The legislation would require the imposition of sanctions on the Muslim Brotherhood, making it illegal to provide support to the group
Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
Jordanian police close the entrance of a Muslim Brotherhood headquarter after the announcement of banning the society in the country on April 23, 2025 in Amman, Jordan.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleThe firebombing of a hostage-release march in Boulder, Colo., this summer triggered a wave of calls from lawmakers — particularly Republicans — for action to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
Legislation to that effect was introduced in both the Senate and House in July, taking a new approach to designating the group as compared to previous legislative efforts that had stalled over the course of the last decade.
The legislation would require the imposition of sanctions on the Muslim Brotherhood, making it illegal to provide support to the group, making its members and affiliates inadmissible to the United States and blocking transactions involving assets held by Muslim Brotherhood members in U.S. financial institutions.
There were also calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the Trump administration to investigate the group and take action to designate it through executive authorities. The secretary of state has the authority to designate a group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and the White House could issue an executive order on the subject.
But so far, none of those efforts have come to fruition. The Senate bill currently sits at 11 co-sponsors, having recently picked up Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) as its first Democratic supporter, while the House bill has 19 co-sponsors from both parties — below the levels of support previous iterations of the bill had amassed.
Fetterman’s co-sponsorship could help the bill receive consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the panel often only considers legislation with bipartisan support. A source familiar with the matter tells JI that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the bill’s co-sponsor in the Senate and a member of the committee, is pushing for the panel to mark up the bill at their next business meeting.
Neither bill has been called up yet for a vote in committee — a process further slowed by the ongoing government shutdown — and it is currently not included in either the Senate or House versions of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, a potential vehicle for legislation of this sort.
The White House declined to comment. A spokesperson for Cruz told JI: “Sen. Cruz is pushing for the bill to be advanced through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and then to be passed by the full Senate. Sen. Fetterman is showing commitment and leadership to American national security interests by providing this measure with bipartisan backing here in the Senate, and it’s time to move it forward.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who is not currently a co-sponsor of the Senate bill but is supportive of efforts to counter the Muslim Brotherhood, told JI on Wednesday that the issue is not top of mind for many colleagues and it will take time to build interest and support for moves like designating the group.
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Trump administration official, told JI that, within the executive branch, FTO designations are a time-consuming process — requiring extensive legal consultations as well as significant behind-the-scenes work to understand potential implications, unintended consequences and diplomatic fallout, as well as assembling a list of visa exemptions needed for diplomats.
Based on public comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the National Security Council’s Sebastian Gorka indicating support for a terrorism designation, Goldberg said that he believes that there is momentum in the administration, further fueled by the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, anti-Israel protests around the country and evidence of growing Islamist influence on the far right as well. He said that the fact that no designation has been announced should not necessarily be read as a sign that it is not actively being worked on in private.
Goldberg also said that any action on the designation from Congress would likely be timed to coordinate with potentially pending action by the Trump administration, given the high-profile nature of the issue and the administration’s expressed interest.
One potential obstacle to the efforts: Qatar and Turkey, with which the administration has been strengthening ties. Both have extensive links to the Muslim Brotherhood and could be resistant to such a designation. Goldberg, however, said he has not heard any discussion of those countries actively trying to stop a designation, and urged the Trump administration to push forward, describing the Muslim Brotherhood as both a threat to homeland security and President Donald Trump’s desire for Middle East peace.
Plus, Treasury targets Hezbollah financiers
Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Kazakhstan national flag flutters in the wind on a flagpole.
Good Thursday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
The Abraham Accords is expected to gain another participant this evening, though in a first, the country is not joining as a show of peace with Israel — since the new addition, the Muslim-majority central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, has had full diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992.
Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is expected to announce the move at a meeting with President Donald Trump later today, where they will also hold a joint phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump administration officials told Axios that the White House wants to “build momentum” for the Abraham Accords ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington on Nov. 18.
As far as Kazakhstan’s motivation, the former Soviet nation has long lobbied Washington to cancel a Cold War-era law that has hindered its access to American markets, and could benefit from currying favor with the Trump administration.
Leading Jewish organizations have worked with Kazakhstan’s Jewish community and government for over a decade to lobby Congress to repeal the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, and told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and Danielle Cohen-Kanik that they are highly supportive of the country’s inclusion in the Accords…
Ahead of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s own visit to the White House on Monday, the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of a U.S.-sponsored resolution to lift sanctions on the former Al-Qaida leader turned president…
Also getting an Oval Office welcome, Israeli media reported today that Trump invited the 20 Israeli hostages released from Gaza last month to visit the White House in two weeks…
On the Hill, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee from both parties voiced concerns with Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, and his office at the Pentagon at a committee hearing today — for the second time this week, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
“Many of this committee have serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office and how it is serving the president of the United States and the Congress,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the committee, said in his opening statement. “In many of these conversations, we hear that the Pentagon policy office seems to be doing what it pleases without coordinating, even inside the U.S. executive branch”…
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced this morning that she will retire at the end of her term in 2027, after serving 39 years in Congress where she made history as the first female speaker of the House.
For most of her illustrious career, Pelosi has been a reliable ally of Israel and, as Democratic leader, generally managed to keep her caucus united around support for the Jewish state. But, like many Democrats, she leaned in a more critical direction during the war in Gaza, at one point supporting a call to suspend weapons transfers to Israel. Read JI’s interview with Scott Wiener, the state senator from California seeking to win her seat…
The IDF is beginning to demobilize thousands of reservists called up for duty, some of whom have served hundreds of days in the past two years, announcing that the country is transitioning from war into a period of “enhanced border security” as the ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza largely endures…
The Treasury Department announced sanctions today against members of Hezbollah’s “finance team” who “oversee the movement of funds from Iran” in an effort to support the Lebanese government’s moves to disarm the terror group. The department revealed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has already transferred over $1 billion to Hezbollah this year…
Author Jamie Kirchick argues in The Washington Post that the “inevitable fracturing of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement is in sight, the instigator of its rupture that most narcissistic and destructive of media personalities: Tucker Carlson.”
Kirchick admonishes Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for failing to outright condemn Carlson’s platforming of neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes: “Stalinists and Holocaust deniers like Fuentes are perfectly entitled to spew their nonsense on street corners, through self-published manifestos or in online livestreams. What they are not entitled to is the imprimatur of purportedly respectable institutions whose reputations hinge upon the voices they choose to amplify”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with former Minnesota Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, who will be celebrating his 95th birthday.
On Sunday, the Zionist Organization of America will hold its annual gala, where it will present awards to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY); Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter; Leo Terrell, head of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; and philanthropists Irit and Jonathan Tratt.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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THE INSIDE STORY
The 36 hours in Washington that took hostage families from grief to gratitude
The story of how the hostage families came to learn their loved ones were coming home, told to JI by key players
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
What New York City Jewish leaders are most worried about in a Mamdani mayoralty
JI asked senior New York Democratic officials and Jewish community leaders to discuss the top threats that a Mamdani administration could pose to Jewish life in the city
Plus, the end of a Golden era in Maine
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks to supporters at an Election Night party on November 2, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Good Wednesday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Jewish Americans are still taking stock after Zohran Mamdani’s victory last night in the New York City mayoral race. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, based in New York, called Mamdani’s victory a “grim milestone” and a reminder “that antisemitism remains a clear and present danger, even in the places where American Jews have long felt most secure.” Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, listed policies the organization will be looking toward “to address the profound concerns about what the future holds for Jewish safety and belonging.”
Robert Tucker, the Jewish commissioner of the New York City Fire Department, resigned this morning, The New York Post reports, hours before he was set to fly to Israel to meet his counterpart there.
In his first response to an incident of antisemitism as mayor-elect, Mamdani denounced the vandalism of the Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn, which had two swastikas graffitied on it overnight, as “a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city”…
Another heavily Democratic city rejected its own far-left candidate for mayor today, as incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis won reelection against his DSA-aligned challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Marking a win for the more pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party, Frey secured his third term with 50% of the vote, to Fateh’s 44%, in the second round of the city’s ranked-choice voting.
A similar result may be emerging in Seattle, where preliminary results last night showed the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Bruce Harrell, leading over his socialist challenger, Katie Wilson, though many ballots remain to be counted…
One day after a historic Election Day — first democratic socialist mayor of New York City, largest turnout in an NYC mayoral race since 1969, first female governor of Virginia, first Muslim woman elected to statewide office as Virginia’s lieutenant governor, a record percentage of registered voters turning out for the municipal election in Minneapolis, among others — and the U.S. is already hitting another milestone: the longest government shutdown in history, at 36 days long.
President Donald Trump partially blamed the shutdown for Democrats’ strong showing in yesterday’s elections at a breakfast with Senate Republicans this morning, telling them, “I thought we’d have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented, and what we should do about it. … I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans”…
Citing the shutdown, increased polarization and rising political violence, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) announced this afternoon that he will not be seeking reelection. Golden, a pro-Israel centrist who often worked across the aisle, has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a largely rural, working-class district that Trump won in the 2024 election by 14 points, since 2018, a seat that will be difficult for Democrats to maintain…
Recently freed former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov recounted her two and a half years of captivity by Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group in Iraq, in a new interview with The New York Times, detailing the torture she experienced that resulted in potentially permanent nerve damage and the need for “long-term physical and psychological rehabilitation,” as determined by doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center…
The University of Maryland, College Park student government is scheduled to vote on two resolutions hostile towards Israel tonight, JI’s Haley Cohen reports. One calls for the university to prohibit people who are “committing war crimes” and “genocide” from speaking on campus, after the campus chapter of Students Supporting Israel hosted an event last month where former IDF soldiers spoke about their experiences serving during Israel’s war with Hamas.
The second resolution calls on the university to issue an apology to students who faced disciplinary action for protesting that event, when demonstrators packed the outside hallway shouting “baby killers” and “IOF [Israel “Occupation” Forces] off our campus,” while several others protested outside of the building with chants comparing the IDF to the Ku Klux Klan…
Variety profiles David Ellison in his first 100 days as CEO of the recently merged Paramount Skydance, including the media company’s about-face on Israel issues. Free Press founder Bari Weiss, hired as editor-in-chief of CBS News by Ellison, “has been so vocal in her support of [Israel] that she faces frequent death threats. She and her wife, The Free Press co-founder Nellie Bowles, require a detail of five bodyguards that costs the studio $10,000-$15,000 a day.”
Paramount also reportedly “maintains a list of talent it will not work with because they are deemed to be ‘overtly antisemitic’ as well as ‘xenophobic’ and ‘homophobic,’” after the studio was the first to denounce a boycott of Israel signed by several Hollywood heavyweights…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the latest news on the Heritage Foundation’s internal reckoning with its defense of Tucker Carlson.
Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, a bill aimed at eliminating loopholes used to possess Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Alex Velez-Green to be deputy under secretary of defense for policy, coming days after committee lawmakers blasted the Pentagon office and its head, Elbridge Colby, during a contentious hearing for failing to communicate with them.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Aston Villa tomorrow in a Europa League match that generated controversy after local authorities announced that supporters of the Israeli team would not be permitted to attend, with the game deemed “high risk” over security concerns. Over 700 police officers are expected to be deployed and a no-fly zone will be established around the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England.
Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team will face off against the Dubai team in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Round 9 of the EuroCup tomorrow.
The Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, formerly the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, will host its second Sports Leaders Convening at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts tomorrow, featuring Robert Kraft, the organization’s CEO and owner of the New England Patriots; Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International; Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network; and leaders from major sports leagues.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will host a webinar tomorrow on the possibility of peace between Israel and Lebanon with Lebanese Member of Parliament Fouad Makhzoumi.
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KENTUCKY CONTEST
Nate Morris seeks McConnell’s seat with populist, pro-Israel message
In an interview with JI, the wealthy businessman declined to weigh in on the Tucker Carlson controversy but said Republicans ‘shouldn’t be in the business of canceling anyone’
IN MEMORIAM
VP Dick Cheney remembered as friend of Israel, strong voice on national security issues
X is the only mainstream social media platform where Fuentes is allowed to have an account; he was unblocked in May 2024 and now has over 1 million followers
In an interview with JI, the wealthy businessman declined to weigh in on Tucker Carlson but said Republicans ‘shouldn't be in the business of canceling anyone’
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris speaks at the annual Fancy Farm picnic, Aug. 2, 2025, in Fancy Farm, Ky.
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.”
Plus, lawmakers say Pentagon, Elbridge Colby icing them out
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), accompanied by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), speaks during a news conference in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol Building on October 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Tuesday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Election Day is underway, and voters are breaking turnout records in New York City. Already by noon today, more people had voted in the mayoral race than had voted in the entirety of the 2021 NYC mayor’s race. By 3 p.m., more than 1.4 million New Yorkers had voted in the race — more than in any NYC mayoral election since 2001, according to The New York Times — with several more hours before the polls close at 9 p.m.
President Donald Trump chimed in last night, urging New Yorkers to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” he wrote on social media. Trump added in another post, “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!”…
One party leader not weighing in: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has officially made it through the mayoral race without issuing an endorsement. He had said throughout the election that he had held “conversations” with Mamdani but resisted calls to either endorse his party’s candidate or to denounce his anti-Israel views. At a press conference in the Capitol this afternoon, Schumer told reporters he himself had voted and “look[s] forward to working with the next mayor” but would not reveal who got his vote…
Leading right-wing figures continue to contend with the normalization of antisemitism within the GOP: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) joined the list of Republicans who have publicly admonished Tucker Carlson for platforming neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes on his podcast, saying today, “Some of the things [Fuentes has] said are just blatantly antisemitic, racist and anti-American. Anti-Christian, for that matter. I think we have to call out antisemitism wherever it is. Whether it’s Tucker or anybody else, I don’t think we should be giving a platform to that kind of speech. He has a First Amendment right, but we shouldn’t ever amplify it. That’s my view.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also denounced antisemitism on the right in comments today, though without naming Carlson or Fuentes. “Well, there are lots of voices, obviously, out there, but I don’t think there ought to be any — there just should be no room at all whatsoever for antisemitism or other forms of discrimination. That’s certainly not what our party is about,” Thune said…
Backlash against the Heritage Foundation for defending Carlson also continues; the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a conservative coalition aligned with Heritage, changed its tune today in an email to President Kevin Roberts, a day after the task force said it would stand by the organization.
In today’s email, obtained by Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch, the NTFCA co-chairs made several demands of Roberts, including removing his controversial video defending Carlson; an apology “to those Christians and Jews who are steadfast members of the conservative movement and believe that Israel has a special role to play both biblically and politically;” a conference hosted by Heritage on the boundaries of the conservative movement; hiring a visiting fellow “who shares mainstream conservative views on Israel, Jews and Christian Zionists” to win over Gen Zers; and to host Shabbat dinners with Heritage’s interns and junior staff members to educate them about Judaism.
The task force co-chairs said in the email that if an agreement is not reached soon, their relationship with Heritage “will be irrevocably harmed.” Co-chair Luke Moon told JI, “If the terms aren’t met, we will take the NTFCA elsewhere”…
Several Jewish organizations have cut ties with the NTFCA already over the incident, including the Zionist Organization of America and Young Jewish Conservatives; today, the Coalition for Jewish Values and Combat Antisemitism Movement did so as well.
“We cannot grant legitimacy to an effort to combat antisemitism operated by the Heritage Foundation while Heritage is validating antisemitism and giving it a platform,” CJV wrote. “Although our target” on the task force “was and remains primarily a left-wing cause, ‘no enemies on the right’ was always liable to be proven false.”
CAM, in its resignation letter to Roberts, affirmed its support of free speech and specified that “the genesis of this letter is our deep concern with how you, Mr. Roberts, on behalf of the Heritage Foundation, have chosen to exercise your rights” [emphasis original]…
Bipartisan lawmakers expressed frustration with the Pentagon for not properly briefing them on national security issues at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new rule last month requiring all Pentagon staffers to get approval before interacting with members of Congress.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) called out Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, specifically, saying it was even harder to contact him than Hegseth or Trump. “Man, I can’t even get a response, and we’re on your team,” Sullivan said…
The Trump administration is pushing Congress to repeal the Caesar Act sanctions on Syria ahead of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s first visit to the White House on Monday, urging lawmakers to include it in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate already approved the repeal in its version of the NDAA last month, but the House version does not include a similar provision…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with Republican Kentucky Senate candidate Nate Morris, who is seeking to take the seat of retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and for a reflection on the late Vice President Dick Cheney’s legacy.
Tomorrow afternoon, the ADL will host a post-election briefing on the New York City mayoral race with its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, and Hindy Poupko, senior vice president of community strategy and external relations at UJA-Federation of New York.
Former Israeli hostage Emily Damari will appear at Temple Emanu-El in New York City tomorrow evening for her first public speaking engagement in the U.S., joined by author Noa Tishby.
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THE X FACTOR
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X is the only mainstream social media platform where Fuentes is allowed to have an account; he was unblocked in May 2024 and now has over 1 million followers
Johnson, on right-wing antisemitism: ‘Whether it’s Tucker or anybody else, I don’t think we should be giving a platform to that kind of speech’
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on October 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) criticized Tucker Carlson’s platforming of neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, adding his voice to the growing list of Republicans who have publicly admonished the former Fox host for mainstreaming the avowed antisemite.
The House speaker made the comments on Tuesday when asked in the Capitol if Carlson should still have a place in the conservative movement given his embrace of antisemitic figures like Fuentes. Johnson criticized what he described as Fuentes’ “anti-Christian” and “antisemitic” views and said conservatives have an obligation to call out antisemitism “wherever it is.”
“Look, I heard a compilation of some of the worst things that Nick Fuentes has said. It’s absolutely outrageous,” Johnson told National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg. “Some of the things he’s said are just blatantly antisemitic, racist and anti-American. Anti-Christian, for that matter. I think we have to call out antisemitism wherever it is.”
“Whether it’s Tucker or anybody else, I don’t think we should be giving a platform to that kind of speech. He has a First Amendment right, but we shouldn’t ever amplify it. That’s my view,” Johnson added.
Asked later Tuesday if Carlson’s views and voice belong in the conservative movement, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) did not directly reject Carlson but said that the party should have no space for antisemitism.
“Well, there are lots of voices, obviously, out there, but I don’t think there ought to be any — there just should be no room at all whatsoever for antisemitism or other forms of discrimination. That’s certainly not what our party is about,” Thune said.
“Our party is a party that welcomes all comers,” he added. “We want to stand up for and on behalf of the American people who work hard every day to make a living and just want a government that works for them, hopefully at the lowest possible cost and in a way that enables them to go about their lives and provide for them and their families.”
Sen. Josh Hawley to JI: ‘We need to be really clear, and I say that not only as a conservative, but also as a Christian. There is no place for antisemitic hatred, tropes, any of that stuff’
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks to the press on June 2, 2025 in Washington.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) warned on Monday against the mainstreaming of antisemitic figures within the conservative movement in response to Tucker Carlson’s platforming of neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes.
Hawley, an ally of the national conservative movement who has advocated for the Trump administration to take an aggressive approach to combating campus antisemitism, made the comments while speaking to Jewish Insider about the controversy surrounding Fuentes’ appearance on Carlson’s podcast late last week.
“I just think on the substance of what he says, I mean, it’s antisemitic. Let’s just call it for what it is, let’s not sugarcoat it,” Hawley said of Fuentes.
“That’s not who we are as Republicans, as conservatives. Listen, this is America. He can have whatever views he wants. But the question for us as conservatives is: Are those views going to define who we are? And I think we need to say, ‘No, they’re not. No. Just no, no, no,’” he continued. “We need to be really clear, and I say that not only as a conservative, but also as a Christian. There is no place for antisemitic hatred, tropes, any of that stuff. I just think we’ve gotta say that stuff.”
The Missouri senator drew a parallel between the antisemitism seen at universities across the country since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and Fuentes’ views.
“Do we really want to be part of what we’ve seen happen on college campuses, for instance, in this country in the last two or three years? Conservatives have been decrying that,” Hawley said. “Are we now to believe that, oh, actually, we have no problem with that? And that all of the things they were saying about Jews and Jewish Americans, that was fine? That’s not my view. I wasn’t fine with it then, I’m not fine with it now.”
“I thought it was morally repulsive then, I think it’s morally repulsive now. I’m not going to change my opinion on that. I want to be really clear: that’s above all a moral issue,” he added.
Hawley was not the only Republican senator to voice their objections to a GOP embrace of Fuentes or the avowed antisemite’s appearance on Carlson’s program.
The fallout now involves the Heritage Foundation, the result of its president, Kevin Roberts, coming to Carlson’s defense in a video last Thursday that called out the “venomous coalition attacking” Carlson and warned that “their attempt to cancel him will fail.” Roberts has since clarified that he and Heritage do not support Fuentes’ antisemitic views, though he refused to disavow him, and is facing growing calls to walk back his comments.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the co-chair of the Senate antisemitism task force, told JI that he was “a little surprised that Heritage jumped out in support of [Carlson] and Nick Fuentes to say, ‘Hey, we want them in our camp’ after the statements that were made.”
“Heritage could have just sat back and not said anything, but instead, they chose to jump out on their side,” Lankford continued. “I don’t get that.”
He, like Hawley and other Republican lawmakers, warned that the right faces a similar crisis of antisemitism as is roiling the left if conservatives do not proactively confront and shun antisemites in their midst.
“The left has seen an implosion of their party based on antisemitism rising in their party. I don’t want to see the same thing on the right,” Lankford said. “To say the least, I want to make it very, very clear we are not the party of antisemitism. We’re not the party that believes Hitler was a good guy and that Winston Churchill was the bad guy. We’re not the party that blames media issues on the Jews and all these weird tropes that are out there. That’s not who we are, that’s not what we stand for, nor what we should stand for.”
He said that he does not understand the impulse to “allow it to be a big tent and allow antisemitism in our party. If there are [antisemites] that are there, we should call it out and say that’s wrong.”
“What I’ve tried to be very clear on is [that] the ‘New Right’ is now quoting an old wrong. It’s wrong,” Lankford continued.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) offered a similar message.
“The Democrat Party — we already have a party that’s for antisemitism [and] is against Israel,” Scott told JI. “The Republican Party [is going to] stand for Israel and we’re going to stand against antisemitism. I don’t think there’s any question.”
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, the executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told JI that Roberts’ message “was the most tone-deaf comment, in both its content and its timing, that I’ve ever heard from a major Washington organization on any political side.”
Menken resigned from Heritage’s Project Esther, the group’s antisemitism initiative, last week in response to Roberts’ video message defending Carlson. Along with Menken and CJV, several other groups have also publicly disaffiliated from Heritage’s antisemitism task force, including the National Jewish Advocacy Center, the Zionist Organization of America and Young Jewish Conservatives.
Plus, Virginia LG candidate skirts antisemitism questions
Joshua Sukoff/Medill News Service
President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4, 2025. This is Trump’s first joint news conference with a foreign leader in his second term.
Good Monday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
It’s Election Day across the country tomorrow, and we’ll be watching several key races.
Front of mind is the New York City mayoral race where Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is expected to prevail, though it remains to be seen if he’ll claim an absolute majority.
All candidates are still vying for the Jewish vote: Over the weekend, divisions emerged in the anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidic community after one of its political leaders issued an endorsement of Mamdani — some leaders publicly broke ranks to reject the move and instead endorse his rival, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Meanwhile, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens (and recalled a blessing he received from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson decades ago which Sliwa claimed “saved my life”)…
In nearby New Jersey, gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Jack Ciattarelli are doing the same. We’ve covered Sherrill’s recent outreach efforts to the state’s sizable Jewish community; on the GOP side, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday urging “ALL of my supporters in the Orthodox community in Lakewood [N.J.] and its surrounding towns to vote in HUGE numbers for Jack Ciattarelli,” naming in particular “all the Yeshiva students who turned out to vote for me last year.” Trump won around 88% of the heavily Jewish township’s vote in the 2024 presidential election…
And in Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is likely to win the governor’s mansion against the state’s current lieutenant governor, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, in a race set to make Old Dominion history — either way, the state will elect its first female governor.
Also on the Virginia ballot: Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic state senator running for lieutenant governor, who has elicited concern from the state’s Jewish community over her past involvement in anti-Israel activism and her record on combating antisemitism.
In a brief interview today, Jewish Insider’s Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar asked Hashmi how big of a challenge she thinks antisemitism is in Virginia. Hashmi replied: “I think we see growing challenges on so many levels of bigotry, and we have to be united in our efforts. I’m facing a great deal of Islamophobic attacks, as you probably have seen, so we have to respond to everything.” Pressed on what she thought about antisemitism specifically, Hashmi cut the interview short…
The fallout from the Heritage Foundation’s embrace of Tucker Carlson and refusal to disavow Nick Fuentes continues, as right-wing figures publicly declare themselves aligned with or opposed to the move. Orthodox conservative influencer Ben Shapiro said about Carlson, Fuentes and their ilk in a lengthy video statement today: “These people aren’t to my right. They’re not attached in any way to the fundamental principles of conservatism. And these people have already declared themselves my enemies. I’d be a fool not to take them seriously.”
Ryan Neuhaus, who served as Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ chief of staff until Friday, resigned after reposting numerous social media posts in defense of Roberts, including one saying that Heritage employees opposed to his statement were “virtue signaling” and calling for them to resign…
A new poll released today by the Democratic Majority for Israel finds that Democrats overwhelmingly support the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas and a majority of them think Trump played at least a “somewhat important role” in reaching the agreement, JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
A majority of those polled (56%) said they believe that the U.S. should keep its alliance with Israel, though only 32% felt so “strongly.” Three-quarters (75%) said they support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland, with 12% saying they don’t believe Israel has a right to exist…
The Wall Street Journal documents the rise and sustained popularity of Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, the reclusive commander of the Houthis in Yemen, who has continued to resist pressure by officials from Arab states to cease the terror group’s attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, “and go back to being a relatively small-time player in the region’s conflicts.”
“‘They genuinely believe in this jihad to remove Israel from that land,’ said April Longley Alley, a former United Nations diplomat who has engaged with the Houthi leadership. ‘And they’re going to keep pushing’”…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the dispatch of a humanitarian and medical aid delegation from Israel to Jamaica today, to assist in relief efforts after Hurricane Melissa tore through the country earlier this week…
Sudanese refugees in Israel told The Times of Israel about the compounded pain and fear they experienced as the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the civil war in Sudan unfolded in parallel, decrying the lack of media coverage of Sudan while the world focused on Gaza…
Yad Vashem announced today that the museum has identified the names of 5 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and hopes to use artificial intelligence to name at least 250,000 more…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for the backstory surrounding Massachusetts Senate candidate Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) attacks against AIPAC.
Tomorrow, the World Zionist Organization and Temple Emanu-El are holding a memorial event in New York City for slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 30th anniversary of his assassination. Speakers will include Rabin’s grandson, Jonathan Benartzi; Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro; Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and Israeli American peace advocate Alana Zeitchik.
Stories You May Have Missed
UNIVERSITY INSIGHTS
Longtime higher ed leader Gordon Gee says fear, not free speech, is ruling America’s campuses
Gee, who served as president of five universities over 45 years, told JI he believes some administrators are opposed to reform efforts as a knee-jerk reaction to Trump
SHOW OF SOLIDARITY
Overhauled Kennedy Center takes on the mantle of combating antisemitism
With a new board and leadership, the Kennedy Center is spotlighting Jewish culture and the fight against antisemitism in ‘solidarity’
Even as multiple speakers at the three-day summit alluded to antisemitism in their ranks, many talked in broad strokes
(AP Photo/Thomas Beaumont)
Attendees watch a recorded video address by President Donald Trump during the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual summit at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
LAS VEGAS — Until last week, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit was expected to be a triumphant gathering to celebrate President Donald Trump’s accomplishments in the Middle East, chief among them his administration’s recently brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
That all changed after Tucker Carlson hosted the neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on his podcast for a sympathetic interview, provoking fierce backlash. By the time that Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, came to Carlson’s defense on Thursday, the RJC recognized its conference would require a thematic update to more forcefully emphasize the urgency of confronting rising antisemitism — and its enablers — within the GOP.
“If there was ever a time for the RJC, this is our time,” Norm Coleman, the organization’s national chairman, said in opening remarks on Friday. “We have been called to this moment to fight the scourge of antisemitism.”
But even as multiple speakers at the three-day summit held at the Venetian Resort — including congressional leaders, conservative activists and media personalities — alluded to antisemitism in their ranks, many talked in broad strokes, didn’t mention Carlson by name or downplayed the issue as confined to the fringes, despite Carlson and Fuentes each commanding a significant number of dedicated followers on the far right.
The speakers also argued that anti-Jewish hatred had become an endemic problem for Democrats — especially in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. And in a preview of GOP messaging ahead of the midterms next year, many took aim at Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for New York City mayor and fierce critic of Israel favored to win the election on Tuesday.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is now running for governor of Florida, relied on euphemism to refer to right-wing antisemitism, declaring that the GOP would “not stand idly by” as “some in other parts of politics try to demonize Jewish Americans” and “try to weaken or destroy the relationship between the United States of America and the nation of Israel.”
“I will always call out and confront antisemitism wherever it is and whoever spreads it,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), the House Republican conference chair, said on Saturday, but shared no examples of such prejudice in her own party.
Some, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), more forcefully addressed growing antisemitism on their side of the aisle.
In an interview with Jewish Insider shortly before he took the stage on Friday, Graham described Carlson’s interview with Fuentes as a “wake-up call” for the Republican Party. “How many times does he have to play footsie with this antisemitic view of the Jewish people and Israel until you figure out that’s what he believes?” Graham said of the former Fox News host.
But in his speech later, the South Carolina senator adopted a more sanguine attitude, speaking more like a stand-up comedian as he sought to lighten the mood. “I just want to make it really clear: I’m in the ‘Hitler sucks’ wing of the Republican Party,” he said to applause. “What is this Hitler shit?”
“I feel good about the Republican Party,” he added, saying the GOP “has figured it out when it comes to Israel.”
Cruz also criticized Republicans who refuse to disavow right-wing antisemites in the conservative coalition, though he ultimately didn’t mention any of the offending individuals by name in his RJC speech.
McCormick, in his fireside chat with conservative author Douglas Murray, directly confronted the lack of right-wing voices challenging virulent antisemitism. “This very week, you had an avowed antisemite, Fuentes, given a platform. This is a guy that says Hitler is cool, says Jews should be terminated…and those views went unchallenged,” McCormick said.
In his own speech at the summit, McCormick said: “Let’s face it, antisemitism is running wild on the progressive left and the leaders of the Democratic Party are not confronting it with their new star Mamdani,” McCormick said. “But I’m also sad to say we see that ugliness on the right too, and we must confront it. Jews can’t be slandered, antisemites can’t be given platforms.”
Their comments sidestepped a more deeply rooted challenge for mainstream Republicans following recent controversies in which young party leaders were caught sharing pro-Nazi messages in leaked group chats, and Paul Ingrassia, the controversial Trump ally, withdrew his nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel after text messages were unearthed where he allegedly made antisemitic and racist remarks.
Vice President JD Vance also faced criticism from Jewish Republicans last week over his recent appearance at a conservative campus event, where he chose not to confront some students who asked questions that invoked antisemitic tropes. While some attendees at the RJC summit told JI that they had been troubled by Vance’s performance, it was not a topic of discussion on the main stage.
Taking the floor on Saturday, however, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), a freshman congressman from Florida who is one of four Jewish Republicans in the House, criticized those who focus only on left-wing antisemitism or just broadly talk about anti-Jewish prejudice on the right.
“It’s easy to talk about antisemitism on the left,” Fine said in his remarks. “I want to talk about the dark force rising on our side. Multiple speakers have talked about the rise of antisemitism on the right. But it is not enough to speak in platitudes or generalities about the fight. We must call evil by its name.”
He called Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America” and said he did not belong in Trump’s movement — a message that was amplified by a line of student attendees who stood before him holding up posters declaring “Tucker is not MAGA.”
Fine also said that he was canceling a scheduled event with the Heritage Foundation, adding that the group had “no future” in his office. “I will be calling on all of my colleagues on the Republican side to do the same,” he confirmed.
Matt Brooks, the RJC’s CEO, told JI last week that his group would be reassessing its relationship with Heritage, noting that he was “disgusted” by Roberts’ decision to stand with Carlson. The RJC has not yet further clarified how it plans to move forward with regard to Heritage.
As the summit neared its conclusion on Saturday, one RJC member, Jon Tucker of Chicago, voiced optimism that Trump, set to deliver a prerecorded message later that evening, would choose to speak out against what he termed the “ultra-right wing, isolationist” and “anti-Christian Zionist” voices in the Republican Party.
“I would hope the president comes out and has something to say about it, just like Ronald Reagan did back in the ’80s when he, famously, kicked the right wing out of the Republican Party,” he told JI, expressing concern that — in the absence of direct condemnation from the top — “we could lose” the GOP to “radicals.”
When he finally appeared on screen, Trump made no mention of antisemitism’s ascendance within the GOP, instead touting his administration’s efforts to target universities for their alleged failure to address antisemitism while listing his achievements in the Middle East, including the ceasefire deal.
He also credited the RJC with helping him to perform particularly well among Jewish voters in 2024, even as he reiterated his complaint that he should have received more support in light of his pro-Israel policies.
“I can’t imagine we didn’t do better than that after all I’ve done for the Jewish vote, I must be honest with you,” Trump said. “But that’s OK.”
This story was updated on Monday to reflect Sen. Dave McCormick’s comments regarding Nick Fuentes.
Reps. Greg Landsman, Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz could be more vulnerable as a result of new maps ahead of next year’s midterms
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) is interviewed by CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images in his Longworth Building office on Friday, November 3, 2023.
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.
Graham: ‘How many times does he have to play footsie with this antisemitic view of the Jewish people and Israel until you figure out that’s what he believes?’
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference on US-Israel relations on February 17, 2025
LAS VEGAS — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke out against Tucker Carlson for giving a friendly platform to Nick Fuentes, the neo-Nazi influencer, on his podcast this week, calling it “a wake-up call” for the Republican Party as it grapples with rising antisemitism within its ranks.
“How many times does he have to play footsie with this antisemitic view of the Jewish people and Israel until you figure out that’s what he believes?” Graham said of Carlson in an interview with Jewish Insider on Friday on the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit at the Venetian Resort.
Graham said that “antisemitism has been with us, and it’ll always be with us, and the goal is to limit it, fight back and contain it.”
“I am confident that if anybody in the Republican world ran for office as a member of Congress, for the Senate or any major elected office and spouted this garbage, it would get creamed,” Graham told JI. “This is a niche market. It won’t sell to a wider audience.”
Carlson, a frequent critic of Graham, has faced backlash this week for failing to challenge Fuentes’ antisemitic views, including praising Adolf Hitler and engaging in Holocaust denialism. During the interview, Fuentes railed against “organized Jewry” while Carlson expressed his disdain for Christian Zionists including Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, saying he had been seized by a “brain virus.”
“To suggest that evangelical Christians are confused or got it wrong says more about the critic than it does evangelical Christians,” Graham countered. “The guy that’s doing the talking is a raving antisemite white nationalist, and if you want to hook your wagon to that, you’ll have a very short journey in the Republican Party.”
Graham said that Carlson and Fuentes “did us all a favor by being so brazen. It’s kind of a wake-up call.”
Even as Carlson, a close ally of Vice President JD Vance, remains influential in the GOP, Graham argued that “being anti-Israel in the modern Republican Party is a death sentence to political viability.”
“We’re not gonna put up with that crap. We’re not that kind of party,” he said.
The South Carolina senator also joined other senators in raising concerns about the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, who has faced widespread criticism for defending Carlson’s interview and for soft-pedaling Fuentes views in a video he posted to social media on Thursday. “That’s the decision made, and we’ll see how well it plays in the marketplace,” Graham, who is facing a primary challenge next year from a former Heritage Foundation staffer, reiterated.
Amid the criticism Friday, Roberts posted a follow-up statement on X where he condemned Fuentes’ “vicious antisemitic ideology, his Holocaust denial, and his relentless conspiracy theories that echo the darkest chapters of history” but made no further comment about Carlson.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who spoke at the RJC summit on Thursday night, and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have spoken out against right-wing antisemitism after Carlson’s Fuentes interview.
Vance also drew scrutiny this week from conservative Jewish critics after he spoke at a campus Turning Point USA event and avoided forcefully confronting students who had asked him questions about Israel that used antisemitic tropes, such as suggesting Jewish control of U.S. politics and claiming that Jews oppress Christians.
Graham said he believed that the students were “espousing stereotypes about the Jewish people and the Jewish state,” which he called “pretty unnerving.”
“I think JD handled it well,” he said, but added: “I wish he would have been more direct.”
“I would have been real direct and said, ‘Let me tell you, if you think our relationship with Israel is less than beneficial, you’re ignorant. Israel’s fighting our fight,” he said. “My goal is to keep the threats over there so they don’t come here,” he added. “My goal is not to fight alone, to have other people fighting with us. And you can’t have a better partner in the fight than Israel.”
The senator’s comments at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering came after the Heritage Foundation defended Tucker Carlson and refused to disavow neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes
WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized Republicans who refuse to disavow prominent antisemites in the conservative movement as “cowards” after the Heritage Foundation and its president, Kevin Roberts, defended Tucker Carlson and his friendly interview with neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes.
Cruz warned during a half hour address at the opening of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit in Las Vegas on Thursday evening that young Christians were turning away from supporting Israel, something he argued was the result of pro-Israel Christians being maligned by leading voices in the America First movement.
The Texas Republican senator did not mention the Heritage Foundation, Roberts, Carlson or Fuentes by name, though he accused anyone who uncritically promotes Adolf Hitler of being “complicit” in spreading virulent antisemitism.
Fuentes has praised Hitler on multiple occasions; in his statement, Roberts said he “disagree[s] with” some of Fuentes’ views, “but canceling him is not the answer.”
“The last year, we’ve seen three prominent people on the right publicly muse, ‘Gosh, maybe Hitler’s not all that bad.’ No. He is the embodiment of evil, a grotesque bigot. And if you’re confused by that, you’re an imbecile,” Cruz said on Thursday. “Too many people are scared to confront them. I want to ask you, how many elected Republicans do you see standing up and calling this out? How many do you see willing to take on the voices in the anti-Israel right?”
“More than a few of my Republican officeholders are terrified of upsetting people with really big megaphones,” he explained.
Cruz warned that antisemitic ideas are spreading among young Americans through social media and argued that rising support for isolationism and the pro-Israel community’s failure to adequately explain the benefits of the U.S.-Israel relationship accounted for the broad ideological shifts on the issue — but he noted that there “is also a theological argument” being made on the Christian right against Jews.
“We are seeing young Christians and young evangelicals turning against Israel, and they are being pitched lies,” Cruz said. “One particular lie is something called replacement theology, and replacement theology is a twisted view that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, that the promises in the Old Testament no longer apply and that Christians have replaced Jews. Now in my Bible, I believe every word of it is true, and I believe every promise that God made to the people of Israel remains a promise that is made to the chosen people.”
After noting that he was “proud to be a Christian Zionist,” Cruz noted Carlson’s recent comments expressing his disdain for people who identify as such while appearing to note his protected status in the Trump administration. Carlson attacked Cruz and other pro-Israel conservatives, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, by name in his podcast conversation with Fuentes, where Carlson claimed that those who identify as Christian Zionists have been infected by a “brain virus.”
“There are some people who are embraced at the highest level of government who said there is no one they hate more than Christian Zionists,” Cruz said. “Well, I’ll tell you what, there’s no one I hate more than communists and jihadists who want to murder us. Now is the time for choosing. Now is the time for courage.”
“If you sit there and nod adoringly while someone tells you that Winston Churchill was the villain of World War II, if you sit there and nod while someone says, ‘Well, there’s a very good argument that America should have intervened on behalf of Nazi Germany in World War II.’ If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, and you say nothing, then you are a coward, and you are complicit in that evil,” he added.
Omri Ceren, Cruz’s legislative director and longtime advisor, criticized Heritage directly in a post on X on Friday morning, writing that: “I mean, if Republican Jews don’t have a place at @Heritage that’s a choice its current leadership is institutionally empowered to make, but it sits uncomfortably with the organization’s history.”
Cruz’s comments were met with praise from Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special antisemitism envoy during the Biden administration, who posted a message on X commending the Texas Republican.
Plus, Palantir CTO's Israeli inspiration
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Tucker Carlson speaks during the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.
Good Thursday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Efforts are underway to establish an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, Axios scooped today, with U.S. Central Command taking the lead on drafting the plan and holding discussions with countries, including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Turkey, to potentially contribute troops.
Though Israeli officials have said they oppose Turkey’s involvement in Gaza, the U.S. still views Ankara as most capable of getting Hamas “to agree and behave,” one U.S. official told the outlet.
Israel’s main concern is the new force’s legitimacy with Gazans and its willingness to engage militarily with Hamas, a senior Israeli official said. The plan would also see the creation of a new Palestinian police force, with training and vetting by the U.S., Egypt and Jordan…
Kevin Roberts, president of the influential Heritage Foundation, released a video today affirming the organization’s support of anti-Israel commentator Tucker Carlson, defending the podcaster from the “pressure” of the “globalist class,” after reports arose that Heritage had scrubbed references to Carlson from one of its donation pages.
“When it serves the interests of the United States to cooperate with Israel and other allies, we should do so … But when it doesn’t, conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington,” Roberts said.
His comments come days after Carlson hosted neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes on his podcast, whom Roberts said he was unwilling to “cancel.”
“We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains — and as I have said before — always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation,” Roberts continued…
In the run-up to the New York City mayoral election, The Bulwark co-founder Bill Kristol — a longtime conservative commentator and founder of The Weekly Standard — said that he would vote for Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani if he were a resident of the city.
“You know, New York City gets to have a left-wing mayor. It’s not the first time, and it’s different from the rest of the country. I wish they were a little less, you know, tolerant of certain things — on Israel, and so, against Israel and all that. But some of the economic stuff, I think, is just silly, but I don’t think it’s going to matter,” Kristol told The Forum. He called “the idea of going back to” former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “ridiculous”…
Cuomo, meanwhile, picked up the endorsement of Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY), the former chair of the New York State Republican Party, who said he’s had “plenty of disagreements — very publicly over the years — and fought tooth and nail with Gov. Cuomo. But there’s no doubt in my mind he would be a far superior mayor than a communist,” referring to Mamdani.
When asked if it’s a mistake for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to stay in the race, Langworthy said, “Everyone’s really got to check, is this a vanity project? Or is this something you’re trying to do to seriously be the mayor? There’s only one candidate running against Mamdani that has a credible path to win. And there’s Andrew Cuomo”…
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is preparing to enter the race for New York governor shortly after the mayoral election, Axios reports, with more than $13 million on hand. Stefanik’s team reportedly believes New Yorkers will turn on the Democratic Party if Mamdani is elected mayor, leaving Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul — who endorsed Mamdani — more vulnerable…
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), the party front-runner for Senate in Michigan, is “underwhelming” the Democratic establishment, NOTUS reports, with strategists warning that her fundraising and campaign activity does not show her substantially pulling ahead of her opponents — state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, the latter of whom is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), both running to her left — as expected…
Palantir’s chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, appearing on The New York Times’ “Interesting Times” podcast released today, affirmed that Israel is a “morally appropriate partner” for the software giant to conduct business with, and said that he was motivated to join up as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves this year to lend his technological expertise because of his “observation in Israel after Oct. 7.”
“Israel is an incredibly technical country. Bountiful resources of technologists,” Sankar said. But when reservists were called up to join the IDF in its war in Gaza, “they were horrified at the state of technology, which is actually an implicit self-critique. … The IDF got more modernization done in the four months after Oct. 7 than in the 10 years that I’d worked with them prior”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for reporting on the Kennedy Center’s efforts to address antisemitism and fight cultural boycotts of Israel as its Trump-appointed director looks to make a mark on programming at the institution.
The Republican Jewish Coalition’s leadership summit kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas, with featured speakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and many more. JI’s Matthew Kassel will be in attendance — be sure to say hello!
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Scott Wiener, looking to succeed Pelosi, balances progressive politics with Jewish allyship
Weiner, a longtime California state senator, could face a crowded field of Democrats if Nancy Pelosi retires — including AOC’s former chief of staff
TURNING UP THE VOLUME
Former Rep. Cori Bush shows no signs of dialing down extreme rhetoric in comeback campaign
In a speech at a ‘No Kings’ rally, Bush spent time eulogizing convicted murderer Assata Shakur
Plus, Suozzi re-ups Cuomo endorsement
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Hamtramck, Mich. Mayor Amer Ghalib introduces President Donald Trump, as Trump visits a campaign office on Oct. 18, 2024, in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Good Wednesday afternoon!
This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.
I’m Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime briefing. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
The White House has told Republicans that President Donald Trump will not pull the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and wants the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a vote on his candidacy, despite the growing bipartisan opposition to his nomination, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
White House officials have communicated to committee Republicans in recent days that Trump would not withdraw Ghalib’s nomination because the president credits the Democratic Hamtramck mayor with helping him win the state of Michigan in the 2024 presidential election by turning out the state’s Arab American vote, two sources familiar with the ongoing discussions told JI.
“If Trump wants his friend to go down that way, that’s OK. He can go down that way,” one Republican on the committee said, expressing confidence that Ghalib had no path to advance out of committee…
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who represents a Long Island-based swing district on the outskirts of New York City, today endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the general election for New York City mayor. Suozzi had endorsed Cuomo in the Democratic primary and announced last month that he would not be endorsing Zohran Mamdani after he secured the party’s nomination.
In Suozzi’s decision to re-up his support for Cuomo, now running as an independent, less than a week out from the election, he distanced himself from Mamdani’s political leanings: “I’m a Democratic Capitalist, not a Democratic Socialist. I endorse Andrew Cuomo. I can not back a declared socialist with a thin resume to run the most complex city in America”…
Time magazine profiles New York City Mayor Eric Adams, where he recalls hosting Mamdani and his father, Mahmood Mamdani — a professor at Columbia University with a long record of anti-Israel commentary — for dinner in 2023. “The frightening thing is, he really believes this stuff! Globalize the intifada, there’s nothing wrong with that! He believes, you know, I don’t have anything against Jews, I just don’t like Israel. Well, who’s in Israel, bro?” Adams said…
Elsewhere in New York, the Democratic race to clinch the nomination for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)’s seat gained another candidate today: Cameron Kasky, a Jewish gun control activist who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. Kasky, who recently started co-hosting the “For You Pod” with The Bulwark, frequently criticizes Israel and AIPAC in public statements, including accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza and not being committed to the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas.
The field to succeed Nadler, a progressive Jewish lawmaker whose district has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, has already drawn several candidates, including his former longtime aide, Micah Lasher…
Another candidate with harsh words for AIPAC is Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) for his seat. Moulton, considered more moderate than Markey, continued to appeal to his left flank this week, appearing on a podcast hosted by Jack Cocchiarella, a self-described “progressive Gen Z political commentator” who frequently engages in harsh criticism of Israel on social media.
Moulton — who recently decided to return AIPAC’s donations and pledged not to take its support going forward — said his split with the group could continue to feature in the race depending “a lot on what happens in Gaza and Israel. … I certainly hope … we don’t resort to more violence, and if that’s the case, I think we’ll be able to talk about other issues in this campaign. Sadly, if it’s not, then I’m sure this will keep coming up.”
Moulton did not push back on Cocchiarella’s assertion that AIPAC, which he said has ties to the “Netanyahu regime,” should “be registered as a foreign lobby.” (Accusations from both political fringes that AIPAC — whose members are American citizens — constitutes a foreign influence operation have often invoked antisemitic dual loyalty tropes)…
The Anti-Defamation League today removed a section called “Protect Civil Rights” from its “What We Do” webpage, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, shortly after it pulled down its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” amid conservative attacks on the organization. The group appears to be pivoting after FBI Director Kash Patel recently cut the bureau’s ties with the ADL, calling it “an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization”…
Spotted in Riyadh, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa spoke today at the Future Investment Initiative summit, with front-row spectators Donald Trump Jr. and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…
Also in the region, U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus visited Lebanon today to push the Lebanese government to speed up efforts to disarm Hezbollah, with a goal of total disarmament by the end of the year, The New York Times reports.
The Lebanese Armed Forces have seized 10,000 rockets and 400 missiles from the terror group as part of disarmament efforts already, though Israeli and American officials told the Times it’s not sufficient, with Hezbollah moving to rebuild its stockpile…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye on Jewish Insider tomorrow morning for an interview with California Democratic state Sen. Scott Weiner, running to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is rumored to be announcing her retirement plans shortly.
Tomorrow, the N7 Foundation and Polaris National Security Foundation are hosting the invite-only Washington Prosperity Summit, with attendees including Trump administration officials, bipartisan lawmakers, foreign dignitaries from the Middle East and business executives, “to explore policies to advance prosperity in the region.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is hosting its 2025 Humanitarian Award Dinner in Los Angeles tomorrow, honoring Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, CNN anchor Dana Bash, Oct. 7 survivor Aya Meydan and former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov. Director Steven Spielberg will present Zaslav with this year’s Humanitarian Award, the center’s highest honor.
In Washington, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Motion Picture Association and the German Embassy will host a special screening of “Nuremberg,” a new feature film on the Nuremberg Trials.
Also tomorrow, the World Zionist Congress wraps up in Jerusalem and the Future Investment Initiative summit comes to a close in Riyadh.
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JUSTICE, JUSTICE HE PURSUES
New U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Daniel Rosen sees history of antisemitism repeating itself
In an interview with JI, the Minnesota prosecutor and Jewish community leader said he was motivated to seek the role because of the ‘rapid escalation of violent antisemitism’
TIKTOK TALK
Jewish leaders, tech experts hopeful, but realistic about TikTok deal’s impact on online antisemitism
JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut cited TikTok’s new owners’ ties to the Jewish community as an an encouraging sign
The president is standing by Amer Ghalib, the Hamtramck, Mich., mayor nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, telling Republicans he won’t withdraw the pick
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump introduces Democratic Muslim mayor of Hamtramck Amer Ghalib during his last campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The White House has told Republicans that President Donald Trump will not pull the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and wants the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a vote on his candidacy, despite the growing bipartisan opposition to his nomination, Jewish Insider has learned.
White House officials have communicated to committee Republicans in recent days that Trump would not withdraw Ghalib’s nomination because the president credits the Democratic Hamtramck mayor with helping him turn out Michigan’s Arab-American vote and win the state in last November’s presidential election, two sources familiar with the ongoing discussions told JI.
“We were told Trump believes he [Ghalib] helped him deliver Michigan. He doesn’t want to abandon him,” one GOP senator on the committee said of the White House’s characterization of the president’s thinking.
Pressed about the four committee Republicans who already committed to joining all Democrats in opposing Ghalib’s confirmation, the White House has told senators and senior committee staffers that Trump wants Ghalib’s nomination to receive a vote regardless of the outcome.
“If Trump wants his friend to go down that way, that’s OK. He can go down that way,” another Republican on the committee said, expressing confidence that Ghalib had no path to advance out of committee.
No Democratic senators on the committee will support advancing Ghalib’s nomination to the full Senate if and when it comes up for a vote, a source familiar with the Democratic whip count told JI. With all Democrats opposed, Ghalib could only afford to lose one Republican to be reported favorably out of committee.
Four committee Republicans have already come out publicly against his nomination — Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Curtis (R-UT), Dave McCormick (R-PA) and John Cornyn (R-TX). At least two others confirmed to JI that they have voiced their reservations about Ghalib to the White House in the wake of his confirmation hearing last week, when Ghalib faced a bipartisan grilling over his long record of promoting antisemitic ideas and his embrace of anti-Israel positions as an elected official. Those senators have not yet made those concerns public.
The White House did not respond to JI’s request for comment on Tuesday.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the committee’s chairman, acknowledged to JI on Tuesday evening that he had not yet scheduled Ghalib’s nomination for a vote, but demurred when asked if he planned to do so.
A committee spokesperson for Risch declined to comment.
“A lot of what Trump is doing is kind of testing whether these guys have a gag reflex,” one Democratic committee member said of the situation, surmising that the president’s actions were partially aimed at assessing how much Republicans were willing to push back on nominees and legislative proposals that they object to.
Some Senate Democrats voiced concern over the stability of the ceasefire agreement and Israel’s commitment to abiding by it
Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Oct. 9, 2025.
President Donald Trump defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to order what the prime minister called “forceful” strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza on Tuesday in response to ceasefire violations by the terror group, dismissing concerns that the actions could upend the deal.
“They killed an Israeli soldier, so the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday evening. “Hamas is a small thing, but they kill people. They grew up killing people, and I guess they don’t stop. Nobody knows what happened to the Israeli soldier, but they say it was sniper-fire and it was retribution for that. I think they have a right to do that.”
“Nothing’s going to jeopardize that [the ceasefire],” he continued. “Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave. They’re on the rough side, but they said they would be good, and if they’re good, they’re going to be happy. If they’re not good, they’re going to be terminated. Their lives will be terminated, and they understand that.”
The Associated Press reported at least 80 killed in the strikes, including dozens of children. The Israeli army said it had hit dozens of terror targets and struck over 30 terrorists holding command positions within terrorist organizations operating in Gaza.
Initial reaction to Netanyahu’s decision to strike in Gaza fell largely along party lines, with Israel’s Republican allies in the Senate defending the Jewish state’s actions as self-defense while Democrats expressed concerns that the ceasefire in Gaza could be in jeopardy.
“You’re going to see a lot of this,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Jewish Insider of the renewed skirmishes in Gaza. “I mean, the Hamas soldiers are not terribly civilized, and the fact that there’s a ceasefire is of no moment to many of them. You’re periodically going to see them continue to shoot at the Israeli soldiers, and when they do, the Israeli soldiers are going to shoot back and kill them.”
“Eventually the really stupid Hamas members will stop doing it, because they’ll be dead,” the Louisiana senator continued. “But this is gonna happen. I mean, you’re not talking about sane people.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) suggested “we ought to expect” the Israelis to still conduct operations in Gaza given Hamas’ actions targeting IDF troops and Palestinian civilians since the ceasefire went into effect.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are going to continue to commit acts of violence, and Israel is going to need to respond,” Ricketts told JI. “That’s why it’s imperative that the Gulf states work together to get an international police force to be able to keep peace in Gaza while we go through this transition.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he felt it was “entirely appropriate” that Israel struck Hamas targets in order to protect Israeli forces.
“Because Hamas is attacking the IDF, that is entirely appropriate for Israel to defend itself — today, yesterday, tomorrow. If Hamas is attacking them, violating, obviously, the ceasefire and attacking IDF soldiers, Israel has been very clear: If you shoot us, we’re going to actually stop you,” Lankford told JI.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who offered his support for further Israeli confrontation with Hamas earlier this week, wrote on X on Tuesday afternoon that he was in “total support” of “the recent military action by Israel against Hamas.”
“Without Hamas being disarmed and removed from power permanently, there will be no pathway to stability and peace in the Middle East. Hamas is killing their opposition and consolidating their power,” Graham wrote. “If Israel believes it is necessary to reengage Hamas militarily, so be it. They have my complete backing.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) concurred with his GOP colleagues, telling JI, “If Hamas is going to strike Israel, they [Israel] don’t have a choice. They have to strike back. It’s too bad, but they don’t have a choice.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) surmised that Israel launched the strikes because Hamas was not honoring their side of the ceasefire deal by refusing to disarm.
“I think the reasoning for it was: Hamas is supposed to be planning on disarming, but I suspect that there’s probably some portions of Hamas that don’t want to disarm, and they’re probably regrouping,” Rounds told JI. “If [Netanyahu] can take out some more of those terrorists, I think he probably decided he would do it now as opposed to later.”
“We want that ceasefire to be successful, but it means Hamas has got to give up their weapons,” he added.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) wrote on X on Tuesday that, “Hamas is in direct violation of the ceasefire, including deceptively & cruelly obstructing the return of deceased hostages to their families. The @IDF’s actions are a result of Hamas’ repeated violations & their targeting of Israeli troops.”
The North Carolina senator declined to elaborate when asked by JI at the Capitol about the developments, noting that he wanted to hold off on commenting further until he had been fully briefed on the situation.
Some Senate Democrats who have been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on the Jewish state said they hoped the latest developments would not completely upend the ceasefire deal.
“It is very troubling,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said of Netanyahu launching the strikes. “I give President Trump a lot of credit for really working hard to get him [Netanyahu] to accept the deal. He wouldn’t have accepted it before.”
Kaine questioned if Netanyahu was aiming to derail the ceasefire, and noted that such a development would upend current efforts by the U.S. to bring more Gulf states into the Abraham Accords.
“My question is: Is he trying to undo the deal?” the Virginia senator asked of Netanyahu. “If he’s trying to undo the deal, then he’s got another problem, which is [that] they [the U.S.] want more nations in the Abraham Accords, and those nations have said we’re not coming in unless there is a path forward to Palestinian autonomy.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told JI that he was waiting to be briefed before speaking publicly, but said it would be “unfortunate if we wound up in a situation where this unravels.”
Middle East experts with whom JI spoke described Israel’s strikes against Hamas as necessary for its security, and dismissed concerns that Israel was acting without U.S. involvement or trying to disrupt the deal, while others expressed concern regarding Washington’s ability to constrain the Israelis.
“Israel has shown considerable patience and restraint in the face of multiple Hamas violations of its ceasefire obligations, but attacks on its personnel are something no government can accept,” Rob Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told JI. “Hamas’ violations are real and serious, deserving of an appropriate response.”
Mona Yacoubian, director and senior advisor of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, remained skeptical over Israel’s decision to strike. She said the operation could reflect a developing pattern where Israel takes military action with or without U.S. cooperation, and argued that Washington should be willing to adjust accordingly to “enforce” and monitor the ceasefire arrangement.
“Although we are still very much in the ‘fog of war,’ it does not appear that the United States approved the strike or necessarily even agrees with Israel’s interpretations that Hamas violated the ceasefire,” Yacoubian told JI. “We are likely seeing the beginnings of a ‘new normal’ where Israel strikes as it sees necessary. The key question is whether or not the United States will acquiesce to that.”
Gaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, predicted that the breakout of strikes was an isolated episode that would be “contained.”
“The current escalation is concerning but not surprising. Ceasefires take a while to solidify and stabilize, whether because of accidents or because the sides testing the limits of the ceasefire,” al-Omari said. “The challenge facing the U.S. now is how to balance supporting Israel’s right to respond to Hamas’ violations while at the same time ensuring that this round of escalation does not spin out of control.”
Amer Ghalib’s path to confirmation is unclear as at least four Republicans now oppose him becoming ambassador
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Hamtramck, Mich. Mayor Amer Ghalib introduces President Donald Trump, as Trump visits a campaign office on Oct. 18, 2024, in Hamtramck, Michigan.
The nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait is facing what appear to be insurmountable odds as opposition to his confirmation grows among Senate Republicans.
No Republican or Democratic senators have come to Ghalib’s defense after his performance at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, when he faced a bipartisan grilling over his long record of promoting antisemitic ideas and his embrace of anti-Israel positions as an elected official.
Senators on both sides of the aisle had privately expressed reservations about Ghalib’s nomination prior to the hearing, but his attempts to evade responsibility for his record while under oath prompted several Republicans on the committee to go public.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced at the end of Ghalib’s hearing last Thursday that he would not be able to support moving his nomination out of committee to the Senate floor. Sens. John Curtis (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) have since followed suit. Others on the panel, including Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), have said they plan to raise their concerns about Ghalib with the committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), and the White House.
“Based on the hearing that we had last week, I’m going to vote no against him,” McCormick told Punchbowl News on Tuesday. “I don’t think he demonstrated that he’s qualified for the role.”
Asked about Ghalib and the concerns surrounding his nomination while speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he was “vaguely familiar” with the Hamtramck mayor’s nomination but had not “examined” the matter closely.
The White House did not respond to Jewish Insider’s multiple requests for comment on the status of Ghalib’s nomination or the growing number of GOP senators coming forward to oppose him.
Ghalib is not believed to have any support on the Democratic side, reinforced by his lackluster answers to questions about his documented history of antisemitic remarks from Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the committee. He also has an embattled standing within the Democratic Party because of his decision to help President Donald Trump win the state of Michigan for Republicans last November.
“I think that you have dug your hole deeper today,” Murphy, who already opposed Ghalib prior to last week, told the nominee at his confirmation hearing.
The South Carolina senator offered rare Republican skepticism of Trump’s plan, expressing doubt that Hamas will fully disarm without further engagement
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference on US-Israel relations on February 17, 2025 at the Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed skepticism on Monday that Hamas will comply with disarmament requirements in its U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement with Israel, saying that finishing off the terrorist group may require further confrontation from Israel.
“To expect Hamas to disarm without the threat of confrontation is unrealistic,” Graham wrote in a post on X. “Therefore, it is my growing belief that Hamas is not going to disarm but instead is in the process of consolidating power in Gaza by attacking those who oppose them.”
Few Republican lawmakers have thus far questioned if President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan — which has brought all the living hostages back to Israel — will be sufficient to take Hamas out of power in Gaza.
“Under the current approach, every day that goes by allows Hamas to get stronger and more lethal,” said Graham. “The world needs to understand that Israel cannot tolerate this outcome. If Israel feels it needs to reengage in Gaza to finish Hamas off, they have my full support.”
Israel currently controls 58% of Gaza, marked by a yellow “initial withdrawal line,” while Hamas maintains a presence in the western part of the enclave. The terrorist group has failed to disarm or relinquish power yet, as indicated in Phase 1 of Trump’s proposal, instead mobilizing more fighters and clashing with rival Palestinian gangs.
Phase 2 Trump’s plan envisions an International Stabilization Force, comprised of troops from mediating countries, to stabilize the Gaza Strip. However, several leaders have indicated they have little appetite to participate, including the King of Jordan, who told the BBC “nobody will want to touch” peace enforcing.
“I completely agree with the King of Jordan’s analysis regarding what it takes to stabilize the Gaza strip,” Graham said on X. “To expect an international force to go to war with Hamas to require their disarmament is unrealistic.”
With Trump’s plan at a standstill, experts say a new strategy may be required in Gaza.
“If Hamas refuses to disarm and no international force steps forward that is prepared to do the hard work of forcibly disarming it, why should the world grant Hamas a total veto over positive movement on the rest of Trump’s 20-point plan?” John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Jewish Insider. “There’s no doubt that both in Israel and the United States there is active discussion of how to take advantage of this.”
Republicans, experts warn Ankara’s involvement in Gaza peace plan could endanger Israel ties and embolden Hamas
Burak Kara/Getty Images
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters at his party’s Istanbul mayoral candidate Murat Kurum's campaign rally on March 29, 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion on Tuesday that the U.S. would welcome Turkish troops playing a role in the proposed stabilization force in Gaza was met with skepticism from leading Republican lawmakers and experts in Washington.
Vance told reporters in Israel that while the U.S. would not “force” Israel to accept Turkish troops “on their soil,” the Trump administration believed “that there’s a constructive role for the Turks to play.”
Asked about the prospect of Ankara’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the region while appearing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day, the vice president replied that the U.S. does not view Israel as a “vassal state” or a “client state” but as a “partner.”
“The president believes very strongly that … Israel, honestly with our Gulf Arab allies, can play a very positive leadership role in this region to where, frankly, the United States can care less about the Middle East because our allies in the region are stepping up and taking control and taking ownership of their area of the world,” Vance said.
The vice president made the comments in response to Netanyahu suggesting that he took issue with the notion of Turkey playing a role in the future of Gaza. “We will decide together about that. So I have very strong opinions on that. Want to guess what they are?” the prime minister quipped.
Vance’s embrace of the Turkish troop proposal prompted leading Republicans in Washington to voice their concerns about allowing the country to install forces inside Gaza as part of the proposed International Stabilization Force, citing Israel’s opposition to the idea, Turkey’s openly hostile posture toward the Jewish state and Ankara’s ties to Hamas.
“I found it interesting that the opposition leader, Mr. [Yair] Lapid, who I know and like, was adamant that Turkey and Qatar have very limited roles in Gaza because of the relationship with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Jewish Insider.
“I appreciate Turkey and Qatar as allies, but when it comes to Israel, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s been terrible in terms of rhetoric. I appreciate the role they played in trying to get the ceasefire, but the appetite in Israel for Turkey and Qatar to have a major role is pretty limited, given the history,” he continued.
Graham said that he was “hoping we can find a stabilizing force. People keep mentioning Egypt. Maybe that works, but I don’t buy into the idea Hamas will ever change their stripes. They have to be dealt out of Palestinian society.”
“It’s very important for Israel to have a stabilizing force that they trust that understands the danger Hamas presents,” the South Carolina senator argued.
Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow for American strategy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, expressed similar doubts.
“There’s a million reasons why it won’t be viable to have a long term Israeli military presence on the ground in Gaza. But the same goes for Arab partners,” Ruhe told JI. “Having Turkish forces in there particularly strikes me as a bad idea. Turkey is not an impartial force. They are a capable and experienced military, but mostly doing things the United States and Israel don’t want them to be doing.”
“Turkey does not deserve anything like the benefit of the doubt. Their intentions are certainly suspect given their close ties to Hamas. Having a Turkish military presence literally on [Israel’s] front doorstep in Gaza could actually be worse,” Ruhe continued. “I wouldn’t see them doing anything concrete and substantive to prevent Hamas from basically reestablishing itself as the main actor on the ground in Gaza.”
Beyond a potential incapability to root out Hamas, Ruhe suggested that enabling Turkish troop presence in Gaza could be counterintuitive to U.S. interests in other ways.
“Hamas might actually find it in their interest to try and stoke tensions between Turkey and Israel. That would be a massive headache for the U.S., having, technically, a NATO ally at daggers drawn with our closest partner in the Middle East,” Ruhe said.
One senior GOP senator offered a blunt assessment while speaking on condition of anonymity about Vance’s comments. “They’re pushing Israel into a terrible situation. Turkey and Qatar are the benefactors of Hamas. It’s like putting a fox in the henhouse,” the senator said.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) did not disagree with Vance’s suggestion that Turkey had a role to play in the broader peace plan, but questioned the likelihood that Israel would accept such a proposal.
“Would Israel accept Turkish forces? That, I think, is the key. I think that’s the most important part of this,” Rounds told JI. “I do think our ally, our NATO ally, Turkey, could play a very constructive role in the Middle East in terms of keeping the peace, but that’s not an easy thing to do because Turkey and Israel have had strained relations.”
Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein jumped in the race today, citing Massie’s refusal to support key parts of the president’s agenda
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) speaks to reporters as he arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and fifth-generation Kentucky farmer, launched his bid on Tuesday to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) after being urged by President Donald Trump to challenge the renegade, anti-Israel congressman in the GOP primary.
Gallrein’s campaign launch comes four days after Trump declared that the Kentucky native was his preferred candidate to take on Massie, whom Trump had soured on over his growing antagonism towards Trump’s agenda. Massie was one of the only congressional Republicans to oppose Trump’s landmark “big, beautiful” spending bill and has worked with Democrats to force a floor vote to release Justice Department documents on Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’ve dedicated my life to serving my country, and I’m ready to answer the call again. This district is Trump Country,” Gallrein said. “The President doesn’t need obstacles in Congress — he needs backup. I’ll defeat Thomas Massie, stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, and deliver the America First results Kentuckians voted for.”
“Thomas Massie has become one of the biggest roadblocks to President Trump’s America First agenda,” he added. “When Trump fought for historic tax cuts, Massie voted no. When Trump tried to fully fund border security, Massie stood in the way. President Trump endorsed me because Kentuckians deserve a Congressman who will stand with our President, not against him.”
Massie is also a frequent opponent of U.S. support for Israel and legislation to combat antisemitism. The president’s allies recently launched a $1 million ad blitz against Massie, the opening salvo of the Trump-backed effort to unseat the lawmaker, who has swatted down previous primary challenges.
Trump said on Friday in a post on his Truth Social platform that Gallrein was “a true America First Patriot” who would support his Make America Great Again agenda.
“A Brave Combat Veteran, Ed knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Defend our Country, Support our Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump wrote.
Trump went on to call Massie a “Third Rate Congressman” and a “Weak and Pathetic RINO,” adding that residents of Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District should be served by someone in favor of the president’s agenda given his electoral success there.
“The incredible people of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District gave us a mandate to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and the person that will help us do that is Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Fifth Generation Kentucky Farmer, Captain Ed Gallrein, a true America First Patriot,” Trump wrote.
Gallrein is a Kentucky native whose family built the state’s largest dairy farm and one of the state’s largest grain farms. He describes himself as a traditional conservative who was inspired by former President Ronald Reagan to enter public service in the 1980s.
Gallrein ran unsuccessfully in a 2024 GOP primary for a Kentucky state Senate seat, losing narrowly to now-state Sen. Aaron Reed. Trump’s political team also considered recruiting Reed, who is also a former Navy SEAL, to run against Massie but the state lawmaker passed on the race.
Plus, Mandela's granddaughters visit Israel, Gaza
Graham Platner campaign
Graham Platner
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Rep. Seth Moulton’s plans to return money bundled by AIPAC following his entry into Massachusetts’ Senate race, and cover White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s prediction that the Abraham Accords will “significantly expand” as the Israel-Hamas war winds down. We talk to the granddaughters of Nelson Mandela about their recent trip to Israel and Gaza, and report on Zohran Mamdani’s efforts to distance himself from far-left streamer Hasan Piker. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jacob Helberg, Ari’el Stachel and Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Tamara Zieve with assists from Marc Rod and Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returns to Washington today for a sit-down at the White House with President Donald Trump.
- We’re keeping an eye on the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, amid reports that Sunni Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have warned senior White House officials that Hamas’ ongoing refusal to disarm could collapse the agreement.
- Republican Party leaders in New York State are set to hold a vote to disband the state’s Young Republicans chapter today, after the publication of racist text messages shared in a chat of the national Young Republican leaders that implicated members of New York’s delegation. The state party plans to eliminate the group’s charter and rebuild the group with new leadership.
- On Sunday, Americans for Ben-Gurion University is holding a benefit in New York City featuring former Israeli hostage Sasha Troufanov and comedian Alex Edelman.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
With all of the living hostages released from Gaza and an end (at least for the time being) of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory, the coming months could offer the mainstream Jewish community something of a breather to assess the changed political landscape.
In the war’s final months, the anti-Israel far left gained a foothold in Democratic Party politics, most prominently in the New York City mayoral race with Zohran Mamdani, but also in urban contests ranging from Seattle to Somerville, Mass. The antisemitic forces on the far right have been less of a political force, but have gained strength on podcasts and among younger right-wingers, and have been embraced to a greater extent by a few populist lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
With the return of the living hostages, Israel’s success in degrading Hamas and additional enemies, and the apparent end of the Gaza war, Jewish optimists can plausibly argue that some degree of normalcy could creep back in the political sphere. Israel should become a less salient issue for low-information scrollers, with the war’s end reducing the constant anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda being fed on so many screens.
With a ceasefire finally achieved, the anti-Israel forces have been remarkably silent, and have been exposed for the Hamas-sympathizing extremists that they always have been. That faction of the anti-Israel Democratic left is as politically exposed as it’s been since the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023.
There’s also the possibility that, with Israeli elections being held next year, a new Israeli prime minister would get elected, bringing with him or her a new Israeli government that may not be as polarizing to liberal critics of Israel back in the U.S.
Jewish pessimists also have a plausible case to make. Support for Israel has declined in the past year, with the most significant slippage coming from Democratic Party voters and some independents. It’s hard to imagine it will rebound anytime soon. The youngest Gen Z voters are the most hostile towards Israel and have been even before Oct. 7. It’s reasonable to expect their future growth in the electorate will only grow the pool of anti-Israel voters.
Furthermore, the rise of anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment isn’t happening in isolation; it’s a symptom of the rise of larger illiberal and extreme forces within both parties. The fact that polls show an upward tick in the toleration of political violence, growing antipathy to capitalism on the left, and growing sympathy for authoritarianism on the right is the broader context of the growing hostility Jews are facing, and it’s not showing any signs of abatement.
In the coming year, it will be important to track whether the political outlook for Jews is getting better or whether the trends we’ve seen worsen in the last couple years are accelerating.
We’ll be debuting an election scorecard next week, examining the most meaningful elections in the coming year that will test the influence of the political mainstream against the extremes. Stay tuned: it will be worth bookmarking and tracking as we approach Election Day this November, and in the runup to next year’s congressional primaries.
CUTTING TIES
Seth Moulton says he will return, reject AIPAC donations in Senate campaign
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, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. 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.
What they’re saying: “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. AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann responded, “Rep. Moulton is abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction.”
DEBATE DISPATCH
Mamdani distances himself from Hasan Piker’s 9/11 comments at mayoral debate
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, expressed disagreement on Thursday with comments by Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who has said “America deserved 9/11,” after several months in which the state assembly member had declined to condemn such rhetoric, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. “I find the comments that Hasan made on 9/11 to be objectionable and reprehensible,” Mamdani said during the first general election debate on Thursday night, where he traded barbs with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is trailing in the polls as he mounts an independent run following his primary loss to Mamdani in June.
More from Mamdani: Elsewhere during the debate, Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel who was arrested in October 2023 during a ceasefire demonstration outside the Brooklyn home of then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), declined to confirm that he would not participate in protests if he is elected mayor. “The important thing is to lead from City Hall,” Mamdani said. “That’s what I’ll be doing.” Mamdani had faced intense backlash before the debate for comments during a Fox News interview released on Wednesday in which he avoided directly answering a question about whether Hamas should disarm and relinquish its leadership role in Gaza. He clarified at the debate that Hamas, as well as “all parties,” “should lay down” their arms but did not comment on its future role in the conflict.
PROXY BATTLE
Maine Senate primary emerging as bellwether of Democrats’ ideological direction
The Democratic Senate primary in Maine is shaping up to be among the most significant proxy battles over Israel in the upcoming midterm elections, pitting the state’s moderate two-term governor against a left-wing populist upstart who has vocally embraced an anti-Israel platform. Gov. Janet Mills, who announced her campaign to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Tuesday and is backed by Senate Democratic leadership, is set to face a well-funded challenge from Graham Platner, a veteran and oyster farmer who boasts high-profile support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Platner’s positions: In contrast with Mills, who has criticized anti-Israel divestment efforts in her state and warned against a “deeply troubling” rise in antisemitic incidents after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Platner has promoted more hostile views on Israel and its alliance with the United States. Since entering the race in August, Platner has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and endorsed measures to block U.S. arms sales to Israel. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding the recently brokered ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas. Platner has also been an outspoken critic of the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC, whose affiliated political arm is supporting Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republicans now seeking reelection — in a state President Donald Trump lost by seven points in 2024.
SHERRILL SAYS
Mikie Sherrill previews New Jersey state antisemitism plan if elected governor
Speaking on a Jewish Democratic Council of America webinar on Thursday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) outlined a plan of action on antisemitism she said she would implement statewide if she wins next month’s gubernatorial race in the Garden State, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Sherrill and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli look likely to split the Jewish vote in next month’s election.
Notable quotable: She emphasized her willingness to call out antisemitism among her political allies, pointing to the example of an employee of the New Jersey Educational Association — which endorsed Sherrill — who had made “horrible antisemitic [comments] online.” Sherrill said she had condemned the individual and demanded she be fired. “I’m going to call out anybody in this space that is promoting hate in any way against all of our citizens, but especially our children,” Sherrill said.
WITKOFF’S WORDS
Steve Witkoff predicts Abraham Accords will ‘seriously expand’ after Gaza ceasefire
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff predicted on Thursday that the Abraham Accords will “seriously expand” in response to the end of fighting in Gaza. Witkoff was addressing attendees at an event commemorating the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
What he said: “No leader has done more for the Jewish people or the State of Israel than President Trump,” Witkoff, speaking at an event at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, said. “He moved our embassy to Jerusalem, he recognized Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and the Golan Heights. He forged the Abraham peace Accords, which will seriously expand now,” Witkoff said. The White House envoy, who returned from the region earlier this week after the implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire, posited that Trump winning a second term last November was “the major breakthrough of this conflict.”
HERITAGE OF HOPE
In Israel and Gaza, Nelson Mandela’s granddaughters find hope amid devastation
“What has emerged from all my conversations is that the yearning for peace is very intense,” former South African President Nelson Mandela, visiting Israel in 1999 as part of a broader Middle East, said as he reflected on his meetings with leaders across the region. More than a quarter century later — despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the degradation of Iran and its proxy network and numerous wars between Israel and its neighbors — that peace remains elusive. It was against that backdrop that two of Mandela’s granddaughters, Zamaswazi (Swati) Dlamini-Mandela and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, traveled to Israel and the Gaza Strip earlier this month. Dlamini-Manaway and Dlamini-Mandela spoke to Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss about their trip.
Mutual motivation: “For us, it’s important to actually go and actually experience the story for yourself,” Dlamini-Mandela said of the trip, which was organized by the National Black Empowerment Council and included meetings with Israeli hostage families and survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, as well as a day on the ground in Gaza where Mandela’s granddaughters assisted the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in its efforts to distribute aid in the enclave. “Coming from a high-profile family like ours, and also living in the media for years, all our lives have been pretty much lived in public, it’s very interesting what type of bias or viewpoints the news can take. So we always felt like, ‘Let’s go and see for ourselves. Let’s experience for ourselves, and let’s actually go on humanitarian missions to try and understand and really get to know what’s going on.’
Worthy Reads
Political Cover: In The New York Times, Dana Stroul, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Biden administration, posits that President Donald Trump’s “key intervention” in the Israel-Hamas war “was to give a political lifeline” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had faced threats from the far-right members of his government over efforts to reach a ceasefire. “Many analysts assumed Mr. Netanyahu, constrained by his far-right coalition, would not accept any end to the war without a complete Hamas surrender. Any compromise in which Hamas could reassert itself could have triggered early elections in Israel, costing Mr. Netanyahu the premiership and exposing him to his ongoing trials for corruption. Mr. Trump flipped the script. Mr. Trump lavished praise on his counterpart, extending him the political protection of Trump’s overwhelming popularity in Israel. In return, Mr. Netanyahu agreed to Trump’s proposal to free the hostages and let Hamas survive, for now.” [NYTimes]
JD’s Deflection: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait considers what Vice President JD Vance’s response to leaked racist text messages sent by Young Republican leaders portends for the future of the party. “Some Republicans, including those who have directly employed the people in these chats, condemned these messages. But Vice President J. D. Vance had a different, and more telling, response. ‘I refuse to join the pearl clutching,’ he posted on X defiantly. … Given Vance’s evident ambitions to succeed Donald Trump as the Republican standard-bearer, his response is revealing. The vice president apparently grasps that openly defending references to Black people as ‘watermelon eaters’ and quips about sending political rivals ‘to the gas chamber’ would hurt his political standing, but he also clearly needs these Young Republican leaders if he hopes to consolidate the Trump base behind him. Deflection is a calculated response.” [TheAtlantic]
Rabbi Hauer’s Chavruta: In eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Rick Jacobs reflects on his friendship with Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the Orthodox Union leader who died earlier this week. “A few years back, Rabbi Hauer sent me a marked-up copy of a statement I had published. My words were covered with his voluminous comments in red ink. He took issue with pretty much every point I had made. Rather than just thanking him for ‘sharing his thoughts,’ I asked if we could sit and discuss his rather extensive rebuttal. How could I not be impressed by the seriousness with which he debated my views about the latest news from Israel? With his characteristic humility, he took me to task, never once raising his voice or dismissing my deeply held convictions. As consummate students of Torah, our session felt like a chavruta, an intense one-on-one learning session with a wise colleague. I thanked him for his thoughtful critique.” [eJP]
Word on the Street
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury on a combined 18 counts of transmitting or retaining national defense information, stemming from his keeping and sharing of digital diaries — according to the indictment, more than 1,000 pages of entries, some including confidential information — that detailed his work during the first Trump administration…
Jacob Helberg was sworn in as under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment…
Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) blamed the appearance of an American flag bearing a swastika in his office on an orchestrated “ruse” to distribute such flags that were “initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye.” But Politico reported that a staffer from another office that received such a flag in the mail said that “it was plainly obvious to us that there was a swastika on the flag with the naked eye.” Taylor denied any intentional wrongdoing by any of his staff…
California state Sen. Scott Weiner is reportedly planning to announce a bid for the congressional seat held by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)…
Claudia Milne, who served as head of standards at CBS News since 2021, is departing the media company; Milne is the first senior CBS News executive to leave the network following CBS parent company Skydance’s acquisition of Bari Weiss’ The Free Press and installation of Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News…
Warner Bros. Discovery rejected calls for the media company to boycott Israeli film institutions, saying that such a move would run afoul of its nondiscrimination policy…
Pomona College opened an investigation on Thursday after an on-campus event held Wednesday commemorating the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks was disrupted by four masked and keffiyah-clad individuals who barged in chanting “Zionists not welcome here,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
The owners of the Washington-area vegetarian chain Shouk, which served Israeli fare in the capital region for a decade, closed all its locations, citing financial losses resulting from a sustained boycott of the chain; Shouk is co-owned by Dennis Friedman and Israeli entrepreneur Ran Nussbacher…
The New York Times interviews actor Ari’el Stachel about his new one-man, off-Broadway show “Other,” about his conflicting identities as an Arab Jew…
Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria quietly restituted a 17th-century Gerard ter Borch painting to the descendants of Max Emden, a Swiss-German art collector who was forced to sell some of his pieces under financial duress in the lead-up to World War II…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer ordered a review of antisemitism within the country’s National Health Service, citing “too many examples, clear examples, of antisemitism that have not been dealt with adequately or effectively”; 10 Downing Street is also asking the NHS to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism…
Starmer also condemned the decision by English Premier League team Aston Villa to prohibit attendance by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters at an upcoming match in Birmingham and called on Aston Villa to reverse the decision, which the team said was due to “a number of physical and safety factors”; Emily Damari, a British-Israeli former hostage and a fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv, called on Aston Villa to “come to your senses and reconsider”…
A court in Oslo convicted a Norwegian man who worked as a guard at the U.S. Embassy of espionage on behalf of Russia and Iran…
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen confirmed that the terror group’s chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in August…
The Washington Post spotlights the difficult and traumatic conditions, including beatings, starvation and uncertainty over the fates of their loved ones, that the last group of living Israeli hostages, who remained in Gaza until earlier this week, endured while in captivity…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the challenges in repatriating the bodies of the remaining Israeli hostages, citing both the difficulty in locating all of the bodies as well as Israel’s allegations that Hamas is holding onto some bodies as future leverage…
The New York Times does a deep dive into the whereabouts of former Syrian officials who have fled the country or otherwise evaded officials amid a broader crackdown on Assad-era officials believed to be complicit in the regime’s atrocities…
Michael Ratney, Nimrod Novik, Farah Bdour, Ibrahim Dalalsha, Elisa Ewers, Garrett Nada and Neri Zilber were named as members of a new Israel Policy Forum policy council…
Susan Stamberg, an early employee of NPR who hosted its “All Things Considered” from 1972-1986, died at 87…
Arts journalist Milton Esterow, whose brand of investigative journalism focused on artwork looted by the Nazis, died at 97…
Independent film distributor Toby Talbot, who with her husband operated art-house cinemas in New York City from 1960-2018, died at 96…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated in a state memorial ceremony on Thursday for the fallen soldiers of the Israel-Hamas war at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl.
Birthdays
Emmy Award-winning film and television music composer, Nicholas Britell turns 45…
FRIDAY: Chair emeritus of the board of directors of NYC’s 92nd Street Y, Jody Gottfried Arnhold turns 82… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit since 1999, Ronald Murray Gould turns 79… Filmmaker and novelist, Michael L. Tolkin turns 75… U.S. district judge for the District of Connecticut since 1994, he took senior status in 2017, Robert Neil Chatigny turns 74… Movie and television producer, Lawrence Bender turns 68… Rochester, N.Y., resident, Peggy Futerman… Number theorist and professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, he has written a highly critical report on the world’s leading Holocaust deniers, Jeffrey Shallit turns 68… Partner in Becker & Poliakoff, she has been a member of both houses of the Florida Legislature, Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff turns 66… Rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, he is a son of professor Isadore Twersky and a grandson of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, he also serves as the rebbe of the Talne Hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Mayer E. Twersky turns 65… Former Northwest regional director of J Street, Andrew Straus… Professor of economics at Harvard, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Jeremy Chaim Stein turns 65… Ramsey, N.J.-based licensed professional counselor, Shemsi Prinzivalli… Member of the California state Senate until last November, Josh Newman turns 61… Co-founder of AQR Capital Management, Cliff Asness turns 59… Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times, David Halbfinger turns 57… Founder of Maniv Investments in 1997 and Maniv Mobility, Michael Granoff turns 57… U.S. senator (D-NM), Martin Heinrich turns 54… CEO and founder of Crosscut Strategies, a D.C.-based public affairs firm, Kenneth Baer… Rheumatologist and director of the rehabilitation division of Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates in the D.C. area, Dr. Shari B. Diamond… Author and staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, Ariel Levy turns 51… VP and head of U.S. public policy at TikTok, Michael Beckerman turns 47… Los Angeles-based consultant to the beauty industry and former CEO of several companies, Jessica Goldin turns 46… CEO at Citizen AI, Tomer Kagan turns 42… D.C.-based director of federal affairs for New York University, Katharine Nasielski… Co-founder and executive director at the Constructive Dialogue Institute, Caroline Mehl… Member of the Maryland state Senate since early this year following seven years in the Maryland House of Delegates, Dalya Attar turns 35… Staff software engineer at Zocdoc, Adam Greenspan…
SATURDAY: Co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, Irwin M. Jacobs turns 92… Former mayor of Amsterdam and leader of the Dutch Labour Party, Marius Job Cohen turns 78… Linguist, he is a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, Victor A. Friedman turns 76… Former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, he is president of the Coalition for a Safer Web, Marc Ginsberg turns 75… Physician and political activist In Henrico County, Va., Dr. Max S. Maizels turns 74… Professor of intelligence and global security studies at Capitol Technology University, Joshua B. Sinai, Ph.D…. Bakersfield, Calif.-based attorney focused on adoption and reproductive law, Marc Dennis Widelock… Television director, writer, producer, composer and actor, Chuck Lorre (born Chaim Levine) turns 73… Film producer and founder and head of Dimension Films, Robert “Bob” Weinstein turns 71… President of the Economic Future Group, a consulting firm, Jonathan Bernard Yoav Tasini turns 69… Award-winning illustrator and writer of books for children, Eugene Yelchin turns 69… Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during almost all of the Biden administration, Gary Gensler turns 68… Retired NFL running back, he writes of his conversion in From Rose Bowl to Rashi: My Unique Journey to Judaism, Leon Calvin (now Yosef) Murray turns 67… Israeli journalist, political commentator and author of two books highly critical of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben Caspit turns 65… Retired in 2021 after 20 years as the director at Rutgers Hillel, followed by a year at Harvard Hillel, Andrew Getraer… Founder of Coalesce Advisors, he is a former president at Birthright Israel Foundation, David Fisher… Professor and director of Jewish studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Steven Phillip Weitzman turns 60… Weather anchor for NBC 4 New York, David M. Price turns 59… Former ESPN television host, sports reporter and anchor, Rachel Nichols turns 52… CEO of Future Today Strategy Group, she is an adjunct professor of strategic foresight at NYU, Amy Lynn Webb turns 51… Fashion designer, stylist and art director, Maryna Asauliuk turns 45… SVP and COO at the American Enterprise Institute, Suzanne Gershowitz… Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author, Graham Moore turns 44… Founding partner and Washington correspondent for Puck News, Julia Ioffe turns 43… Congressional correspondent for The New York Times, Annie Karni… Support team leader at Moovit, Ayal Kellman… Popular Israeli singer, Idan Yaniv turns 39… Staff writer at The New Yorker, Emma Green…
SUNDAY: Professor emeritus and first-ever Jewish president of the University of Minnesota, Kenneth Harrison Keller turns 91… CEO of Aramark Corporation for 34 years ending in 2014, he is a past chairman of the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees, Joseph Neubauer turns 84… Founder and former ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus, Paul Binder turns 83… Pulmonologist in Plano, Texas, he is also the author of six mystery novels, Dr. Kenneth L. Toppell turns 83… Writer, scholar and former Israeli ambassador, Yoram Ettinger turns 80… Obstetrician and gynecologist at the Center for Fetal Medicine in Los Angeles, Lawrence David Platt, MD… Retired hospitality executive, Michelle Fischler… Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, she directed the journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until this past July, Deborah Blum turns 71… Founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist turns 69… Retired supervisor for Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency, David Alan Cera… Israel’s minister of the economy and former mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years, both positions following a successful high-tech career, Nir Barkat turns 66… Co-owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and English soccer club Manchester United, Avram A. “Avie” Glazer turns 65… Social psychologist and professor at New York University focused on the psychology of morality and moral emotions, Jonathan David Haidt turns 62… Canadian business executive and board member of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, David Cynamon turns 62… Chief rabbi of Ukraine, Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich turns 61… Founder of Global Policy Associates where he is now an advisory board member, he was the White House Jewish Liaison in the Clinton administration, Jay Footlik… Ritual coordinator at Congregation Emanu El in Houston, Shira Kosoy Moses… Actor, director, producer and screenwriter, his television production company is Golem Creations, Jon Favreau turns 59… Former mayor of Portland, Maine, now a non-profit executive, Ethan King Strimling turns 58… Technology journalist and record producer, Joshua Ryan Topolsky turns 48… Film director, screenwriter and producer, Jason R. Reitman turns 48… Chief growth officer at itrek, Evan Majzner… Executive at Nefco, David Ochs… Pittsburgh-based founder and CEO of Mamalux, Lindsay Applebaum Stuart… Founder of iTrade[dot]TV, equities trader and financial marketer, Elie Litvin… Infielder in the Athletics organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Zack Gelof turns 26… Jim Vespe…
The Georgia congresswoman has recently boosted claims Israel had a hand in assassinating Charlie Kirk, and has baselessly accused the Jewish state of meddling in American elections
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) leaves the House Chamber following the last vote of the week at the U.S. Capitol on September 12, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) first became a household name for her embrace of a range of wild conspiracy theories — including antisemitic claims about the Rothschild family like the idea that space-based weapons controlled by the Jewish banking family were the cause of California wildfires.
But as the congresswoman has emerged as an unlikely star in liberal circles and mainstream media after breaking with her party on the government shutdown, health care funding and the Jeffrey Epstein files, her erstwhile critics have all but ignored her increasingly frequent use of antisemitic tropes and embrace of conspiracy theories targeting Jews.
Earlier this week, the controversial Georgia congresswoman vowed on X, “No bar codes on me. I’ll never take 30 shekels. I’m America only! And Christ is King!”
Her rejection of “30 shekels” appears to be a reference to the pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, and the currency of Israel. Greene’s mention of “bar codes” refers to claims by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) about AIPAC fundraising events, which AIPAC has denied.
She has also repeatedly boosted claims that Israel and Jewish people were involved in last month’s killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and are seeking to co-opt his organization.
“Do not allow a foreign country, foreign agents, and another religion tell you about Charlie Kirk,” Greene said on X. “And I hope a foreign country and foreign agents and another religion does not take over Christian Patriotic Turning Point USA.”
Last week, Greene reposted an X post by Holocaust denier Evan Kilgore, in which Kilgore shared a video of Candace Owens — a primary propagator of Israel-related conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death — claiming that Kirk had announced prior to his death that he was abandoning his support for Israel.
And she lauded a eulogy delivered by far-right commentator Tucker Carlson at Kirk’s funeral, in which Carlson compared Kirk’s killing to the death of Jesus.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that no matter which party is in charge, the secular government of Israel always gets its way,” Greene wrote on X.
Greene has been one of the few Republican lawmakers to attack AIPAC and other pro-Israel advocacy groups, accusing them of exercising malign influence over the U.S. government and demanding they register as foreign agents. AIPAC is funded and led by American citizens, not the Israeli government.
She has accused Israel of “meddling in campaigns and elections” and of “meddling in government policy — government of the United States policy — as well as dictating what America does in foreign wars.”
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that no matter which party is in charge, the secular government of Israel always gets its way,” Greene added on X.
Regarding the war in Gaza, Greene has employed language sometimes indistinguishable from that of far-left Israel opponents, accusing Israel of committing genocide and of deliberately killing innocent people and children, particularly Christians. She led an effort in the House to cut off U.S. missile defense aid to Israel, which failed overwhelmingly.
She also shared posts suggesting that Israel had foreknowledge of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and chose to delay its response, and claimed that “Most of America has Israel fatigue” because politicians ignore domestic problems in order to “talk about Israel all day” and that a GOP colleague is “fighting for his life to maintain his pro Israel money.”
“I am not suicidal and one of the happiest healthiest people you will meet. I have full faith in God and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. As a sinner, I am only saved through His grace and mercy,” Greene said. “With that said, if something happens to me, I ask you all to find out which foreign government or powerful people would take heinous actions to stop the information from coming out.”
Greene described the Anti-Defamation League as a “dangerous hate group that targets Christians,” praising the FBI for recently cutting ties with the group.
Amid her escalating social media campaign against the pro-Israel world and her advocacy for the release of files related to the Epstein investigation, Greene suggested last month on X that a foreign government or other powerful individuals were planning to assassinate her.
“I am not suicidal and one of the happiest healthiest people you will meet. I have full faith in God and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. As a sinner, I am only saved through His grace and mercy,” Greene said. “With that said, if something happens to me, I ask you all to find out which foreign government or powerful people would take heinous actions to stop the information from coming out.”
The post was widely interpreted — including by at least one fellow lawmaker — as a suggestion that Israel or Jewish people were targeting Greene.
“Why do crazy people keep thinking ‘the Jews’ are trying to kill them?” Rep. Ted Cruz (R-TX) replied.
Greene has also claimed Israel is operating a social media campaign targeting her.
Outside of Israel policy and the Jewish community, Greene has also continued to lean into other conspiracy theories, such as posting in August that it is “oddly consistent and strange” that several mass shooters have authored manifestos, asking, “who tells them to do that?” In the past, she has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories about mass shootings, speculating that demonic possession or military mind control may be responsible for school shootings.
Last month, she also shared a Carlson documentary claiming the truth of the 9/11 attacks had been covered up and convened a congressional hearing on weather modification that heavily featured conspiracy theories and false and misleading claims.
“The RJC has endorsed multiple GOP primary challengers to Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is out of step with the Republican Party, and with President Trump. The people of Georgia deserve better — and we are determined to do what we can to retire her,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said.
“While the president and congressional Republicans back our ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is aligned with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to demonize Israel and weaken a partnership that makes America safer, strong and more prosperous,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told Jewish Insider. “Our 5 million members will not be deterred by her rancid anti-Israel and unhinged raving.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition, which has repeatedly opposed Greene, said it continues to support efforts to defeat her.
“The RJC has endorsed multiple GOP primary challengers to Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is out of step with the Republican Party, and with President Trump. The people of Georgia deserve better — and we are determined to do what we can to retire her,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said.
Greene did not respond to a request for comment.
Greene has recently been a thorn in the side of GOP leadership for a number of reasons, including criticizing the party’s approach to a health care tax credit central to the current government shutdown, critiquing the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy and Middle East policy, backing an effort to force a House vote on the release of documents related to the Epstein investigation, accusing the party of blocking women from leadership roles and voting against other elements of the House Republican leadership’s agenda.
Her disputes with the Trump administration could create an opportunity for a Republican primary challenger to make a run against her — though Trump hasn’t personally spoken out against Greene as he has against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), another anti-Israel House GOP colleague, and Greene has continued to profess her loyalty to Trump and his movement.
She does not yet face any serious primary competition.
Greene previously accumulated influence in the House as a close ally of Trump and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) but has found herself increasingly sidelined. National Republican Party leaders did not back her as she considered a run for Georgia’s Senate seat against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) or the state’s governorship.
Five reflections on how Oct. 7 reshaped politics, diplomacy, advocacy, higher ed, and Jewish life
RE’EIM, ISRAEL — Visitors pay tribute at the site of the Nova music festival massacre.
To mark the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the Jewish Insider team asked leading thinkers and practitioners to reflect on how that day has changed the world. Here, we look at how Oct. 7 changed American Politics
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The United States Capitol with reflection at night Washington DC USA
To mark the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the Jewish Insider team asked leading thinkers and practitioners to reflect on how that day has changed the world. Here, we look at how Oct. 7 changed the U.S.-Israel relationship
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two flags: American and Israeli waving in the blue sky
A group of lawmakers threatened potential ‘punitive measures’ in response to the European allies’ move
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U.S. Capitol Building on January 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
A group of 28 Republican lawmakers in the Senate and House wrote to the leaders of Australia, Canada, France and the U.K. urging them to walk back their plans to recognize a Palestinian state this month and threatening potential retaliation if they proceed.
“This is a reckless policy that undermines prospects for peace. It sets the dangerous precedent that violence, not diplomacy, is the most expedient means for terrorist groups like Hamas to achieve their political aims,” the Republicans, led by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), wrote. “Accordingly, we respectfully request that you reconsider your decision, especially as Hamas continues to hold Israeli citizens hostage while still refusing to agree to a ceasefire.”
The Republicans suggested that the move could prompt “punitive measures” by the United States, without offering further details.
They said that unilateral recognition “undermines the principles of direct negotiations and imperils Israel’s security by removing incentives for Palestinian groups to repudiate terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and address final-status issues” and is “especially troubling” in the context of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
They said that granting statehood now would only serve as a validation of Hamas’ activities and fuel more violence in the future, and that statehood should not be granted “until the Palestinians are willing to take responsibility for their people, renounce terrorism, and come to the negotiating table in good faith.”
They emphasized that France, the U.K., Canada and other countries lost citizens as well in the Oct. 7 attacks and that Hamas continues to hold hostages in “deplorable conditions.”
“Hamas’ war crimes are clear, and its rejection of diplomacy should lead your countries to impose more pressure. Instead, you offer greater rewards,” the lawmakers continued.
They said that the “misguided effort to reward terrorism” will also endanger the Jewish populations in the U.S. ally nations, where they already face rising antisemitism, harassment and attacks.
“You have the responsibility to stand against this scourge, denounce violence, and protect Jewish communities,” the lawmakers argued. “Sadly, your actions to legitimize a Palestinian terror state will only provide greater motivation to the violent antisemitic mobs.”
The letters were co-signed by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Steve Daines (R-MT), Dan Sullivan (R-AL), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Reps. Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Greg Steube (R-FL), Barry Moore (R-AL), Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Mike Flood (R-NE), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), John McGuire (R-GA), Scott Franklin (R-FL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and August Pfluger (R-TX)
Stefanik said in a statement to Jewish Insider, “Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state undermines the principles of direct negotiation and imperils Israel’s security. This absurd action would reward the behavior of Hamas terrorists and does nothing to secure the release of the 48 hostages still held by Hamas.”
The House speaker cautioned that the party is likely bound for a major debate over foreign policy after President Trump leaves office
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) does an interview with CNN at the U.S. Capitol on April 17, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
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 Echelon Insights poll also found that anti-Israel and antisemitic podcasters like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are viewed favorably by this right-wing cohort
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Tucker Carlson speaks at his Live Tour at the Desert Diamond Arena on October 31, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
A new poll of young conservatives between the ages of 18-34 commissioned by the Washington Free Beacon shows that Gen Z Republicans are decidedly more supportive of Israel than their liberal counterparts, but that there is a notable faction of those who take a more critical view towards the Jewish state.
The Echelon Insights poll also found that anti-Israel and antisemitic podcasters like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are viewed favorably by this right-wing cohort — even among many of the respondents who say they support Israel and recognize antisemitism is a problem.
Carlson’s favorability rating among these Gen Z conservatives, for instance, is 50%, with only 11% viewing him unfavorably. Owens has a similarly strong 49/14% favorability rating. The Holocaust-denying podcaster Darryl Cooper isn’t nearly as well-known, but is viewed positively by those who listen to him, holding a 26/8% favorability rating.
At the same time, pro-Israel podcasters like Ben Shapiro are also viewed very favorably; Shapiro’s favorability rating with this cohort is 50/16%. Fox News host Mark Levin isn’t quite as well-known, but holds a stellar 29/7% favorability rating. Asked about “Jews” generally, half of respondents hold a favorable view with only 12% holding an unfavorable opinion.
The encouraging news? A number of these podcast listeners are tuning in to these transgressive shows featuring conspiracy theories, anti-Israel views and some antisemitism, but many are not being persuaded by them. For all their vitriolic attacks against the Jewish state, 54% of Carlson’s viewers and 58% of Owens’ audience have a favorable view towards Israel.
But the gloomier finding is that a notable minority on the right holds bigoted views towards Jews and is critical of Israel. Between 20-25% of these Gen Z conservatives consistently express anti-Israel or antisemitic views — while support for Israel is not nearly as widespread as it is among older conservatives. While 40% of respondents said they side with Israel in its current conflict, about one-fifth (22%) said they side with the Palestinians. About the same percentage of Gen Z conservatives said they agree that “Israel is a colonizer built on the suffering of others.”
A similar share of these respondents also answered in the affirmative when asked about several antisemitic beliefs or conspiracy theories. For example, 20% said they believed that Israel was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, while 21% said they believed that Americans who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should lose their American citizenship.
Other notable findings from the survey? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s favorability rating among these young conservatives is only 25/19%, much lower than his standing (in other polls) with all Republicans. Interestingly, Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, holds above-water favorability among these conservatives at 19/18%. It’s another data point illustrating the “horseshoe theory” where the far left and far right have a surprising amount of views in common.
The glue holding the Gen Z conservatives together is their support for President Donald Trump, who maintains a very strong 78/17% favorability rating. Trump’s stalwart support for Israel, undoubtedly, is a major factor behind most young Republicans continuing to side with the Jewish state despite the pockets of disapproval within.
But the poll also suggests the potential for fissures to emerge after Trump’s passage from the political scene in 2028, with the presence of a younger, podcast and social media-fueled faction that holds radically different views towards Jews and Israel than their older counterparts.
McCaul was seen as a bipartisan dealmaker and strong supporter of Israel during his time as committee chair
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Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees, announced Sunday that he will retire from Congress at the end of next year, after 11 terms in office.
McCaul, 63, has been a critical voice for traditional conservative internationalism at a time of rising isolationist sentiment among some factions of the GOP; he’s seen as a key leader who helped drive the passage of supplemental aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in the House last year.
The Texas congressman has been a staunch supporter of Israel and an Iran hawk in the House and has also been a lead Republican voice in support of expanded funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps protect Jewish and other vulnerable nonprofits.
“My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades,” McCaul said in a statement. “I am ready for a new challenge in 2027 and look forward to continuing to serve my country in the national security and foreign policy realm.”
As the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, McCaul was seen as a bipartisan dealmaker who maintained good relationships with Democratic colleagues.
Prior to his time in Congress, McCaul was a career prosecutor — the chief of counterterrorism and national security for the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas, the deputy attorney general of Texas and a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section.
The end of the current session of congress will see other prominent Republican foreign policy hawks depart Congress as well, including Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), and a new generation of GOP leaders take leadership of key foreign policy committees.
McCaul’s deep-red district — redrawn to be even darker red in the next election cycle — is expected to remain in Republican hands.
The former TV news anchor boasts a consistently conservative, pro-Israel voting record, and has a history of winning tough races
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U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson speaks to guests during her Ashley's BBQ Bash fundraiser on August 23, 2025 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The event was the fifth annual, which she holds to support Iowa Republican causes and candidates.
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) has emerged as the front-runner in the contest to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), with national Republicans swiftly coalescing around her bid for the GOP nomination as they look to avoid a messy primary battle.
Hinson, a politically tested lawmaker who has long been viewed as a potential successor to Ernst, launched her Senate campaign within hours of Ernst’s announcement last Tuesday that she would not seek a third term.
Hinson, in her candidate announcement, said that she would be President Donald Trump’s “strongest ally” in the Senate and would work to “deliver the America First agenda.” She also praised Ernst for her military service and time in public office, saying that, “Our country and state are better off because of Joni’s selfless service.”
Hinson, a prolific fundraiser who entered the race with a $2.8 million war chest, began racking up endorsements shortly after her campaign launch. Trump endorsed Hinson on Friday, as did Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm.
Trump described Hinson as “a wonderful person” whom he knows “well,” and praised her devotion to her family before touting her commitment to “our incredible Iowa workers.”
“She is working hard to Create Jobs, Cut Taxes, Promote Products and Services MADE IN AMERICA by our incredible Iowa Workers, Support our Great Farmers and American Agriculture, Champion Innovation, Continue to Help Secure our now very Secure Southern Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Murderers, and other Criminals from illegally entering our Country, Strengthen our Military/Veterans, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote of Hinson on his Truth Social platform.
“From a foreign policy perspective, or even culturally with respect to antisemitism and all that sort of thing, I don’t think that you’re going to see a lot of difference between Joni Ernst, who’s been a strong supporter of Israel and who I think has been a really effective leader on the national stage, and Ashley,” David Kochel, a veteran GOP campaign operative, told JI.
Ernst and Hinson are close professionally and personally; in addition to being friends, the two have long been aligned on foreign and domestic policy and worked together on scores of bicameral legislative efforts.
Both lawmakers have been repeatedly endorsed by AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition, though neither organizations have officially gotten behind Hinson’s Senate bid yet. While Ernst hasn’t endorsed in the race either, Hinson is the candidate she is most aligned with ideologically.
“From a foreign policy perspective, or even culturally with respect to antisemitism and all that sort of thing, I don’t think that you’re going to see a lot of difference between Joni Ernst, who’s been a strong supporter of Israel and who I think has been a really effective leader on the national stage, and Ashley,” David Kochel, a veteran GOP campaign operative, told Jewish Insider.
“On issues of concern to Jewish Americans, Ashley Hinson has been an absolute stalwart,” Sam Markstein, who serves as national political director for the RJC, told JI.
Markstein described Hinson as “an incredibly strong voice in Israel’s defense,” citing her “calling Hamas’ terror attack ‘evil,’ and affirming Israel’s right to defend itself immediately” after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as examples. He also noted that she has “consistently voted for vital military aid to Israel and Iron Dome defense systems,” and pointed to her cosponsoring legislation “to pressure the Biden administration to deliver critical aid that they were holding up as the Jewish state was fighting a seven-front war.”
“She has stood strongly against the Iranian regime by supporting measures to reinstitute maximum pressure and reimpose crippling sanctions. Ashley Hinson also has a very strong record on combating antisemitism. Notably, unlike some on the neo-isolationist far right, when Ashley Hinson says, ‘America First,’ for her, and for the RJC, that means standing strongly with our allies, like Israel, peace through strength, using decisive military action when necessary and rejecting forever wars,” Markstein said.
The swift action on Hinson’s part in launching her campaign and locking down major endorsements has propelled her campaign to front-runner status in the race, and a smooth primary contest could benefit what are already strong general election chances for Republicans in the Hawkeye State.
“Ashley’s been pretty good on the Trump record,” Kochel said. “I think things are going to consolidate pretty quickly around her.”
“She is definitely going to be the leading candidate in the Republican primary, and she’s going to be a very tough candidate in the general election as well,” he told JI.
Thus far in the primary, Hinson is facing Jim Carlin, a Republican former state senator who initially entered the contest to challenge Ernst from the right after winning 27% of the vote against Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in a 2022 primary, and Joshua Smith, a former libertarian and podcast host who is a sharp critic of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Smith has espoused virulently anti-Israel beliefs on social media, posting in March of this year on X that Israel is a “fake state of anti Jesus heathens who are fine with killing children” and claiming in a post last May that Jewish people suffer from a “Jewish victim complex.”
Hinson began her career in local television as a broadcast journalist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and went on to win two Midwest regional Emmy Awards and become a health reporting fellow for the Radio Television Digital News Association. She entered politics in 2016, when she won a competitive seat in the Iowa state House of Representatives representing the purple Cedar Rapids area by a two-to-one margin.
Hinson was elected to the House in 2020 after defeating former Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat who flipped Iowa’s 1st Congressional District blue in 2018, by more than two points.
The other rumored candidate looking at the race is U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker, Trump’s former acting attorney general during his first term who lost to Ernst in the GOP primary for her Senate seat in 2014. But with Trump and leading Republicans rallying behind Hinson, the prospects of Whitaker running has dimmed.
The Democratic side of the aisle has a crowded field of candidates competing for the party’s nomination, including state Rep. Josh Turek, state Sen. Zach Wahls and Jackie Norris, chairwoman of the Des Moines Public Schools board.
“Whoever wins the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Iowa will have a very, very strong chance of succeeding Joni Ernst,” Sam Markstein, who serves as national political director for the RJC, told JI. “Regarding Ashley Hinson specifically, ask yourself what the telltale signs of a well-run operation are, and you’ll see she is clearly checking all of the boxes: the speed and efficiency of her campaign launch, announcing support from President Trump, as well as House and Senate leadership.”
Democrats have expressed an interest in contesting the open Senate seat in Iowa, a now reliably Republican state that was a battleground before Trump’s political ascendance.
The party has some renewed confidence in their political standing in the state, after Democrats flipped a state Senate seat in a special election last month. The state currently has one state elected official that’s a Democrat: State Auditor Rob Sand.
Whether national Democrats will allocate resources to the Hawkeye State remains to be determined, but winning statewide as a Democrat in deep red Iowa will be a difficult challenge. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Iowa since 2008, when former Sen. Tom Harkin handily won a fifth term, prompting Republicans to dismiss the notion that this race will be competitive.
“Whoever wins the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Iowa will have a very, very strong chance of succeeding Joni Ernst,” Markstein told JI.
“Regarding Ashley Hinson specifically, ask yourself what the telltale signs of a well-run operation are, and you’ll see she is clearly checking all of the boxes: the speed and efficiency of her campaign launch, announcing support from President Trump, as well as House and Senate leadership. This, and more, illustrates that she’s focused, organized, and has an excellent team around her, all of which is needed to win,” he continued.
The NRSC sent a memo to donors last week expressing confidence that Democrats would face an uphill slog in Iowa, and touted Hinson as a “formidable contender” who “would be exceedingly difficult for any Democrat to challenge.”
A source familiar with how the NRSC is viewing the contest told JI that, “Democrats are trying really hard to say that Iowa is in play and that it is a competitive race. That’s just not electorally where we view it.”
“It’s also just not ultimately what the field on their side signals. They have a very messy, competitive primary right now. It does not appear that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer is going to be able to clear the field. That is obviously a direct contrast to what we’re seeing so far on our side,” the source said, noting the growing support for Hinson on the GOP side of the aisle.
Kochel noted that, “Iowa historically was a swing state. [Former President Barack] Obama won it twice and Trump’s won it three times, but certainly the registration advantage that Republicans have has been growing. As the electorate has changed in the last 10 years, more non-college [educated], white, working-class voters are becoming more and more Republican. We’ve got a lot of those in Iowa.”
“Demographically, Iowa is kind of getting away from the Democrats a little bit,” he continued, predicting, “We’ll see this race settle into a pretty familiar framework.”
The newly minted candidate casts himself as a moderate, but called out his party for not criticizing Israel more in the 2024 election
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Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico speaks during a campaign launch rally on September 09, 2025 in Round Rock, Texas.
James Talarico, a Democratic state representative in Texas seen as a rising star in his party, launched a campaign for Senate on Tuesday, joining a crowded primary to claim the seat held by veteran Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
The 36-year-old former public school teacher, who has studied to become a Presbyterian minister, has drawn national attention for openly embracing his Christian faith to connect with voters. In his launch video, he referred to Jesus, invoking him as “a barefoot rabbi who gave two commandments: love God and love neighbor.”
“Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few rigged the system, that barefoot rabbi walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice,” Talarico added. “To those who love our country, to those who love our neighbors: It’s time to start flipping tables.”
Talarico, who is calling for a generational shake-up in a party he sees as largely out of touch with voter concerns, until this week had no apparent record of public commentary on Middle East policy, a subject that is likely to stir debate in the upcoming election cycle amid Democratic divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza.
In interviews published on Tuesday, he indicated that he would adopt a more critical approach to Israel, calling the war a “moral disaster” that his party has failed to address. “One of the primary reasons that the Democratic Party lost young voters in particular last election was our party’s failure to recognize the moral disaster in Gaza, and I hope that we have leaders who recognize that mistake,” he said in comments to Punchbowl News that were echoed in an interview with The Washington Post.
He also declined to say, in an interview with HuffPost, if he believes that Israel’s military conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, dismissing the question as a debate “within elite political circles” that distracts “from the immediate goal, which is stopping the human suffering in Gaza.”
And on specific legislation, Talarico passed on commenting on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) recent resolutions seeking to block U.S. military aid to Israel, saying he was unfamiliar with the measures, which won support from a majority of the Democratic caucus. He said broadly that the party’s approach to Israel “needs to entail action,” but did not elaborate further.
His comments, notable for a Senate candidate in a solidly conservative and deeply evangelical state, underscore how the party is now shifting away from its long-standing support for Israel as it reckons with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and declining Democratic Party voter sympathy for the Jewish state, according to polls.
Talarico’s campaign said he was unavailable for an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday to expand on his new comments about Israel and the direction of the party.
His views could draw attacks from Republicans — who are already highlighting his favorable remarks regarding Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City and vehement critic of Israel.
In next year’s primary, Talarico, whose profile rose over the summer after he appeared on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, is facing former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who unsuccessfully opposed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last election, and Terry Virts, a former astronaut, among other Democrats.
While Allred has previously voiced strong support for Israel and its alliance with the United States, he argued last year that Israel’s military aims in its war in Gaza could not achieve any further practical goals and that the U.S. should consider withholding some aid to pressure Israel to finalize a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Even as he has railed against billionaire Republican donors, Talarico has previously accepted campaign donations from a super PAC in Texas funded by the pro-Israel GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, thanks to his support for legalizing casino gambling within the state.
Adelson, who was one of President Donald Trump’s biggest donors in the last election, has also donated to Cornyn, now seeking to fend off a challenge from Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general.
A representative for Adelson did not respond to a message from JI seeking comment on Tuesday.
Top Senate Republicans are supporting the Israeli attack in Doha while senior Democrats are criticizing it
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
U.S. Capitol Building on January 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
A partisan divide quickly emerged Tuesday over the Israeli strike on Hamas leadership in Qatar, with senior Republican lawmakers expressing support for the attack, while top Democrats criticized it.
Republican lawmakers largely characterized the strike as justified and unsurprising given the Hamas leaders’ responsibility for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, while Democrats argued that the strike compromised the ability to negotiate with Hamas officials for a ceasefire and should not have been carried out in the territory of a U.S. ally.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Jewish Insider, “I support it.”
“I think Hamas has got to be destroyed, and there’s no sense in doing half measures,” Wicker continued.
Sen. James Risch (R-ID), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told JI that the strike was “not surprising.”
“Any member of Hamas who had anything to do with the invasion of Israel is in jeopardy, it’s a given,” Risch said. “Is now, always has been.”
He said he does not see the strike as having any broader implications for the U.S. relationship with Qatar.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) suggested that similar attacks on Hamas leaders may continue.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization. Israel has been focused on taking out that terrorist organization. These are the folks that Israel firmly believes were directly responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks,” Rounds said. “I think we’re going to see Israel continue to go after those individuals that are accountable for that terrorist activity.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) said that “Qatar has been told they probably ought not to harbor terrorist organizations, so Israel is going to defend itself and take out terrorist organizations.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the strike shows that “Israel is serious about defending itself and taking out the terrorists.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) posted on X, “To those who planned and cheered on the October 7 attack against Israel, the United States’ greatest ally in the region: This is your fate.”
Senate Democrats took a starkly different perspective.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the strike “extremely disruptive, provocative and dangerous” and a “great strategic mistake.”
“Qatar has been a strong ally of the United States, one of our biggest bases in the region is there. … They, in fact, took a rocket attack after Iran tried to hit our troops at Al Udeid. They’ve provided significant financial support to our efforts in the Middle East,” Reed told JI, referring to retaliatory strikes by Iran on the U.S. airbase in Doha after the U.S. attacked its nuclear facilities in June.
He also argued that the strike, which targeted Hamas leaders who were part of negotiations with the U.S. and Israel, showed that Israel is not serious about reaching a ceasefire deal. A Hamas official on Monday publicly rejected the latest ceasefire proposal sponsored by the U.S., along with others.
“The Hamas representatives are there for at least some type of discussion about a ceasefire, and the signal I think that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu [sends] is ‘I don’t want a ceasefire under any terms.’ So those hostages continue to languish,” Reed said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a Council on Foreign Relations event on Tuesday that “it’s unfortunate that Israel bombed in Doha, one of our allies.”
“I understand that they were going after one of the Hamas leaders — and we all agree that Hamas should be eliminated — but we have to be thoughtful about escalating things in a way that [isn’t] helpful, especially when we’ve got this opportunity in the region.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) called the Israeli strike “rather aggressive.”
“Hamas is a terrorist organization but Qatar often hosts the political side of the organizations so there is some avenue for communication,” Kelly told JI. “And they’re an ally of ours. It’s an aggressive thing to do, but I haven’t seen the details yet.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered a somewhat more nuanced view, acknowledging to JI that it’s “been enormously frustrating for the Israelis and the U.S. that Qatar has sheltered Hamas.”
“But every once in a while, they have been an effective intermediary on things like hostages. So exactly what was the decision-making about why this was the right move now, I’m interested to know it,” Kaine said. “Until I get an answer to that, I’m probably not going to opine about it. But I understand the serious frustration with what Qatar has done with Hamas. I just need to know more.”
Several other Democrats including Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) declined to comment, saying they needed more information before discussing the attack, as did Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 2 Senate Republican.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Senate Democrat who full-throatedly supported the strike, posting a gif on X of a smiling, dancing Winnie the Pooh.
The image, Fetterman told JI, “sums it up. Just like the beepers” — a reference to the Israeli attack on Hezbollah officials in Lebanon a year ago. “I love it. Hold them [Hamas] accountable.”
Pearl will make a decision by the end of September but is unlikely to enter the contest, sources tell JI
Bruce Pearl speaks at a Christians United for Israel event.
Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl is leaning against running to replace outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and will make a final decision on entering the race by the end of the month, Jewish Insider has learned.
Pearl, 65, spent the summer meeting with GOP campaign operatives and Republican senators as he considered whether to enter the race following Tuberville’s announcement in late May that he was opting against seeking a second term in the Senate to run for governor of Alabama. At the beginning of the summer, Pearl had just finished the academic year coaching Auburn’s basketball team, which he joined in 2014 and where he has led the SEC team to six NCAA tournament appearances, including this year’s Final Four.
Two sources familiar with Pearl’s thinking told JI that he has not officially decided against running yet and has given himself until the end of September to make a final call, though he is unlikely to enter the contest.
Pearl declined JI’s request for comment on his plans.
If Pearl decided to get into the race, it would make him the most high-profile name in the crowded Republican primary to succeed Tuberville, who also coached at Auburn before jumping into politics, leading its football team from 1999-2008. It would also mean walking away from a lucrative contract with Auburn for a far more modest government salary.
Republicans already in the primary include Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has been the state’s chief law enforcement officer since 2017; Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) and Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL and pro-Trump businessman.
The winner of the GOP primary is expected to go on to win the general election given Alabama’s conservative electorate.
The last Jewish Republican to serve in the Senate was former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, who now chairs the Republican Jewish Coalition after losing his bid for a second term to former Sen. Al Franken by 312 votes in 2009. The late Sen. Arlen Specter left the GOP for the Democratic Party in the spring of 2009 while facing a primary challenge from former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). Specter ultimately lost the Democratic primary for his seat and left the Senate in 2011.
The Auburn basketball coach has emerged as a vocal Jewish advocate and become increasingly politically involved in fighting the rise of domestic antisemitism and supporting Israel in recent years. He became one of the most outspoken voices in sports in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Pearl often tells the story of his grandparents immigrating to the U.S. in 1929 to escape the pogroms in Eastern Europe (where most of the rest of his family perished in the Holocaust) and makes mention of his Hebrew name, Mordechai, in interviews.
He has also been active in the Jewish advocacy space for at least half a decade. He joined the U.S. Israel Education Association (USIEA) board of directors in 2021 and took over as chairman of the board in April of this year. The nonprofit focuses on educating government officials involved in advancing the U.S.-Israel relationship on the pro-Israel cause, and Pearl has led trips for his players to the Jewish state in recent years through the organization.
In his public comments, Pearl has been outspoken in support of Israel and has voiced his disapproval of any agreement between the U.S. and Iran that allows the latter to enrich uranium.
Speaking at a breakfast commemorating Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill in late May, Pearl argued that a Palestinian state had already been “tried” in Gaza in 2005 following the Israeli withdrawal from the area. “They had an opportunity and they turned it into a terrorist state. We cannot make that same mistake again,” Pearl said at the time.
“There cannot be another Palestinian state,” he continued. “We need to practice our faith and we need to put our faith into practice. My Jewish friends, we need to wake up and understand that when we said never again, we meant never again, but it happened again on Oct. 7.”
Pearl also encouraged the U.S. to back Israel in taking out Iran’s nuclear program through an airstrike campaign and praised the U.S. push in nuclear negotiations to force Tehran to ship enriched material to a location where it cannot be used.
“Enriched Uranium is for a weapon, not power. Iran says it will not give up its ability to enrich uranium against US demands. For Iran, it is a matter of national honor and part of their identity. If Iran had it, they would use it,” Pearl wrote on X in late May, adding that Iran must “dismantle it now” for the sake of achieving peace “or Israel needs to do it.”
Jewish Insider’s senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed to this report.
Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism: ‘I was worried by this neo-Buchanan isolationism, but I look at President Trump's actions, they have no hold on him’
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Senior Director for Counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka walks outside the White House in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2025.
Seb Gorka, the White House senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, aired his grievances with the anti-Israel faction within the Republican Party on Tuesday, alleging that the wing of the GOP aligned with podcast host Tucker Carlson is “basically Pat Buchanan in a new guise.”
Gorka made the comments in a conversation on counterterrorism and U.S. strategy at the Hudson Institute after being pressed on the foreign policy disputes within the MAGA movement and Carlson’s grievances with President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Asked by moderator Michael Doran, a Hudson senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, if he was comfortable addressing the growth of anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiment on right-wing podcasts and social media, Gorka replied, “Yeah, I am, because it bothers me immensely, but I’ve come to a certain realization with regards to that, that this wing of isolationism is nothing new. We had this 100 years ago.”
“This is just a poor, substandard repackaging of neo-Buchananite isolationism,” Gorka said, referencing Buchanan, the former Nixon communications director who became an outspoken critic of Israel. “It’s actually a more shallow version. Pat is far smarter than this version of isolationism.”
Gorka said that he is “actually in a better place with” the onslaught of anti-Israel rhetoric from Carlson’s wing of the party than he was previously, explaining that he realized that most of the rhetoric was coming from “probably half a dozen very loud people on Twitter and Rumble,” the right-wing video platform.
“You get out of the miasma, the cesspit that is social media, and you talk to representative MAGA voters, of the 80 million that put the president back in the White House, they don’t think that we should pull down the shutters on the Pacific and the Atlantic coast,” Gorka explained. “They don’t think that Israel is the reason for Oct. 7. They actually have a very special place in their heart for Israel, and they don’t think that hospitals being bombed in Ukraine is a good thing because somebody offered NATO membership to Ukraine, allegedly, a decade ago.”
“As an immigrant to this country, a legal immigrant to the United States, one of the most trenchant indicative characteristics for me of the American people is common sense. They understand who is responsible for Oct. 7. They understand who [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is. And as such, I was worried by this neo-Buchanan isolationism, but I look at President Trump’s actions, they have no hold on him,” he continued.
Gorka then pointed to the early days of the first Trump administration, alleging that at the time, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed hesitation about moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem out of fear that doing so would cause a third world war.
Gorka said that Trump told concerned members of his Cabinet at the time that they were going through with the move because, “A) We promised the people of Israel 23 years ago, and we’ve broken that promise every six months of 23 years. B) I promised the American electorate in the campaign. We’re doing it. And C) It’s the right thing to do.” He argued that the “moral clarity” shown by Trump on issues impacting Israel highlighted the contrast between the president and his detractors on foreign policy matters.
Earlier in the program, Gorka told Doran that the president’s approach to the Middle East was heavily focused on combating Iran.
“You need to understand one thing: When the president looks at the region, he doesn’t slice it down into cylinders of excellence. He doesn’t care if you’re the Syrian desk officer or the natural resources expert. He has one overlay for the whole AOR [Area of Responsibility], and that one metric, that one prism, is Iran, and he’s absolutely right,” Gorka said. “Iran is front and center in everything we do in the region, because they remain the greatest state sponsor terrorism, and the world would be a much safer place if that were not the case.”
Gorka noted that when Trump is asked by reporters about anything related to national security, “more than 50% of the time … the president will bring up Iran,” adding that this was “especially” the case “before [Operation] Midnight Hammer, because it really is on his mind that this is the threat. A nuclear Iran, an ideologically Islamo-fascist regime that wishes to acquire the most dangerous weapons in the world, is a threat to all decent peoples.”
Turning his attention to Israel, Gorka argued that the Jewish state’s “post-Oct. 7 operations have rewritten the map of the Middle East for the next 50 to 100 years.” He praised Israel’s military moves in Syria and Lebanon, crediting the IDF with taking down the Assad regime in Damascus and significantly weakening Hezbollah.
As for whether the U.S. will undertake additional operations in the region to target Iranian proxies, Gorka said the “jury is still out on that,” but praised Trump’s strikes against the Houthis.
“We had great success with our operation against the Houthis. Again, it wasn’t well understood by the so-called experts. For the president, the action against the Houthis was about one thing and one thing alone. When we told him there had been 150 attacks against U.S. vessels going through the Straits and that they’d actually fired on naval vessels as well, he said, ‘Well, that will not be allowed to stand.’ It’s not just about U.S. interests [but] about global freedom of maritime transport. So all of these things are connected,” Gorka said of Trump’s motivation to strike the Iran-backed Yemeni terror group.
Gorka also disputed the notion that the president was tied down by ideological labels, but rather that he’s focused on achieving results and fixing problems: “Here’s the trouble for the Beltway with understanding the current commander in chief: there is no ideological taxonomy into which he will fall.”
The GOP nominee said one key to victory is winning over independents and moderate Dems in Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s home base of Bergen County
Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jack Ciattarelli, Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey, speaks during an election night event in Bridgewater Township, N.J. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Ever since President Donald Trump ran surprisingly close to Vice President Kamala Harris in New Jersey during last year’s presidential race, Republicans have been looking at the state’s gubernatorial race as a chance to capitalize on the party’s momentum in the blue state.
Jack Ciattarelli, the GOP’s nominee for governor, also came tantalizingly close to defeating Gov. Phil Murphy in the state’s last gubernatorial race. He’s running again, and hoping to get over the finish line against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), in part by courting the state’s sizable Jewish community, which has swung to the right in recent elections.
“People now know, because of the closeness of my race, that we can win. There’s just an attitude change because they feel like the Democrats have really failed them on a number of issues, and antisemitism is one of them,” Ciattarelli told Jewish Insider in an interview ahead of his visit to Israel this week.
Ciattarelli, 63, who built two medical publishing companies in New Jersey while serving as a state lawmaker, said, “I see myself not so much as a politician, but a successful CEO who is looking to be the CEO hands-on governor that we need.”
As part of his Jewish communal outreach, Ciattarelli traveled to Israel on Sunday for a five-day visit, which he organized in a show of solidarity. He also spent time on his visit pursuing opportunities for economic investment from leading Israeli companies in the technology and medical sectors.
“Any students in violation of university policy, I think, should be expelled. Any student that’s broken the law should be arrested, and any student here on an academic visa from another country should be sent back to where they came from if they’re going to engage in that kind of behavior,” Ciattarelli said. “I will pressure our college and university presidents to be working in partnership with me to make sure that kind of behavior isn’t tolerated.”
He told JI that one of his goals with the visit was to boost the state’s economy “by forging a closer economic relationship with a number of nations” that are close U.S. allies. “Israel is first and foremost on the list, but as governor, I will certainly look to Canada, Mexico and India as well to increase our bilateral trade,” Ciattarelli said.
Fighting antisemitism, Ciattarelli said, will be a priority of his if he’s elected. Ciattarelli said he has “made very, very clear” that he supports codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism into state law, will “appoint an attorney general and a superintendent of state police that are both sensitive to the needs and worries of New Jersey’s Jewish community” and will establish an Advisory Council on Jewish Relations to guide him on ways to the best support the community.
“Any students in violation of university policy, I think, should be expelled. Any student that’s broken the law should be arrested, and any student here on an academic visa from another country should be sent back to where they came from if they’re going to engage in that kind of behavior,” Ciattarelli said. “I will pressure our college and university presidents to be working in partnership with me to make sure that kind of behavior isn’t tolerated.”
Ciattarelli described the December 2023 House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, where the presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology declined to say that calling for the genocide of Jews qualified as bullying and harrassment, as a “watershed moment” that brought the issue of antisemitism to the forefront of Jewish voters’ minds.
“I will do what others have done, including Democratic leaders, and that’s condemning Mamdani, condemning his candidacy, and doing all they can to make sure that a threat to communities such as this is not elected,” Ciattarelli told JI. “There is no space for someone like this in the public sphere, let alone in public office, and I’m going to do everything in my power to protect all 9.3 million citizens here in New Jersey, and particularly members of the Jewish community who feel threatened by a person such as this.”
“They want to see a governor who’s going to demonstrate zero tolerance for antisemitism and call it out for what it is when we see it and hear it,” Ciattarelli said of Jewish voters in the Garden State.
The New Jersey Republican has also sought to tie Sherrill to Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee in New York City’s mayoral race who has resisted condemning “globalize the intifada” rhetoric. Ciattarelli’s campaign cut a digital ad highlighting Sherrill’s nationally televised indecision on whether she would support Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
“I will do what others have done, including Democratic leaders, and that’s condemning Mamdani, condemning his candidacy, and doing all they can to make sure that a threat to communities such as this is not elected,” Ciattarelli told JI. “There is no space for someone like this in the public sphere, let alone in public office, and I’m going to do everything in my power to protect all 9.3 million citizens here in New Jersey, and particularly members of the Jewish community who feel threatened by a person such as this.”
The race is competitive, with Jewish voters (who make up about 6% of the state’s population) potentially emerging as a swing voting bloc.
“This race is shaping up to be fairly tight, with both candidates making notable outreach efforts to the Jewish community. Jack’s visit to Israel and his strong support for IHRA have had a particularly positive impact,” one Jewish leader in the state told JI.
“Mikie has also engaged significantly, and that effort has been noticed, but concerns remain based on her support of Mamdani in the city and the way she recently framed the call for a ceasefire in Gaza. She still retains goodwill within the Jewish community, but has a long way to go in strengthening trust and confidence,” the leader explained.
A Jewish community leader in Central Jersey, also granted anonymity to speak freely, offered a similar take.
“It’s definitely a race that’s very closely watched in the Jewish community, more than any time in the past, I would say. I think seeing Jack going to Israel, out of all places, just three months before the general election, I think that shows you how important the Jewish vote is going to be this time around, and Jack is losing no time and trying to get the Jewish vote on his side,” the source said.
“I often say that in New Jersey, you have to run for governor as though you’re running for mayor,” Ciattarelli said, adding of his outreach to Democratic and unaffiliated voters, “The biggest compliment I get is when I can come down off a platform or stage, if somebody comes up to me and says, ‘Are you Republican? Are you Democrat?’”
Ciattarelli told JI that he views Bergen County, the state’s most populous county, as a must-win area for his campaign, making the support of Democratic and independent voters necessary in his path to victory. The area, which is represented by Gottheimer in Congress, is also home to around 100,000 Jewish residents, a majority of whom are registered Democrats or independents.
“Bergen County has a greater population than eight states and it’s the key to winning a statewide election. I did very well, just coming a little short in ‘21, but I do sense a change amongst a great number of people who may not have considered me last time, may not have voted last time that are looking to make a change here in New Jersey,” Ciattarelli said.
“I often say that in New Jersey, you have to run for governor as though you’re running for mayor,” he continued, adding of his outreach to Democratic and unaffiliated voters, “The biggest compliment I get is when I can come down off a platform or stage, if somebody comes up to me and says, ‘Are you Republican? Are you Democrat?’”
Since narrowly losing his first campaign for governor, Ciattarelli worked hard to unify the party around his repeat bid, making particular effort to secure support from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. His efforts paid off in the primary, which he won without much serious GOP opposition.
For her part, Sherrill handily defeated five other Democrats, including Gottheimer, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka,and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, in the Democratic primary.
With that backdrop, both parties are watching the November gubernatorial contest closely to see if the rightward shift in the Garden State has held since Trump took office in January. For his part, Ciattarelli says that while the issues animating New Jersey voters have not changed since his 2021 race, he believes “what is different is the political landscape.”
“The issues I was talking about in ‘21, including antisemitism, have now come to a complete boil. They were simmering back then,” Ciattarelli told JI. “I’m not competing with a pandemic this time around. It’s not easy to campaign when there’s a shelter-in-place order. I’m not running against an incumbent. There’s a lot less indifference.”
As part of his strategy to encourage voters to hit the polls in November, he said he was focusing his messaging around “four issues across the state that are raging that apply to all people”: the affordability crisis, affecting housing and energy costs; public education; public safety; and the overdevelopment of the interior of the state, where suburbs without the infrastructure to become a city are being overinvested in at the expense of New Jersey’s cities.
Regardless of which community he’s engaging with, the New Jersey Republican says the voters he’s spoken to have been more concerned with “how it is I go about solving issues” than national political matters.
“People get excited by ideas. They don’t want to hear the use of polarizing rhetoric. I think they find it a breath of fresh air when somebody stands up and is speaking to the issues and how they’re going to solve them,” Ciattarelli explained, describing this approach as “the secret to the sauce for me in the seven elections I won prior to November ‘21.”
Both parties are also investing heavily as the race emerges as one of the most competitive statewide elections of 2025.
The Democratic National Committee said earlier this month that it would provide more than $1.5 million for Sherrill’s campaign to devote to field staffing and ground game efforts. Greater Garden State, a super PAC connected to the Democratic Governors Association, announced plans in July to spend $20 million on ads for Sherrill. That dollar amount is greater than Murphy and outside groups supporting him spent on ad buys during the entire 2021 general election.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, visited North Jersey earlier this month for a series of fundraising events for Ciattarelli that brought in $1 million.
Even as the president has prioritized tackling antisemitism in his second term, leading conservatives are quietly pushing for more engagement against far-right hate
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
President Donald Trump talks with supporters while standing with pastor Mario Bramnick, second from right, at Versailles restaurant on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Miami.
President Donald Trump came into office with a promise to make tackling antisemitism a priority of his second term. So far, the focus of that effort has been almost exclusively on addressing left-wing and Islamist antisemitism, primarily tied to anti-Israel extremism — while leaving out antisemitism emerging from the political right.
Now, a group of staunch Trump allies from within the evangelical Christian community is urging Republicans to also focus on countering what they describe as a growing threat of antisemitism from within their own camp. They see prominent MAGA-aligned figures such as podcast hosts Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens platforming overtly antisemitic views, and worry that those voices — with massive social media followings — could play a role in shaping the direction of the Republican Party.
Last month, an organization called the Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel hosted a meeting to discuss the topic at the Family Research Council, a powerful Christian advocacy group. Billed as a “private roundtable for key Christian leaders,” according to the event invitation, it identified right-wing antisemitism as a high-stakes challenge: “It is vital that Christian leaders counter the forces on the right who are demonizing the state of Israel, its leadership and the Jewish people,” stated the invitation, which was obtained by Jewish Insider.
“We’ve been very concerned about the progressive leftist [antisemitism],” Mario Bramnick, a pastor in South Florida who is the president of the Latino Coalition for Israel, told JI on Tuesday. He is also the founder of the Christian Conference, and he organized last month’s event with Luke Moon, the executive director of the Philos Project. “But some of the statements coming out on the right, to me, are possibly more brazen and more troubling and clearly, clearly, do not represent President Trump or his administration,” added Bramnick.
The meeting was attended by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, Trump’s nominee to serve as the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, as well as Mark Walker, a former congressman from North Carolina who is Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Yair Netanyahu, the eldest son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed the group virtually.
“Antisemitism is a bipartisan issue and needs to be condemned anytime, anyplace,” Kaploun told JI. “It is imperative that all parties educate their members about the dangers of antisemitism.”
The Christian group is concerned about a small but growing anti-Israel faction within the Republican Party. In a press release on Tuesday, Bramnick called out Carlson and Owens, as well as two figures who remain close to Trump: Steve Bannon and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). A Trump administration spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
“It’s almost like we have more of an onus to handle this, because it’s our own camp, our own family. Imagine something goes wrong with someone in your family, you feel more of an obligation,” Bramnick told JI. “Who better than us to be able to handle it?”
Bramnick met last week with Justice Department senior counsel Leo Terrell, the chair of the federal government’s antisemitism task force, to raise the issue of antisemitism on the right.
“They are clearly on this and following it, from my understanding, and wanting to work with us,” Bramnick said. A spokesperson for Terrell did not respond to a request for comment.
The Conference of Christian Presidents has ties to influential conservative groups in Washington. Hours after the meeting at the Family Research Council, the Conference co-hosted an event on the Trump administration’s policies in the Middle East with the Heritage Foundation. The event featured video remarks from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and a keynote speech by evangelical leader Rev. Johnnie Moore, executive chair of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Last year, the Heritage Foundation released a policy document focused on antisemitism, called Project Esther, which identified left-wing antisemitism as the main form of antisemitism in the U.S., without mentioning any issues on the right. An inquiry to the authors of the Project Esther report did not garner a response.
Christians United for Israel, the largest Christian pro-Israel group with more than 10 million members, is not part of the Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel. But Sandra Hagee Parker, chair of the CUFI Action Fund, told JI that the organization agrees with the need to combat antisemitism on the right.
“One cannot be a Christian and antisemitic. The two are mutually exclusive,” Parker said in a statement. “Just as liberals must condemn those who use human rights as cover for their Jew-hatred, conservatives must call out those who drape themselves in the flag or the banner of the cross while bastardizing the former and defiling the latter.”
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks said antisemitism is “percolating out there at the extreme ends of the far right, well outside of the mainstream of the Republican Party.”
“I don’t know that it’s growing. It’s gotten a little louder,” he told JI. “Our challenge and our effort going forward is to ensure that it doesn’t take hold in the Republican Party as it did in the Democratic Party.”
The Democratic and Republican nominees for New Jersey governor spoke at New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance event
Mariam Zuhaib, Mike Catalini/Associated Press
In this photo combo Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., left, speaking during a news conference, Feb. 13, 2024, in Washington and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli speaking, Feb. 4, 2025, at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.
The Democratic and Republican nominees for governor of New Jersey spoke last week at an event organized by the New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance about their plans to combat antisemitism across the Garden State.
“I as governor will certainly address this appalling surge of antisemitic incidents head-on and work to ensure that every business owner in our state has a fair shot,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) said. “I vow to be an ally in the governor’s office. I’ll put the full force of law behind combating antisemitism and making sure that everyone can thrive here in the Garden State.”
Sherrill said that it’s “been an incredibly difficult past several years for the Jewish community here in New Jersey,” highlighting a series of incidents including a fire-bombing at a synagogue in her district, as well as graffiti, harassment, intimidation and more facing Jewish institutions, individuals and businesses.
She noted that Jewish business owners in the state had faced violent crimes and losses of business “because of their religion.”
Republican Jack Ciattarelli said that antisemitism “will not be tolerated in the state of New Jersey under my governorship” and that his entire administration “will be sensitive to the needs and worries of the Jewish community across this state.”
He said he plans to launch an advisory council to maintain “constant contact” with the Jewish community statewide.
He condemned Gov. Phil Murphy for calling antisemitism issues on college campuses “complicated.”
“It’s not complicated. Anybody who’s violating university policy should be expelled. Anybody who’s broken the law should be arrested, and anybody here on academic visa that’s done either those two things should go back to where the hell they came from,” Ciattarelli said. “We’re not going to have anybody feeling unsafe on our college campuses.”
The Republican nominee voiced support for legislation to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which he said he hopes will be signed before he takes office.
Ciattarelli said that, on his upcoming trip to Israel, he’d be meeting with business leaders to find ways that New Jersey can increase its bilateral trade with the Jewish state.
“Do you know that New York does $14 billion a year in bilateral trade with Israel? New Jersey? Less than 2 billion,” Ciattarelli said. “What does New York have that we don’t have? I’ll be meeting with business leaders to say we’re open for business.”
Both nominees also spoke at length about their plans to improve the business climate in the state.
It’s the GOP gubernatorial nominee’s second trip to the Jewish state
Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jack Ciattarelli, Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey
Former New Jersey state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli, the Garden State’s Republican nominee for governor, will travel to Israel on Sunday for his first visit during the campaign, his campaign revealed to Jewish Insider.
Ciattarelli is running against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) in the race to succeed New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited. He was New Jersey’s GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2021 against Murphy, narrowly losing to the sitting governor.
Speaking to JI in an interview ahead of his trip, the New Jersey Republican said he expects to have “five very, very productive days in Israel.”
Ciattarelli said that the goal of the visit was to find opportunities for economic investment in New Jersey from leading Israeli companies in the technology and medical sectors and to show his solidarity with the Garden State’s Jewish community.
New Jersey has the second-largest Jewish population in the country.
“One of my objectives as governor is to grow our economy, and one of the ways that we achieve that objective is by forging a closer economic relationship with a number of nations, one of which is certainly Israel. They have technology companies, medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, and a number of other industries that are looking to expand internationally. And when they do, we certainly want them to do that in New Jersey,” Ciattarelli said.
Ciattarelli added that the trip, his second time visiting the Jewish state, “also has great significance for New Jersey’s Jewish community,” because it signifies his commitment to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
“I’ve always been a big supporter of Israel. And as we know, antisemitism is at an all-time high in New Jersey, across the nation and the globe. As governor, antisemitism will not be tolerated. And so again, by going to Israel, we demonstrate a very close relationship between New Jersey and this very important ally in the Middle East and, of course, in the world,” he explained.
Ciattarelli previously traveled to the Jewish state during his 2021 gubernatorial run, one month before the general election. The trip, which Ciattarelli described to JI at the time as a “life-changing experience,” was his first visit to Israel.
“My goal was to let civic leaders, business leaders and religious leaders know that Israel will have a strong ally in New Jersey when I’m governor. From an economic development perspective, Israel does more than $14 billion a year in bilateral trade with New York. It does only $1 billion with New Jersey. That shouldn’t be the case,” Ciattarelli said after his 2021 visit.
“So I made clear during my trip and meeting with all leaders, that New Jersey is going to strengthen its cultural, religious and economic ties with the State of Israel. And we will stand with her in defending its people,” he continued.
He again mentioned the trade deficit while speaking to JI on Friday about his upcoming visit.
“Israel does $14 billion a year in bilateral trade with New York, less than $2 billion a year with New Jersey. There’s nothing New York has that New Jersey doesn’t. So we want to make sure that Israeli companies, when they invest in the United States, they do so right in New Jersey,” Ciattarelli said.
Dooley, the football coach-turned-candidate, has already begun Jewish outreach in the pivotal swing-state Senate race
Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
New York Giants Tight Ends Coach Derek Dooley looks on before the NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins on December 5, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
With the entry this week of Derek Dooley, a friend of Gov. Brian Kemp who hails from college football royalty in Georgia, the Republican field in the Georgia Senate race is taking shape.
Dooley, whose father coached the Georgia Bulldogs and who spent several years leading the rival Tennessee Volunteers, announced Monday that he’d be running against Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Mike Collins (R-GA) in the Republican primary to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Republicans’ top-targeted incumbent.
Kemp, a popular Republican governor, was seen as Republicans’ best chance of ousting Ossoff. Some prominent Jewish former Ossoff donors in the state reached out to Kemp late last year urging him to run against Ossoff, frustrated by the senator’s votes last year to block some weapons transfers to Israel. But Kemp ultimately passed on the race. Ossoff has worked to rebuild trust with disaffected Jewish voters, but those efforts were hampered by his vote last week to block a shipment of assault weapons to Israel.
Kemp has family ties to Dooley, who has brought on top Kemp advisors, is likely to receive the governor’s backing and pursue a center-right lane in the race, while portraying himself as a political outsider. All the candidates have been making the pivotal pitch for President Donald Trump’s backing in the race and tying themselves closely to him, hoping that key endorsement will help them clear the field.
With Kemp’s help, Dooley could potentially peel off support from moderate Jewish Democrats still frustrated by Ossoff, though Jewish leaders in the state told Jewish Insider last week that they’re not yet making any commitments in the race. They say they’re waiting to see who emerges from the Republican primary and how Ossoff’s record shapes up over the coming months before they decide whether to support the incumbent next November.
Dooley, for his part, is wasting little time in courting their votes.
“I stand with our ally Israel and firmly believe they should have the necessary resources to defend themselves against terrorists,” Dooley said in a statement to JI. “While Jon Ossoff continues to vote against Israel and American national security interests, I will be a leading voice for a strong America and a strong Israel in the Senate.”
Emanuel Fialkow, a prominent conservative member of Georgia’s Jewish community, said that Kemp’s team connected him to Dooley and the two spoke at length on a variety of issues, including antisemitism and Israel. Fialkow said he was previously part of a group of Jewish donors who urged Kemp to run against Ossoff.
Fialkow said that Dooley had asked him about a range of issues including Israel policy, the war in Gaza and antisemitism, and that he subsequently agreed to help Dooley develop an Israel position paper, which Fialkow described as very strongly pro-Israel. He said that Dooley “will have a backbone” in support of Israel.
He subsequently organized a lunch meeting at his home to introduce Dooley to a small group of others in the state, many of them Jewish, including both traditional Republicans and Democrats. Fialkow said that the group discussed a range of issues and came away seeing Dooley as honest, humble, inspiring, engaging and curious to learn more. He praised Dooley as a proven leader and a “really good guy” who can speak to people from a range of backgrounds, and is interested in listening to and learning from people.
He said other Jewish leaders in the Atlanta area are also in discussions with and about supporting Dooley. Others said they haven’t been in touch with Dooley or his surrogates yet.
Fialkow said that he and some other Jewish leaders in the state see Ossoff’s relationship with them as broken beyond repair, and said they can’t trust him going forward to be a reliable supporter of Israel. He argued that Dooley is the “only chance” for Zionist voters who put support for Israel first.
Ossoff, for his part, maintains some vocal supporters in the Jewish community.
Cary Levow, a supporter of pro-Israel causes and candidates, told JI last week, “I support Senator Ossoff and know of other Jewish Georgians who understand that Jon’s approach to the Gaza humanitarian issue is genuine.”
“Senator Ossoff has voted for over $20 billion in aid to Israel, has family living in Israel and has spent a significant amount of time in the country,” Levow continued. “I think Jon has represented the Jewish community well and I have zero concern about a senator who is critical of how [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi is waging this war.”
Fialkow argued that the only way for a Republican to win is for both Kemp and Trump to be aligned behind the same candidate, and that a hard-right Republican can’t win statewide in Georgia, meaning that Dooley gives Republicans their best chance to beat Ossoff.
Fialkow said he’s spoken to Collins and is confident that he would never vote against U.S. support for Israel, due to his own religious convictions. Collins has voiced the same view in confrontations with anti-Israel activists.
Speaking at an Oct. 7 memorial ceremony in 2024, Collins called the U.S. Israel’s “greatest friend” and said that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks had only strengthened the relationship between the two partners. He said he would work to make sure Israel receives all the support it needs to defend itself.
“Hamas not only attacked the peaceful people of Israel that day, but they launched an assault against the idea of free and fair democracies in the Middle East,” Collins said.
But some elements of Collins’ record on antisemitism could raise red flags for others in the Jewish community. Last year, he refused to apologize for and doubled down on engaging with an antisemitic, racist Twitter account that was attacking a reporter for being Jewish. And he voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and has a record of engaging in otherwise extremist rhetoric online.
“Mike Collins has condemned the hate speech seen on college campuses and around the globe, and has been an ardent supporter of Israel in Congress. While Jon Ossoff capitulated to woke activists and voted to cut aid to Israel, Mike Collins has stood strong and protected its right to exist,” a Collins campaign spokesperson told JI, when asked about his online history and vote on the antisemitism bill.
Carter, who is close with some Atlanta-area Jewish leaders, has been a vocal supporter of pro-Israel and Jewish causes in the House, including leading pushes for funding and support for Holocaust education programs, calling on colleagues to address antisemitism in health care, leading legislation to support U.S.-Israel cooperative programs, urging support for the snapback of U.N. sanctions on Iran and calling for Qatar and Turkey to expel Hamas leaders. He also supported the Antisemitism Awareness Act, unlike Collins.
Carter’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Other than Collins’ vote against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, both Carter and Collins have records of supporting legislation backing Israel and combating antisemitism, including voting for supplemental aid to Israel and a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic.
Johnson will not be addressing the Knesset on this visit to Israel, as had been planned for a postponed June trip
Western Wall Heritage Foundation
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) visits the Western Wall on August 3, 2025.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and a group of House Republicans are visiting Israel this week, in Johnson’s first visit to Israel since becoming speaker.
Johnson was set to visit Israel in June to address the Knesset, but postponed his visit after the war between Israel and Iran began. He will not be addressing the Knesset on this visit, a source familiar with his plans told Jewish Insider.
Johnson and those in his delegation — Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Michael Cloud (R-TX) — have prayed at the Western Wall and met with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
“We’re so grateful to be in Israel, particularly on this day, recognizing the destruction of the two Temples … it is such a moving time for us to be here at the Wailing Wall. We’ve offered our prayers, we’ve put our notes into the wall,” Johnson said in brief video remarks from the Kotel, which he visited on Tisha B’Av. “We’re so moved by the hospitality of the people and the great love of Israel.”
“Our prayer is that America will always stand with the people of Israel and we pray for the preservation and the peace of Jerusalem,” Johnson continued. “That’s what scripture tells us to do, it’s a matter of faith for us, and commitment that we have.”
Katz said in a statement that he thanked the lawmakers “for their unwavering support and moral clarity in standing with Israel against its enemies, and for their vital voices in the efforts to bring all the hostages home and defeat the murderous terrorist organization Hamas.”
Sa’ar said the group discussed global antisemitism, anti-Israel efforts by countries like Ireland and the attacks on the Druze in Syria, which Sa’ar said were “same kind of barbarism perpetrated by Hamas.”
The trip was organized by the U.S.-Israel Education Association.
In comments on CNN last week, Johnson raised concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that “it is quite sad and quite alarming to see” and that he’d like to see the war in Gaza end soon.
Johnson’s office did not share any further details of his itinerary while he’s visiting the Jewish state.
Anti-Israel activists on the left are working to win over Democratic lawmakers to their side — and are finding some unlikely allies moving in their direction amid the sustained pressure
Avi Ohayon (GPO)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference at the White House on February 4, 2025
A new Gallup poll underscores the degree to which Israel’s security is now dependent on support from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the Jewish state having drained much of its political capital from both Democrats and independents amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis.
The numbers are clear: Support for Israel is now becoming a partisan issue after the Jewish state enjoyed decades of bipartisan support in the United States. Anti-Israel activists on the left, looking to exploit the moment, are working to win over Democratic lawmakers to their side — and are finding some unlikely allies moving in their direction amid the sustained pressure.
The data is sobering: Only about one-third of Americans now support Israel’s military action in Gaza, with 60% disapproving. At the beginning of the war, exactly half of Americans supported Israel’s war against Hamas. The drop-off has come entirely from Democrats (36% supported in November 2023, while 8% do now) and independents (47% supported in November 2023 while 25% support now).
Among Republicans, however, support for Israel’s military efforts has remained significant. The exact same share of Republicans who backed Israel’s war against Hamas in November 2023 (71%) continue to support Israel’s efforts today. Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities has, if anything, bolstered GOP support for Israel and undermined the isolationist and small anti-Israel faction within the party.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close relationship with Trump, a partnership that has led to major policy successes, like the successful, coordinated attacks against Iran’s nuclear program, has nonetheless also played a role in the growing partisanship. Netanyahu, for the first time, is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans — with Democrats now registering more overt disapproval of the Israeli leader since Trump reentered office.
The Gallup polling shows there was already soft support for Israel among Democrats before the war began, with majorities of Democrats opposed to the Jewish state’s efforts at self-defense just weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks. That said, a clear majority of Democratic lawmakers maintained their support for Israel’s war against Hamas, with only a relatively small faction calling for ceasefires before Hamas’ leadership and terror infrastructure could be degraded.
But there are signs that some of the more mainstream voices are succumbing to the anti-Israel shifts within the party’s base. Over half of Senate Democrats supported a Bernie Sanders-led resolution last night that would block U.S. arms sales to Israel — up from the 15 Democrats who voted for a similar measure back in April. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a pragmatic Democratic senator, who was absent for the vote, sounded open to cutting off “offensive” military aid to Israel. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), a pro-Israel independent who caucuses with Democrats, changed his tune and called for ending all military aid to Israel this week.
What’s alarming is how some of this consuming anti-Israel sentiment among Democrats is showing some signs of evolving into, at least, a tolerance of antisemitism. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro received blowback from the left for simply calling out New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani over failing to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric. Slotkin felt the need, while on an anti-Israel podcast, to pander that she’s a Jewish senator who wasn’t backed by Jewish groups. Progressive spaces are becoming increasingly inhospitable to Jews, at least those who don’t renounce their support for a Jewish state.
The many liberal-minded, pro-Israel Jewish Democrats have felt increasingly homeless politically as a result of the shifts within the party — and the accommodation of views that, until very recently, have been beyond the political pale. If the party’s reaction to its 2024 defeat is to tack even further leftward and alienate core parts of their coalition, it could well be lurching towards its own McGovern moment in the future.
The House speaker said he wants to see the war in Gaza come to an end soon
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) does an interview with CNN at the U.S. Capitol on April 17, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed strong concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in an appearance on CNN’s “The Lead” on Wednesday.
Johnson’s comments, made days after President Donald Trump said that there is “real starvation” happening in Gaza, indicate growing concern even among pro-Israel Republicans about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, at the same time that such concerns on the Democratic side have reached new heights.
“I do hope it comes to an end soon,” Johnson said about the war in Gaza, “and we bring an end to this suffering and misery, because it is quite sad and quite alarming to see.”
He said that “we’ve got a humanitarian crisis in Gaza — I mean the pictures tell 1,000 words and it’s heartbreaking.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that there is “no starvation” happening in the enclave.
The House speaker said that he wants to see an end to the conflict and peace, adding that “President Trump is using a strong hand to try to forge that, and we’re moving in the right direction.”
He also credited Israel with opening up new channels for aid and noted that the U.S. and its partners are going to work to provide additional aid as well.
Johnson did not mention Hamas, which some supporters of Israel argue should shoulder the blame for any aid shortages and the lack of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Johnson didn’t directly address a question from host Jake Tapper about whether he’s concerned that Israel is at risk of becoming a global pariah.
The top Democratic leaders in New York, over a month after the primary, aren’t supporting Mamdani — but aren’t willing to speak out against him, either
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 16, 2025 in Washington, DC.
One of the defining features of our politics over the last decade has been the declining power of institutions, combined with the growing influence of individuals acting in their narrow self-interest, frequently at the expense of the public interest.
President Donald Trump’s ability in 2016 to bypass the Republican establishment benefitting from a crowded, self-interested opposition, was one of the seminal moments in our brave new world of individualism over institutionalism. Party institutions, outside-group spending and strident media criticism were no match for the grassroots army that rallied to Trump in that election.
Ten years later, the inability of moderate Democrats and other mainstream institutions to organize any coalition against the campaign of far-left New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani looks like the culmination of a dynamic where leaders feel powerless to lead, and are instead simply standing aside, ceding any influence to a cadre of ideological activists within the party.
What’s remarkable about this moment is that the top Democratic leaders in New York, over a month after the primary, aren’t supporting Mamdani — but aren’t willing to speak out against him, either. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have all stayed on the sidelines, reflecting the state of political purgatory that many mainstream leaders are in right now.
There are a handful of Democratic leaders who are speaking out more directly in response to Mamdani’s rise. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, offered moral clarity in his interview with JI’s Gabby Deutch last week. “When supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there,” Shapiro said of Mamdani.
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY), representing a suburban Long Island district with a sizable Jewish constituency, called Mamdani “a threat to my constituents.” Jeffries, to his credit, has all but conditioned his support for Mamdani to the candidate’s condemnation of “globalize the intifada” rhetoric.
What’s missing is any organized effort to rally behind one of the other Democratic options on the general election ballot in order to consolidate the Mamdani opposition. It’s not for lack of options — with the sitting New York City mayor and the former New York governor on the ballot — even if the alternatives are deeply flawed. Only about half of Democratic voters are lining up behind Mamdani, and he’s polling under 40% in the post-primary polls — an unusually weak position for a Democratic nominee in a deep-blue city.
With Mamdani celebrating his recent marriage in his birthplace of Uganda this past week amid creeping criticism from prominent elected officials, it would have been an opportune time for anti-Mamdani forces to go on offense. But instead, the race is stuck in neutral, with Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo spending as much time sniping against each other instead of the front-runner.
What’s holding the Mamdani opposition back is a generalized fear of leadership’s ability to make a difference. Would Schumer or Jeffries taking a tougher line against Mamdani significantly move the political needle, or drive the left-wing grassroots against them? Just look at the blowback Gillibrand received for noting in a radio interview that Jewish New Yorkers were alarmed by Mamdani’s public statements on Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.
For Jewish groups, is it worth further antagonizing Mamdani when he remains the favorite to become the city’s next mayor? The fact that a candidate excusing “globalize the intifada” rhetoric was able to comfortably win a Democratic primary — in the place with the largest Jewish population of any city in the world — was a shock to the system.
Coloring all these deliberations is the sense that something has shifted in our body politic — that radicalism isn’t the political turnoff that it once was. But there’s something of a Catch-22 to these internal deliberations: The less willing leaders are to confront the extremes, the more the Overton window shifts to accommodate them.
Plus, a sit-down with Mike Huckabee ☕
MOHAMMED BADRA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
France's President Emmanuel Macron exits a polling booth, adorned with curtains displaying the colors of the flag of France, to vote in the second round of France's legislative election at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France on July 7, 2024.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Republicans on Capitol Hill about France’s plans to recognize a Palestinian state later this year and report on the daylight between Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Arizona’s pro-Israel community as he throws his support behind candidates with histories of being critical of Israel. We interview U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as he navigates his first months on the job, and report on Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) support for Mike Waltz to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., bypassing a delay imposed by Sen. Rand Paul. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mandela Barnes, Tanya Simon and Elad Gil.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on the unfolding dispute regarding humanitarian aid in Gaza, as Israel and the U.N. accuse each other of holding up distribution efforts in the enclave amid broader concerns of worsening malnutrition among the Strip’s most vulnerable.
- In Istanbul, Turkey, today, France, Germany and the U.K. are holding nuclear talks.
- And in Washington, the Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit kicks off on Sunday afternoon in Washington.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH
With a unanimous vote last week rejecting a measure that would’ve cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, the board of directors of the National Education Association extended an olive branch to frustrated Jewish educators and parents who are concerned about creeping antisemitism within the union’s ranks.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told Jewish Insider earlier this week that he was “pleased” to see the NEA reject the anti-ADL measure. But, he added, the union still has a “long way to go” toward making clear that it respects the Jewish community.
Greenblatt’s lingering concern is a sign that the NEA — the largest teachers’ union in the country, with more than 3 million members — has not entirely placated Jewish communal stakeholders. In fact, additional questions have continued to emerge in light of an NEA document that encourages teaching the “Nakba” and that erases antisemitism from the history of the Holocaust.
The Washington Free Beacon reported this week on the NEA’s 2025 handbook, a 434-page report outlining the organization’s “visionary goals” and “strategic objectives.” Among the items included in the dense document are dozens of measures that passed at last year’s “representative assembly,” a convening of the organization’s top leaders from around the country — the same group that, this year, voted to censure the ADL. Several of them have raised eyebrows in the Jewish community.
Q&A
Huckabee: United Nations more interested in self-preservation than getting food into Gaza
Since his arrival in Israel in April, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has made his mark as the first evangelical U.S. ambassador to Israel — and possibly the most effusive in his remarks about the Jewish state. Following issues with work visas for Christian organizations and several incidents involving Palestinian Christians, Huckabee issued some strongly worded statements directed toward Israeli officials. But with the visa issue resolved and the world’s attention on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the latest round of collapsed negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, Huckabee was back to standing firmly behind Israel in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov in his office at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday.
On the issues surrounding aid distribution: “Well, we just want people to get the truth and to get the food, but we don’t want Hamas to steal it, which is what they have done through the U.N. model, which has been an absolute disaster. Maybe the U.N. is more interested in preserving the machinery of the U.N. than they are in feeding people,” Huckabee said. “And I know that sounds harsh, but I absolutely am on the record for that, because when I see just thousands of pallets, thousands of tons of food sitting that could be consumed by people, it’s sitting there because the U.N. doesn’t really have any incentive to go out and actually get it to the people.”
SUPPORTER SCRUTINY
Cracks in the coalition: Pro-Israel Arizonans wary of Sen. Mark Kelly’s endorsements
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is facing new scrutiny from some Jewish community leaders in Arizona who are frustrated by his endorsements boosting the activist left in a series of recent House primaries in which he has withheld support for pro-Israel candidates and has even worked to actively oppose their campaigns behind the scenes, according to people familiar with the matter, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Tensed-up ties: Kelly’s engagement has strained what had been seen as a positive relationship with the pro-Israel community in Arizona, according to multiple local Jewish leaders who have voiced disappointment with his approach. Meanwhile, his recent interventions have raised questions about the political motivations of the Democratic senator in a key battleground state who has long been associated with his party’s moderate, centrist wing. The most recent source of tension with Jewish and pro-Israel leaders stems from Kelly’s endorsement of Adelita Grijalva in a Tucson House primary this month to succeed her late father, former Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), a longtime critic of Israel who died in March.
PARIS POSITION
Top Republicans blast France for recognizing Palestinian state
Republicans and senior Trump administration officials are blasting French President Emmanuel Macron for announcing on Thursday that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Pushback: “The United States strongly rejects [Macron’s] plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the [UN] general assembly,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.” Top Republican lawmakers largely argued that the decision constituted a reward for Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and its intransigence in recent hostage talks, the most recent round of which collapsed just hours before Macron’s announcement.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Randy Fine (R-FL) Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Bonus: In a tongue-in-cheek X post, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said, “Macron’s unilateral ‘declaration’ of a ‘Palestinian’ state didn’t say WHERE it would be. I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera & the new nation will be called ‘Franc-en-Stine.’”
LENT A LIFELINE
Shaheen bails out Waltz nomination, describing him as a ‘moderating force’
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted with nearly all committee Republicans to advance former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to move to the consideration of the full Senate, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable quotable: “I recognize that Mr. Waltz represents a moderating force with a distinguished record of military service and an extensive background in national security policymaking,” Shaheen said in a statement. “Further, Mike Waltz did not represent himself to me as someone who wants to retreat from the world—and this is a quality I value in nominees. Simply put, in a Situation Room filled with people like Vice President [J.D.] Vance and Under Secretary [of Defense Elbridge] Colby, who want to retreat from the world, and like Secretary [of Defense Pete] Hegseth, I think we’re better off having someone like Mike Waltz present.”
PUT ON PAUSE
Senate committee delays ethics watchdog’s confirmation hearing amid GOP questions
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Thursday delayed a confirmation hearing for Paul Ingrassia, the Trump administration’s nominee for a government ethics oversight role, amid questions about his record from some Senate Republicans, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Ingrassia has a record of conspiratorial comments, including describing the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war as a “psyop” and defending prominent antisemites, among other issues.
What they’re saying: Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told JI he had more questions he wanted to ask Ingrassia and that the hearing had been delayed because “he had not met with a lot of members” and the lawmakers wanted the chance to do so. He said that the hearing will now likely happen in “September or later,” after the Senate’s August recess, to provide more time for these meetings.
Garden State race
Brian Varela running in the centrist lane in race against Rep. Kean
In a Democratic Party that has lost its grip on the working class — long its base of support and wellspring of its values — Brian Varela is offering a way back home. Varela, a small business owner and New Jersey political activist vying for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, is leaning in to his working-class Colombian roots, suggesting that the Democrats need candidates, like him, who are better connected to the middle-class voters in his district. Varela, 36, has firmly established himself as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District with his recent announcement of a $700,000 fundraising haul in his first three months in the race, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Positioning: “I consider myself more of a moderate,” Varela told JI in an interview. “I do believe that we do need to be tight around budgets, and we can’t just go and haphazardly be cutting programs, but we do need to understand that we cannot allow the deficit to continue increasing.” He said that he thinks his perspective coming from a working-class background can help Democrats appeal to working-class voters they struggled to attract in 2024. And he said that Israel has been a “strong ally for us, and I think it’s important to make sure that we are there for Israel, that we help Israel with their ability to defend themselves.”
Worthy Reads
Where’s the Outrage?: In The Washington Post, Stephen Rapp, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues from 2009-2015, raises concerns about global silence around Iran’s human rights violations. “The regime’s response to its perceived vulnerability in the wake of that conflict has become increasingly aggressive. While its failures may be attributed to incompetence and the foreign penetration of its security services, its fury is being directed at domestic political opponents. Thousands of Iranians are in danger as parliament now seeks to expedite death sentences in cases involving imagined collaboration with foreign entities.” [WashPost]
A New Gaza: In The Wall Street Journal, Yasser Abu Shabab, the commander of the Popular Forces in Gaza, makes the claim that he has developed a model for post-Hamas governance in the Gaza Strip. “Through our efforts, we have shown a glimpse of what a new Gaza could look like. … Within months, more than 600,000 people — nearly a third of Gaza’s population — could be living outside the cycle of war. We need only three things to make this vision a reality: financial support to prevent Hamas’s return, humanitarian aid to meet the population’s immediate needs for food and shelter, and safe corridors so people can move around. In a short time, we could transform most of Gaza from a war zone into functioning communities. When the rebuilding has begun, Hamas can negotiate with Israel for the release of hostages in exchange for safe passage out of Gaza. Let them go to Qatar, Turkey or wherever their enablers will have them. We don’t want them among us.” [WSJ]
‘Needling the Jews’: In National Review, Jamie Kirchick breaks down far-right commentator Tucker Carlson’s evolution from Fox News host to conspiracy theorist trafficking in antisemitic tropes. “After years of ‘just asking questions,’ he has reached the nadir to which such questions inevitably lead. Carlson has chosen to exploit the world’s oldest prejudice while pretending that it’s somehow edgy. Ultimately, the reasons why Carlson decided to become America’s leading purveyor of antisemitic ideas matter less than what this development says about our society. Why has ‘needling the Jews,’ the very thing Carlson condemned Pat Buchanan for a quarter century ago, been a safe career move? For the persistent acting out of his anti-Jewish obsession in the national discourse hasn’t put a dent in his popularity; on the contrary, it may have even boosted it.” [NationalReview]
Word on the Street
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, convened a four-hour meeting in Paris on Thursday for senior Israeli and Syrian officials, including Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Sheibani, to discuss security issues; the meeting was the first high-level sit-down between Israeli and Syrian officials in 25 years…
U.S. and Israeli negotiators departed Doha, Qatar, following Hamas’ most recent response to a ceasefire proposal, with White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff saying that the terror group’s response “shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire”…
The Pentagon informed staff on Thursday that it had indefinitely suspended the Department of Defense’s participation in think tank and research conferences and events; the announcement comes a week after the Pentagon pulled its affiliated speakers from the lineup at the Aspen Security Forum…
A new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America found that the U.S. launched nearly 14% of its THAAD interceptor stockpile during last month’s war between Israel and Iran; the report’s authors suggested it could take between three and eight years to replenish the stockpile…
Russia successfully launched an Iranian Soyuz communications satellite into orbit, months after signing a “strategic partnership” agreement with Tehran…
The Wall Street Journal reports on a 2003 birthday book given to Jeffrey Epstein that included messages from President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton…
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, announced he does not plan to seek a third term; former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who came within a percentage point of unseating Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in 2022, said he is considering entering the race to succeed Evers, while Sara Rodriguez, the state’s current lieutenant governor, hinted she was interested in the seat…
Members of a New Jersey state Assembly panel advanced a bill that would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism…
The FCC signed off on the $8 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount; The New York Times said that the merger “effectively ushers in the beginning of a new family dynasty for Paramount, which has been controlled by the Redstone family for decades. David Ellison, son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison, plans to take control of the company when the deal closes”…
CBS News tapped network veteran Tanya Simon, who had overseen “60 Minutes” since the resignation last year of Bill Owens, as the weekly news program’s executive producer…
Israeli-American venture capitalist Elad Gil is raising a $1.5 billion fund for young startups; if closed, it would be one of the largest funds raised by a solo VC…
Two Jewish comics slated to perform at the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe next month had their shows canceled due to what organizers said were safety concerns…
Hungary issued a three-year ban on members of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap from entering the country, citing the group’s “antisemitic hate speech and open praise for Hamas and Hezbollah as justification”; the ban comes ahead of the upcoming Sziget festival in Budapest, at which Kneecap was slated to perform…
Archeologists working at the Tinshemet Cave site in central Israel discovered what they believe to be, at 100,000 years old, one of the oldest burial sites in the world…
Eight Israeli soldiers were injured in a car-ramming attack on Thursday near the central Israeli city of Netanya; the assailant drove off and is believed to have abandoned his car near the West Bank town of Beit Lid…
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter distanced the Israeli government from recent comments by Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, a far-right lawmaker who said that Jews would settle in the Gaza Strip and the government “is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out”…
Pic of the Day
Former hostages and family members of some of the remaining 50 hostages still in captivity were in Washington this week for meetings with Trump administration officials, including Justice Department senior counsel Leo Terrell, the chair of the department’s antisemitism task force. At far right are Keith Siegel and his wife, Aviva, who were both taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Birthdays
Actor, comedian and producer, Jeremy Samuel Piven turns 60 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising participant and Holocaust survivor, she is the subject of the 2021 documentary “I am Here,” Ella Blumenthal turns 104… Former publisher and editor-in-chief of Jewish Lights Publishing, he is an economist and religious scholar best known for his interfaith work, Stuart M. Matlins turns 85… Cinematographer, whose work includes “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” Peter Suschitzky turns 84… Member of the New York City Council from 2014 to 2021, Alan N. Maisel turns 79… Born in Casablanca, Morocco, nightclub owner, entrepreneur and film producer, he produced “The Woman in Red” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” Victor Drai turns 78… Former IDF brigadier general (he was part of Operation Entebbe in 1976), then a member of Knesset, Efraim “Effi” Eitam turns 73… Voiceover artist, he is also the writer, producer, director and narrator of a documentary about the restoration of a NYC synagogue, Peter Grossman… Chairman of Vibrant Capital Partners and chair emeritus of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, Philip Darivoff… Screenwriter, director and producer, best known for creating “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Sex and the City,” Darren Star turns 64… Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, she is a staff writer at The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum turns 61… Retired MLB pitcher from a small Jewish community in the Dominican Republic, he maintains a kosher home, José Bautista turns 61… Israeli journalist, television news anchor and author of a nonfiction book and a novel, Oshrat Kotler turns 60… CEO of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces until earlier this week, Rabbi Steven Weil… NYC-based criminal defense attorney, Arkady L. Bukh turns 53… Head coach of the men’s basketball team at Kent State University since 2011, Rob Senderoff turns 52… Radio personality on Baltimore’s WBAL and 98 Rock, Josh Spiegel turns 50… VP of communications and PR for the National Association of Healthcare Quality, Erin Seidler… Experimental electronic music producer, composer and singer, known professionally as Oneohtrix Point Never, Daniel Lopatin turns 43… Film and television actor, Michael Welch turns 38… Senior policy advisor at Nelson Mullins, Jake Kohn turns 36… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Olympics and at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he is also a real estate broker at CBRE, Joseph “Joey” Samuel Wagman turns 34…
SATURDAY: Former mayor of Las Vegas for 12 years, where he was succeeded by his wife who served for 12 more years as mayor, Oscar Goodman turns 86… Former administrator at the University of Illinois and the University of Houston, chancellor of the California State University system and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Barry Munitz turns 84… Journalist and author or co-author of nearly two dozen books, both of her parents were killed in Auschwitz, Paulette Cooper turns 83… Author, podcaster, columnist and rabbi, Shammai Engelmayer turns 80… Member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2020, Richard Stark turns 73… Chief medical officer at F|42, Alan H. Spiro, MD, MBA… Film and television director, she is best known for her work on the Showtime drama series “Homeland,” Lesli Linka Glatter turns 72… Sports columnist, author, television and radio personality, he works for ESPN’s Charlotte, N.C.-based SEC Network since 2014, Paul Finebaum turns 69… Venture capitalist, James W. Breyer turns 64… Former correspondent at ABC News for 23 years, now a founder at Ten Percent Media, Daniel B. “Dan” Harris turns 54… Physician and attorney, he is the founder and chairman of the DC-based consulting firm Stonington Global, Nicholas Muzin turns 50… U.S. senator (R-OK), Markwayne Mullin turns 48… Actress best known for her role in the “Spider-Man” trilogy, Mageina Tovah Begtrup turns 46… Managing partner of the D.C. office of ColdSpark, Nachama Soloveichik… Political correspondent at Israel’s Walla News, Tal Shalev… Israeli-born classical music composer, Gilad Hochman turns 43… Israeli born R&B singer and songwriter, Hila Bronstein turns 42… Manager of advisor communications at Cetera Financial Group, Lauren Garfield-Herrin… Actress and filmmaker, Hallie Meyers-Shyer turns 38… Member of the comedy group “The Try Guys,” with almost 2.9 billion YouTube views, Zachary Andrew “Zach” Kornfeld turns 35… Associate policy director for complex care at United Healthcare, Drew Gerber… NFL running back who retired in 2024, Tarik Cohen turns 30… Pitcher on the Israeli Women’s National Softball Team, now a curriculum designer at Great Hearts Academies, Tamara “T” Statman Schoen turns 28… President at B&B Digital Media, Tomer Barazani…
SUNDAY: Real estate developer who founded Aspen Square Management, he heads an eponymous foundation known for its flagship program PJ Library, Harold Grinspoon turns 96… Forensic pathologist known for his HBO show and his work investigating high-profile deaths, Michael M. Baden turns 91… Managing partner of Access Fund Management Company, he is a past president of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Harold Zlot… Former deputy secretary of defense and then CIA director in the Clinton administration, now a professor emeritus at MIT, John Mark Deutch turns 87… Steven M. Mizel turns 86… Former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephen M. Greenberg turns 81… Artist and museum founder focused on Fusionism, Shalom Tomáš Neuman turns 78… Israeli author and television producer, he is best known for his documentaries of Israel’s intelligence agencies, Yarin Kimor turns 73… Israeli-born fitness personality, Gilad Janklowicz turns 71… Comedian, writer, producer and actress, Carol Leifer turns 69… Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, Linda Feldmann… Former VP of global communications, marketing and public policy at Facebook, he previously held a similar position at Google, Elliot Schrage turns 65… U.S. Army colonel (retired), Jeffrey Brian Carra… Israeli television and radio personality, Erez Moshe Tal turns 64… Heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, now a film producer, Jean “Gigi” Pritzker turns 63… Former CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly, she is now the founder of Insight Eldercare, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld… Member of the Hungarian Parliament for 20 years, then a member of the European Parliament since 2009, Tamás Deutsch turns 59… Rabbi at Kesher Israel: The Georgetown Synagogue, Rabbi Hyim Shafner… Former national platform director for the Democratic National Committee, now a political consultant and recruiter, Andrew Grossman… Former chief of staff of the House Republican Conference, he is now the managing partner at Capitol Venture, LLC, Jeremy Deutsch… Head of marketing at Jumplight and winner on “Jeopardy!” in 2019, Aaron Lichtig… D.C.-area political activist, Benjamin Rothenberg… SVP at Upland Workshop, Jeremy Adler…
Rep. Madeleine Dean described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a ‘death trap for starving Palestinians’
DIRK WAEM/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images
The UNRWA logo is seen on the vest of an employee during a visit to the Jabal El Hussein refugee camp of UNRWA, , part of a diplomatic mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories, in Amman, Jordan, Wednesday 15 May 2024.
Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee criticized Republican-led efforts to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the House’s draft 2026 budget bill for the State Department and other foreign programs.
The exchanges underscore the continued support among some prominent Democrats for restoring the U.S. relationship with the scandal-plagued UNRWA, more than a year after U.S. aid to the group was first halted following allegations that UNRWA staff participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. The budget bill includes a continued ban on aid to the agency and calls on the State Department to put together a plan to replace it.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the committee, pushed for the restoration of support to UNRWA.
“The bill scapegoats our international partners, U.N. agencies and NGOs that deliver life saving aid to the most vulnerable people around the globe,” DeLauro said. “Organizations like UNRWA will be destroyed, leaving children and families in Gaza and other places around the world to starve and to die.”
DeLauro also pushed back on provisions in the bill that would withhold funding from the U.N. Secretariat until the U.N. and U.S. government take certain steps to pursue accountability for UNRWA members involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I do not believe the language matches the intent,” she argued. “The provision is overly broad. It penalizes important U.N. entities until specific actions are taken by the United States government. This makes no sense.”
She argued that a provision demanding that the U.N. waive immunity for U.N. employees involved in the attack is unnecessary.
“U.N. immunity is already waived in cases where it would impede the course of justice or where someone has committed human rights violations or engaged in or supported acts of terrorism,” DeLauro said. “We all want justice for the horrific attacks on both Americans and our friends in Israel and indeed, the Justice Department has a task force already investigating this issue. We should work together to address this in a manner that achieves true justice.”
Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) introduced an amendment that would halt future U.S. aid to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation until the State Department transmits to Congress all evidence provided by Israel and all U.S. assessments about the diversion of United Nations humanitarian aid by Hamas in Gaza.
It would also require the State Department to report to Congress on deaths at or near GHF distribution sites and plans to minimize such deaths, as well as on fraud and antiterrorism safeguards, before any further aid is provided to the GHF.
Dean accused the GHF of “violating core humanitarian principles” and described the system as a “death trap for starving Palestinians,” urging the U.S. to return to previous U.N. and NGO-run distribution systems.
She said she’s been shown no proof that Hamas had diverted aid provided under previous distribution systems, though she said that it “could be” doing so.
Dean claimed that “not a single refugee was gunned down as they attempted desperately to retrieve aid for their family with UNRWA or [the] World Food [Program] or other U.N. programs” and alleged that “more than 1,000 Gazans have been killed — shot and killed — by the IDF by trying to simply get food” at GHF sites. Israel has denied claims that it is targeting aid recipients at GHF sites, and some reports of such activity have been disproven.
Dean withdrew her amendment without requesting a vote.
Dean and Watson Coleman introduced another amendment to encourage the State Department to continue to support the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, which the committee rejected by a party line 35-26 vote.
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) argued against the amendment, saying that no provisions of law would otherwise prohibit aid to the hospital network and that the decision should be left to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to assess where and how humanitarian funding would be best spent.
As part of an amendment package, committee Republicans called for an additional $2 million to be provided in the coming year for the implementation, enforcement and renewal of sanctions on Iran.
The amendment package also included language expressing concern about the Muslim Brotherhood, and requesting a report to Congress on how the State Department is countering “the threats posed” by the group, including visa restrictions.
The amendment package was adopted by a 34-27 vote.
Democrats more broadly criticized Republicans for the significant cuts the bill would enact on the State Department and U.S. foreign aid programs formerly run through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The report requires additional vetting for U.S. funding abroad, targeting the BDS movement and alleged U.S. support for political activity
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at sunset on May 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee’s National Security, Department of State and Related Programs subcommittee are backing a significant increase in funding for the office of the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
The explanatory report accompanying the subcommittee’s 2026 funding bill, which it advanced last week, proposes $2.5 million for the office, up from the $1.75 million provided in 2024 and 2025. The report also includes language calling for increased full-time staff in the office. The full Appropriations Committee will meet to discuss and vote on the bill on Wednesday.
The bill also expands vetting policies for U.S. funding abroad, requiring that no funding be provided to organizations that engage in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, glorify violence or target the U.S. or Israel at the International Criminal Court or International Court of Justice.
Citing unspecified allegations that the U.S. provided assistance to organizations involved in political activity — a potential reference to GOP allegations that the U.S. funded protests against the Israeli government — the report directs the Department of State to expand its vetting procedures “to include an assessment of political neutrality and a review of statements by individuals or organizations that constitute engagement in political advocacy, incitement, or support for terrorism that would cause operational and reputational risks for the United States Government.”
The legislation, as approved by the subcommittee last week, would cut off U.S. funding to various United Nations initiatives, including the U.N.’s general budget.
The report explains that the cuts were motivated in part by the U.N.’s failure to address internal antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. It requests that the State Department report to Congress on the issue, including specific instances of antisemitism and their origins, statements by U.N. agencies or officials that may violate their responsibility to maintain neutrality toward Israel and an assessment of the U.N.’s plan to improve its response to antisemitism.
It also “strongly condemns” the U.N. General Assembly for passing a resolution granting the Palestinian Authority status nearly equivalent to that of a member state, describing the decision as having “undermin[ed] peace and security between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.”
The report states that lawmakers are concerned about the continued relationship between Hamas and Turkey, which has hosted some of the group’s leaders. It makes no mention of the similar — and deeper — relationship between Hamas and Qatar.
The report calls for accountability for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, including demanding that the U.N. address atrocities committed by UNRWA members on Oct. 7, 2023, and UNRWA’s alleged provision of support for and partnership with terrorist groups.
It demands that the U.N. provide unredacted files on these issues, which it has allegedly declined to do thus far, and asks the State Department to present a plan for aiding the Middle East without UNRWA and a report on whether U.S. aid to UNRWA was diverted to or paid the salaries of terrorist groups and their members.
The bill would block U.S. funding to South Africa unless it meets several conditions, including ceasing its cooperation with U.S. adversaries.
It would earmark $5 million for programs in Israel designed to support archeological and cultural heritage, like the City of David. It also urges the State Department to support programs and organizations that back the U.S.-Israel relationship and directs the department to make funding available for humanitarian needs in Israel, such as medical responses to Iranian missile attacks.
It would maintain funding, $50 million annually, for the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act and would provide $50 million for the Middle East Partnership Initiative, which aims to support leadership and public-private partnerships in the Middle East; $10 million for the Middle East Regional Cooperation program, which funds scientific collaboration between Israel and Arab States; and $4 million for cooperative development programs between Israel and the United States in third countries.
The report states that freeing the remaining hostages in Gaza “is a critical United States priority and urges regional partners and allies to intensify their efforts toward achieving this objective.”
The legislation creates new oversight requirements for U.S. aid to Syria, requiring the State Department to notify Congress about aid provided to Syria, to consult with Congress before initiating a new aid program or activity and to ensure that no U.S. aid will benefit members or affiliates of the former Assad regime.
The report expresses concern about antisemitic discrimination in Latin America, “particularly instances of elected leaders fueling prejudice against Jewish communities through social media and official government channels or otherwise neglecting their responsibility,” and encourages them to condemn and work to fight antisemitism.
The report also instructs the State Department to work with U.S. allies toward implementing snapback of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
It also asks the State Department to report to Congress on foreign governments and nonstate actors that are targeting the international Jewish community and using antisemitism and antisemitic symbols.
The report requests that the State Department update Congress on the status of negotiations with the PA to end its terror payments program and expresses support for continued efforts to dismantle Hamas in Gaza, stating that the group continues to pose a threat to the U.S., Israel and other partners.
It further mandates that the State Department update Congress on the situation in southern Lebanon, including the actions of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Armed Forces and the U.N. peacekeeping force and their actions to comply with and enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, which mandates the disarmament of Hezbollah.
And it directs the State Department to present a plan for the future of the U.S.-Egypt relationship, including to consider negotiating a memorandum of understanding between the two countries on security assistance, as the U.S. has in place with Israel.
The report additionally instructs the State Department to ensure sufficient resources are provided to support the Abraham Accords and their expansion, and to work to expand membership in the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement with Bahrain.
Pou is one of the few House Democrats representing a district that President Trump carried in 2024
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Rep.-elect Nellie Pou (D-NJ) speaks during a press conference introducing new members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, DC on November 15, 2024.
The leading Republican candidates in a New Jersey swing district that President Donald Trump narrowly carried in 2024 hold questionable track records on Israel and antisemitism as the GOP targets the district in the midterms next year.
Rosemary Pino, the Clifton, N.J., City Council member who recently entered the race against Rep. Nellie Pou (D-NJ), posted a video last month from a Palestinian flag-raising event in Clifton where speakers accused Israel of genocide.
“The Palestine Flag Raising event was more than a gathering. To everyone who showed up, spoke up, and raised their voices alongside the flag thank you. Your presence matters. Your solidarity matters,” Pino wrote in a Facebook post she shared alongside clips from the event.
The event, hosted by the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, included denunciations by several speakers of Israel, and featured a condemnation of the Trump administration’s deportation policies that it says are aimed at combating antisemitism.
Speakers accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and of deliberately manufacturing a famine in the territory, which a speaker described as a “war crime,” and called for “no money for wars.”
Another speaker at the event condemned the Trump administration’s detention of Columbia University anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, saying, “His story is a reminder that this system seeks to fracture us and oppress and repress our people. It’s part of a broader system designed to criminalize dissent, fracture our communities and punish those who resist it.”
Pino said in a statement to Jewish Insider, “The City of Clifton conducts more than a dozen flag raisings every year. As a Councilwoman, I attend as many of the flag raisings as I can. I attend the flag raisings to show that I care about the various communities in our city, not as a political nor ideological statement.”
“I support the State of Israel, its right to exist, and its right to defend itself,” she added. “I believe that what happened on October 7th was a horrific and evil terrorist act by Hamas. Israel is a strong ally of the United States, and I believe we must maintain that alliance, not cut it.”
Pino continued, “Like President Trump, I support a ceasefire and an end to the hostilities in Gaza. I support a two-state solution where Hamas’s rule of terror ends. I support ensuring humanitarian aid is made available to those who need it. I believe President Trump is working to bring lasting peace to the region, and I support those efforts.”
The PACC organization has a long record of anti-Israel activity. The group sent a bus of community members to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2024 speech to Congress, which devolved into violence and vandalism of D.C.’s Union Station, and the group’s magazine published a poem in its March 2024 issue advocating for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea” — a call for the elimination of Israel.
The flag-raising event Pino attended did not, however, include some of the eliminationist anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric and slogans that have proliferated at other pro-Palestinian events in the past two years, and speakers also called for peace, justice and security for all, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 2023, Pino, as a member of the city council, also expressed concerns about legislation that would have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in Clifton, highlighting concerns from the Arab-American community, according to contemporaneous news reports.
The resolution was ultimately tabled and never passed the city council. Pino also argued against assigning the resolution to be discussed by the Civil Rights Committee, which she chaired, saying the committee was too new at the time and not “equipped to handle this,” adding that “it’s only right that we not pawn it off to the committee.”
Pino told JI, “I strongly condemn antisemitism in all shapes and forms.”
“At the time, there were concerns in the community regarding the [First] Amendment implications of that specific resolution. Although that particular resolution did not pass, the Civil Rights Committee did, in fact, take up the issue,” she continued. “The Committee, and subsequently the City Council, passed a resolution which explicitly condemned antisemitism and called for renewed efforts to combat it in the City of Clifton.”
The 9th Congressional District has significant Jewish and Palestinian populations, making Israel policy and antisemitism potentially critical flashpoints in the upcoming race. It is also an unexpectedly competitive battleground, swinging from backing President Joe Biden by 19 points in the 2020 presidential election to narrowly backing Trump four years later.
Pou is one of only 13 House Democrats representing a district that Trump carried in 2024.
The other Republican candidate in the race, Billy Prempeh, who was the 2024 GOP nominee, was endorsed by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations last year, supported cutting off U.S. aid to Israel to stop the war in Gaza, opposed Israeli strikes on Gaza and opposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
Mayor Andre Sayegh, a potential primary challenger to Pou, also attended the flag-raising event, and delivered a speech.
Pou is a supporter of Israel, though she has a mixed voting record in the House on issues related to Israel and antisemitism.
According to a new poll, Republicans remain the strongest advocates of a muscular American role in world affairs, with 52% supporting America taking a leading role and 47% opposed
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
US Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) (L) and US Senator John Thune (R-SD) (R) listen as US President Donald Trump speaks during a dinner for Republican US Senators in the State Dining Room of the White House July 18, 2025, in Washington, DC.
A newly released CNN poll, conducted this month, illustrates the resilience of a hawkish DNA within the Republican Party and among its voters even amid the rise of an isolationist strain that has sought to gain influence in the GOP during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The poll asked respondents: “Do you think the United States should or should not take the leading role among all other countries in the world in trying to solve international problems?” Overall, 43% took the more active approach, while 56% took a more isolationist view.
Republicans, however, remained the strongest advocates of a muscular American role in world affairs, with 52% supporting America taking a leading role and 47% opposed. By contrast, just 42% of Democrats and 39% of independents shared the more hawkish worldview.
Notably, the shift in more isolationist sentiment was almost entirely driven by Democrats and independents since the last CNN survey in March, which found majority support for significant American global engagement. In the March survey, a 57% majority of Democrats preferred more American involvement in the world, a number that dropped 15 points in the last four months. The Republican share of those preferring American engagement remained steady at 52%.
The results from the CNN polls suggest there’s a more committed core of Republican-voting hawks that is more resilient than the shifting political winds, whereas the Democratic foreign policy worldview appears more dependent on partisanship and what’s happening in the news at the time.
In March, at the time of the first CNN poll, Democrats showed a surge of support for foreign engagement — in large part, because they were responding to the hostile reception Trump delivered at the time to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was seeking American military aid to his country. Back then, Trump wrongly blamed Zelensky for causing the war, and attacked him as a dictator in the run-up to the ugly confrontation at the White House. It was the high point of isolationism in Trump’s second term — and prompted an uptick of hawkishness among Democrats.
But since then, Trump has sharpened his rhetoric against Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to send Ukraine offensive weapons, in a reversal of his previous reluctance. He also decided to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities despite alarmism from an isolationist faction within his party, which turned out to be a major military (and political) success.
A recent Echelon Insights survey underscored that Trump’s hawkish turn has broadened and deepened support for strongly supporting American allies within the party. A clear 49-36% of Trump voters, asked if they supported continuing to give weapons to Ukraine, said yes. When informed that it was Trump’s decision to aid Ukraine further, nearly two-thirds of Trump supporters embraced the decision.
The actions on Capitol Hill are consistent with the polling. When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) proposed a series of amendments cutting off aid to foreign allies, the vast majority of Republicans voted against them. Even on her proposal to cut military aid for Ukraine, 141 of the 217 House Republicans took the pro-Ukraine side.
And when Greene proposed to block missile defense funding that the U.S. gives to Israel, only one other Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), joined her. Indeed, there were more Democrats who joined with MTG (four) than Republicans — in a sign of the “horseshoe theory” of the far left and far right uniting in their extremism.
Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear program appears to have created a momentum shift within the party, pushing back the faction of isolationists seeking to gain influence in the administration but also building support for a familiar brand of muscular engagement that has defined the party for generations.
Asked about any ideological differences between him and Massie, Reed offered a one-word answer: ‘Israel’
Kentucky State Legislature
Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed
Local and national Republicans are eyeing Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed as a potential primary challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), as President Donald Trump and his political allies mount an aggressive effort to unseat the incumbent lawmaker.
Reed, a first-term Kentucky lawmaker, identifies as a supporter of Israel and has offered support for the U.S. strikes on Iran that Massie has vocally opposed.
Massie has long been a thorn in the side of Republicans, opposing many high-profile bills, including Trump’s signature “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill, and is also a regular opponent of U.S. support for Israel and legislation to combat antisemitism. The president’s allies recently launched a $1 million ad blitz against Massie, the opening salvo of a Trump-backed effort to unseat the lawmaker, who has swatted down previous primary challenges.
Reed, in a brief interview with the Louisville Courier Journal this week, said that he has “no plans yet” to enter the House race, and will make a decision on running “when God tells me.” In the meantime, the White House plans to host Reed in Washington in the coming weeks to discuss a potential primary challenge, Politico reported.
Middle East policy is emerging as a key divide between the two Republicans: Asked by the Courier Journal about any ideological differences between him and Massie, Reed offered a one-word answer: “Israel.” Reed’s Kentucky state Senate biography page lists him as a member of the Kentucky-Israel Caucus.
While Massie was one of the most vocal Republican critics in Congress of the Trump administration’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, introducing a war powers resolution that aimed to stop U.S. military action against the Iranian regime, Reed has been openly supportive of the strikes.
“President Trump’s decisive strike on Iran’s nuclear sites was a masterclass in leadership. Using 6 bunker busters from our Air Force B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles from our U.S. Navy submarines, we took out Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan with precision,” Reed said on X. “This bold move may have stopped WW3 before it started. No other military could’ve pulled this off. God bless our American warriors.”
The state lawmaker later described the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran as “another masterclass in leadership.”
“This is what Peace Through Strength looks like,” Reed said. “America doesn’t run from a fight. We stand tall, we stand firm, and under decisive leadership, we win.”
Reed is a former Navy SEAL who now owns two gun stores and was elected to the statehouse in 2024.
The state senator, frequently seen wearing a cowboy hat, was elected in spite of opposition from the Senate Republican caucus, narrowly beating a party-backed candidate by approximately 100 votes in one of the most expensive Kentucky Senate primaries in state history and garnering the support of Massie himself.
At the time, Reed called Massie, “one of America’s greatest congressmen,” and described himself as aligned with Massie, a position that could complicate a primary challenge.
According to Louisville Public Media, Reed is aligned with the informal “liberty wing” of the Kentucky GOP, which takes a harder line on government spending and social conservative issues than the GOP majority.
Asked about Reed’s chances of unseating Massie if he enters the race, Al Cross, a longtime political commentator in Kentucky, referred Jewish Insider to comments he made to the Associated Press that Massie likely remains the favorite given his strong following in his district “made substantial by personal contact, not just social media.”
Elon Musk, the former Trump advisor-turned-rival said this week that he’d donate to support Massie against the Trump-backed challenge.
Reed did not respond to a request for comment from JI.
Democratic Senate contenders haven’t commented on their state party’s adoption of a resolution calling for an Israel arms embargo, among other anti-Israel resolutions
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Voters are lined up at voting booths at Biltmore Forest Town Hall on November 5, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Americans cast their ballots today in the presidential race between Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as multiple state elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress.
The State Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party passed a resolution last weekend calling for an arms embargo on Israel, along with a series of other anti-Israel resolutions, moves that Republicans are already planning to use against statewide candidates as a sign of the party’s leftward drift.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already seized upon the resolutions as a political weapon against current and potential Democratic Senate candidates — including the race for the battleground seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — with pro-Israel voters.
“North Carolina Democrats like Roy Cooper, Jeff Jackson [and] Wiley Nickel are responsible for their Party’s unapologetic appeasement of pro-Hamas radicals,” NRSC spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement, targeting the state’s former governor and former lawmakers, all moderates, with the same broad brush for not speaking out against the state party’s anti-Israel activity.
“Anyone that supports Israel’s right to exist and defend itself must do whatever they can to make sure no North Carolina Democrat is elected to the U.S. Senate in 2026.”
The most prominent Democrats in the state have, thus far, been silent. Gov. Josh Stein; Cooper, the former governor and a likely Senate candidate; Nickel, a former congressman and current Senate candidate; and Jackson, the attorney general and a former congressman all did not respond to requests for comment.
The decision by the North Carolina Democratic Party’s leadership is another blow to the party’s Jewish Caucus — which faced internal opposition as it was forming — who argue that the resolutions are needlessly divisive and distract from what should be the core goal of the party: electing Democrats.
“The Jewish Caucus position is that we need to concentrate on getting a lot more Democrats elected, and we need to change the balance of things in the [North Carolina] House,” Perry Dror, North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus’ 2nd vice president, told Jewish Insider ahead of the weekend meeting. “It’s not going to do a thing to change the situation in the Middle East, it’s just going to divide the party and give all kinds of cannon fodder for the Republicans.”
The North Carolina Democratic Party also did not respond to a request for comment.
A source familiar with the proceedings at the State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting said that the final vote on the embargo resolution was close — a single-digit margin of victory out of hundreds of votes. Some members who had planned to vote against the resolutions were absent.
There was insufficient time for the committee to consider a series of other Israel-related resolutions, including a “Resolution for Democratic Unity,” which “condemns any and all acts of terrorism perpetrated Israel or Hamas” and “calls for the immediate release of Palestinian hostages taken by Israel,” in addition to the hostages being held by Hamas. Per meeting rules, since they were not considered, the resolutions were deemed to have been approved.
“A group of extremely vocal progressives were more interested in their issue, their singular issue, than they were with fighting for things that North Carolinians really are interested in, like what’s going to happen to Medicare and Medicaid, the price of housing, women’s reproductive rights,” Lisa Jewel, the president of the Jewish Caucus, told JI.
Jewel emphasized that the Jewish Caucus’ membership, totaling more than 500, is broad and is not in complete agreement on all issues pertaining to Israel, but the members largely agree that these resolutions will be harmful to the party. She said the Jewish Caucus has tried to work constructively with other groups pushing anti-Israel stances but has been rebuffed, and said party leadership needs to step up and take charge.
Jewel and other Jewish Caucus leaders emphasized that they want to see the party adopt a big-tent approach and focus on practical issues that affect North Carolina and local Democrats’ electoral prospects.
“I just need people to understand that antisemitism in North Carolina is double what it is nationwide. The antisemitic incidents are increasing, and they don’t get that. They don’t understand that their vote … is really affecting us,” Jewel said. “I really appreciate young peoples’ passions, but they don’t always think about what the repercussions are.”
Jewel attributed the issues in part to a lack of leadership from the party’s leaders, whom she said in an interview on Friday had seemed “flustered” by Israel and Middle East issues and took a back seat when they came up, rather than trying to bring party members together.
Caucus leaders said that the push for the anti-Israel resolutions had been growing for several years, and came to a head this year.
Resolutions like these are generated by local precincts and are passed up to the county, then congressional district, then state level, to the Resolutions Committee. The committee had a backlog of hundreds of resolutions to work through from both the current and previous year, which Amy DeLoach, the first vice president of the Jewish Caucus and a member of the Resolutions Committee, told JI before the weekend votes.
“It was literally an unachievable task,” DeLoach said. She said the Resolutions Committee chairs “did the best they could” but were facing “a group that were very persistent” in pressing to prioritize moving the Israel-related resolutions ahead to the full state party, rather than taking additional time to go through normal procedures and allow for further review.
DeLoach said she’s seen firsthand, as a state House candidate, the way that party resolutions can hurt Democratic candidates, blaming her own loss on Republicans tying her to a Progressive Caucus push to legalize drugs.
“These resolutions are nothing but a way to hamper the candidates, and the Jewish Caucus wants to do things that are going to push the Democratic Party forward,” DeLoach said.
Dror said that progressives, members of the Interfaith Caucus, as well as some members of the Muslim and Arab caucuses, “just nonstop harp on Israel.”
The chair of the party’s Interfaith Caucus, days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, defended the attack as “retaliation” for a supposed growth in Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount.
The pragmatic North Carolina senator was the second moderate Hill Republican this weekend to announce retirement plans amid growing polarization
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Sen. Thom TIllis (R-NC) speaks with reporters as he arrives for a vote at the U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) sudden announcement on Sunday that he won’t seek reelection is kicking off one of the most competitive Senate contests of the 2026 cycle, and underscoring the precarious standing for moderate-minded lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Tillis, 64, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, was already expected to face electoral headwinds from both directions in his bid for a third term. His pragmatic instincts angered right-winger Republicans back home while his willingness to ultimately support Trump’s agenda didn’t win him any goodwill with Democrats.
Tillis is the second congressional Republican with a record of winning tough races to retire over the weekend, joining Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who decided to leave Washington amid growing partisanship and polarization. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), another accomplished legislator who occasionally has antagonized his right flank, is also facing a difficult primary campaign against a right-wing opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
North Carolina is one of the Democrats’ strongest opportunities to flip a GOP-held Senate seat next year, and party leaders are hoping former Gov. Roy Cooper decides to run for the open seat. The Cook Political Report said on Sunday it had moved the race from Lean Republican to the “Toss Up” category.
“Cooper — who would likely clear the Democratic field if he runs — faces the prospect of a much easier open seat contest, while Republicans could have to sort out a messy primary field to succeed Tillis that is sure to produce a nominee further to the right than the outgoing GOP senator,” the Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylot wrote.
At least four Republicans have already confirmed they are considering entering the North Carolina Senate race, including Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a North Carolina native; Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC), a freshman who was elected to succeed former GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry last year; Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC), who previously served as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives; and Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), a former urologist elected to the House in 2019.
A source close to Lara Trump, who is married to the president’s son Eric, told NBC News on Monday afternoon that she is “strongly considering jumping in the race.” Asked what the odds were that Trump would get in the race, the source replied: “I’d put it as high as one could be considering it. …The race will be over before it begins.”
Lara Trump, 42, has expressed interest in joining the Senate as far back as 2021, when former Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) retired after becoming the subject of an insider trading probe, an investigation that ultimately ended without him facing criminal charges. She also discussed the possibility of filling the Senate vacancy in Florida left by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year, though that seat ultimately went to Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL), the state’s attorney general.
Among the other GOP names being floated in the race to replace Tillis are Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, who chaired the North Carolina GOP for five years prior to assuming his current role.
In a statement responding to the news of Tillis’ announcement, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, made no mention of the outgoing senator, instead restating the party’s intention to keep the seat in GOP hands.
“President Trump has won North Carolina three times, and the state’s been represented by two Republican senators for over a decade. That streak will continue in 2026 when North Carolinians elect a conservative leader committed to advancing an agenda of opportunity, prosperity, and security,” Scott said in a statement.
On the Democratic side, former Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) has already launched his campaign, though major donors and national Democrats alike are urging Cooper to enter the race. The former two-term governor has told allies he expects to make a decision this summer.
“Thom Tillis’ decision not to run for reelection is another blow to Republicans’ chances as they face a midterm backlash that puts their majority at risk. Even Tillis admits the GOP plan to slash Medicaid and spike costs for families is toxic – and in 2026, Democrats will flip North Carolina’s Senate seat,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Maeve Coyle said.
Tillis’ decision to bow out of politics also has implications for the current Congress. The North Carolina senator suggested in his retirement announcement that he intends to vote his conscience when he has policy disagreements with the president, setting him up as a key swing vote during the remainder of his tenure.
“I look forward to solely focusing on producing meaningful results without the distraction of raising money or campaigning for another election. I look forward to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability,” Tillis said.
Republicans still maintain a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and are still strongly favored to maintain their majority in the upper chamber after next year’s midterms. Democrats need to flip four seats next year to win back the majority.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is expected to be another top Democratic target, but Democrats don’t have a lot of other obvious pickup opportunities aside from North Carolina and Maine. Party leaders may target Texas, especially if Cornyn loses his primary, and are expected to challenge Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in the now-reliably Republican state. Ohio and Florida’s Senate seats, both held by appointed Republicans, may also become competitive if Democrats recruit strong challengers.
Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat who opposed the resolution and Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican who supported it
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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks to reporters on his way to a classified all-Senate briefing
The Senate voted down Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) war powers resolution that would have blocked additional U.S. military action against Iran on Friday evening, with nearly all Democrats voting in favor of the resolution, and almost all Republicans voting against it.
The resolution failed, 53-47, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) being the only Republican to vote in favor and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) being the only Democrat to vote against.
Kaine said in an address prior to the vote that while he acknowledged the need for U.S. military engagement in certain instances, any offensive actions required the approval of the legislative branch.
“The United States needs to defend itself and it needs to work with allies to help them defend themselves,” Kaine said. “But our troops, our sons and daughters, deserve to have wise civilian leadership that only make the decision to send them into war on the basis of careful consideration and a debate before the entire public.”
The Virginia senator, who has long been a champion of enforcing Congressional war powers, argued the president does not have the authority “to go on offense against another nation or an entity like a terrorist group.”
In response, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the most vocal supporters of the strikes in the Senate, said that requiring congressional approval would be a “disaster for the country” and upend the military command structure.
“Since the founding of this country, it’s been understood that the commander in chief can act, as the commander in chief, to protect our nation from threats — that he is in charge of the military. He’s the civilian in charge of the military, and it’s his decision to use military force,” Graham said. He noted that Congress has only declared war five times but engaged in hundreds of military actions, and said Congress can cut off funding for military operations if it does not agree with the executive.
“Just think of the chaos that would ensue in this country if there were not one commander in chief, but 535,” Graham reiterated, adding that the reaction from Congress to the strikes and conflicting intelligence about their efficacy shows that Congress would not be able to act decisively if consulted.
He said it would not be practical for the administration to have to wait for Congress to act in response to a future nuclear facility or threat to U.S. forces, “and that’s not what the founders meant.”
Several Senate Republicans who backed a similar resolution in 2020 following the U.S. strike that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani voted, this time, against the resolution. That list included Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS).
Collins noted in her statement that Iran had “threatened to attack Americans on our own soil and around the world” after Israel launched its operation to take out its nuclear program. She also said she supported the strikes and the subsequent ceasefire, both of which made it “the wrong time to consider this resolution and to risk inadvertently sending a message to Iran that the President cannot swiftly defend Americans at home and abroad.”
“I continue to believe that Congress has an important responsibility to authorize the sustained use of military force. That is not the situation we are facing now,” Collins said. “The president has the authority to defend our nation and our troops around the world against the threat of attack.”
Lee said that determinations around war powers are “heavily fact-dependent.”
“We got a classified briefing yesterday. The totality of the circumstances that they outlined, including the finality of the action they’d taken — there’s no ongoing operations there,” Lee said.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), one of the Senate’s most vocal pro-Israel Democrats, said in a statement that she hopes the strikes are successful in the long-term, that Iran must be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons, that the U.S. must defend its personnel and that she would “continue to back Israel should it need to respond to a break in the agreement.”
“At the same time, the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and authorize any offensive attacks on other sovereign nations,” Rosen said. “The decision to go to war and put our troops in harm’s way is one that cannot be made lightly, and must be made by Congress, which is why I voted today to advance the War Powers Resolution.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who has advocated for a more restrained approach to U.S. foreign policy, dismissed arguments that the War Powers Act was applicable to the strikes ordered by Trump, which he called “an Article II matter.”
“I think, probably, the War Powers Act is unconstitutional. Some parts of the War Powers Act are kind of closer questions, but I think this is actually not very hard. I mean, if a president, any president of any party, cannot order one-off, limited military strikes without the approval of Congress, why do we have Article II?” Hawley asked.
“Go back and read the debates, and exactly what the framers did not want was foreign policy by committee, so I think this is not a close question. You can be opposed to the strikes and still be like, ‘Wow, this is not a good idea, this resolution,’” he told JI, adding that Trump was “100%” acting within his constitutional authority.
Republicans praised the strikes, while most Democrats remained skeptical
Satellite image (c) 2025 Maxar Technologies.
ISFAHAN NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY CENTER, IRAN -- JUNE 22, 2025: 04 Maxar satellite image reveals multiple buildings damaged or destroyed at the Isfahan nuclear technology center after the airstrikes. Charring and roof collapses are visible across the compound.
House lawmakers, like their Senate counterparts, remain divided over the U.S.’ strikes on Iran following a classified briefing Friday morning, with Republicans praising the strikes and most Democrats remaining skeptical.
“This is a historic time that we live in, and this has been an incredible two weeks,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters. “We delivered a major setback [to Iran’s nuclear weapons program[ that resulted in a feeble, face-saving response from Iran and immediately thereafter the ceasefire agreement.”
Johnson said that the U.S. expects that Iran will now join “direct, good-faith negotiations, not through third parties, not through other countries” and agree to a lasting peace deal.
“We’re on the verge of a real peace in the Middle East for the first time in a long time, and that’s because of the decisive leadership in the United States,” the House speaker said.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) suggested that the factors that prompted the strike would likely have spurred past Democratic presidents into action as well. He argued that the exact timeline of how long the strikes had delayed Iran’s nuclear program is not as relevant as whether the strikes, and the threat of further military action, will convince Iran to give up its nuclear program.
“Everyone agrees that it has set them back substantially. It has destroyed vast amounts of very valuable work, above and below ground,” Issa told Jewish Insider. “Now the question is has it done what it was asked to do, which is to give the Iranian leadership a decision to make — one in which they appear to be, and very well might, have abandoned their nuclear ambitions and be willing to come to the table in a different way than they were at the table for the 60 days that President Trump negotiated.”
He added that, given the widespread destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities, including the “above-ground stuff that they did need,” the U.S. and Israel would be able to know if Iran attempted to restart its nuclear program, and could stop them.
“If the Israelis are willing to not let them start building again, or punish them when they do, then, in fact, that’s what the Iranian leadership has,” Issa said. “Let’s just say, hypothetically, they’re pushed back one year. Can they get one year of building without the Israelis pushing it back again? And the answer clearly is no. So that’s their calculation today.”
“The debate is not about how long, anymore,” he continued. “It’s about, really, abandonment, or at least a pause in which they take no action.”
Asked whether the briefing had provided any clarity as to the Iranian leadership’s thinking on that issue, Issa declined to say, explaining that that information would be highly classified, but said he’d met with anti-regime Iranian diaspora activists the night before who believe that the 12-day Israeli bombardment was a “wake-up call” for the Iranian regime which could also embolden the Iranian people.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees, told reporters that the U.S. strikes had “destroyed” their targets — one that he emphasized was achieved without the need for a massive U.S. invasion force or a protracted war.
“This was a spectacular success, spectacular under any measure whatsoever, spectacular with no casualties,” Perry told JI.
He said the briefers had shared information about how much Iran’s nuclear program had been delayed, but said he was not able to share it publicly.
House Democrats remained more cautious about the situation.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee who is a lead sponsor of a war powers resolution aiming to block further U.S. military action against Iran without congressional approval, said that it is “pretty clear there was no imminent threat to the United States,” beyond the ongoing Iranian threat to the world.
“I have not seen anything to suggest that the threat from the Iranians was radically different last Saturday than it was two Saturdays ago,” that would have justified a unilateral strike without the consent of Congress, Himes told JI.
“The objective here has been a little bit of a moving target,” Himes continued. “And I think we actually got a clear statement of objective today, which was, you know, the secretary of state said it. The objective was to set back or destroy Iranian, Iranian nuclear capability in the service of bringing them to the table. He was clear on that point.”
But he said that the briefing did not indicate that any diplomatic “overtures or discussions” are actually currently underway.
Himes said that the administration has been using “a lot of very sloppy adjectives, like ‘obliterated'” to describe the outcome of the strikes, and said it’s “still too early to tell exactly how much” damage the strikes had done.
He said that the briefing affirmed that the U.S.’ goal in the strikes was not to eliminate Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, which “must be accounted for at some point.”
Himes has been publicly frustrated about the administration’s failure to notify him and other senior Democrats about the strike beforehand — he told reporters that he learned about it on X while sitting on his couch on Saturday night — but said that the briefing was “a good start.”
Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told JI that “90% of what I heard in there is public,” when asked if anything he learned in the briefing had impacted his views on the necessity or justification for the strike.
Meeks is another lead sponsor of the war powers resolution, with Himes.
Another House Democrat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive briefing, similarly told JI he “didn’t learn anything that was helpful in drawing a judgement,” and that there was “nothing that you walk away thinking, ‘Well, I learned this, and therefore I might consider whether I can draw an independent judgement on whether this was necessary or not.’”
“I got nothing out of it that I didn’t already think I had walking in,” they continued.
The Democrat said that military leaders had “brilliantly” executed the plan they were told to carry out, but there are still questions about the decision-making and judgement of the administration’s civilian leadership.
“One of the problems that you have … is when you pick such highly partisan heads of departments, you don’t know if the person has got sufficient experience to make certain judgements,” the Democrat said.
Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told JI, “It’s going to take time to get a full assessment and understanding exactly, exactly the extent of any damages and timelines and things of that nature.”
Bell added, “In order to effectively ensure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s going to have to be a coordinated effort. Obviously, you have to have credible military deterrence, as we’ve seen. Then there also has to be a commitment to the diplomatic side.”
He added that lawmakers agree on a bipartisan basis that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
Adams, in launching his campaign Thursday, said the race is between ‘a candidate with a blue collar’ and one with a ‘silver spoon’
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference at City Hall on June 26, 2025 in New York City.
Days after New York state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s stunning upset in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, an emerging effort to block his path to Gracie Mansion is now beginning to materialize among a coalition of Jewish community leaders, business executives and Republican donors who have expressed alarm about his far-left policies and strident opposition to Israel.
While still in its nascent stage, the anti-Mamdani coalition is coalescing behind Eric Adams, the embattled mayor who skipped the primary to run as an independent and launched his reelection bid on Thursday. The mayor, who a day before in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” had called Mamdani a “snake-oil salesman,” is gearing up for a public brawl with the 33-year-old assemblyman and democratic socialist aiming to unseat him.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon,” Adams said in his campaign announcement on the steps of City Hall, depicting Mamdani, the son of a Columbia University professor and a filmmaker, as privileged.
Political strategists say Mamdani, who upset former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary and would enter the general election as the presumptive front-runner, is a formidable nominee, particularly as the scandal-tarred mayor confronts dismal favorability numbers owing largely to the federal corruption charges he avoided while forging an unpopular alliance with the Trump administration.
But some opponents of Mamdani view Adams as the most effective vehicle to stop the presumptive Democratic nominee from winning in November, and are readying for a fight. Among other possible efforts now in the works is a “big push” to create an independent expenditure committee backed by real estate executives and other donors to boost Adams’ campaign, according to one consultant familiar with the matter.
“That’s definitely going to happen,” the consultant told Jewish Insider on Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing private deliberations. “People aren’t going to be taking this easy and just dealing with Mamdani,” he explained, noting the pro-Israel donor community could join the outside spending effort. “I’m sure some people are, but the people who have a lot to lose aren’t.”
Eric Levine, a top Republican fundraiser in New York City, endorsed Adams on Wednesday and said in an interview that he believes it is a “feasible” goal to reelect the mayor, provided that Cuomo stays out of the race and Curtis Sliwa, the GOP nominee, ends his campaign in order to avoid splintering the vote.
While Cuomo has yet to confirm if he will run on an independent ballot line, Sliwa has rejected growing calls for him to step aside. Jim Walden, a lawyer, is also running as an independent in what has become an unusually crowded race.
Levine, a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said that he had received overwhelmingly positive responses since announcing his support for Adams in an email sent to 2,000 people — including from Democrats who backed Cuomo in the primary. “I’ve gotten feedback from a lot of people that this is a five-alarm fire and they’re going to line up behind Adams,” Levine told JI on Thursday, adding that he was “seriously considering” organizing a fundraiser for Adams and is hopeful Republican leaders would attend.
One strategist suggested that Adams could face backlash for campaigning with Republicans in the heavily Democratic city, especially as he has drawn scrutiny over his ties to the Trump administration. But the mayor will likely need to win support from a significant portion of GOP voters if he has any hope of building a viable coalition that has included Black and Orthodox Jewish residents whom Mamdani, with a long record of anti-Israel activism, has struggled to win over.
“Eric Adams has been a friend since his first days in office,” Leon Goldenberg, an executive board member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, said in a social media post. “Fighting antisemitism and standing with the Jewish community is in his DNA. The stakes are very high.”
The Jewish community, which overwhelmingly backed Cuomo in the primary, is expected to throw its support behind Adams, promising to deliver key voting blocs in November. Adams, who announced his reelection campaign alongside Orthodox leaders on Thursday, has long-standing ties to the community and during the primary engaged in a covert pressure campaign to try to influence the endorsement deliberations as Cuomo won backing from major Hasidic sects.
Leon Goldenberg, an executive board member of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, said on Thursday he was supporting Adams’ campaign, the first endorsement from an Orthodox leader in what is anticipated to be many more heading into the fall.
“Eric Adams has been a friend since his first days in office,” Goldenberg, who has expressed concerns about Mamdani’s rise, said in a social media post. “Fighting antisemitism and standing with the Jewish community is in his DNA. The stakes are very high.”
Shabbos Kestenbaum, an Orthodox activist close to the Trump administration, has backed Adams and is also now seeking to rally support for his bid while urging Sliwa to drop out of the race. He said he was not yet at liberty to divulge specific names, but told JI he had been in communication with “Wall Street executives” as well as “young student activists” and a range of religious leaders about working to reelect Adams.
“There has really been a profound resurgence of a diverse coalition who truly, truly are terrified of Mamdani’s socialist dystopian future for New York City,” Kestenbaum said.
Still, no major financial commitments appear to have been made yet, even as Adams reportedly met with business leaders this week to discuss the race. “People haven’t made decisions,” said a person who has met with donors about the election. “Those types of decisions can’t be made in two or three hours.”
“A lot of people are talking about Eric. I just don’t see it in terms of being a contender,” George Arzt, a veteran political consultant, told JI. “Mamdani is very articulate. He is very likable. He’s got to prove himself to the real estate community and to the Jewish community.”
Jay Martin, executive vice president of the New York Apartment Association, said his organization “isn’t making any decisions for a little while,” but he added that his peers in the industry would likely be rallying behind the mayor. “I think they are going to see what they can do with Adams at the moment,” he told JI.
Mamdani, who has won some support from Democratic leaders since Tuesday’s primary, has dismissed the gestating efforts to corral support for Adams, saying that they will prove ineffective as his movement continues to gain traction. “What we have shown in this primary is our ability to overcome the same billionaires who may fund Eric Adams’s re-election campaign,” he told The New York Times, “and ultimately we’re able to do so because of the power of New Yorkers across the five boroughs.”
George Arzt, a veteran political consultant, said he was doubtful Adams would be able to win re-election as mayor, even as he acknowledged that there are “a lot of people” in the real estate industry and the Jewish community who are “very worried” about Mamdani, who has proposed rent freezes while defending calls to “globalize the intifada,” among other things.
“A lot of people are talking about Eric. I just don’t see it in terms of being a contender,” Arzt told JI. “Mamdani is very articulate. He is very likable. He’s got to prove himself to the real estate community and to the Jewish community.”
Jerry Skurnik, a senior consultant for Engage Voters U.S., a political consulting firm, said that “it will be very hard to defeat Mamdani in November,” noting that after the ranked-choice voting count is finalized, “he’ll have received over 500,000 votes.”
“That’s a pretty good start to a majority as he’ll have opportunity to then add votes from Democrats who didn’t vote in the primary and Democratic-leaning independents,” Skurnik added, before including a caveat. “On the other hand, I didn’t think Mamdani had a chance to win the primary until recently, so I don’t rule out anything.”
GOP operatives told JI they expect Mamdani to prominently feature in future ads and broader messaging targeting Democrats nationwide
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U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) questions U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Republican campaign operatives say they intend to tie vulnerable Democratic candidates to Zohran Mamdani, the presumed winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, over his far-left policies.
Mamdani’s victory on Tuesday evening was met with surprise and intrigue within GOP campaign circles, with operatives saying his win provides an opening to force Democratic candidates to say on-record if they align with the 33-year-old democratic socialist’s vision for the nation’s biggest city and long history of anti-Israel activism. GOP operatives told Jewish Insider they expect Mamdani to prominently feature in future ads and broader messaging targeting Democrats nationwide.
“Socialist Zohran Mamdani has demonstrated he’s proudly antisemitic and anti-Israel, supports criminals over law-abiding citizens, and wants to crush New Yorkers with even higher costs. Mamdani is dangerously wrong, and Republicans will make sure that every single voter remembers that House Democrats are still too cowardly to condemn him,” Maureen O’Toole, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans’ campaign arm, told JI.
The NRCC has already seized on Mamdani’s candidacy to attack vulnerable swing district New York Democratic Reps. Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi — both of whom distanced themselves from Mamdani on Wednesday.
“If Republicans, in such a public fashion, nominated someone so fringe and so extreme and so outside of the mainstream, there would be calls for condemnation. There would be calls for Republicans to denounce them,” a GOP campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of how the party will respond to Mamdani’s political ascent. “We’d like there to be calls to separate themselves from Democrats.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee last cycle, said Republicans should amplify Mamdani as the new face of the Democratic Party.
“It’s a reflection of how crazy the Democrats have become that they would nominate, the left would nominate that kind of candidate. It’s a frightening development,” Daines told JI.
Daines’ view is shared by several senior GOP campaign operatives, all of whom believe Mamdani can be presented to voters as the new figurehead of the Democratic Party.
“From a political standpoint, this takes the party’s most polarizing progressive and puts them on a national stage. It’s a big opportunity for us. There’s gonna be massive ramifications on the national level. It’s a real gift for Republicans,” a longtime GOP campaign operative told JI.
Officials familiar with GOP strategy in House and Senate races predicted Suozzi, Gillen and Reps. Pat Ryan (D-NY), Josh Riley (D-NY) and Nellie Pou (D-NJ) would be targeted with ads tying them to Mamdani, given the proximity of each of their districts to the city.
Republicans are also likely to single out Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), and Adbul El-Sayed, a candidate running for the Democratic nomination to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), as being aligned with Mamdani on policy.
“I think Democrats have a real issue on their hands. What will we be talking about for the remainder of this New York election and going into the next year? We’ll be asking if a socialist can lead the Democrat Party, if a socialist can be the next face of the party,” a Republican official involved in Senate races said.
“We’re going to be profiling these candidates like they’re AOC and Ilhan Omar, people that align more closely with Mamdani. We’re not going to be talking about the moderates in the Democrat Party anymore, we’re not even talking about Democrat leadership,” the official said. “We’re going to talk about the most radical and fringe members of the party. I think you’re going to see some lifeblood pumped into the campaigns of some Republicans as a result.”
News of the ceasefire united all factions in the Republican party behind Trump; even some Democrats welcomed the diplomatic development
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA)
Republicans are publicly lauding President Donald Trump’s ceasefire between Israel and Iran as an example of his “peace through strength” approach to foreign policy.
Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” that will bring an end to the war. “This is a war that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, alluding to criticism that he was dragging the U.S. into another prolonged Middle East conflict.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters on Monday evening that the news of a ceasefire was “incredible,” saying, “This is what peace through strength looks like.”
“This is what real leadership yields, and we’re certainly grateful for the decisive leadership of President Trump,” Johnson said, adding that he would expect “that Iran will bring an end to their nuclear enrichment program and that there will be a lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Jewish Insider that he’s “very much pleased” by the news.
Pressed on whether he’s concerned that the deal could give Iran breathing room to rebuild its nuclear program, Kennedy said, “There’s this rule when you practice law, when you’ve won for the judge, you shut up. OK? You don’t keep talking. It’s a ceasefire. We won. We ought to take our victory.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said he viewed the ceasefire as a “very good development.”
“I think the question now is how do we get to a place where we can get to a deterrence posture, a containment posture for Iran for the long haul, that will keep them in their box, keep Iran in their box, but will also allow us, the United States, to draw down our troop and military presence in the region,” Hawley told reporters.
Asked about his initial concerns about the potential consequences of an offensive strike on Iran’s nuclear program, Hawley replied, “If he can get a ceasefire out of it, listen, I support the president and want him to succeed, so this is good progress.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) praised the president for having the discipline to execute the mission of degrading Iran’s nuclear program without pulling the U.S. into a broader war.
“There are a lot of voices out there, here in permanent Washington, that wanted more engagement [in the conflict]. And President Trump, I think he had that restraint and that instinct to do what needed to be done to bring about peace,” Schmitt said during a Fox News appearance.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) wrote on X that the president “accomplished peace through strength” with the announcement of a deal. “If this ceasefire is upheld by both Iran and Israel, it will bring a successful conclusion to this 12 Day War and a major victory for President Trump. This demonstrates how critical it is to have a state of the art and well-funded military, as well as a President who recognizes the art of the deal,” Rounds wrote.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) wrote in a lengthy thread on X that, “President Trump has long understood that the American people never supported ‘forever wars’ with unclear goals and no clear metrics for success. But at the same time, President Trump understands that when it comes to setting a red line, he will actually follow through and enforce it, sending a clear message that our enemies in Beijing and elsewhere should heed.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) praised Trump for carrying out this weekend’s operation without embroiling the U.S. in a deeper conflict.
“President Trump has always been clear: the era of Forever Wars abroad is over. He was able to DECIMATE the Iranian nuclear program without boots on the ground, any dead Americans or a new regime change war. He’s 100% right that it’s time to push for peace,” Moreno posted on X.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) described the deal as “historic” and hailed Trump as “The President of Peace!”
“President Trump’s restoring peace through strength. It’s good for America and for the world. Let’s continue to pray for the president, our service members and for a lasting peace,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) wrote on X.
“Our great nation and the world is a better and safer place because of President Trump’s bold leadership. … He took decisive action to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program to bring peace,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a member of House leadership, said in a statement. “President Trump told our allies and adversaries we would always put America First and achieve peace through strength.”
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), one of the few congressional Democrats who supported the strikes, suggested that the ceasefire puts to rest fears that many had expressed about a protracted war in the Middle East.
“Now there’s a ceasefire … so the fear of an un-ending war apparently is not there, in part I think because Iran thinks we’re serious,” Hoyer continued. “I’ve always hoped that we were prepared to follow up on our rhetoric that [a nuclear Iran] was an unacceptable alternative, which I think Trump has done.”
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a co-chair of the House Jewish Caucus, said on X that he hoped “this announced ceasefire truly brings an end to the war. A diplomatic path to reversing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and permanently dismantling Iran’s nuclear development programs is preferable to war.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the other Jewish Caucus co-chair, said he welcomed “the news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The violence has cost too many innocent lives and inflicted too much destruction on innocent civilians” and that he hoped the deal would put the region on a path to a durable peace.
Other national security-focused House Democrats highlighted the risks of Trump’s actions if they did not successfully eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.
“If you take this shot, you have to land it, and it’s a very hard shot to land,” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) told JI when news of the ceasefire emerged, arguing that the situation highlighted the need for Congress to assert a role in war-making authorities.
“Taking the shot and not landing it is incredibly dangerous and risky because now the risk to break out — there’s no reason for them to hold back, whereas before we at least had some sense that there was an effective deterrent,” Ryan continued. “They have every reason to race to break out now.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, emphasized that the success of the strikes is very uncertain at this point, and that he would be “most worried about an Iran that goes silent right now.”
“If Iran goes silent right now, what are they doing? Are they actually developing something?
Dana Stroul, the research director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, told JI that declaring a ceasefire before the full impact of U.S. strikes over the weekend had been determined could be risky.
“The major risk of declaring the ceasefire now without verifying the damage to Iranian capabilities is that it leaves intact enough of the program or the stockpile of enriched uranium — secure within Iran — providing the regime a path to rebuild at some point in the future,” Stroul said.
“After staking U.S. credibility on eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, hopefully President Trump can explain to the international community and Israel that a ceasefire at this time opens the door to urgent diplomacy that ends Iran’s threats and sets the region on a more stable trajectory,” Stroul continued. “What we don’t know right now is what kind of regime we face on the other side of Israeli and American military strikes. Is the regime ready to make the necessary concessions?”
Trump’s announcement of a deal came hours after Iran’s missile attack on U.S. bases in Qatar and Iraq. Despite their later praise for the ceasefire, the Iranian attack initially prompted some Republicans to call for an aggressive American response, while others in the party argued that they should be viewed as a sign of Tehran’s willingness to avoid escalating the conflict.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was of the view that the attack was a sign of the regime’s understanding of its weaknesses.
“My view, based on totally open source news, is that this was a face-saving move on the part of the Iranian regime. They felt they had to retaliate as a matter of honor, but they wanted to make sure the response was not escalatory,” Wicker told JI.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he saw Iran’s response as an admission from the regime that it lacks the military capacity to be able to escalate the conflict. The Pennsylvania senator noted that he has been saying since last year that “Iran can’t fight for s***” while dismissing claims that the regime had the capacity to create broader, long-term conflict against the West.
“If you can’t defend your own airspace, you don’t have anything left. … Israeli air supremacy is everything, but they [Iran] can’t defend their own airspace. They can’t defend anything, and so they definitely can’t project s***,” Fetterman told JI in an interview on Monday.
“Right now, it’s not an escalation. … I don’t see it like that. I think it was a different shade of a white flag. I’m not surprised by this. In fact, I honestly expected they would do something. You know, they have to do some things for their domestic audience,” he continued.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued that the attack served as evidence of the regime’s weakened state following the U.S. and Israel’s military operations.
“This weekend, President Trump took decisive action to fully disable the regime’s main nuclear facilities. The regime is weak, flailing, and lashing out dangerously. If harm comes to an American as a result of their continued violence, I have full confidence that President Trump will again respond decisively,” Cruz said in a statement.
‘I think I can play that role. I'm willing to do it. Certainly happy to share the spotlight with the other three [Jewish Republicans] if they wish to do it, but, but this is deeply personal to me,’ Fine told JI
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) holds a seal of the House that he bought 30 years ago after he is sworn in by U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol on April 02, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) believes that he was sent to Congress, at least in part, to take a leading role in fighting for the Jewish community against antisemitism.
Fine, during a lengthy interview with Jewish Insider in his congressional office earlier this month, said he sees himself as having a mostly unique ability among House members to help tackle the rise of antisemitism nationwide, as one of only four Jewish Republicans in the lower chamber.
“I think I can play that role. I’m willing to do it. Certainly happy to share the spotlight with the other three [Jewish Republicans] if they wish to do it, but, but this is deeply personal to me,” the Republican firebrand said. “This affects my children and so I understand it better than others.”
He has recently taken to wearing a kippah on the Hill at the request of one of his sons, as a symbol for those in the Jewish community for those who do not feel safe doing the same.
“I believe that God puts us where he wants us to be,” Fine said, describing his quick rise from the Florida House to the state Senate — where he served for only a few months — and then to an unexpected vacancy in Congress. “This must be why. This is what He wants me to do. … I think this is one of the reasons that I am here, to solve this problem, much like we did in Florida.”
He said that he is in Congress to fight for his district, but that he believes can also be a fighter for the entire Jewish community and “everyone who believes in the idea of Judeo-Christian values.”
Fine sees the war in Gaza and the global rise of antisemitism as a civilizational battle against extremist groups — both Hamas and anti-Israel forces in the United States — that want to see a global Islamic caliphate and are “spiritual cousins” of the Nazi regime. His often-hardline rhetoric on these issues has frequently sparked controversy.
He argued that it “remains to be seen” if the House Republican caucus and leadership are serious about the issue, saying that there has been a “great willingness to pass strongly worded letters, but I didn’t come here to do strongly worded letters.”
Asked about Trump administration officials with a history of antisemitic rhetoric such as Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson and Office of Special Counsel nominee Paul Ingrassia, Fine demurred, saying he wasn’t familiar with the officials or their backgrounds and would want to examine them further before speaking about them.
At another point in the interview, Fine said that President Donald Trump and members of his team know that he’s not “afraid to call [antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes] out on our side.”
“I’ve been very critical publicly of Thomas Massie, who I think is an embarrassment to the Republican Party,” Fine volunteered, referring to the libertarian-minded House member from Kentucky. “The guy makes me sick that I have to be in the same room with him at times.”
Massie did not respond to a request for comment.
He also said that, while he hasn’t had a chance to meet many of the Jewish Democrats in Congress yet, he’s willing to “work with anyone who wants to solve this problem, but I think that it helps to have someone in the majority to take the lead.”
He named Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a former colleague in the Statehouse and his neighbor in the House offices, as a likely Democratic partner on future efforts. He said he’d also spoken on occasion with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), whose office is across the hall from Fine’s. Goldman also co-chairs the House antisemitism task force.
”The fight against antisemitism is a moral one that must cross party lines and transcend political divisions,” Goldman told JI. “I am eager to work with Congressman Fine and anyone else committed to the fight against bigotry and hate towards the Jewish community and anyone else.”
Fine argued that Florida, his home state, has developed a successful strategy for dealing with antisemitism and antisemitic violence, a trend for which he believes he holds significant responsibility, pointing to multiple pieces of legislation he passed while in the Statehouse.
Antisemitic incidents in Florida dropped 24% in 2024, but were still up 277% from 2020, according to Anti-Defamation League statistics.
“This can all be done. We largely solved this problem in Florida,” Fine said in a prior interview with JI. “If you are willing to fight, if you do not let Muslim terrorists scare you, you can win. … We do not have these same problems in Florida and it is because I fought for this for eight and a half years. This is fixable, but not if we continue to be afraid to face evil and not be afraid to call it evil.”
“All the antisemites discover free speech when it comes to the Jews. You can’t call a black student the N word and go, ‘Free speech,’” Fine said. “We said, ‘You’ve got to treat antisemitism the same way. You don’t get to discriminate in how you deal with discrimination.’ We’ve identified certain behaviors, not speech, but certain behaviors that antisemites used to target Jews. We made them illegal, and we put in huge penalties for doing them. They stopped.”
He offered as one example legislation allowing people to run over demonstrators blocking roads — ”blocking roads is a form of terrorism,” Fine said — which he said had stopped that issue in Florida.
As another example, he said that antisemitism is treated “the exact same way as racism” on college campuses in Florida. He argued that free speech has been used as a cover for antisemitic activity that would be unequivocally condemned if it targeted another minority group.
“All the antisemites discover free speech when it comes to the Jews. You can’t call a black student the N word and go, ‘Free speech,’” Fine said. “We said, ‘You’ve got to treat antisemitism the same way. You don’t get to discriminate in how you deal with discrimination.’ We’ve identified certain behaviors, not speech, but certain behaviors that antisemites used to target Jews. We made them illegal, and we put in huge penalties for doing them. They stopped.”
He added that rhetoric like “globalize the intifada” constitutes a call for violence and should be an imprisonable offense.
Fine also noted that he passed legislation to provide dedicated security funding for Jewish day schools in Florida, the first state to do so.
The newly-elected congressman told JI, in the sit-down in his congressional office, that he’s entering Congress in a different position than he did in the Florida House in 2016, when antisemitism was not an issue he expected to work on.
That changed six months into his term, when a spate of bomb threats targeted Jewish day schools in Florida. He said the Orthodox Union approached him at that time to ask him to lead the security legislation for Jewish day schools. He said he was initially reluctant to do so, given that his district contained no Jewish day schools, but was told that “you’re the only one who can.”
“It was incredibly hard to get the funding,” Fine said. “I learned from that, ‘If I don’t do this, no one else will.’ And the difference in coming to Congress is I knew walking in the door that this would be part of what I came here to do.”
His work in Florida earned him the nickname “the Hebrew Hammer,” from a friend in the Florida legislature, Sen. Joe Gruters. That nickname now adorns a plaque gifted to him by the Orthodox Union’s Teach Coalition that hangs on his congressional office’s wall — next to shofar — as well as a mezuzah on his office door.
Fine said he was initially reluctant to accept the nickname, but it caught on anyway.
Looking toward the Middle East, the Florida congressman has attracted controversy for his calls for an aggressive bombing campaign in Gaza to force Hamas into an unconditional surrender. (Contrary to some reports, Fine has denied that he wants to see the territory nuked.)
He has also argued that “Palestinians in Gaza are on a level of evil that we saw in Japan and we saw in Germany back in World War II.”
Fine’s comments about Palestinians and Muslims — he argues that support for peace and coexistence is more “radical” and unusual in the Muslim community than extremist ideologies — have elicited repeated accusations of Islamophobia.
Asked about the administration’s push for a negotiated cease-fire with Hamas, Fine described Trump as a dealmaker who believes that any deal is possible “and I hope that he’s right.” He said he believes Trump is also focused on returning the hostages.
Fine said some interim deals with Hamas may be possible along the way, but he does not anticipate that Hamas will agree to a final and full surrender “unless the pain is sufficiently great to do that.”
Beyond the war, he said that there must be a “deprogramming” effort in Gaza, similar to that undertaken in post-World War II Germany, to counter the antisemitic hate and violence inculcated in the Palestinian population. It’s a process that he said may take a long time.
“One of the biggest problems we have in the world is there is evil in this world and people refuse to acknowledge it,” Fine said, pointing to audio that circulated following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel of a Palestinian mother and her son crying with joy as the son exclaimed that he had murdered Jews in the attack. “These are not like us. This is not someone that you can sit down and break bread with and just talk it out. This is someone who must be defeated,” Fine said.
Though Fine argues that extremist antisemitic sentiments are mainstream among Muslims, he said that there are countries like the United Arab Emirates that are safe for Jews, and he’d like to see a similar change among Palestinians.
He said he doesn’t have the answers at this point on which country our countries can organize and lead the deprogramming effort — in an “ideal world, it might be a UAE or a Saudi Arabia,” but they may not “want the headache.”
“It might be Israel. There are 2 million Muslims who live in Israel,” Fine said. “I don’t think Israel wants the job, but that may be the only solution. I don’t know, but what you can’t do is you can’t have terrorists run the show. That much I know.”
“What I think we need to be doing is taking out Iran’s nuclear capabilities and hope that in the process of that, the Iranian people, who are a great people, will rise up and make Persia great again,” Fine said on CNN.
Asked about the future of the West Bank — which Fine refers to as Judea and Samaria — Fine said that he would prefer that Israelis and Palestinians be able to live in peace, but he is not sure that is a possibility, suggesting that the Palestinians “may have to go to the Palestinian country and live there,” referring to Jordan, which has a large Palestinian population.
“Right now, they live in the Jewish country, so I think the best outcome is they say, ‘Hey, we want to be happy, collaborative, constructive members of Israeli society,’” Fine said. “That’s what I hope happens. I don’t think there’s any reason why everyone shouldn’t be able to get along … But I think you have something broken in that society.”
Fine, who spoke to JI prior to the start of Israel’s military campaign in Iran, has repeatedly praised Israel’s strikes, backing President Donald Trump’s approach to the conflict.
“What I think we need to be doing is taking out Iran’s nuclear capabilities and hope that in the process of that, the Iranian people, who are a great people, will rise up and make Persia great again,” Fine said on CNN.
“The overwhelming majority of Republicans stand with Israel and support what I’m supporting, which is supplying Israel with the material they need to beat this genocidal Iranian regime,” Fine added.
He has criticized individuals like Tucker Carlson who have called for the U.S. to abandon Israel, characterizing opposition to the operation as fueled by “Qatar-funded troll farms.”
“The bombings will continue until morale improves,” Fine has also said, repeatedly invoking one of his catch-phrases: “bombs away.”
Prior to the strikes, Fine said he was skeptical of Iran’s willingness to abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon through talks, but said he was going to trust Trump to try to reach a deal, describing a deal as preferable to a war. He emphasized that Iran cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
And he said he would not support a deal with Iran that does not address its support for terrorism — which Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said was not part of the talks — arguing that funding from sanctions relief is fungible and Iran can divert it toward malign activities.
But he also said that he did not want to “judge until I see the end product,” saying he has “a lot of confidence in the president. He has been Israel’s greatest champion, American Jews’ greatest champion. And I don’t think he’s going to sell us out.”
He noted as well that he is close to Trump and members of the administration and that Trump knew he would be coming to Congress as a Jewish member and a champion for Israel.
The freshman congressman expressed deep criticisms of Qatar, saying he was “convinced” that opposition to him in his congressional special election race, totaling around $10 million in support of his opponent’s campaign, was “largely funded by Qatar.” He suggested that out-of-state volunteers for his opponent he met on the campaign trail had been paid to come to the district.
Democrats, energized by opposition to Trump, mobilized for the race, bringing it closer than most anticipated it would be.
Asked how his views of Qatar color his opinion of the Gulf state’s offer of a Boeing 747 to the administration for use as Air Force One and Trump’s dealmaking with the Qatari government, Fine said, “I think the president, to try to resolve issues, believes sometimes in offering big carrots. He’s a big guy, big carrot, big stick. I think he’s trying to embrace them into our way of thinking. Maybe it will work.”
He said that giving the jet to the United States, purported to be worth around $400 million, will, at minimum, deprive the country of $400 million it could otherwise provide to Hamas, “but I do have real reservations about Qatar. I think there’s a lot of bad that comes out of there, and it’s a concern that I have.”
He said that the kingdom must stop its donations of millions of dollars to U.S. universities and the U.S. should dig into the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar’s relationship with it. He suggested that Qatar’s army of lobbyists in Washington might attempt to block impending efforts to designate that organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
“I don’t back down from a fight … I’m not here focused on what’s next or [an] election. I’m here to do the right thing,” Fine said. “I don’t engage in political calculations to do what I do. I think Qatar is a problem, and I think we’re gonna have to deal with it.”
The Jewish Republican had previously expressed concerns about his personal safety in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) leaves for a break during a House Republican Steering Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), one of four Jewish Republicans in the House, said on Thursday that his car was run off the road by a pro-Palestinian activist who threatened his and his family’s lives, earlier in the day.
“If you have an issue with a legislator, your city councilman, your mayor, anyone like that, the appropriate thing to do is to reach out to them for a phone call to set up a meeting at one of our district offices,” Miller said in an angry video posted on Thursday afternoon on X. “What is not OK is to assault anyone, whether you’re a member of Congress or anybody else within our district while you are driving to work.”
Miller said in the video that on his way to work in his district on Thursday morning, an “unhinged, deranged man” leaned on his car horn and ran Miller off the road “when he couldn’t get my attention, to show me a Palestinian flag, not to mention ‘death to Israel, death to me’ — that he wanted to kill me — and my family.”
He explained in the X post that the man threw a Palestinian flag out of his car before driving off and threatened his life and his family’s lives. Miller did not specify what the individual said.
Miller said that he had reported the incident to local and U.S. Capitol Police, and that the individual had been identified and would face consequences. Local and Capitol Police did not respond to requests for comment and no announcements of any arrests have been made so far.
“We will not hide, and I will continue to fight against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate,” Miller said. “You have an issue? Take it to our office. You want to run me off the road? That’s a different story.”
The incident comes just days after a man shot two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses at their homes, killing Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, impersonating a law enforcement officer; the man carried with him what authorities have characterized as a target list containing the names of lawmakers, including numerous House Democrats, from Minnesota and other nearby states.
It also comes amid a string of violent antisemitic attacks by anti-Israel extremists that have targeted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, an American Jewish Committee event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington and a hostage awareness event in Boulder, Colo.
Multiple Jewish House members, including Miller, have expressed concerns for their personal safety since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, and the Minnesota shootings have sparked broader concerns about lawmaker safety this week.
House leaders condemned the incident.
“What happened to Max this morning is yet another outrageous example of unhinged rhetoric inspiring unstable people to threaten and attack elected officials who are serving their communities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said. “We must turn down the temperature in this country.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on Congressman Max Miller and his family and are thankful they are safe,” Democratic leaders Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) in a joint statement. “The rise in political violence in this country is unacceptable. This is a moment of crisis that requires Congress to act decisively in order to ensure the safety of every single Member who serves in the People’s House.”
The Texas senator's appearance on Carlson's podcast went from civil to contentious as the two sparred over Israel, Iran, AIPAC
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Sen. Ted Cruz on Tucker Carlson's podcast in an episode aired June 18, 2025.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) interview on Tucker Carlson’s podcast published on Wednesday devolved into a shouting match at times between the two GOP heavyweights, with insults and charges of ignorance and antisemitism dominating the two-hour conversation between one of the Republican Party’s biggest pro-Israel champions and one of the most vocal critics of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The interview was relatively civil for the first hour, but began to devolve when Carlson and Cruz started debating the benefits of the U.S. relationship with Israel and the merits of Israel and the United States allegedly spying on one another.
Carlson pressed Cruz to say that allies spying on one another was wrong, which Cruz responded to by asking why Carlson and others had an “obsession with Israel” while ignoring similar behavior from other allies. Carlson rejected that he was “obsessed with Israel” before noting that he has never taken money from AIPAC, which he referred to as “the Israel lobby.”
The conversation started to become more animated as the two could not find common ground on the role and purpose of AIPAC, with Carlson insisting that the organization, which is made up of U.S. citizens advocating for the U.S.-Israel relationship, needed to be registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act — an argument sometimes used as an antisemitic dog whistle accusing Jewish supporters of Israel of dual loyalty — and Cruz vehemently disagreeing.
The interview grew more tense after Cruz accused Carlson of having an “obsession with Israel” and asked why he was so focused on asking, “What about the Jews? What about the Jews?” without being critical of other foreign governments.
“Oh, I’m an antisemite now?” Carlson replied wryly.
“You’re asking, ‘Why are the Jews controlling our foreign policy?” Cruz told Carlson after the latter said he had accused him of antisemitism in a “sleazy feline way.”
Cruz told Carlson to give him “another reason why the obsession is Israel,” to which Carlson responded: “I am in no sense obsessed with Israel. We are on the brink of war with Iran, and so these are valid questions.”
“You asked me why I’m obsessed with Israel three minutes after telling me that when you first ran for Congress, you elucidated one of your main goals, which is to defend Israel. I’m the one who’s obsessed with Israel,” Carlson said, adding, “Shame on you for conflating” Jews and Israel.
“Israel and Jews have nothing to do with each other?” Cruz asked after Carlson claimed there was not a correlation.
Carlson said he was “totally opposed” to Iran’s desire to kill all Jews and Americans, which Cruz replied to by saying: “Except you don’t want to do anything about it.”
The two then sparred over Carlson’s focus on Israel’s influence on U.S. foreign policy, with Cruz claiming Carlson was placing too much emphasis on the Jewish state while ignoring the malign influence of other governments.
“I don’t even like talking about Israel. I never do because it’s not worth being called antisemites from AIPAC recipients,” Carlson said. “But now we are on the verge of joining a war and I just want to be clear about why we’re doing this.”
Carlson stated that anyone who criticized Israel’s actions were “instantly called an antisemite for asking questions” and said Israel was “the only government that no one will ever criticize.” Cruz said he rejected that assertion, pointing to statements from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a progressive House lawmaker and frequent critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Carlson scoffed at Cruz’s Tlaib reference, explaining that he was referring to the consequences for “Republicans that I would vote for, including you.”
Regarding Iran, the two sparred over the regime’s apparent efforts to assassinate Trump, which Carlson denied had occurred.
“I voted for Donald Trump. I campaigned for Donald Trump. He’s our president, and we’re on the cusp of a war. So if there’s evidence that Iran paid a hitman to kill Donald Trump and is currently doing that, where is that? What are you even talking about? I’ve never heard that before. Where’s the evidence? Who are these people? Why haven’t they been arrested? Why are we not at war with Iran?” Carlson asked.
The Justice Department, in November 2024, did, in fact, indict multiple individuals in connection to the assassination plot, arresting two individuals involved in the scheme in the United States and issuing a warrant for a third, described as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps asset.
The plot had been extensively reported upon, both at the time and in the months since. Cruz criticized Carlson for his suspicions about the plot.
The former Fox host asked Cruz shortly after to explain why he’d be proud to say that he came to Washington with the goal of being the most pro-Israel member of Congress, to which Cruz responded by citing his Christian faith, after which the two sparred about Christian scripture.
The senator subsequently argued that he does not solely cite his faith as his reason for supporting Israel in his professional capacity, telling Carlson that he had championed the Jewish state because of his belief that Israel is our best ally in the Middle East.
“I think the most acute national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. I think China is the biggest long-term threat, but acute in the near term is a nuclear Iran. And I think Israel is doing a massive favor to America right now by trying to take out Iran’s nuclear capacity,” he continued, later adding, “You want to ask: how does supporting Israel benefit us? Right now, this tiny little country the size of the state of New Jersey is fighting our enemies for us and taking out their top military leadership and trying to take out their nuclear capacity. That makes America much safer.”
Returning to the subject of Cruz’s faith, the Texas senator said that his support for Israel was also rooted in his Christian faith, citing the biblical phrase: “Those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed.”
Carlson mocked the fact that Cruz’s faith informed his pro-Israel views, and asked specifically the biblical citation. After Cruz acknowledged he didn’t know the exact verse, the podcast host then incorrectly answered his own question, mistakenly saying it was in Genesis. (The verse is from Numbers 24:9.)
The interview again devolved into chaos after Cruz acknowledged that upon sharp questioning that he did not know the exact population size of Iran, prompting both men to question what the other knew, if anything, about the country. Carlson accused Cruz of being dismissive of the consequences of the military actions he was calling for, while Cruz accused Carlson of adopting the foreign policy platform of progressive Democrats.
The first 60 minutes of the interview, which was released on Wednesday, was largely civil with Carlson asking Cruz to explain his support for Israel’s operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and regime change in Tehran.
The Texas senator argued that his recent comments in favor of toppling Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were not an endorsement of a U.S. military invasion of Iran but rather of the idea of a democratic Iran.
The two initially agreed that it would be better for the U.S. without an Iranian regime that aspires to destroy Western civilization and that they were frustrated by the interventionist versus isolationist binary that has increasingly characterized Republican foreign policy.
“For a long time, people have perceived two different poles of Republican foreign policy. There have been interventionists, and those have been people like John McCain and Lindsey Graham George W. Bush, and there have been isolationists, and the most prominent of those have been Ron Paul and Rand Paul and there are others. People perceive those are the two choices, you’ve got to be one of the other. I’ve always thought both were wrong. I don’t agree with either one,” Cruz said.
“For whatever it’s worth, I agree with you. I don’t know who set up that binary, but there are lots of choices, actually,” Carlson responded. Carlson is seen by many, however, as one of the leading figures of the isolationist wing.
The two men described themselves as non-interventionist hawks, with each saying they believed in the principle that the “central touchpoint for U.S. foreign policy and for any question of military intervention should be the vital national security interests of the United States” before disagreeing on whether the situation in Middle East qualified as such.
Jewish Insider’s senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed to this report.
The president said he was looking for ‘total complete victory’ over Iran
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Oval Office on June 18, 2025.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday rebuked Republican isolationists who have argued it’s not necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, dismissing them as not being his true supporters.
“My supporters are for me. My supporters are America First and Make America Great Again,” Trump said from the Oval Office, in response to a question about the foreign policy debates between hawks and isolationists in the GOP base. “My supporters don’t want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon. … Very simple: If they think it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, then they should oppose me.”
The president said he believes Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it had one.
“I don’t want to get involved either, but I’ve been saying for 20 years, maybe longer, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “I’ve been saying it for a long time, and I think they were a few weeks away from having one.”
He highlighted apparent logical inconsistencies in isolationists’ position on the issue.
“The problem is they get themselves into a thing: They don’t want them to have nuclear, but then they say, ‘Well, we don’t want to fight,’” Trump said. “Well, you’re going to have to make a choice because it’s possible that you’re going to have to fight for them not to have nuclear.”
Trump softened some of his previous criticism of Tucker Carlson, a prominent voice in isolationist circles whom the president had rebuked earlier this week for railing against U.S. support for Israel. He said that Carlson had called him to apologize.
Trump said he’d pressed Carlson on whether he would accept a nuclear-armed Iran, and said that Carlson “sort of didn’t like that. I said, ‘Well, if it’s OK with you, then you and I do have a difference,’ but it’s really not OK with him.”
“Therefore, you may have to fight and maybe it’ll end, and maybe it’ll end very quickly, but there’s no way that you can allow — whether you have to fight or not — you can have Iran to have a nuclear weapon, because the entire world will blow up,” Trump continued.
Trump said he planned to hold a meeting in the Situation Room on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the situation in the Middle East, but said he would delay a decision on striking Iran as long as possible.
“I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due,” he said. “With war, things change. It can go from one extreme to the other. War is very bad. There was no reason for this to be a war.”
The president said that the United States is the only country with the capabilities to destroy the deeply buried Fordow nuclear facility, but reiterated that he had not yet made the decision to do so.
Trump said that the success of Israel’s operations on their first night of bombing raids last week had made him more willing to consider possible U.S. involvement and strikes.
He also sent somewhat mixed messages on whether he’s open to continued talks with Iran.
“I had a great deal for them. They should have made that deal. Sixty days we talked about it, and in the end they decided not to do it. And now they wish they did it, and they want to meet,” Trump said. “It’s a little late to meet, but they want to meet and they want to come to the White House … so we’ll see. I may do that. It’s a shame, it could have been done the easy way.”
He said that he’s seeking “total complete victory” over Iran, in which it cannot have nuclear weapons.
“Iran was very close to signing what would have been a very good agreement for them and maybe that could still happen, I guess,” he said, adding that Iranian negotiators’ interest in visiting the White House is “a big statement, but it’s very late.”
Trump also noted that it may be difficult for Iranian negotiators to actually leave the country to visit the White House for negotiations.
The latest comments appeared somewhat less aggressive than Trump’s warnings the previous day that the U.S. could assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump today was largely noncommittal on the issue of regime change in Iran saying, “Sure, anything could happen. That? That could happen.”
Hawley himself has previously advocated for a more restrained approach to U.S. foreign engagement and aligns with the national conservative movement
Al Drago/Getty Images
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks to reporters prior to the Senate Republicans weekly policy luncheon, in the US Capitol on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) says he doesn’t share the concerns of some in the isolationist wing of the Republican Party that U.S. engagement in Israel’s military operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear program would lead to a global war or another prolonged conflict in the Middle East, citing his confidence in President Donald Trump’s ability to avoid either outcome.
The Missouri senator told Jewish Insider, following a conversation with Trump on Tuesday morning, that he trusted the president to navigate the situation without dragging the U.S. into a broader war, an issue that has caused growing consternation among commentator Tucker Carlson and other neo-isolationists in the GOP. Hawley has previously advocated for a more restrained approach to U.S. foreign engagement and aligns with the national conservative movement.
“I just don’t think that. I think Donald Trump is the least likely person to let that happen,” Hawley said when asked what he’d say to those who argue Trump’s actions will embroil the U.S. in a war. “I think he’s pretty careful, and I think he’s got a pretty good sense of our security interests, obviously our allies. So I feel pretty good with him in charge.”
Hawley made similar comments in a separate conversation with JI on Monday, saying at the time, “I think the president has a pretty clear assessment of what is good, what is in America’s interests. He’s been really clear on this, America’s interest and the world’s interest is to not have Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
“There’s all kinds of paths to that, and that’s what the president is saying about negotiating. Iran ought to come and do this peacefully and give up their nuclear program. You can get there that way, but at the end of the day, we’re going to get to the point where they don’t have a nuclear weapon and they don’t have a nuclear program,” Hawley explained.
“If they keep going down this path, good luck,” he added.
Hawley also praised Trump’s approach to addressing the conflict and the threat posed by a nuclear Iran while cautioning against engaging in conjecture about what the Israelis were asking of the Trump administration.
“I think the president has struck the right position, which is supportive of Israel’s right of self-defense, which is what this really is, and supporting them publicly while they defend themselves. I think that’s the right position to stick on. I know what the speculation is in the press about what Israel may want to do or not do next, but let’s see what they actually ask us for,” he told JI on Monday.
Following his Tuesday conversation with Trump, Hawley reiterated his support for the president’s response since Israel first struck Iran last week. “He’s handled this situation very deftly. I think his message has been pretty clear, which is that Iran is not going to get a nuke. So they can either surrender their nuclear program peaceably, and he’s willing to [have] the United States facilitate that, or the Israelis are going to blow their program to smithereens. Right now they’re choosing the smithereens route. Doesn’t seem very wise to me,” he said.
Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Hawley said he wouldn’t support Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) war powers resolution blocking the U.S. from taking military action in support of Israel’s operation against the Iranian regime, citing his opposition to the legislation broadly.
“I tend to think the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, and I don’t think the president needs preclearance to do one-off military strikes. That doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily a good idea, but I don’t think he needs preclearance from Congress. I don’t know quite how that would function,” Hawley said.
But a number of skeptical lawmakers — mainly congressional Democrats — expressed concern the attack could spark a wider war
Office of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) hold a joint press conference on Iranian nuclear negotiations at the U.S. Capitol on May 8, 2025.
Many of the highest-ranking Senate Republicans, along with leading pro-Israel Democrats, expressed support for Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran, but a number of skeptical lawmakers — mostly Democrats — expressed concern that the strikes could set off a broader war in the region.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said, minutes after reports of the operation began, “Proud to stand with Israel.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) soon followed, saying, “Game on. Pray for Israel.”
Cotton later added that “We back Israel to the hilt, all the way,” adding that if “the ayatollahs harm a single American, that will be the end of the ayatollahs.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), said “Israel IS right—and has a right—to defend itself!”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, “We stand with Israel tonight and pray for the safety of its people and the success of this unilateral, defensive action.”
“I am also praying for the brave U.S. service members in the Middle East who keep America safe — Iran would be foolish to attack the United States,” Risch continued.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) emphasized that Iran has been trying for years to wipe out Israel, and that it had just been found in violation of its nonproliferation obligations. He called for efforts toward peace and warned Iran against attacking American troops.
“Today, Israel has determined that it must take decisive action to defend the Israeli people,” Thune said. “The United States Senate stands ready to work with President Trump and with our allies in Israel to restore peace in the region and, first and foremost, to defend the American people from Iranian aggression, especially our troops and civilians serving overseas. Iran should heavily consider the consequences before considering any action against Americans in the region.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said, “I ask every American to join me in praying for the safety of U.S. personnel in the Middle East and the safety and success of Israel as it takes action against a leading state sponsor of terrorism and our shared enemy, Iran.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, also expressed support for Israel’s preemptive strike.
“Having just visited the region two weeks ago, I support Israel’s decision to preemptively strike Iran and dismantle its nuclear program,” Lawler said. “Iran cannot have nuclear weapons — a position the US and our allies have held for decades. Peace through strength.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said that Iran’s refusal to dismantle its nuclear program is a danger to the U.S. and an existential threat to Israel. “Tonight Israel is taking action to defend itself, and we stand with Israel. Our prayers are with them and all American personnel in the region.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the administration’s former nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said, “The U.S. stands strongly with our ally and partner Israel.”
“May God Bless Israel & the brave IAF [Israeli Air Force] soldiers as they protect their national security and the world’s safety,” Stefanik said. “I know President Trump’s top priority is protecting the American people, our brave U.S. service members, and our national security by ensuring the full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program to ensure they can never develop a nuclear weapon.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “Israel has an unquestionable right to defend itself” and that he is “proud to stand with Israel.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that Iran had “given President Trump the middle finger” on demands to dismantle its nuclear capacity. Israel is acting to defend themselves, and we should stand with them.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that he supports the attack and “Our commitment to Israel must be absolute.”
“Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel,” Fetterman said. “We must provide whatever is necessary — military, intelligence, weaponry — to fully back Israel in striking Iran.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said: “If Israel’s strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program, we’ll all be safer,” adding that the U.S. must protect U.S. citizens and personnel and “must support Israel’s defense.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said that “Israel is not the aggressor. It is defending itself against an existential threat that long predates the present preemptive strike. The true aggressor is the Islamic Republic and its empire of terror — an empire stained with the blood of innocent Israelis.”
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), also noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency had just declared Iran to be in violation of its nonproliferation obligations, said that “Israel is justifiably defending itself and its people.”
“Diplomacy has been given every opportunity, but the Iranian regime refuses to give up their nuclear ambitions,” Landsman said. “There will be peace when Iran no longer has a nuclear program, a civil one sure, and their terror armies dismantled.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said, “I fully stand with the people of Israel and support her right to defend herself against Iran’s nuclear and terror programs.”
Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, emphasized that the U.S. was not involved in the strikes. He pointed blame toward Iran but also called for steps to wind down the conflict quickly.
“I will say I regret that we have come to this breaking point. However, under no circumstance can Iran get its hands on a nuclear weapon,” Crawford said. “A nuclear Iran would only embolden our adversaries and not only pose an undeniable threat to Israel, but also the United States and our Arab allies.”
“Iran pushed the world to this point through its blatant, relentless destabilizing behavior. Israel and others in the region have every right to take the actions needed to defend themselves,” Crawford continued. “I commend the Trump Administration for its tireless efforts to bring peace and stability to the region. I am hopeful a remedy is reached sooner rather than later to stabilize this situation before the stakes get any higher.”
A number of congressional Democrats — and one notable isolationist House Republican — are expressing concern that the strikes will spark a broader war in the region and several described the strikes as designed to sabotage U.S. nuclear negotiations with Tehran.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, condemned the strikes as a “reckless escalation that risks igniting regional violence.”
“These strikes threaten not only the lives of innocent civilians but the stability of the entire Middle East and the safety of American citizens and forces,” Reed said. “While tensions between Israel and Iran are real and complex, military aggression of this scale is never the answer.”
He called on both Israel and Iran to “show immediate restraint” and the Trump administration to push for “diplomatic de-escalation before this crisis spirals further out of control.”
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), a Republican aligned with the isolationist wing of the party, also appeared to decry the strikes.
“I’m sad to say but some members of Congress and US Senators seem giddy about the prospects of a bigger war,” Davidson said, appending an emoji of a bandaged, frowning face.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stopped short of praising or criticizing the Israeli attack, while blaming President Donald Trump for failing to bring peace to the Middle East and calling for de-escalation.
“I’m hopeful that cooler heads will prevail in the Middle East and the situation is de-escalated,” Jeffries said. “We certainly believe that Iran should never be allowed to become nuclear capable. They are an enemy not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the free world. But we also want to see a reduction in hostilities.”
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said the strikes appear aimed at undermining U.S. negotiations with Iran, which were scheduled to continue this weekend in Oman.
“Iran should know that any targeting of U.S. forces and personnel stationed across the Middle East in retaliation for Israel’s actions would be a grave mistake. I urge the Trump administration to ensure that the protection of our personnel is our top priority,” Kim said.
“Conflict should always be a last resort, especially when diplomacy is ongoing. This decision by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to go against American efforts and go alone in strikes puts American and Israeli lives on the line. We should do everything we can to stop this moment from spiraling into a wider conflict and bring parties back to the table to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) also described the attack as a sabotage of the nuclear talks and said it shows that world leaders do not respect President Donald Trump. He added in a statement, “we have no obligation to follow Israel into a war we did not ask for and will make us less safe.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a progressive Israel critic, said the strikes were “deeply disturbing.”
“I don’t agree often with the Trump administration, but I think here it’s important to say we need more negotiation, we need deescalation,” Warren said. “We need to get to a deal.”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emphasized that the Trump administration needs congressional approval to bring U.S. troops into “Netanyahu’s war.”
“Netanyahu’s reckless strike risks provoking a wider war and pulling in the United States,” Casar said. “Trump must oppose Netanyahu’s escalation and pursue a diplomatic path to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. “
GOP Sen. John Kennedy, responding to Gabbard: ‘She obviously needs to change her meds’
Yuri Gripas for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks during a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday April 30, 2025 at the White House in Washington, DC.
With a cryptic video that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard posted on X on Tuesday morning, the Democratic-congresswoman-turned-America-First-advocate reignited simmering concerns about the unorthodox intelligence chief among both her longtime detractors and some Republicans who voted to confirm her earlier this year.
“She obviously needs to change her meds,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Jewish Insider of Gabbard. Kennedy, like all Republicans except Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), voted to confirm Gabbard in February.
“I only saw a post that she did, which I thought was a very strange one since many people believe that, unfortunate though it was, the nuclear bomb that was dropped in World War II at Hiroshima actually saved a lot of lives, a lot of American lives,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told JI of Gabbard’s video.
In the social media video, Gabbard describes a recent visit to Hiroshima, Japan, where she learned about the toll of the atomic bomb dropped on the city by American troops in 1945, which spurred a Japanese surrender and the end of World War II. She warned that the world faces another “nuclear holocaust” unless people “reject this path to nuclear war.”
“This is the reality of what’s at stake, what we are facing now, because as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,” said Gabbard, not specifying who she was referring to by “political elite warmongers” or which countries she may have been calling out.
Gabbard’s video decrying “warmongers” prompted concern from Republicans seeking a more traditionally conservative foreign policy worldview.
“She seems to be doing her best audition to be head of the Quincy Institute,” a senior employee at a pro-Israel advocacy group said of Gabbard.
One Senate Republican, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned Gabbard’s logic in raising the human toll of Hiroshima and her “warmongers” comment.
“I’m not sure I understand why the DNI would even need to make that point,” the senator said of the Hiroshima focus, later adding: “I don’t seek nuclear war. I don’t know anyone who wants nuclear war. There’s plenty of ideological diversity here, but pretty much universal opposition to that.”
Since taking office, Gabbard, who in 2020 was a surrogate for progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign, has generally been aligned with the isolationist wing of the Republican Party, which is increasingly ascendant in the Trump administration. William Ruger, the official she tapped for the high-level position that prepares the president’s daily intelligence briefing, came from Koch-affiliated institutions and has called for “American restraint” on the world stage.
During her nomination battle, Gabbard faced criticism, including from some Republicans — focused in particular on a congressional trip to Syria in 2017 when she met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, her parroting of Russian propaganda about the country’s war with Ukraine and her defense of Edward Snowden, the former intelligence official who leaked classified information before fleeing the country.
“It defies belief that someone would be criticizing [President Harry] Truman’s act of winning a war. We really need to get back to winning wars when we fight,” Eric Levine, a prominent Republican fundraiser in New York who urged senators to oppose Gabbard’s confirmation, told JI on Tuesday.
Levine raised concerns about Gabbard’s ability to influence President Donald Trump’s approach to Iran, as nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are set to continue this weekend. He said that if Trump does the “right thing” — meaning he ends the Iran negotiations and supports a strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure — then the U.S. will “save a lot of lives, just like Harry Truman did, and will not require the dropping of a nuclear bomb.”
“I’m very concerned about the isolationist wing of the Republican Party,” Levine continued. “I don’t know who’s winning out, because we don’t know what the end result is in Iran yet.”
Several Republican senators questioned why Gabbard would make the video in the first place.
“I thought it was not appropriate,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told JI.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) described the impact of the bomb as “horrible” but said it was necessary to end the war, in which his father had fought.
“Dropping those bombs probably saved a million servicemen’s lives. If you don’t want to get nuked, don’t start barbaric wars,” Graham told JI. “I think it’s a horrible thing to happen to people, but it was brought on by Japan, and if I were Harry Truman, I would have done the same thing because the casualty estimates were a million dead Americans invading mainland Japan.”
Alexa Henning, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, declined to say whether Gabbard was referring in the video to a specific nation or to specific people.
“Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future. President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace,” Henning said in a statement. “DNI Gabbard supports President Trump’s clearly stated objectives of bringing about lasting peace and stability and preventing war.”
Despite the criticism coming even from some allies, Gabbard’s views do not appear to have gone outside the realm of what Trump hopes to see from her.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a personal friend of Gabbard’s from their shared time in the House, defended Gabbard’s post and her service as DNI.
“I think she’s doing a great job … She’s doing exactly what the president wanted her to do,” Mullin told JI. “People have been critical of her, and this is D.C., right? You’re going to get criticized for walking down the stairs wrong, so criticism is part of the job.”
One resolution, which praised ICE and highlighted the need for vetting visa applicants, split House Democrats
Nathan Howard/Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol is seen on June 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.
The House voted on Monday to pass two resolutions condemning recent antisemitic attacks. One, led by Republicans, which focused on the Boulder, Colo., attack and immigration issues, and split the Democratic caucus. The other, which was bipartisan and highlighted a series of antisemitic attacks, passed nearly unanimously, with just two lawmakers voting present.
The first resolution attracted controversy among Democrats ahead of the vote, but it passed by a 280-133 vote. Seventy-five Democrats, mostly moderates and pro-Israel members, ultimately voted in favor of the resolution and 113 voted against it.
Another five Democrats, Reps. Herb Conaway (D-NJ), Shomari Figures (D-AL), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) and Dina Titus (D-NV), and one Republican, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), voted present.
The resolution stated that the Boulder attack, perpetrated by an Egyptian national who overstayed a visa and work permit who threw a Molotov cocktail at activists raising awareness for the hostages in Gaza, “highlights the need to aggressively vet aliens who apply for visas” and “demonstrates the dangers of not removing from the country aliens who fail to comply with the terms of their visas.”
It also praised law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and emphasized the need for “free and open communication” between state and federal law enforcement — an apparent reference to Colorado sanctuary state policies that limit such cooperation.
Prior to the vote, Republicans softened the resolution amid strident criticism from Democrats, stripping out one section that described the slogan “Free Palestine” as antisemitic and another one that explicitly condemned Colorado’s sanctuary state policies.
The second resolution, which condemns “the rise in ideologically motivated attacks on Jewish individuals in the United States,” including the attack in Boulder, the Capital Jewish Museum murders and the arson targeting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, passed with 400 votes in favor. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Greene voted present. No members voted against the latter resolution.
“We cannot ignore these attacks or dismiss them as isolated incidents,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who led the bipartisan resolution, said in a statement. “They are part of a serious and dangerous trend that must be condemned by all of us. Today, the House stood firmly in support of respect and dignity for everyone because we know that every American deserves to live without fear in their own community.”
Greene said in an X post that “antisemitic hate crimes are wrong, but so are all hate crimes. Yet Congress never votes on hate crimes committed against white people, Christians, men, the homeless, or countless others.”
She objected to the fact that Congress has voted on “endless resolutions” on antisemitism while “Americans from every background are being murdered — even in the womb.”
“Prioritizing one group of Americans and/or one foreign country above our own people is fueling resentment and actually driving more division, including antisemitism,” Greene continued.
Ahead of the vote, a group of Jewish House Democrats had urged congressional leaders to take substantive action beyond passing nonbinding resolutions to combat antisemitism, primarily by passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act and bolstering Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding.
Plus, China's charm offensive in Israel
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the growing influence of the isolationist wing of the Republican Party in the Trump administration, and report on a bipartisan call from members of Congress for social media platforms to address antisemitic content. We also talk to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about his push for an increase in Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, and look at China’s efforts to strengthen relations with Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. James Lankford, Shari Redstone and Julie Platt.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on the fallout following yesterday’s clashes between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, which escalated over a period of several hours as both men took to their respective social media platforms to attack the other.
- The Boulder chapter of Run For Their Lives will hold its weekly walk on Sunday to raise awareness for the remaining 56 hostages in Gaza, a week after a terror attack in which an Egyptian national firebombed marchers, injuring 15. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum as well as nearby Run For Their Lives chapters will send representatives to Sunday’s march.
- Brilliant Minds is holding its annual confab in Stockholm.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S GABBY DEUTCH AND JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Another week, another round of evidence showing that a growing faction of isolationist-minded foreign policy advisors — or, in the parlance of some on the MAGA right, the “restrainers” — are slowly but surely gaining influence in the Trump administration’s second term.
If personnel is policy, it suggests the second Trump term will feature a markedly different approach to the Middle East than his record from 2017-2021, which included the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab countries, the elimination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Soleimani and the withdrawal from former President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
We reported this week that the Senate will soon consider the nomination of Justin Overbaugh to be deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. Overbaugh is just the latest of several senior Pentagon nominees who come from Defense Priorities, a Koch-backed think tank that has generally argued the U.S. should scale back its involvement in global conflicts, including in the Middle East.
It’s not just at the Defense Department. A senior State Department official told Jewish Insider that at Foggy Bottom, too, the “restrainers” are ascendant. Morgan Ortagus, an Iran hawk who has been serving as deputy Middle East special envoy under Steve Witkoff, plans to depart the office. At the National Security Council, top officials focused on Israel and the Middle East were pushed out last month as President Donald Trump seeks to centralize foreign policy decision-making in the Oval Office.
This story is more than just a gossipy tale of White House palace intrigue. This factional foreign policy battle is set to have major global consequences. The impact is already clear: Trump is pursuing nuclear negotiations with Iran, led by Witkoff, that may result in a deal — one that reportedly could allow Iran to at least temporarily continue enriching uranium, a position that would have been unimaginable in Trump’s first term.
EXCLUSIVE
Lawmakers press social media platforms on violent antisemitic content after attacks
A bipartisan group of 41 lawmakers led by Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO) and Don Bacon (R-NE) wrote to the CEOs of Meta, TikTok and X on Friday urging them to take action in response to the spike in violent antisemitic content posted on their platforms following recent antisemitic attacks in Washington and Boulder, Colo., Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: “We write to express grave concern regarding disturbing and inflammatory content circulating on your platforms in support of violence and terrorism,” the lawmakers — mostly Democrats — wrote in a letter sent on Friday, highlighting the rise of rhetoric praising and justifying the two antisemitic attacks. “This content is effectively glorifying, justifying, and inciting future violence, mirroring the surge in hateful rhetoric and open calls to violence and support of terrorism observed after the October 7, 2023 [attacks], and the ensuing Israel-Hamas conflict.”
Nominee notes: Kim Richey, the nominee to be the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said during a confirmation hearing on Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the Department of Education should look at amending Title VI regulations and issuing new guidance to address the surge of antisemitism on campuses nationwide since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
scoop
Schumer to push for $500 million for 2026 NSGP funding, says Republicans are amenable
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will announce on Monday that he is launching “an all-out push to shore up” $500 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in response to a spate of recent antisemitic terrorist attacks, he revealed to Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday. He said that key Senate Republicans have appeared amenable to that request and called the administration’s proposal for flat funding for the program a nonstarter, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod report.
What he said: “The attack in Colorado, the shooting in Washington, the arson in Pennsylvania [of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home] have one thing in common: they have cited anti-Israel sentiment as a justification for their violence. In other words, they’ve used the actions of the Israeli government they don’t like to justify violence against Jewish Americans here at home,” Schumer said. “We’re witnessing — unfortunately, in real time — the resurgence of collective blame against the Jewish people. Collective blame is traditionally one of the most nasty, dangerous forms of antisemitism, and so if we don’t confront it clearly, unequivocally together, we risk opening the door to even darker days.”
Bonus: In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, Nathan Diament, the executive director for public policy at the Orthodox Union, calls for “concrete steps” to address antisemitic violence, including an increase in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $500 million and support for local police patrols near Jewish sites and institutions.
NOT IN OUR NAME
AJC rejects Trump’s travel ban as lacking a ‘clear connection’ to antisemitism
The American Jewish Committee criticized President Donald Trump for his executive order barring travel into the United States for citizens of 12 countries as lacking “a clear connection to the underlying problem” of domestic antisemitism and potentially having “an adverse impact on other longstanding immigration and refugee policies,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Zoom out: The administration framed the announcement as a response to the antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colo., carried out by an immigrant from Egypt who overstayed a work permit. The AJC’s response echoes the cautious, skeptical approach it and other major nonpartisan Jewish organizations have taken to other actions by the Trump administration to combat antisemitism, including revoking visas from international students and cutting funding from universities.
BEIJING BOOST
With increasing pressure from the West, can Israel resist a China charm offensive?
Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng has been on a charm offensive since arriving to his new post in December. In contrast with his predecessors, who shied away from the Israeli media, Xiao has been blanketing the airwaves and acting in ways unprecedented for Beijing: condemning Hamas and calling to free the hostages. The ambassador’s personal outreach is a sharp departure from the declining relations between Beijing and Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. But now, China is seemingly trying to turn the clock back to a time when it was making major investments in Israel and inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Beijing. Israel’s response has been inconsistent, and the Trump administration hasn’t yet raised any public objections to the outreach, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Change in perspective: A year after the attacks and after Israel killed much of Hezbollah and Hamas’ leadership, Beijing made a subtle shift and started to speak about Israel’s “legitimate security concerns.” According to Carice Witte, founder and executive director of SIGNAL Group, a think tank specializing in Israel-China relations, Beijing no longer viewed Israel as a regional superpower after the Oct. 7 attacks, but “after Israel’s incredible military and intelligence successes in the fall of 2024 that rewrote the narratives of Lebanon and Syria, Beijing began to change its tune — becoming less anti-Israel and less pro-Iran.” Soon after his arrival in Tel Aviv in December, Xiao sprang into action. He praised Israeli tech companies in an interview with Israeli financial paper Calcalist. On ILTV last month, he gave the first unambiguous condemnation from China of the Oct. 7 attacks and even wore a yellow ribbon calling to bring back the hostages.
TRIP TALK
Sen. Lankford says he’s very ‘optimistic’ about Lebanon’s future after visit
Following a visit to the Middle East, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he’s very “optimistic” about the future of Lebanon under its new government, describing the country’s leaders as serious about centralizing power and demilitarizing Hezbollah, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “The Lebanese Armed Forces and the president were very clear: ‘We will be the defender of Lebanon. There’s not two armies, there’s one army,’” Lankford said. “They are working to demilitarize Hezbollah and to be able to make sure that they are the one army … I think there’s real progress and real opportunity.” Lankford said that he also heard from Iraqi partners in contact with the Iranian regime that Tehran is not budging on its commitment to uranium enrichment.
stamp of approval
Freed hostage Edan Alexander, family endorse Josh Gottheimer for New Jersey governor
Recently released Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander and his family endorsed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for governor of New Jersey and praised his advocacy for Alexander’s release in a letter to the congressman, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Alexander grew up in Tenafly, N.J., in Gottheimer’s district.
What they said: The letter, read at a recent Gottheimer campaign event by a family friend, reads, “We can’t wait to thank you in person and we can’t wait to call you Governor Josh in November.” The letter is signed by Alexander himself, his mother and father Yael and Adi, his sister Mika and brother Roy. Alexander is a Gottheimer constituent who grew up in his district. “In those dark times” of Alexander’s captivity, “you were not only a shining ray of light, but you were what we call a mensch,” the family wrote.
Exclusive: A new coalition of pro-Israel LGBTQ activists is backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as its first choice in a ranked slate of candidate endorsements for New York City mayor, according to a statement shared exclusively with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Thursday.
Worthy Reads
For Pete’s Sake: The Atlantic’s Missy Ryan and Ashley Parker report on relations between the White House and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which began to fray after Hegseth offered former White House advisor Elon Musk a high-level briefing in March. “Many at the Pentagon question how long the president’s backing for their boss will last. During his first term, Trump cycled through four defense secretaries and four national security advisers. … Although the president appears to appreciate Hegseth’s pugnacious public style, he may require more from his defense secretary over time, as the administration faces pressure to deliver on a set of complex and interlocking goals, including fixing a byzantine military-procurement system, reviving a diminished defense industry, and strengthening America’s response to China’s military rise.” [TheAtlantic]
Dems Missing the Revolution:The New York Times’ David Brooks posits that Democrats are misgauging the political shift underway in American society. “Trump has taken the atmosphere of alienation, magnified it with his own apocalypticism, and, assaulting institutions across society, has created a revolutionary government. More this term than last, he is shifting the conditions in which we live. Many of my Democratic friends have not fully internalized the magnitude of this historical shift. They are still thinking within the confines of the Clinton-Obama-Biden-Pelosi worldview. But I have a feeling that over the next few years, the tumult of events will push Democrats onto some new trajectory.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
The State Department announced sanctions on four International Criminal Court judges, calling the body “politicized” and alleging that the sanctioned judges “actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel”…
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appointed a close ally to sit in the office of the inspector general of the intelligence community…
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed an anticipated vote on Thursday on Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs as he faces opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which could imperil his nomination, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) accused the search firm that oversaw the failed nomination of former University of Michigan President Santa Ono to lead the University of Florida of not properly vetting and disclosing the candidate’s record, in comments to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs…
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he’ll force votes as soon as next week on resolutions to block U.S. arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates…
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink estimated on Thursday that the costs of retrofitting a Qatari plane that Doha intends to gift to the White House for use in the Air Force One fleet will be less than $400 million…
The Defense Department informed the Senate and House Armed Services committees that it will divert anti-drone technology allocated to Ukraine to positions in the Middle East…
Six members of Colorado’s House delegation introduced a resolution condemning the Boulder attack and the rise of antisemitism in the United States…
The NYPD is investigating as a hate crime an attack on a 72-year-old Jewish man who was putting up hostage posters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side; the assailants reportedly shouted “Free Palestine” at the man before the attack…
A federal judge in Massachusetts ordered a temporary halt to a Trump administration directive banning Harvard from enrolling international students…
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is opening a public affairs shop led by Campbell Spencer and Max Hamel…
Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone confirmed that she is being treated for thyroid cancer; a spokesperson for Redstone said her prognosis is “excellent” as she receives radiation treatment for the cancer, which was discovered two months ago…
The Washington Post reviews poet Edward Hirsch’s memoir My Childhood in Pieces, calling it a “vibrant, moving portrait of mid-century Jewish communities in Chicago and Skokie, Illinois, and of a particular middle-class Middle America”…
eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews outgoing Jewish Federations of North America Chair Julie Platt about her tenure with the organization, which began just prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and continued through the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel and ensuing war in Gaza…
Jonathan Hall, the U.K.’s senior-most advisor on terrorism issues, warned of the “extraordinary” terror and espionage threats posed by Iran and Russia on British soil…
A Pakistani man was convicted in a U.S. federal court of smuggling Iranian missile components to Tehran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen; two Navy SEALs died in the mission to apprehend Muhammad Pahlawan, whose boat was intercepted off the coast of Somalia in 2024…
The number of commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal has dropped by more than 50% since 2023; shipping companies are largely avoiding the maritime route, despite a recent ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis, out of concern that Houthi ballistic missiles targeting Israel could misfire and strike commercial vessels…
Israel reportedly assured the Trump administration it would not conduct military strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities unless talks between Washington and Tehran fail…
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow’s assistance in ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, citing Russia’s close ties with Tehran…
Iran ordered thousands of tons of ammonium perchlorate, with the capability of fueling hundreds of ballistic missiles, from China…
The Israeli Air Force conducted strikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut targeting what the IDF said were Hezbollah drone production facilities…
Israel is providing weapons to an armed militia opposing Hamas, a defense source confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov…
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced it was shutting its aid distribution sites until further notice…
Lufthansa plans to resume flights to Israel later this month…
Shaul Magid was appointed Harvard Divinity School’s first professor of modern Jewish studies in residence, a five-year appointment; Rabbi David Wolpe, a former visiting scholar at the school, called Magid, who has argued in favor of “counter-Zionism” and a binational state, a “gracious human being & an estimable scholar of Jewish texts,” but added that he profoundly disagree[s] with [Magid’s] stance on Israel and wish[ed] HDS would appoint someone whose views reflect the mainstream of the Jewish community”…
Economist Marina von Neumann Whitman, the first woman appointed to the White House Council of Economic Advisors, died at 90…
Pic of the Day
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (left) and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar participated on Thursday in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.
Birthdays
Chicago- and Aspen-based businessman, he owns large stakes in Maytag, Hilton Hotels, the New York Yankees and the Chicago Bulls, Lester Crown turns 100 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: U.S. District Court judge since 1994, on senior status since 2005, serving in the Eastern District of New York, Frederic Block turns 91… Real estate entrepreneur and executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Thomas Pritzker turns 75… U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) turns 73… Diplomat who has served as Israel’s ambassador to South Sudan and then Egypt, Haim Koren turns 72… Four-time Tony Award winner, he is an actor, playwright and screenwriter, Harvey Fierstein turns 71… Comedian, political critic, musician and author, Sandra Bernhard turns 70… Radio news personality, known as “Lisa G,” Lisa Glasberg turns 69… Past chair of the board of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools and President at Micah Philanthropies, Ann Baidack Pava… CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Steve Koonin turns 68… Israeli conductor and musician, Nir Brand turns 64… Former majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and now vice chairman of investment bank Moelis & Company, Eric Cantor turns 62… Partner in the strategic communications division of Finsbury Glover Hering (FGS Global), Jonathan Kopp turns 59… Israeli-American behavioral economics professor at UCSD, Uri Hezkia Gneezy turns 58… Best-selling author, journalist and television personality, Anna Benjamin David turns 55… Chairman of Israeli fintech entrio (formerly The Floor), he is the only child of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Elisha Wiesel turns 53… Hedge fund manager and founder of Saba Capital Management, he is also a skilled poker and blackjack player, Boaz Weinstein turns 52… Producer of 11 network television programs, Jennie Snyder Urman turns 50… 2019 Trump impeachment witness, he was director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, Lt. Col. (ret.) Alexander Semyon Vindman… and his twin brother, Col. (ret.) Yevgeny Vindman, a member of Congress from Virginia’s 7th District, both turn 50… Founder and chairman of the Washington Free Beacon, Michael L. Goldfarb turns 45… Senior reporter at ABC News, Katherine B. Faulders… Director at Finsbury Glover Hering (FGS Global), Anna Epstein… Member of the New York State Assembly until 2023 when he resigned to become VP of government relations at UJA-Federation of New York, Daniel Rosenthal turns 34… White House staffer during the Biden administration, Jordan G. Finkelstein… Communications manager at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Allie Freedman…
SATURDAY: Rehoboth Beach, Del., resident, Dennis B. Berlin… Former five-term Democratic congressman from California, he now serves as counsel in the Century City office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Mel Levine turns 82… Professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, and author of 13 books, Deborah Tannen turns 80… Epidemiologist, toxicologist and author of three books about environmental hazards, Devra Davis turns 79… Deputy secretary of state of the U.S. during the first half of the Biden administration, Wendy Ruth Sherman turns 76… Retired staff director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hillel Weinberg… President of Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Israel, he is a grandson of former Israeli PM Levi Eshkol, Sheizaf Rafaeli turns 70… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-PA-7) until earlier this year, Susan Ellis Wild turns 68… Former vice president of the United States, Mike Pence turns 66… Jerusalem resident, Deborah Lee Renert… Founder chairman and CEO of the Naftali Group, Miki Naftali turns 63… U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York, Jesse Matthew Furman turns 53… U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) turns 53… Brooklyn rapper better known by his stage name Necro, Ron Raphael Braunstein turns 49… One-half of the Arab-Jewish electronic music duo Chromeo, David “Dave 1” Macklovitch turns 47… Israeli actress, singer and pianist, she performs in Hebrew, Russian, French and English, Ania Bukstein turns 43… Senior director of place-based initiatives at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Isaac Luria… Editor of The New York Review of Books, Emily S. Greenhouse… Actress and model, Emily Ratajkowski turns 34… Canadian ice hockey forward, he played for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics, now a businessman in Ontario, Ethan Werek turns 34… Andrea Gonzales…
SUNDAY: Hebrew University mathematics professor and 2005 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Robert Aumann turns 95… Guru of alternative, holistic and integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil turns 83… Hedge fund founder and manager, founder of the Paloma Funds, Selwyn Donald Sussman turns 79… Detective novelist, best known for creating the character of V.I. Warshawski, Sara Paretsky turns 78… Founder and CEO of Sitrick and Company, Michael Sitrick… Classical pianist, teacher and performer at the Juilliard School and winner of a Grammy Award, he is the child of Holocaust survivors, Emanuel Ax turns 76… Former member of Knesset from the Zionist Union party, now a professor at Ben-Gurion University, Yosef “Yossi” Yona turns 72… Barbara Jaffe Panken… Senior advisor at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based O2 Investment Partners, Robert Harris (Rob) Orley… Journalist, stand-up comedian, author, cartoonist and blogger, Aaron Freeman turns 69… CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, Stacy Ritter turns 65… AVP for campaign at the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Patti Frazin… Co-founder and CEO of the Genesis Prize Foundation, Stan Polovets turns 62… Winner of many Emmy and SAG awards, star of the long-running TV series “The Good Wife,” Julianna Margulies turns 59… Israel’s state comptroller and ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman turns 59… Actor, screenwriter and producer, Dan Futterman turns 58… Former congresswoman (D-AZ-8), she is a survivor of an assassination attempt near Tucson in 2011, Gabrielle Giffords turns 55… Actor who starred in USA Network’s “Royal Pains,” he also wrote and created the CBS series “9JKL,” Mark Feuerstein turns 54… Executive director at Consulate Health Care in New Port Richey, Fla., Daniel Frenden… Head of North America for the Jewish Agency and President and CEO of Jewish Agency International Development (JAID), Daniel Elbaum… Former deputy chief of staff for Charlie Baker when he was governor of Massachusetts, Michael Emanuel Vallarelli… Lead community organizer at LA Voice, Suzy Stone… Businesswoman, art collector and editor, founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Dasha Zhukova turns 44… Fourth-generation supermarket executive at Klein’s ShopRite of Maryland, Marshall Klein… Corporate litigation partner in the Wilmington office of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, Daniel Kirshenbaum… Three-time Tony Award-winning theatrical producer, he is the co-founder at Folk Media Group, Eric J. Kuhn turns 38… CEO of BZ Media and the Bnai Zion Foundation, Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm… Offensive tackle in the NFL for nine seasons until he retired in 2022, he started in 121 straight games in which he played every offensive snap, his Hebrew name is “Mendel,” Mitchell Schwartz turns 36…
The top Republican lawmaker said that, if a deal cannot be reached, ‘Israel is going to do something about that’
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Sen. James Risch (R-ID) walks to the Senate chambers on February 16, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Wednesday in remarks at the Hudson Institute that he’s skeptical that Iran would agree to a deal to dismantle its nuclear program.
Risch said that he is “not particularly optimistic” that a deal with Iran that stops it from enriching uranium can be reached, while adding that if Iran does not agree to a deal, “Israel is going to do something about that.”
“I’ve sat across the table from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, I don’t know how many times, and he has looked me in the eye and said, ‘Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,’” the top Senate Republican said. “And you know what? I believe him, and I think that’s a case for the United States to be in the exact same position.”
He called Iran a “failing country right now,” and said that the U.S. should be continuing to ratchet up sanctions on Iran and those purchasing Iranian oil. If Iran were eliminated as a threat, he continued, that would also effectively eliminate the other major bad actors in the region, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as Iran’s proxies.
“They’re all Iran. They’re all proxies of Iran. If Iran was gone, the three Hs would be gone,” Risch said. “So we’re down to one bad actor, really, in the region.”
Addressing the push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Risch said that Israel needs to destroy Hamas completely, and that any deal that allows it to continue existing will only set up another war down the road. And he said that Arab states are privately hoping that Israel is successful in incapacitating Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood affiliates.
Risch described Syria and Lebanon as “keystones in a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” both of which, he said, are poised for change and progress.
He expressed support for the administration’s decision to waive sanctions on Syria but warned that “we need to proceed with caution,” given Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s jihadist past.
“There are conditions that I believe must be met” by Syria and the administration should consider reimposing sanctions if they are not, he continued, including full cooperation against ISIS, eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons stores, expelling Russian and Iranian influence from the country, dismantling the Assad regime’s drug empire and accounting for missing and detained Americans.
Risch said he was initially nervous about al-Sharaa when he took control of Syria, but said, in his defense, that al-Sharaa’s terrorist activity was “a long time ago,” that al-Sharaa had cut ties with terrorist groups “knowing full well what they were and what they stood for” and that the sorts of atrocities and violence that Western leaders have worried about occurring in post-Assad Syria largely have not.
He said he believes that al-Sharaa was not involved in the “one incident” — seemingly referring to a massacre targeting the Alawite religious minority — that has taken place since he took power.
“I think the guy needs to be given a chance, particularly when he is saying what he’s saying, doing what he’s doing,” Risch said. At the same time, the committee chair also acknowledged that Israel does not share his view of al-Sharaa.
Risch downplayed the recent U.S. military pullback from Syria, emphasizing that the U.S. remains committed to the fight against ISIS and is concentrating its remaining resources in the region where ISIS has the strongest presence.
Risch said he’s “skeptical of Turkey” as a “result of my dealings with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan directly.” He warned that the Turkish antagonism toward the Kurds “could be a really, really serious problem” in Syria, which has “enough problems as it is,” and said he is “very cautious” about Turkey maintaining influence inside Syria.
He framed the new Lebanese government as that country’s “best opportunity” but emphasized that it has a long way to go to implement reforms, solve financial issues, eliminate corruption and root out Hezbollah. He said both the Lebanese president and Parliament speaker have “shown great potential over the years.”
“Any hesitancy to meet the threats posed by Hezbollah would be deeply troubling and force the United States to reevaluate providing much needed support for the [Lebanese] military,” Risch continued.
Pushing back on some in the Republican Party who have argued that the U.S. must pull back from the Middle East and other foreign engagements to focus resources on the Indo-Pacific and the home front, Risch said that he’s concerned about the U.S. national debt, but emphasized that fiscal responsibility does not require abandoning U.S. allies.
“We have relationships around the world that are just as important to us for our national security as [are] our military operations. We need friends,” Risch said. “There are a lot of people around the world that share our values and share our view of what life should be for human beings, and we need to maintain that.”
He added that the U.S. should “prize” its global reputation, and warned that abandoning allies like Ukraine would show weakness to China and other adversaries, and ultimately kick off a global nuclear arms race.
Fine also called for deporting all undocumented immigrants and taking aggressive actions against college campuses with antisemitism problems
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL)
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), the newest Jewish Republican member of Congress, argued on Monday, following an antisemitic attack on a group marching in support of the hostages in Gaza in Boulder, Colo., that the federal government should take aggressive action against groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations whose executive director said he was “happy to see” the Oct. 7 terror attack.
Fine added that the federal government also should be deporting all undocumented immigrants and take a strong hand toward college campuses in order to fight rising antisemitism..
“I’m angry that we’ve allowed this to get there, I’m angry that we’ve allowed Muslim terror to operate unfettered in this country,” Fine said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday. “Make no mistake, the Palestinian cause is fundamentally a broken, evil philosophy … It’s time to realize there is evil in this world and we have to fight it.”
He said that institutions tied to that ideology, including CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood and Students for Justice in Palestine, should not be allowed to operate in the United States, and should be designated as terrorist organizations, “because that’s what they are.”
He noted that the executive director of CAIR had celebrated the Oct. 7 attack, and remains in his position. Nihad Awad had in November 2023 said he “was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in.”
Fine also said that the U.S. must deport “every illegal immigrant,” as well as closely examine individuals entering the country “from these places that hate us.” The Boulder attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was an Egyptian immigrant who overstayed a tourist visa and was subsequently granted a work permit, which expired in March, according to Fox News.
Fine said that, while security funding is important, it’s impossible to provide individual security to every Jewish American, making it critical to go on the offensive.
“What we need to do is hunt bad guys,” Fine said. “And we can start by throwing out every illegal immigrant. And we can start by taking a hard look at people who are here on visas from Egypt.”
He said the U.S. must also move to stop countries such as Qatar and China “who are not our friends,” from “buying our universities and buying off our media outlets,” and take action to protect Jewish students.
He noted that he has introduced legislation that would explicitly make antisemitism and other forms of religious discrimination illegal on college campuses. Currently, based on guidance in executive orders, antisemitism is banned as a form of discrimination based on shared ancestry. Fine argued that his legislation would “create real legal courses of action” for Jewish students to protect themselves.
Though Elias Gonzalez — who killed two Israeli Embassy staffers outside of the Capital Jewish Museum last month — was not a student or an undocumented immigrant, Fine argued that campuses and immigrants are epicenters of antisemitic incitement and that addressing those would address larger trends.
“When these people hear that the nation’s best universities are saying that Israel is engaged in a genocide or 14,000 babies are going to die, they are radicalizing people through false information with the stamp of approval of universities,” Fine said. “So this guy [Gonzalez] was involved with organizations that are tied back to universities.”
“Also, he may not be an illegal immigrant, he may not be on a visa from another country, but I guarantee he was hanging around people who were and they’re going to rub off,” Fine continued.
Fine said he expects that antisemitic rhetoric and attacks will only get worse after Sunday’s attack in Boulder. He said he hadn’t slept the night after the attack because he was afraid of what might come next.
“What the Muslim terrorists will do is they’ll do what they did before — they double down, they get more aggressive with the rhetoric afterwards,” Fine said. “That’s part of the strategy. Punch and then punch harder … Muslim terrorists have declared open season on Jews. And I think that is a frightening thing. And I think the people who need to be hunted are the Muslim terrorists.”
Pressed on the fact that Rodriguez was not Muslim, Fine responded, “there are white supremacists who aren’t white … it is terrorism that is rooted in the Muslim faith.”
“They call it Christian nationalism, I don’t think every Christian is a bad person, I think very few of them are,” Fine continued.
Fine argued that surveys show a substantial portion of American Muslims are sympathetic to Hamas, that leading Muslim organizations like CAIR have supported Hamas and antisemitism, that there are few in Gaza who have stood up against Hamas and that many of those who participated in the Oct. 7 attack were not Hamas fighters.
“We are told, ‘No, no, no, it’s this tiny, tiny fringe.’ It is not a tiny fringe,” Fine said. “I don’t know whether it’s 30 or 40 or 70 or 90%, I don’t know. But I know it’s not 1% that are bad, and it’s time for us to stop pretending that it is.”
In social media posts, Wilson promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories, including one about the Anti-Defamation League’s founding
Screenshot/X
Kingsley Wilson
Kingsley Wilson, a deputy press secretary at the Department of Defense who has come under fire from Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Jewish communal organizations for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, has been promoted to serve as the department’s press secretary, the Pentagon announced on Friday.
“Kingsley’s leadership has been integral to the DoD’s success & we look forward to her continued service to President [Donald] Trump,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman and a senior advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on X on Friday.
When Wilson was named deputy press secretary in March, she faced widespread condemnation for dozens of tweets viewed as antisemitic and racist. On two different occasions, she attacked the Anti-Defamation League for sharing its origin story — the organization was founded after the lynching of Leo Frank, an Atlanta Jew widely believed to have been wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a white child over a century ago.
“Leo Frank raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl,” Wilson wrote in 2023 in response to a post from the ADL, and repeated the claim a year later. “He also tried to frame a black man for his crime. The ADL is despicable.” (The tweet has not been deleted.)
Wilson has also called Confederate General Robert E. Lee “one of the greatest Americans to ever live” and regularly promoted the antisemitic “Great Replacement Theory.”
Her appointment in March drew bipartisan criticism. “Obviously I don’t agree with her comments. I trust the Pentagon will address this,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Jewish Insider at the time. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for her firing.
Spokespeople for the Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
"The Obama administration invented the category of 'nuclear sanctions’ as an excuse to give the Ayatollah whatever he wanted for a nuclear deal," Sen. Ted Cruz said
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is seen outside a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on Thursday, November 14, 2024.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued on Wednesday that sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program can’t be separated from other sanctions on the regime as part of a nuclear deal, comparing the approach apparently being taken by the Trump administration to that of the Obama administration.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said in congressional testimony this week that talks with Tehran have revolved solely around Iran’s nuclear program and have not addressed its sponsorship of terrorism or its ballistic missile program, but said that sanctions related to terrorism and missiles would remain in place if those issues are not addressed in a potential deal.
“The Obama administration invented the category of ‘nuclear sanctions’ as an excuse to give the Ayatollah whatever he wanted for a nuclear deal,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said to Jewish Insider.
“It has nothing to do with how Congress passed or past presidents implemented sanctions against the Iranian regime, which was to use our most powerful sanctions against the full range of Iran’s aggression. President Trump rightly refused to certify and then withdrew from the deal because he said that lifting these ‘nuclear sanctions’ gave Iran too much for too little benefit,” he continued.
Congressional Republicans argued in the past, when the original nuclear deal included a similar formula, that the distinctions between nuclear and non-nuclear sanctions were largely specious. Those same lawmakers have maintained that any new funding the regime received would ultimately fuel proxy terrorism and regional destabilization, regardless of the targets of those sanctions.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) expressed confidence that the Trump administration understood that any deal must be multi-faceted, though he noted that Congressional Republicans haven’t been briefed on the talks.
“I have to believe at the end of the day, they realize that it’s not just about enrichment, but it’s all the other enabling capabilities, because the reality is the world’s a dangerous place and if they had that underlying capability, maybe then they’ll build their own bomb,” Tillis told JI.
“We got to support Israel. Iran uses proxies to attack America and Israel, they chant ‘Death to America.’ So what they’ve got to do is they’ve got to stop enriching uranium, that’s number one. And number two, we’ve got to make sure they have no money to give their proxies,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said when asked his position on a deal.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told JI he hadn’t kept up with Rubio’s testimony, but said that addressing Iran’s proxy terrorism is crucial.
“Iran’s the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Israel is fighting proxies all the way around them. The entire region’s destabilized. Egypt is struggling economically because of the Houthis and what they’re doing,” Lankford said. “The proxies are the problem in the area and you can’t disconnect Iran and the regime and what they’re doing in the entire region to destabilize the region.”
Another Senate Republican, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said he has faith in Rubio, but that an arrangement as outlined by Rubio would require “an awful lot of trust built into it, and I don’t trust Iran.”
“Money is obviously fungible. And the whole point of proxies is you can do whatever you want without doing whatever you want [directly],” the senator said. “There’s just an awful lot of trust built into.”
The senator said, “There’s probably a time where I’d be willing to give them a little bit of room, but they’re an awfully long ways down the road, so I don’t know. I just hope they keep a very, very tight grip on a very, very short leash.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI that, “I like the American position, the administration’s position of no enrichment, complete dismantlement … and [would] have to include their missile program.”
“Anything short of that would be inadequate,” he added.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) similarly argued that a deal around Iran’s nuclear weapons would likely include addressing Iran’s pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missiles. He added that Iran should not receive any sanctions relief without addressing its nuclear buildup.
Other senators seem to be focusing their attention more on ensuring that dismantling Iran’s enrichment remains a red line for the United States.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to see what the final package is,” Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), who recently led nearly all Senate Republicans on a letter insisting on full dismantlement, said. “The biggest issue is going to be the enrichment part. If we can crack the enrichment nut, that’s a big deal.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) similarly said, “The president’s been very clear. I think the Republican side of the aisle in the Senate has been very clear. No enrichment, zero, zilch, nada, no centrifuges. The Iranian leadership doesn’t need it. They can import uranium for civil nuclear energy, so they can either take it or leave it. We can do it the easy way, the hard way.”
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