The number of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump views Israel’s security as a central consideration has continued to fall to record lows after Washington signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, according to a new survey from the Israel Democracy Institute.

The June 2026 Israeli Voice Index, conducted between June 28 and July 1, found that 28% of respondents — including 26% of Jewish Israelis and 36% of Arab Israelis — believe Israel’s security is a key consideration for Trump. 

Among Jewish Israelis, the figure dropped 15 percentage points from a month ago, when 41% of respondents said they felt Israeli security was a key consideration for Trump as his administration engaged in negotiations with Tehran. At the time, those findings marked the lowest levels of Israeli trust in Trump since the research center began tracking the metric when he was elected to a second term in November 2024.

Despite declining confidence in Trump, a majority of Israelis continue to view current tensions between Washington and Jerusalem as temporary rather than indicative of a meaningful deterioration in bilateral ties. Among Jewish Israelis, 54% said current disagreements represent a temporary crisis that will not harm the relationship, while 34% said they mark a longer-term shift for the worse.

Respondents were more divided when asked whether Israel’s strategic security situation was better or worse than it was before the Iran war. Thirty-six percent said Israel’s security situation is now worse, an increase of eight percentage points from April. Meanwhile, 38% said it is better, down six percentage points over the same period.

The survey also found strong support for maintaining an Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon, even if doing so conflicts with U.S. interests. Overall, 72% of respondents backed a permanent security zone in the area. Support was especially high among Jewish Israelis, at 80%, while a majority of Arab Israelis (58%) opposed maintaining a permanent Israeli presence in southern Lebanon.

Beyond military and diplomatic issues, the poll found that rising antisemitism and attacks targeting Israelis abroad were influencing travel decisions. Fifty-six percent of respondents said the threat environment has affected their travel plans, with 41% saying it has impacted where they choose to travel and 15% saying they plan to avoid traveling abroad altogether because of security concerns.

Several House Democrats, including in leadership and top progressives, remain divided or notably noncommittal over whether Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of the Democratic Party moving forward.

The official 2024 Democratic Party Platform, released by the DNC for former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that party leaders “believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States” and that the party’s  “commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself … is ironclad.” 

However, the Democratic Party has continued to face internal division over how to exercise that support, or to what extent that support should continue to exist at all. 

When asked on Tuesday whether support for Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be an official policy position of the Democrat Party moving forward, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was noncommittal and avoided the question. 

He instead told Jewish Insider that Democrats are “continuing to focus on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption in an environment where the Trump cartel is the most corrupt administration in American history.” 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also did not provide a concrete answer, instead telling JI she is “less concerned with slogans” and more interested in “what it would mean in terms of policy.” 

“I think what is being litigated, and what has been litigated, is that it’s a vague statement,” Ocasio-Cortez said on whether the Democratic Party should affirm Israel’s right to exist as an official platform position. “I’m less concerned with slogans and more about the United States’ commitment in honoring its own laws and defending and protecting human rights and preventing war, catastrophe and needless death across the board.” 

Ocasio-Cortez said that the main “ideal” behind the party’s approach to Israel is that “Palestinians are safe, that Israelis are safe” and that conflict in the region is “de-escalated.”

“I think that when we start litigating phrases that are not attached to the material commitments, then we create a lot of conflict where there doesn’t need to be,” she added. 

Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said that the party’s position is clear on supporting the safety of Israeli civilians, but argued that there is a difference in providing funds to an Israeli government that some Democrats disagree with. 

“Democrats have been very clear — every Democrat I’ve spoken to has been very clear that security, peace and safety for Israeli civilians is a priority and is our position,” Casar said. “It’s just that I don’t think that giving $3.3 billion in weaponry to the Netanyahu regime actually helps with that cause.” 

Casar said he believes “deeply in the safety and security of everyday folks in Israel.”

“What I think is at issue here is the human rights violations that have occurred because of decisions by the Israeli government and the Israeli military, and the fact that I think America’s national security interests, as well as, in my view the security interests of everyday people in Israel … are being harmed by Netanyahu’s decisions.”

Meanwhile, other House Democrats expressed strong backing for continued support of Israel. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the No. 3 Democrat, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said support for Israel’s existence and security should “absolutely” remain part of the Democratic Party platform moving forward.

“I think that supporting a free Jewish state is important for Democrats and it’s important for our country,” Aguilar said. “Israel is a lone democracy in the region.”

“That doesn’t mean that we agree with everything that Israel is doing, and we shouldn’t sign onto a policy statement that says that, and we wouldn’t,” Aguilar continued. “But do they have a right to exist and defend themselves? Yes, but the manner in which they conduct [themselves] that matters a great deal to Democrats.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), similarly said: “Absolutely, of course it should be.” He criticized “right-wing politics and right-wing government” for having “undermined” Israel. “We’ve got to stand up for the democratic forces in Israel and against all of that reactionary politics.”  

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) stated that while “everybody [in congress] … all have their own individual opinion” on the subject, he believes that “Israel has a right to exist” and that “[Israel’s] security should be ensured.” Still, the Massachusetts congressman issued sharp criticism of the Jewish state’s handling of the war in Gaza and said the Democratic party platform should “stand loud for human rights.”

“I also believe that what Netanyahu is doing against Palestinians are war crimes and they need to stop,” McGovern said. “So I think we need to, in our party platform, make it clear that we stand loud for human rights, that we are committed to the human rights of every single individual on this planet.”

A Pew Research Center poll published in April of this year found that 8 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents responded as having an unfavorable view of Israel. Among Democrats 76% of those 50 years or older hold unfavorable views of Israel, while 84% of Democrats 18-to-49 years old  held negative views. 

Earlier this year, the DNC referred a resolution on Israel – which would have labeled the Jewish state’s actions in Gaza as a genocide and called for conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel – to a working group on the Middle East. 

As the Iranian national soccer team begins the 2026 World Cup amid high-level diplomatic negotiations to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, American security officials — and American Jewish communities already operating under elevated threat conditions — are facing challenges beyond soccer,

The first security and political consideration concerns the Iranian delegation itself: The United States has occasionally restricted entry for sports officials and delegations from adversarial countries — from Soviet Olympic officials during the Cold War to Cuban baseball and Iranian karate representatives in recent years. 

The Trump administration, facing pressure from FIFA, did eventually issue visas several weeks ago — after months of uncertainty — to the 26 members of Iran’s national team, though more than a dozen staff members and officials associated with the team were not granted visas due to security concerns. The team is set to play on Monday and next week in Los Angeles, against New Zealand and Belgium, respectively, and against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. 

“The visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued,” the State Department told ESPN. “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.” 

One of the people rejected is reportedly Mehdi Taj, head of the Iranian soccer federation, who was previously a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The team is also not allowed to stay on U.S. soil overnight; it relocated its training camp from Tucson, Ariz., to Tijuana, Mexico, and will return to Mexico after the final whistle of each of its matches.

The host cities are already on alert: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a Democrat, said she was briefed on a “credible threat” to the city during the World Cup, which so alarmed her that she decided to turn on CCTV cameras around the soccer stadium for the duration of the games, counter to her longstanding opposition to the surveillance system. 

Amid an already heightened threat environment for Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks and amid the Iran war, thousands of fans from around the world flocking to the U.S. to cheer on their favorite teams presents an additional security challenge. 

Secure Community Network, a Jewish communal security organization, told Jewish Insider that “there are no known specific threats to the Jewish community directly related to the World Cup,” though the group “has been proactively engaged with the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and other World Cup host cities well in advance of the tournament.” 

SCN cited the 2006 shooting attack on the Seattle Jewish Federation that killed one and wounded five others, perpetrated by a Pakistani national who said he was “angry at Israel,” as “continu[ing] to inform the local community’s commitment to security and preparedness.” The Seattle and Los Angeles Jewish federations declined to comment.

Oren Segal, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence, called Iran’s participation in the World Cup “a moment for vigilance, not alarm.” He predicted that the event “will likely attract some protest activity from groups seeking to leverage the global attention surrounding the tournament to advance their causes,” and said “the appropriate response is proactive coordination with local law enforcement and ensuring that community members are informed, prepared, and supported.” 

The share of Israelis who believe the country’s security is a primary consideration for President Donald Trump has plummeted to a new low, according to a new poll, revealing a sharp shift in public attitudes as the U.S. and Israel diverge on their strategies and ultimate goals of the war with Iran.

The survey, conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute from May 31 to June 5, found that 44% of Israelis believe Israel’s security is a central consideration for the Trump administration, a decline from the 60% recorded in March at the beginning of the Iran war. 

The drop was even more pronounced among Jewish Israelis, where confidence fell 23 points over the same period, from 64% to 41%.

The findings mark the lowest levels of Israeli trust in Trump since the center began tracking the metric when he was elected to a second term in November 2024, highlighting a rapid erosion of Israeli public confidence as the White House intensifies its pursuit of a deal with Iran.

The polling also reveals a stark collapse in public optimism regarding Israel’s ability to achieve its key objectives in the conflict. Roughly one-third — 32% — of respondents now believe the war’s outcome will include the elimination of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal — down sharply from the 65% who held that view in March. Similarly, the share of Israelis who believe the conflict will weaken the Iranian regime has also been cut by nearly half, falling to 28% (from 55%) over the same period.

This pervasive skepticism aligns with deep public resistance to Washington’s current diplomatic track. Even as the Trump administration continues to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated settlement with Tehran, a majority of Jewish Israelis (58%) maintain that ending the war under its current conditions is fundamentally incompatible with Israel’s long-term security needs.

There’s a mantra in the Israeli startup world that its founders are months behind their American counterparts. New York Tech Week gave them a chance to close that gap, according to investors who descended on Manhattan last week. 

Michael Morgenstern, head of startups at financial technology platform Airwallex, which teamed up with Andreessen Horowitz — one of the world’s leading venture capital firms — to bring a delegation of Israeli founders to tech week for the first time, told Jewish Insider that VCs are looking to see more AI products come out of Israel, which historically has been security focused. 

“It would be interesting to see an AI lab out of Israel,” he said. “Why haven’t we seen an OpenAI or Claude, something of that status, coming out of the Israeli ecosystem? It makes me wonder if we are stagnating as an ecosystem. So exposing the Israeli market to what’s going on on the ground gives Israeli entrepreneurs the chance to get months ahead.” 

“The mantra in the Israeli startup market right now is that Israeli founders and entrepreneurs are nine months behind the Americans,” he continued. “So if we can fly them here, make sure that people with low budgets — that will soon have high budgets — come to the U.S. and get on the ground, they’re going to get back to Israel with a whole new set of insights that are going to prepare them and be on par with the American companies versus the ones in Tel Aviv.”

“So it’s a very strategic play for them to come, get the experience and do the pitches. Ultimately, the U.S. is the ultimate market for most Israeli founders so if we can be the corridor at Airwallex and I can be the shepherd, it’s a delight to do so,” he said. 

The 12 Israeli founders included in the delegation said they felt widely embraced at last week’s New York Tech Week, overwhelmingly saying that they felt no need to hide their roots. 

“I feel I can be openly Israeli in the U.S. — specifically at tech week,” Aviv Shamny, founder of Limy AI, an Israeli startup that helps brands and products show up on AI search engines, told JI.  “I didn’t feel any antisemitism at all at tech week.” 

Shamny, who recently moved to the U.S. from Israel to grow his company — and served in combat following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks — said the idea for his startup “came to me in the trenches of war.” For the past year, Limy has been part of A16Z Speedrun, an elite, highly competitive 12-week startup accelerator program operated by Andreessen Horowitz. 

“People are really hustling,” said Morgenstern. “Last week was Boston tech week, next week is London. New York is the primo one. People are enjoying it. It’s decentralized as there’s what feels like thousands of events all over the city for every stage and profile.” 

Morgenstern led several events throughout the week, including taking founders who recently moved to New York in a helicopter to give them their first tour of Manhattan. “We did a pitch in the air called ‘Up in the Air with Airwallex,’” he said, adding that amid historic rates of antisemitism, “I’ve only heard positive things from Israelis meeting with non-Israelis.”  

The Israeli delegation consisted of entrepreneurs launching new startups — many of whom declined to speak with JI due to their companies’ stealth status.

“It was a very selective process,” said Morgenstern. “There were hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. Andreessen Horowitz picked the founders, and we’re strategic partners with them. We’re the ones supporting the founders with their banking and corporate operations. This is the first time we’ve done this and we plan on doing it again.” 

Much of the A16Z delegation is composed of deeper infrastructure companies, working on AI tools, cybercompanies, fintech and defensetech.

“Historically, cyber is what Israelis have been known for, but it’s interesting to see the early-stages people try to zig when everyone’s zagging and look a little different to stand out,” said Morgenstern. “So an Israeli founder doing a consumer company, selling to individuals is very unique. Healthcare and fintech also. We’re also seeing some big rounds happening. A lot of Israeli teams are raising $10, $20, $30 million-plus out of stealth mode. It’s interesting they don’t want anyone to know what they’re doing, but at the same time they’re raising a lot of money and growing their balance sheet. From my seat in the VC land, I see an incredible demand and the resilience of Israelis right now is showing why they’re such an investable asset.” 

“Generally, Andreessen Horowitz has a unique stance,” said Shamny, who was not part of the A16Z delegation since the firm has already invested in his company.  

“On one hand, they don’t take sides, they take the side of innovation. They see Israel as one of the main innovation hubs and are really doubling down on it. We’ve been getting positive feedback from the firm. I do think this contributes to us being able to position ourselves as still the startup nation, regardless of all the antisemitism going on in the world. I think the war — regardless of what is wrong and what is right — has been impactful on Israel’s presence and what people think about us as Israelis. Andressen’s push toward Israeli innovation has been helpful in positioning ourselves.” 

“As Israelis we are very proud to take part in this unique group of people and companies. It’s fun to be a part of.”  

Yair Vardi, an Israeli American venture capitalist and founding partner of Fusion, Israel’s leading pre-seed fund, produced several events during tech week.

“I didn’t see reluctance to work with Israelis this week,” Vardi told JI. “On the contrary, New York is the home to over 400 Israeli startups. In the last few years, New York has become even more attractive for Israeli startups. I don’t see that changing even with politics. New York is home for the stock exchange and many Fortune 500 companies and a big Jewish community. [Israelis] aren’t happy with the new mayor [Zohran Mamdani], but I don’t think it pushes them not to come. This week we saw the numerous delegations coming out of Israel [including the one from] A16Z. I’ve attended a dozen events with Israeli entrepreneurs, from cybersecurity to legal and finance,” said Vardi. 

A jam-packed week of networking ended with a Friday night Shabbat dinner organized by Brex and Tech Tribe, a New York-based community for Jews in tech and digital media, part of the Chabad Young Professionals network, founded by Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone. 

“We try to create a Jewish community for people who work in startups and try to give them the tools and skills they need for what they create,” Lightstone told JI. “We constantly have conversations around the intersection of technology and Judaism; can you ask halachic questions to ChatGPT instead of a rabbi, those types of things.”  

“New York Tech Week is something that has grown over the past couple years in general,” he said. “The city is booming with excitement and energy, much more than previous years.” 

“Jews in tech have woken up and realized they have to really represent it, to go out there and say I’m Jewish, I have Jewish values and I’m proud of it. In the past three years we’ve seen a lot of that, and this week has been an expression of that,” said Lightstone, who hosted the first Tech Week Shabbat dinner just weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks. “At the time, it was a very cathartic experience for everybody to be together and feel comfortable when people were very on edge and felt they couldn’t speak in the workplace,” he said. 

“There have been incidents of antisemitism in tech since Oct. 7, especially in the big companies. They didn’t always handle antisemitism well. They’re very careful with [diversity, equity and inclusion], but when it came to Jews [they] were lacking,” continued Lightstone.  

About 100 VCs and founders attended the Shabbat in downtown Manhattan, which Lightstone called an opportunity for an “un-networking experience to connect and unwind from the week.” Guests were served arak and whiskey made by the Israeli startup Verstill, which utilizes AI technology in its spirits creation and maturation process, and Israel’s Jezreel Winery sponsored the wine. American Friends of Reichman University co-sponsored the meal.

Ahead of the dinner, Noga Sapir, the founder of a mental health startup called Reflect, who came from Israel for her first New York Tech Week, told JI the week was “great.” 

“I’m fundraising right now so I’ve been looking at the events where founders and fundraisers meet,” she said. “I did have concerns [coming as an Israeli] but I was completely embraced. There has not been one person that when I told I’m Israeli didn’t say that’s amazing and awesome. I think because Israel is such a powerhouse for tech companies, people in the startup environment have come to expect an Israeli presence.” 

Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on Thursday urging him to take action to move forward stalled Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, an issue both lawmakers raised with Mullin during his confirmation hearing.

“Over the past decade, the NSGP program has enabled institutions to strengthen their security and harden the exteriors of their buildings. But the program is also plagued with restrictions and delays that have limited its effectiveness. We would like to take you up on your offer [to] discuss potential improvements to the NSGP program over the long term,” the two senators wrote. “Before we meet, there are several steps that you can take immediately to assist the nonprofits that rely on this program.”

They urged Mullin to “move quickly” to finalize 2025 grants — for which the application process was delayed for months and which have still not been finalized or released — as well as to “promptly” open applications for the 2026 grant cycle, with 2026 DHS funding now finalized by Congress.

Slotkin and Lankford also encouraged Mullin to retract new conditions imposed in the 2025 cycle related to immigration enforcement and diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which they said have “have caused confusion and concern among potential applicants.” They said the grant should be focused “on security and risk rather than on these unrelated issues.”

The two senators also asked Mullin to “immediately review staffing levels” in the NSGP program office at DHS, explaining that nonprofit groups have been concerned that insufficient staffing contributed to the delays in the 2025 grant process.

Going forward, the senators said they plan to urge Mullin to improve communication with the state agencies that administer the grant program and address delays in providing reimbursements to grant recipients for security expenses.

“We appreciate your willingness to engage with us on this important program that has enabled nonprofit organizations across the country to harden themselves against terror attacks,” Slotkin and Lankford wrote. “The need for the program remains high, and we are eager to work with you to strengthen it moving forward.”

A majority of Israelis believe that ending the war with Iran under the current conditions would undermine the country’s security, according to a new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute.

The survey, conducted between April 26-30, over two weeks into the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, found that 64% of Jewish Israelis said ending the war in its current state is “only slightly or not at all aligned” with Israel’s security interests. Nearly half of Arab Israelis (48.5%) said the same.

Despite ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations and a fragile ceasefire, most Israelis expect a return to further escalation. Overall, 62% of respondents said they believed a return to widescale conflict was likely, including roughly two-thirds of Jewish respondents (64%) and 52% of Arab respondents. Since the survey was conducted, the ceasefire has grown more precarious, with both sides alleging violations.

In the first week after Israel and the U.S. launched joint strikes on Iran’s top officials, 80% of Israelis — including 93% of Jewish Israelis — said they supported the war against Iran.

The latest survey also points to shifting perceptions of U.S. influence over Israeli decisionmaking. A majority of Jewish Israelis now believe the Trump administration exerts greater influence over Israel’s defense policy than the Israeli government itself, with that share rising from 45% in October 2025 to 56.5% in the newest survey. Over the same period, the percentage of Jewish Israelis who see their own government as the primary decisionmaker in its military actions dropped from 24% to 15%.

Among Arab Israelis, views moved in the opposite direction: The share who believe the U.S. holds greater influence fell from 39.5% to 25.5%.

Meanwhile, the survey revealed pessimistic attitudes as they relate to U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, including the ongoing ceasefire. Nearly 80% of Jewish Israelis believe there is a fairly low to very low likelihood of reaching a “stable diplomatic defense arrangement with the Lebanese government, that will include the disarming of Hezbollah.” Among Arab Israelis, 45% believe the likelihood of a deal between Beirut and Jerusalem is fairly high to very high.  

The poll also pointed to deepening concern among Israelis from across the political spectrum over the recent decline in positive attitudes toward Israel in the U.S., with a majority of respondents — 72% — calling the decline “somewhat or very worrying for Israel.” The survey reported no difference in this issue among Jews and Arabs. 

The poll surveyed a representative sample of Israeli adults, including 601 Jewish respondents and 150 Arab respondents.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced several new policies aimed at protecting British Jews, including a ramped up security presence, a tightening of immigration laws and a crackdown on extremist charities, in a speech on Thursday following the stabbing of two Jewish men in a suburb of London. 

Starmer denounced the rise in antisemitic attacks, naming several that have occurred in recent months, and fear that British Jews experience while conducting everyday life. He listed new government priorities including increasing visible police presence in Jewish communities; increasing investments in Jewish security services; introducing new legislation to prevent “hate preachers” from entering the country and speaking on college campuses; and working to speed up sentencing for perpetrators of antisemitic attacks.

Starmer further condemned those who participate in protests with antisemitic themes. “Of course we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country, but if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews,” he said.

He added that demonstrators who use the phrase “globalize the intifada” are “calling for terrorism against Jews” and should be prosecuted.

As British authorities are investigating whether a recent surge of attacks targeting Jewish institutions in the country is linked to Iran, Starmer added, “We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews, which is why we will fast-track the necessary legislation.”  

British Jews have been raising the alarm on rising antisemitism in the country and government inaction to combat it. On Wednesday, two Jewish men, one in his 70s and one in his 30s, were stabbed in the heavily Jewish London suburb of Golders Green. Both were hospitalized in stable condition, according to the Metropolitan Police, which declared the attack a terrorist incident. 

The stabbing is the latest in a string of violent attacks against Jewish individuals and sites around London in recent months, which U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has called a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation.” He said following Wednesday’s attack that “words of condemnation are no longer sufficient.”

Last week, an arsonist who pleaded guilty to attacking a London synagogue was released on bail. Also this month, two suspects in an arson attack on another London synagogue were similarly released on bail, and a building that used to house the Jewish Futures charity and still bears its name on the side was targeted in a separate arson attack the same week. 

Antisemitic attacks in the country have extended beyond London. Last year, during Yom Kippur, two men were killed at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester in a car-ramming and stabbing attack. At the time, Starmer promised to do “everything” in his power to protect the Jewish community, including allocating $13 million in emergency funds to provide greater security.

The perennial complaint from supporters of Israel that the Jewish state has “bad PR” has sparked dozens of organizations and books over the decades and prompted the Israeli government to invest hundreds of millions in public diplomacy, including a $730 million allocation in its 2026 budget.

Yet the problem has only worsened after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, during the subsequent Gaza war and through the war with Iran this year. A new paper from the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University seeks to analyze the challenges and find solutions for Israel’s government to better handle them.

In an interview with Jewish Insider, the paper’s authors — Akiva Tor, a former Israeli ambassador to South Korea and head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s department for world Jewry and world religions, and Ofir Dayan, author of Intifada Globalized, about young Westerners’ turn away from Israel — characterized Israel’s image problem as a danger to its security.

“Everyone knows that there is a huge hasbara problem for Israel,” Tor said, using a Hebrew word that translates to “explaining” and is used to describe Israel’s efforts to portray the country in a positive light. “We tried to see what was unique in this moment … through a politically neutral perspective.”

Dayan noted that “it’s become a real issue of national security when Israel faces sanctions and countries are not willing to sell weapons. It affects Israel’s ability to execute plans and achieve its goals, and has a direct influence on Israel’s capability to fight.”

She added, “Since Oct. 7, we see a shift happening not only among youth and young adults, but it’s reaching positions of power, like [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani and elsewhere.”

Dayan said that there is nothing new about the rhetoric or harassment of Israeli and pro-Israel students abroad — she encountered it personally as an undergraduate and graduate student at Columbia University in 2017-2022 — but “what is unique about this moment is that people who supported terrorist organizations and the destruction of the State of Israel, sanctions and boycotts are no longer hiding behind the facade of human rights. Individuals, organizations and countries are taking steps they have not taken before to significantly harm Israel’s national security.”

One example she gave was European Union member states taking steps toward canceling the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which would downgrade relations between Israel and its largest trading partner. In addition, she said academic boycotts of Israel, both overt and covert, are much broader than in the past.

Israel is also in the unprecedented situation in which its prime minister is under criminal indictment at the Hague and faces genocide charges at the International Court of Justice.

“I was consul-general in San Francisco during Operation Cast Lead [in 2008-2009],” Tor said, “and people talked about genocide when 3,000 [Palestinians] were killed … but now it’s at the ICJ and [former Deputy Secretary of State] Wendy Sherman is using the term. Things that existed in the past have now reached a level we haven’t seen before.” 

The intended audience for Dayan and Tor’s 40-page paper, currently available only in Hebrew, is the Israeli government.

“We’ve seen clumsiness by Israel in the past, but I don’t think we’ve seen this level of dysfunction,” Tor said. “The clearest expression of this is … probably that at Israel’s worst moment of crisis, the job [of head of national public diplomacy directorate] was not filled for 2.5 years.”

At the outset of the Gaza war, Moshik Aviv held the position, but resigned in early 2024. This week, Israel’s Cabinet authorized the appointment of former Deputy Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely to fill the role.

“The system is not being run,” Tor said. “We spoke to journalists and newspaper editors about the way the media was simply not handled for the most part. The greatest example is Charlie Kirk’s letter to Netanyahu in May last year, where he said the only people defending Israel on [American] TV are you and me. Where are the Israeli spokespeople?”

Tor said that “internal political constraints” are behind much of the dysfunction, which has led to “self-censorship.”

For example, Israel allowed hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza each day for most of the war, but had Cabinet ministers and other political figures claim Israel was not in order to appeal to their far-right political bases.

“That’s a very dangerous situation for Israel. It’s very difficult to address Israel’s image problems seriously if the government is not interested in doing so,” Tor said. “I’m not aware of a situation [in the past] in which Israel’s government did not want to explain itself.”

Tor lamented that “Israel is judged by the statements of its most extreme ministers or members of Knesset who spoke. That is part of the politicization; the government is mute about its intentions, probably because of internal tensions within the government, and then the most extreme say we will destroy Gaza — it caused and is continuing to cause tremendous damage to Israel.”

Even if the government had done a better job, the fact that the war in Gaza lasted for two years posed immense challenges.

“Israel cannot fight for more than two years with the kinds of images it creates and avoid deep international isolation,” Tor posited. 

The second half of Tor and Dayan’s paper provides suggestions for improvement.

One is to empower one governmental body to be in charge of public diplomacy across the entire government, including drafting messages, recruiting figures to spread those messages and measuring impact.

“We are realistic,” Dayan said. “No one is going to close government offices that are doing the exact same work, but we need one body that will say ‘this is the message Israel is trying to convey’ and make sure all of the relevant ministries are in line with it.”

Dayan served in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit during her mandatory military service and again as a reservist in recent years, and said that “the IDF has no one telling them what to say. That is not the right process. [The government needs to] dictate one message so that all agencies and ministries will speak in one voice.”

There are four different government offices speaking for Israel on social media, and they do not work together, both Tor and Dayan pointed out.

“They’re all producing content that is very unlikely to become viral or speak to anyone under age 40,” Dayan said.

Tor said that, for Hotovely to be effective in her new role, she will have to have a voice at the Cabinet table. 

“If there is going to be a plan to flatten Bint Jbeil [in Lebanon], she will have to say what that means for Israel’s image,” he said.

One step they suggested that Israel take immediately is a public diplomacy campaign to defend Israel against charges of genocide, ahead of the decision from the ICJ. 

“Israel’s defense effort must include a strong public relations campaign using all available resources to prove Israel’s innocence before the ICJ and the court of world opinion,” they wrote. “The genocide charge is weak and specious, but Israel may lose its case if the hostile political agenda attempting to influence the court is not adequately countered.”

The report also suggests that Israel facilitate cooperation between Diaspora Jewry and Christian Zionists, something that Tor said was always a challenge when he led the Israeli Foreign Ministry department for world Jewry and world religions.

“Evangelicals are Israel’s friends, and liberal Jews are Israel’s friends, but they are very polarized from each other in American politics,” he pointed out. “This crisis moment may enable an opportunity for a new kind of cooperation, because both Jewish communities who love Israel and the pro-Israel Christians are under attack from the left and right.”

“We should come together to think about how to defend the basic legitimacy of Zionism,” he added.

Among their suggestions for those populations are to ensure 70,000 young Jews visit Israel on Birthright programs annually, and 100,000 young Christians do the same on a similar program each year. In addition, they call to encourage liberal rabbinical students and heads of liberal North American Jewish congregations to conduct study visits to Israel.

The INSS researchers also say that higher education is one of the most important spheres in which Israel can operate.

“Many Western university presidents would like to come back and work with Israeli institutions,” Dayan said. “They understand the academic excellence Israeli universities bring with them. But as of now, there is no concrete plan to rebuild those relations.” 

The Association of University Heads – Israel wrote a plan that it submitted to the government, which has not adopted it, she noted.

The paper suggested the government start a $100 million fund to “jump-start Israeli research.” The report also suggests flying presidents of 100 top-rated universities and academic institutions with many Jewish students to Israel over the next 18 months, so they can return and tell their boards why they should work with Israel.

Another element of their plan is a reimagining of Israeli outreach in Arabic and Persian.

Asked if they would suggest that laws be passed requiring the government to not leave positions empty in this field, or to allocate a certain amount of funds, Dayan said that “Israeli governments find creative ways to bypass laws when they need it. We need more public awareness and for the Israeli public to demand these roles be filled and that this issue of national security be addressed.”

“We don’t vote according to who promises to better Israel’s international standing, so I think decision-makers get this cue that we don’t care,” Dayan added. “But post-Oct. 7, [Israelis] care more and more. When Israeli discharged soldiers can’t travel the world because they risk getting arrested, this is an issue more and more people in Israel are going to care about. … We need to force politicians to address it as well.”

Mohamed Hagi, Somaliland’s newly appointed envoy to Israel, spoke on Wednesday about the country’s “special relationship” with the Jewish state, saying that the ties are built on mutually beneficial economic and security interests. 

“Our relationship with Israel should be understood as part of a purely strategic orientation,” Hagi said on the podcast “Ask Haviv Anything,” hosted by Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur. “Somaliland is deliberately cultivating relationships with partners that value stability, innovation or responsible governance.”

Hagi said that the relationship will be “based on economic development,” noting that the two countries could benefit from “practical cooperation” in areas such as technology, water management, agriculture and security. 

“We have natural resources in Somaliland, we have rare earth minerals in Somaliland, we have oil and gas. We have a lot to offer to our partner Israel,” Hagi said. “And Israel is a manufacturing industry.”

“They [Israel] have the know-how, we [Somaliland] have the natural resources, so in that way we benefit economically and we look at one of the most strategic areas in the world when it comes to security and when it comes to the economy and trade,” he added. “We are benefitting Israel for many, many areas.”

In addition to economic cooperation, Hagi noted that the two countries share “common enemies.” He said that Israel and Somaliland are “working together” to combat “terrorists and piracy.” 

“These are our common enemies for Israelis and also for Somalilanders,” he said. “What we are going to build with the Israelis is a strategic partnership that can last forever.”

He also said the relationship being built between Israel and Somaliland is based on “interests” and is “not about religion.”

“It’s about engagement, it’s not about religion,” Hagi said. “Countries engage always on interests. Our people are not ignorant. They understand that the relationship between Israel and Somaliland has nothing to do with religion.”

He added that Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland carries significant weight in the relationship. 

“We see Israel as a very important country for us. It is the first country that recognized Somaliland,” Hagi said. “Our hearts and minds are always with Israel because of recognition.”

Israel became the first nation to formally recognize Somaliland’s independence from Somalia in December 2025 in a move that has since drawn waves of sharp condemnation from several Arab and Muslim countries. As part of the agreement, both nations agreed to open embassies and appoint ambassadors. 

Following the announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar made a historic diplomatic visit to the Somaliland’s capital city of Hargeisa, in which he met with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. 

Israel appointed Michael Lotem, who currently serves as an economic ambassador to Africa, to be its first ambassador to Somaliland earlier this month. The move also received criticism from Arab and Muslim countries. 

“We need to build a relationship that is mutually beneficial — for the Israeli people, for the Israeli government, for our people and our government as well,” Hagi said. “We want to build this relationship and you will witness that this relationship will be one of the best special relationships in the world. We want to strengthen and deepen the relationship in a way that no one can imagine.” 

Citing an “unprecedented and escalating threat environment facing religious communities and institutions” across the country, a coalition of Jewish groups, joined by organizations representing a range of other faiths, is urging Senate and House leaders to significantly expand funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

“We write as a broad coalition of faith-based and cultural organizations to express our deep concern about the unprecedented and escalating threat environment facing religious communities and institutions across the United States. This threat is not abstract; it is very real and felt by the communities we represent on a daily basis,” the groups wrote in a letter, led by the American Jewish Committee, to the top leaders of each chamber.

They said that faith-based institutions “should be able to solely focus on serving and strengthening their communities, but in this heightened threat environment, they instead must also worry about the next attack and whether they have the resources to stay safe,” and that members of targeted religious communities are forced to “weigh the risk of violence against the act of worship.”

The letter urges Congress to provide “up to $1 billion” for the NSGP — a significant expansion of funding from its 2025 funding level of $274.5 million, and the proposed 2026 funding level of $300 million.

“Previous funding has not kept pace with demand,” the groups wrote. “More must be done to bolster this program; therefore, we encourage you to engage with communities in your district and to encourage the same of your respective caucuses. We have no doubt you’ll hear about the fear and threats our communities are facing at this moment, and therefore, we urge you to allocate appropriate resources to address this threat.”

The religious organizations also urged swift passage of the long-gestating Pray Safe Act, which would create a centralized federal clearinghouse to provide security guidance to religious institutions, including training resources and information about available grant opportunities.

Additional Jewish organizational signatories included the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hillel International, the JCC Association of North America, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Orthodox Union and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

They were joined by groups representing the Muslim, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, Hindu, Evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist, Sikh and Catholic communities.

Extensive security “preparations, training and practice” that had taken place prior to an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue earlier this month “greatly helped to dramatically mitigate what could have been so much worse in Michigan,” a Trump administration intelligence official said on Tuesday. 

During a security briefing webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization, ahead of the Passover holiday, Matthew Kozma, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, called for continued vigilance “given the threat that’s stemming from Iran, particularly in the Middle East, but also here at home.” 

He said that Americans should remain cautious of threats from “malicious actors, particularly ones encouraged by or empathetic to Iran,” as two upcoming events in the country — the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary — bring an influx of visitors into the U.S.

The briefing was held during what Michael Masters, CEO of SCN, described as “an elevated threat environment from Iran and its proxies,” ahead of the start of the Passover holiday next week.   

Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started nearly one month ago, Jewish institutions have seen a surge in attacks, including the one targeting Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. — one of the country’s largest Reform congregations — and three shootings outside of Toronto synagogues. 

​​Masters said SCN monitored over 8,000 direct calls for violence against the Jewish community in North America over a six-day period this month, marking a 137% increase over the average tracked and “the highest number we’ve ever tallied in that timeframe.”

Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who was on the scene following the Temple Israel attack, shared with attendees that he himself has been the target of death threats for supporting the Jewish community. 

Still, Bouchard doubled down on his support. “Something that I’ve said before, and I believe, is that if you target our Jewish community, we’re going to stand in front of them to protect them. And we’re coming for you.”  

The briefing concluded with Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America,  calling for “more resources at this time.”

“Temple Israel was one of the best, most secured buildings, having spent a significant amount of money of their dues budget and of their donors’ budgets on security, and yet we need additional levels of security,” Fingerhut said. “Our federations are committed to generating those additional resources, bringing those resources to our communities. But in addition, I have to mention that it’s the government’s responsibility, first and foremost, to protect its citizens in their places of worship, in their places of communal gathering.” 

Last week, in a letter to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, a bipartisan group of 150 House members asked the committee to provide $1 billion in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a massive expansion of the program that marks the first time lawmakers’ request aligns with the $1 billion that some Jewish groups have been advocating for. The program received $274.5 million in funding in 2025, but that funding has still not been distributed, according to the letter, which cited delays at FEMA, and lawmakers have not been provided customary data about supplemental funding rounds awarded last year.

“We need more resources and support from the government,” continued Fingerhut, who announced that JFNA will hold an advocacy fly-in in Washington in mid-May.

“We will be visiting every member of Congress, asking them for their support. We’ll be visiting the members of the administration, as well … to make sure that [they] know that every one of us has the right in this country to practice our faith and to gather together as a community in safety and security.” 

👋 Good Friday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s attack on the Temple Israel congregation in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., and talk to Senate leaders about how the incident, in which one person was injured, could affect the ongoing stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding. We cover the clash between the center-left think tank Third Way and Rep. Ro Khanna over the Democratic Party’s approach to antisemitism, and talk to experts about Iran’s degraded missile launch capabilities. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sarah Rogers and Jeff Miller.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik, Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: The Amodei siblings leading Anthropic clash with the White House over AI safety; Conservative students alarmed about College Republicans leader with Nick Fuentes ties; and Will Iranian attacks push Qatar to expel Hamas leaders? Print the latest edition here.

What We’re Watching

• We’ll be keeping an eye out in the coming days on how yesterday’s attack on a Michigan synagogue is playing out on the national stage, from Jewish communal conversations to debates in Washington and in state capitals about antisemitism, security funding and safety measures.
• We’ll also be monitoring the ongoing military operations in the Middle East. Overnight, dozens were injured in an Iranian strike on the northern Israeli Arab town of Zarzir. Earlier this morning, CENTCOM confirmed that four of the six crew members of a U.S. KC-135 that crashed during a refueling mission in western Iraq on Thursday were killed, with an investigation underway.
• In Iran, a large explosion was reported this afternoon local time at a Quds Day demonstration in Tehran. The IDF had previously warned against congregating in the area.
• SXSW continues today, with Tech Tribe hosting its annual Shabbat dinner this evening.
• On Sunday, Jewish philanthropists are convening in San Diego for the three-day annual Jewish Funders Network conference. eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher and Rachel Kohn will be on the ground at JFN — sign up for eJP’s Your Daily Phil for the latest on the conference, and say hello if you see Jay and Rachel in San Diego.
• The Zionist Organization of America is hosting a gala in South Florida on Sunday night, where the group will honor Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell.
• In New York on Sunday, HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, is slated to perform at Lincoln Center.
• And across the country, the Oscars are taking place Sunday night in Los Angeles.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

It’s a testament to the level of security, staff preparation and good fortune that a potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit was foiled yesterday. The fact that no one other than the heavily armed perpetrator was killed after driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue filled with preschoolers, counts as something of a miracle.

It’s also a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society, moving unchecked through our social media feeds and political discourse, all amid the record levels of hate crimes committed against Jews simply for their identity.

Even as politicians are reflexively speaking out against antisemitism in the aftermath of the attack, it’s hard to forget the poisonous rhetoric many on the extremes have advanced that could easily activate a lone-wolf extremist to commit an unspeakable crime. 

On the hard left, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has morphed into accusations of genocide, attacks against AIPAC as a uniquely sinister organization, conspiracy theories that Israel tricked the U.S. into war with Iran and euphemizing the support of terrorism as merely being “pro-Palestinian.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has emerged as one of his party’s leading anti-Israel voices as he mulls a presidential campaign, had the audacity to say he “stands with” antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker — along with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has refused to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric and anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner — during the Michigan synagogue terror attack.

Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and his “Pod Save America” colleagues are now declaring that anyone who supports the Iran war — a group that may well include some Jewish Democrats in Congress who are sympathetic to the operation’s aims, even if they have reservations — should be primaried, and have no place within the Democratic Party. 

On the hard right, extremist podcasters are broadcasting the most undiluted antisemitism in media since the days of Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Tucker Carlson has devoted much of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, while other social media influencers have found that attacking Israel and questioning Jewish influence is a ticket to building a niche audience in online spaces. Gatherings of young right-wingers have all too often become cesspools of anti-Jewish hate. 

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL ATTACK

Assailant killed in active shooter situation at Michigan synagogue

An assailant was killed during an active shooter situation at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., law enforcement officials confirmed on Thursday afternoon. One other person, a security guard, was injured, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

Probe details: The attack is being investigated as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community,” Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, confirmed in a Thursday evening press conference. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to JI that the attack was carried out by Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to DHS. Law enforcement officials did not release information on a possible motive.

Read the full story here.

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SECURITY RECKONING

Michigan synagogue attack seems unlikely to shift DHS funding stalemate

The car ramming and shooting attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., on Thursday seems unlikely to break the congressional stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been in a partial shutdown for weeks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Among other programs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program fall under the DHS funding bill, which Democrats have sought to renegotiate to implement new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Not shifting: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that Republicans have tried to fund DHS through a short term stopgap bill as negotiations continue, but Democrats have refused. “It’s a dangerous game, and people are going to get hurt,” Thune said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pointed blame for the lack of NSGP funding toward Republicans, highlighting that they had blocked passage of legislation by Democrats on Thursday to fund and reopen portions of DHS, including FEMA. “Leader Schumer is an ardent supporter of NSGP funding, and this week, Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to fund the program through FEMA, along with the TSA, CISA, and the Coast Guard,” a spokesperson for Schumer told JI.

Read the full story here.

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TAKING A STAND

Democratic divide over antisemitism erupts in clash between Third Way and Ro Khanna

Following a Republican convening this week focused on combating right-wing antisemitism, a prominent moderate Democratic group urged fellow Democrats to follow the lead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in calling out antisemitism within their own party. “We certainly believe that Cruz was right and our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Matt Bennett, executive vice president for public affairs at the center-left think tank Third Way, told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Thursday.

Speaking out: His comments came after Lily Cohen, a press advisor at the organization, shared a post highlighting Cruz’s comments at the Republican Jewish Coalition confab and said she “would love to see more Dems calling out antisemitism on their own side with the same fervor.” Cohen specifically mentioned Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker. “We do believe that Platner has not remotely done enough to explain why he had a Nazi tattoo for 20 years,” said Bennett. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a progressive lawmaker who has been a frequent critic of Israel and pro-Israel activists in the U.S., responded to Cohen’s post by saying he stands with Platner, Mamdani and even Piker.

Read the full story here.

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ISRAEL UNDER FIRE

Iranian missile injures 58, damages 300 homes in northern Israel

An Iranian missile struck northern Israel early Friday, injuring 58 residents and damaging 300 homes in Zarzir, a Bedouin town near Nazareth, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. A woman in her 30s was moderately injured by shrapnel in her back; the rest of the injuries were minor, according to Magen David Adom emergency services.

Threats from all sides: Soon after the attack, President Donald Trump issued a threat to Iran: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th president of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!” Iranian state TV said that new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released his first statement since being named to the position earlier this week, after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes of the ongoing war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28. In the statement, Khamenei vowed that Iran “will not neglect avenging the blood of [the] martyrs.” 

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MISSOURI BREAKS

GOP Sens. Hawley, Schmitt suggest U.S. operations in Iran can wrap up soon

Both of Missouri’s Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, argued that the administration seems to have largely achieved its key objectives for the war in Iran — a posture that distinguishes him from most GOP colleagues and highlights subtle but emerging divisions among Republicans on the proper scope and duration of the war, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What he said: “I assume our overriding national security objective when it comes to Iran is to prevent them from getting nukes. And between our bombing last June and in the last … 12 days, I don’t know how they’re going to reconstitute their nuclear program anytime in, maybe, our lifetimes,” Hawley told JI on Thursday. “My point is just that I think the military has achieved a tremendous amount. It has ended [Iran’s] nuclear program for all intents and purposes. It has destroyed their navy. It has eliminated most of their ballistic missiles — those are good things. I’d be glad to take that [win].” Eric Schmitt, who is also aligned with the populist wing of the party, likewise emphasized the progress the U.S. has made and pushed for a quick conclusion to the war.

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DOWN BUT NOT OUT

Iran’s missile capabilities degraded despite recent increase in missile attacks, experts say

Despite a recent escalation in Iranian missile attacks targeting Israel, experts remain confident that Tehran’s military capabilities have been significantly degraded by the U.S. and Israel. U.S. and Israeli officials have touted that Iran’s missile capabilities have been severely reduced, with CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper saying Wednesday that Iran’s ballistic missile attacks have “dropped drastically,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. 

State of play: That may not feel like the reality for Israelis — after four consecutive days of declining missile fire, Iran briefly increased its launches to 46 missiles on Wednesday, a roughly 70% percent increase from the 27 missiles fired the previous day. But the data shows and analysts remain confident that Iran’s stockpiles are being degraded. Ari Cicurel, the associate director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JI that the escalated attacks might actually be a “reflection of Iran’s degrading capabilities.” 

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Worthy Reads

A Bridge Too Far: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at the catch-22 facing Elbridge Colby, the Trump administration’s under secretary of war for policy, as the U.S. engages militarily with Iran — a strategy that Colby has long personally opposed. “Colby isn’t the first to strike this kind of Faustian — or simply Washingtonian — bargain over the past decade. But for him, as for everyone else, the MAGAfication cuts both ways. On one hand, he has political power and the kind of job that NatSec types dream of. On the other, that power is entirely subject to Trump’s whims. ‘He’s an ideological actor in an administration that has no ideology,’ a Democratic member of Congress told me.” [Puck]

Van Hollen’s Venom: In the Jewish News Syndicate, Betsy Berns Korn, chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, raises concerns about Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) allegation that AIPAC is “neither” a pro-American nor a pro-Israel organization. “Citizens advocate for stronger alliances with NATO partners, support Taiwan’s democracy, promote human-rights abroad, defend labor interests, protect the environment and work to expand trade relationships. That tradition of civic participation is a hallmark of American democracy. Advocacy for a strong relationship between the United States and Israel belongs squarely within that tradition. … Support for this partnership does not make Americans less loyal to their country. On the contrary, it reflects their judgment about what best serves American security, democratic values and global stability.” [JNS]

Regime Unchanged: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius warns that the U.S.’ strategy in Iran runs the risk of allowing the regime to stay in place. “If the conflict ends tomorrow, Iran will have lost nearly all its nuclear facilities and scientists, most of its missiles and missile launchers, most of its weapons factories, most of its navy, and much of the command and control for its military, intelligence and security forces. But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated.” [WashPost]

Kurds Force: In New Lines Magazine, Laurent Perpigna Iban spotlights the Kurdish factions that had until recent days been under consideration by the U.S. to lead a ground incursion into Iran. “For the first time in their history, the various Iranian Kurdish factions have found common ground and established a platform for cooperation. … The project is more political than military, laying the groundwork for the protection of Iran’s Kurdish population. According to converging sources, discussions about a potential ground incursion do exist, even if such a scenario has not formally been placed on the table.” [NewLines]

Mind Meld on Iran: The Financial Times’ Neri Zilber reports on the close coordination between Washington and Jerusalem on the joint attack on Iran. “The speed and ferocity of the aerial campaign has required extraordinary levels of coordination — from the initial war plan that was put together to the thousands of phone conversations every day between the two militaries. ‘It’s a mind meld,’ said Dan Shapiro, a former senior US defence official and ambassador to Israel. … The close coordination, across the entire chain of command, has involved some 4,000 to 5,000 calls per day — from the chief of staff level down to the hundreds of pilots in the air at any given time, according to the senior Israeli military official.” [FT]

Word on the Street

Politico reports on Vice President JD Vance’s skepticism ahead of U.S. strikes on Iran; Vance reportedly privately conveyed his opposition to military action to senior administration officials…

President Donald Trump officially removed Carrie Prejean Boller from the Religious Liberties Commission, weeks after Prejean Boller vociferously defended antisemitic conspiracy theorist Candace Owens at a commission hearing… 

Religious Liberties Commissionadvisory board member Sameerah Munshi, who had allied herself with Prejean Boller, announced her resignation from the board…

Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, days after a federal judge voided the actions undertaken at the agency under Kari Lake, who was serving as acting CEO; Rogers will maintain her State Department role in addition to leading USAGM…  

The president also nominated United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Governing Council member Jeff Miller to serve as the body’s chair; Miller, who also serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, was first appointed to the USHMM’s governing council by Trump in 2021…

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), designating the Polisario Front, the terrorist group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, as a foreign terrorist organization; “This bill will ensure that America’s most powerful anti-terrorism sanctions can be used to counter those threats and, once a designation is secured, the Polisario Front and its leaders will be cut off from access to the global financial system, international travel, and the resources they rely upon to conduct their terrorism,” Cruz told JI…

Following the Michigan synagogue attack, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) shared on X an antisemitic death threat that he received, saying that they are a daily occurrence for him and other Jewish members of Congress…

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) raised concerns about the status of Kamran Hekmati, an Iranian-American Jewish constituent in Suozzi’s district who has been jailed in Iran for nearly a year after being arrested for having visited Israel more than a decade ago for his son’s bar mitzvah…

Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO) and Yassamin Anasari (D-AZ) led 121 House Democrats in a letter questioning the administration over a strike on an Iranian girls’ school reportedly executed by the U.S….

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who is 85, announced that he will seek an 18th House term, two years after the South Carolina Democrat stepped down from his Democratic leadership role…

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who had served as a mayoral aide to Bloombergin the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY); Bloomberg is preparing to spend up to $5 million on an ad campaign boosting Lasher in the crowded 12th Congressional District primary…

The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it was imposing sanctions on four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funnelling money and resources to Hamas, JI’s Marc Rod reports…

The Trump administration is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil that is already at sea in an effort to lower prices as Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that it was “unfortunate” that Moscow would benefit in the short term from the conflict with Iran… 

The White House intervened to water down a broadly bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Iran’s oil exports to China, sources told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod…

Turkish elites have reportedly begun circulating claims that Israel could turn its military attention toward Ankara should Iran emerge from the war depleted — a belief analysts say reflects growing mistrust and conspiratorial thinking in Turkey rather than any actual Israeli intent, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

The Wall Street Journal gives a play-by-play accounting of the defection of six members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team, who sought asylum in Australia while playing in a tournament in the country…

Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi, a co-founder of Beirut’s Institute for Palestine Studies, died at 100…

Pic of the Day

Amb. Michael Mann, the head of the European Union delegation to Israel, donated blood yesterday during a visit to Magen David Adom headquarters in the mixed central Israeli city of Ramla.

Birthdays

Four-time Israeli national champion in the skeleton event and pilot of Israel’s first-ever Olympic bobsled team in Milan, Adam “AJ” Edelman turns 35 on Saturday…

FRIDAY: Editor of Avotaynu Magazine, a journal of Jewish genealogy and scholarship, Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus turns 90… Former mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., and author of Destiny: From Shoeshine Boy to Mayor, Norman Ciment turns 90… Israeli singer, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, Izhar Cohen turns 75… Psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan and Teaneck, N.J., Shana Yocheved Schacter… U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) turns 69… Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a NYC-based organization working to end the war on drugs, Ethan Nadelmann turns 69… Professor of applied mathematics at Imperial College London, he is also a chess grandmaster, Jonathan Mestel turns 69… Former Florida congressman, Alan Grayson turns 68… Teacher of rabbinic literature and author of The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook, Rabbi Neal S. Scheindlin turns 66… Founder and CEO of MediaBistro which she sold in 2007, now managing director of Supernode Ventures, Laurel Touby turns 63… Heavy metal songwriter, vocalist for the band Disturbed as well as for the band Device, he is a former yeshiva student, David Draiman turns 53… Member of the California state Senate since 2014, Benjamin Allen turns 48… Former member of Knesset for the Jewish Home party and decorated IDF reservist, Yonatan “Yoni” Chetboun turns 47… Deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, now host of radio show “The Agenda,” Ari Rabin-Havt… Television and film actor, Emile Hirsch turns 41… President and CEO of Nefco, a distributor of construction and industrial supplies, Matthew Gelles… Television and film actor, Emory Isaac Cohen 36… Senior director of social marketing at NBC Universal, Jessie Hannah Rubin… Former Formula 3 racing driver, his mother is Houda Nonoo, the first Jewish woman to serve as an ambassador of Bahrain, Menasheh Idafar turns 35… Gabriel Romano…

SATURDAY: Professor emeritus of chemistry at Tel Aviv University, winner of the 1982 Israel Prize, Joshua Jortner turns 93… Founder and retired president of Los Angeles-based Skirball Cultural Center, Rabbi Dr. Uri Herscher turns 85… Dean of Yeshiva Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, Rabbi Moshe Meiselman turns 84… Senior lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Marshall Ganz turns 83… Canadian criminal defense attorney, Brian Greenspan turns 79… Actor, writer, producer, director and comedian, Billy Crystal turns 78… Former member of the Maryland House of Delegates for 28 years, Shane Elizabeth Pendergrass turns 76… One-half of the eponymous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (Ben is four days younger), Jerry Greenfield turns 75… Retired Hebrew teacher, Eliezer Cohen Barak… Co-founder of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, she is the president of Stand By Me, an organization that supports cancer patients, Gila Milstein… Partner at Hefter, Leshem, Margolis Capital Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors in Highland Park, Ill., Steven Hefter… Founder and leader of ChangeCommunications, Jo-Ann Mort… NYC-based restaurateur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer turns 68… Professor in the department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Menachem Lorberbaum turns 68… Minneapolis-based attorney, Jonathan S. Parritz… Past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Denise L. Eger turns 66… Owner of Baltimore’s Tov Pizza, which he founded in 1984, Ronnie Rosenbluth… Owner and COO of EJM Development Company, he also heads its lending division, New Frontier Capital, Jon Monkarsh… Microgrid architect at Urban Ingenuity and lecturer at Georgetown University, Shalom Flank, Ph.D… Film and television actress, she is best known for her title role in the 1985 film “The Journey of Natty Gann,” Meredith Salenger turns 56… Entrepreneur, musician, songwriter and record company executive, Josh Gruss turns 52… Screenwriter and film director, Etan Cohen turns 52… Canadian fashion stylist, publicist and close friend of Meghan Markle (her children were in the royal wedding as page boys and flower girl), Jessica Brownstein Mulroney turns 46… Heiress, together with her brother and cousins, to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, philanthropist, former child actress, Liesel Pritzker Simmons turns 42… Oldest of three sisters who are members of the rock band Haim, Este Arielle Haim turns 40… Former NASCAR driver, he is the sole inductee into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in the “Auto Racing” category, Jon Denning turns 39… Former point guard at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Ivy League player of the year in 2012, Zack Rosen turns 37… Director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work on “The Intern,” “Big Time Adolescence” and “I Want You Back,” Jason Orley turns 37… Product quality specialist at The Topps Company, Philip Liebman… Coach for first-time founders, Sophie Galant… CEO of Prizmah, Paul Bernstein…

SUNDAY: Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor, active in film, television and on the stage, Judd Hirsch turns 91… UCLA professor, biochemist and biophysicist, David S. Eisenberg turns 87… First-ever NYC Public Advocate starting in 1994, he is an author of 23 books, Mark J. Green turns 81… British billionaire and philanthropist, former chairman of retail conglomerate Arcadia Group, Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green turns 74… Former managing member at Buena Vista Fund Management in San Francisco, now owner of a homemade bread business, Robert Mendel Rosner… Animator and director of numerous episodes of “The Simpsons,” David Silverman turns 69… Real estate agent at Signature Realty Associates in the Tampa and Florida Gulf Coast market, Ze’ev “Wolf” Bar-El… White House special envoy leading diplomatic efforts around the world, Steve Witkoff turns 69… Freelance writer and consultant, Bathsheva Gladstone… Executive director of the Jewish Culture Center at Indiana University Bloomington, Debra Barton Grant… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, currently serving as speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana turns 50… Retired MLB infielder, he now owns Loma Brewing, a brew pub in Los Gatos, Calif., he was Team Israel’s batting coach in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis turns 47… Global business editor for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security, Marcus Weisgerber… Psychotherapist based in Raleigh, N.C., Mindy Beth Reinstein Brodsky… Born in Jerusalem, she is a member of the New York state Assembly for the northeast portions of Queens, Nily Rozic turns 40… Rapper, comedian and actor, better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, David Andrew Burd turns 38… Board chair at the African Middle Eastern Leadership (AMEL) Project and executive director of the 30 Birds Foundation, Justin Hefter… Co-founder of Punchbowl News, Rachel Schindler… and Rachel’s twin brother, college admissions consultant and SAT/ACT tutor, Max J. Schindler… Zach Shartiag… Professional wrestler, Maxwell Jacob Friedman turns 30…

It’s a testament to the level of security, staff preparation and good fortune that a potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit was foiled yesterday. The fact that no one other than the heavily armed perpetrator was killed after driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue filled with preschoolers, counts as something of a miracle.

It’s also a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society, moving unchecked through our social media feeds and political discourse, all amid the record levels of hate crimes committed against Jews simply for their identity.

Even as politicians are reflexively speaking out against antisemitism in the aftermath of the attack, it’s hard to forget the poisonous rhetoric many on the extremes have advanced that could easily activate a lone-wolf extremist to commit an unspeakable crime. 

On the hard left, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has morphed into accusations of genocide, attacks against AIPAC as a uniquely sinister organization, conspiracy theories that Israel tricked the U.S. into war with Iran and euphemizing the support of terrorism as merely being “pro-Palestinian.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has emerged as one of his party’s leading anti-Israel voices as he mulls a presidential campaign, had the audacity to say he “stands with” antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker — along with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has refused to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric and anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner — during the Michigan synagogue terror attack.

Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and his “Pod Save America” colleagues are now declaring that anyone who supports the Iran war — a group that may well include some Jewish Democrats in Congress who are sympathetic to the operation’s aims, even if they have reservations — should be primaried, and have no place within the Democratic Party. 

On the hard right, extremist podcasters are broadcasting the most undiluted antisemitism in media since the days of Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Tucker Carlson has devoted much of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, while other social media influencers have found that attacking Israel and questioning Jewish influence is a ticket to building a niche audience in online spaces. Gatherings of young right-wingers have all too often become cesspools of anti-Jewish hate. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has emerged as a leader in speaking out against right-wing antisemitism, cautioned that Republicans may be losing the fight to contain the scourge — especially among a younger generation of conservatives.

All this is happening amid relative bipartisan silence towards the social media companies that often profit through division, using tech-tailored algorithms to feed extreme content to unsuspecting audiences. It’s no coincidence that polls indicate dramatic levels of antisemitism and extremist views from the youngest Americans, who are marinating in echo chambers instead of reading the headlines dispassionately from newspapers, as the generation before them did. 

That the only fatality from yesterday’s attack in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., was the assailant is a testament to the time, energy and money that the Jewish community, with some federal assistance, has dedicated to ensuring security for its many institutions across the country. The FBI’s recent active shooter preparedness drill held for clergy and staff at the synagogue undoubtedly led them to be prepared in that fraught moment Thursday. 

But a strong defense — hardening security for Jewish institutions — requires a complementary offense, in leaders confronting rising extremism whenever it rears its ugly head. It shouldn’t take the avoidance of a mass casualty event to get candidates across the political spectrum to start speaking out against antisemitism, as Platner did on Thursday.

We saw some signs of growing courage from political leaders this week in calling out the hate emanating from their fringes. Cruz, who called Carlson “the single most dangerous demagogue in this country,” at an antisemitism conference this week co-sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition and National Review, was joined by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Jim Banks (R-IN) in speaking out against anti-Jewish hate.

The moderate Democratic think tank Third Way directly confronted Khanna on Thursday for his praise of Piker and other anti-Israel figures in the party. “Our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Third Way VP Matt Bennett bluntly told JI, in one of the few public intraparty acknowledgements about the growing threat.

The country feels like it’s at a boiling point, with few institutional leaders providing the guardrails necessary to contain growing extremism and hate. We saw on Thursday where unchecked extremism leads. It will take leaders to put principles ahead of political expedience for the wave of antisemitism to subside.

As state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Democrat who represents the district where the attack took place, wrote: “When I was growing up, antisemitism was primarily in history books and black and white film reels. Today it was in real color right up the road at Temple Israel … This is a fire that will take all of us to snuff out.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday to address the Knesset and head an innovation event in Jerusalem, as part of what Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar told Jewish Insider is an “upgrade” in relations between the countries “to a new, strategic level.”

The visit of the head of the world’s most populous nation, whose relations with Israel have grown stronger since Modi became prime minister in 2014, has important implications for the Jewish state’s security, geopolitics and trade, Azar said. 

Modi last visited Israel eight years ago. At the time, a photo of the Indian leader and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wading barefoot in the Mediterranean Sea during a visit to a desalination plant went viral. 

His trip this week, during which he will address Israel’s Knesset, comes amid rising tensions across the Middle East — and as Israelis prepare for a potential attack from Iran.

India has been the Israeli defense industry’s largest customer in recent years, with arms sales totaling $20.5 billion during 2020-2024. The countries have reportedly closed deals worth $8.6 billion since the beginning of 2026.

During his visit, Modi plans to sign an “updated security agreement to allow the private sector to work on more sensitive products when it comes to joining production,” Azar, who has been Israel’s envoy to India since September 2024, said. “The updated protocols will allow us to work on more sensitive technology. It will create a lot of action.”

Netanyahu and leading Israeli defense figures have spoken about moving toward greater self-sufficiency in arms manufacturing. Delhi has long had a “Make in India” campaign to increase local production, requiring Israeli arms companies to open production lines in India in order to sell to the country, and the agreement means that joint production “will get a significant upgrade, because we are expanding both the scope and range of technologies we can apply,” Azar said.

“Both Israel and India want to be more independent and self-reliant when it comes to production and less reliant on foreign supply. Producing things together means that, during times of need, we can supply things to each other, unlike what happened during the war [in Gaza] … in which we had interruptions in supply from different countries,” Azar said.

Economically, Israel and India are working on a free-trade agreement, and hope to expand their cooperation on emerging technologies, as well as large infrastructure projects. Azar said that he worked to bring Indian companies to bid on tenders relating to the ongoing Tel Aviv Metro subway project, and that 15 have already applied.

The U.S. has long expressed concern about security risks related to Chinese companies working on major infrastructure projects in Israel. Companies from India, which views China as an adversary, have been considered as a potential competitive alternative. 

Though Azar, a former deputy national security advisor for foreign policy, served as head of the Israel-U.S.-China Internal Task Force Israel’s Foreign Ministry at the beginning of the decade, he declined to comment on that aspect, preferring to focus on Israel-India bilateral relations.

With regard to the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a trade route meant to pass through Israel, among other countries in the region, and compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Azar said that “we need to wait for the right geopolitical moment to make it happen. … It needs to happen, but evidently, it won’t now.” 

“Currently, there is some movement of merchandise, but to see it become massive, we need some change in Saudi Arabia,” Azar said.

Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., both points on the IMEC route, are facing increased tensions between them. Riyadh has pointed some of its ire at Jerusalem, and has been growing closer to India’s historic foe, Pakistan.

Azar was enthusiastic about an Israeli Cabinet decision approved on Sunday in which Israel plans to allocate over $48 million to cooperation with India in a variety of spheres. Half of the funds come from individual government ministries seeking the cooperation, and the other half was specially allocated by the Finance Ministry.

“The most important is upgrading research and development with funds from the Israel Innovation Authority, and academic cooperation. Israeli universities are all over India now, getting into agreements to exchange students and transfer technology and innovation offices. They feel very welcome in India,” he said.

Asked if that means India has become an alternative to much of the West, where Israeli academics have faced hostility in recent years, Azar said that India and Israel “don’t have challenges in this realm and continue working together to discover the joint resilience so needed in times of war.”

At the same time, he added, “it’s important for any country to diversify. We feel we have so much in common with India, which is a rising force in the world. It’s natural, and it’s not only Israel. Last week, 20 heads of state and 50 foreign ministers went to an AI summit in India. … Everybody is chasing India now.” 

Though India-Israel relations were worse before Modi’s rise, Azar said they have the potential for longevity.

“We are now building the pillars of relations that are going to last,” he said. “We are trying to get bipartisan support. There is a lot of support for Israel, not just in [Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party]. The general public feels it, and we have a high appreciation of that. There are some parties, like the communists, that are more critical, but I think this relationship is going to last.”

D.C. City Council member and mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, speaking on a panel at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington breakfast on Thursday, committed to standing up for the Jewish community and taking proactive steps to ensure its security.

Lewis George’s presence at the event and comments are particularly notable given that she’s a self-identified democratic socialist. Many DSA-aligned elected officials across the country, including incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have had combative or nonexistent relationships with mainstream Jewish organizations in their cities and districts.

“I learned at a very young age how important it was to loudly condemn and loudly stand up for our Jewish neighbors,” Lewis George said. She said that she learned through education programs in D.C. schools “how important it was that we support each other in solidarity, in our connected struggles, our connected history.”

She said that, as a member of the city council, she has seen a rise in antisemitic activity in her district, and that it is critical to call it out. She committed to providing security for educational institutions and synagogues and emphasized the importance of having proactive plans to protect the community.

Lewis George also expressed support for security funding the city has provided to Jewish and other nonprofit institutions, acknowledging that those costs are high. The JCRC is pushing for a significant increase in the funding available.

“Overall, we have to be more proactive, and we have to not wait to be react[ive] in this moment when we have seen such a rise [in antisemitism],” Lewis George said. “More than just the words, we have to back them with action. That is really showing up and creating the funds and creating the spaces to protect our Jewish neighbors.”

Outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser, who took office more than a decade ago, said that she did not anticipate the rise in antisemitism that she saw and had to confront in office, but said that she felt it was important for her to learn more about the Jewish community and visit Israel. 

She said she hopes for a day when she won’t have to receive calls after yet another antisemitic attack and that the city is again adding security around Jewish institutions. She also emphasized her administration’s efforts to bring together faith and community leaders across the city to speak out against antisemitism.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who is Jewish, drew a comparison between the Maccabees and the D.C. fight for home rule, saying that “we are also fighting back” against long odds and what he described as government overreach.

He also praised Bowser for her response to the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were killed.

“The Bondi attack [in Sydney, Australia,] is, unfortunately, another example of antisemitic violence, targeting Jews for being Jews. It has spiked in recent times, whether it’s on the other side of the world, whether it’s across town at the museum, whether it’s from the left or from the right, threats of violence directed at Jewish people for being Jewish and Jewish organizations for being focused on Jewish issues — those threats are real and they are on the rise,” Schwalb continued. “It affects all of us. It’s harder for me to get into my synagogue here for the high holiday than it is for me to get into the Supreme Court.”

LONDON — Since the terrorist attack on a Manchester, England, synagogue on Yom Kippur that left two congregants dead, British politicians have redoubled their efforts to reassure the country’s Jewish community, which has been increasingly concerned about security issues amid widespread anti-Israel sentiment that has grown in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in Gaza. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to do “everything” in his power to protect the Jewish community, including the recent approval of £10 million ($13 million) in emergency funds to provide greater security.

But while the added financial resources for more guards and extra security has been welcomed by the U.K.’s Jewish community, there remains considerable unease and hostility toward the government, something that became starkly apparent the day after Yom Kippur.

When David Lammy, the country’s deputy prime minister, attended a vigil close to Heaton Park synagogue the day after the attack, he was booed and heckled with cries of “Shame on you” and “Blood on your hands.” 

Lammy was foreign secretary when Britain said it intended to recognize a Palestinian state earlier this year. The move was formally announced by Starmer last month, alongside similar action taken by countries including France, Australia and Canada. 

In his previous role, Lammy imposed restrictions on British arms sales to Israel and twice summoned Israel’s ambassador to the U.K. to criticize him over Israel’s handling of the Gaza war. Lammy and his parliamentary colleagues have also been criticized by the Jewish community for not doing enough to protect them by allowing hostile anti-Israel marches to proceed week after week in British cities. 

“What David Lammy and his government have done has allowed this to happen,” Melanie, who asked only to be identified by her first name, told Jewish Insider. The 42-year-old nurse, who was among those who booed Lammy, attended the vigil with her husband and three children, all of whom attend a Jewish school close to the targeted synagogue.  

The angry outburst included cries of “Go to Palestine, leave us alone,” and “You have allowed Jew hatred in Manchester.” 

“What right did that man have to be there? That was probably the worst person they [the government] could have sent,” said Melanie. “I don’t know who made that decision but it was the wrong decision.”

As in many Western European countries, incidents of antisemitism in the U.K. have skyrocketed over the last two years. In its latest report, the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that works towards Britain’s Jewish communal safety and monitors antisemitism, revealed that 1,521 antisemitic incidents were reported in the first half of 2025. This was the second highest level ever recorded for that period, just behind the same timeframe in 2024.

Among the incidents in recent months have been synagogues desecrated with excrement, the vandalism of a rabbi’s home with a swastika and an incident in which visibly Jewish teenagers were shot at with an air rifle. 

Meanwhile last week, soccer club Aston Villa announced that it was banning fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending a match at their stadium next month. The decision came after police in Birmingham, Britain’s second-largest city and home to a substantial Muslim population, warned it could not guarantee fans’ safety, leading the Israeli football club to announce on Monday that it would decline any tickets offered to its fans out of concern for their wellbeing and safety. The U.K. government said it was “deeply saddened” by Maccabi Tel Aviv’s decision.

Writing in The Guardian in the wake of the Manchester attack, Dave Rich, director of policy at CST, said, “Antisemitism has been allowed to rise in an unacceptable way for far too long. Last year’s official hate-crime statistics showed that a Jewish person in Britain was 12 times more likely to be the victim of a religious hate crime than someone from any other faith background. Calls for violence against Jews, or Israelis, or Zionists, online and on our streets, have become normalised in parts of our politics.”

The U.K.’s recognition of a Palestinian state was also met with concern over the message the move conveyed about the country’s priorities around the war in Gaza. 

A survey of over 4,800 British Jews conducted prior to the Manchester attack by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, a U.K.-based Jewish research organization, found that Jews’ sense of “ambient antisemitism” in society, including hostile media coverage, online commentary and microaggressions, had increased substantially — 45% of respondents said they experienced it “frequently” or “regularly” in 2025, as opposed to only 8% of British Jews before the Oct. 7 attacks. 

In a statement released after the Manchester, attack CST described what happened on Yom Kippur as “the kind of terrorist attack that we have prepared for over many years.” 

That is cold comfort for many in the community. “If somebody decided to ram a car along the pavement as the kids were heading into school, they would be hitting lots of kids and lots of parents,” Melanie, the nurse who attended the vigil, said.

“We don’t have any thoughts that the government is going to protect us because they haven’t done so far,” she said. “It’s terrifying for the kids to know this is the world they’re growing up in.

Is there any place for Jews in this country anymore? If things carry on the way they’re going, I don’t think so because we’re just targeted all the time.”

Lord Katz, a government frontbencher in the House of Lords, told JI that the government has been “acutely aware of the increasing fear and anxiety of the community over the past two years.” 

“Whatever your views on the Israeli government, it’s always been clear that that shouldn’t impact on the way that British Jews live their lives and the government’s commitment to working with the CST and other communal bodies to ensure they have enough funding and the right legal measures in place to tackle antisemitism is very very clear and is underlined by lots of recent activity,” he said. 

“In the long term, though, it has to be about tackling the cause and not just the symptoms. It has to be done through education and building community cohesion and there’s no easy route to that.”

Katz added: “This isn’t a party political issue — whether it’s attending football matches, wearing Jewish insignia, using the NHS [National Health Service] or feeling safe on our streets and campuses, the Government knows British Jews are fearful and will protect our rights, liberties and way of life.”

Journalist Nicole Lampert, who has been outspoken about antisemitism in the U.K., said that antisemitism began to flourish under the previous Conservative government. The marches have been taking place since the start of the war when Rishi Sunak and his Conservative government was still in power. 

She said: “There are many people to blame, but of course, the people that are in control of things are the government,” she said, adding that Labour “came with a history of antisemitism,” referring to the party’s previous leadership under Jeremy Corbyn, who had a long record of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.

In 2020, an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that under Corbyn the party had a culture “which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it”.

Lampert said, “Many of the people that were in the cabinet, including Keir Starmer, had been in the cabinet with Jeremy Corbyn and had told us to vote for Jeremy Corbyn and had refused to really speak out against antisemitism.”

“Although Keir Starmer said ‘I’m going to clear this party of antisemitism’ [in his leadership campaign], in some ways he used antisemitism as a blunt tool to just get rid of the far left in his party,” she added.

“They didn’t use it as an opportunity for a teachable moment as to what antisemitism actually is and what they’d done wrong,” Lampert said. “That was really frustrating because antisemitism is complex. If you had explained ‘this is why you’re antisemitic’ or ‘this was what was wrong,’ that would’ve been better.” 

Alex Hearn, co-director of the campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism, agreed.

“Time after time we’ve seen that it’s easier to remove Jews rather than to challenge racism,” he said. “It’s easier to erase the people who cooperate rather than challenge the vocal and unlawful minority. 

“The places we’re allowed to go safely are getting narrower and narrower. Don’t go to central London during marches, don’t walk down the streets looking visibly Jewish, don’t go on social media. And it’s just growing and growing, whether it be comedy clubs or now football matches — our world is getting smaller,” Hearn said. “Then what we’re hearing from our government is that they say the right things when they have to and we find ourselves applauding the sentiments, but wondering where the meaningful action is.”

Hearn added: “Keir Starmer has announced increased security funding to the Jewish community, but other things show why that’s necessary: because the authorities consistently allow racists to run riot on our streets. So we’re building higher and higher fences but we’re not addressing the issue. The most high fences can’t keep everyone out, as we’ve learned from Manchester.”

Dovid Lewis, the rabbi of Bowdon synagogue in south Manchester, said that, like many others, he had been “shaken and shocked” but “not surprised” by the Yom Kippur attack. “Antisemitism is insidious throughout society at the moment,” he said. 

“There’s a reason why we have guards outside shul,” he said. “It’s not because we’re paranoid. It’s because there’s a credible threat.”

One of the worshippers at Lewis’ synagogue told him that following the attack she felt most insulted by an interview in which Starmer said that Jews “should feel comfortable in my country.”

The rabbi responded, “We don’t need to feel comfortable in the prime minister’s country — this is our country. I was born here, my parents were born here, my grandparents were born here.”

“You can’t declare [support for] a Palestinian state on Erev Rosh Hashanah and declare at the Labour Party conference, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, that Israel is committing genocide, then scratch your head and wonder why somebody named Jihad Al-Shamie did what he did several days later,” he said. “There is a cause and an effect.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee privately briefed lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning on the security and political situation in the West Bank and the war in Gaza.

The briefing was organized by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs the subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, in response to efforts by France and other U.S. allies to recognize a Palestinian state. Despite a focus on the West Bank, attendees indicated that the briefing did not provide specific answers on any U.S. policy toward a potential Israeli move to annex all or part of the territory.

Lawler told Jewish Insider the briefing had included a “thorough discussion with the ambassador about Judea and Samaria and the challenges and the opportunities,” using the biblical term for the West Bank preferred by the Israeli government and utilized by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Given the insistence on the part of the French and other Europeans to recognize a Palestinian state, I thought it was important for my colleagues to have a greater understanding of what we’re actually talking about with respect to Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, and how it is actually governed post-Oslo,” Lawler continued, referring to the peace accords brokered in the 1990s.

He noted that a majority of the West Bank is categorized as Area C, controlled by Israel, and said many people do not understand that.

Asked whether the group had discussed a potential declaration of Israeli sovereignty in that area, Lawler responded, “No, we had a broad discussion on the entirety of the situation there.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) said he does not “think there’s any support in the United States for unilateral action by Israel to annex any territory.” Some congressional Republicans have indicated support for such a policy.

“[Huckabee] is against the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, and I urged [him] to be equally vocal against unilateral actions by settlers or even the Israeli government designed to prevent a Palestinian state. If you’re against this unilateral, you’re against that unilateral,” Sherman told JI.

He added that Huckabee’s “dedication to the hostages is palpable. You can feel it. You can see it.”

Asked whether the group had discussed potential Israeli annexation of the West Bank, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) declined to address specific details of the closed-door briefing but said, “there was broad discussion on a lot of different issues, but we didn’t go in-depth into anything specifically.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that members of the Israeli government are formulating plans for annexation of the West Bank, potentially including all but six large Palestinian cities in the West Bank, with the goal of claiming “maximum territory and minimum population.” Israel is set to hold high-level discussions on the subject this week.

An envoy for the United Arab Emirates told The Times of Israel this week that “annexation would be a red line” for the UAE and would “foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution.”

The UAE joined the Abraham Accords in 2020 in part to halt then-pending plans for annexation of the West Bank.

A new Gallup poll underscores the degree to which Israel’s security is now dependent on support from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the Jewish state having drained much of its political capital from both Democrats and independents amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

The numbers are clear: Support for Israel is now becoming a partisan issue after the Jewish state enjoyed decades of bipartisan support in the United States. Anti-Israel activists on the left, looking to exploit the moment, are working to win over Democratic lawmakers to their side — and are finding some unlikely allies moving in their direction amid the sustained pressure.

The data is sobering: Only about one-third of Americans now support Israel’s military action in Gaza, with 60% disapproving. At the beginning of the war, exactly half of Americans supported Israel’s war against Hamas. The drop-off has come entirely from Democrats (36% supported in November 2023, while 8% do now) and independents (47% supported in November 2023 while 25% support now). 

Among Republicans, however, support for Israel’s military efforts has remained significant. The exact same share of Republicans who backed Israel’s war against Hamas in November 2023 (71%) continue to support Israel’s efforts today. Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities has, if anything, bolstered GOP support for Israel and undermined the isolationist and small anti-Israel faction within the party.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close relationship with Trump, a partnership that has led to major policy successes, like the successful, coordinated attacks against Iran’s nuclear program, has nonetheless also played a role in the growing partisanship. Netanyahu, for the first time, is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans — with Democrats now registering more overt disapproval of the Israeli leader since Trump reentered office.

The Gallup polling shows there was already soft support for Israel among Democrats before the war began, with majorities of Democrats opposed to the Jewish state’s efforts at self-defense just weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks. That said, a clear majority of Democratic lawmakers maintained their support for Israel’s war against Hamas, with only a relatively small faction calling for ceasefires before Hamas’ leadership and terror infrastructure could be degraded.

But there are signs that some of the more mainstream voices are succumbing to the anti-Israel shifts within the party’s base. Over half of Senate Democrats supported a Bernie Sanders-led resolution last night that would block U.S. arms sales to Israel — up from the 15 Democrats who voted for a similar measure back in April.  Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a pragmatic Democratic senator, who was absent for the vote, sounded open to cutting off “offensive” military aid to Israel. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), a pro-Israel independent who caucuses with Democrats, changed his tune and called for ending all military aid to Israel this week.

What’s alarming is how some of this consuming anti-Israel sentiment among Democrats is showing some signs of evolving into, at least, a tolerance of antisemitism. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro received blowback from the left for simply calling out New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani over failing to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric. Slotkin felt the need, while on an anti-Israel podcast, to pander that she’s a Jewish senator who wasn’t backed by Jewish groups. Progressive spaces are becoming increasingly inhospitable to Jews, at least those who don’t renounce their support for a Jewish state.

The many liberal-minded, pro-Israel Jewish Democrats have felt increasingly homeless politically as a result of the shifts within the party — and the accommodation of views that, until very recently, have been beyond the political pale. If the party’s reaction to its 2024 defeat is to tack even further leftward and alienate core parts of their coalition, it could well be lurching towards its own McGovern moment in the future.

Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said he is intent on eliminating what he called “the Jewish tax” in an address on Sunday to hundreds of Jewish college students gathered for the Israel on Campus Coalition’s three-day annual leadership summit held in Washington.

“For those who don’t know what the Jewish tax is — for you to have this convention, for you to walk your child to a synagogue down the street — you have to pay for extra security,” said Terrell, who heads the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force. “It makes no sense. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. I find it offensive that it’s being allowed throughout this country. I’m doing everything I can to eliminate it.” 

Terrell’s comments came as the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last month that it had awarded $94.4 million in security grant funding to a total of 512 Jewish organizations nationwide. 

Terrell, who wore a baseball cap embroidered with the name “Hadar Goldin,” an IDF soldier abducted and killed by Hamas in 2014 whose body remains held by the terrorist group, shared that he has faced “fights and arguments” with some colleagues over how to strategically address antisemitism. He said that some colleagues have called to “cut a deal, to move on,” an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s recent settlement with Columbia University following a monthslong battle over the Ivy League university’s record dealing with antisemitism. 

“I will not compromise,” Terrell said. “No, how can you ask a group [to] compromise freedom? There is no compromise on your equality, your freedom, you have the right to go to schools, to walk down the streets and not be worried and not be afraid.” 

Terrell, a former civil rights attorney and a conservative media personality, told the crowd that eradicating antisemitism is a “full-time commitment,” one that he’s decided to take on in part due to Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. 

“I’m not a Jewish American. I’m a Black American. I also understand the history of this great country. Before becoming a lawyer, I was a school teacher. I grew up in the ‘60s,” Terrell said. “I remember Jewish Americans walking hand in hand with Black Americans making sure they got their civil rights.” 

ASPEN, Colo. — Retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and head of U.S. Central Command, said Friday at the Aspen Security Forum that, in the post Oct. 7, 2023 environment, Israel will no longer tolerate threats to its security throughout the region, including a resumption of Iran’s nuclear program.

Petraeus said, “We have to step back a little bit and recognize that Israel’s strategic calculation is very, very different from before Oct. 7, and that’s a big deal for the region,” explaining that Israel will no longer allow threats to metastasize anywhere in the Middle East. 

He added that Iran must understand that it is vulnerable and that no Israeli leader will allow it to resume its push for a nuclear weapon.

“[The Iranians] have to recognize that if they make another move, they’re going to get hammered once again,” Petraeus said. “And I don’t think that an Israeli prime minister, even if it’s not Bibi Netanyahu, will allow the Iranians to proceed down the path to a nuclear device.”

He predicted that Russia would not be helpful to Iran in replacing its Russian-manufactured air-defense systems that Israel destroyed, since it doesn’t have sufficient systems to protect itself from Ukraine’s counter-strikes at this point.

Petraeus argued that Iran’s future direction and leadership will depend on what sort of leader or leadership structure succeeds Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — whether the country remains ruled by a hardline religious cleric or whether a new body, potentially one dominated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, emerges.

“You can actually entertain at least a notion that, since they control 30 to 40% of the economy, that the Revolutionary Guard Corps says, ‘Hey, why are we doing all this stuff? We could be living high on the hog and stop getting bombed and our headquarters getting taken out, us individually targeted, if we just cut loose Hezbollah, and all these others. Who cares about this nuclear stuff? What has this brought us now?’” Petraeus said.

Journalist Kim Ghattas, speaking alongside Petraeus, said that “this 40 year arc of the Islamic Revolution is coming to an end,” citing knowledge from an unnamed Western diplomat previously based in Iran, “but exactly how it ends we just don’t know yet.”

She argued that the “inconclusive” nature of the Israel-Iran war “has actually complicated matters internally and in the region” and may allow the Iranian regime to recalibrate and consolidate power. She suggested that the IRGC could take charge and transform the country into more of a military dictatorship, sidelining the mullahs.

“I think that in the medium term, we’re looking at a more oppressive, more militaristic Iranian regime,” Ghattas said.

And she predicted that Iran would push ahead with its nuclear program as its only option for deterrence.

Ghattas also said that the fact that Iran had managed to survive the Israeli attacks had complicated efforts to sideline Hezbollah in Lebanon, sending a message to the group that it should hold out; she said that Hezbollah is unlikely to disarm without instruction from Iran, and that it would require political concessions in order to do so.

“We had a really golden opportunity at the beginning of the year, when everything was in flux, Hezbollah was very much on the back foot. [Syrian dictator Bashar al-]Assad was gone. Gaza had a ceasefire in January,” Ghattas said. “This was the moment to strike with a grand political vision, diplomatic vision, for the region. Now, everybody’s recalibrating. Iran is trying to see how it can get a foothold stronger again, into Lebanon, even into Syria.”

Petraeus said that he supports Israel’s objectives it has laid out in Gaza — destroying Hamas, removing it from governance and freeing the hostages — “but I’ve said publicly from the very beginning and written about it as well, that I just don’t think they’re going about it the right way.”

He said Israel should be pursuing a “comprehensive civil-military counterinsurgency campaign — clear, hold, build and transition,” including establishing security and governance measures in Gaza as the campaign proceeds and allowing Gazan Palestinians return to their homes.

“And that requires a fourth objective, which has never been stated, and that is to provide a better future for the Palestinian people in Gaza without Hamas in their lives,” he continued.

He said that, though Hamas has been degraded, it still has the largest armed force in Gaza and would reemerge as the dominant force in a vacuum, despite Israel’s arming of some Palestinian clans in Gaza.

“I’m really worried about what is the future of Gaza, for which there’s been no real vision provided for what life of the Palestinian people will look like,” Petraues said.

The retired general indicated that he’s optimistic about Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, explaining, “We believe that he understands the need for a government that has representation from all of these different elements and not only assures majority rule, but also ensures minority rights.”

Ghattas warned that the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Syria risks spawning a revitalized terrorist threat in Lebanon and a renewed threat from Syria.

She said she supports the Trump administration’s policy in opening a door to the new Syrian government, but said that the U.S. has “gone a little bit too far in embracing al-Sharaa.”

“Great about lifting the sanctions, but you still need to breathe down his neck, because international support does not translate into national legitimacy, yet, and he’s not done enough in terms of national legitimacy,” Ghattas said.

The panelists also discussed Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman’s rise to power and vision for the region.

Petraeus said that bin Salman had overhauled a slow and indecisive government to consolidate power.

“There’s never been a consolidation of power like we see there, and there’s never been someone with the kind of vision that he has put forward as well,” Petraeus said. “You can ask if some of that is beyond realistic. … But he knows that.”

He said that bin Salman’s initiative has established Saudi Arabia as one of the key centers of power in the region, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, supplanting traditional power-players like Egypt.

Ghattas said that bin Salman had evolved over time and “transformed, for the better, the lives of millions of young Saudis.”

“I think the opportunities are great, but I think Saudi Arabia, which wanted to establish relations with Israel before Oct. 7, is finding itself with a conundrum that it cannot solve on its own without pressure from the United States on Israel,” Ghattas said, “which is [that] it is not going to reach out to Israel anymore unless they get a promise of a Palestinian state. The bar for that has risen tremendously.”

A coalition of 46 Jewish organizations issued a joint statement on Thursday urging additional action from the federal government to address antisemitism in the United States following the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, and particularly expanding funding for a variety of programs to protect the Jewish community.

“The rising level of anti-Jewish incitement, which inevitably leads to violent acts like the one in Washington, DC yesterday, requires governmental action commensurate with the level of danger,” the letter reads.

The demands include a call to massively expand funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion, from its current level of $274.5 million, in addition to $200 million in supplemental funding also expected to be released soon. The new request is double the $500 million request from Jewish groups in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the request recently submitted by a bipartisan coalition of House members.

The letter further said the NSGP process should be “made more flexible and accessible,” describing it currently as “cumbersome and lack[ing] transparency.”

The groups also called for additional funding for security at Jewish institutions, for the FBI to expand its intelligence operations and counter-domestic terrorism operations and for local law enforcement to be empowered to protect Jewish establishments.

“The demands on local and state law enforcement far outpace their capacity to meet the need, which disproportionately affects targeted communities like the American Jewish community,” the letter says, of the need for additional funding for state and local law enforcement.

The groups also urged the federal government to “aggressively prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and extremist violence in accordance with the law” and to hold online platforms including social media and gaming sites “accountable for amplification of antisemitic hate, glorification of terrorism, extremism, disinformation, and incitement.”

The letter describes the murders as “the direct consequence of rising antisemitic incitement in places such as college campuses, city council meetings, and social media that has normalized hate and emboldened those who wish to do harm.”

Signatories to the letter include major national Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC, as well as groups representing a wide political and religious cross section of the Jewish community.