With Janeese Lewis George’s victory in last week’s Democratic primary, Washington, D.C., is expected to become the third major city in the country, after Seattle and New York, with a democratic socialist serving as mayor. 

Now, Jewish Washingtonians who were unsettled by Lewis George’s stance on Zionism, as articulated in a Democratic Socialists of America endorsement questionnaire in which she said she would reject the “Zionist lobby,” are grappling with how to approach her tenure as mayor. 

Mainstream Jewish organizations tasked with local lobbying and advocacy efforts appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach, while cautioning Lewis George that they will be monitoring her tenure in office to make sure she does not assume positions that exclude segments of the city — including Jewish supporters of Israel.

“We hope to work with her, and we will work with her,” Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told Jewish Insider on Friday. “But at the same time we’re also going to be watching to make sure that she lives up to her promises to make this an inclusive city, where all feel they can participate equally, and that all people, regardless of their backgrounds, are welcomed — Zionists as well.” (In February, Halber called DSA’s requirements for backing local candidates “an antisemitic manifesto.”) 

Anti-Defamation League Washington regional director Tali Cohen expressed a similar sentiment.

“We look forward to continuing our work with local leaders,” Cohen said in a post on X, “while also holding them accountable to combat antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are included in our nation’s capital.” 

Lewis George, who has served on the D.C. Council since 2020, defeated Kenyan McDuffie by a double-digit margin, 54%-36%, in last week’s primary. During the campaign, she presented a proudly progressive vision for the city, leaning into an affordability message and offering proposals for universal childcare and housing construction that were described as unrealistic by her opponent. 

Lewis George’s campaign was powered largely by labor unions, but also by activists with DSA, of which Lewis George has been a member for years. The group’s endorsement questionnaire included a lengthy section on Israel. “I will refrain from going on any political junkets to Israel. I will also not attend events focused on obfuscating the realities of occupation or promoting Zionism and apartheid,” Lewis George wrote. In a candidate forum hosted by the JCRC in May, she declined to answer when asked to clarify her views on Zionism. 

McDuffie’s strategy included campaigning within the Jewish community and contrasting himself to Lewis George by saying he would have shunned an endorsement from DSA and that he would be a mayor “for all D.C.” The issue of Israel never rose to a major focus for the campaign, and instead the candidates’ approaches to the city’s economic challenges — and its complicated relationship with President Donald Trump and federal oversight — proved to be driving factors in the race. 

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld served for nearly 20 years as the rabbi at Ohev Sholom Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Lewis George’s ward. He now runs a small yeshiva in the area, and told JI he is concerned about her election as mayor.

“We need to be on guard. We need to be ready to challenge her, and [these are] concerning times,” said Herzfeld, who told JI he never heard back from her office when he reached out after she was elected to the D.C. Council in 2020. “She’s clearly surrounded herself with people who are anti-Zionists.”

After the Associated Press called the race for her on Thursday, Lewis George hosted a press conference at Busboys and Poets, a Washington bookstore and restaurant that regularly hosts speakers with an anti-Israel bent. (Its 14th Street location, where Lewis George spoke, has a mural painted on the wall showing a group of left-wing leaders and activists sitting at a table together; one of the legs of the table has the words “Long Live the Intifada” painted on top of it, and another says “From the River to the Sea, free Palestine.”)

Lewis George touted “the broad coalition I was able to build,” and specifically mentioned Jews United for Justice, a left-wing Jewish group that supported her campaign. 

“So many different people came into the JUFJ campaign fund because they were excited about Janeese, and I think that really speaks to something special about this election,” JUFJ’s D.C. director, Yael Shafritz, told JI. Shafritz said JUFJ does not take foreign policy issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into account when supporting candidates, but that its members felt Lewis George had taken a strong position on antisemitism.

“All the candidates we endorsed actually gave incredible answers about how they would support the Jewish community around fighting antisemitism,” Shafritz said. After Lewis George met with Washington rabbis in March following the release of the DSA endorsement questionnaire, she released a statement saying it is not a conflict to support “Palestinian human rights” and to “stand firm in my commitment against antisemitism.” 

Lewis George represents Ward Four, which encompasses several neighborhoods in the northernmost part of Washington, including Petworth, Brightwood, Fort Totten, Sixteenth Street Heights and Shepherd Park. The district includes two synagogues — the Orthodox Ohev Sholom and the Conservative Tifereth Israel Congregation — and Milton Gottesman Jewish Day school, a pluralistic pre-K-8 school. 

“There’s a lot of very progressive Jews in Ward Four, and they seem to support her and not have antisemitism as a central campaign issue,” said one of Lewis George’s Ward Four constituents, who requested anonymity because her job does not allow her to speak to the media. “I think there’s an equal amount of Jews like me who want to support her on social policies because we think they’ll make D.C. better, but antisemitism was my number one campaign issue, and how you handle antisemitism. I don’t feel confident that she’ll do much to battle it.” 

The three leading Democratic candidates in the race for executive of Montgomery County, Md., pledged to address the rise of antisemitism within the local school system, while some noted their disappointment that the school board has yet to adopt a Jewish group’s recommendations for doing so.

As the June 23 primary approaches, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington hosted a forum on Monday in which the group’s CEO, Ron Halber, asked Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando how each would address rising antisemitism in Montgomery County’s K-12 schools if elected as executive. 

Earlier this month, the JCRC called out the uniquely high rate of antisemitic incidents in the school district and called on the district to incorporate specific antisemitism training. Montgomery County, which is just outside of Washington, D.C., is home to more than 35 active synagogues and has the largest Jewish population in the state. 

“I am disappointed that MCPS has not accepted that [training]. I will continue to urge them to do so,” said Jawando, the most progressive Democrat in the race. “There is some Holocaust and antisemitism education happening but we need to start it earlier, in middle school.” 

Jawando said as county executive, he would create a Jewish community advisory board and dedicated Jewish liaison to work with schools.   

Friedson called for “much better coordination between the school system, county government, JCRC and ADL to ensure better communication and coordination, and ultimately the training to avoid incidents.” 

“That’s been offered” to MCPS, continued Friedson. “It has not been fully accepted, which continues to be a major frustration for all of us.” 

Glass acknowledged that for years, “most of the antisemitism” in the area has come from schools. “The county executive has to use the bully pulpit to call out hate whenever they see it, wherever it is and for whomever it is pointed at.” 

“I will continue to make sure that MCPS does better, either in their appointed leadership and also in their elected leadership.”

The question came at a fraught time for the district — located just outside of Washington, D.C. — as a new report from the Anti-Defamation League showed that Maryland ranked ninth in total antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2025, two-thirds of which occurred in Montgomery County. Among the top ten states with total incidents, Maryland ranked first in the percentage of incidents occurring at K-12 schools, at 34%. 

Jawando, who has positioned himself as the most progressive of the candidates, has been critical of the Maryland Israel Development Center, which promotes relations between Maryland and Israeli businesses. “We should never use Montgomery County tax dollars to support the development or production of offensive weapons, whether that’s bombs or munitions or anything else. For me, that’s a nonstarter and I will always oppose it. That’s one reason my office is looking into exactly how MIDC funds are used,” he  told the Montgomery Perspective last year.  

Friedson, who has positioned himself as the most moderate among the Democratic candidates, has campaigned on a pro-business platform focused on job growth as the county faces slower economic expansion than some of its D.C. metro neighboring counties.

Both Friedson and Glass are Jewish and have longstanding ties to the county’s Jewish community. 

Outside of the public school system, Montgomery County has experienced a surge in antisemitic vandalism targeting Jewish institutions.   

All three candidates running to replace term-limited County Executive Marc Elrich also said they would retain the local Nonprofit Security Grant Program, one of the few outside of the federal program, in the county budget. Halber and other Jewish leaders have called for increasing NSGP funding in Montgomery County. 

Amid the rise of a DSA-aligned mayoral candidate in the city, a senior Jewish community leader in Washington, D.C., excoriated the Democratic Socialists of America as an “evil” organization committed to driving Jews out of society.

Speaking on a webinar with other Washington-area Jewish leaders on Tuesday, Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, stridently criticized the far-left group.

“I think they’re a fringe, radical, antisemitic organization, and I happen to even think they’re evil,” Halber said. “They are trying to do in America what [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement] seems to do internationally, which is to make being Jewish unacceptable in polite society.”

He said that the group wants to make Jews feel “isolated” and force them to “renounce Zionism” and their connection to Israel in order to participate in the political process. Antisemitism is “core to their belief,” he continued.

Halber described the activist group as emboldened and energized during the second Trump administration — as numerous DSA-aligned candidates make gains in local and national elections — and said that the Jewish community “should view DSA with alarm, because they are having a radical impact.”

And, he added, the Jewish community should be “very, very wary of political candidates who go out and seek their endorsement and who wish to affiliate.”

The Metro DC DSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Halber said it’s the responsibility of Jewish organizations to come together with allies to expose the DSA as “the fringe of American society that most people in America would be repulsed by.”

Tali Cohen, the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington regional director, said on the webinar that she has been “astonished by the rhetoric coming out of the D.C. DSA chapter.” 

Cohen said the group is attempting to “isolat[e] the Jewish community through exclusionary policies” — requiring endorsees to cut ties with “the overwhelming majority of organized Jewish community institutions” — and has “embrace[d] antisemitism as an organizational orthodoxy” through its embrace of anti-Zionism.

“If you read DSA’s platform, they have disproportionately and overwhelmingly chosen to focus on the world’s only Jewish state,” she continued. “The selective focus can suggest that something else is at work beyond just policy concerns.”

Cohen also raised concerns about the group’s opposition to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and its efforts to defund the D.C. police, a project she said endangers the Jewish community.

The event comes following a high-profile clash between Jewish communal groups and the Washington DSA chapter over its endorsement questionnaire for the city’s mayoral race that required candidates to pledge to refrain from engaging with “Zionist lobby groups.”

Mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a DSA member endorsed by the group, said in response to the questionnaire that she would not attend events “promoting Zionism and apartheid.”

Alan Ronkin, the regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Washington, and ADL experts also spoke on the webinar.

Several major Jewish organizations rallied around Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, after a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Halber as an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” and unrepresentative of his community.

The Van Hollen spokesperson’s comments came in response to remarks by Halber to reporters in which Halber said that many in the Maryland Jewish community feel “betrayed” by the senator and that he has failed to show empathy for Israel and the Jewish people.

The JCRC’s Board of Directors, in a statement late Thursday, offered Halber, who has led the group for nearly three decades, its full support, and applauded his work.

“Recent personal attacks leveled against [Ron] by Sen. Chris Van Hollen are undignified, unwarranted, and untrue. Ron and his leadership team have our full backing and support,” the board said in a statement. “In a time marked by division and discord, political leaders should model respectful behavior and discourse. We are deeply disappointed that Sen. Van Hollen chose instead to malign Ron and our organization, but we are heartened by the outpouring of support from so many partners and friends. They know what we know: Ron and the JCRC support not only Jewish families, but the millions of people who live in the DMV.”

William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he’s known, worked with and respected both Halber and Van Hollen for decades, and that Van Hollen has been his representative for much of that time.

“That is why I am stunned, offended, and frankly angry at Senator Van Hollen’s personal attack on Ron,” Daroff said on X. “Ron is a respected communal leader who has spent decades serving Maryland Jews, advocating for security, and giving voice to a community that is anxious and afraid in this moment of rising hostility.”

He said that Halber’s criticism was “not partisan” and was at its core a call for empathy for Israeli lives, Israel’s security dilemmas and the “vulnerability so many Maryland Jews feel today,” but was “met instead with derision.”

“We can disagree about Israeli policy. We can debate strategy and tone. But labeling American Jews as apologists when they challenge you is not discourse. It is a smear. It cheapens the conversation at a time when Jewish anxiety is real and rising, and when we need leaders who hear us rather than dismiss us,” Daroff said. “Our community deserves respect. We deserve empathy. We deserve partnership grounded in good faith. We will speak up for those expectations.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, another major D.C.-area Jewish umbrella organization, also offered support for “the vital role Ron Halber and the JCRC of Greater Washington play in advocating for Israel, Jewish safety, belonging, and connection across Greater Washington.”

“Ron has worked tirelessly for years to build a stronger Jewish community and Greater Washington region,” the organization continued. “At a time of extreme divisiveness in our society, our public officials should not be contributing to these divides through personal attacks.”

AIPAC said the statement by Van Hollen’s team was “shameful.”

“Disagreeing with you, Senator, doesn’t make American Jews apologists for a foreign leader,” the group said on X. “Resorting to this tired and toxic trope only reflects the shallowness of the Senator’s arguments.”

The Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella group that represents hundreds of Jewish communities and groups around the country, said in a statement that it “stand[s] with our esteemed colleague Ron Halber … following the deeply troubling personal attack leveled against him.”

“Ron and [the JCRC of Greater Washington] understand and speak for their community, and their well-documented concerns should be listened to and addressed on the merits,” JFNA continued. “We are grateful to all the public officials in the Greater Washington DC area who are engaged in productive conversations and collaborations with the Jewish community.”

Yehuda Kurtzer, the president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, called the statement “unconscionable” and said Halber deserves an apology from Van Hollen.

“Politicians need to have thicker skins in responding to criticism, especially when it is directed at them by respected representatives of minority communities. That’s part of the job,” Kurtzer said on Facebook. “Van Hollen has the right to cut off contact with the organized Jewish community even though I think that’s a toxic political choice. But he should not respond publicly like this.”

He added that, “to characterize a pro-Israel view as an apologetic for a foreign government is to evoke unfounded suspicion of foreign interference and to cast the[m] as therefore ‘un-American.’ This is dangerous stuff and politicians shouldn’t do it.”

Halber’s counterparts in other parts of the country have also rallied to his defense. “The contempt with which [Sen. Van Hollen] showed for Ron, the DC JCRC, and the Jewish community is unacceptable. He needs to apologize,” Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Bay Area JCRC, said.

Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Boston JCRC said that “Labeling American Jews as ‘apologists’ just because you disagree with them & their (our) attachment to the Israeli people is unacceptable” and also called on Van Hollen to apologize.

Amy Spitalnick, who leads the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, lamented both Van Hollen’s attack on Halber as well as New York Jewish figures’ criticisms of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“We can’t even engage without resorting to ad hominem attacks. A Senator’s office calls a respected Jewish community professional an ‘apologist for Netanyahu.’ Multiple leaders call the Mayor-elect an ‘enemy of the Jewish people,’” Spitalnick said. “Countering antisemitism and hate, protecting democracy, advancing peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians all require us to engage — not disparage and smear — even and especially when we disagree. This is all so dangerous.”

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said that “This was a display of bigotry unbecoming a US senator. [Van Hollen] owes the entire community, and especially [Halber], an apology.

Though he did not address the situation or the senator directly, Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore — who addressed a JCRC legislative breakfast the same day as Halber and Van Hollen’s comments and offered praise and thanks to Halber — also reaffirmed his partnership with the D.C. JCRC in an X post on Thursday.

“There’s no higher goal for me than ensuring people feel safe where they live, work, and worship. That’s why our administration is fully committed to combating antisemitism in all its forms, and why I’m proud to announce that my upcoming budget proposal will preserve historic funding for hate crime protection grants,” Moore said, alongside a photograph from his speech in front of a JCRC banner. “Thank you to @JCRCgw for your partnership in this work.”

Eileen Filler-Corn, the Jewish and Democratic former speaker of the Virginia House, said on Facebook that she’s “offended by the personal attack directed at Ronald Halber,” describing him as a “respected leader in our Jewish community” and an “essential” advocate for the community.

“We can and should have healthy debates about the Israeli government and disagreement is part of a vibrant democracy, but labeling American Jews as ‘apologists’ for Netanyahu simply because they express support for the State of Israel is unacceptable, unproductive and entirely out of line,” Filler-Corn said. “Our community is hurting. We are being targeted and antisemitism is surging. At a moment like this, personal attacks on those who advocate for our safety and dignity do nothing but deepen the pain.”

Van Hollen does have some defenders in the Jewish community. Hadar Suskind, the CEO of the left-wing Israel advocacy group New Jewish Narrative, praised Van Hollen’s engagement since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and with the war in Gaza.

“Chris has always been there for his Jewish constituents and in support of the people of Israel,” Susskind said on X. “But you know what, like the majority of Marylanders, including Jewish Marylanders, he disagrees with many of the policies and actions of the Netanyahu government. And he is 100% right to do so and to say so.”

“As American Jews who care about Israel we should want all of our elected officials [to] do what Senator Van Hollen is doing, speak the difficult truths that need to be told and support a better future for Israelis and Palestinians,” he continued. “​​The days of demanding that elected officials ‘pick a side’ and show loyalty to ‘one team’ are over.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington CEO Ron Halber by name, accusing the Jewish leader of being an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” in response to Halber’s own criticisms of the Maryland senator to reporters earlier Wednesday. 

In his role, Halber works to build bridges between the Jewish community in the Washington area and local elected officials. The comments reflect a remarkable breach between a leading representative of the D.C.-area Jewish community and a senator whom Halber said had once been an ally on a range of issues.

“Sen. Van Hollen, I think, has dramatically lost his way with support for Israel. He’s become the leading senator agitating against Israel in the United States Senate,” Halber told reporters at a JCRC breakfast event in Washington’s Maryland suburbs. “His social media is filled with a lack of empathy for Jewish suffering. It’s filled with a lack of empathy for Israel’s strategic position. It’s almost like [he] cannot wait for the next opportunity to jump down Israel’s throat.”

Halber said that the situation with Van Hollen is a “shame” because Van Hollen and the JCRC have worked together on a range of issues in the past, including funding for Jewish institutions and various domestic policy issues.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD) were all in attendance at the breakfast, along with numerous local officials.

“I’m very upset about it, and so are many people in this room, because that’s not the Sen. Van Hollen that so many people in this room worked hard to get elected,” Halber continued. “On the issue of Israel, I would say the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community feels betrayed by the senator.”

The Van Hollen spokesperson fired back, accusing Halber of running cover for the Israeli government and failing to represent the range of viewpoints in Maryland’s Jewish community.

“Senator Van Hollen is committed to a values-based foreign policy that holds our friends and our adversaries to the same standards. That’s why he continues to support the people of Israel, but the actions of the Netanyahu Government have increasingly not aligned with our values,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Senator often speaks with Marylanders who hold varying perspectives here and has met on many occasions with families of hostages and victims of the heinous Hamas attacks of October 7th. Instead of representing the diversity of views that, in the Senator’s experience, are held by the Jewish community of Maryland, Ron Halber has become an apologist for the Netanyahu government.”

Halber said he’d had a two-hour meeting with Van Hollen a year ago, asking the senator to moderate his rhetoric by showing a greater level of “empathy” and “understanding” of the situation Israel and its people are facing — recommendations Halber said the senator had failed to implement, making Halber “angrier.”

“I think it’s very easy to stand with Israel when you’re crying over Jewish victims, but it’s harder to stand up with Israel when she’s doing the right thing,” Halber continued. “And I think the senator has shown a lack of strategic understanding of Israel’s dilemma. And I’m not saying he’s got to be Israel’s cheerleader, but it would be nice if he had more balance in his remarks.”

He said that many people have delivered a similar message to Van Hollen, asking him to offer greater acknowledgement of Israel’s struggles, but have instead received a “consistent, one-sided narrative.”

“The hard thing is to show up when your friends need you, and right now, we’ve needed him, and he hasn’t been there,” Halber concluded.

Responding to the Van Hollen spokesperson’s accusation that Halber’s views are unrepresentative of the Jewish community, the JCRC head emphasized that more than 60 elected officials joined the breakfast event, with similar participation expected at upcoming Virginia and D.C.-focused breakfasts, and that a diverse array of Jewish organizations — religiously and politically — participate in the JCRC and the gatherings.

“Our job is to articulate a representation that represents the broad swath and mainstream of the Jewish community, which I believe we successfully do, and I’m proud of our record,” Halber said. “[JCRC member organizations] all know that JCRC represents the community with dignity and with the greatest broadest consensus and inclusivity as possible. … I’m very proud of the ability of the JCRC to bring such a diverse Jewish community under one tent where they all feel comfortable and represented.”

At the JCRC breakfast, Halber won plaudits from Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor, who praised him as a dependable sounding board and advisor on difficult issues. 

“When you’re debating, when you’re trying to understand the moment, when you’re trying to remember how we need to respond, when we are watching walls collapse among us, and who can help you get that clarity, even when I have to call him [Halber] at 11 o’clock at night,” Moore said. “By the end of the conversation, I’m lifted up.”

Good Wednesday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to DC JCRC head Ron Halber about the “extremely disappointing” decision by Rep. Jamie Raskin to sign onto legislation restricting aid to Israel, and interview Rep. Laura Gillen about her recent trip to Israel alongside 13 other House Democrats. We cover Seb Gorka’s comparison of Tucker Carlson to Pat Buchanan, and report on recent comments by the president of the American Association of University Professors in support of a boycott of Israeli academics. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Shari Redstone, Yariv Mozer and Eliya Cohen.

What We’re Watching

• Texas Republicans are expected to move forward today on a mid-decade redistricting effort that would redraw the state’s congressional lines to benefit the GOP. Today’s vote was delayed by several weeks after Democratic legislators left the state to prevent a quorum for the vote to take place.
• Former Boston Red Sox player Kevin Youkilis is speaking about Jewish identity in sports at an Anti-Defamation League web event today kicking off the ADL’s “Game Changers” series.
• Palestinian writer and researcher Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the director of the Atlantic Council’s Realign for Palestine program, is speaking today at Los Angeles’ Sinai Temple.
• U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner is in Israel today. Last night, he and his wife, Seryl, had dinner in Jerusalem with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, at the ambassador’s residence.
• Israel is inaugurating its embassy in Zambia today.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS

Israel is finalizing plans this week for a ground offensive into Gaza City, with the goal of having fully evacuated the city by the symbolic date of Oct. 7, 2025. Speaking at his weekly Sunday meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “complete the victory” over Hamas. Tens of thousands of IDF reservists will begin receiving call-up notices today in preparation for the offensive.

The plans come amid a renewed push for Palestinian statehood, led by France and Saudi Arabia, that has seen a surge in support from global heads of state, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

Palestinian statehood efforts also have support in Congress, where Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is leading a group of House Democrats in calling on President Donald Trump to recognize a Palestinian state.

But both objectives — “total victory” over Hamas and Palestinian statehood — are at present incompatible with the realities on the ground.

Netanyahu has not wavered from his stated objective of “total victory” — even as he has yet to articulate, in practical terms, what that looks like — or how the Gaza City offensive will achieve it.

Outside of Israel, efforts to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood have ignored core challenges facing both Palestinian society and government, the former of which was plagued by antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric long before Oct. 7, 2023, and the latter of which has for decades been mired in corruption and nepotism and lacks the ground support needed for long-term stability.

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

JAMIE’S JAM

Top D.C. Jewish official urges Jamie Raskin to withdraw from anti-Israel resolution

Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, strongly criticized Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) over his recent decision to support legislation that seeks to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel. “Jamie’s signing on that legislation was extremely disappointing,” Halber said in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel on Tuesday, referring to the Block the Bombs Act, a bill led by far-left lawmakers that would place unprecedented new conditions on U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. 

Private plea: “It unfortunately follows his signing on to other similar letters and a vote against additional arms to Israel last year, which really raised a lot of people’s eyebrows,” Halber said of Raskin, whom he considers a friend. Halber said he had spoken with Raskin, one the most prominent progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, three times over the last two days, asking him to withdraw his name from the bill and instead issue a statement voicing the concerns about the war in Gaza that motivated him to back the legislation. Raskin, who became a co-sponsor of the bill this month, has not issued any statement about his decision.

Read the full interview here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

TRIP TALK

Rep. Laura Gillen returns from Israel doubly committed to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) came away from her recent visit to Israel feeling resolute in her determination to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship and support the Jewish state in its efforts to bring all remaining hostages in Gaza home, she told  Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs in an interview on Monday. Gillen, a freshman lawmaker who represents a Nassau County, Long Island, swing district with a significant Jewish population, took part in a delegation of 14 House Democrats to Israel last week, sponsored by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, which organized a similar visit to Israel for House Republicans that overlapped for several days with the Democratic trip.  

Common ground: “Hamas needs to end this war. It needs to give the hostages back. That’s something that can happen today, and the world needs to remember that,” Gillen said. The Long Island lawmaker noted that the trip highlighted the nonpartisan nature of support for Israel in the United States. “Just being on this trip with colleagues from the other side, having the opportunity to sit down and talk about some of the things that we saw, the conversations we were having with various elected officials and various nonprofit groups and business leaders in Israel, and talking to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle about what we’re sharing, the shared experience of visiting Israel, I think is really important going forward,” Gillen said.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

FOREIGN POLICY FEUD

Seb Gorka slams Tucker Carlson as ‘Pat Buchanan in a new guise’

Seb Gorka, the White House senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, aired his grievances with the anti-Israel faction within the Republican Party on Tuesday, alleging that the wing of the GOP aligned with podcast host Tucker Carlson is  “basically Pat Buchanan in a new guise.” Gorka made the comments in a conversation on counterterrorism and U.S. strategy at the Hudson Institute after being pressed on the foreign policy disputes within the MAGA movement and Carlson’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. 

‘Nothing new’: Asked by moderator Michael Doran, a Hudson senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, if he was comfortable addressing the growth of anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiment on right-wing podcasts and social media, Gorka replied, “Yeah, I am, because it bothers me immensely, but I’ve come to a certain realization with regards to that, that this wing of isolationism is nothing new. We had this 100 years ago.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

ACADEMIC IRE

American Association of University Professors president champions anti-Israel boycott

Seb Gorka, the White House senior director for counterterrorism and a deputy assistant to the president, aired his grievances with the anti-Israel faction within the Republican Party on Tuesday, alleging that the wing of the GOP aligned with podcast host Tucker Carlson is “basically Pat Buchanan in a new guise.” Gorka made the comments in a conversation on counterterrorism and U.S. strategy at the Hudson Institute after being pressed on the foreign policy disputes within the MAGA movement and Carlson’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. 

‘Nothing new’: Asked by moderator Michael Doran, a Hudson senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, if he was comfortable addressing the growth of anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiment on right-wing podcasts and social media, Gorka replied, “Yeah, I am, because it bothers me immensely, but I’ve come to a certain realization with regards to that, that this wing of isolationism is nothing new. We had this 100 years ago.”

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

AMBASSADOR’S ASSESSMENT

Mike Huckabee sounds cautious note on status of ceasefire negotiations

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Tuesday he is “optimistic” while also remaining “realistic,” about the latest round of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas. “I want to be optimistic about a deal with Hamas but I’m also aware of who we are dealing with, we’re not dealing with a nation-state. We’re dealing with savages,” Huckabee said during an online briefing co-hosted by the American Jewish Congress and World Zionist Organization, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Huckabee’s hope: The former governor of Arkansas’ comments come as Hamas has reportedly agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposed by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, during which some of the remaining 50 hostages would be released. “Whether or not [Hamas is] serious about bringing this to a close, all I can tell you is I hope so. But what’s happened before, even when they say they are thinking seriously about bringing this to a conclusion, making a deal, they always add one or more things that are completely unacceptable, bring those to a table, then it all starts over again,” he continued.

Read the full story here.

SHARE

Share options

• 
  Facebook
• 
  Telegram
• 
  LinkedIn
• 
  WhatsApp
• 
  Reddit

Add JewishInsider on Google

Worthy Reads

Redstone’s Rationale: In an interview with The New York Times’ James Stewart, Shari Redstone explains the rationale behind her decision to sell Paramount to Skydance Media. “Potential buyers reached out over the years. David Ellison pressed his case several times, including over breakfast at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills in 2023. Ms. Redstone was noncommittal. That all changed on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel. The attack had a profound impact on Ms. Redstone, an ardent supporter of Israel whose ex-husband, Yitzhak Korff, known as Ira, is a rabbi and direct descendant of the founder of the Hasidic movement. (Her son Tyler is also a rabbi.) ‘Once that happened, I wanted out,’ she said. ‘I wanted to support Israel, and address issues around antisemitism and racism.’” [NYTimes]

Bibi’s Bind: In his “Clarity” Substack, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Michael Oren considers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s options for ending the war in Gaza. “In English, one says that a leader or a government has ‘climbed up a ladder’ while in Israel the expression is ‘climbs up a tree.’ Either way — a ladder or a tree — Israel’s government and its leader have ascended very high. Ever since Prime Minister Netanyahu declared his intent to conquer the remaining one-quarter of Gaza and achieve ‘total victory’ over Hamas, commentators both in Israel and abroad have asked, ‘Now that Bibi has climbed up the highest ladder or tree, how can he get down?’ … Ultimately, there is no cost-free way to bring this war to an end. Every path is filled with obstacles and abysses. Whichever policy the government adopts must be clear, strong, and effectively communicated. Whether Israel climbs up or down the ladder or the tree, it must do so courageously and responsibly all the way.” [Clarity]

Word on the Street

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revoked the security clearances of more than three dozen current and former intelligence officials; Maher Bitar, a Biden administration National Security Council official who faced criticism from Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) over his past ties to Students for Justice in Palestine and anti-Israel organizing activities, was one of the 37 individuals who lost clearance…

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is fending off a primary challenge from Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, announced endorsements from AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition…

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) campaign said it raised $3.6 million in the 24 hours after Brown announced his entry into the state’s 2026 Senate race…

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu was announced as the incoming head of the trade group Airlines for America…

Philanthropist Elizabeth Simons made a $250,000 donation last week to a super PAC supporting New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani; Simons, the president and chair of the Heising-Simons Foundation, is the daughter of Democratic donor and Renaissance Technologies founder James Simons, who died last year…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the financial challenges facing developer Michael Shvo, as he faces legal challenges and construction delays over properties ranging from Miami to North Carolina…

The Omega Institute banned psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk from teaching at future retreats at the tony Hudson Valley center, after the author and trauma therapist angered attendees with what the institute called “inappropriate and antisemitic comments” about Israel and the Gaza war…

Paris-born chef Olivia Ostrow is opening Maison Ostrow, a kosher Mediterranean-inflected French bistro, in Miami’s North Bay Village…

“Parade,” the 1998 Alfred Uhry musical about the 1913 lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia, opens at Washington’s Kennedy Center this week…

Major League Soccer approved an exception to a ban on the display of Israeli and Palestinian flags at league soccer matches, following Columbus Crew’s $7.5 million acquisition of Danish-born Palestinian player Wessam Abou Ali; MLS said that the team’s official support group could display the Palestinian flag at upcoming matches…

The Israel-based Sipur Studios inked a first-look deal with Yariv Mozer, director of the “We Will Dance Again” documentary about the Nova Music Festival massacre, formalizing what Sipur head Emilio Schenker described as a “longstanding partnership”…

CNN interviews former Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen, who was freed from Hamas captivity earlier this year, about his time in captivity and friendships with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Alon Ohel, the latter of whom remains in Gaza…

The IDF said it killed one of the terrorists involved in the abduction of Yarden Bibas; in a social media post, Bibas said that the elimination of Jihad Kamal Salem Najjar gave him “a small part” of closure, but that he is still waiting for his friends, David and Ariel Cunio, who were also taken hostage, to return home…

Israel‘s controversial E1 settlement project received final approval to move forward with construction between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank…

The Financial Times looks at Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s efforts to crack down on the country’s drug trade that boomed under former President Bashar al-Assad…

Meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the countries planned to elevate relations “to a strategic level,” following Tehran’s response to a U.S.-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Armenian and Iranian officials also signed a series of agreements regarding trade, infrastructure and economic cooperation…

Danielle Foreman was named chief strategy and impact officer of the Bay Area’s Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund…

Film and podcast producer Elon Dershowitz, the son of attorney Alan Dershowitz, died at 64…

Pic of the Day

At a memorial in Jerusalem on Tuesday, the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin marked the yahrzeit of the Israeli American’s murder in Hamas captivity alongside Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Or Danino and Alex Lubanov — known in Israel as “the beautiful six.”

Birthdays

Real estate agent, author and television personality as an original cast member on the show “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” Josh Flagg turns 40..

Laguna Hills, Calif., resident, Phoebe Bryan… News anchor and reporter for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, she converted to Judaism in 1984, Connie Chung turns 79… Director of the National Economic Council during the Trump 45 administration, now a commentator for Fox Business, Larry Kudlow turns 78… Former secretary of labor for the state of Kansas, Lana Goodman Gordon turns 75… Immediate past chair of the Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., Steven H. Klinghoffer… Mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba, from 2004 until 2014 and the owner of minor league baseball’s Winnipeg Goldeyes, Samuel Michael “Sam” Katz turns 74… Managing director of equity derivatives at Rice Financial Products, Jay A. Knopf… U.S. representative (D-IL), Brad Schneider turns 64… Wilmington, Del. resident and trustee of Jewish Federations of North America, Suzanne Barton Grant… President of the Council on Foreign Relations, he was the U.S. trade representative during the Obama administration, Ambassador Michael Froman turns 63… U.S. senator (R-MT), Steve Daines turns 63… Founder and controlling shareholder of the Altice Group (one of the world’s largest telecoms firms including N.Y.-based Cablevision), he acquired Sotheby’s in 2019, Patrick Drahi turns 62… Israeli writer known for his short stories and graphic novels, Etgar Keret turns 58… Film director and screenwriter, Mark Levin turns 57… British ambassador to Israel from 2010 to 2015, the first Jewish U.K. ambassador to be posted to Tel Aviv, he is now the CEO of the Zoological Society of London, Matthew Gould (family name was Goldkorn) turns 54… Ethiopian-born, former member of the Knesset for Kulanu, Asher Fentahun Seyoum turns 54… Director of communications at the Institute for Law & AI, Ari Goldberg… Executive director of Lisa Stone Pritzker’s LSP Family Foundation, Abigail Michelson Porth… Co-CEO and one of the founders of the Jerusalem Season of Culture, a summer music festival that showcases Jerusalem, Karen Brunwasser… Co-founder of Boundless Israel, Rachel Lea Fish, Ph.D…. Israeli teacher and writer, he is the founder of People of the Book focused on communicating about the Jewish faith with the Arab world, Elhanan Miller turns 44… Partner in the Iowa office of Cornerstone Government Affairs and foundation president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, David Ryan Adelman… Canadian television and film actress, Meghan Ory Reardon turns 43… . Ice skating professional at The Skating Club of Boston, he won a bronze medal in the team pairs event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Simon Shnapir turns 38… Stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster and internet personality, Gianmarco Vincent Soresi turns 36… Canadian guitarist, YouTuber, producer and music teacher, Roy Ziv turns 34… Triathlete and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Israel 2019, Sella Sharlin turns 29…

Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, strongly criticized Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) over his recent decision to support legislation that seeks to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel, casting the congressman’s move as part of a troubling pattern that has sparked concern among pro-Israel activists in his Maryland district.

“Jamie’s signing on that legislation was extremely disappointing,” Halber said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday, referring to the Block the Bombs Act, a bill led by far-left lawmakers that would place unprecedented new conditions on U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. 

Raskin, who became a co-sponsor of the bill earlier this month, has not issued any statement regarding his decision.

“It unfortunately follows his signing on to other similar letters and a vote against additional arms to Israel last year, which really raised a lot of people’s eyebrows,” Halber, who said he considers Raskin a friend, told JI.

Halber said that he had spoken with Raskin, one of the most prominent progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, three times over the last two days, asking him to withdraw his name from the bill and instead issue a statement expressing the concerns about the war in Gaza that had motivated him to back the controversial legislation.

Raskin said he would be considering the request and indicated he was “not opposed to Israel using arms in other theaters” outside of Gaza, according to Halber, who described “a very honest and frank conversation” about the bill, which was introduced in May in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.

While he acknowledged that Raskin is “pulled by both being a leader of the Progressive Caucus and by his own progressive Zionism,” Halber said that the legislation represents “a bridge too far” for the pro-Israel community. The bill effectively amounts to an arms embargo on Israel, he said, arguing that it “seeks to unilaterally disarm one of our closest allies” as Israel defends itself on multiple fronts.

“I’m hoping that Jamie will take his name off the bill and use a statement to express his concerns,” Halber told JI, noting that the congressman has also fielded messages from several Jewish leaders leaders in his Montgomery County district who have aired objections. “If he doesn’t, we will be disappointed, but that’s his decision to make and he has to live with the ramifications of his decision,” Halber added. “I don’t see how that helps him.”

Natalie Krute, a spokesperson for Raskin, declined multiple requests for comment about his decision to back the bill, and did not immediately respond to JI on Tuesday regarding his recent conversations with Halber.

Halber’s private engagement with Raskin, who joined 32 other lawmakers in supporting the bill, underscores the challenges that mainstream Jewish groups are now facing as even some of the most reliable defenders of Israel in the Democratic Party shift away from reflexively backing the Jewish state, amid growing outrage over the crisis in Gaza.

“It’s difficult when two-thirds of our community is voting for a political party whose base is hostile to Israel,” Halber said of the waning support for Israel among Democrats. “I think a lot of my colleagues are also finding this a very difficult era,” he added.

Halber said he had also recently spoken with Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) after she faced scrutiny from Jewish leaders this month for voting in favor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) resolutions to block some U.S. arms sales to Israel, despite vowing to oppose such efforts during her Senate campaign last year.

“I’m convinced that her vote was more about sending a message of moral outrage to the Israeli government about the number of children who are malnourished in Gaza,” he said of their discussion, adding he was “a little more forgiving” in assessing her decision because it had coincided with a surge of media coverage about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Alsobrooks was among 27 Senate Democrats, the majority of the caucus, who voted earlier this month to block shipments of U.S. aid to Israel — marking a dramatic turn against the Jewish state for the party. “While I didn’t like that Democratic senators voted” for the resolutions, “it was understandable, and they knew it wasn’t going to pass,” Halber said on Tuesday. “The question is, if it was going to pass would they have supported it — and I hope not.”

Even as the Block the Bombs bill is also not expected to pass, Halber indicated that he viewed Raskin’s move as a more egregious offense, calling it a “safe way” to register discontent with Israel’s conduct in Gaza that nevertheless “went too far” for his heavily Jewish district. 

“Obviously, he’s trying to maintain a leadership position within the House Progressive Caucus,” Halber said of the congressman’s thinking. But on his home turf, “there are a lot of” constituents who do not support imposing sweeping new conditions on Israel, he told JI.

Still, Halber suggested that his lobbying to convince Raskin to withdraw his name from the bill is part of a broader effort to “push back against” the growing influence of what he called the “radical left,” whose views on Middle East policy he described as a “huge danger” to Israel’s continued security in the region.

“Once the war comes to an end, the whole Jewish community is going to have to re-strategize,” Halber said of the challenges ahead as his organization and others like it reckon with their traditional approach to engaging on such issues. “We have a lot of work to do with young people and with Democrats and independents.”

The war in Gaza “is going to impact Israel’s image for years to come,” Halber predicted. “Hopefully, once the media isn’t covering it every day, we can provide more context about what happened” and help “rebuild” Israel’s reputation among skeptical voters.