The congressman angered Drop Site co-founder Jeremy Scahill by refusing to condone the attacks; Scahill accused Khanna of promoting a ‘double standard’
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Capitol Hill on May 18, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleRep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), fresh off a trip to the West Bank where he alleges he was unjustly detained by Israeli settlers and Israeli military forces, faced a barrage of criticism in a Drop Site News interview on Tuesday for refusing to endorse Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Khanna, in spite of his condemnations of Israel over the incident — which the Israeli government claims he has misrepresented — and demands for consequences for those involved, has faced pressure and condemnation from the far-left flank of the Democratic Party during his media tour following his return to the U.S.
Such pressure reached a fever pitch in Khanna’s Tuesday interview with Drop Site, an outlet that launched in July 2024 with an 8,000-word interview with two senior Hamas leaders. Since then, the outlet has gained a reputation of credulously reporting on Hamas’ claims and repeating the group’s propaganda.
In the lengthy exchange, Drop Site co-founderJeremy Scahill repeatedly questioned Khanna, a 2028 presidential hopeful, on why he would not express support for Hamas attacks on Israeli soldiers. Scahill framed the Oct. 7 attacks as primarily targeting Israeli military bases and soldiers, despite the fact that the group attacked many civilian communities and fired thousands of rockets at civilian centers.
“I think the Oct. 7 attack was a terrorist attack,” Khanna said when pressed if Palestinians have a “right” to kill Israeli soldiers. “I’m not going to say that Hamas had a right to attack Israeli soldiers or kill Israelis. I don’t think that advances peace or advances Palestinian statehood.”
Further angering Scahill, Khanna said he believed Israel had a right to go after Hamas terrorists “who killed the civilians” on Oct. 7, “but not in the way they went about it, which I said is genocide.” Scahill accused him of holding an unfair “double standard.”
“I am baffled as to how you can say that Israel had a right to drop a single bomb on Gaza in response to Oct. 7,” Scahill said. “But Palestinians, according to you, have no right whatsoever to ever kill an Israeli.”
Pressed on whether he supported in any scenario “armed resistance against Israeli occupation soldiers in uniform” — as Scahill characterized it — Khanna did not offer a hard no.
“I think if it’s self-defense, if they feel like there’s an illegal attack on them by a violent settler or by an Israeli soldier and that’s illegal, in a school or on a civilian, then of course they should have justice,” Khanna said. Pressed further, Khanna added, “I will look at it, but I don’t think that the solution in that area is to encourage [violence],” while offering support for peaceful resistance.
Scahill argued that Khanna shouldn’t be afraid of being seen as pro-Hamas.
“You’re afraid of being called pro-Hamas, that’s what this boils down to,” he said, speculating that Khanna would acknowledge the “right to resistance by all means necessary” privately.
Khanna countered saying that the Palestinians he met during his trip to the West Bank were not interested in the sort of armed attacks that Scahill was promoting, and “just want to live their lives in dignity and peace.”
Repeatedly invoking nonviolent civil rights leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Khanna expressed support for nonviolent protest.
The California congressman has also faced pushback for declining to endorse a full arms embargo on Israel in an interview with Hasan Piker, a social media influencer who has expressed support for Hamas and has repeatedly been condemned for antisemitism.
Plus, Georgia Jews’ Senate quandary
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 30, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to friends and colleagues of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died on Saturday, and spotlight how Georgia’s Jewish community is approaching the state’s Senate race. We report on the confrontation between Rep. Ro Khanna and a group of West Bank settlers during his trip to Israel last week, and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to an attempt by top staffers to meet with Iran’s envoy to the United Nations. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Mitch McConnell, Dennis Baum and French President Emmanuel Macron.
We have also launched a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrives in Washington today, where he is slated to meet this week with President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials. The trip comes as Washington has sought to pressure Baghdad to crack down on Iranian militias operating in the country, and as the U.S. and Iran continued to trade fire over the weekend, with the U.S. striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz overnight after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship, prompting Iran to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
- Current and former government officials and policy wonks are arriving in Aspen, Colo., today ahead of the start of the Aspen Security Forum tomorrow. Will you be in Aspen? Say hello to JI’s Marc Rod, who will be covering the forum this week.
- Israelis will go to the polls in new elections on Oct. 27, MK Ofir Katz, the head of the Knesset’s House Committee, announced on Sunday. Katz’s announcement kicks off the official countdown to elections, even as candidates have for months been campaigning as the date has remained uncertain.
- The House Rules Committee is meeting today to discuss the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent and has been opposed by Orthodox Jewish groups. The committee is also set to discuss legislation about State Department funding when it meets at 4 p.m.
- The Justice Department’s Leo Terrell, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Greg Stanton (R-AZ), author Dara Horn and the Philos Project’s Luke Moon are among those slated to speak today at the National Coalition Against Antisemitism & Hate Conference, hosted by the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council at the National Press Club.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S EMILY JACOBS
Following the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who was 71, this weekend, tributes poured in from lawmakers, administration officials and Jewish organizations, while Republicans and Democrats alike predicted Graham would be remembered as a legendary American political figure known for his ability to take political risks and find common ground in unexpected places.
Morgan Ortagus, the former deputy presidential envoy for Middle East peace in the second Trump administration and one of Graham’s closest confidantes in Washington, spoke to the senator on Saturday afternoon, hours before paramedics were called to his Capitol Hill home after he experienced an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
“He was extremely jazzed up in our last conversation,” Ortagus told JI. “He had just gotten off the phone with the president, and he was super excited about the Russia sanctions bill and the president deciding to go back into Iran. He could not have been happier when I spoke to him last night. He was in the best mood and in a great place. He spoke about how he felt like he was doing consequential work.”
“Nobody was expecting this. That’s for sure. Not even Lindsey was, or he wouldn’t have been running for another term,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who has had close relationships with both Graham and President Donald Trump, said of the senator’s sudden passing. “When a person cuts as wide a swath as Lindsey cuts, it is shocking. It will take some time to process the reality of it. It should really hit on Monday when we show up for work.”
“He was not afraid to be critical and he was never uncritical of friends. He believed that friends owe it to each other to try to enable them to do better,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “He had a vision, which was in effect the normalization of relationships throughout the Middle East, an extension of the Abraham Accords. He pursued it relentlessly.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) credited Graham with doing “a masterful job of pulling” senators from across the ideological spectrum “in the same direction” in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, swiftly organizing a bipartisan congressional delegation alongside former Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as he sought to salvage his long-standing efforts to achieve Saudi-Israeli normalization.
PEACH STATE PROBLEMS
In Georgia’s Senate race, tough choices ahead for the state’s Jewish community
For some Jewish voters in Georgia, this year’s Senate race offers no comfortable choice. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) votes to block weapons shipments to Israel have alienated some longtime supporters, while Republican nominee Rep. Mike Collins’ (R-GA) history of inflammatory rhetoric and controversial staffing choices has made him a nonstarter for others, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
The dilemma: The Jewish community remains divided on the race — some prominent community leaders, including prominent longtime Democrats, say they can’t see themselves voting for Ossoff given his record. But they also say that Collins is an unpalatable choice for them given his own history. Yet, both candidates also maintain strong supporters: Ossoff supporters argue that the response to his votes against weapons shipments have been overblown, or support the stances he’s taken. Collins supporters say that, despite past controversies, he’s the more reliable advocate for Israel and the Jewish community, in part because of his evangelical Christian background.
‘Rogue’ rhetoric
Abdul El-Sayed calls Israel a ‘rogue state’
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan running in the race’s far-left lane, on Sunday described Israel as a “rogue state” that has committed genocide and apartheid. El-Sayed made the comments in an interview with Manu Raju on CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: Asked whether he thought the Israeli government should be considered by the U.S. to be a foreign terrorist organization, El-Sayed answered, “It’s certainly a rogue state.” He continued, “I mean, they did a genocide. What about doing a genocide is not evil in your book? At baseline they do apartheid.”
Endorsement alert: Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) over El-Sayed for the seat he is vacating, touting Stevens’ having demonstrated “time and time again that she’s a fighter” and adding that the U.S. Senate “is not a place for on-the-job training.”
SETTLER SCRUTINY
Khanna calls for investigation into West Bank altercation
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an investigation after the lawmaker said he was harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week, an incident Netanyahu attributed to a small group of “vigilantes,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Khanna’s claim: During his first known trip to Israel and the West Bank since October 2024, Khanna said that his delegation’s van had been surrounded, stopped and taunted last Wednesday by Israeli settlers. Israel Police said that officers on the scene did not witness any violence and that the group was stopped in a restricted zone. Police added that Khanna’s tour group leader was warned of a possible arrest and that the group was told that civilians were not permitted in the area, before being released.
Bonus: The New York Post reports that Khanna ignored efforts by the Israeli Embassy in Washington to arrange a meeting with former hostages and survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.
MEETING MISHAP
Mamdani pleads ignorance of commissioner’s plan to meet Iranian ambassador
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Friday that he had been unaware that top officials in his administration planned to meet with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier this month — calling the decision “an error” on the part of one of his most prominent and politically active commissioners, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Mayor’s comments: Speaking after an unrelated event, the mayor maintained he only learned from a request for comment from City Journal that International Affairs Commissioner Ana Maria Archila and what the publication described as “two other senior officials” working under her had planned to sit down on Tuesday with Amir-Saeid Iravani of the Iranian Mission to the U.N. City Journal, affiliated with the right-of-center Manhattan Institute, reported that the State Department stepped in to preempt the meeting.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Radical GOP governor hopeful got cash from backers of far-left Dems
James Fishback, the GOP candidate for Florida governor whom critics call “openly racist” and “openly antisemitic,” ostensibly sits at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the likes of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. But the far-right and far-left politicians share more than just an aversion to Israel — they also overlap in donors, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman has found.
Money matters: Among the 27 donors to give the maximum $3,000 contribution to Fishback’s bid for Tallahassee is New York-based philanthropist and financier Amed Khan. A longtime associate of the Clinton family and contributor to former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as to the Democratic National Committee, Khan’s public commentary and political giving has pivoted leftward since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Besides maxing out to Fishback, this cycle the investment banker and Quincy Institute board member has donated $7,000 to former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, the progressive Democrat whose tirades against “oligarchs” and “the establishment” — not to mention his rhetoric on Israel — made him a favorite of the online left before a rape allegation derailed his campaign.
Targeting Fishback: The Front Line, a newly launched political nonprofit group aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), is making a $400,000 ad buy in Florida targeting Fishback over his past antisemitic comments and suggestion that he would not enforce the state’s antisemitism law if elected.
Worthy Reads
AWOL on Antisemitism: In The Hill, Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), the co-chairs of the Senate’s antisemitism task force, call on Congress to pass the Jewish American Security Act. “Every single attack represents a violation of Americans’ freedom to safely practice their religion. Failing to confront the moral rot of antisemitism in our country is an abdication of our responsibility to uphold this fundamental right. We cannot continue to allow discrimination and violence to go unchecked. Yet despite the disturbing rise in antisemitism, not a single piece of federal legislation focused solely and directly on combating it has been passed into law since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.” [TheHill]
Lindsey’s Legacy: In The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich reflects on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) death, looking at how the South Carolina Republican navigated the Beltway bubble, local politics and his relationship with President Donald Trump. “It is perfectly on the nose that Graham’s departure would occur just a few hours before he was supposed to appear on Meet the Press. It would have been his 64th appearance on America’s longest-running public-affairs program. In the Meet the Press greenroom there used to be a prominent photo of Graham yapping away alongside his Senate sidekick, John McCain. McCain, for his part, appeared 73 times on Meet the Press, more than any other guest in history — something McCain was especially proud of. In early 2019, a few months after McCain died, Graham joked to me that his main goal in his remaining time on God’s green Earth (or God’s greenroom) was to beat McCain’s record. He never will.” [TheAtlantic]
White House Inc.: Tablet’s Armin Rosen spotlights the overlap between business and personal dealings among members of the Trump administration, using as an example Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany who serves as a senior advisor to the president on Middle East and African affairs despite his business interests in Africa. “The blurring boundaries between individual personalities and the basic functioning of the American government are characteristic of the second Trump administration, where jobs at the top of the system have been turned into prizes given out to allies and loyalists deemed worthy of having a shot at 10-figure prosperity. … But the result of this new ethos is that the pursuits of personal and public interest now bleed into one another with desensitizing frequency.” [Tablet]
A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.
Word on the Street
In The Atlantic, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, now the head of the country’s opposition, reflects on what he has learned about the American ethos during his time traveling the country, finding that “America is the place where the individual precedes the tribe and the story precedes history,” and as a place where loneliness “is not a glitch in the system; it is the raw material from which the system was built”…
Politico looks at how Vice President JD Vance’s rhetoric on Israel is alienating some Jewish Republican donors…
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized and has not made any public statements since a fall that he said left him “briefly unconscious” last month, released a photo of himself amid speculation over the extent of his illness, saying that he developed pneumonia while recovering from the fall…
The Washington State Democratic Party is facing criticism from Jewish communal leaders over a change to its party platform that linked rising antisemitism in part to the actions of the Israeli government…
The New York Times looks at the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America in smaller cities in upstate New York as the group seeks to extend its footprint around the state…
Graham Platner officially withdrew his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Maine, clearing the way for the Maine Democratic Party to replace him on the November ballot…
The Anti-Defamation League took out a full-page ad in the Maine Sunday Telegram, declaring of Platner, “The tattoo should have been enough” and warning that those who “traffic in antisemitism” often are associated with other “misconduct”; ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told JI, “At this pivotal moment, antisemitism is not only being normalized in our politics, it is at risk of becoming mainstreamed across society. When conspiracy theories, Nazi-linked symbols, ties to extremists or hatred toward Jews are excused or minimized, leaders cannot look away”…
PEN America President Dinaw Mengestu resigned after seven months in the role, following the organization’s publication of an article describing the harassment and isolation faced by Jewish and Israeli writers in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in Gaza; Mengestu said that the decision was in part because of the group’s opposition to cultural boycotts by pro-Palestinian activists…
The Atlantic explores efforts by the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to learn the truth about their parents, who were executed in 1953 after being convicted of spying for the Soviet Union…
The U.K.’s Home Office announced it will spend £250 million ($335 million) over the next three years to increase security and policing at Jewish institutions…
The Australian royal commission of inquiry into antisemitism heard from students and faculty about the antisemitism they experienced at universities in the country that predated the Oct. 7 attacks…
Australia’s education minister announced an overhaul of the country’s education standards that will now require universities to adopt a definition of antisemitism and develop transparent processes for reporting incidents of racism…
Politico does a deep dive into efforts by Norway, led by a former national team star player-turned-activist, to oust Israel from FIFA…
European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels today to discuss a potential ban on the importing of goods from West Bank settlements…
Deutsche Welle spotlights efforts by Dennis Baum, the Jewish heir to the Simson automobile manufacturing empire, to fight back against the use of Simson vehicles in political materials distributed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party…
Counterterrorism officials in France are investigating after a military-grade weapon was discovered in a vehicle in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in the north of Paris…
The Qatar Investment Authority, which owns a 10% stake in Volkswagen AG, blocked a deal between the German automaker and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems that would have seen Volkswagen produce vehicles supporting the Iron Dome missile-defense system….
Bloomberg looks at the challenges posed to global financial institutions by the growing rift between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that “has the potential to upend global investment flows”…
Former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who oversaw the Gulf state’s transition into an era of massive growth that also saw Doha deepen ties with Iran, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and establish Al Jazeera, died at 74; The New York Times’ obituary of Sheikh Hamad included a photo of the former emir with senior Hamas officials…
Find on-demand Live Briefing updates throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Pic of the Day
French President Emmanuel Macron and Charles Dreyfus, a grandson of Alfred Dreyfus, on Sunday inaugurated a statue of the military captain, who was the target of the antisemitic campaign known as the Dreyfus Affair. The Paris ceremony marking Dreyfus’ 1906 exoneration was held on the country’s first national day dedicated to the recognition of his innocence.
Speaking at the ceremony, Macron acknowledged that “the old demons of antisemitism have never completely disappeared from our country.”
Birthdays
Television writer, David X. Cohen turns 60…
Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, retired teacher, Howie K. Kipnes… Actor whose films have grossed more than $10 billion, his maternal grandmother was Anna Lifschutz, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Harrison Ford turns 84… Ridgefield, Conn., resident, Louis Panzer… Lecturer on the federal budget process following 37 years at various federal agencies, Johnny Cahn… Co-host of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN since 2001, Anthony Irwin “Tony” Kornheiser turns 78… Actor, best known for her role as Frenchy in “Grease,” Edith “Didi” Conn turns 75… Author of crime and suspense novels, he is also a conservative commentator, Andrew Klavan turns 72… Guide and educator at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Rabbi Dr. Eric Marshall Lankin… Senior manager of regulatory and legislative affairs at PJM Interconnection, Stuart Widom… Country music artist, Victoria Lynn Shaw turns 64… Television executive and producer, she was the president of HBO’s network’s entertainment division until 2008 and was responsible for commissioning “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and other hit shows, Carolyn Strauss turns 63… Film director and screenwriter, Shari Springer Berman turns 63… Author and journalist, Katie Roiphe turns 58… Chief legal officer and chief policy officer at HackerOne, Ilona Cohen… Owner of the D.C. area franchises of SafeSplash Swim Schools, Jennifer Rebecca Goodman Lilintahl… Founder of Omanut Collective, Sarah Persitz… Director of major gifts for the Southeast region at American Friends of Magen David Adom, Yishai Mizrahi… Creator, writer and producer of the TV show “Casual,” which ran from 2015 to 2018, Alexander “Zander” Sutton Lehmann turns 39… Former CEO at Art of Air Events and Entertainment, Ariana Gradow… Managing director at BDT & MSD Partners, Nicholas Avery Newburger… Managing partner at Surround Ventures, Jared Kash… Television and film actor, Wyatt Jess Oleff (family name was Olefsky) turns 23… Technology investor and executive, Eric A. Kohlmann… Reporter at Punchbowl News, Max Cohen…
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said Khanna had declined a request to coordinate with the embassy for the trip where he was stopped by Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questions U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee April 29, 2026.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an investigation after the lawmaker said he was harassed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week, an incident Netanyahu attributed to a small group of “vigilantes.”
During his first known trip to Israel and the West Bank since October 2024, Khanna said that his delegation’s van had been surrounded, stopped and taunted last Wednesday by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.-made M4 rifles during a tour of the southern West Bank, an incident that a New York Times photographer traveling in a different vehicle said he witnessed.
Khanna claimed IDF vehicles then appeared, and the soldiers spoke amiably with the settlers and continued to block the road themselves after the settlers departed. The IDF denied that the visitors were detained by military personnel.
Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna, said the group was held for over an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance. Kasky previously ran in the Democratic primary in New York’s 12th Congressional District on an explicitly anti-Israel platform.
Khanna told NBC News the incident had made him “more resolved” to consider a presidential run in 2028.
“I have something unique to offer about the injustices of Palestinians,” he told the Times. “I’m going to go to every corner of America, regardless of whether I run or not, and tell their stories and tell the story of what is happening in the West Bank.”
An IDF spokesperson told NBC that troops and police officers were dispatched to the scene in a “closed military zone” after a “report was received regarding Israeli civilians who were unlawfully blocking the vehicle of foreign nationals.” The military said the soldiers reopened the road and let the delegation through.
Israel Police said that officers on the scene did not witness any violence and that the group was stopped in a restricted zone. Israel prohibits its citizens from entering certain areas of the West Bank without an IDF permit, particularly Palestinian Authority-controlled Area A, which are typically marked with warning signs. Foreign civilians are generally not legally barred from these areas, though they may be subject to security advisories or temporary restrictions.
Police added that Khanna’s tour group leader was warned of a possible arrest and that the group was told that civilians were not permitted in the area, before being released. Khanna said that his office had alerted the Israeli Embassy in Washington of his visit — a claim that was denied by the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Leiter said that Khanna’s team did not alert Israeli authorities, saying instead that the California lawmaker had ignored a request from officials to allow them to assist in coordinating the trip.
“We reached out to him [Khanna] when we heard he was going to Israel … We suggested he visit with survivors of the Oct. 7 [2023] massacre, that he visit the borders so he understands the issues that we have on our borders and so on,” Leiter said. “He [Khanna] ignored that and he decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street.”
“There was a question about visas, that’s all,” Leiter added of Khanna’s outreach to the embassy. “But when we requested that he coordinate the trip with us, he rejected that by basically staying silent.”
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami on Sunday denied that J Street had any involvement in organizing Khanna’s visit.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Khanna called the encounter “unprecedented” and accused the IDF of “lying.”
“They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official,” Khanna said. “You had these settlers brandishing M4s, kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking us, videotaping us. We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful for our lives. Then the IDF comes, four soldiers, they tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers.”
Also appearing on NBC on Sunday, Netanyahu insisted that Israel is “a country of laws” and blamed the confrontation on a fringe group of “vigilantes.”
“We’re a country of laws, and people who break the law, we take them to court,” Netanyahu said. “There is a vigilante effort, not by the settler community … There are 150 juvenile delinquents that are not part of that community. They come from other parts of Israel. I don’t want vigilantes of any kind, and we are working to put them under the law.”
Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks, Khanna pushed the Israeli leader to further investigate the matter.
“The prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers,” Khanna said. “They need to be prosecuted … their outpost needs to be investigated, and he [Netanyahu] needs to have an investigation on these four IDF officers.”
“Security cameras can see that they were involved in the detention of American citizens,” he added. “How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?”
The California Democrat, one of the most vocal Israel critics in the House, last traveled to the Jewish state in October 2024
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks at a rally near the U.S. Capitol on June 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) traveled to Israel and the West Bank this week while Congress is in recess, according to two individuals with knowledge of the trip.
Khanna has not posted publicly about his trip, which is scheduled to conclude Thursday night. His office did not respond to requests for comment from JI.
The California Democrat has become increasingly critical of Israel since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. In September 2025, he accused Israel of having committed genocide in Gaza.
His last known trip to the country was with a bipartisan delegation in October 2024 that also included stops in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. On that trip, the delegation met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a statement about the trip, Khanna noted that the group had also met with Jordanian King Abdullah II earlier in the day.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu did not meet with Khanna during this trip.
Blinken is the second top Biden administration official to champion Khanna, a likely 2028 presidential prospect and outspoken critic of Israel
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C, on January 14, 2025.
Former Secretary of State Tony Blinken offered support for Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) stance on the Iran war and the U.S. deal with Iran in a post on X on Tuesday.
Blinken praised the “wise words from my friend [Khanna],” reposting a Fox News op-ed by the congressman making the case that “stopping the Iran war is good. But Trump’s deal is worse than the JCPOA.”
He’s the second prominent former Biden administration official to draw closer to Khanna in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential primary, joining former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who has reportedly been advising Khanna behind the scenes as he prepares for a presidential run.
The comments also come as some progressive presidential contenders call for the Democratic Party to purge its ranks of foreign policy advisors who served in the Biden administration, given its general support for Israel.
Khanna, in the op-ed published on Fox News’ website, praised the “welcome news” of the end of the war in Iran, but called the war “a self-inflicted disaster that cost American lives and burned through taxpayer dollars” and said the deal reached is more favorable for Iran than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from which President Donald Trump withdrew.
“The details of the ceasefire released this week show that Vice President [JD] Vance woefully misled Americans on at least five accounts when he claimed the administration’s deal was better than the JCPOA that President Obama negotiated in 2015,” Khanna continued. “A better deal for ending this war would have been anchored in tough diplomacy and economic pressure rather than blunt force.”
The only times in the op-ed Khanna mentioned Israel — a frequent target of criticism by the congressman — were to argue that “through tough diplomacy” the U.S. could have worked with Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah so it could not threaten the Lebanese people or Israel, and “used Iran’s temporary loss of military capabilities as an opportunity to restart negotiations over a two-state solution for Israelis” along the lines of the Arab Peace Initiative.
TrackAIPAC has garnered ongoing accusations of antisemitism for its targeting of individual Jewish donors with, in many cases, tenuous ties to pro-Israel organizations
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) announced last week that he had been endorsed by the anti-Israel group TrackAIPAC, which has faced widespread accusations of antisemitism, after he became the first politician or candidate to sign a new “pledge” promulgated by the group.
TrackAIPAC has garnered ongoing accusations of antisemitism for its targeting of individual Jewish donors with, in some cases, distant or long-ago ties to pro-Israel organizations, fueling accusations that the group aims to broadly stigmatize Jewish political participation. Its inconsistent methodology and practices for determining which politicians it labels as “pro-Israel” have also generated criticism.
The group faced further scrutiny for endorsing antisemitic Texas Democratic candidate Maureen Galindo, though it belatedly revoked its endorsement after her antisemitic stances gained widespread national attention.
The “PEACE Pledge” requires signatories to reject any support from AIPAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, Republican Jewish Coalition, Christians United for Israel “or similar organizations and large donor networks promoting unconditional support for Israel” and to “reject spending and funds routed by groups like AIPAC and their allies through intermediary organizations or coordinated donor activity.”
The pledge is “pretty common sense. It means that we shouldn’t be sending our tax dollar money for foreign wars overseas. We should be spending it here at home,” Khanna said in a video before signing it. “It says that we shouldn’t be taking money from AIPAC or all of its affiliate PACs or bundled money from those organizations, and that we have to recognize the genocide that took place in Gaza.”
“I am proud to be the first Democrat to take this pledge to reject money from AIPAC and affiliated groups, recognize the genocide in Gaza and oppose aid to Israel and military sales that kill civilians,” he added.
Khanna has recently increased his national profile through vocal criticism of Israel, ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run. He joins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) as the third potential 2028 presidential candidate endorsed by TrackAIPAC, which has faced persistent accusations of antisemitism.
TrackAIPAC has in some cases previously labeled J Street support as verboten pro-Israel funding, as well as targeted individual donors who have previously had ties to pro-Israel groups, even if their donations are not given in connection to those groups.
But a Khanna campaign spokesperson said that the pledge does not require Khanna to reject support from J Street or from individual pro-Israel donors.
“Ro believes strongly in the political participation of the Jewish American community. He is proud to be endorsed by J Street and engages with many synagogues and leaders, including those who may not share all his views,” the spokesperson said.
The pledge also demands that signatories recognize the war in Gaza as a genocide and support legislation to that effect; oppose any military aid to “any country whose security forces are committing gross violations of human rights, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide”; and oppose sanctions on the International Criminal Court, among other measures.
It appears to demand that signatories not support anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation, as well as legislation addressing anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism: “I pledge that I will oppose all measures to restrict protected First Amendment speech and assembly, including the exercise of longstanding economic tools of expression, including by opposing measures that aim to limit these freedoms through the conflation of criticism of a foreign country with any form of bigotry.”
“The pledge does not require support for BDS and Ro has not supported it. It says that you cannot criminalize BDS, which has always been Ro’s position as a supporter of the First Amendment,” the Khanna spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also noted that Khanna “believes in dialogue and engagement to bring peace,” and noted that he recently met with leaders from the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — who have described Khanna as actively hostile to and endangering the Jewish community — as well as the local Jewish Community Relations Council and Jewish federation.
The spokesperson said he has also met with AIPAC members. And, the spokesperson noted, Khanna recently scored a decisive primary victory. Khanna’s challenger had sought to cultivate support among Jewish voters.
Tali Klima, a spokesperson for the Bay Area Jewish Coalition, said in a statement following the initial publication of this story that the group “reluctantly” met with Khanna following the recent primary, but had asked his office not to publicize the meeting.
“Despite assurances, Khanna has once again chosen to leverage a private meeting for his agenda and to insinuate that he is open to dialogue and inclusion of our perspectives. We are disappointed but not surprised by his team’s actions,” Klima said.
Klima said that during the meeting, her group and other Jewish leaders “reiterated how his rhetoric and political agenda hurt our community. Indeed, we gave him examples of recent antisemitic attacks against children right in his district.”
“Although he promised to ‘tone down’ his rhetoric, he has since proceeded with business as usual, for example, by signing the ridiculous anti-AIPAC pledge,” Klima continued. “We will not accept his attempts to excuse vile anti-Israel propaganda that fuels prejudice, harassment and assaults against us.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Mark Warner declined to defend the embattled Maine Senate candidate, but Rep. Ro Khanna said he’ll continue to support him
Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Graham Platner, Democratic Senate candidate for Maine, arrives to speak during a Fighting Oligarchy event in Portland, Maine, on May 25, 2026.
Top Democrats faced questions over Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s scandals on Sunday, days after The New York Times shared details of abusive behavior alleged by past romantic partners.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has endorsed Platner, said he continues to support him even as he criticized Platner’s past behavior and said his campaign should not attack his accusers, while Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to offer any support for Platner and said that Platner and Maine voters will need to address the scandal.
Khanna, who campaigned with Platner in Maine after last week’s Times scoop, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Platner’s past actions were “misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong, but they didn’t come as a surprise to a lot of the folks in Maine,” arguing that the state’s voters knew the presumptive Democratic nominee went through a dark period after his time serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“He took accountability, he himself has said that it was shameful,” Khanna said, explaining that he continues to support Platner because of his policy platform. “The Maine voters that I met said they don’t like it. They knew that he had these chapters. They are willing to extend him grace and redemption, and they’re focused now on what he’s running for.”
He said that if there was “evidence of violence” or “evidence of sexual assault” he would not be supporting Platner.
One of Platner’s ex-girlfriends interviewed by theTimes detailed instances when Platner was physically aggressive, including forcing her into a room and preventing her from leaving. She said he had also grabbed her hard enough to leave marks.
“Even according to The New York Times piece, they said there was no harm, no injury. There was toxicity, and there was verbal intimidation, which I condemn,” Khanna told host Margaret Brennan. “But Graham has made it clear that there was no evidence of violence. That to me is a red line.”
He also defended Platner’s ex-partners, and said that Democrats should not be attacking them, praising them for coming forward, even as Platner’s campaign has disparaged one of the accusers as a Republican operative.
“They should not attack her. They should not attack The New York Times reporters who wrote the story,” Khanna said.
In an interview with ABC News’ “This Week,”, Warner declined to offer any support for Platner, and suggested he wants to stay far away from the issue.
“If the allegations are true, they are disturbing. End of the day, though, Maine voters are going to decide this,” Warner continued, adding that he’s focused on his own reelection campaign in Virginia.
Asked about whether Platner has handled the issue properly, Warner said that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign appeared to rewrite the rules of what was acceptable in the political realm. He suggested that similar activity would likely have been considered more damaging in decades past.
“At the end of the day, American voters will make those decisions,” Warner said. “I don’t know Mr. Platner, I’ve never met him. I would just say this: the allegations [that] are made, I think you ought to have at least some attempt to prove … or disprove them, if that’s the case.”
He said that he wishes “all candidates in both parties maybe held themselves to a different standard,” before again reiterating that it’s up to Maine voters to judge whether Platner’s past is disqualifying.
Jeffries also declined to offer support for Platner in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing” show.
“Violence against women in any way, shape or form is unacceptable. It’s a red line, and nobody should cross that,” Jeffries said. “Any abuser who comes forward has to be treated with dignity and respect.”
He said, however, he isn’t involved in the Maine Senate race and that he hasn’t spoken about the race with Khanna.
Asked whether Platner’s candidacy, and Platner’s attacks on AIPAC and the pro-Israel community, are evidence that the Democratic Party has an antisemitism problem, Jeffries said that Platner is “going to have to speak for himself,” but that antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“We should all be committed to crushing antisemitism and all other forms of hatred into the ground,” Jeffries said.
Pressed subsequently about Adam Hamawy, the Democratic New Jersey Congressional nominee with a history of connections to convicted terrorists and terrorist organizations, Jeffries — who congratulated Hamawy on his victory last week — repeatedly sidestepped the issue.
“I haven’t spoken to him, he’s going to have to speak for himself and address these allegations,” Jeffries responded, when asked about Hamawy’s testimony in defense of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the terrorist mastermind known as the Blind Sheikh, before pivoting to attacking the administration over the war in Iran and high gas prices.
Pressed again, he criticized Republicans for their own hateful comments and the administration for the rising cost of living.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), as well as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), have been among the party’s most prominent critics of Israel on Capitol Hill amid a marked decline in Democratic support for the Jewish state
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks during a rally around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 2025.
As the 2028 presidential campaign season nears, a handful of prospective candidates from the Democratic Party’s left flank are raising their profiles with efforts to shape a more critical approach to U.S. policy toward Israel.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), as well as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), all of whom are seen as potential presidential prospects, have been among the party’s most prominent critics of Israel on Capitol Hill amid a marked decline in Democratic support for the Jewish state.
Recent moves suggest they are each testing voter appetite for a possible White House campaign. Even as they are not considered top-tier contenders in what is likely to be a crowded primary field, history has shown they could be positioning themselves for a Cabinet role — particularly if they prove successful in driving the national conversation on the debate stage and other forums.
Murphy, for instance, released a book last month, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America, of the sort that typically presages a bid for higher office. The senator has otherwise continued to promote what he terms a “forward-looking foreign policy,” which has included an increasingly antagonistic assessment of Israel and its relationship with the United States.
Van Hollen, meanwhile, published a deeply disputed op-ed in The New York Times last week that argued for wholly jettisoning the Democratic Party’s “unconditional support to Israeli governments” that, he warned, has “increasingly undermined American interests and values.” He also proposed several steps that the next Democratic president should take with respect to Israel — such as recognizing a Palestinian state “subject to clear benchmarks” and ending U.S. “taxpayer-funded support to Israel,” which has also recently been championed by more moderate voices such as former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
In a noteworthy aside at the end of his essay, Van Hollen, who, like Murphy, sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that voters “won’t trust any Democratic presidential candidate who does not have a record of moral and strategic clarity on these issues” — a possible advertisement for his own 2028 ambitions.
The senator also insisted that voters will not be open to a presidential “candidate who plans to re-enlist the senior Democratic decision makers who whitewashed the truth during the Biden administration and refuse to acknowledge their complicity.”
Left unmentioned was that Van Hollen’s dictates could reasonably be seen as planting the seeds for a possible post in a future administration, including secretary of state or another top foreign policy role.
Khanna, long seen as harboring presidential ambitions, has for his part moved swiftly to the far left on Israel policy in recent years, while giving his endorsement to a range of Israel critics running for House and Senate this cycle that have helped him to build a progressive imprint throughout the country.
None of the three lawmakers, however media-savvy, possesses the name recognition or national profile of other prominent Democrats who are more frequently cited as presidential prospects, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on the left.
But if they do choose to mount what would likely be long-shot presidential bids, each has the potential to become a more significant player in national politics, as previous presidential contests have demonstrated.
During the 2020 primary, for instance, Andrew Yang rose to prominence as a Democratic outsider thanks in part to his calls for unconventional policies such as universal basic income. And Pete Buttigieg channeled his short-lived primary surge from small-town mayor in Indiana to leading the Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden.
With intraparty conflict over Israel poised to inflect the 2028 presidential race, it would not be surprising if Khanna, Murphy or Van Hollen seized the national spotlight while championing Middle East policy positions that had once been considered off-limits for a viable campaign.
Kenneth Baer, a former Obama administration official who now leads a communications firm, voiced concerns about the possibility, albeit hypothetical, of a lawmaker like Van Hollen helming the State Department, say, in a future administration.
“The only thing more menacing to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship than Van Hollen as SFRC chair is him as secretary of state,” Baer, a constituent of the senator, told Jewish Insider. “It’s a sad commentary about the state of our party that more than a few presidential hopefuls would seriously consider him for that role.”
His critics once saw him as an ally, but fear he’s pandered to extremists as he raises his national profile ahead of the 2028 presidential election
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) emergence as a leading Democratic party critic of Israel — while affiliating with and embracing individuals and groups that have been accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism — is creating divisions within the local Jewish community in his Silicon Valley-centered district.
While Khanna maintains unified support from Jewish elected officials in the district, other Jewish community leaders say they feel abandoned, ignored and even attacked by their congressman, whom they once saw as an ally, as he faces what could be his most credible primary challenge in years.
For some in the district, ties with the congressman have been strained for years, and were further inflamed by the March attack on two Israeli Americans in San Jose’s Santana Row shopping district.
Khanna strongly condemned the attack but some in the community said his words rang hollow after months of escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. Some Jewish leaders in the district say that they saw a direct connection between Khanna’s incendiary language condemning the Jewish state and attacks such as the one their community experienced.
Two days after the attack, Khanna posted about how he is “proud to stand” with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as to join far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s show, all of whom have faced criticism from the Jewish community — comments that prompted condemnation by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
Jewish leaders in the district who are now critical of the congressman said the community’s relationship with Khanna started out strong when he was first elected in 2016, but has significantly deteriorated over time, particularly in the past few years. Khanna’s Silicon Valley district includes substantial, concentrated Jewish and Israeli-American communities.
Tali Klima, a spokesperson for Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, a local grassroots advocacy group, said that Khanna was “warmly welcomed” by the Jewish community when he was first elected and that many in the community had supported him.
Khanna traveled to Israel three times while in office, and has expressed support for the Abraham Accords, voted in 2019 to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, condemned calls to “globalize the intifada,” voted in early 2024 to condemn the slogan “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and introduced a Holocaust education resolution in 2024. Amid rising antisemitism in recent years, he has touted appointing a point of contact for addressing antisemitism in the district on his congressional team.
But, Klima and other critics said, they’ve seen the congressman’s posture change over time.
“He’s become more and more divisive and more extremist in his views, that we never heard when he was first elected, especially since Oct. 7. It’s been a massive shift in the way that he communicates about things that we care about,” Klima continued.
“At this point, the community has really lost trust in him,” Klima said. “Much of the community is afraid of him, and much of the community is also very angry and feels betrayed by him.”
“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”
Khanna has frequently and repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, was among the first lawmakers to endorse calls for cutting off U.S. support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and led an effort for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, among a range of other stances and votes, and has repeatedly faced scrutiny for his affiliations with groups and individuals condemned by the Jewish community.
Later this week, he’s set to offer an amendment to strip a provision advancing U.S.-Israel cooperative programs out of the 2027 defense bill. Though one former Biden administration called the provision “quite unremarkable” and in keeping with existing programs, Khanna called it a “fusion” of the U.S. and Israeli militaries to prevent scrutiny and accountability for U.S. aid to Israel.
Jewish elected officials supporting Khanna, in statements shared with Jewish Insider, praised the congressman for his support for a two-state solution and for engaging with local Jewish communities.
“Having participated in local town halls with Representative Khanna and spoken with him about various community concerns, I am thankful for his commitment to open dialogue and remaining accessible even when we disagree,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens said. “His dedication to peace and justice for all people and support for a two-state solution is laudable. He has been a leader for accountability and transparency with the Trump Administration, particularly with the bipartisan push for the release of the Epstein files.”
State Sen. Josh Becker added, “While Congressman Khanna gets a lot of ink for his criticism of Israel he gets less for his vocal support of a two state solution and Israel as a safe democratic Jewish state.”
Others, such as San Jose City Councilmember David Cohen, more broadly praised him for his work on local issues.
“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.
“Times are very difficult these days in Washington D.C., and Congressmember Khanna remains a steady advocate for our region and economy. We need people who understand the tech industry and also who bring money back to our community from the federal budget,” Cohen said. “He has shown courage and has been willing to face his constituents at monthly town hall meetings ever since he was elected. While I don’t agree with every position he takes, I admire his thoughtfulness and transparency.”
Cohen declined to speak further on Khanna’s foreign policy work or his relationship with the local Jewish community.
But others in the community feel that their concerns aren’t being heard or listened to by the congressman. Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, a Jewish nonprofit which runs a local JCC and other community programs and resources, said he’s communicated to Khanna directly that he thinks the legislator is out of step with his constituents.
“The fact that an elected official like Khanna defends [people like Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani] and their dangerous antisemitic views is not only shameful — but it also actively endangers the lives of Jewish people both in his district and around the country,” Oleg Ivanov, executive director of StandWithUs Northern California, said.
Ivanov also accused Khanna of spreading a “blood libel” in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Oded Shekel, executive director of Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action, emphasized that members of the Jewish and Israeli community in Khanna’s district feel afraid, isolated and that they have to hide who they are, and don’t feel they’re getting the support they expect from their congressman.
Shekel said that he doesn’t necessarily think Khanna is personally or openly antisemitic, but that he is supporting and rationalizing extreme voices, to the point that has made many Jews like him feel that Khanna is the “strongest voice [that] hurts Jews in his district.”
Khanna joined a town hall in 2024 hosted by the Bay Area Jewish Coalition — a separate entity from Bay Area Jewish Coalition Action led by the same individuals — but the relationship has soured since then.
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, a Khanna supporter, said he’d attended the BAJC town hall, and met with Jewish community members alongside Khanna to discuss the challenges that Jewish high schoolers were facing from antisemitism in the district, and how the congressman could address them.
“Good to hear directly from High School Students and their parents on the district issues,” Mayor Klein said in a statement. “It was valuable to hear firsthand about the harassment that Jewish Students had endured.
Mayor Klein also praised Khanna’s “bipartisan approach to leadership” on issues including “working to halt reckless foreign intervention” and the release of the Epstein Files, saying that Khanna, “consistently puts principles over politics.” He also praised Khanna’s engagement with constituents more broadly and work on securing federal funding for the district.
Daniel Klein of Jewish Silicon Valley described Khanna’s stances and statements as hostile to the Jewish community. He said that the violent attack in Santana Row, and other similar incidents, are the “natural maturation” of the rhetoric Khanna has used and elevated.
“I appreciate the congressman being outraged” about the Santana Row attack, “but statements and what he normalizes and who he platforms before these incidents, and then who he chooses to stand with and platform and normalize after these incidents, makes the community feel unseen and unsupported by the congressman,” Klein said he told Khanna’s office in the wake of the attack.
Yet, Klein said, Khanna’s rhetoric does not appear to have shifted substantially since the March attack.
“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.
Klima echoed that, expressing frustration that Khanna’s condemnation of the attack was quickly followed by a return to his usual rhetoric and activity.
In addition to Jewish elected officials backing him, Khanna maintains support among segments of the local Jewish community. Ben Linder, a J Street board member who lives just outside Khanna’s district, told JI he continues to strongly support the congressman. J Street has endorsed Khanna, but Linder spoke to JI in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the progressive Israel advocacy group.
“I’m a big fan of Congressman Khanna,” Linder, who was born in Israel and moved to the U.S. in high school, said. “The majority of the Jewish community is squarely behind him and very aligned with him,” Linder continued, emphasizing that he has seen Khanna speak on multiple occasions to busy synagogue audiences.
He called critics “out of touch with the view of the majority of Jews right now” both in Khanna’s district and nationally, pointing to a Washington Post poll last year that found a majority of Jews are critical of the way the war in Gaza has been conducted.
He asserted that discontent with Khanna traces to a “vocal minority in the district, mainly led by right-wing Israeli expats that dislike Congressman Khanna” and are “out of touch with where our community is.”
“I consider Ro Khanna very pro-Israel. He is clearly anti-Netanyahu and anti- the policies of Israel’s right wing government, but so am I, and, I think, so are the majority of Jews in this district,” Linder said.
Critics of Khanna said that the congressman’s activity following the Santana Row attack matches a pattern they’ve observed repeatedly when Khanna is called out for conduct or statements they find offensive — Khanna will apologize, or offer targeted condemnations, but won’t substantially change his behavior, and ultimately continues doubling down.
They said this pattern ignores the way that Khanna’s own rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.
Klima emphasized that Khanna’s constituents have come to him on numerous occasions asking him to dial down his rhetoric. At this point, she said, his “symbolic condemnations” of antisemitism “ring very hollow.”
“He’s speaking out of both sides of his mouth, basically,” she said, adding that, as a longtime congressman, his comments “[legitimize] this rhetoric,” driving similar activity from other local officials as well.
Ivanov said it’s easy for Khanna to denounce antisemitic attacks or vandalism, “but as soon as he does that, he continues to spread the antisemitic conspiracy theories, to defend antisemitic speakers that are out there every day, fueling the antisemitism that leads to these actions.”
“We will not accept Khanna’s pro-forma denunciation of antisemitic incidents while he himself continues to fuel antisemitism and defend antisemites,” Ivanov said.
Linder, the Khanna supporter, argued that Khanna has made clear that he “will speak with anyone” and “dialogues with people he disagrees with, and I respect that.” Khanna has expressed similar sentiments to JI in the past.
Linder said he strongly disagreed with the notion that Khanna’s rhetoric is fueling violence, and emphasized that the Santana Row attack was not charged as a hate crime.
“I don’t believe there was sufficient evidence to show that it was hate-motivated,” Linder said. “The congressman came out very quickly and denounced that attack, denounced the violence, and I fundamentally am not a subscriber to the notion that criticizing Israel fuels antisemitism. I see a clear delineation between criticism of Israel and Jew hatred. I don’t believe the two are connected. As a matter of fact, I think some of the actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government, the extreme right Israeli government foment antisemitism.”
Shekel, a Khanna critic, said that, during conversations with Khanna about antisemitism that community members are facing, Khanna has expressed sympathy while pivoting to emphasize his disputes with various Israeli government policies.
“We feel that he is fixated, obsessed with Israel,” Klima added.
“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Daniel Klein, CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley, said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”
Klein said that some in the community see Khanna as not only ignoring their concerns but attacking the Jewish community for elevating those issues in the first place. He pointed to an incident in which Khanna shared on his X account a clip of Holocaust denying social media influencer Ian Carroll as one such instance.
Klein said he and representatives of the local Jewish Community Relations Council sat down in person with Khanna’s staff about the video — “not only the fact that this person was platformed, the person wasn’t taken down immediately, and instead of listening to the Jewish community’s concerns, at least publicly, he seemed to attack the Jewish community instead.”
Klein also characterized Khanna as deflecting the concerns of the local Jewish community in conversations, offering a variety of excuses, including pointing to national polling on Israel policy issues.
“The organized Jewish community is telling you exactly where the majority of the Jewish community stands, and if you choose not to listen, it is not due to lack of knowing where your constituents are. It’s a choice,” Klein said. “It’s a choice at that point, and then that begs the question of why the member of Congress is choosing to ignore the Jewish community while also at the same time saying he’s being responsive to the Jewish community. That’s a contradiction I don’t have the answer to.”
Critics in the district see a political motivation behind Khanna’s rhetoric and positioning.
Ivanov said that he first met Khanna several years ago, when Ivanov was working for the American Jewish Committee. The congressman at the time emphasized “the importance of maintaining progressive support for Israel in American society. That has obviously changed over the past few years, where he has embraced this tide of vilification of Israel as a way to appeal to the rising popularity of bashing Israel among certain voters,” Ivanov said.
Klima said that the “general sentiment” among members of the Jewish community is that Khanna’s stance is “opportunistic” and that he’s following anti-Israel trends for the sake of popularity, rather than any “deeply held view.”
“We feel like he’s throwing us, his constituents, under the bus for his political game, because he feels like this is a win for progressives,” she said.
The congressman is widely seen as preparing for a presidential campaign in 2028.
Khanna’s frequent commentary about the “Epstein Class” — he was one of the leading advocates in the House for releasing files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — has also set off alarm bells for Khanna’s critics.
Klima said that many in the Jewish community read those references as code for the Jewish community writ large, “because of our history with him, our recent history with him.” She said that Khanna’s pattern of rhetoric and actions has sowed distrust of him and his motives.
Khanna has dismissed the notion that the phrase is antisemitic, pointing to Jewish elected officials who have also spoken about the “Epstein Class.”
Critics in the district say that Khanna has a lot of work to do to repair his relationships with the Jewish community — and that it will take more than the pro forma condemnations of antisemitism that they feel he’s been offering over the past few years.
Klein encouraged Khanna to “stop feeding the extreme left and the alt-right” on social media and called on him to apologize for “ignoring the Jewish community,” and “actually start listening to the organized Jewish community,” rather than the “fringes.”
Klima said that she is fed up with what she sees as “symbolic gestures” by the congressman.
“We feel like we’re just pawns in his political game, because the very next day, he’s back to the ‘genocide’ and his political obsession,” she said. “[He] is clearly hurting us and it needs to be something much deeper than just a statement.”
The two Democratic lawmakers’ pivoting on Iron Dome funding indicate how left-wing members are racing to adopt maximalist anti-Israel positions
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) (3rd L) speaks as Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) (2nd L), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) (R) and other participants listen during a news conference on the “Green New Deal” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said Wednesday he would reject further funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, echoing a position taken this week by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), under pressure from some members of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The Iron Dom[e] is important & saves lives. Israel should be able to buy it on their own with a $45 defense billion budget,” Khanna said, closely following the stance taken by Ocasio-Cortez.
“Israel is a first world country, and it can pay for the defensive systems it needs. We should not be subsidizing them, especially given their egregious violations of human rights law. Even Netanyahu has recognized the inevitability of Israel moving away from US aid.”
Both Khanna and Ocasio-Cortez are positioning themselves to run for higher office, and their pivots indicate how left-wing members are racing to adopt maximalist anti-Israel positions, as even some rank-and-file Democrats are taking a chillier view towards the Jewish state.
Plus, Ro Khanna’s new challenger
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images
Smoke rises from the area after it was targeted in attacks as a series of explosions are heard in Tehran, Iran on March 01, 2026.
👋 Good Monday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the divergence in opinion on the war in Iran between the Israeli opposition and the American left, and do a deep dive into the U.S. and Israeli end goals of the conflict, now in its third week. We interview tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, who is mounting a challenge to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), and look at the outpouring of “thoughts and prayers” in response to the attack last week on a Michigan synagogue. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and Oren Kessler.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump will attend a Kennedy Center board meeting this afternoon. The president confirmed on Friday that Richard Grenell was exiting his role as president of the arts center after just over a year in the position.
- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is slated to briefly meet today with a group of largely local Orthodox Jewish leaders in the city, following a series of incidents in which Mamdani has had to address antisemitism in the context of his wife’s professional work and social media activity. Mainstream groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council-New York and the American Jewish Committee, were not invited to the meeting, which is expected to last between 15-20 minutes. Satmar leader Rabbi Moshe Indig and United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg’s Rabbi David Niederman are expected to attend.
- The Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference begins today in New York. Speakers at today’s opening session include ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, GAP President and CEO Richard Dixon, actor Jerry O’Connell and Bravo stars Meredith Marks and Jackie Goldschneider.
- The Jewish Funders Network annual conference continues today in San Diego. Read more from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD AND lahav harkov
The ongoing war in Iran is highlighting a widening gulf between center and center-left voters in Israel and Democrats in the United States. While Democrats in the United States are mostly opposed to the war, Israelis are overwhelmingly supportive of the effort.
Recent polling from Israel has shown that 92.5% of Jewish Israelis and 81% of Israelis overall support the war.
The divide was particularly evident in an exchange on X this week between Yair Zivan, a centrist and top advisor to Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Matt Duss, a foreign policy advisor to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and a former confidante of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), whose post prompted the exchange.
Sanders, on X, condemned the Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying, “The U.S. cannot continue to be complicit in Netanyahu’s wars.”
Zivan said in response that he was writing from a bomb shelter and that Israel “is under attack by fanatical terrorists who want to murder us,” arguing that Sanders’ “humanity never seems to extend to Israeli lives.”
CHICAGO SHOWDOWN
In Illinois’ Democratic primaries, a test for the pro-Israel community
After months of an increasingly bitter campaign characterized by tens of millions in outside spending and increasingly heated debate over Israel policy, Democrats in the Chicagoland area head to the polls tomorrow, with the outcome of the primaries potentially reshaping the political landscape in one of the most Jewish cities in the country, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Why it matters: The four open House races are also set to be a test of AIPAC and the pro-Israel community’s political strategy and heft. Broadly, a source close to AIPAC said, the group’s primary goal in the primaries is to prevent six candidates — state Sen. Robert Peters in the 2nd, activist Kina Collins in the 7th, activist Junaid Ahmed and Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole in the 8th and influencer Kat Abughazaleh and Skokie School Board member Bushra Amiwala in the 9th District — who it believes would be aligned with the far-left Squad on Israel policy issues, from being elected.
MEETING ADJOURNED
Rep. Ro Khanna facing new Democratic challenger hitting him from the political center
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has become one of the harshest critics of Israel in the House, in recent months associating with some of the leading anti-Israel figures within the party — at one point proudly declaring his ties to a far-left antisemitic podcaster, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New challenger: As a result, he is facing a primary challenge from tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, who is accusing the congressman of embracing far-left views to seek national attention for a potential presidential campaign — at the expense of focusing on constituents back home in the Silicon Valley-based district. Agarwal argues that Khanna’s rhetoric has directly contributed to antisemitic violence in his district and elsewhere in the country.
BREAKING POINT
Antisemitism meets America’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ ritual
American antisemitism is having its “thoughts and prayers” moment. Whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, the immediate reaction has become something of a meme. “Sending thoughts and prayers,” politicians — mostly Republicans — will inevitably write in a social media post expressing grief at the murder of innocent people at an elementary school, in a bowling alley or at a Walmart. Gun violence prevention advocates roll their eyes. They see the oft-repeated sentiment as disingenuous, given how little action Congress has taken to enact gun control measures. A similar phenomenon was on display after a heavily armed man drove a car into a synagogue in suburban Detroit on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
‘Crocodile tears’: Afterward, politicians with a history of promoting antisemitic tropes began bemoaning antisemitism. And Jewish politicians and activists in the Democratic party who had grown exasperated over the hypocrisy of it all started calling them out. Noah Arbit, the Jewish state representative whose district includes West Bloomfield Township, where the attack took place, called out Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for his “crocodile tears” expressing concern about the shooting. Arbit grew up attending Temple Israel. “Amazed by the crocodile tears from someone who’s done more than most to stoke & inflame hatred against Jews. It’s a very small logical leap from ‘AIPAC controls the US government,’ ‘Israel is committing genocide,’ ‘Zionists kill Arab babies’ to ‘kill Jews in West Bloomfield,’” Arbit, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X replying to El-Sayed.
Security success: Six weeks ago, Danny Phillips, the director of security at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., arranged for the FBI to hold an active-shooter training for the congregation, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the county. That training potentially saved the lives of 140 children and their teachers on Thursday when an assailant rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into the building, Temple Israel leaders told JI’s Haley Cohen.
FROM THE PULPIT
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch urges Mamdani to denounce ‘anti-Israel hate’ after Michigan synagogue shooting
The vehicle ramming and shooting attack on a Michigan synagogue last Thursday was the latest example of a “direct connection between hatred of Israel and hatred of Jews,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a prominent Reform rabbi who leads Manhattan’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, said during a sermon on Friday evening, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: From the pulpit, Hirsch urged both the Jewish community and U.S. elected officials — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — to take seriously the “moral and political blindness” that is “casting a darkening shadow over all that we hold dear. We must grapple seriously with this phenomenon of antisemitism; not only for the sake of the Jews, but for the sake of America.” In comments directed at Mamdani, Hirsch said, “What about committing to using the bully pulpit of the mayor to influence greater tolerance for Jews in this city? What about castigating anti-Israel hate that so influences anti-Jewish hate? Help us understand why the attempted murder of children at Temple Israel is so morally clear while the actual murder and hostage-taking of children in their living rooms in Israel is so morally opaque?”
Toxic text: Mamdani on Friday condemned online commentary from a prominent Palestinian writer and activist who labeled Jewish people “parasites” and “demons” whose book Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, provided an illustration for, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
THE POLITICS OF WAR
U.S., Israel largely aligned on Iran war aims, but public opinion and political timelines diverge
Over two weeks into the war with Iran, American and Israeli leaders’ public statements about the effort and their goals remain largely in sync, with President Donald Trump praising Israel on Sunday for helping secure the Strait of Hormuz, while other countries with greater oil interests in the region have yet to offer to help. However, the populations of the two countries have markedly different views of the war, which is popular in Israel while most Americans oppose it, which likely puts Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on different timelines. That, in turn, could impact the level of cooperation moving forward, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Same but different: Assaf Orion, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that “it’s clear that even though this is a joint operation embarked on together, there are significant differences. In the end, it depends on Trump.” Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said that “it is our sense [in Israel] that Trump is on the same page about staying the course,” with goals including “the complete neutering and elimination of the ballistic and nuclear programs as we’ve known them, but also to locate and get rid of the 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium,” as well as to “assist the regime to collapse and change.” Diker said the differences between the U.S. and Israel are mostly in their political timelines.
KHALIL’S COMMENTS
Mahmoud Khalil, at South By Southwest, says claims of antisemitism are ‘being weaponized’ by Jews
The anti-Israel campus protest movement is facing “fear and exhaustion” amid the Trump administration’s crackdown, Mahmoud Khalil, who led demonstrations against Israel on Columbia University’s campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, said on Sunday at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. “With the Biden administration, you protest because you feel you can move the needle a little bit,” said Khalil. “But with Trump, it’s like plain tyranny. They would not listen.”
On antisemitism: Khalil, who spoke three days after an attempted terrorist attack at a synagogue in Michigan, noted that “antisemitism is real in this country” and condemned “violence against civilians.” At the same time, he argued that “claims of antisemitism are being weaponized to silence any critique of the U.S. support to Israel.” He spoke in an hourlong conversation “on the cost of dissent,” with The Guardian editor Betsy Reed and Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center For Constitutional Rights who was a lawyer for Khalil in his ongoing deportation proceedings.
Worthy Reads
Dubai Dissonance: The Atlantic’s Graeme Wood considers the ways that Dubai, which has faced ongoing Iranian attacks since the start of the war last month, is the antithesis of the Islamic Republic. “Dubai is what Iran is not. It has largely rejected government intrusion into the private life of its people. It is open to the world. There is no geographical advantage that makes Dubai a thriving metropolis while Bandar-e Abbas, the Iranian city across the Gulf, remains a suffocating industrial town unlikely to attract Tom Cruise, no matter how many impossible missions he chooses to accept. … So often, this dynamic of defiant contrast underlies hostility between countries. Iran does not like Dubai, because Dubai shows that doing the opposite of what Iran does yields good results.” [TheAtlantic]
Larijani Looms Large: Haaretz’s Gid’on Lev profiles Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council and the “most powerful man” in the Islamic Republic. “On the one hand, a portrait emerges of a pragmatic man who does not hesitate to level sharp criticism at the authorities in his country, who aspires to a modern and developed society, and who writes about freedom of expression and democracy. On the other hand, there emerges the clear figure of a ‘fundamentalist’ Muslim, as he defines himself, who preaches for religious ideological leadership.” [Haaretz]
Beijing’s Battle: In The Wall Street Journal, John Spencer looks at how the war in Iran is causing harm to the global standing of China, which has long been a key ally of Tehran. “For decades Beijing has marketed its weapons systems as alternatives to Western equipment. If Iranian defenses influenced by Chinese technology prove ineffective against U.S. and Israeli forces, countries considering Chinese weapons will take notice. The conflict highlights another vulnerability: China, which imports roughly three-fourths of the oil it consumes, depends heavily on maritime supply routes. … For years Beijing expanded its influence while assuming the U.S. lacked the will to challenge aggressive regimes or disrupt China’s geopolitical partnerships. The war with Iran suggests otherwise.” [WSJ]
Protein Shake-up: The Information’s Jemima McEvoy spotlights efforts by Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman to address the company’s declining revenue by appealing to the Silicon Valley wellness set. “In reaching for a little love from Silicon Valley, Neman is betting he can win over the type of young people who drive internet conversation around brands and set cultural cachet from their keyboards. It is part of a larger shift in popular perception of the tech masses, from a bunch of shunnable nerds to honest-to-goodness tastemakers. … Neman’s brother-in-law, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire, sure thinks Sweetgreen is on the right track. ‘They’ve been innovative in thinking about how food connects to health and performance,’ said Maguire, ‘long before those conversations became mainstream.’” [TheInformation]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump warned that NATO could face “a very bad future” if Washington’s allies don’t assist in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz…
Israel’s Army Radio reports that former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who stepped down in November but returned to the Prime Minister’s Office to assist amid the war with Iran, traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss with Saudi officials a potential deal between Israel and Lebanon…
Reports of Dermer’s visit come as France denied a report that it had drafted a proposal to end the conflict in Lebanon that included Beirut’s recognition of Israel…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video of himself at a Jerusalem coffee shop in response to internet rumors that he’d been assassinated…
Tucker Carlson’s claim that the CIA is “preparing some kind of criminal referral” against him related to the former Fox News host “talking to people in Iran before the war” is being refuted by senior Trump administration officials; they told Axios that there is no CIA probe into Carlson and rejected subsequent online chatter speculating that Trump was “participating in an op” that utilized Carlson’s purported communications with the Iranians to trick the regime into thinking an attack was not imminent…
In a Truth Social post, Trump defended conservative radio host Mark Levin against recent attacks from elements of the far right, saying that “[t]hose that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a Sick, Demented, and Violent Terrorist Regime, to have a Nuclear Weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the World”…
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened not to renew the licences of some broadcasters whom he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions” in their coverage of the war in Iran; Carr issued the warning while amplifying a post from Trump on his Truth Social site that criticized The Wall Street Journal’s coverage about attacks on U.S. refueling planes in Saudi Arabia…
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) pushed back on Carr’s comments, saying he was “in big support of the First Amendment”…
A new poll from NBC News found that two-thirds of Democrats side with the Palestinians over the Israelis, a marked shift from past polls that showed more support for Israelis…
The New York Times interviews Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress, about the “wide range of mixed emotions” she feels regarding U.S. military action in Iran, where she still has relatives…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how Israelis are adjusting to a “new normal” amid the constant interruptions from missile fire from Iran…
The University of Florida forced the school’s chapter of College Republicans to disband after the release of a photo of one of the chapter’s leaders doing a Nazi salute…
Authorities in Amsterdam are investigating an explosion at a Jewish school in the city, days after an arson attack at a synagogue in the Dutch city of Rotterdam…
French officials arrested two Moroccan-Italian brothers who had been planning what prosecutors described as a “deadly and antisemitic” plot…
An investor group led by the co-founders of Wiz, who last week finalized the $32 billion sale of their company to Google, reached an agreement to acquire Len Blavatnik’s shares in Israel’s Channel 13 worth $20-25 million, with plans to put more than $125 million into the company over the next three years…
The acquisition is the third time in recent weeks that a planned acquisition has fallen through in favor of another buyer, after Paramount’s successful takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery that scrapped a planned Netflix sale, and Axel Springer’s purchase of The Telegraph after the Daily Mail had been set to acquire the company…
A new poll from the U.K.’s Union of Jewish Students found that a quarter of all students surveyed — regardless of religion — observed antisemitic behavior, while 1 in 5 said they would be reluctant or would refuse to have a roommate who was Jewish…
The premier of Australia’s New South Wales condemned the “horrific rhetoric” at Sydney’s Biennale arts festival after a DJ playing a set at the festival’s opening night referred to a “Zio-Australian-Epstein empire,” but said he would not cut future funding for the arts event…
Four additional members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team withdrew their requests for asylum in Australia, days after another member of the team opted to return to Iran; two of the original seven players who sought asylum while the team was in Australia for a tournament have chosen to remain there…
Palestine 1936 author Oren Kessler is joining Georgetown University as the school’s Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor for the 2026-2027 academic year; read our interview with Kessler here…
CNN anchor Jessica Dean announced that she is expecting her first child with her husband, Blackstone executive Alex Katz…
Elik Topolosky, the brother of Rabbi Uri Topolosky, died at 39…
Lewis Lehrman, whose 1982 gubernatorial bid in New York was largely financed by the fortune Lehrman amassed transforming his family’s local discount chain into Rite Aid, died at 87…
Author and ecologist Paul Ehrlich, whose best-selling book The Population Bomb predicted global famines, died at 93…
Pic of the Day
Sydney Cox, a member of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., which was targeted in a terror attack last week, on Friday celebrated her bat mitzvah — which had been slated to take place at Temple Israel the day after the attack — at the nearby Tam O’Shanter Country Club.
Birthdays
Actress and film director, she was married to Leonard Nimoy from 1989 until his death in 2015, Susan Linda Bay Nimoy turns 83…
Former CEO and chairman of Citigroup, Sanford I. “Sandy” Weill turns 93… Dean emeritus and founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance, Rabbi Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier turns 87… NYC tax attorney and litigator, he served as a tax assistant to the solicitor general of the U.S., Stuart A. Smith turns 85… Computer scientist, he is a professor emeritus at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Andrew S. Tanenbaum turns 82… Israeli singer, best known as the original singer of “Jerusalem of Gold” (Yerushalayim Shel Zahav), Shulamit “Shuli” Natan turns 79… Film, stage and television actor and singer, Victor Garber turns 77… Customer service associate at Jewish Free Loan Association of Los Angeles, Judith “Judy” Karta… Mathematician, technology innovator (with 260 patents) and founder of four technology companies, Philippe Kahn turns 74… Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning NPR journalist since 1977, now a host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” Scott Simon turns 74… Retired VP of external affairs and government relations at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Amy Reich Kaplan… Film producer, production designer and adjunct faculty member at Chicago’s Columbia College, Gail Sonnenfeld… Adjunct professor at both George Washington University Law School and Stanford In Washington, Andrew D. Eskin… Dean of NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Polly Ellen Trottenberg turns 62… Head of special projects at Disney / ABC Television Group, Eric Avram… President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, Jay Ruderman turns 60… Actor and comedian, best known for playing the role of writer Frank Rossitano on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” Judah Friedlander turns 57… Senior producer of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at MS NOW, Amy Shuster… Head of the financial services practice at the BGR Group, Andy Lewin… Former speechwriter for President Joe Biden at The White House, now a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, Jeff Nussbaum turns 51… Co-founder of Chochmat Nashim, Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll… President and board member at My Warchest, Jason Rosenbaum… Winemaker at Covenant Wines and Hajdu Wines, Jonathan Hajdu… Retired soccer player in the Israeli Premier League who is now the first team manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Yoav Ziv turns 45… Detroit-based founder and managing partner of Ludlow Ventures, Jonathon Triest… Public policy director at Meta/Facebook’s Israel office, Jordana Cutler turns 44… Partner at FGS Global, he was previously a public affairs official at the Pentagon, Adam Blickstein… Head of U.S. government affairs at American Express, former counsel to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Alvin Isaac “Zack” Rosenblum… Senior director of global corporate partnerships at Global Citizen, Alexandra Stabler… Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at The New York Times, Brian M. Rosenthal turns 37… Director in the New York office of the Jewish National Fund, Sarah Azizi… Spiritual leader and co-founder of Lower Manhattan’s Downtown Minyan, Mijal Bitton… First baseman for MLB’s Texas Rangers, Ryan John “Rowdy” Tellez turns 31… Associate in the Philadelphia office of Morgan Lewis, Nathan Bennett… Jackie Stern… Jeremy Levin…
Tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal: ‘He thinks being racist against Jewish people is going to help him win the American left. I don’t care if he’s right. I just think it’s unethical and immoral’
Courtesy
Ethan Agarwal
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has become one of the harshest critics of Israel in the House, in recent months associating with some of the leading anti-Israel figures within the Democratic Party — at one point proudly declaring his ties to a far-left antisemitic podcaster.
In his pushback to the U.S. war against Iran, he has caricatured those supportive of taking military action against the Islamic Republic as part the “Epstein class” — which critics have accused of being an antisemitic trope — while defending right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan from past charges of antisemitism.
As a result, he is facing a primary challenge from tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, who is accusing the congressman of embracing far-left views to seek national attention for a potential presidential campaign — at the expense of focusing on constituents back home in the Silicon Valley-based district.
“The district is being represented by a guy who could not care less about the people in the district, and that’s frustrating because I supported Ro when he first ran back in 2012,” Agarwal told Jewish Insider on Friday. “He’s completely [turned around] on basically everything that he said to his supporters.”
Agarwal said he sees Khanna’s activities, including his opposition to the Iran war and outspokenness against Israel, as plays for national attention, rather than representing the district that elected him.
Khanna “just totally does not give a s*** about the district. He’s running for president, and he wants to run to the left on every issue,” Agarwal alleged. “The district needs a representative that’s focused on the district itself, and that’s why I’m running for Congress.”
Those allegations of political opportunism were echoed in a recent Washington Post column by writer James Kirchick, who reported that Khanna professed to being a strong ally of Israel and the Jewish community earlier in his career when he was seeking a role in the Obama administration. The op-ed framed Khanna as a relentless self-promoter willing to change his views for attention and career advancement.
Khanna, in response to the allegations that he’s lost focus on his district back home, told JI he was “proud of my record representing California’s 17th district,” pointing to his work to secure $13.5 million in funding this year for projects including affordable housing, veteran housing, safe routes for children to get to school, clean water and transportation. He added that he has held nearly 80 town halls, is regularly meeting with local community leaders and is in touch with anti-ICE activists, and touted his constituent services and endorsements from local leaders and groups.
“And I’m willing to take on powerful people when accountability is needed. When I called for the release of the Epstein files, many dismissed it and said no one in the district would care. They were wrong. Constituents raise it with me regularly because they want transparency and justice for survivors,” Khanna added.
Agarwal’s criticisms go beyond hitting Khanna for putting national issues ahead of local ones. He accused the congressman of engaging in shoot-from-the-hip social media commentary that has inflamed antisemitism at a time of heightened fears within the Jewish community.
“Even if you weren’t running for Congress or trying to run for president — what is wrong with you?” Agarwal said. “If the congressperson of the district is advocating these kinds of things publicly, it stokes and it inflames the culture on the ground.”
“He thinks being racist against Jewish people is going to help him win the American left,” Agarwal added. “I don’t care if he’s right. I just think it’s unethical and immoral.”
Khanna responded that he has “consistently condemned antisemitism in all forms,” including speaking out specifically against various recent incidents, that he has been “been clear in my support for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” that he has worked with Jewish leaders and visited synagogues within the district.
“This issue is personal for me. My nieces and nephews are Jewish through my brother’s marriage, which has deepened my understanding of why it is so important to speak out against antisemitism in any form,” Khanna continued.
Defending his affiliation with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and far-left influencer Hasan Piker, Khanna said, “I do believe like Franklin Roosevelt and President Obama that we need to build a big tent, and Mayor Mamdani and Graham Platner are part of that. I also engage with media across the political spectrum, from Hasan Piker to Shawn Ryan to Theo Von to Sean Hannity, because we shouldn’t shy away from debates or discussions with people with different ideologies. We must engage.”
Agarwal has publicly linked Khanna’s rhetoric to an assault on two people speaking Hebrew in a San Jose restaurant earlier this week. The attack took place within Khanna’s district.
“It doesn’t take a genius to draw a line between those two things,” Agarwal said.
“We MUST capture and punish the perpetrators. Beyond that, we HAVE to turn down the dial of anti-Israeli rhetoric. [Khanna] acknowledge your role in this, and apologize for inflaming tensions,” he urged the congressman on X last week. “Take responsibility for creating the environment that enables these lunatics.”
In response, Khanna called the assault “horrific” and said it has “no place in our community,” adding that he had “unequivocally condemned” the attack and pushed for the attackers to be prosecuted.
“I’ve taken concrete steps to confront antisemitism locally. I’ve held multiple town halls and meetings with members of the Jewish community across the district to hear directly about their concerns and make sure they feel safe,” Khanna said.
He also highlighted his move two years ago to appoint a staffer in his office to serve as a point of contact for community members on antisemitism and a recent town hall he held with a local Jewish Democratic group.
“My focus has been making sure that when antisemitism occurs, our community knows it will be taken seriously and addressed immediately,” Khanna continued.
While he didn’t weigh in on the broader strategic goals of the U.S. operation in Iran, Agarwal has argued that it’s an unequivocal good for the Iranian people and the world that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the joint U.S.-Israel operation, is dead, and criticized Khanna for trying to prevent or stop the U.S. operation against Iran.
“I am in support of the murder of Ali Khamenei because he was a brutal dictator and 20,000 Iranian Americans in [this] district — I spoke to many of them — agree with that,” Agarwal said. “I don’t know what happens from here. I think there’s open questions. I think there’s a good path, and there’s mistakes that can be made, but what I do know is that Iran is better off without him, and I think America is better off without him being alive.”
Khanna stood behind his advocacy for the war powers resolution, emphasizing the support it received among House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and two moderate Jewish Democrats who initially opposed it. He said that the issue is a matter of constitutional authority.
“I have been clear that the Iranian regime is brutal and destabilizing, as we have seen in its repression of its own people and the killing of thousands of protestors. But launching a war of choice in the Middle East without fully understanding the risks to our servicemembers or the potential for wider escalation has been reckless,” Khanna said. “People in my district understand the cost of these endless wars and oppose them. They expect their representative to stand up for the Constitution and to ensure that decisions are made carefully and with accountability.”
Agarwal has also blasted Khanna for his comments linking the Iran war to the Epstein case.
“What does [Jeffrey] Epstein have to do with the war in Iran? … aside from these being two topics he thinks are going to help him get elected president,” Agarwal said, adding that he believes that Khanna is using “Epstein class” as a broad pejorative to smear his political enemies, Israelis and the Jewish people.
Khanna told JI, “The ‘Epstein class’ refers to a group of wealthy and powerful elites who use their wealth and connections to operate as if they are above the law and not subject to the same accountability as everyone else. The phrase reflects the reality that Jeffrey Epstein and the people around him were able to operate for years without consequences,” and said “many prominent Jewish Americans” including Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and columnist Bill Kristol “have used the phrase after I coined it.”
“Attempts to twist the meaning of that phrase into something else is an empty political attack to distract from the real issue, which is accountability for powerful people who believe the rules do not apply to them, including rules of war,” Khanna said.
Agarwal also didn’t expound at length on Israel policy — emphasizing that his first responsibility in Congress would be on local issues in his district. He did say, however, that he believes that Israel is “our strongest ally in the Middle East” and that a stronger relationship between the two countries is good for the U.S., the U.S. economy and the district.
With a nearly decade-long record in Congress, a prominent profile and $15.5 million in donations on hand as of the end of the year, Khanna is strongly favored to win re-election. In the previous election, Khanna picked up 63% of the vote in the all-party primary, rising to 68% in the general election against a Republican challenger.
But with some prominent figures in Silicon Valley’s tech scene getting behind Agarwal, he might have a chance at making Khanna work harder for his re-election.
Agarwal argues that Khanna is also taking the election for granted, and that his alleged lack of attention to local issues will backfire on him, as well as his support for a wealth tax and his breaks with the local Israeli, Jewish, Iranian and other immigrant communities.
“I’m going to win this election by listening to the people in the district and being their advocate, as opposed to focusing on my national profile,” he said, pointing to Khanna’s national travel to 2028 presidential primary states.
The resolutions are unlikely to pass; if they do, they will need two-thirds support to override an inevitable presidential veto
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol Building is seen at sunset on May 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.
As the U.S.-Israel air war against Iran continues, the Senate and House are set to vote this week on war powers resolutions that would aim to cut the U.S. operations short.
The resolutions, led by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), respectively, were originally introduced before the war began, in an effort to block military action and signal dissatisfaction with the then-looming war.
Now, the resolutions, if passed, would force the administration to end the nascent war, withdraw forces and cease operations against the Iranian regime.
It’s almost certain that the resolution will not pass the Senate; the House vote may be closer but it is also not likely to pass. And even if the resolutions were to pass, they would not have the two-thirds support necessary to overcome an inevitable presidential veto.
But the resolution will be an opportunity for Democrats — and a small number of Republicans — to go on record demonstrating their opposition to the war and dissatisfaction with the administration’s approach.
Democrats, even lawmakers like Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) who are relatively hawkish on Iran and have offered some positive feedback about the ongoing operations, are expected to mostly vote for the war powers resolution.
They have cited concerns about the administration’s failure to brief Congress at large about its plans before launching the war, its decision not to seek congressional authorization for the operations and what they say is the administration’s failure to make the case for war to the American public.
Lawmakers are reportedly set to receive classified briefings on the war on Tuesday from Cabinet and other senior administration officials.
A small number of Democrats will likely vote against the resolutions, such as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), an outspoken supporter of the war against Iran, and Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), who backed limited operations against Iran and said yesterday he would oppose the resolution.
Two other Democrats, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), had said before the war started that they would oppose the war powers resolutions, but haven’t specified their plans now that active combat operations are underway.
The key difference between the text of the Senate and House resolutions is language in the Senate version specifically permitting the U.S. to continue intelligence sharing with and providing military aid for Israel and other allies. The House bill does not contain any such language, a potential issue for some supporters of Israel.
Most Republicans, with the exception of some isolationist-leaning lawmakers like Paul, Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), have been offering full-throated support for the Trump administration’s actions and are likely to vote against the war powers resolutions.
Kaine said he expects the Senate vote will happen on Tuesday or Wednesday. The House isn’t set to reconvene until Wednesday, with a vote likely set for Wednesday or Thursday.
‘They should just rename it the Ayatollah Protection Act because that’s what it does,’ Rep. Jared Moskowitz said
U.S. House of Representatives
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Jewish Insider on Friday afternoon that he’ll vote against a resolution blocking military action against Iran, expected to come to a vote on the House floor next week.
Moskowitz joins Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who issued a joint statement with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) earlier in the day, as the only Democrats who are thus far publicly opposing the war powers resolution, which Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) plan to introduce.
Gottheimer and Moskowitz are among the strongest Democratic Iran hawks in the House, but others could join the two.
“I am a no [vote]. I am not willing to preemptively tell the supreme leader that he has nothing to worry about, no reason to negotiate because you are totally safe, and that the people of Iran can’t depend on us. They should just rename it the Ayatollah Protection Act because that’s what it does,” Moskowitz told JI.
In their joint statement, Gottheimer and Lawler emphasized that Iran poses a threat to the United States and to global stability through its pursuit of a nuclear weapon, efforts to “aggressively” reconstitute its ballistic missile arsenal and sponsorship of global terrorism, and said the regime is “waging war on its own people.”
“This record represents only a fraction of Iran’s long pattern of aggression, and it makes clear why we must preserve the ability to defend our troops and our homeland,” Gottheimer and Lawler said. “We stand with the Iranian people who are demanding basic rights and dignity, and we are committed to protecting them from the regime’s savagery.”
“That is why we oppose the Massie-Khanna War Powers Resolution to prohibit the use of force against Iran,” They continued. “We respect and defend Congress’s constitutional role in matters of war. Oversight and debate are absolutely vital. However, this resolution would restrict the flexibility needed to respond to real and evolving threats and risks signaling weakness at a dangerous moment.”
The lawmakers called for the administration to brief Congress on any planned military action in compliance with the law, but said that “Congress must not limit our ability to protect Americans and our allies.”
Most House Democrats have been vigorously urging the Trump administration against military action against Iran, and are expected to support the resolution. It’s unclear whether any other House Republicans will support the resolution.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who broke with most Republicans to support a similar resolution blocking further military action in Venezuela, signaled last week he is likely to oppose the Iran war powers resolution and expressed outright support for military action.
“I’ll study the bill before committing on how I’ll vote. But I do think the President must take military action. He promised the Iranians that we would support them if they stood up against the regime,” Bacon said in a statement. “The Iranians did and now an estimated 50,000 people have been executed. There cannot be empty promises.”
Several other House Democrats who have records of breaking with their party on Middle East issues or who supported last summer’s U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not preview how they plan to vote when asked by JI on Friday.
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY), a hawkish moderate Democrat from Long Island, didn’t offer a definitive stance on the vote.
“The Iranian regime is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, brutally oppresses its own people, and can never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons to threaten the U.S. and our ally Israel,” Gillen told JI. “Only Congress has the responsibility to decide whether to declare war, and given the risks to American troops in the region, the Administration should immediately brief Congress on its strategy on Iran.”
Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA) and Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence Committees issued a joint statement Friday “strongly oppos[ing] preemptive military action against Iran, which endangers U.S. personnel and risks drawing Israel and Gulf partners into a wider conflict.”
They called for continued diplomacy and said that the U.S. should not walk away from the talks for “a short-term, unauthorized show of military force that leaves Americans less secure,” adding that any decision to take military action must be approved by Congress.
‘Congress must do its job and stop this march to war,’ Khanna said
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Reps. Thomas Massie, (R-KY), left, and Ro Khanna, (D-CA), conduct a news conference outside a Department of Justice office in NoMa on Monday, February 9, 2026.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) plan to introduce and attempt to force a vote on a war powers resolution blocking military action against Iran without congressional authorization, as the Trump administration appears to be moving closer to military action against the Islamic Republic.
“[Massie] & I have a War Powers Resolution to debate & vote on war before putting U.S. troops in harm’s way. I will make a motion to discharge to force a vote on it next week,” Khanna wrote on X on Wednesday.
He framed the legislation as an attempt to block a “disastrous war” with Iran that “would be catastrophic.”
“Like the votes before the Iraq war, this could be one of the most consequential votes in the history of Congress,” Khanna said. “Are we going to stop another endless dumb foreign war? Or will the neoconservatives mislead us once again?”
He said that lawmakers must go on the record about where they stand on a potential conflict.
“A war with Iran would be catastrophic. Iran is a complex society of 90 million people with significant air defenses and military capabilities. We also have 30-40k U.S. troops in the region who could be at risk of retaliation. Congress must do its job and stop this march to war,” Khanna said.
Once introduced, there will be a waiting period of 15 House session days before the lawmakers can force a vote on the resolution.
Similar legislation is pending in the Senate, introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rand Paul (R-KY), but the two have not yet called it up for a vote. Kaine said last week he was waiting to see the trajectory of the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
Several similar resolutions were introduced by House lawmakers after the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes last June, but never came to votes.
The California congressman, an outspoken critic of Israel, praised moderate Govs. Andy Beshear and Josh Shapiro as ‘offering a vision of how we move forward’
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks during the press conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act with the Epstein abuse survivors at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2025.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has repeatedly made headlines for his sharpening criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza while bashing pro-Israel groups, addressed two synagogues in his district this weekend about Israel policy and antisemitism, fielding questions from congregants.
Khanna, considered to be a 2028 presidential contender, addressed Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos after Friday evening Shabbat services, and Congregation Emanu-El in San Jose on Saturday. Khanna’s office shared excerpts of both events with Jewish Insider.
Though Khanna is co-sponsoring a resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide, he gave a somewhat equivocal response on the issue at Congregation Beth Am, saying that there is significant disagreement on the use of the term, even within his own family, and acknowledging that its usage is “emotionally charged.”
“I believe that people of good faith can disagree on what to call it. I have said that I would defer to the international bodies and that the United States should follow international law,” Khanna continued. “What I do know is that what happened, in my view, was not right. Even though Israel was attacked and Oct. 7 was a terrorist attack, I think [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s response was disproportionate.”
Asked about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s famous maxim, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel,” Khanna said that the “history is so complex.”
He said that both Israelis and Palestinians have strong claims to the land, while acknowledging that Israel had previously agreed to a partition of the state while the Palestinians rejected the existence of Israel.
“Obviously it’s a complex situation,” Khanna said. “All I can say is, now it seems to be the best chance for peace — is for both people to have a state basically under a 1967 framework with some adjustments as the way forward. … I don’t think the cycle of violence can continue. I think we have to try.”
He said that would require backing from regional powers in the Arab League and Palestinian guarantees of Israeli security, as well as the removal of Hamas from power. But he also acknowledged that Israelis “don’t trust the idea, even the left, of giving Palestinians a state because of what happened on Oct. 7.”
He emphasized that he believes that Israel “should exist as a Jewish and democratic state,” emphasizing that others on the left disagree with him on that point.
Khanna argued that he had “initially defended for a few months [after Oct. 7] Israel’s right to self-defense” and faced protests for doing so, “but by December, when Netanyahu had destroyed about eight out of 10 of the Hamas battalions and when President [Joe] Biden had the first deal for hostages, I thought that the military solution to the war was over. I did not think they would achieve more militarily.”
He added that he does not think that it is possible to remove Hamas from power in Gaza by military means, and that the “cost of human life was way too high [in the war] … that this was not advancing peace and it was not a proportionate response in terms of achieving a better outcome for people in Gaza or Israel.”
He said he did not think the U.S. should have continued providing offensive weapons to Israel while the war was ongoing.
Khanna said he has told Netanyahu that he may have won the battle against Israel’s terrorist enemies but is “losing the war. You’re losing every American under 50 and you need the United States.”
Khanna asserted that there is a significant generational divide among Jewish Americans and Americans on Israel and Gaza — “one of the starkest generational divides that I’ve seen, not just among the Jewish-American community, but in general.”
He suggested that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s outspoken anti-Israel stance was a major reason the democratic socialist won the mayoral race, and that a “staggering amount” of young Jewish Americans supported Mamdani.
Polling has shown that a majority of Jewish New Yorkers voted against the mayor-elect and that a strong majority of Jews of all ages remain strongly connected to Israel.
Khanna said that he’s also seeing a similar trend among young Republicans, citing a conversation with a Republican friend, whose son told Khanna that Israel is the only issue on which he agrees with the congressman.
Asked about the future of Israelis living beyond the Green Line in the West Bank, Khanna — who has been pushing for the United States to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood — said that issue would have to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Some of them, they probably would have to leave, like they did when [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon vacated Gaza,” Khanna said. “Some, if they stayed, there probably has to be some negotiation or compensation for that.”
Some critics, including fellow Democrats, of Khanna’s statehood recognition proposal say that outstanding issues such as Israeli and Palestinian borders, which must be resolved in negotiations, are one reason not to recognize Palestinian statehood at this point.
Khanna said that there can be “zero tolerance for antisemitism” and that political leaders need to call it out, regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from. “It can’t become a political football,” he added.
The California congressman himself has on multiple occasions faced criticism for associating with known antisemites — including appearing at an anti-Israel conference alongside speakers who defended terrorism and posting on social media a clip that included a prominent antisemitic conspiracy theorist — backpedaling on those associations after the fact.
Khanna said he created a point of contact in his office for individuals facing antisemitic discrimination to report their experiences. Many who have contacted him, he said, have been young people — Jewish clubs unable to bring speakers to campus, students uncomfortable in their classrooms — as well as a Jewish person feeling uncomfortable at their place of employment.
“I have, in a number of instances, reached out and said I don’t think that that’s acceptable,” Khanna said. “We need to make sure that this community is accept[ing] and open to people of all different backgrounds.”
He also said that more education about the Holocaust is critical and that the Department of Justice must have the resources it needs to protect Jewish communities and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and threats.
Khanna also spoke about what he views as the future of the Democratic Party — notably offering support for two moderate Democratic governors while implicitly distancing himself from his home state’s governor.
“The last thing we need is the pundits for the party picking who the next leader should be,” Khanna said. “We need people to go earn it. … Go campaign, go work hard, share your vision with people, see if it resonates, have a primary of 10, 15 thoughtful people sharing the vision for the country, and don’t anoint who the next leader should be. That will be a colossal mistake.”
He praised Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — both of whom are more moderate than Khanna — as “offering a vision of how we move forward.”
But he said he “completely reject[s]” those in the party who push for fighting “fire with fire” — an implicit dig at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has adopted a Trumpian posture on social media to criticize the president and Republicans.
Khanna said he wants to pursue a “positive vision” to “heal this country” and “move this nation forward,” focusing on a “unifying economic message” — ”I call it economic patriotism as a new national purpose. Americans working together to build up every town so that every family has a chance of success in a modern economy, and so we can be a cohesive, multiracial democracy that leads the world.”
Though he has said he believes that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should step down from his leadership position and called for “the old guard to make way” and let a “new generation of leadership” take charge, he said that he would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as speaker of the House if the Democrats retake the chamber.
AIPAC accused the California congressman, a prospective 2028 presidential candidate, of echoing antisemitic tropes
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is sparring with AIPAC on social media over ads the group ran criticizing his support for a House resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide.
“AIPAC just poured money into a series of ads in my district calling me a liar for speaking out about the truth in Gaza,” Khanna said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “They’re asking you to disbelieve what you’ve seen on your own phone with your own eyes. AIPAC wants to weaken me electorally and prevent me from having a seat at the table in the leadership of our country.”
Khanna went on to link the ad campaign to a range of other issues unrelated to AIPAC, saying that he will not “cave to special interests” on health care, tech and artificial intelligence; bend to “the Epstein class, rich and powerful men who are totally disconnected from ordinary Americans and believe the rules don’t apply to them”; or accept PAC, lobbyist or corporate funding.
The ad in question, which ran on social media and digital platforms, proclaims in bold text: “Ro Khanna is lying to you.” It references his support for the Gaza genocide resolution, led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), stating, “Claims of genocide are a dangerous attempt to distort facts and rewrite history.” AIPAC is running identical ads against a series of far-left Democrats supporting the same resolution.
AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said that Khanna is echoing antisemitic tropes.
“The war in Gaza has profoundly impacted millions of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, yet rather than helping build a better future of peace, Rep. Khanna is instead rewriting history and parroting a dangerous blood libel,” Wittmann said in a statement. “The only genocide in this war happened on October 7, when Hamas openly admitted it wanted to kill every Israeli man, woman, and child it could. Our ad simply informs his constituents about his support for legislation that is based on a lie, and it evidently got under his skin.”
In a post on X, AIPAC added, “The same ad is running featuring other cosponsors. You’re not that special.”
Wittmann did not say how much money AIPAC had spent on the ads. According to Meta’s ad library tool, the group spent between $900 and $999 running the ad on Facebook and Instagram.
Khanna has made attacks on AIPAC, and criticism of Israel more generally, a significant part of his legislative message in recent months, at times associating with extreme anti-Israel and antisemitic figures.
The documentary highlights anti-Israel conspiracy theories and is filled with antisemitic tropes
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks at a rally near the U.S. Capitol on June 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) distanced himself from antisemitic influencer Ian Carroll after the congressman posted to social media an excerpt from a YouTube documentary that featured separate clips of himself and Carroll.
Carroll, described in the documentary as a researcher, is an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has engaged in Holocaust distortion. He has claimed that Israel and Jewish people are involved in a malign global conspiracy, control the U.S. government and were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He has also asserted that pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein was a “clearly a Jewish organization working on behalf of Israel and other groups.”
In the excerpt shared by Khanna alongside his own comments, Carroll stated that recipients of pro-Israel support are “operat[ing] our government on behalf of someone else,” referring to AIPAC and Israel. Khanna himself discussed his concerns about interest group spending in U.S. elections.
“This was a documentary made by Tommy G who interviewed me. I did not speak to or meet Ian Carroll. I stand by my words and should be judged by them,” Khanna said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “I vehemently disagree and reject any views blaming Israel for 9/11, denying the Holocaust, or conspiracies about a Jewish syndicate exerting control.”
In the documentary, Khanna described the U.S. as “complicit” in the destruction in Gaza and stated that Israel has committed war crimes in the enclave and that the International Court of Justice should examine and adjudicate the issue.
“The Hamas terrorist attack was awful, and I said that people who committed those crimes had to be brought to justice and the hostages had to be released,” Khanna said. “But that happened months in. Netanyahu has been bombing for 2 years.”
“Who says, ‘We’re going to starve the people so much that they suffer that we’re going to force the surrender?’ It’s sick, and your tax dollars, my tax dollars, are funding them,” Khanna added.
The documentary itself, posted by a YouTube videomaker with the handle Tommy G, is filled with antisemitic tropes. The thumbnail for the video frames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppetmaster with strings controlling several men in suits, posed in front of the White House, flanked by Israeli and AIPAC flags. There are also several dollar bills superimposed over the image.
The documentary highlights anti-Israel arguments — including some conspiracy theories — and repeatedly brushes off or attempts to rebut arguments from pro-Israel voices featured in it. Anti-Israel voices receive the majority of the screen time in the video.
The narrator, Tommy G, opens the documentary by highlighting claims of a coverup or Israeli foreknowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, and plays up alleged Israeli abuses in Gaza.
While condemning Hamas’ actions, he suggests that the terrorist group’s actions could be seen as reasonable or provoked by Israel’s own actions, framing the group — as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan — as “freedom fighters” and “resistance movements.”
Tommy G also makes passing mention of — and does not interrogate — baseless claims that Israel may have been involved in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The documentarian describes Carroll as “one of the internet’s top conspiracy analysts,” who critics “label an antisemite … but to others he is a fearless journalist that speaks on what some perceive as an extremely strong Zionist pressure on our government.”
He also suggests that it is inherently suspicious that many lawmakers have traveled to Israel.
And he concludes the documentary by stating, “A lot of us feel deep in our gut something is off here, something is wrong here and I will not be intimidated into not asking questions.”
Carroll himself suggests in the documentary a connection between the pro-Israel cause and the John F. Kennedy assassination, that Israel had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attack and that Israel dispatched Jeffrey Epstein to cultivate relationships with U.S. leaders and blackmail them.
Another anti-Israel voice in the documentary is Anthony Aguilar, a former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractor whose key claim of Israeli and GHF abuses has been disproven.
Aguilar states in the documentary that American politicians aren’t allowed to talk about Israel and that shows “who controls you.”
Other featured guests include Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Hank Johnson (R-GA), as well as Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin, an IDF reservist and a U.S. doctor who volunteered in Gaza.
Mace, Johnson and the IDF reservist all spoke in defense of Israel.
The video includes a clip of Norman Finkelstein, an antisemitic scholar who has voiced support for Hezbollah and accused Jews of exploiting the Holocaust.
In the documentary, Paul suggests, falsely, that the U.S. has created “easier” rules around lobbying disclosures for countries the U.S. considers to be allies and that many pro-Israel activists are dual-citizens, part of a segment of the documentary that attempts to interrogate why AIPAC is not registered as a foreign lobbying group.
The group’s members and leaders are American citizens who act on their own recognizance, rather than at the instruction of the Israeli government.
Khanna, pushing back on the narrative framing AIPAC supporters as foreign agents, states in the documentary, “They’re American citizens. If you’re an American citizen and you’re articulating a point of view, that’s your right. … They’re American citizens. They’re lobbying for their interests. They’re lobbying for the Netanyahu government’s interests because they think that’s what benefits America. And they’re paying millions of dollars, which under Citizens United is legal.”
Khanna argues in the documentary that spending from outside super PACs on behalf of favored candidates should be outlawed.
The California congressman, rumored as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has also recently faced scrutiny for his appearance at ArabCon, where other speakers defended Hamas and laughed off the idea of condemning its Oct. 7 attacks.
At ArabCon, several panelists laughed at the notion of condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and defended the terrorist group as ‘Palestinian resistance’
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) distanced himself from some speakers and attendees at the ArabCon conference that he attended in Dearborn, Mich., while defending their First Amendment right to free speech.
The conference, held last week, included a series of speakers who had previously expressed support for terrorism and made antisemitic comments. Several panelists laughed at the notion of condemning the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, defended Hamas as “Palestinian resistance” and said the group should not be condemned and defended convicted terrorists and terrorist financiers, according to excerpts of the event shared online.
In another video circulating online, an audience questioner is met with cheers and applause from other audience members for urging speakers to stop condemning Oct. 7 and Hamas. And another speaker claimed that law, medicine and engineering are “Zionist-controlled fields.”
During his own separate panel at the event, Khanna dismissed the notion that there were any “pro-terror radical[s]” speaking at the event or attending the conference, referencing criticism he faced prior to the event.
“I don’t agree with everyone who spoke at the conference, but I do believe in free speech. You can’t just be for free speech when it’s convenient. I’ve unequivocally condemned the Oct. 7 attacks and called for the release of the hostages,” Khanna said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Monday, when pressed about whether he considered the comments of other speakers and attendees to constitute pro-terror radicalism.
Online, Khanna pushed back against critics of his appearance at the conference for intercutting his comments with offensive remarks by other speakers. “You know I spoke on a different panel and wasn’t there for this and I have condemned Hamas attacks and Oct 7. Attack my ideas, but play it straight,” he said.
The California Democrat has said he was unaware of any other remarks made at the conference, and that he was “in and out for my panel from 10-11 on Saturday. It was a 3 day conference.”
Less than one-quarter of House Democrats signed the letter, even as several European allies recognized a Palestinian state at the U.N.
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Forty-seven progressive House Democrats, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), signed onto a letter to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state on the heels of similar decisions by European allies last week.
“It has long been acknowledged by much of the international community and previous U.S. administrations of both major political parties that a Palestinian state recognized as a full and equal member of the community of nations is necessary to fulfill the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and ensure the state of Israel’s survival as the democratic homeland of the Jewish people,” the letter, which was first reported on by Jewish Insider, reads.
The lawmakers argue that because the current Israeli government opposes a two-state solution — a position currently shared by much of Israeli society — and is “actively undermin[ing]” the prospects of an independent Palestinian state, “meaningful action is necessary to join the majority of the world in codifying Palestinian statehood and to unlock the potential for a broader regional peace and security arrangement.”
Trump vowed last week week that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
The letter also claims that recognizing Palestinian statehood would make reform of the Palestinian Authority “far more achievable and sustainable.”
Signatories to the letter include Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT), Donald Beyer (D-VA), André Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-TX), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Bill Foster (D-MA), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), John Garamendi (D-CA), Chuy García (D-IL), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Al Green (D-TX), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James McGovern (D-CA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Emily Randall (D-WA), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
Dexter and Garcia were both beneficiaries of significant outside spending from AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC in their primary races, running against farther-left anti-Israel opponents.
Balint and Schakowsky are both Jewish. Davis, Evans and Schakowsky are retiring from Congress at the end of their current terms.
Many of the furthest-left lawmakers in the House, including some of the Jewish state’s most outspoken critics, did not sign onto Khanna’s letter, nor did some of the more moderate Democrats backing a concurrent effort to place strict restrictions on U.S. aid to Israel.
The letter is backed by groups including American Muslims for Palestine, DAWN, Emgage Action, Indivisible, J Street, MoveOn, MPower, Muslim Public Affairs Council, New Jewish Narrative and the Quincy Institute.
There is a notable split on this issue within the Democratic caucus: Khanna’s letter follows a letter from 30 moderate pro-Israel Democrats condemning unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state as “performative” and saying that doing so risks “emboldening Hamas, entrenching division, and undermining the very legitimacy and peace such recognition purports to advance.”
The ArabCon convention is being hosted by the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is set to speak later this month at ArabCon, an annual convention hosted by the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, joining a lineup that includes numerous speakers with records of support for terrorism and antisemitism.
Khanna, in recent months, has grown more vocal in his criticism of the Israeli government and the war in Gaza, and is leading an effort to call for U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state. Khanna is seen as having aspirations for higher office.
Among the controversial speakers on the ArabCon lineup are Electronic Intifada Executive Director Ali Abunimah, CAIR San Francisco Executive Director Zahra Billoo and activist Linda Sarsour.
Abunimah has repeatedly praised and supported terrorist attacks on Israel as a form of “resistance” and claimed that there is “no credible evidence of a single rape on Oct. 7.” He has also claimed that Zionism is antisemitic and a spiritual continuation of the Holocaust.
He advocates for a one-state solution that would see Israel erased and has dismissed Palestinian Authority leaders who support peace with Israel as “collaborators.”
Billoo was voted off of the national Women’s March board over her past commentary, including praising and defending Hezbollah and Hamas for attacking Israel, and condemned Jewish federations, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel chapters and “Zionist synagogues” as “enemies” engaged in fomenting Islamophobia, police brutality and various other issues inside the United States.
Sarsour has argued that Zionists should be excluded from progressive spaces and movements, repeatedly faced accusations of antisemitism, praised a convicted terrorist and supports a one-state solution.
“I have never been to a conference where I agree with every speaker, but speaking at ArabCon is important,” Khanna said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “I will discuss my efforts to recognize a Palestinian state without Hamas as part of a two state solution. Recognition of Palestinian statehood — alongside continued efforts to secure Israel’s safety and guarantee its future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people — is essential to achieving peace.”
Other speakers on the ArabCon agenda include Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Dearborn, Mich. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, Zeteo CEO Mehdi Hasan and “The Young Turks” hosts Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur.
The American‑Arab Anti‑Discrimination Committee’s newly tapped national legal director, Jenin Younes, on Thursday called journalist Bari Weiss a “modern day Goebbels” in response to reports that Paramount is closing in on a deal to acquire Weiss’ The Free Press and give her a senior editorial role at CBS News.
A letter signed by prominent House progressives said such a state ‘will need to fully recognize Israel’ and guarantee ‘the disarmament of and relinquishing of power by Hamas’
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) leaves the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is circulating a letter to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among House lawmakers calling for the United States to recognize a Palestinian state.
Khanna, a prominent progressive voice in the House with aspirations for higher office, has become increasingly vocal in recent weeks about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and in his criticism of the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.
“We are writing to request that the United States officially recognize a Palestinian state, as this tragic moment has highlighted for the world the long overdue need to recognize Palestinian self-determination,” a draft version of the letter obtained by Jewish Insider reads. “Just as the lives of Palestinians must be immediately protected, so too must their rights as a people and nation urgently be acknowledged and upheld.”
The letter had nine co-signatories, in addition to Khanna, as of Thursday evening.
The signatories said they welcome French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, and urged other governments to do the same. The U.K. and Canada said this week that they intend to do so as well, given certain conditions.
“It has long been acknowledged by much of the international community and previous U.S. administrations of both major political parties that a Palestinian state recognized as a full and equal member of the community of nations is necessary to fulfill the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and ensure the state of Israel’s survival as the democratic homeland of the Jewish people,” the letter continues.
U.S. policy has long opposed the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state outside of a negotiated two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“A viable Palestinian state will need to fully recognize Israel and adopt a framework to guarantee Israel’s security, including the disarmament of and relinquishing of power by Hamas in order to be broadly embraced by the community of nations,” the letter continues. “We will need to work closely with the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, our Arab allies, and Israel to make this feasible.”
The letter argues that “recognizing Palestinian statehood and obligating Palestinian leaders to abide by the international law binding on states and their governments will make that far more achievable and sustainable than decades of statelessness and repression have.”
The letter has been co-signed by Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Al Green (D-TX), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) — all prominent progressive lawmakers in the House — since opening on Tuesday evening.
In a statement to JI, Khanna said, “This is the moment for the United States to officially recognize a Palestinian state. All 22 states in the Arab League this week called for a non Hamas Palestinian state that recognizes Israel.”
He said that his office had begun outreach on the issue this week, but did not plan to send the letter until the United Nations General Assembly in September, when France and others said they plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state. He described the response from his fellow lawmakers as “overwhelming.”
“It’s disappointing someone would leak the letter thinking it would sabotage the effort,” Khanna continued. “But you cannot sabotage an idea whose time has come.”
Khanna said in a memo to colleagues about the letter, “Recognition of Palestinian statehood — alongside continued efforts to secure Israel’s safety and guarantee its future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people — is essential to achieving peace.”
He continued, “As the devastating toll of the war in Gaza continues to mount, this tragic moment has underscored the urgent need to acknowledge Palestinian self-determination and take meaningful steps toward a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Previously, a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood, introduced in the House by Green in December 2023, received five co-sponsors — Watson Coleman, Frost, Doggett, Escobar and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN).
Petraeus says it is 'likely that my thoughts and contributions may contrast with those of some of the other participants gathered'
New America
General (ret.) David Petraeus (left), takes part in a panel discussion in 2016.
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, in conjunction with Foreign Policy, is holding a leadership forum on the future of U.S. foreign policy and national security at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. this afternoon.
Speakers include Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); former CENTCOM commander and CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, journalist Peter Beinart, and Matt Duss, a foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Background: The Quincy Institute — founded in 2019 and funded by the unlikely pairing of George Soros and Charles Koch — calls for an end to American military intervention and a refocus on diplomatic strategy. Neorealist scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, who in 2007 jointly published the controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, are both non-resident scholars at the institute. In a Senate floor speech last month, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) accused the think tank of fomenting antisemitism.
Petraeus defended his participation, telling JI he was invited to speak by the editors of Foreign Policy, with whom he has a close relationship. “It is likely that my thoughts and contributions may contrast with those of some of the other participants gathered when it comes to the U.S. role in the world, the need for a sustained sustainable commitment in the fight against Islamist extremists, the importance of alliances, allies, and partners — including Israel,” Petraeus said. “And that is the principle reason that I decided to participate — similar to when I offer thoughts and assessments to political figures or policy makers of either party, even when I may disagree with them on a variety of issues.”
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