

The results in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District last night may not make national headlines, but should be sending a shock wave across Democratic campaigns and pro-Israel institutions. 

Analilia Mejia, the far-left, Bernie Sanders-endorsed activist, narrowly led in a crowded field of Democratic candidates in a primary election for an affluent, moderate-minded district, despite long odds.  

With most votes counted, Mejia leads former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who was considered the favorite, 29-28%. Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, favored by pro-Israel groups and endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, finished in third place, winning just 17% of the vote.

Mejia’s apparent primary victory is another sign that the socialist wing of the Democratic Party — as exemplified by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s out-of-nowhere success across the Hudson River — is ascendant. Mejia was the only candidate to call Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza a “genocide” and condemned Israel just days after Oct. 7 without making a mention of Hamas’ terror attack against the Jewish state.

As early as Oct. 10, before the Israeli invasion of Gaza began, Mejia said: “Every fiber of my being is horrified beyond words at what is furthering in Gaza.” 

The fact that a candidate as far to the left as Mejia could prevail in one of the most affluent, suburban districts in the country speaks volumes about the state of the party. This is a district, based in Morris County, filled with Wall Street bankers, venture capitalists and other wealthy white-collar workers that was a reliably Republican area not long ago.

Mejia is also beating the party machine-backed candidate, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, on his home turf — an unprecedented dynamic for an underdog with next-to-no institutional support.

The decision by the AIPAC-aligned United Democracy Project (UDP) to spend over $2.3 million in ads attacking Malinowski is also looking highly questionable. The money, spent on ads attacking Malinowski for funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during his time in Congress, served its role in knocking down the front-runner. 

But the playbook failed to do enough to boost Way, their closest ally, and clearly played an unintended role in Mejia’s strong showing, potentially elevating the fringe candidate into Congress. The lobby group was upset that Malinowski, who was generally a pro-Israel vote in Congress, had called for conditioning aid to Israel during the lengthy war in Gaza — and wanted to demonstrate that his criticism carried a cost. Their all-out push for the best possible result led to the worst possible outcome.

“If I was an AIPAC official, I’d be wondering, ‘How am I going to go to the same donors that I got money from to run this whole campaign against Malinowski and now I’m going to have to do the same thing to take out the person that I accidentally got elected?’” one Jewish leader said, presuming a Mejia win.

That said, there will be two opportunities for pro-Israel groups and moderate forces within the party to mobilize against Mejia, presuming she holds on for the nomination. Given that the New Jersey seat is a fairly competitive district — it backed Kamala Harris by eight points in the 2024 election — Mejia is not a lock to win the general special election (for the remainder of the term) against Republican Joe Hathaway, the mayor of Randolph Township. 

It’s hard to imagine Democrats, running in a very favorable political environment, losing the general election. But you couldn’t find a more-problematic candidate than a socialist running in a capitalist-minded district.

In addition, there will be a separate June Democratic primary for the regular term. There’s a strong chance Mejia would face credible opposition from a more mainstream Democrat, even if elected to Congress, though it’s possible multiple opponents could end up challenging her.

But the fact that Mejia isn’t yet a sitting lawmaker offers little consolation to pro-Israel leaders, who are looking warily at upcoming primary fields — from Illinois to Maine to Minnesota — where Democrats could nominate a slate of far-left, anti-Israel candidates that, if elected, would dramatically change the image and ideological disposition of the party.

A major infusion of pro-Israel funding into attack ads on former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) has complicated Malinowski’s path to victory in the Thursday special election primary for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District — though political analysts and members of the local Jewish community still see Malinowski as the likely favorite and say the precise impact of the anti-Malinowski attacks remains to be seen.

Malinowski has been the target of over $2.3 million in ads funded by the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project, which have hit Malinowski for a 2019 vote for Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding and stock trading while in office. 

Though AIPAC hasn’t formally endorsed Tahesha Way or run any messaging supporting her, the group is widely believed to be backing the former lieutenant governor, who was endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel.

“There are several candidates in this race that are far more supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship than Tom Malinowski,” UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton told Jewish Insider last month.

Most local observers agreed that Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who has deep institutional ties in New Jersey Democratic politics, is in the strongest position against Malinowski, but Way and progressive activist and Israel critic Analilia Mejia, who has mobilized a series of prominent national progressive endorsers, also have pathways to victory.

The AIPAC blitz against Malinowski has surprised some in the Jewish community who saw Malinowski as an ally during his time in office, especially as Mejia has been more strongly critical of the Jewish state than Malinowski. But others have noted that Malinowski has shifted left since leaving office in 2023, when he represented the neighboring 7th District, a shift that now includes expressing openness to conditions on U.S. aid to Israel.

One Jewish leader called AIPAC’s decision to intervene so strongly in the race a tactical mistake that could end up hurting pro-Israel candidates. The leader was also critical of AIPAC’s decision to back Way, rather than Gill, who has also cast himself as a supporter of Israel. 

The leader argued that AIPAC’s strategy had boosted Malinowski’s credibility with progressive voters, opened a window for Mejia and undermined Gill, whom the leader argued would otherwise be the most viable pro-Israel candidate. 

But others in the Jewish community harbor concerns about Gill related to his wife, a state assemblymember. Alixon Collazos-Gill has ties to and has attended various events hosted by anti-Israel groups.

Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said that Malinowski has clear advantages — he leads in fundraising, and has the strongest name recognition and experience in Congress. He also has a deluge of PAC spending against him. which indicates that opponents view him as having a strong shot — but “my gut tells me … that Brendan Gill has a shot if he can get out the vote in his neck of the woods, in Essex County,” Rasmussen said.

Dan Cassino, the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, agreed that “Malinowski certainly has an advantage in name recognition,” but said the outside spending has been “bruising” to him.

Rasmussen called the UDP ads “one of the biggest factors in the race,” given the size of the spend, but it’s not clear, Rasmussen and Cassino agreed, how voters turned off from Malinowski by the UDP ad blitz will vote, and they may scatter in various directions.

Rasmussen noted that Gill has a higher profile than Way and might be more likely to attract defectors, emphasizing that UDP has not given any direction or push to voters toward its preferred candidate.

He also said that, among certain populations, AIPAC’s opposition could strengthen Malinowski’s standing.

“Any one of these four candidates could win. With a low-turnout election, a highly motivated group of voters can make the difference,” Rasmussen said. A surge in Essex County voters could push Gill over the top, while Way would benefit from higher turnout among Black voters and Mejia could benefit from higher turnout among progressives, he said.

“Turnout is looking to be higher than some of the low-end projections we were seeing, but there’s still not a clear sense of who, exactly, is going to be coming out to the polls,” Cassino said.

Cassino said that “it’s also possible that bringing down Malinowski’s numbers winds up helping Mejia, who’s done a reasonable job of consolidating progressive support,” he continued, while noting that her fundraising has been “anemic.”

Rasmussen added that Mejia hasn’t fully consolidated the progressive lane: she scored endorsements from national progressive leaders, but Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), the most influential in-state progressive figure, is backing Malinowski.

And, he added, it’s “entirely possible” with so many candidates in the race and a lack of consolidation that a wildcard candidate could come from behind and win with just 20% of the vote.

Cassino framed the race as a test of the continued power of Democratic county organizations in the state.

“There’s going to be a lot of analysis looking at the extent to which Gill and Malinowski benefit from those endorsements,” he said. “The bigger those effects, the more valuable the endorsements are going to be perceived to be, which is going to shape candidate behavior in elections coming up.”

A pair of well-financed groups, whose origin is currently unknown, is set to begin running ads boosting moderate pro-Israel candidates in a series of open House seats in Chicago, each of whom is facing off against vocal anti-Israel opponents.

The ads — being run by newly formed super PACs Elect Chicago Women and Affordable Chicago Now — boost state Sen. Laura Fine, running in the 9th Congressional District, former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL), running in the 8th District and Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, running in the 2nd District.

The ad buys for the two groups add up to millions of dollars across the three races.

Given that the groups were just launched, FEC filing policies will not require them to disclose their donors until close to Election Day. But the ads, which do not focus on Israel policy, are widely rumored to be connected to the United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC.

UDP did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and AIPAC has not made formal endorsements in any of the races in question. 

Fine has established herself as a supporter of Israel during her campaign, and Bean had a pro-Israel record in office. Miller’s public record on the issue is less established.

A spokesperson for Evanston, Ill. Mayor Daniel Biss, running in the 9th, declared that ads were being run by “a right-wing dark money super PAC” and that Fine “is being propped up by Trump supporters, AIPAC donors, and right-wing super PACs.”

Biss has called for a ban on offensive weapons transfers to Israel and far-left influencer Kat Abughazaleh, another leading candidate in the  race, has taken even stronger anti-Israel positions.

State Sen. Robert Peters, a 2nd District candidate who also strongly condemned Israel during the war in Gaza, posted a video earlier this week accusing “AIPAC and Trump donors” of “pouring cash” into Miller’s campaign, warning that “AIPAC and Trump allies” are “trying to buy this seat.”

One of Bean’s leading challengers in the 8th is Junaid Ahmed, who supports an arms embargo and an end to all military aid to Israel.

In several progressive-minded districts across the country, UDP has utilized similar pop-up groups and not disclosed its involvement until after Election Day.

The pro-Fine ad praises her record in office on issues like health insurance and gun control, as well as points to her support for a ban on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago. It calls her “the fighter we need to stop Donald Trump.”

ICE has become a major issue in the race, with both Biss and Abughazaleh attending anti-ICE demonstrations. Abughazaleh is under indictment for allegedly conspiring to injure ICE officers during a protest.

The pro-Bean ad highlights her support for the Affordable Care Act in her previous service in Congress, even though she “knew it might cost her an election,” and includes a photo of her with former President Barack Obama. It frames her new run for Congress as a continued effort to protect healthcare access from GOP attacks.

The pro-Miller ad highlights her work with Planned Parenthood and her work to protect pregnant mothers and combat domestic violence on the Cook County Commission. It also frames her as a fighter against President Donald Trump.

All three moderates — Fine, Miller and Bean — solidified their places as leading contenders in their respective races this week by leading in fundraising in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Fine also released an internal poll this week showing herself and Biss  tied for the lead in her race, with Abughazaleh in third and other candidates trailing.

Bean is seen as the front-runner in her race, given her established record. Miller, in spite of her strong fundraising, could face headwinds running against former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), who has strong local and institutional support but struggled to raise money last quarter.

Tomorrow’s New Jersey special Democratic primary election to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacant House seat will offer an early test of AIPAC’s ability to continue showcasing its political clout. The pro-Israel group’s super PAC, in a potentially risky move, has spent over $2 million in ads attacking former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who has come out in favor of conditioning some aid to Israel, in hopes of electing a more reliable ally in former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way.

The group’s ad hits Malinowski not for his views on Israel, but for a bipartisan vote in 2019 funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and over stock trades he made as a congressman. The ICE attacks, in particular, are expected to resonate in the affluent, center-left district. Because of his name recognition representing a neighboring district before losing reelection in 2022, Malinowski started out as the early front-runner but is taking a serious hit on the airwaves.

But complicating that strategy is the presence of a far-left, anti-Israel candidate in Analilia Mejia, who leads a progressive advocacy group and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Mejia has been polling in second place, according to some reports, and has a path to winning the nomination — and the seat, given the 11th Congressional District’s Democratic lean.

The race also features Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, an establishment-oriented politician — endorsed by former Gov. Phil Murphy — who has expressed consistently pro-Israel views on the campaign trail and in an interview with Jewish Insider. 

Even as the political environment within the Democratic Party has shifted to the left, AIPAC isn’t backing down from its aggressive, on-offense playbook from 2024, when a number of mainstream pro-Israel Democrats backed by the group won their elections to Congress — while two of AIPAC’s most extreme opponents, former Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), fell short in their reelection bids.

Given the changed intraparty mood, there was a question about whether pro-Israel groups would need to play a little more defense this election cycle, or at least refocus attention on stopping the most radical candidates with a chance of winning instead of going all-out for the most principled allies.

That’s looking — at least for now — not to be the case. 

In Illinois’ upcoming primaries, state Sen. Laura Fine has emerged as the pro-Israel favorite against one frequent critic of Israel (Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss) and one outspoken anti-Israel activist (social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh) in another affluent Democratic district just outside of Chicago. The pro-Israel community isn’t hedging its bets in a bid to prevent Abughazaleh from prevailing.

The confident pro-Israel playbook looks like it’s working. Fine just announced raising a whopping $1.2 million in the last three months of 2025, and a new internal poll for Fine’s campaign shows her tied with Biss in first place, holding the momentum in the crowded primary.

That same dynamic is playing out in Michigan’s three-way Senate primary, where Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) is being rewarded with political support and donations for her long record of pro-Israel allyship. Her opponents offer two different shades of opposition to Israel: state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who tagged Israel’s war against Hamas as a genocide but has now been looking to pivot away from talking about the Middle East; and virulently anti-Israel physician Abdul El-Sayed, who has made hostility to Israel a central part of his campaign message. But McMorrow doesn’t appear to be winning — at least for now — much support from pro-Israel Democrats worried about stopping El-Sayed at all costs.

The New Jersey special election primary also features some quirks that incentivize AIPAC’s involvement. The district, in the northern part of the state, has a significant Jewish constituency, and is one of the most affluent districts in the country, making it uniquely well-suited for a mainstream pro-Israel centrist regardless of the national party trends. “This is a capitalist district,” one Democratic strategist who lives in the district told JI. 

In addition, there will be another regularly scheduled primary in June for the full two-year term starting in 2027 — as opposed to the special election, which will only elect a lawmaker for the remainder of the year. If Malinowski gets elected, he’ll likely maintain a lock on the seat for as long as he wants it.  As a former congressman, he’d reenter Congress as a more-influential, longer-tenured member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But if a left-wing candidate like Mejia surprisingly squeaks through, she’d likely face difficulty winning the primary for a full term. 

AIPAC’s super PAC — the United Democracy Project — also has another good reason to play an active role in this year’s primaries. It reported $96 million cash on hand at the end of 2025, more than twice as much financial firepower as it had last cycle at this time. 

As she competes in a crowded Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 7th District, Carol Obando-Derstine is hoping support from the former Democratic incumbent, her Latina immigrant background, her experience in politics and activism and her expertise in energy will help her stand out in the competitive field of Democrats vying to unseat Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) in the upcoming midterms.

Asked by Jewish Insider about her path to victory in the Democratic primary — facing opponents with, variously, stronger fundraising numbers and backing from popular Gov. Josh Shapiro — Obando-Derstine emphasized that she was endorsed by Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), who held the seat from 2018-2025.

She said she also understands firsthand the difficulties that voters in the district are facing, as well as the “strength of our community.” She said has a record in getting results for the district through her work with community organizations, while working for former Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) as an advisor on Latino affairs and her background in the energy industry.

Though she didn’t speak at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obando-Derstine is taking a positive approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship on the campaign trail, telling JI, “America has a special relationship with Israel … and I will ensure that we continue to have [that] … there’s a deep connection between our two countries that spans generations.”

She said she supports continued aid to Israel and rejected characterizations of the war in Gaza as a genocide. She also called for the U.S. to continue to pursue a two-state solution.

Obando-Derstine also said that it’s “essential for [Iran] not to have access to a nuclear weapon, for our safety as well as Israel” and that she approves of any necessary methods, including military strikes or sanctions, to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, adding that “diplomacy is always the first approach that we should have.”

At home, Obando-Derstine said she’s very concerned by the rise in antisemitism, alongside rising hate against Latinos and immigrants, and said that “there is no place for that type of hate in America.”

She praised the approach taken by the Biden administration, including its national task force to combat antisemitism, and said that Congress must work to protect people from being attacked for their religion or the color of their skin.

“I know what that’s like to be targeted because I’m Latina and we have that, we have a firm and very clear responsibility to protect all Americans,” she continued. 

Obando-Derstine noted she’s the only woman, the only Latina candidate and the only bilingual and bicultural candidate in the race, and has made outreach in Spanish a component of her campaign since its launch — in a district, the 7th, in the Lehigh Valley, that’s about one-fifth Latino.

She also highlighted her experience as an energy expert, at a time when voters are struggling with utility costs and are grappling with the rapid spread of data centers.

Obando-Derstine is backed by EMILY’s List, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ PAC and 314 PAC, which supports candidates with STEM backgrounds. Obando-Derstine and fellow primary candidate Bob Brooks are both designated by J Street PAC as “primary approved” candidates.

“I decided to run for Congress because I had had enough of watching working families struggle while politicians like Ryan Mackenzie voted to cut health care, food assistance and raise prices, all the while giving trillions in tax cuts to billionaires,” Obando-Derstine said. “And I’m also an immigrant, and I see blatant attacks on immigrants and Latinos in particular, and I just couldn’t stay on the sidelines.”

Like many candidates nationwide, she said her top priority is improving affordability and expanding health-care access. She said she’s also focused on supporting the workforce and small businesses, promoting clean energy and fighting back against the “reckless agenda that’s coming out of Washington … the prioritization of billionaires over working families, the targeting of law-abiding folks by ICE and health-care cuts.”

Fundraising reports for the fourth quarter of 2025, released on Sunday, brought the state of the race in several hotly contested Chicago-area Democratic congressional primaries into focus, with pro-Israel candidates putting up strong showings in several seats.

In the 9th District, state Sen. Laura Fine led the field with $1.2 million raised and ended the quarter with a narrow cash-on-hand lead, at $1.4 million in the bank. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, an Israel critic, raised $659,000 and had $1.37 million on hand at the end of the quarter, and far-left influencer Kat Abugazaleh raised $1.1 million, but spent $1.4 million, leaving her with $811,000 in her war chest.

With her substantial fundraising, Fine has been the only candidate in the district to air advertisements on network television, while other candidates are advertising on cable.

Though publicly released polling has shown Biss and Abugazaleh at the top of the field and Fine trailing, Chicago political strategist Frank Calabrese emphasized to Jewish Insider that — with the large number of candidates in the race and Fine’s fundraising and momentum — she remains a leading contender.

On the other hand, he said that Biss, who previously ran for governor, and Abugazaleh, with her substantial online presence, are likely the most recognizable candidates, giving them a built-in advantage in a crowded field.  

Calabrese also stressed that the fundraising data shows Abugazaleh is a serious and competitive candidate — despite some having written her off earlier in the race — and she is likely to pick up significant support among younger and more transient voters.

Calabrese predicted that an ad blitz against Biss — which the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project is rumored to be considering — could ultimately redound to Abughazaleh’s benefit, rather than sending Biss voters toward Fine’s campaign.

UDP has said it has not yet made any decisions about the race.

One Jewish community activist in the district expressed concerns to JI in recent weeks about such a scenario, arguing that AIPAC and other Jewish community affiliated groups should be focused on stopping Abughazaleh above all else, and that they should agree to get behind either Biss or Fine, depending on which candidate polling shows has the best chance of beating Abughazaleh.

But others in the pro-Israel community have raised significant concerns about Biss’ own stance on Israel policy, which includes support for an offensive weapons ban on Israel.

Calabrese said that Phil Andrew, a former FBI hostage negotiator who closed the quarter with almost $1 million on hand — including $400,000 in self-funding — could be a wild-card candidate.

Calabrese explained that Bruce Leon, a prominent member of the local Orthodox Jewish community community who recently left the race, had thrown his support behind Andrew, following a spat with Fine and AIPAC, potentially pushing the Orthodox Jewish community toward Andrew and away from Fine.

In the 8th Congressional District, former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) solidified her spot as  front-runner by raising $772,000, ending the quarter with more than $1 million on hand, followed by anti-Israel challenger Junaid Ahmed, who raised $360,000 and ended the quarter with $836,000 on hand.

Businessman Neil Khot finished the quarter with $573,000 on hand, having provided $765,000 to his own campaign during the cycle, which has made him the only candidate in that race to run network television ads. But he received just $58,000 in the last quarter in donations.

Others, including Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison and Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole, an Israel critic, trailed further behind, with $233,000 and $170,000 on hand, respectively, though Calabrese emphasized that Morrison enjoys substantial support from local officials. Veteran Dan Tully ended the quarter with $412,00 on hand, but may see a boost from outside spending by pro-veteran groups.

Calabrese said that Bean, given her defined public image and name recognition, is the front-runner, but noted that Ahmed has been building a strong base of support in the Muslim community. He said Bean, as a conventional moderate Democrat, also stands out among a series of other candidates trying to define themselves as more liberal or progressive, and will likely benefit from those other candidates dividing the field.

“Everyone agrees the favorite is Melissa Bean, and if someone tells you otherwise, they’re lying to you,” Calabrese said.

In the 7th Congressional District, Jason Friedman, a real estate developer and leader in the local Jewish community, cemented his place as a leading candidate, ending the quarter with $1.3 million on hand and $1.8 million raised over the course of the race, including $296,000 in the quarter.

Calabrese said that Friedman “has a very decent shot at winning” if he’s able to lock down the upper-income downtown area, while other candidates compete for votes in the district’s Black community. Friedman also has substantial support from the Jewish community, Calabrese added.

He said that Friedman’s chances have been underestimated by some in the area who have failed to recognize the demographic changes in the once Black-dominated district over time, but also said the race could be a “jump ball” among any of several candidates in the running.

Friedman’s war chest gives him a substantial lead over the rest of the field, but his fourth quarter fundraising was comparable to that of Dr. Thomas Fisher, an emergency medicine doctor, who raised $243,000 and finished with $455,000 on hand.

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, the handpicked successor of retiring Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), raised $145,000 and closed the quarter with $308,000 on hand, and Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin raised $112,000 and finished with $217,000 on hand. Anthony Driver, a former leader of the Chicago police oversight board and a local union leader, raised just $73,000 in the quarter, but is likely to receive significant outside backing from union groups, Calabrese said.

Anti-Israel progressive Kina Collins, making her third run for the seat, still had not filed her quarterly report as of Monday evening, leaving her status somewhat unclear.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller dominated the field in fundraising, raising $1.1 million and closing the quarter with nearly $1 million on hand, followed by anti-Israel state Sen. Robert Peters, who raised $210,000 and closed the quarter with $263,000 on hand. Peters has raised $900,000 over the course of the race, but burned through the majority of his reserves and outspent what he raised in the last quarter.

Calabrese said he was “extremely surprised” by the poor fundraising performance of former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), who raised $85,000 in the fourth quarter and finished the quarter with just $90,000 on hand, despite being a local political celebrity and enjoying substantial institutional support. 

Nevertheless, internal polling by other campaigns has shown Jackson in the lead with around 25% support, and Calabrese argued that it’s still his race to lose. With his local reputation and endorsements, he may not need to spend as much to get his message out, Calabrese noted.

“Donna Miller has the money advantage. But is it enough? I don’t think so, but I could be wrong,” Calabrese said.

The progressive Peters is a poor fit for the district, Calabrese argued. “He’s trying to run as a university, campus-centric progressive, and it’s just not the district,” he said. “It’s a very work-a-day district.”

Several Republican senators expressed skepticism that the Iranian regime would negotiate in good faith with the United States on its nuclear program or on its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, as the administration pursues a diplomatic approach with Tehran following threats of military action. 

Some, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — and the Saudi defense minister, behind closed doors — have warned that, if the U.S. fails to act after President Donald Trump promised Iranian protesters that “help is on its way,” it would be a blow to the U.S.’ credibility in the Middle East and would strengthen the Iranian regime.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) expressed skepticism that the Iranians would engage sincerely or willingly give up their nuclear program in talks with the U.S., reported to be taking place in Turkey on Friday. 

“Wouldn’t that be great? It’d be great if they did. It’d be great if they got rid of their nuclear weapons,” Scott told JI. “Do I actually believe they’re going to negotiate in good faith? I don’t.”

Scott added that he was in favor of Trump taking action to support the protesters after promising to do so. “I think if you tell somebody you’re going to help them, you’ve got to help them,” the Florida senator said.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said he believes Trump “wants to avoid a war.” 

“I hope he’s successful,” Rounds added, but said that he is not optimistic that a viable deal is achievable. “I, personally, am really discouraged. I don’t think Iran really wants to negotiate a deal that would stop them from doing their terrorist activities, supporting terrorism around the area, and I don’t think they really want to give up their nuclear ambitions — although they would love to deceive us,” Rounds said.

“I wish [Trump] the best. I think he’s right in trying to do [make a deal]. I think that’s what we should be trying to do, but I don’t, I just don’t think we’re going to have much success,” he added.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said, “You can’t trust anything the ayatollah says at all.”

“I don’t know what the details are, so it’s hard for me to say what I’d like to see in [an agreement],” Mullin continued. “We all know that a nuclear Iran can never happen, so that’s got to be part of it. What else happens there? I don’t know, but I still go back to the fact that you can’t trust anything that the ayatollah or this current regime says.”

Mullin disagreed that not striking Iran would be seen as a shift in U.S. policy, describing the administration’s current approach as an extension of the president’s “peace through strength” policy.

“People respect that the president will always strike, or ratchet that up, when the time is right. He always wants diplomacy first, but he’s willing to use the strength part if he has to get to that point,” Mullin said. “And I think that’s what the president has positioned himself to do, but he has multiple options … so hopefully we’ll have a positive outcome without anyone getting hurt.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that he’d want to see Iran surrender its enriched uranium, give up any future potential to obtain a nuclear weapon, stop funding terrorist groups and “start being a responsible member of a stable world order.”

He disputed the notion that a failure by the U.S. to launch strikes now would hurt the country’s credibility, arguing that any military strikes would be based on U.S. intelligence, which he does not have.

“It’s a lot more complicated. I mean, these folks are entitled to their opinion … obviously I hope the negotiations are successful,” Kennedy said. “Whether the president decides to go further is going to depend an awful lot on national and military intelligence, which I don’t have access to. We have the best spies in the world, and I don’t know what they’re telling the president, but it matters. So I can’t advise him if I don’t have the information from the intelligence community.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that any deal with the Iranians would need to include “a complete renunciation of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles that can reach Israel or our European allies.” He also said the regime’s crackdown on protesters would need to be “renounced.”

“They’re a country that continues to maintain ‘death to America, death to Israel.’ It is what it is,” Blumenthal said. “On a military front, there has to be a complete renunciation of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, and I think the brutal and inhumane tactics toward its own people have to be renounced.”

“I think we should do something, but it may not be a military strike,” he added. “There are a range of actions that we could take, [such as] to expand economic efforts and [implement] a stronger enforcement of sanctions. So between those, there are options.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who recently introduced a war powers resolution to block military action against Iran without congressional authorization, explained to JI that the resolution was a response to Trump’s comments about a potential attack and the current deployment of U.S. military assets to the Middle East.

Kaine said that the resolution would be eligible for consideration on the Senate floor next week, and that whether he calls it up will depend on how events develop and whether it will have the votes to pass.

“What really prompts me is when I think I can get the votes,” Kaine said. “Usually that means something beyond saber-rattling and it’s some kind of step, like in the international waters or Venezuela, we’re actually killing people — that clearly demonstrates we need to do this.”

Kaine also emphasized that the administration’s explanation for potential military action against Iran has shifted — citing both the protests and nuclear issue — and said he was concerned by a report last week that the administration may be considering some ground deployment of special forces into Iran.

“I’ve just got an awful lot of military families in Virginia who don’t want their kids to be in another war in the Middle East,” Kaine said.

Pro-Israel candidates and organizations showcased healthy financial hauls over the final three months of 2025, according to newly released fundraising reports. The strong totals were headlined by AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC, which ended last year with an imposing $95.8 million on hand (up significantly from $40.7 million last cycle at this time), after raising $61.6 million in the final six months of 2025.

In many of the closely watched Democratic primaries pitting pro-Israel candidates against anti-Israel antagonists, both sides posted strong fundraising figures.

In Michigan’s hotly contested Senate race, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) raised $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 and banked $3.05 million at the end of the year. Stevens, a stalwart ally of the state’s Jewish community, narrowly outraised physician Abdul El-Sayed ($1.8 million raised), who has made hostility to Israel central to his campaign, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow ($1.7 million), who has tagged Israel’s war against Hamas as a genocide.

Stevens also has significantly more cash on hand ($3 million), aided by her time spent raising money in the House. Both McMorrow and El-Sayed have just under $2 million cash on hand.

In Illinois’ closely watched open 8th District race, former Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) showcased her fundraising skills to comfortably lead the crowded primary field, bringing in $772,000 in the fourth quarter. Bean, a pro-Israel moderate during her last stint in Congress, nearly doubled the fundraising haul of Junaid Ahmed, a leading anti-Israel challenger, who brought in $360,000. 

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), pro-Israel state Sen. Laura Fine raised an impressive $1.2 million — three times her fundraising total in the previous quarter — and banked $1.4 million. Her haul outdistanced her two anti-Israel rivals: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss (who raised $659,000 and banked $1.37 million) and social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh (who raised $1.1 million, but spent $1.4 million, leaving her with $811,000 cash on hand). 

In New York City’s top primary clash, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) outraised former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander in fundraising, bringing in $1.1 million to Lander’s $629,000. But Lander only entered the race in early December, a sign he could catch up to the congressman in fundraising if he keeps up the pace. (Goldman’s campaign told JI that he already raised $851,000 in January, suggesting his fundraising has already accelerated.)

In the Bronx, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) brought in a significant $519,000 in fourth-quarter contributions, and has a whopping $14.9 million cash on hand to spend as he faces several challengers running to the anti-Israel left in the primary.

In the crowded primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), state Assemblyman Alex Bores has emerged as the early fundraising leader, bringing in $2.2 million and ending the year with $2 million. That’s more than three times the $672,000 that Nadler-endorsed state Assemblyman Micah Lasher raised, and a little under twice his cash on hand ($1.2 million). Meanwhile, social media influencer Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion, tapped his fundraising networks to bring in $1.1 million.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was one of the top House fundraisers as he prepares for a tough reelection in a swing district, bringing in $1.28 million for the fourth quarter. His leading Democratic opponent, military veteran Cait Conley, announced she raised around $560,000 during the same period. Peter Chatzky, one of the few Democrats running as a harsh critic of Israel in the heavily Jewish district, poured in about $5 million of his own money into the race. And Beth Davidson, another Democratic candidate, raised $264,000 — a decline from previous quarters, as some party leaders have gotten behind Conley.

On the Senate side, a pair of far-left, anti-Israel candidates posted healthy hauls in their races against establishment-backed moderates. In Maine, oyster farmer Graham Platner brought in a notable $4.6 million in the quarter in his primary against Gov. Janet Mills, who raised a solid $2.7 million. And in Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan was outraised by moderate Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) but still managed to bring in $1 million (compared to Craig’s $2 million).

The big Republican primary to watch is in Kentucky, where Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, scored a massive fundraising haul against anti-Israel Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), bringing in over $1.2 million compared to the congressman’s $638,000 total. Massie still holds about twice as much cash on hand as his upstart challenger, banking $2.18 million to Gallrein’s $933,000.

It’s important to remember that, while fundraising totals are an important signal of a candidate’s viability, the strongest fundraisers aren’t always the most successful. And the fact that numerous far-left candidates are also raising big bucks — when in the recent past, they would have struggled to show viability — is a warning that holding mainstream views isn’t the automatic ticket to primary success it once was. 

Several Jewish and pro-Israel leaders met privately with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister in Washington on Friday afternoon, as Riyadh draws scrutiny for its increasingly hostile posture toward Israel and promotion of antisemitic messaging.

According to several sources familiar with the discussion, Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud denied to attendees that increasing antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric out of the kingdom was reflective of the monarchy’s position and emphasized that Riyadh and Jerusalem have mutual understanding and ongoing military, security and intelligence cooperation. He praised Israel’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon but said he doesn’t agree with Jerusalem’s recent decision to recognize Somaliland’s independence. 

The same day of the meeting, a Muslim cleric in Medina gave a sermon calling for “victory” over the “Zionist aggressors,” while an imam in Mecca preached, “O God support them in Palestine and substitute their weakness with strength.” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that the Saudi government selects speakers to deliver Friday sermons.

On Saudi Arabia’s seeming decline in relations with the UAE, the prince acknowledged the two countries have clashed recently in Yemen but denied any broader pivot in Saudi foreign policy or increasing acceptance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the kingdom, which experts have alleged.

He also spoke to Turkey’s importance in the region, as Saudi Arabia’s growing alliance with Ankara, in addition to countries including Qatar and Pakistan, has raised concerns about the country’s increasing alignment with Islamist actors.

One source confirmed reporting by Axios that Prince Khalid told the group that if President Donald Trump does not follow through on his pledge to take military action against Iran, “it will only embolden the regime.”

Among the attendees, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, were Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff, B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin and Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad).

An AJC spokesperson confirmed Deutch’s participation at the meeting. “AJC is in regular, ongoing dialogue with our partners across the Gulf and in Israel to strengthen regional security and advance cooperation and integration,” the spokesperson told JI. “Today was another example of that work. We carry out these efforts continuously from Washington, Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi.”

Daroff also confirmed his attendance to JI, saying the group “had a constructive, off-the-record conversation as part of an ongoing dialogue with Saudi Arabia on regional and geostrategic issues, and appreciated the opportunity to speak frankly.” 

Shemtov similarly confirmed his participation and said the prince’s demeanor was “friendly and engaging.” Shemtov said he left the meeting “somewhat encouraged, even if not yet completely convinced” but declined to provide details on what was discussed as the meeting was off the record. Mariaschin confirmed his attendance as well.

The nearly two-hour meeting was also attended by 15 representatives of Washington-area think tanks, including Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel now at the Atlantic Council; Dennis Ross, a veteran Middle East peace negotiator now at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Barbara Leaf, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs who is now a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute; Douglas Silliman, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who is now the president of the Arab Gulf States Institute; Rev. Johnnie Moore, the former executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and former diplomat Daniel Fried, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, the sources told JI.

In a separate meeting earlier Friday that ran for almost an hour and a half, Prince Khalid met with a smaller group of pro-Israel national security experts, including Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Michael Makovsky of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. Both confirmed to JI they had attended but declined to share details about the discussion.

Jewish and pro-Israel organizations that have celebrated the Abraham Accords in recent years appear slow to recognize the role they could be playing within the Abrahamic coalition — particularly by leveraging their Washington clout and decades of experience engaging Congress — as countries in the accords face increasing criticism for their participation in the normalization framework.

In recent weeks, prominent Saudi social media figures and media outlets have amplified sharply critical and often inflammatory rhetoric aimed at countries that joined the Abraham Accords, particularly the United Arab Emirates, portraying normalization with Israel as a betrayal of regional interests and casting Abu Dhabi as a proxy for Israeli power.

Countries that joined the Abraham Accords do not have comparable grassroots advocacy in Washington, making the role of established Jewish and pro-Israel organizations potentially consequential to the broader normalization effort. Yet despite those longstanding relationships, the groups have mounted little effort to inform the conversation in Washington as the Abraham Accords and their signatories face growing attacks. This was evident from Jewish Insider’s reporting earlier in January, when pro-Israel lawmakers from both parties largely downplayed concerns about Saudi Arabia’s shift when asked for comment.

Several of the groups have voiced growing discomfort with the kingdom’s pivot away from what was perceived as its moderating force in the region. But their relatively cautious responses, particularly around Riyadh’s increasingly hostile posture toward Israel and traditional alliances, have also highlighted an awkward tension as they seek to maintain support for the long-sought but elusive goal of bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords.

That dynamic has come into sharper focus as a few major Jewish and pro-Israel organizations prepare to attend a sensitive meeting in Washington on Friday with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, raising questions about how — or whether — the groups will more forcefully confront the growing rhetoric against the Abraham Accords.

Among the groups invited to the meeting were the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Zionist Organization of America, multiple sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider on Thursday, though it remains unclear which will attend. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies confirmed it would be attending a separate sit-down with the defense minister in the morning.

Notably, representatives from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC weren’t set to attend, according to some sources familiar with the dynamics, hinting at some possible internal debate in the community regarding the wisdom of engaging with Saudi Arabia in spite of its troubling recent behavior. AIPAC declined to comment on the meeting when reached by JI on Thursday afternoon.

The AJC and ADL also declined to comment, and the Conference of Presidents did not respond to a request for comment. The Republican Jewish Coalition was invited to the meeting, one informed source told JI, but the group would not confirm its involvement.

The varying approaches suggest that Jewish organizations are strategically sensitive to alienating Saudi Arabia — as they hope for a change of heart on normalization with Israel. In turn, many groups haven’t directly confronted the antisemitic vitriol among influential figures in the kingdom.

Even as these organizations champion the advantages of joining the Abraham Accords, their responses appear to neglect a key regional signatory, the UAE; a prominent Saudi columnist recently called the UAE “an Israeli Trojan horse in the Arab world” in one of the latest public attacks now regularly targeting their neighboring country, as Riyadh reportedly turns away from its traditional moderate alliances and towards Islamist countries hostile to Israel, including Qatar and Turkey.

None of the organizations had publicly commented on Saudi Arabia’s new direction until reached by JI late last week, reflecting a possible early blind spot concerning a major regional shift that threatens to have far-reaching consequences not only for Israel but Jewish safety more broadly in the Middle East.

The largely reactive tenor of the engagement so far indicates that Jewish advocacy groups have yet to formalize a strategy for preemptively tackling such challenges and raising awareness among legislators and other policymakers to build an infrastructure to help advance the Abraham Accords amid dwindling Saudi support.

Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s executive director, said the “worsening” rhetoric on Jews and Israel “has left U.S. organizations that previously advocated for warmer engagement with Saudis at an interesting crossroads.”

“Some will double down and attempt to embrace the Saudis with a bear hug,” he told JI on Tuesday. “Others will begin to criticize the kingdom sharply. This natural dichotomy may actually be healthy, showing the regime that there are two paths it can take. One will obviously be more advantageous to the regime than the other.”

“The priority now must be rapid de-escalation between Saudi Arabia and Israel, two close American allies, whose widening rift is being aggressively exploited by Muslim Brotherhood governments in Turkey and Qatar, as well as the Islamists in Iran,” FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz said. “Allowing this crisis to bleed into the Saudi-Israeli normalization process — and incitement against Israel and Jews — would be a strategic setback, particularly given its central importance to President Trump’s regional agenda.”

In addressing the shift, some Jewish groups have pushed back on Riyadh’s problematic language. The ADL, for example, condemned state-aligned media channels and regime mouthpieces for promoting “openly antisemitic dog whistles” while opposing the Abraham Accords, rhetoric it called “harmful” to “the prospect of peaceful coexistence in the region.”

AIPAC, meanwhile, struck a more diplomatic note in a statement to JI that made no explicit mention of Riyadh’s turn to open antisemitism, saying that “America would be stronger and our interests would be better served if more nations, including Saudi Arabia,” normalized ties with Israel.

That view was echoed by Democratic Majority for Israel, which glancingly alluded to “recent political frictions and unhelpful rhetoric” from Saudi voices, while characterizing normalization as “an enduring strategic imperative,” even as the kingdom has been increasingly hostile to a rapprochement with Israel.

For its part, the American Jewish Committee, which has actively pushed for normalization, has refrained from publicly commenting on the issue, only noting that it is “keeping a close eye on any developments.”

The COP, which in 2020 led a historic delegation to Saudi Arabia in what was then interpreted as a sign of warming ties with Israel, has likewise declined to publicly weigh in on the situation, in advance of the meeting on Friday.

Mort Klein, the national president of the conservative Zionist Organization of America, said he was also invited to the meeting on Friday by a caller “with an Arabic name,” but was unable to join due to a scheduling conflict. “I received a strange phone call asking me to attend,” he told JI on Thursday. He would not elaborate on the conversation or why another ZOA official would not be participating.

The ZOA has sharply criticized Saudi Arabia’s evolution as a “dangerous” development, urging the Trump administration to reconsider its plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to Riyadh, among other policies.

Some Middle East analysts familiar with Saudi Arabia’s recent maneuvering have raised doubts about whether the meeting will amount to more than a PR stunt for the kingdom. Both Qatar and Turkey have similarly engaged in past discussions with Jewish leaders that have done little to change their approaches to Israel or ties to Islamist groups.

“This meeting will be complete window dressing,” one expert told JI on Thursday. “The Saudis may try and rationalize their way out of their new alignment with Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey and say everything is fine with the UAE when evidence says otherwise.”

Daniel Shapiro, a U.S. ambassador to Israel in the Obama administration who served as a top defense official in the Biden administration, said that it was “wise and understandable” for Jewish organizations “to keep the door open to normalization” with Saudi Arabia, while stressing a need to “draw some bright lines about what’s not acceptable” with regard to its rhetoric and policies.

Citing the unpredictability of the situation, Shapiro also suggested that Jewish groups should seek to engage in proactive outreach “to get members of Congress and other officials focused on trying to figure out” Saudi Arabia’s motivations. That could result in “direct and frank conversations with” Riyadh to better understand its new thinking and potentially “draw some red lines.”

“People are really still making an adjustment to it,” Shapiro told JI in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s wise to use diplomacy, in real time, to try to put up some guardrails.”

In some ways, the hesitant manner in which some Jewish groups have contended with Saudi Arabia shows how the kingdom’s sudden realignment has confounded even the most seasoned Gulf watchers. 

“The thoughts coming from Saudis are horrific and apparently at total odds with the public messages of the last few years,” Simon Henderson, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told JI. “Without a corrective comment from a senior Saudi figure, they should be taken seriously. Put simply, forget normalization anytime soon. Analysts are in a state of shock trying to work out the why and how permanent the damage may be.”

Still, Abe Foxman, the former longtime national director of the ADL, stressed that efforts to court Saudi involvement in a diplomatic agreement with Israel need not obscure a broader commitment to strenuously denouncing the kingdom’s “anti-Israel expressions and antisemitism.”

“As much as we may want Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, that hope and desire should not inhibit our ability to criticize” its recent policies, Foxman told JI on Tuesday. “I recall that during the years we pursued peace between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Jordan, we did not refrain from being critical of their anti-Israel policies or their embrace of antisemitism.”

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, cast the differing positions from Jewish groups as a “reflection of the wide diversity of views inside of the Jewish American community,” arguing that some of their responses are a demonstration of their “proximity” to Saudi Arabia or the rival UAE.

Jewish and pro-Israel organizations were invited to a meeting with the Saudi defense minister in Washington on Friday afternoon, four sources familiar with the invitation confirmed to Jewish Insider.

Invited groups included the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Republican Jewish Coalition, though as of Thursday morning it was not clear which invitees would be accepting the invitation.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies is meeting with the defense minister in a separate sit-down Friday morning, FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz confirmed to JI.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is in Washington holding meetings with U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday and Friday. 

The invitation comes as some Jewish organizations have expressed concerns about the recent rise in antisemitic and Islamist rhetoric out of Saudi Arabia, but they’ve been relatively cautious in their language as they seek to maintain their support for the long-sought but elusive goal of bringing Riyadh into the Abraham Accords.

“This meeting will be complete window dressing,” one Middle East analyst familiar with the invitation and with the larger Saudi pivot in the region told JI. “The Saudis may try and rationalize their way out of their new alignment with Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey and say everything is fine with the UAE when evidence says otherwise.”

“They may also want to send a message to Jewish organizations with absolute clarity that they will not be joining the Abraham Accords until there’s a Palestinian state, especially ahead of a rumored visit by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to Washington in the next 30 days,” the analyst added. 

“If these Jewish organizations do attend the meeting, they should give a stern message to Saudi leadership that their new strategic alliances and promoting antisemitism and being destructive in the region regarding Israel are not helpful.”

As Boca Raton, Fla., Mayor Scott Singer aims to unseat pro-Israel stalwart Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), the Republican is hoping that the region’s conservative shifts will help propel him to victory.

Singer told Jewish Insider last week he’s running for Congress because he “love[s] public service” and he sees the country at a “critical point … where we can go back to the failed policies of four years ago or continue to advance the gains that President Trump has made,” and he wants to help push Trump’s agenda forward. That includes Trump’s Middle East policy, which Singer lauded.

Singer, who is running in a traditionally Democratic district, emphasized his three-decade history of public service in the region, and said that he’s “seen a renewed enthusiasm and resurgence in terms of conservative, common sense policies,” particularly among Jewish voters, “as the Democratic Party has grown more and more left.”

“We’re seeing the Republican Party under President Trump becoming the party that really represents more of the issues that a lot of Jewish voters tend to care about,” Singer argued.

He also noted that the district, Florida’s 23rd, has seen a growth in conservative voters coming from out of state, many from states or cities led by Democrats. Trump came within two points of carrying the district in 2024, losing to former Vice President Kamala Harris, 50-48%. That was one of the bigger political shifts in the country, given that in 2020, Trump lost the district to Joe Biden by 13 points.Meanwhile, Moskowitz won his reelection bid 52%-48%.”

Whether Moskowitz and Singer actually end up facing each other in November remains somewhat of an open question, however, pending the outcome of Florida’s upcoming redistricting process.

Singer told JI that his alignment with the GOP has been shaped by his Jewish faith.

“Judaism places a value on individual rights and opportunity, responsibilities, education and freedom,” Singer said. “For hundreds of years, Jewish people were often excluded from Western society and had to make their way — often, as entrepreneurs or self employed, as generations of my family have been — finding ways for them to advance through society.”

“The promise of America is so great because anyone can come here and achieve great things,” he continued. “I’ve always leaned toward the right, because I found that this was a party that valued people’s individual opportunities, merits and contributions, and a natural home that’s consistent with the values that inform my faith.”

Singer argued that Trump has been the strongest advocate and champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship of any U.S. president and a “strong voice against antisemitism, and people are realizing this,” leading to shifts among Jewish voters toward the GOP.

He said that he “personally and spiritually [has] deep connections to the State of Israel and our ancestral home.” And he said that a continued strong U.S.-Israel relationship serves both countries’ interests.

“Israel has been taking a leading edge, fighting terror and fighting enemies who want to see the destruction of Western culture, Western values and the United States,” Singer said.

“What concerns me is in the Democratic Party — and I think it’s concerning a lot of voters, including historic Democratic voters and mainstream voters — is the outrageous and moral failings of Democratic leadership to to confront or contradict claims of genocide when Israel was brutally attacked by terrible terrorists who created committed horrific crimes against women and children — murdering, raping, strangling, kidnapping and torturing,” Singer continued, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

He downplayed anti-Israel trends among some on the right as “a few fringe commentators who seem to have lost semblance of what it means to be a conservative and do not represent the conservative movement.”

Singer emphasized that those voices are out of step with Trump.

“What concerns me is in the Democratic Party — and I think it’s concerning a lot of voters, including historic Democratic voters and mainstream voters — is the outrageous and moral failings of Democratic leadership to to confront or contradict claims of genocide when Israel was brutally attacked by terrible terrorists who created committed horrific crimes against women and children — murdering, raping, strangling, kidnapping and torturing,” Singer continued, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

Asked how he’d describe Moskowitz’s own record on these issues — the two-term Democratic lawmaker has been vocally supportive of Israel and has broken with many in his party on the issue — Singer offered little direct criticism for Moskowitz, instead arguing that he has limited power against what Singer described as a dominant anti-Israel current in the Democratic Party.

“You have to go back to the party and where you are,” Singer said. “When you’re a junior congressman and beholden to some of the increasingly hostile attitude of the Democratic Party and Democratic leadership, including statements by leaders in the House of Representatives that call Israel’s self defense a genocide. When they’re running the party, it’s very hard for any junior member to really stand out and make an effective difference in policy.”

Moskowitz responded in a statement to JI, “I guess the people who are trying to assassinate me over my support for Israel — they obviously think I’m pretty effective,” adding, “By [Singer’s] own logic, I guess there’s no reason for him to run for Congress because he won’t be able to help the district, because he’ll be a freshman.”

Moskowitz has stood apart from most Democrats on various issues relating to Israel, including voting for a controversial bill providing aid to Israel while cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, voting to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, voting to override President Joe Biden’s holds on certain arms sales to Israel and calling for stronger action by the Biden administration on a range of areas related to Israel policy, Iran and antisemitism.

The Democratic congressman has regularly crossed party lines to cosponsor legislation to support Israel and combat Iran with Republican colleagues.

Moskowitz is also facing a progressive primary challenger who has focused significantly on attacking his support for Israel.

Singer said that the U.S.’ current focus, when it comes to Israel, should be disarming and removing Hamas from Gaza. He expressed support for the Trump administration-led ceasefire plan, and said it’s “too hard to speculate” what might come after that, including whether the U.S. should support a two-state solution.

Singer said that, as a member of Congress, he would be vocal against antisemitism, and said that “Congress needs to codify gains that are coming from the Trump executive orders and reevaluate its approach to universities and other institutions at all levels of education” due to what he said was their failure to protect Jewish students’ civil rights.

“There’s still a constant and present danger to people who love freedom, the Israeli people, and also the people who’ve been oppressed by 20 years of a brutal regime,” Singer said.

He praised Trump’s “bold and necessary action” to strike Iran’s nuclear program last June, and said that the U.S. needs to “stand strong” against the Iranian regime amid its violent crackdown on protesters.

“What we’ve seen over the last few weeks with the terrible slaughter — the extent of which we don’t quite fully know because of blackouts — of people longing for peace may hopefully send a signal of an end to this harmful regime,” Singer continued. “We need to continue to work through our diplomatic, economic and military channels to ensure the safety of our nation, the safety of allies, and hopefully bring relief to people in various lands who’ve been threatened by this rogue regime.”

Singer said that, as a member of Congress, he would be vocal against antisemitism, and said that “Congress needs to codify gains that are coming from the Trump executive orders and reevaluate its approach to universities and other institutions at all levels of education” due to what he said was their failure to protect Jewish students’ civil rights.

He said he would be open to bills to “increase standards” for schools receiving federal funding and to revoke funds to ensure that students’ rights are protected.

He said that Congress also “needs to continue to work in terms of fighting antisemitism, in terms of definitions, training, support for institutions — at the state level, we have strong support for religious schools — and ensuring religious freedom for all people.”

Singer said Congress should consider enhancing protections, such as the FACE Act, for religious institutions to allow people to worship freely and without fear, if necessary.

Singer argued that voices in the GOP that have been attempting to mainstream antisemitic ideology are confined to the “fringe,” emphasizing that he sees the issues as more within the mainstream in the Democratic Party.

“There are fringe voices who seem to have lost the thread of the conservative movement and even in some cases, the pro-America movement, by their unfounded criticisms,” Singer said. “And these loud voices should [continue] to be disregarded. Good speech drives out bad speech, and we need to continue to stand strong on all sides of the political spectrum.”

A majority of the Democratic candidates running in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, a key swing seat that Democrats hope to flip in November, said at a candidate forum hosted by the Nebraska Young Democrats last week that they would reject support from pro-Israel groups, according to video of the event obtained by Jewish Insider.

The incumbent, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who is retiring at the end of his current term, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and has also been active in combating antisemitism as a co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. Bacon, a moderate, has repeatedly managed to fend off Democratic challengers in recent elections, but the Cook Political Report rates the seat as “Lean Democratic.”

Asked whether they would accept support from AIPAC or Democratic Majority for Israel, state Sen. John Cavanaugh committed to not taking any funding from either group, while activist Denise Powell said that she would not accept any funding from any special interest groups.

Navy veteran Kishla Askins offered a less definitive answer, saying she is “right now … not taking” funding from J Street, AIPAC or DMFI, while also noting that she had been to Israel and served alongside the IDF while she was in the military and understands how dangerous the region is.

“For me, every decision I make is about values and the rule of law, those two things. I do not align myself with anyone that breaks the law, nor aligns with Nebraskan values,” she said, describing the situation in Gaza as a humanitarian crisis. “Hamas is a terrorist group, and we need to all align around ridding this world of terrorism. Hamas is a terrorist group funded by Iran.”

She said she would “make decisions based on values and the rule of law.”

James Leuschen, a longtime former senior staffer for Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) — a staunch Israel supporter who previously served in House Democratic leadership — was the only candidate to definitively say he would not commit to turning down support from the groups.

“Part of the reason why is I think that we, as Democrats, need to not unilaterally disarm when it comes to elections with Republicans that would be willing to do basically anything to win, right?” Leuschen explained. “The idea that we can win elections by pushing people away from us is, I think, wrongheaded, right? I think we need to be able to talk to folks in all communities. We need to be able to hear the concerns of folks who feel like, you know, maybe the things that happened on Oct. 7 weren’t quite the best thing in the world.”

He said that he wants to see the ceasefire agreement in Gaza hold, to pursue a two-state solution and to ensure that both Hamas and Israel abide by the terms of the deal reached last October.

“But at the same time, I think we have to acknowledge that the incident, the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, were a tragedy in themselves and the situation we find ourselves in today — while not ideal — is progress toward that lasting peace and that two-state solution that I think we’re all going to get to,” he said. “It can’t be accomplished with coercion; it has to happen with both sides to get there on their own.”

Another prominent candidate, Douglas County district court clerk Crystal Rhoades, did not attend the forum. Rhoades has publicly expressed staunch support for Israel, saying in an op-ed published in The Jewish Press in Omaha, “no one will fight harder to strengthen the U.S.–Israel relationship than I will. My support for Israel isn’t political, it’s moral. It’s grounded in my values and in what I’ve seen firsthand about the importance of dignity, freedom and memory.”

In response to a later question, Leuschen also said he would have voted for a recent State Department funding package that included $3.3 billion in aid to Israel, maintained a block on funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and contained provisions aimed at blocking Palestinian actions against Israel at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Askins and Cavanaugh both said they couldn’t weigh in on the legislation without having fully analyzed what was in it, though Cavanaugh added that he “would not be in support of defunding refugee services.”

Powell said that she hadn’t reviewed the bill but said that she was “a big believer that the U.S. needs to be doing more to support the Palestinian people in this moment. So I’m not sure what it all is in there. I’d love to read it. I don’t — from what you have said, it doesn’t feel like something I’d be super comfortable voting on. But I don’t have all the details on the bill.”

In a follow-up statement shared with Jewish Insider, Powell said that her answer at the forum did not fully capture her stance on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“I have always unequivocally supported Israel’s right to exist and its right to defend itself. The question that was asked at a recent forum centered around a bill that would strip humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Powell said. 

“My position is clear: I fully support providing aid to Israel and believe that we should ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need,” the statement continued. “In order for the region to rebuild, it is imperative that we center our efforts around a two-state solution that both ensures Israel’s security and gives the Palestinian people the resources they need to reestablish their lives.”

Previously, Cavanaugh — who leads in polling of the race and hails from an established political dynasty in the state — has received pushback from pro-Israel voters for being one of 10 state senators who declined to sign onto a resolution supporting Israel and condemning Hamas on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. He’s endorsed by progressive lawmakers including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups are expressing concerns about the impact of the recent rise in antisemitic and Islamist messaging out of Saudi Arabia, as the Gulf kingdom’s rhetoric is increasingly raising questions about its standing as a reliable U.S. ally in the region.

In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up its anti-Israel rhetoric through state-sanctioned media and other regime mouthpieces, amid a widening rift with the United Arab Emirates and closer alignment with Islamist-oriented forces that are hostile toward Israel, such as Turkey and Qatar. 

The new posturing, part of a broader pivot from what national security experts had seen as Saudi Arabia’s moderating influence in the region, has fueled surprise and frustration among Jewish American advocacy organizations that have pushed for the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel, an objective now regarded in some circles as unlikely for the foreseeable future.

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League said in a sharply worded social media statement that it was “alarmed by the increasing frequency and volume of prominent Saudi voices — analysts, journalists and preachers — using openly antisemitic dog whistles and aggressively pushing anti-Abraham Accords rhetoric, often while peddling conspiracy theories about ‘Zionist plots.’”

“This is harmful on many levels, diminishing the prospect of peaceful coexistence in the region and weakening regional initiatives promoting tolerance, understanding and prosperity,” the ADL added.

The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, for its part, amplified a recent X post by Barak Ravid, a global affairs correspondent for Axios, who flagged what he called Saudi Arabia’s “information war against the UAE” and said “the Saudi press is full of articles that include anti-Israeli conspiracies, anti-Abraham Accords rhetoric and even antisemitic language.”

In a statement to Jewish Insider on Monday, Deryn Sousa, a spokesperson for AIPAC, emphasized that “America would be stronger and our interests would be better served if more nations, including Saudi Arabia, joined the Abraham Accords and worked together with our democratic ally Israel to promote regional peace, security and prosperity.”

Brian Romick, the president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, echoed that sentiment, calling the Abraham Accords “a landmark diplomatic achievement” whose expansion, “especially through Saudi-Israeli normalization, should be a bipartisan pillar of U.S. policy.”

“A breakthrough between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be the most consequential step the region can take toward lasting peace, security, and prosperity, and the Trump administration should pursue it relentlessly while linking any upgrade in the relationship to measurable progress toward Saudi-Israeli normalization,” Romick said in a statement to JI. “Despite recent political frictions and unhelpful rhetoric, deep mutual interests in security, economic integration and technology make normalization an enduring strategic imperative.”

The American Jewish Committee, which has also promoted Saudi participation in the Accords, said it is “keeping a close eye on any developments” tied to the kingdom’s shift, but declined further comment.

While experts have linked Saudi Arabia’s recent animus toward Israel to such issues as the war in Gaza, Israeli recognition of Somaliland and unrest in Iran, Michael Makovsky, the president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, suggested that one unexplored motivating factor may be the Trump administration’s friendly relations with Islamist leaders in Turkey, Qatar and Syria.

“It sends a signal to the Saudis that you could take more Islamist positions, and it won’t hurt you with the United States,” Makovsky said in an interview with JI on Monday, arguing the administration will need to “reorient” its engagement in the region if it wants to help shape Saudi policies to align more closely with American interests.

But Makovsky said he has not seen interest among Trump officials in pursuing that path — even as the administration has long encouraged Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords.

“I think the administration needs to step back and reflect on the fact that, if the Saudis are acting like this now, and they’ve been more of a moderating influence,” he said, “it should lead to a rethink of how they’re approaching all these other countries.”

Paige Cognetti, the Democratic mayor of Scranton, Pa., is staking out a pro-Israel platform as she seeks to unseat freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) in a northeast Pennsylvania swing district, emphasizing her support for continued military aid to the Jewish state in the wake of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

In a recent interview with Jewish Insider, Cognetti, who is favored to win the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, said “the Israel question,” as she called it, is “very simple” for her. 

“I vehemently support Israel’s right to defend itself,” she explained, “and would take extremely seriously Congress’ role in ensuring they have the military aid that they need to defend themselves in a really dangerous neighborhood.”

To underscore her point, Cognetti, who was sworn into her third term as Scranton’s mayor earlier this month, touted a local munitions plant that she said continues to produce “the shells that we use for our own defense, but also that we ship to our allies, like Ukraine and Israel.”

“We’re very proud of that,” she said. “It’s really important to us in northeastern Pennsylvania that we defend ourselves, defend our military personnel at home and abroad. We’re very, very specific and deliberate about how we celebrate our veterans, and we feel the same way about supporting our allies.”

Even as some Democratic candidates have turned away from embracing such positions amid growing chilliness toward Israel within the party, Cognetti, for her part, said she did not feel compelled to join their ranks. “I understand that there has been a lot of rhetoric in the last couple of years — and a lot of folks that feel one way or the other,” she observed.

“But there has never been a question, to me, about what the U.S.’ role in supporting Israel should be,” she said, adding that she “will continue to support Israel as a member of Congress.”

In addition to calling for reauthorization of the current 10-year memorandum of understanding between Israel and the United States that is set to expire in 2028, Cognetti also stressed her support for ensuring humanitarian aid “gets to the people who need it” and backed a “diplomatic, two-state solution” to the conflict, which she acknowledged would be a “complicated and hard-fought” effort.

In her primary campaign to challenge Bresnahan, a first-term incumbent endorsed by AIPAC, Cognetti, 45, is seen by Democratic Party officials as well-positioned to win back the seat held by former Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), who fell last cycle after six consecutive terms in one of two upsets in the state that helped Republicans maintain their increasingly narrow House majority.

Now, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is eyeing the district as one of four possible pickup opportunities in the state, while targeting Bresnahan, 35, as “the poster-child of Washington corruption” due to scrutiny over his multiple stock trades as a congressman, despite a campaign vow to ban the practice among elected officials.

Speaking with JI last week, Cognetti reiterated those accusations, saying Bresnahan was “clearly profiting off of his votes,” and boasting of her own record “delivering results and putting an end to the corrupt machine politics that we’re far too familiar with here in northeastern Pennsylvania.”

Bresnahan’s campaign, for its part, has dismissed Cognetti as a “far-left extremist” who is in favor of open borders and defunding the police. But he may struggle to land those hits as Cognetti casts herself in a moderate light, particularly on sensitive issues relating to Israel and rising antisemitism on the left and right.

Cognetti, who launched her bid last September, has since raised more than $1.1 million, garnering over $640,000 in donations last quarter, her campaign recently announced. Cognetti is widely expected to prevail in the May primary, where she is facing Francis McHale, a retired state official. She has also reportedly claimed support from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a moderate pro-Israel Democrat.

Larry Ceisler, a public affairs executive based in Pennsylvania who is supporting Cognetti’s House bid, called the mayor a “top-tier candidate” with a “great profile” for the swing district. “At one time, I thought Matt Cartwright was a unique candidate to hold that seat, but Paige has really come on over the last several months,” he told JI, noting that she “will have the resources she needs to win.”

“The fact is Matt Cartwright lost because he was hampered at the top of the ticket,” Ceisler added. “Paige will have the opposite as Josh Shapiro has proven to have coattails and Paige is positioned to take advantage of them.”

Cognetti, the first woman mayor of Scranton, was elected in 2019 when she ran as an independent and defeated a crowded field in what was then viewed as a rebuke of the local Democratic machine. 

During her tenure, Cognetti has spoken up in support of Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and sought to raise awareness about the rise of antisemitism on both sides of the aisle. “There is some really, really dangerous rhetoric, and we need to call that out,” she said, characterizing anti-Jewish prejudice as antithetical to “core American values.”

“Of course, here in Pennsylvania, we have a fresh and really horrific example of antisemitism with the arson attack on Gov. Shapiro’s home and his family just last year,” she told JI. If elected, she added, she hopes to be “part of a coalition that raises the issue of antisemitism and passes any legislation necessary to make sure” the subject “remains in the forefront of people’s minds.”

Cognetti, who has never visited Israel, said she had signed up for a trip that was canceled in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks but is “looking forward to getting there at some point.” 

As she mounts her campaign, Cognetti said she is building “a broad coalition across the district” and describes forming “solid relationships” with Jewish community leaders as well as productive talks with “different groups that are focused on Israel.”

Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm, which has not announced an endorsement in the race, “has had positive conversations with” Cognetti and is “keeping a close eye” on the primary, a source familiar with the matter told JI.

Despite internal divisions over Israel now roiling the Democratic Party, Cognetti argued that “some people have let themselves kind of get away from that simple answer, which is, Israel is surrounded by people who do not believe they should exist.”

“The United States,” she vowed, “has been and will continue to be its most staunch ally.”

Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), who announced a primary challenge to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) this week, was part of a 2023 junket trip to Qatar funded by a pro-Doha business group. 

She was joined by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who is mounting a Senate bid in Texas, on the Qatar trip. 

The February 2023 trip, funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, included meetings with Qatari leaders, some of whom have been accused of backing terrorism. According to ethics paperwork submitted by the members, the group spent nearly $15,000 on Letlow’s travel and close to $18,000 on Crockett’s travel.

Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), who has spoken out in defense of Qatar amid criticism from some of his House colleagues since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, also participated in the trip, as did former Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA), now the president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council.

Qatar’s relationship with and funding of Hamas has come under significant scrutiny in the U.S. since the Oct. 7 attacks. Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, with whom the group met, privately coordinated with Hamas leaders in the years leading up to Oct. 7 to provide covert financial support for Hamas’ terrorist activities against Israel, according to documents seized by Israel in Gaza.

The group also met with the CEO of Qatari bank Masraf Al Rayan, who was sued by American victims of Palestinian terrorism. The 2020 lawsuit accused the bank and others of funneling money to Palestinian terrorist groups. The suit was dismissed in early 2025, citing lack of personal jurisdiction.

The agenda submitted to the House Ethics Committee by the group also features a variety of other events focusing on promoting the U.S.-Qatar relationship, including meetings with various Qatari business and government leaders, as well as American universities operating campuses in Qatar.

An invitation to the members who participated in the trip describes it as an “opportunity to explore the potential expansion of business ties between American companies and those of Qatar. During this trip, you will be introduced to Qatar’s existing investment, economic, trade, and commercial ties to the United States and opportunities for further development.”

In spite of concerns about Qatari influence in Washington, both Letlow and Crockett have maintained pro-Israel records in Congress. Crockett, in particular, is seen by leaders in the Texas Jewish community as the candidate more supportive of Israel in the primary between herself and state Sen. James Talarico.

Other pro-Israel lawmakers have also visited Doha in recent years.

Neither Letlow nor Crockett responded to requests for comment.

A Manhattan comedy club canceled Israeli comedian Guy Hochman’s show on Tuesday night after pro-Hamas groups protested outside of the venue. 

“The owner of the place was afraid and canceled the show,” Hochman told Jewish Insider, referring to Broadway Comedy Club, located near Times Square. “So, I did an alternative show for my audience outside freezing to death.”

“We are not giving up,” Hochman continued, adding that “another, big show” was planned for Wednesday evening. He did not disclose the location of the rescheduled show.  “We are the Jewish people and we want to live and laugh,” said Hochman. 

The owner of the venue, Carolyn Martin, did not respond to a request for comment from JI. 

City College of New York’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter was among the groups promoting the Tuesday demonstration on social media. It shared a post from the New York City chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement that said “victory” was achieved by the cancellation. CCNY SJP, which remains a registered student group, also participated in this month’s pro-Hamas protest in Queens that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early.  

Outside the comedy venue, masked demonstrators banged on drums, chanted and held signs that read “clean up the trash,” “death to the IDF” and “no war criminals in our city.” A heavy NYPD presence was called to monitor the protest. 

Hochman was reportedly detained at the airport for six hours of questioning on Monday when he arrived in Toronto after the anti-Israel group Hind Rijab Foundation filed a complaint about his service in the IDF. He was released after intervention from the Israeli consulate.

City College of New York’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter remains a registered campus group following its participation in last week’s pro-Hamas protest in Queens that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early.  

The demonstration was planned by a group called the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation [PAL]-Awda, protesting an event held by CapitIL, a Jerusalem-based real estate agency, at a Queens synagogue. The group called the meeting an “illegal event” promoting “blatant land theft and dispossession” in a social media post promoting the protest. 

CCNY SJP reposted PAL-Awda’s fliers promoting the demonstration and shared videos on its Instagram story of its members participating in the protest. A spokesperson for CCNY did not respond to multiple inquiries from Jewish Insider following the protest regarding what, if any, disciplinary action would be taken.   

The protest was also promoted by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups that is no longer recognized by Columbia University. Dozens of keffiyeh-clad demonstrators gathered near the synagogue, Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, and chanted, “We support Hamas here,” “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the IDF” for more than two hours while banging on drums in the residential area in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. One protester held a ripped Israeli flag that was painted red to resemble blood. 

The pro-Hamas language used by demonstrators was condemned by a range of New York politicians, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former City Comptroller Brad Lander, both of whom have been vocally critical of Israel. 

CCNY was already facing scrutiny following a university-sponsored interfaith event in November during which a Muslim spiritual leader delivered an antisemitic tirade against a CUNY Hillel director. The U.S. Department of Justice opened an ongoing investigation into the interfaith event shortly after it occurred.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism from Democratic leaders over his delayed and muted response to last week’s pro-Hamas protest in Queens that caused nearby schools and a synagogue to close early in anticipation of the demonstration, where dozens of masked protesters chanted “We support Hamas” near the synagogue. 

Democratic elected officials across New York — including left-wing politicians hostile to Israel, like Mamdani ally and former City Comptroller Brad Lander — were quick to release statements condemning the support for Hamas that was on display at the demonstration, which was organized by the group Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, [PAL]-Awda, to protest an event held by CapitIL, a Jerusalem-based real estate agency. 

The event was held at the Modern Orthodox synagogue Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. 

A flyer promoting the protest, which took place on a residential street about half a block from the synagogue, called the meeting an “illegal event” promoting “blatant land theft and dispossession.” Keffiyeh-clad demonstrators also chanted “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “Globalize the intifada,” and “Death to the IDF” for more than two hours while banging on drums. 

“Let’s be crystal clear: this is vile antisemitism,” Lander, who is running to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) as a Mamdani-endorsed challenger in New York’s 10th Congressional District, said on Friday morning. “This should not have to be said: you can oppose land sales in the West Bank, without supporting terrorism & the mass murder of Jews.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani in the mayoral election, also weighed in on Friday morning, saying, “Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the genocide of Jews. No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it’s dangerous, and it has no place in New York,”  

New York Attorney General Letitia James said Friday midday, “Hamas is a terrorist organization. We do not support terrorists. Period.”

Other New York Democratic leaders who condemned the protest quickly and directly on Thursday and Friday included New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Grace Meng and Ritchie Torres. 

But the newly inaugurated mayor remained silent Thursday night and much of the following day regarding the demonstration, which marked his first major test in protecting the city’s Jewish community. 

His spokesperson did not respond to multiple inquiries from Jewish Insider on Thursday, including one asking whether the mayor’s team had discouraged demonstrators from protesting and another, immediately after the event, asking if he condemned any of the slogans chanted. 

Mamdani broke his silence late in the afternoon on Friday when he was asked about the protesters’ pro-Hamas chant by Politico reporter Jason Beeferman while leaving a campaign event in Brooklyn for Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidate Claire Valdez, who is running for a Brooklyn-Queens congressional seat held by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) 

“That language is wrong,” Mamdani replied while walking to a car after the event. “I think that language has no place in New York City.”

Mamdani later followed up with an additional statement just after Shabbat started in New York: “As I made clear, the rhetoric and displays that we saw and heard in Kew Gardens Hills last night are wrong and have no place in our city,” he said. “My team is in close touch with the NYPD regarding last night’s protest and counterprotest. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.”

On Saturday, when asked at a press conference why he didn’t “condemn both sides,” Mamdani answered, “I absolutely have an opposition to the sale of land in the West Bank. It’s a violation of international law and that comes from my belief in the importance of following international law.”  

“It’s been a distressing few months for Jews everywhere. I appreciated the mayor’s statement,” Democratic strategist Chris Coffey told JI. “Could it have come earlier? Sure. But being mayor in the first week is pure pandemonium and chaos. The important part is that he got it right.” 

But Mamdani’s eventual response was met with continued concern from Jewish leaders over its delay and neglect to specifically condemn Hamas. In a sign of the far-left character of his political base, he also received criticism from DSA-aligned allies in his own camp for criticizing the protest. 

“It’s a step up from his statement [after the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel], which failed to even mention Hamas. Still, it’s concerning that it takes the mayor of the city with the largest population of Jews outside of Israel nearly 24 hours to condemn blatant antisemitism when every other major elected in New York found the time,” Democratic state Assemblymember Sam Berger, who represents the district where the protest took place, told JI on Sunday. 

Another Democratic Queens assemblymember, Nily Rozic, told JI, “It shouldn’t take the mayor [nearly] 24 hours to condemn an antisemitic protest layered in antisemitism, let alone one that openly supports terror organizations.” 

Rozic expressed dismay over the timing of the statement after Shabbat.  

“If the mayor were genuine in his concern over Jewish safety he would have acted with urgency and not waited so long, when most of those impacted wouldn’t see his statement until long after,” she told JI.  

“I am a vocal & passionate support[er] of Mamdani’s,” Adam Carlson, founding partner of the polling group Zenith Polls, wrote on X. “But I’ve waited patiently all day for him to forcefully condemn Hamas — watching dozens of other city & state electeds do so — and am still waiting. This is not only hurtful to me, but it’s bad politics & distracts from his agenda.”

New York magazine writer David Freedlander posted screenshots on X of texts sent to him on Friday afternoon from two city political operatives, both “broadly supportive of Mamdani.” 

The messages were identical: “Zohran is completely blowing this pro-Hamas protest thing.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee appointed Deryn Sousa as spokesperson, replacing Marshall Wittmann, who retired at the end of 2025 after 13 years in the role. 

Sousa steps into the public-facing position during a time when AIPAC is regularly in the spotlight — and as the powerful pro-Israel organization faces outsized criticism from the far left and far right over its influence in the American political system. 

She reflects a different career trajectory than that taken by Wittmann, who came to AIPAC toward the end of his career after decades working in politics in Washington, including as communications director for Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ). 

Sousa has worked for AIPAC for a decade, having joined the organization soon after she graduated from the University of Georgia, where she studied Arabic and international affairs. She moved to Washington for the spokesperson role from Houston, where she served until recently as AIPAC’s Southwest regional political director. 

In a 2016 Times of Israel blog post, Sousa reflected on her first trip to Israel on an AIPAC mission for non-Jewish college students. She described her connection to Israel as a Christian. 

“I was sitting in the Jewish homeland, at the Christian site of Jesus’ burial, with the faint sound of the Muslim call to prayer in the background. My three worlds came together at this exact moment: my Christian faith, my pro-Israel work for the Jewish cause, and my passion for my Arabic studies,” Sousa wrote. “In that moment, all three religions coexisted.”

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

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

“My exchange with Under Secretary [of State for Public Diplomacy] Sarah Rogers on the new national security strategy of the Trump Administration has made it clear that Washington is seeking a strong German partner who is willing to take on responsibility,” Bundestag member Markus Frohnmaier posted after the meeting, according to an X translation.

“Germany should act once again as a capable leading power by making a consistent turn in migration policy and independently organizing European security, in order to strengthen the German-American partnership on an equal footing. Only if we do our homework will we secure our relevance on the international stage. To shape this path together, I would like to organize a deepening event in Berlin in February 2026.”

Responding to a critic who noted that leaked Russian documents allegedly described Frohnmaier as a Russian asset, Rogers praised the AfD.

“Unlike the Russian government (and the current German one), AfD took an anti-censorship stance in its meeting with me last week. One reason they’re gaining popularity in Germany,” Rogers said.

She also reposted an X post from Special Envoy Ric Grenell, who said that those criticizing the meeting “don’t understand tough diplomacy.”

“Talking is a tactic. We are tired of failed diplomacy where you don’t talk to people and think it’s a punishment. Your guy [former President] Joe Biden didn’t talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for 4 years while a war raged,” Grenell said. “Our side isn’t afraid to talk, and send clear directives as to what we expect. Your silence is weakness. You are so afraid to defend your ideas — and I get it. Your ideas have failed. The German is an official member of the Bundestag and Sarah’s job is to talk and explain our National Security Strategy.”

U.S. officials have met repeatedly with AfD members during the past year.

On Capitol Hill, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) met with the AfD delegation, at Luna’s invitation. They did not share details about that meeting. Luna has met previously with AfD members earlier this year and publicly offered to host them on Capitol Hill.

Luna said last week that she and other lawmakers would be meeting with “dozens of members” of the AfD.

“The Chancellor of Germany is trashing our President and censoring German citizens,” Luna said on X. “The AfD, whom the German uniparty has tried to smear, intimidate, and even de-bank, is actually working to strengthen ties with the United States and restore a healthy relationship between our governments.”

The Florida congresswoman has also recently faced criticism for her dealings with the Russian ambassador in Washington, advocating for restoring U.S.-Russian ties and accepting a dossier of alleged Russian findings on the John F. Kennedy Jr. assassination.

“Rep. Luna’s decision to roll out the red carpet for members of a far-right, Holocaust revisionist, Putin-loving party is grotesque,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a co-chair of the bipartisan House antisemitism task force, said ahead of the meeting. In a separate post, he described the AfD members as “neo-Nazis.”

The New York Young Republican club also hosted around 20 members of the AfD at a gala last week.

“Young Republicans in New York are set to honor a Nazi sympathizing extremist,” the Jewish Democratic Council of America said, in response to the Young Republicans event. “This isn’t happening in a vacuum: [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio, [Vice President JD] Vance, and [Elon] Musk have all defended the extremist AfD party. Antisemitism is a feature of the Republican Party, not a bug.”

The hotly anticipated primary matchup between outgoing New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) was widely expected to be a bellwether race that would test the strength of pro-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party.

Featuring two prominent Jewish New Yorkers with sharply opposing views on the Middle East, the race notably pits Lander, an outspoken critic of Israel and its war in Gaza, against Goldman, a more moderate incumbent viewed as a strong defender of the Jewish state.

But nearly a week after announcing his challenge, Lander, the progressive New York City comptroller, is so far tiptoeing around such differences, even as they are arguably the driving contrast in the primary. Instead, he has more actively emphasized a message that is casting Goldman as ineffective in countering President Donald Trump — declaring it is “time for fighters” and “not folders” in Congress.

His top surrogates — including a range of vocal Israel critics including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City — have made no mention of Middle East policy in their statements endorsing his campaign to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, which covers Lower Manhattan and a swath of northwest Brooklyn.

“We need more fighters in Washington now more than ever, and Brad is a fighter,” Warren said last week, adding that Lander has “the grit to not just win this race, but deliver for working families.”

Such comments, however, have failed to note that Goldman, who was elected to Congress in 2022, is recognized as a leading Trump antagonist, having served as the top prosecutor in the president’s first impeachment case. Like Lander, he has frequently confronted the Trump administration on a range of issues including its immigration agenda. Last week, for instance, Goldman seized the spotlight during a fiery House hearing in which he clashed with Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary — accusing her of illegally deporting asylum seekers in a grilling that drew headlines and social media virality.

Warren’s team did not respond to a request for comment when asked why she was not satisfied with Goldman’s record opposing Trump and his administration’s policies.

The early effort by Lander and some of his allies to employ rhetoric focused largely on fighting Trump has obscured how Israel is the clearest dividing line in the race — raising questions about Lander’s strategy as he seeks to shape a narrative Goldman’s supporters have dismissed as a misdirection. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in a statement last week, countered that her colleague is one of the “best members” she has “ever served with” and said he “is exactly the right fighter for this moment.”

With opposition to Trump likely a major motivating force for midterm voters, Lander is now facing scrutiny over his attacks targeting a two-term incumbent who has long staked his reputation on effectively battling the president. Meanwhile, in the wake of Israel’s recent ceasefire with Hamas, it remains to be seen if Gaza will continue to be an animating issue heading into the June primary election that is already shaping up to be a heated and expensive race.

Goldman, a Levi Strauss heir whose estimated net worth is up to $250 million, spent nearly $5 million of his own money during his first primary bid three years ago, when he narrowly prevailed in a crowded field of progressive rivals who split the vote. Lander has also targeted Goldman’s personal wealth, saying that the “oligarchy” should not “be able to buy a seat in Congress.”

Even as Lander, a former longtime city councilman from Brooklyn, touts high-profile support from the Senate, House progressives have for their part so far stayed on the sidelines. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), an Israel critic who backed Lander’s comptroller bid in 2021 and called him a “talented hero” after his arrest by federal agents at an immigration courthouse last June, said she is “not weighing into that race right now,” echoing other like-minded lawmakers who also declined to take sides in the looming primary.

While Lander has long identified as a progressive Zionist, he has been outspoken in criticizing Israel’s conduct in Gaza, accusing the country of war crimes and ethnic cleansing. He has additionally called for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, a measure Goldman has rejected. 

“What Lander is counting on now is the sentiment of the moment, which is further to the left and more anti-Israel,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York City, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview.

In a speech before the mayoral election, where he rose to prominence as a top surrogate for Mamdani after losing his own primary bid, Lander advocated for building a “coalition of anti-Zionists and liberal Zionists,” seeking to unify opposing factions to end “the horrors in Gaza.” 

Goldman, for his part, chose not to endorse Mamdani, citing concerns about his approach to Israel and rising antisemitism, but he has said he looks forward to working with the mayor-elect on promoting his affordability agenda.

“What Lander is counting on now is the sentiment of the moment, which is further to the left and more anti-Israel,” Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York City, told Jewish Insider in a recent interview.

Still, in the days after launching his campaign, Lander has sent mixed signals about how he plans to highlight differences with his opponent on Israel. 

In his campaign announcement video released last Wednesday, for example, he took a thinly veiled jab at Goldman in vowing not to do “AIPAC’s bidding,” referring to the increasingly demonized pro-Israel group, but did not mention the incumbent by name.

Lander told The New York Daily News in an interview last week that he views contrasts over Gaza as ancillary to their approaches to confronting the Trump administration, drawing raised eyebrows from observers who noted that hitting Goldman on his strongest issue avoids addressing a more salient tension over Middle East policy.

“On this issue, we have some disagreements,” he said of Israel, “but the core rationale is because it’s time for fighters not folders,” Lander elaborated on his approach to the race.

One Jewish community leader supportive of Goldman expressed frustration at the logic behind Lander’s challenge. “I’m just pissed that there’s not a single thing they can point to what Goldman isn’t doing right other than being pro-Israel,” he told JI, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive subject.

During a campaign kickoff event in Brooklyn last week, Lander accused Goldman of failing to hold Israel accountable for its behavior in Gaza, saying “only I, of the two of us, recognize that Netanyahu’s leveling of schools and hospitals and the destruction of Gaza was a war crime,” in reference to the Israeli prime minister. He also reiterated that New Yorkers “don’t want elected officials who do AIPAC bidding in a district that recognizes that our safety and our freedom is bound up together.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander’s campaign, disputed criticism that he is avoiding Israel as a top issue. “Brad literally called out AIPAC in his launch video, so safe to say he will continue to spend quite a bit of time discussing Israel in this race,” she said in a statement to JI on Friday. 

On Friday, Lander also said on social media that, if he were a member of Congress, he would introduce a resolution censuring Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) over his recent incendiary comments calling for Muslims to be “destroyed.” Lander, without directly citing his opponent, also noted he would “not have voted with Republicans” to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over incendiary comments against Israel during the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, as Goldman himself had done.

Hours later, Goldman also denounced Fine in an X post for remarks assailing Muslims as “barbarians,” calling the statement “despicable and unacceptable” and saying he “must apologize and retract this tweet immediately.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander’s campaign, disputed criticism that he is avoiding Israel as a top issue. “Brad literally called out AIPAC in his launch video, so safe to say he will continue to spend quite a bit of time discussing Israel in this race,” she said in a statement to JI on Friday. 

“Brad will also speak to the other issues concerning NY-10 voters, including affordability — another topic where the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune is out of step with the district’s experience. NY-10 voters don’t need a representative that’s palling around with Don[ald Trump] Jr. in the Bahamas, they need someone who understands and represents their views,” Hitt added, referring to an October social media post in which Trump’s son sarcastically thanked Goldman for his “kind words” about the president’s ceasefire and hostage deal during the government shutdown.

For now, it is unclear how AIPAC and pro-Israel groups more broadly are assessing the matchup — and if they will choose to engage in the primary. A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to weigh in. 

In 2022, AIPAC disclosed after Goldman had won his primary that its super PAC, United Democracy Project, had quietly contributed at least $350,000 to a separate group established near the end of the race to fund a series of attack ads against Yuh-Line Niou, a far-left rival who had drawn controversy for voicing alignment with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

One pro-Israel consultant, who was granted anonymity to address a sensitive topic, suggested “AIPAC’s involvement in the race would probably be a negative against Goldman.” Mamdani, an ally of Lander who has long been a fierce critic of Israel, performed well in the district — where Goldman’s views on Israel have faced backlash from left-wing voters.

Democratic Majority for Israel, which is backing Goldman, had been wary of a one-on-one contest with Lander, whom polling has shown is a strong opponent, according to a person familiar with the group’s discussions. Lander’s early consolidation of progressive support helped to push two other rivals on the left not to run in the race, effectively clearing the field for the outgoing comptroller. A spokesperson for DMFI did not respond to requests for comment regarding its plans.

Goldman, meanwhile, said in an interview with a local news outlet last week he welcomes Lander’s challenge but is “not really thinking about” the race “right now.” A campaign spokesperson said that he is “focused on stopping” Trump and “will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year,” when he is “planning to roll out a flood of” endorsements from fellow House members.

Despite differences over Israel, Goldman is also endorsed by J Street, a progressive Israel advocacy group that has long been close to Lander. A spokesperson for J Street told JI in a statement the group is “proud” to back Goldman and “we deeply value his pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy leadership.”

“Dan has a progressive record,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist. “It’s not always as far left on Israel as Brad, for sure, and that is one of the things that differentiates them on policy.” Israel, he added, “could be a defining issue in this race,” regardless of Lander’s messaging efforts to prioritize Trump.

“We are also grateful for our years-long friendship with Brad Lander, who is a vocal leader for our values. We know that the issue of peace is close to both of their hearts,” the spokesperson continued. “Ultimately, it is up to the district to determine who they want to represent them in Congress, and we are glad to see two J Street-aligned voices in this race.”

A top J Street official, speaking on background to address the primary, confirmed the group will not be engaging materially in the race as it is satisfied with both candidates’ records. “I expect our donor base will give to both,” the official told JI. “There’s definitely a split of opinion on this race, to say the least.”

“Dan has a progressive record,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist. “It’s not always as far left on Israel as Brad, for sure, and that is one of the things that differentiates them on policy.” Israel, he added, “could be a defining issue in this race,” regardless of Lander’s messaging efforts to prioritize Trump.

Lander, for his part, could also face backlash from far-left activists in the district who have bristled at his identification as a progressive Zionist and have taken issue with his investments in an Israeli arms producer as comptroller, even as he chose to cease holdings of Israel bonds during his four years in office.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is focused largely on winning back the House in next year’s midterms, declined to comment on the primary, though it has traditionally backed incumbents.

Locally, a political advocacy group in the district called Brooklyn BridgeBuilders, which is dedicated to fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, is planning to support Goldman and is currently in the process of formalizing its strategy, according to Ramon Maislen, its CEO.

“The decision to challenge a highly effective liberal Jewish incumbent is incredibly fraught,” Maislen, a Jewish community activist who lives in Park Slope, told JI. “Dan is someone who has been unwavering in taking on Trump, defending our democracy and standing with the Jewish community.”

Last week, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stood before a crowded room of Jewish attendees just outside the nation’s capital, and proclaimed: “Today, I want to be loud and clear, that Maryland stands with the Israeli people and we support their right to exist in the region with the same sense of safety and security that we all want,” Moore told attendees at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s annual “Lox and Legislators” event.

The nuance in Moore’s statement was telling — an expression of support not for Israel specifically, but for the Israeli people. It’s a clear distinction — and a potential shift in messaging for mainstream Democrats seeking to put daylight between themselves and the Israeli government, while not, as they see it, throwing Israelis under the bus.

But it’s also the kind of language reserved for rogue and oppressive regimes. Few politicians mention “the South African people” when speaking about disagreements with Pretoria. Same with “the people of Brazil” or “the people of Poland” when disagreements between Washington and those countries arise.

Separating governments from their populaces is commonplace when talking about countries committing grave human rights violations. In their co-sponsorship of legislation introduced last week backing internet freedom in Iran, Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Dave McCormick (R-PA), both referred to “the people of Iran.” Last month, Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) introduced legislation supporting “The North Korean people” who “face torture, imprisonment, starvation, and forced labor every single day.”

But Israel, a key U.S. ally, is a parliamentary democracy that holds regular (some would argue too regular) elections. And Moore, a savvy politician with potential White House ambitions, can read the political tea leaves within his party. 

A Gallup survey released over the summer found that a majority of Americans — 52% — viewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfavorably, while just 29% had a positive view of Israel’s longest-serving leader. The July poll reflected Netanyahu’s highest unfavorable numbers in nearly three decades. 

But perhaps most telling was that Netanyahu, in the Gallup poll, was viewed favorably by just 9% of Democrats — likely due to the convergence of a number of factors, among them Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and Netanyahu’s close ties with the Trump administration.

To be sure, some of Netanyahu’s current standing with Democrats is a result of his own actions. Ron Dermer, the former strategic affairs minister who served as the Israeli ambassador to Washington during the time the Obama administration was negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is widely credited with developing Jerusalem’s strategy to focus on building ties with Republicans and evangelicals at the expense of attempting to bolster bipartisan support for the Jewish state. 

Similarly, a Pew poll conducted in October found that while 56% of Americans have a favorable view of the Israeli people, 35% of Americans have a favorable view of the Israeli government.

As Democrats look to take back at least one chamber of Congress next year, they are paying close attention to the polls — and hewing campaign messages accordingly. While it may be politically advantageous for Moore and other Democrats with national ambitions to separate the Israeli government from its populace, it could set a dangerous precedent — one that uses semantics to warp reality and drive a deeper wedge between the American public and Israel.

New York state Rep. Amanda Septimo is planning to declare a primary challenge to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), two sources informed about her plans confirmed to Jewish Insider.

Septimo has represented the South Bronx in the state Assembly since 2021, after defeating the previous incumbent from the left. She would join a field of several challengers from Torres’ left, most of whom are focusing their campaigns squarely on the congressman’s support for Israel and backing from pro-Israel groups.

The New York Times described Septimo as a member of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s “brain trust”; though she did not endorse him in the Democratic primary, she is reportedly a key advisor to him on policy and political questions after they served together in the Assembly and she spoke at several of his campaign events.

That said, Septimo has a robust history of support for Israel as recently as this summer, and would likely — like fellow Torres challenger Michael Blake — face accusations of hypocrisy if she attempts to criticize Torres for his own support for the Jewish state.

Septimo visited Israel in 2016 on a trip sponsored by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, praising the country and the trip in a series of social media posts at the time.

“Clearly Israel acts as a bastion of stability in a part of the world where instability has major global implications,” Septimo said on X, then Twitter. “Spending this week in Israel learning about the rich culture, history, & promising future of this historical land,” she said in another post.

During that trip, she appeared in a group photo alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier this year, she praised Israel’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“A nuclearized Iran is [a] danger to the United States, to the Middle East, and to our closest ally in the region, Israel,” Septimo said. “After [the] failure of diplomatic efforts, Israel has taken an important step to protect its long term security, and ours, by preventing Iran from gaining the power to destroy life as we know it.”

Septimo faced attacks from at least one prominent anti-Israel organizer for that stance.

Immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Septimo issued a strong condemnation of both the attacks as well as individuals in the United States who had justified or defended those atrocities.

“We’ve watched indiscriminate, brutal violence unleashed on innocent civilians, and yet we have parts of our society uplifting this as a victory; but, there is no victory to be found in the slaughtering of unsuspecting civilians,” she said. “While the situation between Israelis and Palestinians is complicated and full of important nuances, there is absolutely no justification for Hamas’ attacks. Narratives that work to paint Hamas as an underdog organization carrying out acts of retribution are deeply misinformed, and incredibly dangerous. Simply put, to justify what has happened to Israelis today is to justify terrorism.”

She said she would “continue to stand by [Israel’s] right to defend itself and its people” and “will not stand by as our Israeli allies are expected to accept this horrifying carnage,” even as she said she would also continue to advocate for diplomacy and peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Septimo opposed legislation in the Assembly, led by Mamdani, that sought to strip nonprofit groups of their tax-exempt status for “engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.” She described the bill in a statement as a “disturbing effort to bring the delegitimization of Israel to the halls of power in New York” and a “harmful, one-sided, divisive approach which fans the flames of hatred that threaten us all.”

“Any piece of legislation that calls Israel’s sovereignty into question provides unacceptable legitimacy to the hateful rhetoric which dominates this issue, and stymies efforts toward peace,” Septimo continued. “The relationship between New York and Israel brings innumerable benefits to communities across our state. … New York will continue to support Israel by finding new ways to deepen the state’s relationship with the nation, and we will always support our Jewish friends and neighbors by standing against hate in all its forms.”

She has also repeatedly met with pro-Israel advocates and attended AIPAC events as recently as late 2023, per photos shared on her and others’ social media.

Septimo did, however, oppose moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during the first Trump administration as “a step in the wrong direction re: peace with Palestinians,” she said in a social media post.

One individual familiar with Septimo’s plans and record said she visited Israel weeks after Oct. 7 on a solidarity mission with other New York City leaders, and said that “Were she to win, the pro-Israel community would have absolutely nothing to fear,” predicting that she’s “going to let Torres and Blake fight it out over that issue.”

Septimo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has repeatedly made headlines for his sharpening criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza while bashing pro-Israel groups, addressed two synagogues in his district this weekend about Israel policy and antisemitism, fielding questions from congregants.

Khanna, considered to be a 2028 presidential contender, addressed Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos after Friday evening Shabbat services, and Congregation Emanu-El in San Jose on Saturday. Khanna’s office shared excerpts of both events with Jewish Insider.

Though Khanna is co-sponsoring a resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide, he gave a somewhat equivocal response on the issue at Congregation Beth Am, saying that there is significant disagreement on the use of the term, even within his own family, and acknowledging that its usage is “emotionally charged.”

“I believe that people of good faith can disagree on what to call it. I have said that I would defer to the international bodies and that the United States should follow international law,” Khanna continued. “What I do know is that what happened, in my view, was not right. Even though Israel was attacked and Oct. 7 was a terrorist attack, I think [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s response was disproportionate.”

Asked about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s famous maxim, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel,” Khanna said that the “history is so complex.”

He said that both Israelis and Palestinians have strong claims to the land, while acknowledging that Israel had previously agreed to a partition of the state while the Palestinians rejected the existence of Israel.

“Obviously it’s a complex situation,” Khanna said. “All I can say is, now it seems to be the best chance for peace — is for both people to have a state basically under a 1967 framework with some adjustments as the way forward. … I don’t think the cycle of violence can continue. I think we have to try.”

He said that would require backing from regional powers in the Arab League and Palestinian guarantees of Israeli security, as well as the removal of Hamas from power. But he also acknowledged that Israelis “don’t trust the idea, even the left, of giving Palestinians a state because of what happened on Oct. 7.”

He emphasized that he believes that Israel “should exist as a Jewish and democratic state,” emphasizing that others on the left disagree with him on that point.

Khanna argued that he had “initially defended for a few months [after Oct. 7] Israel’s right to self-defense” and faced protests for doing so, “but by December, when Netanyahu had destroyed about eight out of 10 of the Hamas battalions and when President [Joe] Biden had the first deal for hostages, I thought that the military solution to the war was over. I did not think they would achieve more militarily.”

He added that he does not think that it is possible to remove Hamas from power in Gaza by military means, and that the “cost of human life was way too high [in the war]  … that this was not advancing peace and it was not a proportionate response in terms of achieving a better outcome for people in Gaza or Israel.”

He said he did not think the U.S. should have continued providing offensive weapons to Israel while the war was ongoing.

Khanna said he has told Netanyahu that he may have won the battle against Israel’s terrorist enemies but is “losing the war. You’re losing every American under 50 and you need the United States.”

Khanna asserted that there is a significant generational divide among Jewish Americans and Americans on Israel and Gaza — “one of the starkest generational divides that I’ve seen, not just among the Jewish-American community, but in general.”

He suggested that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s outspoken anti-Israel stance was a major reason the democratic socialist won the mayoral race, and that a “staggering amount” of young Jewish Americans supported Mamdani.

Polling has shown that a majority of Jewish New Yorkers voted against the mayor-elect and that a strong majority of Jews of all ages remain strongly connected to Israel.

Khanna said that he’s also seeing a similar trend among young Republicans, citing a conversation with a Republican friend, whose son told Khanna that Israel is the only issue on which he agrees with the congressman.

Asked about the future of Israelis living beyond the Green Line in the West Bank, Khanna — who has been pushing for the United States to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood — said that issue would have to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Some of them, they probably would have to leave, like they did when [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon vacated Gaza,” Khanna said. “Some, if they stayed, there probably has to be some negotiation or compensation for that.”

Some critics, including fellow Democrats, of Khanna’s statehood recognition proposal say that outstanding issues such as Israeli and Palestinian borders, which must be resolved in negotiations, are one reason not to recognize Palestinian statehood at this point.

Khanna said that there can be “zero tolerance for antisemitism” and that political leaders need to call it out, regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from. “It can’t become a political football,” he added.

The California congressman himself has on multiple occasions faced criticism for associating with known antisemites — including appearing at an anti-Israel conference alongside speakers who defended terrorism and posting on social media a clip that included a prominent antisemitic conspiracy theorist — backpedaling on those associations after the fact.

Khanna said he created a point of contact in his office for individuals facing antisemitic discrimination to report their experiences. Many who have contacted him, he said, have been young people — Jewish clubs unable to bring speakers to campus, students uncomfortable in their classrooms — as well as a Jewish person feeling uncomfortable at their place of employment.

“I have, in a number of instances, reached out and said I don’t think that that’s acceptable,” Khanna said. “We need to make sure that this community is accept[ing] and open to people of all different backgrounds.”

He also said that more education about the Holocaust is critical and that the Department of Justice must have the resources it needs to protect Jewish communities and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and threats.

Khanna also spoke about what he views as the future of the Democratic Party — notably offering support for two moderate Democratic governors while implicitly distancing himself from his home state’s governor.

“The last thing we need is the pundits for the party picking who the next leader should be,” Khanna said. “We need people to go earn it. … Go campaign, go work hard, share your vision with people, see if it resonates, have a primary of 10, 15 thoughtful people sharing the vision for the country, and don’t anoint who the next leader should be. That will be a colossal mistake.”

He praised Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — both of whom are more moderate than Khanna — as “offering a vision of how we move forward.”

But he said he “completely reject[s]” those in the party who push for  fighting “fire with fire” — an implicit dig at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has adopted a Trumpian posture on social media to criticize the president and Republicans.

Khanna said he wants to pursue a “positive vision” to “heal this country” and “move this nation forward,” focusing on a “unifying economic message” — ”I call it economic patriotism as a new national purpose. Americans working together to build up every town so that every family has a chance of success in a modern economy, and so we can be a cohesive, multiracial democracy that leads the world.”

Though he has said he believes that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should step down from his leadership position and called for “the old guard to make way” and let a “new generation of leadership” take charge, he said that he would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as speaker of the House if the Democrats retake the chamber. 

In his latest novel, former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) takes readers through a tense spy thriller, with famed physicist Albert Einstein at its center, set against the backdrop of the pro-Nazi movement in America in 1939.

Israel retired from Congress in 2017 and later opened a bookstore on Long Island. His latest novel, The Einstein Conspiracy, is his third. The former congressman spoke to Jewish Insider about the book in a phone conversation last week from his shop, in between offering recommendations to customers.

Published last week, The Einstein Conspiracy is a fictionalized account of true events, in which the Nazis targeted Albert Einstein to prevent him from helping the United States build an atomic bomb.

“The backdrop is the chilling and widespread pro-Nazi movement across America in 1939,” Israel explained to JI. “There was a [Nazi] rally at Madison Square Garden in February 1939 that attracted 20,000 people. On Long Island is a community that used to be known as Camp Siegfried, where the streets were named after Adolf Hitler, Goebbels and Goering. So I’m trying in the book to remind Americans of how close we could have come to staying out of World War II.”

With today’s rising antisemitism — from pro-Nazi sentiment on the far right and support for Hamas on the far left — Israel said he sees “reflections” of that historical moment.

“I’m not trying to preach and I’m not intending to teach lessons. I want readers to be entertained,” Israel continued. “I want to take them on an intriguing adventure where they’re going to learn a little bit about history and also reflect on some of the darker moments in American history, where Nazism was not only espoused in the U.S. but championed by many.”

The plot of Israel’s novel focuses on a fictionalized race between a Nazi agent to kidnap Einstein and the efforts of two FBI agents to prevent an attack.

“We have a Nazi spy — an ingenious, diabolical Nazi spy — posing undercover to get close to Einstein, to abduct him, and we have two FBI agents who always seem just a few too many steps behind the agent,” Israel said.

He said the novel was inspired by his long-standing interest in history, particularly “these kind of hidden moments in history that only a few people pay attention to, that have fundamentally changed the course of history.”

Israel told JI that, driving around Long Island, he came across a cottage where Einstein lived after coming to the United States, where the famous physicist wrote a letter — in collaboration with other physicists — to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt warning him about the Nazis’ atomic bomb research.

“I’d known a little bit about a letter, called the Einstein-Szilard letter, that was written to FDR in the summer of 1939,” he continued. “I didn’t know much more about it, and as I began researching it, I learned that it profoundly changed history, because it was the first time that FDR realized that Hitler could have an atom bomb and that America was paying no attention to the research.”

That letter, he continued, was the spark that ultimately led to the Manhattan Project.

The Nazi spy plot in the novel is also based on real efforts by the Nazis, on several occasions, to hunt down Einstein.

Israel, the former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is now embarking on a national book tour to promote the new novel.

“I used to go around the country begging donors for money. Now I go around the country hustling my book,” Israel quipped. “I like selling books more than I like asking for money.”

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who established himself as a prominent voice on Capitol Hill on foreign policy and national security issues in Congress between 2019 and 2023, told Jewish Insider last week, as he mounts a congressional comeback bid, that he’s “as pro-Israel as I have ever been.”

But he also expressed more openness to policies conditioning or restricting aid, and called for the U.S. to serve as a “counterweight” to the Israeli far right. And he said that U.S. aid shouldn’t be used in furtherance of Israeli actions that the U.S. itself doesn’t support. At the same time, he expressed support for the Trump administration’s Gaza peace plan and strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.

Malinowski is one of the many Democrats who have declared their candidacies in the special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, recently vacated by Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill. The 11th District, an affluent suburb with a sizable Jewish population, borders and incorporates portions of the district Malinowski represented for two terms.

Malinowski said that he’s “as pro-Israel as I have ever been, in the sense that I believe that Israel should be safe and secure as a Jewish and democratic state, and that the United States has a moral and strategic interest in defending Israel as that kind of state at the same.” 

Malinowski said that “to be pro-Israel for me also requires listening to what the hostage families have been saying for the last couple of years, to what hundreds of Israeli security officials have been saying to their government and directly to the United States about the need to bring the war in Gaza to an end and to have some plan that addresses the legitimate desire of Palestinians to have their rights respected and to have a future that they can strive towards.”

“I would not seek to enable [any] ally to do something that I thought should not be done. It’s just a basic foreign policy principle that I think most people would agree is straightforward,” Malinowski told JI, when asked about the possibility of conditioning or suspending aid to Israel. “I would make case-by-case judgments given what’s happening on the ground.”

He said he would not support U.S. policies that would hurt Israel’s ability to protect itself, but added that the U.S. should “serve as a counterweight” to the pressure that an Israel government may feel from Israel’s far right and “use our influence and leverage and our honest voice to steer our ally away from policies that are self-destructive.”

He expressed a similar view in public interviews last year when he offered support for President Joe Biden’s moves to suspend some U.S. arms sales to Israel to pressure Israel against mounting a military incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

“I would not seek to enable [any] ally to do something that I thought should not be done. It’s just a basic foreign policy principle that I think most people would agree is straightforward,” Malinowski told JI, when asked about the possibility of conditioning or suspending aid to Israel. “I would make case-by-case judgments given what’s happening on the ground.”

He said he was not committing to supporting conditions on aid but also did not rule them out depending on the situation. “There’s no U.S. ally in the world that I would guarantee a rubber stamp on every request for military assistance, that’s not the way U.S. foreign policy functions,” Malinowski said.

He said on X in April of last year that the U.S. has, in practice, failed to apply the globally applicable U.S. laws conditioning all arms sales on human rights compliance to Israel. He said that a decision to enforce that law last year to suspend arms sales to certain Israeli units was a “step towards treating Israel as we would any other partner.”

He added that the purpose of the law is to seek remediation of the issues to prevent the need to cut off arms, as was the case for most of the Israeli units to which it was applied.

At the same time, Malinowski indicated to JI a level of skepticism of efforts to halt all offensive aid to Israel, which have been pushed by some former colleagues, arguing that the “distinction between defensive and offensive is hard to make and a bit artificial.”

He expressed support for the Trump administration’s 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza, saying it “offers the best possible hope for a way forward” and said the U.S. should focus on pushing all parties involved to implement it to its fullest extent, to deploy the international security force to neutralize Hamas and to surge humanitarian aid.

He said any decision on Israel in Congress, including with regard to aid, would be geared toward pursuing that goal.

“I think we’re very far from being able to address the issues of sovereignty and what the ultimate answer to those questions should be,” Malinowski said. “Even many of my Palestinian and Arab American friends, I think, would say that they’re not interested in lip service to a two-state solution right now.”

He said that “serious oversight” is needed from Congress on the deal because he is concerned that Trump will be “tempted to just declare victory and claim his Nobel Peace Prize without doing the hard work of securing implementation of the rest of the plan,” when it will require “steady pressure” — on Hamas and its interlocutors as well as on Israel — to ensure that the situation does not return to the pre-Oct. 7, 2023, status quo.

Malinowski was not supportive of an effort led by some progressive lawmakers to recognize Palestinian statehood, arguing that the U.S. focus should be — and that his focus would be — on more immediate humanitarian and security issues, including ensuring the Trump plan proceeds.

“I think we’re very far from being able to address the issues of sovereignty and what the ultimate answer to those questions should be,” Malinowski explained. “Even many of my Palestinian and Arab American friends, I think, would say that they’re not interested in lip service to a two-state solution right now.”

Malinowski said he did not oppose the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier this year, adding that U.S. intervention likely helped bring the war to a quicker close than it would otherwise have, by bringing the U.S.’ superior capabilities to bear on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He also said he’s “very happy” the Assad regime fell, Hezbollah was “significantly weakened” and the “paper tiger of Iran’s defenses has been exposed.”

At the same time, he argued that any “lasting solution” to Iran’s nuclear program will require a diplomatic agreement with “highly intrusive inspections,” and said President Donald Trump had “exaggerate[d] the impact” of the U.S. strikes.

“My hope is that we will continue to pursue that, rather than imagining that this problem can be addressed just by going to war every few years,” Malinowski said.

At home, Malinowski has spoken publicly at various occasions since the Oct. 7 attacks about anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism in the U.S. and on college campuses. He argued in May 2024 that students who care about protecting innocent Palestinians were being overshadowed by more extreme voices advocating for the end of Israel, which he called counterproductive.

“The loudest voices are using Gaza’s plight to push a sweeping & more radical agenda of defeating Zionism and “colonialism.” This is not about ending the war but about ending Israel,” Malinowski said on X. “But the actual political effect of these protests has been to shift attention away from Gaza at the very moment (after the World Central Kitchen strike) when opinion was shifting against the war. All our attention should be on getting aid to Gazans, freeing hostages, avoiding more deaths, and what happens post-war. Instead, we have to talk about dumb 19 year olds glorifying Hamas & ‘intifada,’ drowning out the voices of others who sincerely care about saving lives.”

He said those voices also gave right-wing “bad faith partisans” fodder to “cast all legitimate criticism of self-defeating Israeli government policies” as support for Hamas and demand police crackdowns.

“Even though there is a significant problem on the far left that involves anti-Israel protests morphing into calls for an end to Israel as a Jewish state, we don’t quite have a Nazi problem in the Democratic Party in a way that leading Republicans are now acknowledging they do on their side,” Malinowski said.

Malinowski told JI that leaders need to speak up and police antisemitism on their own sides, adding that he “probably underestimated the extent of the problem on the far left” during his time on office but argued that the “problem on the right has gotten much worse and is too often dismissed by critics of the Democratic Party.”

He argued that the problem in the GOP is much more severe than in the Democratic Party. “You have leaders of the party rightly worried, as some on the Republican side are, that a significant share of the young people going into administration positions … have something akin to a Nazi ideology,” he said.

“Even though there is a significant problem on the far left that involves anti-Israel protests morphing into calls for an end to Israel as a Jewish state, we don’t quite have a Nazi problem in the Democratic Party in a way that leading Republicans are now acknowledging they do on their side,” he continued.

He also said that holding social media platforms accountable — a longtime priority for Malinowski — for their amplification of content designed to fuel hatred, will be critical. He said that social media platforms “bear the largest share of responsibility” for increased extremism on both the far left and far right.

Asked about New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s record on Israel and antisemitism issues, Malinowski told JI the Jewish community is “rightly feeling a tremendous amount of anxiety” about rising antisemitic rhetoric and violence.

He said Mamdani has “made a lot of decent promises about the need to reject antisemitism and hatred of all stripes, and about his interest, his determination to listen to people and to bring communities together. And he needs to be held to those promises.”

Malinowski said that if Mamdani follows through, he could prove to be a “potentially very powerful ally against antisemitism” and help to rebuild Jewish-Muslim dialogue that has broken down since Oct. 7.

“But I also understand that he has said things in the past and failed to say some things in the present that cause people understandable anxiety, and therefore everyone has to be vigilant and hold him accountable to the better angels of his nature,” the former congressman continued.

Malinowski said he decided to run for Congress again because “it would be nice to have a Congress again, one that can fulfill its basic constitutional function of checking presidential policies that go too far. … I’d like to contribute to making Congress a coequal branch again.” 

And he argued that his experience in foreign policy generally is one of the key factors that makes him stand out from the rest of the field, explaining that there is a “big shortage” in the House of “people who can conduct oversight of the administration’s foreign policy.”

Asked about emerging attacks on him as a carpetbagger — he previously represented a neighboring district that included only part of the district in which he is now running — Malinowski argued he’s the only lawmaker who has represented any part of the district before and he works in the district as a professor at Seton Hall University.

And he argued that voters are looking for a candidate who can effectively pick up Sherrill’s work where she left off from his first day in office, given his previous service. His previous service, he said “is one of the key distinctions” between him and the rest of the field.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are cheering the implementation of X’s new location feature this week — allowing users to see what countries accounts are operating from — with some expressing hope that the move will expose the level of foreign involvement in domestic online political discourse.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle touted the new feature as a useful way to identify if an account commenting on U.S. political matters could potentially be a foreign actor. 

The new feature has exposed a variety of far-left and far-right accounts engaging in U.S. political discourse and spreading antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments as they operate from various foreign countries.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said the information gleaned from the platform’s new feature crystalized the degree to which “foreign interests are trying to spread” antisemitic ideas in the United States. “The evidence is insightful,” Bacon, who is leading a bill with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) aimed at addressing antisemitism on social media, told Jewish Insider.

“On one hand I’m glad much of the antisemitism poison is not coming from the U.S., but it is alarming that so many foreign interests are trying to spread that poison by pushing it in the U.S. and masquerading as Americans,” the Nebraska Republican continued. “We need to keep informing Americans that much of the antisemitism is coming from abroad.”

Several lawmakers argued that the feature would help with the broader effort to prevent worsening domestic partisan divides, especially those fueled by U.S. adversaries.

“Foreign adversaries have spent years flooding social media with hate-filled and antisemitic propaganda to divide Americans,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the GOP co-chair of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, told JI. “Americans deserve to know which accounts are run from abroad so we know the true source of these narratives.”

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who represents a Trump district and has been critical of X owner Elon Musk, said in a statement, “I have always suspected that many anti-Israel, antisemitic, Jew hate accounts are promoted by our adversaries.”

“Beijing, Moscow and Tehran know they cannot defeat us economically or militarily, so they exploit controversial issues, like Israel and antisemitism, and try to divide,” Suozzi told JI. “We must defend America by pushing back on external adversaries seeking to divide us internally.”

Others noted in statements to JI that ensuring transparency from major social media platforms was a necessary step in combating the rise in online antisemitism. 

“Transparency on social media is crucial to fighting misinformation and antisemitism online. We’ve seen cases of foreign actors like Russia, China and Iran attempting to use these platforms to sow division and spread hate,” Gottheimer told JI. “I am glad they implemented this change and hope they will work with Congress to take steps to fight antisemitism and prevent malicious foreign influence.”

Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA), who led a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in July about X’s AI program Grok expressing antisemitic and pro-Nazi ideas, told JI in a statement, “This transparency is an important step. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, bad actors spreading antisemitic narratives to divide Americans is a real threat. There’s much more tech companies should do to expose and stop this manipulation.”

Other Republicans also commented on the new feature this week. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has become a leading voice targeting right-wing antisemitism, posted on X on Tuesday that “America-hating foreign bots are at it again,” in response to a tweet from an account that is based in South Asia, according to the new location feature.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley tweeted her support for the new service, writing on Tuesday, “I have long said foreign actors are using social media to poison our politics and divide Americans. The location feature on X is a huge win for transparency and American security. Other social media platforms should do the same.”

As next year’s midterm elections approach, New York City is quickly emerging as an epicenter of Democratic conflict, with a growing number of left-wing primary challengers targeting pro-Israel congressional incumbents as well as an expanding roster of candidates vying for an open House seat that is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the country.

In races spanning the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, new challengers are eyeing primaries to take on the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, which now finds itself on defense after Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory elevated a staunch democratic socialist and critic of Israel to executive office.

But even as challengers seek to capitalize on the momentum fueled by Mamdani’s rise, it remains to be seen if the mayor-elect will choose to weigh in on the upcoming primaries as he manages a diverse coalition to help advance his affordability agenda, which he has indicated is his top priority. 

While Mamdani has publicly discouraged one fellow democratic socialist in Brooklyn from a brewing campaign to challenge House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who endorsed Mamdani in the final weeks of the election, “the big unknown is the role that Mamdani is going to play” in the June primary elections, Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist, told Jewish Insider.

It also is unclear whether pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel will engage in the upcoming primaries. A spokesperson for AIPAC declined to comment. DMFI’s political arm, for its part, is closely monitoring the emerging races and regards the challengers with varying degrees of concern, a person familiar with the group’s internal deliberations told JI.

The activist left, meanwhile, is also confronting its own organizational issues, including the prospect of some split primary fields that threaten to divide the opposing vote, as well as messaging struggles. 

With Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) announcing on Thursday that she will not seek reelection, a crop of candidates is also sure to engage in a spirited competition for her deeply progressive district in Brooklyn and Queens.

Here’s a rundown of the races to watch in New York City as the primary cycle continues to take shape.

NY-10 

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a pro-Israel Jewish Democrat, is preparing to defend his seat against two rival candidates who have been weighing bids. Brad Lander, the outgoing city comptroller and ally of Mamdani, has told associates that he is planning to challenge the congressman, according to people familiar with the discussions, after he was boxed out of a top job in the mayor-elect’s administration. Mamdani, a staunch critic of Israel, has reportedly urged Lander to run for the seat and promised to support him in a primary. 

Polling has shown that Lander, a Jewish Democrat who has long identified as a “progressive Zionist,” would be a formidable opponent in the left-leaning district — which is heavily Jewish and extends from Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope and Borough Park, a Hasidic enclave. Mamdani performed better in the district than any other in the city, according to data collected by The Center for Urban Research at The CUNY Graduate Center. With 60% of the vote, he nearly doubled his top rival in the race, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a moderate pro-Israel Democrat who ran as an independent after badly losing the June primary.

But Lander could face competition from the far left as a city councilwoman, Alexa Avilés, mulls her own challenge to Goldman, with likely plans to highlight the incumbent’s support for Israel. Avilés was recently endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, setting up a potential clash with Mamdani, who has long been a member. Yuh-Line Niou, a former state lawmaker who narrowly lost to Goldman when he first ran for the seat in 2022, is also mulling a challenge, sources have told JI. 

Among the challenges, DMFI PAC is now taking the Goldman race the “most seriously,” according to the person familiar with its deliberations, particularly if the left manages to coalesce behind one candidate.

NY-15

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), one of the most stalwart allies of the Jewish community in the House, is already facing two left-wing challengers attacking his support for Israel. The most recent entrant, Dalourny Nemorin, is an attorney and DSA member who joined the race last week. Michael Blake, a former assemblyman, is a better-known rival in the Bronx district, due to his past campaign for the seat in 2020. He launched his campaign earlier this month.

While he had once identified as pro-Israel and appeared at a number of  AIPAC events, Blake is now positioning himself as a staunch critic of the Jewish state and is accusing Torres of focusing on “AIPAC and Bibi,” at the expense of local issues. His reversal has raised questions about the authenticity of his positions, and threatens to alienate a sizable Jewish. constituency in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, where Torres remains popular. It is also unclear if Blake’s message “makes sense” to voters, even in a district where Mamdani won a majority of the vote, according to Coffey, pointing to issues like affordability and public safety as more galvanizing. 

“He has a chance — everyone does — but not a great one,” a pro-Israel strategist who could engage in the primaries said of Blake.

NY-06

Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) is another House member facing an insurgent challenger who is criticizing her donations from AIPAC as well as corporate donors. Chuck Park, a former City Council aide and foreign service officer, announced his campaign to unseat Meng on Monday, largely echoing the rhetoric used by other challengers in New York City. 

But he is facing an uphill battle in the Queens district that includes a large Asian American population and that Cuomo won with 50% of the vote, underscoring the community’s moderate politics.

NY-08

In an unusually public display of tension on the left, Mamdani has been actively working to shut down a looming challenge to Jeffries from Chi Ossé, a city councilman who filed paperwork this week to run for the Brooklyn seat and is courting the DSA’s endorsement. Mamdani said on Thursday he does “not believe it’s the right time” for such a fight, but clarified that “was not a sweeping statement” about other races such as Goldman’s, where he is backing Lander. 

Ossé, for his part, has indicated that he does not see a path forward without the DSA’s support. While he has built a large social media following and notched some popular legislative successes, his campaign to unseat a possible future speaker of the House would likely be a long shot, even if pro-Israel leaders have not dismissed it. DMFI, for instance, is monitoring the race and has been in touch with Jeffries’ team, according to the person familiar with its outreach.  

Jeffries, who after a monthslong delay endorsed Mamdani in the general election despite profound disagreements over Israel, remains popular in his Brooklyn district, which includes such historically Black neighborhoods as Bedford-Stuyvesant. Still, Mamdani won the district with 52%, suggesting an appetite for political change that Ossé is now hoping to channel if he ends up officially launching a House campaign. 

NY-13

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) became the latest incumbent in New York City to draw a challenger this week. Darializa Avila Chevalier, an organizer in Harlem with a long history of anti-Israel activism, launched her bid to take on Espaillat on Thursday, with backing from Justice Democrats, the far-left group that is credited with helping Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in her insurgent bid against a powerful House member in 2018. 

Like other rivals, Avila Chevalier, a first-time candidate, is accusing the congressman of taking “money from the very institutions that are making life harder for New Yorkers here,” citing AIPAC as a top example. 

Espaillat, a veteran Democrat, endorsed Cuomo in the primary and then backed Mamdani during the general election. The mayor-elect won the district, which covers Upper Manhattan and a portion of the Bronx, with overwhelming support, claiming 65% of the vote.

NY-12

In the open primary to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in the heart of Manhattan, no fewer than 10 contenders have launched bids, with more likely to  come. The top candidates include three established state and city lawmakers: Assemblymen Micah Lasher and Alex Bores and City Councilman Erik Bottcher. But some wildcards could complicate the dynamic — including an insurgent campaign from a politically untested Kennedy scion, Jack Schlossberg, and a possible bid from George Conway, a former Republican lawyer and critic of President Donald Trump. 

In contrast with Goldman’s district, the heavily Jewish constituency on the Upper East and West Sides leans more moderate and pro-Israel, favoring Cuomo with 50% of the vote in the mayoral election. With progressives now seeking to defeat moderate Democrats, the crowded primary to claim Nadler’s seat is drawing more pro-Israel voices and is shaping up as a prominent exception to prevailing political trends in New York City.    

Democratic Majority for Israel on Thursday announced its endorsements of Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Angie Craig (D-MN) and Chris Pappas (D-NH) and former Gov. Roy Cooper as they seek the Senate seats in their respective states.

Stevens faces a particularly competitive primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County health director Abdul El-Sayed, both of whom have sided with the far left on Israel issues and publicly rejected pro-Israel backing. El-Sayed has attacked Stevens over her pro-Israel stance. 

DMFI’s endorsement marks the first formal involvement by a pro-Israel group in the race. AIPAC’s PAC and super PAC, which have previously provided significant support for Stevens, have not yet issued an endorsement.

Craig, another moderate pro-Israel Democrat, also faces a left-wing opponent critical of Israel in Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanangan. Cooper and Pappas, both moderates who have been supportive of Israel, are seen as the clear frontrunners in their primaries.

“Chris Pappas, Haley Stevens, Angie Craig, and Roy Cooper are battle-tested leaders who know how to win tough races, hold the Trump administration accountable, and deliver real results for working families. They’ve stood firm against extremism, antisemitism, and efforts to undermine America’s alliances,” DMFI PAC Chair Brian Romick said in a statement. 

“Each is a champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship and a clear-eyed advocate for Israel’s security and the region’s long-term stability.”

“DMFI PAC is proud to support these exceptional candidates, and we’re firmly committed to helping them win their races,” he added.

Stevens, in a statement thanked DMFI for its support.

“I’m honored to have DMFI PAC’s endorsement in this race. As a proud pro-Israel Democrat, I believe America is stronger when we stand with our democratic allies, confront antisemitism and extremism, and keep our promises to our friends abroad and our working families here at home,” Stevens said in a statement. “In the Senate, I’ll keep fighting to protect our democracy, support Israel’s security, ensure the ceasefire holds in Gaza, and deliver for Michiganders in every corner of our state.”

The organized left scored a major victory last week when Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, elevating to executive office a politician who became one of the nation’s most prominent democratic socialists during the campaign.

Now, as the movement seeks to ride momentum from Mamdani’s win and grow its influence at the federal level, some emerging challengers are setting their sights on a handful of pro-Israel Democrats in the House — posing what is likely to be the first key test of its political credibility in the upcoming midterm elections.

While next year’s primaries are still more than six months away, some early signs indicate that the far left is already facing obstacles in its efforts to target established incumbents, raising questions about its organizational discipline and messaging ability, not to mention alignment with Mamdani — who is now walking a delicate path in seeking buy-in from state leadership to deliver on his ambitious affordability agenda.

Jake Dilemani, a Democratic consultant in New York, said “there is and should be euphoria among the left” after Mamdani’s victory, “but that does not necessarily translate into toppling relatively popular incumbents.”

“One swallow does not make a summer,” he told Jewish Insider on Tuesday.

In a pair of looming congressional contests in Brooklyn and the Bronx, for instance, potentially divided primary fields are now threatening to split the vote to oppose Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY), both of whom are preparing to seek reelection amid left-wing backlash over their support for Israel.

Brad Lander, the outgoing comptroller and an ally of Mamdani, has told associates he is planning to challenge Goldman in a progressive district covering parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, people familiar with his thinking told JI recently. 

Lander, who was reportedly boxed out of a top job in Mamdani’s administration over conflict with the mayor-elect, has acknowledged that he is “seriously considering” a House bid, but has yet to confirm his timeline for publicly making a decision. One person familiar with the matter said he is likely to launch a bid after Mamdani assumes office in early January. Lander has denied that there are any tensions with Mamdani or his team.

While polling has shown that Lander would be a formidable challenger to Goldman, thanks to his popularity in the district where he once served as a longtime city councilman, some observers have speculated that he could face skepticism from voters who may see his bid as a consolation after failing to secure a role in City Hall. 

Lander and Goldman were seen mingling at some of the same receptions during the Somos conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last week, but did not appear to interact.

In addition to Lander, Alexa Avilés, a far-left city councilwoman closely aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, is also weighing a challenge to Goldman, provoking fears among his critics who say he will benefit from a crowded field that helped him secure a narrow victory in his first House primary in 2022.

Yuh-Line Niou, a former state assemblywoman who placed second in that primary, has been considering another bid as well, sources told JI, after she lost by a margin of just two points in a race that centered in part on her controversial support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Goldman, for his part, has sought to downplay the role that Israel could play in the race, arguing that the Trump administration presents a more serious threat to his constituents. 

But Avilés, for one, is almost certain to raise Israel in a potential primary challenge, owing to her vocal opposition to the war in Gaza, which she has called a genocide, and outspoken criticism of AIPAC. “The tide is turning, but the forces remain pernicious and persistent,” Avilés said during a panel discussion at Somos last week, warning of “a Congress that is very much controlled by AIPAC.”

“Saying no to violence is not a radical idea,” Avilés added in comments hinting at a challenge. “And you know what, y’all? If people are not stepping up, then we need to remove them.”

In the Bronx, Torres, who is among the staunchest defenders of Israel in the House, has already drawn a primary opponent focusing overwhelmingly on his pro-Israel record and contributions from AIPAC, in an effort to channel the anti-establishment zeitgeist that helped boost Mamdani’s insurgent campaign.

Michael Blake, a former state assemblyman who came in eighth place in the New York City mayoral primary, launched his campaign to unseat Torres last week. But he is facing accusations of hypocrisy over his own previous well-documented ties to AIPAC and past statements voicing strong support for Israel — contributing to a somewhat turbulent rollout that has cast doubts on his viability.

On the sidelines of the Somos retreat last Friday, Blake, who has twice visited Israel and spoken at AIPAC events, insisted that “you can be critical of governmental policies” and it “does not make you antisemitic or anti-Israel.” 

Blake, who also ran against Torres in a crowded primary in 2020, said he now supports an arms embargo on Israel, but clarified that, if elected, he would continue to vote for defensive aid for its Iron Dome missile-interception system — views that are unlikely to win converts among voters in Riverdale, a predominantly Jewish Bronx neighborhood where Torres has built a loyal following.

“I do think we have to be attentive of the moment that we’re in right now,” Blake said of his thinking last week, while confirming he would “absolutely” seek support from the DSA, which has so far only endorsed candidates running for state office next year. 

Marshall Wittmann, an AIPAC spokesperson, said that the group’s “grassroots members understand the stakes in the upcoming midterms and that is why they are deeply motivated and engaged to help elect pro-Israel candidates and defeat detractors.”

Blake cross-endorsed with Mamdani in the primary and has enthusiastically supported the mayor-elect. But Torres, who once cautioned Mamdani was unfit to lead New York City because of his close ties to the DSA, has since spoken positively about the incoming mayor and praised one of his early appointments as “exceptional” on Monday, complicating the political fault lines in the primary.

A lesser-known primary challenger, Andre Easton, is also campaigning against Torres using similarly hostile rhetoric about Israel and AIPAC. Easton, an independent affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, has said he is running “to fight for the Bronx — not billionaires who fund genocide in Palestine,” and claims that Torres “pockets money from AIPAC” while children in the district “live in poverty.”

Marshall Wittmann, an AIPAC spokesperson, said that the group’s “grassroots members understand the stakes in the upcoming midterms and that is why they are deeply motivated and engaged to help elect pro-Israel candidates and defeat detractors.”

“The track record demonstrates that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics as 96% of AIPAC endorsed Democrats won their elections last cycle,” he added in a statement to JI on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, another pro-Israel Democrat, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), is expected to draw a more established far-left primary challenger in the coming weeks, setting up a high-profile fight for the Brooklyn House seat he has held for over a decade. 

Chi Ossé, a young city councilman and Mamdani ally who has developed a sizable following on social media, is reportedly planning to seek support from the DSA, as he prepares to launch an insurgent bid to topple Jeffries, long a target of the far left. Ossé recently became a member of the DSA after quitting the group in 2020, he said on social media in 2023, noting that when he first left he “wasn’t aligned with the organization” but that there was “no bad blood.”

Still, he may face resistance from Mamdani, who claimed an endorsement from Jeffries late in the election and is hoping to avoid intraparty conflict while balancing a tenuous coalition to advance his daunting campaign pledges. He has also distanced himself from the DSA’s most extreme positions and said their respective platforms are “not the same.”

“It’s not clear that wins from election night will translate into intra-party primary victories in a midterm election,” Basil Smikle, a professor at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and a Democratic strategist, said on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of time between now and then but the organizing framework has certainly been established to make a strong run.”

Mamdani, who criticized Jeffries’ pro-Israel views before the mayoral election, had reportedly sought to preempt Ossé’s plans to oppose the congressman who could be the next speaker of the House. As the councilman now moves forward against Mamdani’s apparent wishes, the potential primary battle could place the mayor-elect in an uncomfortable position, possibly fueling tensions with an activist base eager to capitalize on his victory. The DSA did not return a request for comment.

Despite such issues, some experts said that the left remains formidable ahead of next year’s primaries, even as it confronts some potential disorganization. 

“It’s not clear that wins from election night will translate into intra-party primary victories in a midterm election,” Basil Smikle, a professor at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and a Democratic strategist, said on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of time between now and then but the organizing framework has certainly been established to make a strong run.”

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist, said that “every pro-Israel Democrat is a target for the newly empowered DSA BDS gang,” and warned that incumbents “should be prepared for a long and costly battle.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Thursday that she would not seek reelection, ending a nearly 40-year career in Congress and earning plaudits across a wide spectrum of Jewish voices, from J Street to AIPAC and many in the San Francisco Jewish community who have worked with her since the 1980s.

Pelosi, who is 85, rose to become the first and only female speaker of the House, a position she held from 2007-2011 and again from 2019-2023, when she presided over a divided caucus and a resurgent far-left flank of the party. Pelosi was known for keeping tight control over congressional Democrats and squashing intra-party squabbles. 

“In my view, she was able to keep a pro-Israel consensus in the caucus, but it certainly came at a time when there was more angst around the issue,” said Tyler Gregory, CEO of the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council. “While we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye with her on specific policies, she’s always been pro-Israel, and I don’t think anyone can question that.”

Pelosi spoke several times at AIPAC’s annual policy conference. One year, she invoked  her father, a former Baltimore mayor and Democratic member of Congress from Maryland, who she said “had a love for the idea of a Jewish state in what was then called ‘Palestine.’”

“Her love and close connection to the Jewish community started in Baltimore, with her father, the mayor,” said Amy Friedkin, a former AIPAC president and a close friend of Pelosi’s. “She used to say that the founding of the State of Israel was the most profound achievement of the 20th century.”

Marshall Wittmann, an AIPAC spokesperson, said that during her tenure as speaker, Pelosi “helped ensure that Israel had the resources to defend itself, which advances American interests and values.” 

She sometimes diverged from pro-Israel advocates, particularly in 2015, when she championed the Iran nuclear deal as the leader of the Democratic caucus in the House. 

“Nancy Pelosi was an early and steadfast supporter of J Street and a champion of diplomacy,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement. “She played a pivotal role in securing congressional support for the Iran nuclear deal and consistently advanced pro-Israel, pro-peace policies aimed at strengthening Israel’s security and promoting safety, dignity and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”

Like many Democrats, Pelosi began to take a more critical stance towards Israel during its two-year war in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

In April 2024, she signed onto a congressional letter urging the Biden administration to withhold some weapons transfers to Israel after the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, a public condemnation of Israel that went further than previous actions by the former speaker.  

“There are actions and statements that she made that I would disagree with, but when it came down to what was most important, which is Israel’s ability to be a Jewish, democratic state and live in peace and security — never a moment of wavering. Not even the thought process of wavering,” said Sam Lauter, a former longtime AIPAC activist and co-founder of Democratic Majority for Israel. Growing up in San Francisco, Pelosi’s family lived across the street from Lauter’s childhood home. 

“Nancy Pelosi wasn’t just a friend of our community. She was part of our community,” said Lauter. “No one had to teach her about Zionism. She grew up believing in it.”

As the GOP uneasily contends with rising hostility to Israel among younger right-wing voters, Nate Morris, a 45-year-old Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky who is courting the populist right with an anti-establishment message, emphasizes there is at least one long-standing party axiom he will never abandon: unwavering support for the Jewish state.

Morris, the wealthy founder of a successful waste management company who calls himself a “Trump America-First conservative,” said his commitment to upholding a strong U.S.-Israel alliance extends from his alignment with President Donald Trump’s vision for the Middle East.

“I think he’s been the most pro-Israel president we’ve had in our country’s history, and I want to continue that kind of leadership on the issue in the United States Senate, on behalf of Kentucky and the country,” Morris told Jewish Insider in an interview last Friday during the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit in Las Vegas, where he met privately with members to pitch his campaign to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Trump, he added, “has gotten it right, and obviously the success speaks for itself.”

But Morris also cited a more personal reason for what he described as his unequivocally pro-Israel worldview, explaining that, as a “proud” evangelical Christian, he has “always believed Israel is the land that was given to the Jews by God.”

“My views on Israel are never going to change,” he pledged. “They’re in my bones. That’s the way I was raised. That’s what my faith teaches me.”

“Look, all our differences here and the different positions that are out there, we’ve got to have more education, we’ve got to have more conversations as a party,” Morris said, without referring to Carlson or Roberts directly. “I want to discuss these things as a party, get on the same page as a party.”

His comments, while hardly unusual in a deeply evangelical state like Kentucky, come at a fraught moment for conservative Christian supporters of Israel, in the immediate wake of Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with the neo-Nazi streamer Nick Fuentes, a source of sustained criticism throughout the RJC’s three-day summit attended by elected officials, conservative activists, media personalities and other political candidates.

But even as Carlson had expressed his disdain for Christian Zionists, claiming they had been seized by a “brain virus,” Morris was relatively cautious when addressing the interview with Fuentes as well as the backlash toward the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank whose president, Kevin Roberts, has continued to stand behind Carlson.

“Look, all our differences here and the different positions that are out there, we’ve got to have more education, we’ve got to have more conversations as a party,” he said diplomatically, without referring to Carlson or Roberts directly. “I want to discuss these things as a party, get on the same page as a party.”

Morris also stressed that “we shouldn’t be in the business of canceling anyone, but educating them and making sure they understand the full context and what’s at stake here.”

“That’s the way we’re going to win as a party,” he said, “and I think that is what’s going to tamp out any differences that we have and that we shouldn’t be having.”

The hesitance to offer a forthright condemnation speaks not only to Carlson’s strong influence in the MAGA movement but also to how his fan base likely overlaps with the right-wing coalition that Morris is hoping to activate in a competitive primary with two more-established rivals. 

Morris, a friend of Vice President JD Vance who launched his campaign in June, is facing Daniel Cameron, the former state attorney general, and Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), both of whom are strong supporters of Israel. Morris described the race as a “proxy war between Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump,” as the outgoing senator has become one of the most vocal Republican critics of the president in the upper chamber and frequently warns of growing isolationism in the GOP.

Even as he worked as an intern for McConnell early in his career, Morris, who attended graduate school at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs as well as Oxford, has sought to tie his rivals to the retiring senator, arguing that Kentucky voters are “ready for change” and that Congress is in need of “new perspectives.”

To underscore his point, Morris noted that Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently hosted an event for his Senate campaign, where Morris got the chance to “hear firsthand a lot of the inside details” about how the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas “came together.”

“What I love about the president is he uses tools of diplomacy, the same tools he uses as a negotiator and as a business leader, and he has applied those to his foreign policy to be able to get things done,” Morris said.

Trump’s approach “shows that when you have outsiders and business people negotiating, you can get great outcomes,” he added. “That’s one of the big reasons why I’m running for the U.S. Senate. I think that we need more people coming from the outside.”

“The thing is, unless you go there and see it, you don’t understand that every day, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Morris told JI. “You’re under constant threat and potential for assault when you live there and when you’re a citizen of Israel.”

He also called Vance, who encouraged him to run for the open seat, a fellow “outsider” who “wasn’t a career politician” before he launched his own bid for Senate in Ohio just a few years ago. Morris said that they had talked about foreign policy “in the context of” their “general worldview,” but did not elaborate. 

Morris was previously a fundraiser for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the libertarian Republican, with whom he traveled to Israel in 2013 on a trip that included evangelical leaders. He said the visit instilled in him a heightened sensitivity to Israel’s ongoing security concerns. (Paul has regularly voted against military aid to Israel and opposed Trump’s attack against Iran’s nuclear program, as part of his overall opposition to foreign aid and military engagement overseas.) 

“The thing is, unless you go there and see it, you don’t understand that every day, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he told JI. “You’re under constant threat and potential for assault when you live there and when you’re a citizen of Israel.”

The first-time candidate acknowledged waning support for Israel in younger Republican circles, even as he declined to criticize Carlson and others for stoking anti-Israel sentiment on the far right.

He expressed concern about students who posed a series of antisemitic questions to Vance at a recent Turning Point USA campus event, but stopped short of addressing the backlash the vice president subsequently faced for choosing not to challenge the students’ hostile remarks about Jews and Israel. 

While his evangelical faith primarily drives his own support for Israel, Morris said he also believes that “it makes the most sense for the United States,” and skeptical younger conservatives could be persuaded simply on the basis of that argument. “Even looking at it economically,” he said, “I could sell that all day long to any American, to say you’re going to prosper more by this relationship.”

“I think that these are the kind of tools that we can use to get over any hatred, any disagreement — any of the discourse that has been disgusting we’ve seen online,” Morris told JI. “These are the kind of things that can help change hearts and minds.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who died Monday, was remembered by former officials and pro-Israel leaders as a supporter of the Jewish state and a strong voice on U.S. national security issues throughout his time in public service.

Cheney, seen as a particularly powerful vice president, was a key voice in the George W. Bush administration during the War on Terror and also served as secretary of defense under President George H.W. Bush, chief of staff to President Gerald Ford and a leader in the House Republican Conference as a representative from Wyoming.

“He was always a big supporter of Israel while he was in the Bush administration but also before, as a congressman and as defense secretary in the first Bush years,” Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who served in the George W. Bush White House, told Jewish Insider, also highlighting the prominent pro-Israel voices with whom Cheney surrounded himself as vice president.

“I was always very impressed by how well-prepared he was, how knowledgeable he was and how focused he was,” Troy continued. “In meetings with President Bush, he usually didn’t say much — because he knew that if he said something, it might color how the room reacted. But he would give his views. He would listen attentively in the meetings and he would give his views to Bush afterwards. … He was revered in the administration, and if he did weigh in on an issue, you knew that he was going to have a lot of sway on that issue. But he also knew what the role of vice president was.”

Troy, reflecting on the dynamics between the president and vice president in several recent administrations, said that Cheney stands out in both his skill and knowledge but also in the fact that he had no ambitions to run for president — which Troy said gave his counsel “more weight.”

“It wasn’t about what his long-term ambitions were, but what he thought was best for the administration and the country,” Troy said.

Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that like other Republicans of his generation, Cheney’s support for Israel deepened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, as the U.S. and Israel faced a shared threat. She described him as a “great guy” who was “never confused about what was right.”

“I think he recognized that the Middle East that we had nurtured over decades was one that in many ways allowed for the growth of Al-Qaida and he set about helping to change those things,” Pletka said. “People excoriate him for the Iraq War — but I can assure you the people of Iraq don’t excoriate him.”

“At the end of the day, he was always an extremely fierce patriot and did what he thought was best for American interests, and like a lot of conservatives understood very clearly that our friendship and our partnership with Israel was part and parcel of that,” she continued.

Pletka also described Cheney as “very clear-eyed” about the threats the U.S. faced in the Middle East, including from Iran, and that he “believed in seizing opportunities” to disrupt Iran and other adversaries.

“When I think about how Iran was allowed to exploit the situation in Iraq — I know he did his utmost to ensure that we pushed back, often without success in the second half of the Bush administration,” she continued. “When we were losing in Iraq, he was absolutely instrumental in ensuring that the policy got turned around.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said on X that the “passing of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney marks the loss of a great American patriot, a devoted public servant and a dear friend of Israel.”

“His leadership and his belief in the strength of the U.S.-Israel alliance will not be forgotten,” Leiter continued.

The Jewish Federations of North America, in a statement, described Cheney as a “a dedicated public servant who was a friend to the Jewish community and played a significant role in strengthening the strategic partnership between the United States and the State of Israel.”

JFNA said that Cheney “maintained enduring relationships with Jewish communal leaders and institutions, engaging in serious dialogue on matters of global security and the protection of Jewish communities worldwide,” “demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel” and helped expand military ties between the U.S. and Israel.

AIPAC said in a statement that Cheney, in his various roles, “worked to strengthen the ties between” the United States and Israel and was “a strong supporter of the U.S.-Israel partnership.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition praised Cheney as “an American patriot and an unwavering friend of Israel and the Jewish community.”

“Vice President Cheney had a substantial role in meeting the greatest challenges our country faced in the last 40 years, including 9/11,” RJC Chairman Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said. “He understood the threats against the U.S. and the valuable role of U.S. allies, including Israel, in combatting them.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that Cheney’s “intellect, experience, and resolve made America safer” throughout his years in government service.

“As grave threats to our security continue to loom, his commitment to American leadership will remain a lesson,” McConnell continued.

In the latter years of his life, Cheney stood staunchly by his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), as she emerged as one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump in the Republican Party following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Like his daughter, Cheney endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, describing Trump as a threat to democracy.

Triggered by President Donald Trump’s efforts to gain a partisan edge in the 2026 midterm elections, a cascade of states is undertaking unusual mid-decade redistricting efforts, in what has become a growing race between Democrats and Republicans to shore up incumbents, knock out lawmakers from the opposing party and create more-winnable seats.

On both sides of the aisle, the efforts could endanger a number of vocal pro-Israel incumbents.

In a handful of states that are looking to or have redrawn their congressional maps, some of the Democratic Party’s most prominent pro-Israel moderates could face uphill battles for reelection.

In Ohio, the state’s redistricting commission adopted new maps on Friday that would give Republicans a slight edge in Rep. Greg Landsman’s (D-OH) Cincinnati-area district. Under the old lines, the district was a Democratic-leaning seat that Vice President Kamala Harris won by three points, But under the new lines, Trump would have carried the district by a two-point margin, meaning Landsman will need to win a small number of Republican voters to win reelection.

Given that Landsman, a second-term Jewish Democrat who has been vocal on Middle East policy issues and a strong supporter of Israel, has proven to be a strong campaigner in past elections, the race is likely to remain highly competitive in an environment expected to be favorable to Democrats nationally in next year’s midterms. 

The Cook Political Report moved the rating for Landsman’s district from “Likely Democrat” to a toss-up as a result of the redistricting. 

In North Carolina, where Republicans have redrawn the state’s maps on several occasions this decade, the latest changes significantly modify the district held by Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) to heavily favor Republicans, further diluting the Democratic voting share in the moderate Democratic lawmaker’s district.

Davis has been among the most committed pro-Israel Democrats, frequently breaking with the majority of his party on the issue.

And in Florida, Republicans are considering efforts to pack Democratic voters into a smaller number of districts, potentially endangering several pro-Israel incumbents including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL). One potential redraw could place Moskowitz and Wasserman Schultz into the same district.

Both Wasserman Schultz and Moskowitz are Jewish and vocal pro-Israel stalwarts representing districts with significant Jewish populations, and Soto’s record is also strong.

A pro-Israel Democratic strategist told JI that “it’s a big problem. The Republicans are trying to say they’re pro-Israel and they’re targeting pro-Israel Democrats left and right. … These guys are stalwart champions and we don’t want to lose them.”

One possible Republican candidate considering a run in a newly drawn South Florida district is Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, who has been a strong supporter of Israel. 

The strategist said that the redistricting efforts, as well as potential primary challenges to lawmakers such as Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), could endanger a series of notable pro-Israel House incumbents, though they also noted that other pro-Israel candidates could be poised to be elected elsewhere in the country.

“I do think it’s probably a little more nuanced because I think there are other people who will show up to replace them,” the strategist continued. “We’re going to win some, we’re going to lose some.”

On the Republican side, a series of GOP lawmakers in California with strong records on Israel and antisemitism could be impacted by the redistricting push, including Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) — who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on defense funding — as well as Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA).

Kiley has been a particularly outspoken voice against campus antisemitism from his perch on the House Education and Workforce Committee. 

“[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom’s Prop 50 [redistricting effort] is a desperate partisan power grab that would eliminate five consistently pro-Israel Members of Congress and give more influence to Democrats that spread hate, division, and promote extreme anti-Israel policies,” said Republican Jewish Coalition National Political Director Sam Markstein. 

With eyes on several high-profile races across the country featuring candidates antagonistic to Jewish interests, activists in one of the most progressive parts of the country are raising the alarm on local seats that act as a “rung on a ladder” to higher office, saying the problems the Jewish community face “start further upstream.”

The Kids Table, a new PAC in Washington state supporting “pro-Jewish candidates” and led by “Millennials and moms, public affairs experts and gymnastics dads,” unveiled a slate of endorsements this month in races for the board of directors of Seattle Public Schools, a school district that has seen several major antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and subsequent rise of antisemitism across the country, including in K-12 classrooms, amid the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

“We need help in the school districts now,” Sam Jefferies, co-chair of The Kids Table, told Jewish Insider. “We also know that school boards can be a rung on a ladder as [candidates] seek higher office, and we want to make sure that we are building relationships with them early, providing them critical context and education around our issues, and then carry that forward, whether it’s on the school board or elsewhere.”

The district’s board of directors, a nonpartisan elected body of seven citizens who serve four-year terms and represent regions in the district, manages a more than $1 billion budget and has responsibilities including establishing policies for governing the district, adopting instructional materials and overseeing the hiring of a new superintendent, a process currently underway.

“Seattle Public School is the largest school district in the state, and so from my standpoint, SPS, in many ways, sets the tone or has influence over education, education policy, implementation that shows up in many other school districts around the state,” Jefferies said. “For all the attention paid to campus and other spaces, the problems start further upstream. Students are facing hostile environments, teachers are not held accountable and school boards can claim ignorance.”

One Jewish family is suing the district over claims that it failed to respond to antisemitic harassment their daughter experienced that started shortly after Oct. 7 and eventually led her to leave Nathan Hale High School, including an incident in May 2024 where 20 students allegedly tried to assault her before a teacher locked her in a classroom for protection.

This month, SPS walkouts by students protesting the war in Gaza shortly before the ceasefire was enacted included the burning of Israeli flags and signs reading “Power grows from the barrel of a gun” and “Long Live Operational Al Aqsa Flood,” referencing Hamas’ name for the Oct. 7 attacks. 

In another incident, the chair of the social studies department at an SPS high school was placed on paid administrative leave for a year over a video in which he questioned the validity of accusations of sexual violence by Hamas on Oct. 7 and said, in reference to women being killed at the Nova Music Festival, “I think resistance against Israel is justified.” He was eventually terminated at the end of the last academic year.

Aviad Benzikry, an SPS parent and board member of The Kids Table, told JI, “Every Jewish parent I talk to is worried about antisemitism in schools. We feel placated and patronized when we bring it up. Of course we see it explicitly — swastikas and pro-Hamas walkouts — but the quiet antisemitism we don’t see is even scarier.”

One of The Kids Table’s endorsees, Sarah Clark, who is running for the first time after being appointed to her seat on the SPS board, said that she was “appalled to learn of the allegations of antisemitic threats and bullying at Nathan Hale. … School officials, administrators, and security staff are obligated by school board policy and state law, to investigate and act decisively to protect students from harm. That did not happen in this case, which is unacceptable.”

The other two candidates on the slate of endorsees are Vivian Song and Carol Rava. Rava said her father is “an Italian Jew who, with his parents and younger sister, fled fascist Italy during WWII,” and therefore antisemitism “is not an existential concept to me, it is personal and very real.”

The Kids Table also endorsed candidates in several other Washington state races, including the high-profile Seattle mayor’s race, where Mayor Bruce Harrell, a Democrat, is trailing in his reelection behind self-proclaimed socialist Katie Wilson, whom Jewish leaders in the area have voiced concern over. 

In its voter guide, published earlier this month, the advocacy group endorsed Harrell with an asterisk next to his name, which read, “Mayor Harrell has failed to demonstrate moral leadership at a time of crisis for the community, including when ‘kill your local colonizer’ was spray painted on statues at the mayor’s alma mater [the University of Washington], with zero comment from his office. Still, Wilson’s candidacy, alliances with anti-Jewish figures and organizations, and lack of engagement would be much, much worse.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and other top New Jersey officials are urging the state’s largest teachers’ union to reverse its decision to appoint Ayat Oraby as an editor of its NJEA Review magazine, citing a series of antisemitic and pro-Hamas posts on social media.

Gottheimer has engaged repeatedly with the New Jersey Education Association in recent weeks, sending two letters to union leadership outlining his concerns, but Oraby, who was appointed in August, has remained in her position at the Review — a magazine distributed to roughly 200,000 educators statewide.

Oraby’s since-deleted posts on X, screenshots of which were viewed by JI, hold Israel — not Hamas — responsible for the deaths of Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, claiming Israel “killed many of its citizens,” and voiced her support of Hamas, praising their actions on social media as “resistance” in August 2025.

“While the criminal occupation gang kills children in the streets and treats Muslims with no mercy, you find liberated prisoners hugging and kissing HAMAS soldiers, which indicates the good treatment they received,” Oraby posted, referring to videos of Israeli hostages staged by Hamas. 

In other posts, Oraby explicitly called for violence against Israeli officials and claimed in July 2025 that the Jewish state “surpassed Nazism by far.” She also referred to journalists as “the filthy Hebrew media.”

“Ms. Oraby has an extremely troubling public record of promoting divisive, violent, and hate-filled rhetoric that has no place in our great state, and that must be addressed immediately,” Gottheimer wrote in his initial letter to NJEA on Oct. 6. “It is clear that Ms. Oraby should not be involved in any publication sent to New Jersey’s educators or, for that matter, have any role in educating our teachers or children.”

After the initial letter was sent, NJEA Director of Communications Steven Baker said in a statement that the organization was “aware” of the issue and was “addressing it through … internal processes.” The organization told Gottheimer they would look into the matter, but did not respond again. 

“To date, I have not received any response from NJEA, nor any confirmation that Ms. Oraby has been removed from her editorial position,” Gotthemier wrote in a follow-up letter on Oct. 21. “I, once again, urge immediate action consistent with NJEA’s standards of conduct. The growing number of voices demanding accountability underscores how important it is for NJEA to act swiftly and decisively to maintain the confidence of New Jersey families.”

The NJEA has declined a request for comment on Wednesday.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who is currently running for New Jersey governor, has also condemned Oraby’s rhetoric, urging the NJEA to reverse its decision in a strongly worded message earlier this month. 

“I’m outraged by Ms. Oraby’s antisemitic, pro-Hamas social media posts,” Sherrill said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and NJEA needs to immediately act and fire her from this position. An individual with bigoted views has no place as an editor of a magazine distributed to our state’s teachers.” 

Local Jewish elected officials have also voiced their concerns, sending a letter to NJEA with 24 signees on Oct. 15. The letter expressed “deep concern” at the organization’s lack of urgency.

“We are disappointed that no corrective action has yet been taken despite clear evidence and mounting public concern. Words matter and silence in the face of hate speech is Complicity,” the signatories, who include Democratic elected officials from Bergen County, state. “We strongly urge you to act immediately to remove Ms. Oraby from any editorial or leadership role within the NJEA and to reaffirm the Association’s commitment to ensuring that all educators, students, and families regardless of religion or background can feel safe, respected, and represented.”

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who on Wednesday announced a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), announced Thursday that he will return donations he has received from AIPAC and will reject further donations from the group.

Massachusetts is a solidly Democratic state but has also a large population of Jewish pro-Israel voters who might be inclined to support the more-moderate Moulton. Though his record on Israel policy is somewhat mixed, Moulton’s record on the issue is more pro-Israel than that of Markey, who is a prominent critic of Israel and has voted repeatedly against weapons transfers to the Jewish state.

“I support Israel’s right to exist, but I’ve also never been afraid to disagree openly with AIPAC when I believe they’re wrong. In recent years, AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government,” Moulton said in a statement. “I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission today is to back that government. I don’t support that direction. That’s why I’ve decided to return the donations I’ve received and will not be accepting their support.”

According to campaign finance watchdog group Open Secrets, Moulton received around $43,000 from AIPAC and its supporters in the 2024 election cycle, out of a total of $2.8 million raised. The Boston Globe reported that Moulton plans to return $35,000 in donations from the current election cycle.

AIPAC issued a blistering statement in response to Moulton.

“Rep. Moulton is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction,” spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said in a statement. “His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them.”

Moulton’s stance echoes those taken by other prominent Democratic candidates across the country seeking to appeal to the progressive Democratic base increasingly hostile to Israel.

Moulton’s changed stance on accepting support from AIPAC is a sign of how even more-moderate Democrats are facing pressure from the party’s activist base to distance themselves from embracing Israel. The Massachusetts congressman had been endorsed by AIPAC prior to declaring his Senate campaign.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that the recent breakthrough in Gaza will move us closer to ending the horrific violence in the region,” Moulton added in the statement. “A political resolution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace is exactly the kind of framework I’ve been calling for from the beginning.”

Barry Shrage, the longtime former president of the Combine Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and a professor of practice in Brandeis University’s Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program said it’s tough to predict where pro-Israel Jewish voters will land.

“I think a lot of people will remember what Markey has been doing and where Markey was coming from — kind of a leader of the anti-Israel ‘progressive’ Democratic faction,” Shrage said. “But then people are going to want to know, really, what Moulton really thinks.”

“He made a decision that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is more important to him than the Jewish community — or he thinks that the Jewish community has also turned against Israel, which, by the way is not the case, not in Boston,” Shrage said, of Moulton’s denunciation of AIPAC. “It’s kind of a cop-out for him to say, ‘I disagree with Netanyahu and that’s why I won’t take any AIPAC support.’”

Shrage noted that he saw Markey aligning himself more closely with anti-Israel figures and groups during his 2020 campaign, pointing to an op-ed in which he wrote, “his campaign … has made a concerning shift by welcoming and featuring support from individuals and organizations with highly divisive and polarizing approaches to Israel, our country and our world and all that goes with it, socially, politically, and economically.”

Shrage supported then-Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) against Markey in 2020.

He told JI that Markey’s leftward shift on Israel issues has continued in the ensuing six years, noting that Markey “won the race, in a way, by selling himself” to the left wing of the party.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke about his efforts to hold the line against the isolationist wing of the Republican Party in a private meeting with pro-Israel leaders on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, several individuals who attended the meeting told Jewish Insider.

Johnson, who described himself to the group as a “Reagan Republican” focused on “peace through strength,” acknowledged that isolationism is rising in the Republican Party, and that the party is likely bound for a major debate on the issue after President Donald Trump leaves office.

And Johnson told the group that, in his candidate recruiting efforts, he’s working to filter out isolationists to prevent that wing of the party from growing larger in the House, four people who attended the meeting said.

“The speaker was very, very direct about the U.S. role with Israel and in the world and understands that there are voices that don’t agree in both parties, on both extremes, and urges us all to be involved in fighting back against those extremes,” Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI.

One attendee said Johnson had also expressed a strong interest in finding new funding methods for humanitarian aid in Gaza, outside of the United Nations.

Johnson also discussed his recent trip to Israel and his and his wife’s lengthy dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, with whom he said he has become close friends. He said that he and Netanyahu had discussed that there are no good options ahead in Gaza, one attendee told JI.

The speaker also told the group he is eager to return to Israel to address the Knesset, after he was unable to do so as scheduled in June due to the Israel-Iran war.

Johnson emphasized his commitment to working across the aisle to support Israel and the Jewish community, an individual in the room said. With a government shutdown deadline fast-approaching at the end of the month, Johnson said he’s committed to continuing to work through the regular appropriations process and negotiating with the Senate, and noted that various Jewish communal priorities would be part of that process.

One source said Johnson had also highlighted the fact that he was the highest-ranking elected official to visit a settlement in the West Bank, which the source noted puts him at odds with many in the Jewish community.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), who also addressed the meeting, provided an overview of the investigations that the House Education and Workforce Committee is conducting into antisemitism, as well as noted he’d been texting recently with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt about the proliferation of antisemitic conspiracy theories about the killing of influencer Charlie Kirk.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) delivered a prayer and Reps. David Kustoff (R-TN), Randy Fine (R-FL) and Craig Goldman (R-TX) also spoke to the group.

One attendee described Johnson as clearly knowledgeable about and comfortable with the issues at play and the meeting overall as cordial and non-contentious.

“There’s just a remarkable sense of gratitude from all across the Jewish community for the leadership that Speaker Johnson has brought to the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Fingerhut said. “He was not someone who was that well-known to our community before he became speaker, but he’s comprehensively knowledgeable. It’s clearly something he feels very personally about.”

The organizations in attendance included: The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the Republican Jewish Coalition, Agudath Israel of America, AIPAC, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, National Council of Jewish Women, Syngeros Holdings, CUFI Action, the Orthodox Union, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Standard Industries, the American Jewish Committee, Zionist Organization of America, National Debt Relief, Jewish Institute for National Security of America, the Deborah Project, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Coalition for Jewish Values and the Endowment for Middle East Truth.

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Monday that it was awarding its largest-ever grant to the Tikvah Fund, a Jewish and pro-Israel educational nonprofit, for work to fight antisemitism.

The grant totals $10.4 million over three years and will support Tikvah’s Jewish Civilization Project, to “examine Jewish history, culture, and identity in the broader context of Western history” with the goal of fighting antisemitism “through greater understanding of the enduring moral, religious, and intellectual contributions of the Jewish people to the country and the Western world,” according to an NEH release.

The effort will create a new Jewish civilization curriculum for middle and high school students; a high school program featuring seminars on Jewish civilization; Jewish humanities courses at various universities; scholarly books on the “meaning of Jewish resilience in the history of the United States and the Western world”; and a program for young journalists writing about antisemitism and Jewish history and culture.

“While it is essential to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in the political and legal arenas, the humanities also have a vital role to play in this fight,” Michael McDonald, the acting NEH chairman said in a statement, “And Tikvah is well positioned to bring a comprehensive approach, grounded in the best of humanities scholarship, to educating future leaders and the broader public on the ways in which the sinister and hate-filled attacks on Jewish people that we have been witnessing on American campuses and streets are, at a deeper level, also attacks on the very foundations that have made the United States the exceptional nation that it is.” 

The program will focus on traditional Jewish texts including the Torah and Talmud as well as modern Jewish works, the “influence of Hebraic ideas on Western and American civilization, the history and meaning of Zionism, and contemporary challenges facing the Jewish people.”

“At this unique moment for the Jewish people and the Western world, Tikvah’s purpose is clear: educating future leaders, advancing Jewish learning, working with partner schools and universities across the nation, and cultivating a new generation of teachers committed to the best of Jewish and American culture,” Tikvah CEO Eric Cohen said in a message to supporters. “The NEH’s investment in Tikvah’s work is both emboldening and humbling.”

Cohen said that the grant “affirms” the place of Jewish culture and texts in the “grand tradition of humanistic learning,” the “central role of Hebraic thought in shaping American civilization,” the role of Jewish study as an antidote to antisemitism and the “importance of investing in the education of young people and supporting the remarkable teachers who devote their lives to the noble calling of passing down Hebraic wisdom from generation to generation.”

A new poll commissioned by a left-wing advocacy group is raising hopes among progressive activists eager to enlist a challenger to take on Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a pro-Israel Democrat whose House district leans heavily to the left, in next year’s June primary election.

The poll, released this week by Demand Progress Action, shows Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, leading by 19 points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup with Goldman, who wins just 33% of the vote. Lander, who served as a longtime city councilman in the district, claims 52% among likely Democratic primary voters, while also boasting a higher favorability rating, according to the poll.

While the survey was meant to coax Lander into entering the primary, it remains unclear if he has the appetite to compete in what would likely be a bitter race for the seat covering Lower Manhattan and a swath of Brooklyn, including such progressive enclaves as Park Slope.

Lander, a well-known progressive who has not explicitly ruled out a congressional bid after losing in the New York City mayoral primary, is more widely expected to accept a senior role in a potential administration of Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor whose upset in June lent renewed energy to progressive activists who have eyed challenges to several mainstream House Democrats in New York City.

Still, Lander had been looking at Goldman’s seat since before the primary concluded, according to a political consultant familiar with the situation, who suggested the city comptroller could be “serious” about a campaign.

Lander’s team, several members of which have joined Mamdani’s campaign, has also reportedly clashed with the nominee’s aides, fueling speculation about his prospects for securing a position in a potential future administration. A person familiar with some of the internal tensions said broadly that they stem in part from a lingering Brooklyn political dispute involving Lander and grudgingly recalled by some close aides to Mamdani.

“I think that Lander can beat Goldman, but I thought that even before the poll came out,” said a political consultant who worked to elect Goldman during his first primary in 2022, when the former Trump impeachment prosecutor beat a crowded field of progressives to clinch the nomination with a plurality of the vote.

A spokesperson for Lander did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider on his plans for a challenge. His team has otherwise said that “there is no drama between Brad and Zohran or their ‘camps.’”

If Lander chooses to run for the seat held by Goldman, a two-term Jewish Democrat whose strong support for Israel and refusal to endorse Mamdani have sparked backlash among left-wing voters, he would be a formidable candidate, experts say, citing his widespread popularity in a district he has long called home.

“I think that Lander can beat Goldman, but I thought that even before the poll came out,” said a political consultant who worked to elect Goldman during his first primary in 2022, when the former Trump impeachment prosecutor beat a crowded field of progressives to clinch the nomination with a plurality of the vote.

The potential matchup would also set up a unique primary between two Jewish Democrats who both identify as Zionists but have differing approaches to what that label means, particularly in the aftermath of Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Goldman, for his part, has continued to back U.S. military aid to Israel, even as he recently said the “crisis in Gaza shocks the conscience” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “personal and political interests are guiding Israel’s actions, rather than what is best for” the Jewish state.

The 49-year-old lawmaker has also withheld an endorsement of Mamdani until he takes “concrete steps” to address concerns raised by Jewish voters over his anti-Israel rhetoric, including his refusal to explicitly condemn calls to “globalize the intifada,” a phrase many Jews view as antisemitic. Mamdani has said he does not use the slogan and that he will discourage its usage.

Goldman’s largely left-leaning House seat “is probably one of the biggest changes in terms of pro-Israel to not pro-Israel districts in the city,” said Chris Coffey, a veteran Democratic strategist who lives in the district and helped advise former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid during the primary.

Lander, who has long identified as a progressive Zionist, is a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and has called for pulling aid to Israel. The 56-year-old comptroller has faced criticism from the organized Jewish community for divesting from Israel bonds while in office, though he has said the decision was not political. Lander was a key Jewish validator for Mamdani in the primary, cross-endorsing with the 33-year-old democratic socialist and assemblyman from Queens. Mamdani won Goldman’s district in June.

Speaking at a Jews for Racial and Economic Justice event earlier this week, Lander said he had not done enough “to speak out against Israel’s war crimes, against ethnic cleansing, against forced starvation of Palestinians.”

Chris Coffey, a veteran Democratic strategist who lives in the district and helped advise former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid during the primary, said that Goldman is not likely to find himself in a vulnerable position unless Lander chooses to run, an outcome he does not anticipate with Mamdani well poised to win the general election.

Still, Goldman is now in a “precarious place,” Coffey told JI, “where he’s a pro-Israel Democrat in a time when it’s been harder to be a pro-Israel Democrat.”

Goldman’s largely left-leaning House seat “is probably one of the biggest changes in terms of pro-Israel to not pro-Israel districts in the city,” he added, noting the shift had occurred in recent years amid growing Democratic divisions over Israel and Gaza.

Some observers recently speculated that Goldman could switch districts and run for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) seat further north in Manhattan, where he would likely face a more friendly electorate. But his team has dismissed that idea as unfounded and said Goldman had no plans to run for another seat.   

“Dan Goldman isn’t a moderate, he’s definitely left of center,” said the political consultant close to Goldman, who is now working on a super PAC to oppose Mamdani. “Brad may win because of his name ID and reputation but any other opponent would likely lose.”

The poll released on Wednesday underscored that view, showing that Goldman would win with 41% of the vote against an unnamed Democratic candidate. His lead evaporated after the poll had, among other things, linked him to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, which had quietly funded a local super PAC three years ago to help boost his first primary bid.

AIPAC, whose political arm endorsed Goldman in February, did not return a request for comment on a potential primary.

“Dan is laser-focused on rooting out government corruption, defending our democracy from Donald Trump and leveling the playing field for all New Yorkers.” Simone Kanter, a senior advisor to Goldman, told JI. “Anyone who would like to throw their hat in the ring is more than welcome to.”

David Greenfield, a former city councilman who leads the Jewish anti-poverty group Met Council, said the results of the poll were unsurprising, even as he dismissed the survey for posing a “misleading” question. “Everyone knows Brad is not running for Congress,” he told JI, “because he’s slated to join a Zohran Mamdani administration.”

It was unclear if the poll had surveyed respondents about other potential candidates. Demand Progress Action did not return requests for comment, nor did Data for Progress, a progressive firm that conducted the poll.

Simone Kanter, a senior advisor to Goldman, told JI the congressman’s team is “not paying any attention to agenda-driven push polls.”

“Dan is laser-focused on rooting out government corruption, defending our democracy from Donald Trump and leveling the playing field for all New Yorkers.” Kanter said on Thursday. “Anyone who would like to throw their hat in the ring is more than welcome to.”

While a competitive primary would likely attract spending from outside groups, Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune whose estimated net worth is up to $250 million, could also self-fund his bid as he did in 2022 — when he prevailed with 26% of the vote in a crowded field of well-known politicians. 

Yuh-Line Niou, a former state assemblywoman who came in second in 2022 with 24%, has said privately she plans to run again and has been making calls to feel out support, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Niou, an outspoken progressive who faced backlash in the last race for backing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, declined to comment on the record when reached this week by JI. 

Goldman is also likely to face a repeat challenger from his 2024 primary, Evan Hutchison, who won 24% of the vote last cycle and has recently sent out fundraising texts saying that the incumbent “won’t condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” But strategists said they do not see his campaign as a serious threat to Goldman, who claimed 66% in his last primary.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said in comments to Jewish leaders in New York City on Monday that anti-Israel protesters and, in some cases, fellow Democratic lawmakers are fueling antisemitism through the rhetoric and slogans they use, though she said that in many cases it is unintentional.

“Some of the rhetoric that comes out of various protests globally, various protests on college campuses is so damaging. When they say words like ‘river to the sea,’ whey they say words like ‘globalize the intifada,’ it means end Israel. It means destroy Jews,” Gillibrand said in a video from a roundtable with Jewish leaders in Borough Park shared by The Forward. “No matter what words they intend to be saying, that is the meaning of these simple phrases.”

Intifada, she continued, is “not a social movement. It’s terrorism, it’s destruction, it’s death.”

The New York senator has been particularly outspoken about the “intifada” rhetoric in the context of the New York City mayoral race. She previously offered strong condemnation of Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani for his refusal to condemn the “globalize the intifada” slogan and said that Jewish constituents were alarmed by his past comments. 

Gillibrand also claimed Mamdani had made “references to global jihad,” but later apologized. She has not endorsed Mamdani’s mayoral bid.

The New York senator said she would work with Democratic colleagues “who sometimes, in my opinion, don’t use the right words or aren’t sensitive to the impact of those words” and explain to them how their comments are being received and contributing to antisemitism, and to rally them to support efforts to fight antisemitism.

“Nine times out of 10, they aren’t trying to be antisemitic or even trying to be anti-Israel. They just think they’re fighting for human rights,” Gillibrand continued, “but the words they often choose to use are very hurtful and harmful and are undermining.”

“It is very hurtful and it makes people feel like sometimes the members of our party do not have their back, and I think that’s very disruptive and damaging for our community, for our state, for our brothers and sisters,” Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand added that leaders and individuals have to “understand the impact of their words in all contexts,” including to the Muslim community and other faith and immigrant communities.

She also insisted that “nine out of 10 Democrats are pro-Israel and want peace in the Middle East,” though a majority of the Senate Democratic caucus recently voted in favor of blocking some arms sales to Israel.

Gillibrand argued that many of her colleagues’ concerns are driven by the political leadership in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right members of the Israeli government.

“They don’t know how to articulate political disagreement, and sometimes it comes out as anti-Israel,” she said. “I try very hard to explain that your intentions are one thing, but how you’re received is another, and that’s where we get the disconnect.”

Last year’s election cycle marked a high point for pro-Israel groups, buoyed by the ouster of two virulently anti-Israel House Democrats (former Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York), the defeat of a House Republican who opposed funding to Israel (former Rep. Bob Good of Virginia) and the success of mainstream Democrats in numerous contested primaries. 

But the political environment for next year’s midterms is looking somewhat choppier in the Jewish world, amid growing anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic Party, an anti-establishment, transgressive mood in both parties and the reticence of moderate voices to speak up.

In this less hospitable landscape, pro-Israel groups will be playing more defense than offense — ensuring like-minded incumbents are able to avert serious primary challenges, while working to prevent virulently anti-Israel voices from emerging as nominees in key races.

One of the biggest potential showdowns is developing in St. Louis, where Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) faces the prospect of a rematch against Bush, whom he comfortably defeated by six points in last year’s primary. With the benefit of incumbency, Bell would be favored in any rematch, but he is facing an organized campaign by anti-Israel protesters who disrupted his recent town hall after he returned from a trip to the Jewish state. 

AIPAC’s super PAC spent over $8 million against Bush in the 2024 race, and would be expected to prioritize Bell’s reelection as a top priority if she ran again. Bush, for all her celebrity in leftist spaces, has numerous vulnerabilities that haven’t gone away since her last defeat — from her calls to defund the police, lackadaisical constituent service and ethical improprieties involving the use of campaign funds in paying her husband to provide personal security.

Still, in a sign that advocating against Israel can get far-left candidates some traction in deep-blue districts, a Bush comeback will be worth monitoring closely. Indeed, any pro-Israel Democrat running in an urban district with a distinct progressive bent will have to pay attention to any real or prospective primary challenges. 

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), one of the most stalwart pro-Israel Democrats, is already facing two primary challengers running to his left. And while neither has made Israel a major part of their platform, neither challenger shares the incumbent’s long-standing support for the Jewish state. (Sherman’s district is solidly Democratic, but also heavily Jewish, making his Israel advocacy a political asset.)

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), representing a Lower Manhattan district that Zohran Mamdani comfortably carried in the New York City mayoral primary, will have to be attuned to any challengers on his left. Goldman has done an effective job of locking down his seat since first winning with just 26% in a crowded 2022 primary. But he could face a credible threat from Comptroller Brad Lander, a Mamdani ally who finished third in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary.

Other contests Jewish groups are watching warily include the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, where Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been rallying support for anti-Israel candidate Abdul el-Sayed, as many party leaders have rallied around the mainstream Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a strong pro-Israel ally. 

Pro-Israel groups are also concerned about the candidacy of Graham Platner in the Maine Senate race against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), whose reelection would become an even bigger priority if he emerged as the Democratic challenger.

As notable in assessing the political environment are the primaries we’re not talking about. The original members of the anti-Israel “Squad” — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Summer Lee (D-PA) — aren’t currently facing serious primary opposition even though they’ve been vulnerable in past elections. 

It’s a clear sign that this will be an election cycle focused on protecting hard-fought gains more than one where pro-Israel groups have the luxury to challenge the remaining worst offenders.

Pro-Israel Democrats expressed cautious optimism about the unexpected decision by Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin to withdraw his resolution pressing for humanitarian aid to Gaza and for the release of hostages held by Hamas, which was unanimously approved by party members on Tuesday at the DNC’s annual summer meeting held in Minneapolis.

Martin, in a sudden reversal, announced he would pull the resolution after DNC members rejected a dueling measure, opposed by pro-Israel groups, that had endorsed an arms embargo and a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel. Instead, he said he would create a task force “comprised of stakeholders on all sides” of the Israel debate to pursue what he called a “shared dialogue” on an increasingly divisive issue.

“This was a surprise ending to this meeting,” Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which helped draft the pro-Israel measure and privately advocated for its passage, told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. 

Despite Martin’s 11th-hour reversal, Soifer said she was satisfied with the outcome, noting the DNC also passed a resolution condemning antisemitism that, coupled with its rejection of the arms embargo proposal, “reflects where the party stands” on major issues concerning Israel and the Jewish community.

“It’s my sense,” she added of Martin, “that he introduced and ensured passage of this resolution to defeat the other resolution,” which she said “was completely out of step with the views of the party.”

Soifer said she hopes to join the proposed task force “to discuss the path forward” on approaching Israel, acknowledging internal tensions that have roiled the party in recent years. Martin “clearly recognized that there are a range of strongly held views on this matter, and he wants to make sure that those voices are heard,” she told JI.

Martin has not yet shared additional details on the task force, and the DNC did not return a request for comment from JI. Latonya Reeves, a DNC member in Minneapolis, told JI on Tuesday that she had not been further informed of the task force — which she called “the best way to move forward” on the issue.

Sara Forman, who leads the New York Solidarity Network, a local pro-Israel group that aligns with Democrats, said she was broadly “encouraged” that the DNC had chosen “not to recommend” what she dismissed as a “one-sided resolution against Israel,” arguing that the party “represents far more than its progressive base.”

“I’m always one for conversation, and think that talking about things is an important step, so I’m going to offer grace to Martin in this regard,” she said of his announcement. Still, she added of the failed resolution, “I think it’s a bigger concern overall that the Democratic Party seems to be uniquely singling out Israel for rebuke or scrutiny in a way that no other U.S. ally is rebuked or scrutinized.”

A spokesperson for Democratic Majority for Israel, which released a statement praising the DNC’s votes before Martin revealed he would pull the resolution, said it was “pleased that the anti-Israel measure was decisively defeated by the committee,” but declined to comment more broadly on what transpired at the end of the meeting.

Brian Romick, DMFI’s president and CEO, said in an interview with JI that he viewed the outcome on Tuesday as “a win” for the pro-Israel community, in light of the potential for a more hostile debate. “The bad resolution was rejected and Ken’s compromise resolution also passed the committee,” Romick said. “That all happened publicly” and “reaffirmed where the party stands on Israel,” he said. “Anything else beyond that is just inside baseball.”

Some Democratic insiders familiar with internal party dynamics indicated that Martin had chosen to change course because he anticipated a disruptive floor debate over his resolution, which was poised to face broader scrutiny during the DNC’s general session on Wednesday.

“He’s worried about what would happen at the meeting,” one party source informed of the matter said on Tuesday. “On one hand, viewed from there, it makes sense and seems like a rational move,” the source reasoned, while also noting that it has “some real downsides.”

On the other hand, “when you punt something to a task force you actually continue the debate, because now it’s going to be a big fight” over who is included in the committee, the source said. “Then it becomes hard to move past.”

Manny Houle, a Democratic pro-Israel strategist in Minneapolis, said Martin’s maneuver was tactically smart — as DNC leadership seeks to avoid “internal proxy fights and focus messaging on pushing back against” the Trump administration in advance of the upcoming elections. “It is often a tactic to give your most ardent detractors busy work so you can focus on the work that matters,” he explained.

The party’s pro-Israel wing knows it has “the power to push back,” Houle told JI. “It’s not worth giving more air to the extremist factions.” The debate over Israel “is not going away anytime soon,” he added. “But we’ve shown where we stand and hopefully there are more pressing things that we need to give oxygen to.” 

Whatever Martin’s intentions, Susan Turnbull, a former DNC vice chair, said she was excited by the prospect of a task force, suggesting that it would be well-timed to take place between the conventions. 

“What I think is the case is that this, of all issues, needs to have consensus and that what he wanted in his first meeting is not to have winners and losers,” she told JI. “He wanted to come to a good result for collaboration.”

“I’m giving him a lot of credit because we have a hard enough time within the Jewish community dealing with this issue,” she said, adding that it will be “important that every perspective be considered” as the DNC hones its approach to the Middle East.

It remains to be seen if Martin, who on Tuesday acknowledged a “divide” in the party over Israel, will find partnership on the opposing end of the issue. Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member who had introduced the failed measure on Gaza, which faced criticism for not mentioning Hamas, voiced disappointment with his decision and said he was “prolonging” the conversation rather than taking a position to align the party with a base she views as amenable to her views on Israel.

Still, as the DNC moves to reach a tenuous detente on Israel, some pro-Israel Democrats said that any future resolution on the issue should reflect values that have long been espoused by the party, even as they have faced ongoing pushback from the activist left. 

“The vast majority of American Jews, and Americans more broadly, understand the complexity of the conflict — wanting to see Israel’s security protected and the remaining hostages released, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza truly addressed, and all parties work toward a future in which both Israelis and Palestinians are safe and free,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the nonpartisan Jewish Council for Public Affairs, told JI. “Any resolution on Gaza should reflect those widely-held values.”

Amanda Berman, CEO of the Zioness Action Fund, a progressive pro-Israel advocacy group, said on Tuesday that “there is legitimate critique and concern about this devastating war dragging on — and Democrats should stand staunchly with the Israeli public as it models dissent, protest and a pro-democracy movement the American left should emulate.”

“To the extent that any fringe element of the Democratic Party is willing to abandon Israel and the American Jewish community,” Berman said, “they will be abandoning true progressive values, liberation for persecuted minority communities, our historic alliances and America’s national security.”

The editor-in-chief of Qatar’s pro-government newspaper Al Sharq called on Hamas “heroes” to kidnap more IDF soldiers in a since-deleted tweet. 

“If success is not achieved this time in capturing Zionist soldiers at the hands of the heroes of #AlQassamBrigades, then the second, third, and fourth attempts will succeed, God willing, by adding new rats to the tally held by the heroes of the Brigades,” Qatari journalist Jabar Al-Harmi wrote in Arabic last week, adding that the “heroes” of Al-Qasam “sent a number of Zionist soldiers to hell” by storming an IDF military site in southern Gaza. Those that weren’t killed were “sent to worldly torment with permanent disabilities and impairments, and others to mental and psychological institutions.” 

Al-Harmi continued, “Blessed be the hands of the heroes. And may the hands of the vile criminal outcasts be paralyzed.” 

Al Sharq, which is published in Doha by a privately held media company founded and owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Thani Al Thani, a member of the Qatari ruling family, is one of the four leading private daily Arabic newspapers in Qatar, all of which have a pro-government bent. 

Ghaith Al-Omari, a senior fellow in The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Irwin Levy Family Program in the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship, told Jewish Insider that the tweet is “not surprising” and comes amid widespread praise for Hamas in Qatari media. 

“The Qatari media landscape is rife with statements, selective reporting and editorials that support Hamas,” said Al-Omari, former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. “Under the guise of supporting the Palestinian people, many Qatari media outlets have been a key vehicle for amplifying Hamas propaganda.” 

Fresh off his first congressional trip to Israel, Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) said that the future of his party remains pro-Israel, despite a vocal fringe of House Republicans opposing U.S. support for Israel amid its war against Hamas.

“I don’t know where they are with their thoughts and ideas,” McGuire, a freshman lawmaker representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, told Jewish Insider on Thursday, referring to attempts to block all U.S. funding to Israel by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). 

“I do understand that [the U.S. is] $37 trillion in debt, but as a Christian, I certainly support Israel and the Jewish people, and as an ally we would not have been able to successfully do that mission against Iran without the help of Israel,” McGuire said, referring to the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, calling Greene and Massie “outliers” in the GOP. 

McGuire was elected to Congress in 2024 after challenging a Republican congressman, Bob Good, who voted against military assistance to Israel. McGuire’s campaign last year was backed by AIPAC’s super PAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition.

McGuire visited Israel earlier this month with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, alongside 44 other freshmen House Republicans, a trip that he described as “heartbreaking, inspirational and enlightening.” 

The group met with leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. McGuire said that he had not heard in meetings with leaders a plan for bringing the war to an end, but said that in a sideline conversation, Netanyahu appeared receptive to his advice to “get the job done,” and remain in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.  

A former U.S. Navy SEAL, McGuire said he was particularly inspired while learning about Israel’s mandatory army service. “The U.S. should have a similar program,” he said, describing a “connection” he felt with Netanyahu over their shared military service. “He’s a special-ops guy, I’m a special-ops guy. One thing you learn in the military is there’s a bully on every corner and if you don’t stand up to them it just gets worse. We want to get the hostages home, but if we don’t finish the job, you’re going to have more hostages.” 

“The resilience that Israeli people have, despite being surrounded by folks that want to destroy them, they still are hopeful for the future,” McGuire continued. “They’re very patriotic to their country. When you drive around Israel, you see Israeli flags on every car. I’d like to see American flags on every car.” 

The trip also included visits to several kibbutzim infiltrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and meetings with family members of victims of the attacks, including a musical performance by Kibbutz Be’eri survivor and songwriter Daniel Weiss, whose parents were murdered by the terrorist organization. 

It was the congressman’s second time in the Jewish state, following a 2019 visit with his church. 

McGuire, a member of the cybersecurity subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, lauded Israel as a world leader in cybersecurity innovations and said the U.S.-Israel technology partnership is “strong.” 

“Watching the mission to take out Iranian nuclear capabilities, American and Israeli soldiers were in the same command/control rooms working together to make sure that the mission was a success,” he said, referring to the June 22 strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.  

Back stateside, McGuire said he is not satisfied with the steps being taken by leadership at the University of Virginia, located in his district , to address anti-Israel demonstrations and antisemitism on campus. He has not been in touch with the UVA administration yet regarding antisemitism, but said he is “working towards that.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is criticizing Graham Platner, a Democrat running against her in next year’s election, for singling out AIPAC as a “weird” interest group in new remarks to a local newspaper published on Tuesday, where he pledged to decline support from the pro-Israel lobbying organization.

“Sen. Collins is a strong supporter of AIPAC, a bipartisan organization that promotes stronger ties between the United States and Israel,” Shawn Roderick, a spokesperson for Collins’ campaign, told Jewish Insider on Wednesday. “Nothing about their work is ‘weird’ — in fact, it has never been more important given the aggressive antisemitism that we have seen around the world since the appalling Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.”

In his comment to the Midcoast Villager, Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran who announced his bid to challenge Collins on Tuesday, noted that his campaign would reject backing from corporate super PACs and donations from interest groups such as AIPAC that he dismissed as “weird.”

“My view here is very simple,” Platner told JI on Wednesday when asked to elaborate on his initial comment, which had not been quoted in full. “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide, I refuse to take money from AIPAC or any group that supports the genocide in Gaza.”

In other interviews this week, Platner, a political newcomer, has similarly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and also endorsed efforts to block U.S. arms sales to Israel.

AIPAC’s political action committee is backing Collins, in keeping with its commitment to defend friendly incumbents who are up for reelection. Collins, who is now seeking her sixth term, has been among her party’s leading moderate voices, pushing to maintain a bipartisan consensus on support for Israel.

Marshall Wittmann, a spokesperson for AIPAC, questioned Platner’s recent comment about the group in a statement to JI on Wednesday. “More than 12,000 Maine voters are members of AIPAC and advocates for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship who don’t think it’s ‘weird’ for Americans to engage in the democratic process,” he said. “We are proud to support Sen. Collins who is a stalwart champion of an alliance that benefits Maine and America.”

Still, Platner’s seemingly off-handed remark more broadly underscores a growing disconnect between AIPAC and the Democratic Party, where even some of the staunchest supporters of Israel have been put on the defensive amid an international uproar over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In recent weeks, two Democratic House members who have received financial backing from AIPAC’s super PAC in their primaries, Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC), both said they would support efforts to block transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. Foushee, for her part, also said earlier this month that she would not accept further support from AIPAC in her reelection campaign next year.

Meanwhile, Mallory McMorrow, a top Democratic candidate running for Senate in Michigan, revealed on Wednesday that she is urging AIPAC to refrain from engaging in the primary, where she is facing a strong pro-Israel advocate, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), and a prominent left-wing critic of Israel, Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

The group declined to comment on McMorrow’s request. 

Even as AIPAC has been under attack, it has continued to maintain friendly relationships with Democrats and Republicans, hosting a number of freshman lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on trips to Israel this month.

Pro-Israel groups and Canadian politicians expressed outrage on Wednesday after organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival canceled an invitation to show the documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, at its upcoming festival, citing the use of Hamas footage of the attacks that had not been approved for use by the terror group. 

The documentary tells the story of retired Israeli general Noam Tibon, who raced from Tel Aviv to rescue his son and two young granddaughters trapped in a safe room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz when Hamas terrorists invaded on Oct. 7.

“The Toronto International Film Festival’s reasoning for canceling the October 7 documentary screening is completely absurd and transparently dishonest,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement. “Pulling a movie because footage wasn’t cleared for copyright by a terror group is so ridiculous that it would almost be laughable — if it weren’t so deeply, shamelessly disturbing.”

In an open letter, Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit that mobilizes prominent members of the entertainment community to oppose boycotts of Israel, wrote that “instead of advancing peace, TIFF has chosen to amplify hate.”

“This is a surrender to an antisemitic campaign determined to silence Jewish and Israeli voices, at a time when antisemitism in Canada is surging to historic levels. Your decision has only deepened and legitimized that hostility. You claim the cancellation was for security reasons — yet anti-Israel productions face no such barrier.” 

The CCFP letter continued, “You claim that the project couldn’t be screened because the filmmakers didn’t have the rights to footage Hamas — a Canadian designated terrorist group, broadcast to the world on October 7, 2023 when they massacred, raped, brutalized, and kidnaped thousands of innocent people from toddlers to Holocaust survivors — but that strains credibility.”

“By pulling this film, TIFF has silenced a story of extraordinary courage and survival,” Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, said in a statement. “This shameful decision comes at a perilous time, as extremists are emboldened by recent plans by Canada and other nations to recognize Palestinian statehood.” 

Toronto City Councillors James Pasternak and Brad Bradford called on the TIFF to reverse its decision. 

“If TIFF does not reverse its decision, [the] Council should demand an investigation into this film banning decision,” Pasternak and Bradford said in a joint statement. “This film tells the story of a heroic rescue in the face of unimaginable violence, yet instead of defending truth and artistic freedom, TIFF appears to have yielded to political pressure and the fear of protests. Intimidation must not dictate which stories can be told. Silencing survivors and granting a listed terrorist organization any semblance of legal legitimacy is not neutrality — it is a moral failure.”

A TIFF spokesperson told Deadline that the invitation was withdrawn “because general requirements for inclusion in the festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage.”

“The purpose of the requested conditions was to protect TIFF from legal implications and to allow TIFF to manage and mitigate anticipated and known risks around the screening of a film about highly sensitive subject matter, including potential threat of significant disruption.”

The 2024 TIFF festival also did not spotlight an Israeli film. Rather, it featured three anti-Israel documentaries, with four more slated for 2025. The festival is scheduled to run Sep. 4-14.

One of the biggest slurs coming from anti-Israel influencers and other crankish extremists is that outside pro-Israel advocacy groups, such as AIPAC, somehow play an inordinate role in the reason so many lawmakers support a close U.S.-Israel alliance.  

Their misguided belief is that the donations from pro-Israel donors drive lawmakers’ behavior. The reality is that such financial support has reflected the strong public support Israel has long enjoyed — within both parties. 

But as that public support drops within the Democratic Party (and to a lesser extent, among independents), all the resources in the world won’t be able to prevent progressive-minded elected officials from putting their finger in the wind and reneging on their past backing for the Jewish state.

We’re already seeing the consequences of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand the war in Gaza by taking control of Gaza City — a decision that has limited support in Israel, and has been drawing criticism even from some of Israel’s stalwart Democratic party supporters at home.

But what should be doubly concerning to the Jewish state and its supporters is that several of the Democrats championed by AIPAC’s super PAC in the last two congressional elections — Reps. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), and Robert Garcia (D-CA) — have lately become more hostile to Israel, with the former two calling for a cutoff in military aid.

And as we documented last Friday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), whose initial candidacy was boosted by commitments he made to Jewish leaders amid skepticism about his record on Israel, is now reneging on many of those promises, joining a handful of progressives in calling for a Palestinian state.

Some important context: All these Democrats represent some of the most progressive turf in the country, with deep-blue constituencies in Portland, Ore.; Durham, N.C.; and Long Beach, Calif. AIPAC’s engagement in these primaries, electing more mainstream Democratic candidates, was a key marker of the group’s success, given the sizable anti-Israel constituency in all these districts. 

But ultimately, the overall progressive turn against Israel proved more consequential than these lawmakers’ relationships with AIPAC or the amount of financial support they received in their primaries. It’s hard enough for mainstream Democrats to run against the left-wing tide that’s been gaining ground in their party. In these activist-minded districts, it’s become nearly impossible.

It’s been the rise of social media platforms amplifying extreme views that have played an outsized role in shaping public opinion — far more than the money from outside advocacy groups. The change in how young voters get information is driving the shift in public opinion on a wide range of issues, and is fueling the left-wing, anti-establishment constituency within the Democratic party.

We’re seeing the consequence of that change within the Democratic party and its voters’ views towards Israel in real time. Even the best and well-resourced outside advocacy can only do so much when the rules of the game are skewed against the political mainstream.

Additional pro-Israel Democrats joined colleagues on Friday in criticizing Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City, which were approved Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intends to take over Gaza City as part of an expanded military operation.

It’s a further sign that Israel’s ongoing war plans are causing growing gaps between the Jewish state and some of the country’s most critical left-of-center allies in Washington.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a co-chair of the House Jewish caucus and pro-Israel stalwart who is currently visiting Israel, said in a statement that the plan to take over Gaza City “is tactically questionable and strategically self-defeating.”

“If implemented, the decision is more likely to play into Hamas’s original objectives in starting this war and further unite much of the world against Israel than it is to bring home the last surviving hostages and advance the security needs of the nation,” Schneider continued. “In fighting what is unquestionably an existential war against absolute evil, Israel must also uphold its responsibility to do all it can to protect civilians in Gaza and enable humanitarian aid to reach those in need.”

At the same time, he emphasized that Hamas started the war with the intent of eliminating Israel, and that Israel has the “absolute right” to defend itself and free the hostages. He said that if the world wants the war to end, it must commit to working with Israel, the U.S. and European and Arab states to “open new pathways for relief, recovery and renewal.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) warned in a statement that Israeli military officials oppose the Gaza occupation effort and that it “could extend [the war] for years, will only result in further loss of life among the hostages, Palestinian civilians, and the members of the IDF required to undertake such a calamitous task. The situation in Gaza is unendurable; this will make it worse. This war must end, not escalate.”

“To be clear: Hamas must be held to account for its mass murder, torture, and rape of Israelis, and for any diversion of food from those who are hungry. No call upon the Israeli government to act to stop this unendurable suffering by civilians in Gaza can ignore the barbaric acts committed by Hamas that brought this war about, the need to ensure they can never threaten Israel again, and the even more urgent need for the release of all of the hostages,” Schiff continued. “The international community must be persistent in its demand for the immediate release of the hostages and not ignore the casus belli of this terrible war.”

He said that the U.S.-Israel relationship should transcend any particular government on either side, and urged U.S. allies not to abandon Israel, “But that does not mean we can or should ignore or fail to call out continued perilous action — and inaction — by both this Prime Minister and this President — and insist on a dramatic change in the policies of both.”

Schiff added, “I find no shared value in the preventable starvation of the people of Gaza. I see no common principle in the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or plans for settler colonies there, only a moral and legal failing of terrible proportion. I am compelled to speak out, because I believe in an Israel that has been, and can be again, a light unto other nations.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) called the Gaza City plan “a dangerous and counterproductive move that will not secure the release of the remaining hostages or bring an end to the fighting that has already taken so many lives.”

“This approach will without question worsen the already terrible humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and Israel’s own military leaders have expressed serious concerns about the feasibility and risks of this strategy,” Warner continued. “The priority must be to end this war immediately through diplomatic efforts and coordinated pressure to ensure the safe return of hostages and protect innocent lives. Pursuing this path will only guarantee prolonged conflict and greater suffering.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), one of Israel’s most vocal defenders in the House, took a somewhat different tack, saying in a statement and an interview on CNN that Netanyahu had told him in a meeting this week that Israel does not plan to occupy Gaza in the long term.

“I’m opposed to long-term occupation and annexation — but Hamas must go,” Gottheimer said on X. “I strongly support crushing Hamas terrorists and their last strongholds. I fervently back surging humanitarian aid and preventing Hamas from blocking it. We must urgently free the hostages being starved by Hamas, remove Hamas from power, and transition to an Arab-led peacekeeping force to bring lasting peace and safety for both innocent Palestinians and Israelis.”

He said in the CNN interview that Hamas could end the war by agreeing to surrender.

The Anti-Defamation League also voiced “significant reservations about the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to expand operations in Gaza” in a statement on Friday. The group declined to weigh in on the strategy involved but said that the move could further endanger the hostages and worsen the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians.

Democratic Majority for Israel said that “Pro-Israel Democrats have questions and concerns about the reported escalation of the conflict,” while emphasizing Hamas’ responsibility for the war and the need for a deal to free the hostages and increase humanitarian aid.

“We call on the Trump Administration to ensure sufficient humanitarian assistance and exert maximum pressure on Arab states such as Qatar to force Hamas to accept a ceasefire and free the hostages,” the DMFI statement continued.

The American Jewish Committee, one of the leading global Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy organizations, expressed its “deep apprehension” over the Israeli Security Cabinet’s vote to move forward with a military takeover of Gaza City, in a statement released by the organization on Friday.

AJC acknowledged the “extraordinary challenges” Israel faces due to Hamas’ “intransigence” in negotiations and the “failure of the international community to impose sufficient pressure on the terrorist organization.”

“Still,” the statement read, “the profound risks posed by a full military takeover of Gaza City cannot be overlooked.” It highlighted concerns over “endanger[ing] the lives of the remaining hostages” and the possibility of “substantial casualties among both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians,” in particular.

AJC called on the signatories of the New York Declaration — signed last month by dozens of countries including member states of the Arab League and European Union — to “apply maximum pressure on Hamas to agree to a hostage release and ceasefire agreement.” 

Pro-Israel Democrats on Thursday criticized the Israeli government’s plans to expand its operations and take control of additional parts of Gaza.

The Israeli Security Cabinet early Friday approved plans to take over Gaza City, though it stopped short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement earlier Thursday to Fox News that Israel plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.

The plan seems to be aggravating the growing friction between the Israeli government and some of the Jewish state’s most vocal liberal backers in the United States over Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said that Israel is ultimately responsible for making its own decisions, but said he’d advise the Israeli government to seek an end to the war once it frees the hostages.

“First: the highest priority is to secure the release of the hostages who are at grave risk of dying from deliberate starvation and torture,” Torres told Jewish Insider. “Second: the war in Gaza is in danger of becoming a quagmire that bogs Israel down for years — indeed decades — to come.”

He again said the war risks becoming a long-term entanglement like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were for the United States, costing both money and lives.

“The war fatigue and post-traumatic stress in Israeli civil society and in the Israeli military — as well as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — have become unbearable,” Torres continued. “Israel has degraded Hamas. And so once Israel has secured the release of the hostages, it should declare victory, end the war, and focus on expanding the Abraham Accords to include relations with the likes of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) pushed back on suggestions by Netanyahu in his announcement of the new Gaza plan that governance would ultimately be turned over to Arab forces.

“Netanyahu said: ‘We don’t want to keep Gaza. We want a security perimeter. We want to hand Gaza over to Arab forces that will govern Gaza properly,’” Auchincloss said to JI. “My question is: What Arab force has agreed to this? What is the plan for governance? There is no evidence that either exists.” 

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) said that Israel should prioritize increasing humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.

“Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorist threats. At the same time, I believe it is in the interest of Israel, the United States, and the entire region to prioritize efforts that protect innocent lives and stabilize the situation,” Frankel said. “That means working urgently to get food, water and medicine to civilians in Gaza while continuing to support Israel’s long-term security. I remain committed to a path that ensures the safety of the Israeli people and upholds our shared humanitarian values.”

In a lengthy statement released hours before Netanyahu’s formal announcement, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) blasted both Netanyahu and the situation in Gaza, saying that Netanyahu’s decisions are being motivated by the prime minister’s self-interest, rather than Israel’s best interests. He unequivocally rejected discussion of full occupation of Gaza.

“The current crisis in Gaza shocks the conscience. The international community — especially Israel and the United States — must immediately put an end to this humanitarian catastrophe,” Goldman said. “It is clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s personal and political interests are guiding Israel’s actions, rather than what is best for the Israeli people or for the nation of Israel. He is beholden to the extreme right, whose support he needs to remain in power, which, in turn, is helpful to defend against his corruption case.”

Goldman continued, “To the extent a full occupation is indeed his plan, it is not only morally reprehensible, but it is also opposed by Israeli military and national security leaders as well as the Israeli people.”

He said that the international community must come together to free the hostages, end the war and surge aid into Gaza, which requires “unified international pressure on Hamas,” and said that international recognition of a Palestinian state before the hostages are released “only serves to reward” Hamas and disincentivize it from agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage deal.

“Fundamentally, Prime Minister Netanyahu must stop putting his own personal interests ahead of the state of Israel’s,” Goldman concluded. “The sacredness of human life and Israel’s sacrosanct place as a democracy and safe haven for the Jewish people are simply too important to be sacrificed on the altar of political self-interest.” 

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), in a new statement on Thursday, did not directly address the new Israeli plans, but said that all parties must work to “surge humanitarian aid to the people Gaza — not Hamas or criminal gangs” to the point of eliminating scarcity.

“I welcome the steps Israel has taken, including instituting humanitarian pauses and conducting airdrops of aid. However, these steps alone are not sufficient — it is clear that the current aid delivery system needs to be scaled up to adequately meet the needs in Gaza,” Sherman said. “That includes significantly increasing the number of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites to prevent crowding, establishing safer distribution processes, and distributing higher quantities of aid each and every day.”

He also urged the United Nations and NGOs to “stop playing politics,” work with the GHF and distribute the food stockpiles sitting inside Gaza. And he said that those who criticize Israel without pressuring Hamas or acknowledging its starvation of hostages only encourage the terrorist group to keep fighting.

“The fastest way to alleviate the suffering of Gazans and the hostages is for Hamas to release the hostages and lay down its arms and depart for Iran or another country willing to accept them. This would pave the way for legitimate Arab-led governance and allowing Gaza to be rebuilt,” Sherman continued.

Pro-Israel Republicans, meanwhile, are supporting Netanyahu’s latest moves.

“The fastest way for this conflict to end is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. In the absence of that — Hamas has continually refused the terms of a ceasefire — Israel must take the necessary steps to eliminate Hamas,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs a key House subcommittee focused on the Middle East, told JI. “Simply put, there cannot be peace so long as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority remain in power. I support Israel’s decision to use all military and diplomatic means to achieve their objectives, while continuing to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to the innocent Palestinians long suffering under Hamas’ brutal oppression.” 

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) said in an X post he supports Netanyahu’s “proposal to provide governance to Gaza. This will protect Israeli civilians from Hamas rocket attacks whose covenant is to murder all Jews. It will also allow for safe delivery of food for the people of Gaza. Mutually beneficial to everyone.”

Asked about the Israeli government’s decision, AIPAC placed the blame on Hamas.

“This war is only being extended because Hamas refuses to free all 50 hostages and surrender power in Gaza,” the group said in a statement. “America’s leaders must continue to stand with our ally Israel and take concrete steps that increase the pressure on Hamas to let all the hostages go and give up control of Gaza.”

Vocal critics of the Israel government on Capitol Hill blasted the new plan.

“Netanyahu’s plan to reoccupy Gaza is key to the far-right’s goal of taking over Gaza & the West Bank and forcing Palestinians out,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said on X. “Meanwhile, Trump is making us a subcontractor in this operation. US taxpayers should not be funding what amounts to ethnic cleansing by another name.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said on X that the move toward full occupation of the Strip is “unacceptable and will not lead to safety and security for Israelis or Palestinians.” He renewed his call for the U.S. to stop providing weapons to Israel.

When Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) won his first election to the House in 2022, Jewish leaders in his Orlando, Fla., district who had been encouraged by his personal outreach were optimistic he would follow through on a range of commitments he had made vowing to uphold support for Israel.

Despite some initial concerns about his history of involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations as well as relationships with anti-Israel activists, Frost had circulated a lengthy Middle East position paper in consultation, in part, with a top pro-Israel group that largely assuaged lingering reservations among Jewish community leaders over the sincerity of his views. 

In the paper as well as a candidate questionnaire solicited by Jewish Insider during his first primary, the young progressive organizer, describing himself as both “pro-Israel” and “pro-Palestinian,” voiced opposition to conditioning aid to Israel — arguing that the security threats facing the Jewish state are “far too grave” to enact such measures. In backing a two-state solution, he clarified that any agreement should require “the basic recognition that Israel has a right to exist” as well as “an end to the antisemitic rhetoric and positions of Hamas.” And if elected, he pledged to visit Israel — which he called “one of the United States’ most important allies and strategic partners.”

Now, almost midway into his second term, Jewish and pro-Israel leaders are expressing some buyer’s remorse as Frost, 28, has embraced positions that put him at odds with his past commitments, fueling frustration among those who had believed he would be a more dependable ally on key issues concerning Israel. 

Frost, for his part, insists that the humanitarian conditions in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza have deteriorated so drastically during his tenure that he had no choice but to change his views, though that has not quelled discontent among his former allies.

“He has broken a lot of promises,” said one Jewish leader, echoing others who expressed dismay with Frost’s turn in Congress.

The most recent move to draw scrutiny from Jewish and pro-Israel leaders is a letter Frost signed urging the Trump administration to recognize a Palestinian state over growing concerns with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The letter, signed by several prominent House progressives and led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) — who plans to introduce a similar resolution — said such a state “will need to fully recognize Israel” and guarantee “the disarmament of and relinquishing of power by Hamas.” But pro-Israel activists broadly see the renewed effort as a misguided concession to Hamas amid the ongoing war — as the terror group seeks to leverage international outrage over Israel’s military conduct.

Democratic Majority for Israel, whose political arm had provided input on Frost’s position paper during his primary, took issue with his decision to join the letter. While the group felt sufficiently comfortable with Frost’s Middle East policy views when he first ran for Congress, opting not to intervene on behalf of a top primary rival who had won an endorsement from its super PAC, it has become dissatisfied with his approach as he has continued to stake out more adversarial stances toward Israel during his time in the House.

“We strongly support a two-state solution that ensures Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own,” Brian Romick, DMFI’s president, said in a statement to JI on Tuesday. “But unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state at this time — as the terrorist group Hamas still governs parts of Gaza and continues to hold Israeli hostages — would not advance peace. It will instead prolong the war by incentivizing Hamas to reject any ceasefire deal, and reward the terrorism we saw on Oct. 7 while making future acts of terror more likely.”

In addition to the letter — which followed a similar resolution he co-sponsored in 2023 during his first term — Frost in May joined legislation to place unprecedented new conditions on aid to Israel by withholding offensive weapons over its alleged violations of international law.

Last year, he also voted against a widely approved bill to provide supplemental aid to Israel six months after Hamas’ attacks. In a statement explaining his thinking at the time, Frost wrote that he was “only able to justify aid for defense, not offense, and this legislation did not allow me to separate the two,” as the war “has claimed the lives of countless innocent Palestinian civilians and brought us no closer to the return of innocent Israeli hostages held by Hamas.”

“For me, the North Star here is having a two-state solution, and everything, all the decisions we make, have to point to that,” Frost said, arguing that he has remained consistent in upholding his core beliefs on the conflict even as his positions on specific policies have changed since he launched his initial campaign for Congress. “The thing I have in mind is the safety and security of everybody, of Israel, of Palestinians — of everybody.”

Meanwhile, Frost has yet to fulfill his campaign vow to travel to Israel, and has declined invitations to do so while in Congress, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In an interview on Wednesday, Frost acknowledged that his approach has changed since he entered the House, attributing his new positions to his revulsion at Israel’s behavior in Gaza — which he described as “completely unacceptable” and “abhorrent” in light of the civilian death toll. “In terms of specific policy points, things have changed,” Frost told JI. “Things have changed a lot — and unfortunately, not for the better.”

“For me, the North Star here is having a two-state solution, and everything, all the decisions we make, have to point to that,” he added, arguing that he has remained consistent in upholding his core beliefs on the conflict even as his positions on specific policies have changed since he launched his initial campaign for Congress. “The thing I have in mind is the safety and security of everybody, of Israel, of Palestinians — of everybody.”

Even as he condemned Hamas and said the terror group should have no role in rebuilding postwar Gaza, Frost said the conflict has evolved into what he regards as a “war on innocent people,” resulting in “massive loss of innocent life” that has fueled his decision to speak up against the Israeli government and its ongoing military campaign.

In the Middle East position paper he wrote in his first primary, Frost had rejected placing additional conditions on aid to Israel because, he wrote at the time, it would “undermine Israel’s ability to defend itself against the very serious threats it faces.” But he explained on Wednesday he had also felt such measures were “already written into the law” and “we didn’t really need to go further” in enforcing it at the time. 

Now, however, “I do believe that the law is being violated,” he told JI, clarifying his recent support for legislation that seeks to withhold transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. “Because of that, we have to look at the way that we are both complicit but also encouraging the current behavior of the Netanyahu government,” he said.

Unlike a handful of his far-left House colleagues who have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Frost hesitated to use the term himself, calling it a “difficult” word because of its historical connection to the Holocaust. Still, he said he would not seek to discourage others from such charges. “I’m not going to sit here and defend what is going on right now in any way, shape or form,” he said. “I understand why people use that word. But when we see what’s going on, it’s hard to find the words for it.”

“There’s a lot of things to hold, but the main thing is, yes, there are many things that have changed,” he reiterated. “But for me, what has not changed is the main goal, which is making sure that everyone’s safe and everyone’s secure.”

Frost is hardly alone among Democratic lawmakers who in recent months have become more critical of Israel’s behavior, with even some of the staunchest supporters of the Jewish state struggling to defend the Israeli government as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has continued to worsen nearly two years into the war.

“It’s a radical shift,” one community activist told JI, voicing frustration with Frost’s positions, even as he described their ongoing conversations as “very open and honest.” 

His vacillating stances also illustrate some of the cross-pressures facing progressive Democrats who are not completely aligned with the party’s far left on its hostility toward Israel. Pro-Israel Democrats have recently voiced their concerns that anti-Israel policies could become a litmus test for the left in the midterms, particularly amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s moves to occupy the enclave.

But Jewish community leaders in Frost’s district, who spoke on condition of anonymity to address what they characterize as an increasingly delicate relationship with the congressman, explained they are particularly disappointed with his evolution on Middle East policy, given their initial hopes that he would be among a dwindling number of progressive allies committed to defending Israel in the House.

“It’s a radical shift,” one community activist told JI, voicing frustration with Frost’s positions, even as he described their ongoing conversations as “very open and honest.” 

The activist noted that Frost, who had been a prominent gun control advocate before he was elected to Congress, has “a good heart and doesn’t want to see people dying.” But “as a result,” he said, Frost has “a lot of blind spots” in his assessment of the conflict. The activist argued that Frost’s critique of Israel’s conduct in Gaza has ignored Hamas’ role in perpetuating the crisis as it refuses to surrender.

“At the end of the day, he very much comes from the ‘oppressor-oppressed’ worldview and sees Israel as the oppressor,” the activist said.

Frost, for his part, said his statements have been misconstrued by a wide range of critics across the spectrum, including pro-Palestinian activists who allege that he made separate commitments during his first primary bid that he has failed to uphold in Congress.

He stressed that he does not “do tit-for-tat stuff” while addressing the war. “Whenever I post about the hostages, I’ll have people sending me messages. ‘What about this?’ No,” he said. “Whenever I post about Palestinians, I’ll have people saying, ‘What about this?’ No, I will post about it all. I will talk about it all. I will say how I feel about everything.”

“I’m very firm in that, just coming from a place of, since I was 15 years old, being involved in the fight to end gun violence, and have grown up through a movement of death,” he told JI. “I just don’t think that’s the way to live as a human, quite frankly.”

“We’ve been disappointed that he has not met the commitments he gave to us,” one DMFI source told JI. “At the same time, we’re grateful that he has come to realize he made a mistake in at least one case, but members of Congress should think through their votes fully and discuss them with knowledgeable people before casting them.”

Even as Jewish and pro-Israel leaders say their relationships with Frost have worsened in recent months, frustration over his approach to Israel has been mounting since his first term, when he called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza just days after Hamas’ terror attacks. As a freshman, he also voted against a resolution condemning rising antisemitic activity on college campuses, but he later said that vote had been a mistake after meeting with Jewish students in his district.

While Frost had shown contrition for his vote on the resolution in November 2023, DMFI still expressed dissatisfaction with his initial decision at the time — alleging he had not performed proper due diligence beforehand. “We’ve been disappointed that he has not met the commitments he gave to us,” one DMFI source told JI not long after the vote.

“At the same time, we’re grateful that he has come to realize he made a mistake in at least one case, but members of Congress should think through their votes fully and discuss them with knowledgeable people before casting them,” the source stated.

A spokesperson for Frost told JI at the time that the congressman “is trying to hold multiple truths all at once” as he receives input from constituents pushing opposing interests.

“I’m very comfortable with the decisions I’ve made,” Frost said of his approach to Israel. “As I walk the streets of my district, as I speak with the people in my district, this is where I find most people are at. They’re not really at the extremes that I’ve heard from.”

Speaking with JI on Wednesday, Frost said he has appreciated his ongoing discussions with pro-Israel leaders in his district — even if they have not been aligned on major policy questions in recent months. “Hearing their perspective is really important,” he confirmed. “What I always tell people is I might not always come to the conclusion that you agree with,” he said, “but I hope you’ll always feel I’ve engaged in good faith.”

He suggested that Jewish community activists who have been irked by his approach to the Middle East have not fully reckoned with his belief that Israel’s military actions have damaged its reputation in the United States. “It’s palpable across the country, and I think a lot of this has to do with the decisions that are being made by Netanyahu,” he argued.

“I’m very comfortable with the decisions I’ve made,” Frost said of his approach to Israel. “As I walk the streets of my district, as I speak with the people in my district, this is where I find most people are at. They’re not really at the extremes that I’ve heard from.”

When he assumed office in 2023, Frost had sought guidance from pro-Israel Democrats including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who enthusiastically backed his campaign, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), one person familiar with the matter told JI. But the congressman has since drifted away from the two lawmakers on Israel while staking out positions that have put him more in line with the far left.

More recently, Frost has built closer relationships with such leading Israel critics as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the source told JI, even if he has resisted identifying as an official member of the so-called Squad of progressive House Democrats. 

Owing in part to his network in Congress, Jewish community leaders are doubtful Frost will change his views on Israel. “It may be the best that we can hope is that he doesn’t become an actual member of the Squad,” said one activist, while noting that Frost is “totally safe” in his deeply blue district as he seeks a third term next year. 

Still, the activist said, “his refusal to actually go and see” Israel “first-hand is a problem,” particularly in light of his primary vow to visit the Jewish state as a congressman.

Frost, who acknowledged the commitment that he had made, said he hopes to see the region “at some point,” but added that it has “been difficult to figure out the timing.”

After the interview, Frost asked his spokesperson to clarify that he would “like to travel to the region at a point where he’d be able to visit both Israel and the Gaza Strip,” indicating a potential visit is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future.