Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, revealed on Monday that the U.S. expects several Latin American countries to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the coming months. 

Kaploun made the comments at a press conference about the Trump administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism ahead of the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, after being asked to analyze how regional leaders have responded to the rise in anti-Jewish hate.

“There’s a conference in November where we expect to have more Latin American countries to join the IHRA Accords,” Kaploun said. “The Dominican Republic just announced that they’re joining the IHRA Accords. Colombia is revisiting that. Guatemala, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Chile are all in discussions. This is a chance to have a transformative region where people are united against hate.”

“As we say in our office, and we say this often, a country is judged by how it makes citizens feel welcome, how it protects its citizens,” he added. “That’s the first and foremost duty of every single country: Protect your own citizens. That includes the Jewish community, and some countries are failing miserably in that.”

Critics of the IHRA definition say it stifles political speech by designating it as antisemitism.

Kaploun pointed to Argentina’s embrace of Israel under President Javier Milei, noting that the Argentine leader spearheaded the Isaac Accords initiative with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year aimed at boosting ties between Israel and Latin American countries. He also mentioned the pro-Israel shift taking place in Colombia after President Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative, was sworn in last month. 

“You see how a country can transform itself to positive actions. You see how a country, with the right leadership, is able to stand up and confront hatred,” Kaploun said. “Latin America is transforming right before our eyes.”

“You see a country like Argentina, that 32 years ago had bombings that were done by Iranian terrorists to the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center, and now you see Jews have no fear in the street and people are walking with respect and dignity,” he continued, referring to the AMIA bombing, the deadliest terror attack in Argentine history. 

“Colombia, just two months ago, changed their leadership. At the same time, they’ve restored relations with Israel. They’ve restored much better relations within the Jewish community there in Colombia. They’ve made it very, very clear that Colombian Jewish community members are welcome, which wasn’t always the case in the previous administration.”

Nearly all Senate Democrats voted on Tuesday for a resolution requiring the State Department to produce a report for Congress on violence by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank, with a focus on the killings and detentions of Americans.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democratic senator to vote against the resolution — a striking turnabout from a vote on a similar resolution more than two years ago, when a small minority of Democrats voted in favor. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the sole Republican to support the measure. The resolution failed by a 51-47 vote.

If the resolution had passed, and the State Department failed to produce the report in 30 days, most U.S. security assistance to Israel would have been cut off. After such a report was delivered, any senator would also have been able to force a vote on cutting off aid to Israel.

The last time the Senate voted on a similar resolution in January 2024 — which would have mandated a State Department investigation of Israel for potential war crimes — just 11 Democrats voted for it, with many raising concerns about the automatic 30-day cutoff deadline for U.S. aid and arguing that it would be impractical and unreasonable to expect a report to be completed on such a timeline.

But this resolution, led by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), had 23 total co-sponsors at its introduction, including historically staunch supporters of Israel who have opposed more direct Sanders-led efforts to block specific U.S. arms sales to Israel. 

The broad Democratic support for the new resolution is a signal both of the party’s shift against Israel over the past two years in the wake of the Gaza war, as well as the particular concern and outrage among even reliably pro-Israel Democrats over settler violence and other incidents in the West Bank, a likely focus for Israel policy in a potential Democratic congressional majority.

Leaders of the legislation, like Kaine, argued that it was necessary because Israel had continuously ignored entreaties from the United States.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, Fetterman said, “This evening, as the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre approaches, my caucus used another vote to target Israel — not Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas. I stood with Israel.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a reliable supporter of Israel who cosponsored the resolution said in a statement that, “Violent, lethal lawlessness on the West Bank is a betrayal of Israel’s moral standing and our shared values, and must be stopped.”

“This resolution is now necessary, after so many have urged action and violence only continues to rise,” he continued. “Failing to enforce clear legal prohibitions and protections has cost American and Palestinian lives — and deeply threatens a peaceful, stable future for all Israelis and Palestinians.”

Ahead of the vote, Paul introduced a bill targeting U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority “and other Palestinian governing entities in the West Bank and Gaza” until such entity recognizes Israel and its right to exist as a Jewish state, renounces terrorism, removes any terror-tied individuals from its security services, ends funding for anti-American and anti-Israel incitement, renounces Hamas and its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and complies with “previous diplomatic agreements.”

The bill would also require a report within 30 days on the human rights practices of the PA, Hamas and other governing entities in the West Bank and Gaza, including killings of Israelis, Jews and other minority groups and the use of torture and detention without trial.

Unlike the Democratic-led resolution, the Paul bill does not enjoy privileged status and would have to be passed by both chambers, rather than just the Senate, before taking effect.

The U.S. already bans direct aid to the PA under the Taylor Force Act until the PA ends support for terrorists and their families, and it is subject to a range of other restrictions, but Paul’s legislation would expand those limitations.

Paul said on the Senate floor that it should not be controversial to know the circumstances of the deaths of U.S. citizens and human rights abuses in areas where the U.S. has sent billions in taxpayer money. 

Paul requested that the Senate pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Van Hollen objected, emphasizing that the U.S. does not provide taxpayer funding to Hamas and in fact imposes sanctions on the terrorist group. He also acknowledged human rights abuses by the PA, but said that the Paul bill would cut off U.S. counterterrorism cooperation with the PA.

Van Hollen said he would happily support legislation seeking a deeper report on the PA or a resolution condemning Hamas, but said he objected to the conflation of the PA and Hamas.

“Congress must at least ensure that those taxpayer dollars advance our core interests, let alone not reward those who seek to harm us or our allies,” Paul said. “Yet, despite American generosity, human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza, committed by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and other groups, have been well documented over the years.”

“Funding Palestinian entities that do not recognize Israel’s right to exist and fund anti-American and anti-Israel activities makes no sense. At its core, this legislation establishes a principle of accountability,” Paul continued.

The State Department on Monday postponed a memorial event for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that was scheduled for Sept. 30.

The memorial event, organized in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee and at the urging of the families of former American hostages held in Gaza, was set to focus on the 46 Americans killed on Oct. 7 and in Hamas custody in the years following the attack.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reasons for the delay or when it plans to reschedule the event.

The State Department is planning a memorial ceremony for American victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, currently scheduled for Sept. 30.

The event is being planned in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee, which is helping to bring families of the victims to Washington to attend the ceremony in Foggy Bottom, an AJC spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen, an American citizen killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 whose body was taken hostage in Gaza for more than two years, has been advocating for a memorial for the 46 Americans killed on Oct. 7 and in Hamas custody.

Chen told JI earlier this month that he had been in touch with senior members of the administration about a potential memorial, and that they had expressed support.

Nineteen Jewish House Democrats, writing under the auspices of the Congressional Jewish Caucus, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday opposing a reported plan to merge the offices of the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues (SEHI) and special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism (SEAS).

Longtime Holocaust envoy Ellen Germain recently retired from her post, and antisemitism envoy Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun has been pushing to merge the two posts, a prospect that has received mixed reactions from Jewish communal organizations.

In their letter, the Jewish Democrats urged Rubio to “immediately appoint” a new Holocaust envoy and maintain the office “as a distinct, permanent office led by a dedicated career State Department official” and expressed concern about reports that the offices might be merged.

Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Seth Magaziner (D-RI) were the only two members of the caucus not to join the letter.

The lawmakers noted bipartisan support for SEHI and argued that its work on restitution issues is increasingly urgent as the number of living Holocaust survivors shrinks, and that survivors and their families need a “dedicated advocate within our government.”

“SEHI and SEAS have clearly distinct mandates and responsibilities,” they said, adding that the Holocaust envoy’s work has historically been aided by their status as an experienced career official, rather than a presidential appointee.

“Both are full-time responsibilities that require full-time principals with unique areas of focus and full-time staff with unique expertise,” the lawmakers continued. “Combining them would not streamline efficiency or eliminate any meaningful duplication; it would risk diminishing the focus, experience, and institutional capacity necessary for each.”

The letter suggests that the potential merger is being driven, at least in part, by “a desire to expand the influence of certain personnel within the State Department,” seemingly a reference to Kaploun.

The lawmakers warned that any delay in appointing a new envoy “risks losing opportunities for restitution, accountability, and historical preservation that may never return.”

Though under discussion for months, the merger efforts have not yet been formalized inside the department.

Jewish groups have come down on both sides of the issue. The American Jewish Committee, American Joint Distribution Committee, Agudath Israel of America, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, the World Jewish Restitution Organization and the USC Shoah Foundation called for Rubio to appoint a new full-time Holocaust envoy.

But others including the Combat Antisemitism Movement, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Coalition for Jewish Values, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Orthodox Union, World Jewish Congress, Zionist Organization of America, Simon Wiesenthal Center, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, former antisemitism envoy Elan Carr, former deputy antisemitism envoy Ellie Cohanim and former deputy antisemitism envoy Karen Paikin Barall wrote to Rubio urging him to merge the two positions.

Proponents of a merger said that Holocaust denial and revisionism is inextricably linked to rising antisemitism today, that the current division hampers U.S. efforts and that the shrinking number of Holocaust survivors makes Holocaust memory and antisemitism a more core part of the Holocaust envoy’s work, overlapping with the antisemitism envoy’s duties. They said that consolidating the responsibilities under an ambassador-rank official would elevate Holocaust issues.

Kaploun has claimed behind closed doors that, given his unique connections to the White House and world leaders, he would be able to resolve all remaining Holocaust restitution issues before the end of President Donald Trump’s time in office — a difficult task that requires reaching agreements with international partners that have resisted providing restitution for decades.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, the president of Somaliland, the pro-Western region that broke away from Somalia, discussed deepening partnerships with the U.S., including expanded U.S.-Somaliland military cooperation, during a visit last week to Washington, D.C.

Israel was the first state to recognize Somaliland’s independence last year, more than three decades after the region declared independence, though the U.S. has maintained direct and indirect relationships with the government, based in Hargeisa.

The territory in the Horn of Africa is located along the Gulf of Aden and is seen as a potential site for an American or Israeli military base in the Horn of Africa, particularly in light of the growing Houthi control over the Bab al Mandeb Strait, a key passageway through the Red Sea, in recent weeks.

Abdullahi told reporters at a media briefing on Friday that he met with representatives of the State Department, Pentagon, Treasury and Department of Energy as well as at least one representative from the National Security Council. 

“We had [with] all of them fruitful conversations. Short of recognizing Somaliland, we feel that there is progress in our conversation, and we shall continue that conversation,” Abdullahi said. “In the meantime, we understand that our cooperation [in] different sectors, will increase and will expand, and we hope that some American presence will be in Somaliland in the near future.”

Somaliland is pushing for the U.S. to open a consulate in Hargeisa and expand its military presence on the ground. The two countries have an existing counterterrorism and national security cooperation program, which includes U.S. officers training Somaliland’s counterterrorism forces.

Bashir Goth, the head of Somaliland’s mission to the United States — its de-facto ambassador — told reporters that Pentagon officials said they plan to increase the size of the U.S. training force in Hargeisa. More broadly, he described the trip as the best series of meetings that a Somaliland president has had in Washington.

Abdullahi said that State Department officials said they would consider opening a consulate in Hargeisa but did not make any commitments.

Asked about his conversations with U.S. officials about potential cooperation in counter-Houthi operations, Abdullahi broadly pitched Somaliland and its port at Berbere as a haven of stability in the region and the Horn of Africa that the U.S. could utilize.

“In general, we gave an offer to the United States [of] partnership in security — whether it’s counterterrorism, maritime security, protection of of ships in the area. We have 850 kilometers of seashore [on the] Gulf of Aden,” he said. “We know that there is a problem in Hormuz, and now … in Bab al Mandeb. So Somaliland is the safest way to world trade, to maritime security, against piracy. Our waters have been free of piracy and terrorism for the last 30 years.”

Abdullahi described Berbere as an attractive site for foreign powers, including the U.S. and Israel, with what was once the longest runway in Africa and a large and efficient port. He said that military officials from both countries have visited Berbere, but said they do not currently maintain a presence there.

He expects Somaliland-Israel security cooperation to begin by the end of the year, with a focus on training Somaliland’s military and police. He said an Israeli military presence in Somaliland is a possibility in the future but not in the near term.

Abdullahi said that some U.S. companies would prefer to operate out of Berbere than Djibouti, which currently hosts the largest U.S. base in Africa. He described Berbere as “the most efficient port in the region” but acknowledged that infrastructure investment is necessary to build out railways to make the port more interconnected with the region — also likely a necessity for a U.S. military base. 

China has offered assistance to build such infrastructure — as it did in Djibouti — but Abdullahi said that Beijing attached untenable conditions, including Hargeisa’s rejection of Taiwan.

Somaliland is also working to shift its electric generation away from its current diesel-powered grid toward solar and other energy sources. Somaliland had managed to bring down electricity costs significantly under Abdullahi’s leadership, but they are poised to skyrocket as a result of the Iran war. The government is currently subsidizing energy costs at $20 per barrel of oil, which Abdullahi said may be unsustainable.

At the same time that energy costs have spiked, Somaliland’s tax revenue has plummeted by nearly 50% as a result of a precipitous decline in shipping through Berbere because of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Import taxes were the government’s primary source of revenue.

Abdullahi said that Somaliland is not in direct conflict with either the Yemeni government or the Houthis, but predicted that the Houthis’ recent gains along the Red Sea will have further impacts on the trade moving through the region and through Berbere.

Abdullahi accused Somalia, Djibouti and others of working to undermine Somaliland’s stability.

During his time in Washington, Abdullahi met with several lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Capitol Hill’s most vocal advocate for the U.S. to recognize Somaliland, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and several House members.

Abdullahi is pushing for the U.S. to consider legislation to allow Somaliland direct access to the international financial system and to differentiate between Somaliland and Somalia in travel advisories.

He also visited multiple think tanks, including the Hudson Institute and Foundation for Defense of Democracies, met officials from the American Jewish Committee and was hosted by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

According to the AJC, the group discussed “developments in the Horn of Africa, regional security, the democratic country’s strategic importance, and Somaliland’s growing relationship with Israel” and the “significance of Israel being the first UN member state to officially recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, as well as opportunities for deeper cooperation between Somaliland and Israel.”

Leiter said in a statement, “The relationship between Israel and Somaliland has moved beyond formal recognition and official meetings, toward a relationship characterized by the warmth and friendship associated with our nations.”

“Somaliland is a rising strategic partner, and an important voice in the crucial conversations regarding maritime security in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa,” Leiter continued. “Israel is proud to be committed to this new and growing partnership, to ensure a better future for both our countries and the region.”

Abdullahi made his first state visit to Israel, where the two countries agreed to cooperate in economic, agricultural, water, health and security matters. So far, Israel is training 50 engineers in Somaliland on water projects and will begin work on water projects including a desalination plant in Berbere. Ten children suffering from heart problems have also been transported to Israel for treatment.

Abdullahi said he’s hoping to see expanded investment by Israelis and American Jews in Somaliland.

When Deborah Lipstadt returned to academia last year after nearly three years navigating the State Department as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, she had a new mission: to turn what she learned in government into a training ground for the next generation of policymakers confronting antisemitism.

Lipstadt, a longtime Emory University historian, announced last week the launch of the Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism. The institute will pair undergraduate fellowships with summer internships in Washington; offer seminars for diplomats, journalists and policymakers; and track how governments are implementing the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism that Lipstadt helped develop while serving as special envoy under President Joe Biden.

“In academia, professors think they’re right more often than not. Very often they are right in their assessments. But in diplomacy, you want to be effective. Sometimes you’ve got to compromise, narrow your view and adapt without losing sight of what you want to do,” Lipstadt told Jewish Insider in an interview on Thursday.  

Building off that “narrow focus” is what distinguishes EPICA from a crowded field of university antisemitism centers, Lipstadt said. 

“I didn’t want to be a kolboinik like some of these other institutions,” she told JI, using the Yiddish word for a jack-of-all-trades. “There are people doing research on antisemitism in the Muslim world in the seventh century. There are people doing research on antisemitism in imperial Russia — all important topics to know. But that was not what I wanted. I wanted to be laser focused on policymaking.”  

As special envoy from 2022-2025, Lipstadt frequently argued that antisemitism is not only a threat to Jews and Jewish institutions, but a broader danger that also imperils democracy, the rule of law and international stability.

She said the three focus areas of EPICA aim to address that notion. The student internships will span a wide range of fields in Washington, from Capitol Hill offices to social media companies. The summer internships will be fully funded, covering housing, travel and a stipend, to ensure that students can participate regardless of their financial circumstances.

The institute also plans to hold seminars in the U.S. and Europe for diplomats, journalists and policymakers, working with existing NGOs to educate emerging leaders about antisemitism.

The third focus will be monitoring the implementation of the Global Guidelines, an initiative of Lipstadt’s office during her final year as special envoy, which continue to be utilized by the Trump administration. While numerous countries signed onto the guidelines, Lipstadt said some of the signatories have not followed through in their commitments under the framework, and EPICA will track which governments are adhering to them.

Aaron Keyak, who served as Lipstadt’s deputy special envoy, will serve as the executive director of EPICA. “We’re going to be taking the academically rigorous approach that an Emory University student would take to their research,” Keyak told JI. 

Lipstadt said she launched EPICA due to urging from peers, along with the support of Emory.

“When I was finishing up in January 2025, a number of people — some academics, some government officials — said to me that I had a very unique perspective on things,” Lipstadt told JI. “They said now that I’m out of Washington, it can’t just be interesting stories I’m telling at dinner parties or the Shabbos table.”  

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and eight Democratic colleagues plan to force a vote in the Senate in the coming weeks to require the State Department to produce a report for Congress on violence by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank, including killings and detentions of Americans.

If the resolution were to pass — which is unlikely — and the State Department were to fail to produce the report within 30 days, most U.S. security assistance to Israel would be cut off. After such a report was delivered, any senator would also be able to force a vote on cutting off aid to Israel.

The last time the Senate voted on a similar resolution, demanding an investigation of Israel for potential war crimes, in January 2024, just eleven senators voted for it — so the new resolution is already set to meet and very likely exceed that benchmark.

The resolution accuses both the Israeli and American governments of failing to seek accountability for the killings of U.S. citizens. The legislation also raises concerns about the detention of Palestinian minors, alleged widespread human rights abuses in Israeli prisons, settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank. And it highlights attacks on Christians and churches in Israel in the West Bank.

The report required by the bill demands details of any investigations of or evidence gathered by the U.S., Israel, Palestinian Authority or nongovernmental organizations related to killings of nine Americans in the West Bank in recent years, including potential suspects; details about Palestinian minors detained by Israel; the identities of individuals accused of human rights violations in Israeli prisons; and details of U.S. efforts to address these activities.

Van Hollen, in a statement, accused the administration of failing to seek justice or accountability for Americans killed in the West Bank.

“It’s past time we get answers on their deaths — and on the growing violent instability in the West Bank and the injustices facing Palestinian civilians on a daily basis,” Van Hollen said. “This resolution will require the State Department to begin to produce these answers, which are owed to the families of those who have lost loved ones, to the American people, and to all of those who want to ensure recipients of U.S. taxpayer dollars are acting in line with our laws and our values.”

The Maryland senator, who is considering a 2028 presidential bid and is also seen as a potential contender for Senate Democratic leader, has been working to push the party to the left on Israel policy issues.

Kaine said that violence by Israeli settlers “is reaching an unprecedented level.”

“These actions — and the Israeli government’s lack of response to this violence — are unacceptable and threaten the long-term safety and security of the entire region,” Kaine said in a statement. “Friends need to listen to each other, and my colleagues and I have repeatedly urged Israeli leaders to take firmer action to curtail illegal settlements in the West Bank, prosecute violent settlers, and protect Palestinian residents as well as American citizens living in or visiting the West Bank.”

Sanders said in a statement, “Every day, Palestinians in the West Bank experience horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers and security forces — and for years, the Israeli government has offered impunity instead of accountability. Enough is enough. The United States cannot keep bankrolling this violence and looking the other way — it’s time to end our complicity, once and for all.”

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR.), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Peter Welch (D-VT) are cosponsoring the resolution.

Good Tuesday afternoon.

This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning that “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” directly contradicting a statement from Jared Kushner yesterday that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been”…

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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said on X this morning that he’s “deeply concerned” over what he called “confirmed Israeli airstrikes” on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur Airbase overnight, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strikes.

“The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations,” Barrack said, calling the incident an “unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who has been a pro-Israel stalwart, also condemned what he called “one-sided aggression”…

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U.N. inspectors visited some nuclear sites tied to the deposed Assad regime in Syria this week, the first time that International Atomic Energy Agency officials have been given full access to the sites. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said at a press conference with IAEA head Rafael Grossi that nuclear material found at the locations, including several tons of uranium, will be placed “under IAEA safeguards”…

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions today against Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer, as part of the Trump administration’s recently announced campaign to target the body.

Rubio said the two individuals “have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” likely in reference to Israeli leaders…

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed today that the Trump administration’s probes into campus antisemitism were “fake” and that schools found to have violated federal civil rights law were effectively framed, pointing to whistleblower reports that claimed the administration had manipulated evidence to show violations of law despite lacking sufficient evidence.

Raskin announced that he is launching an investigation of the alleged “misconduct” of the Department of Justice and intends to assess potential changes to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “in light of this Administration’s shockingly reckless and unethical actions,” JI’s Marc Rod reports…

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The DOJ charged a New York man, Larry Montes, with two federal hate crimes charges and one count of destruction of religious property for disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan over the weekend, where he struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property and spat on and headbutted a security guard. Montes has already been charged with hate crimes by local prosecutors…

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The DOJ also charged 17 members of the Mabna Institute — an Iran-based company that federal prosecutors say ran a state-sponsored cyber campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since at least 2013 — with hacking 144 U.S. and 178 foreign universities, dozens of private companies and several U.S. government agencies to steal research, academic data and intellectual property…

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The Department of Defense instructed 30 U.S. academic institutions to conduct reviews of their ties with “foreign entities of concern,” threatening future Pentagon funding for research projects if they fail to do so and terminate “problematic partnerships”…

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Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, pushed back today against what he alleged was a doctored audio clip circulating online designed to portray him as more loyal to Israel than the United States, JI’s Marc Rod reports.

“There is a manipulated and unsourced audio, with things I never did and never would say, that is nothing more than political disinformation intended to portray me as anti-American,” Moss, who is Jewish, said on X…

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Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of Anti-Defamation League Midwest, called out the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America’s “fixation on Israel” after the group’s 2027 city council endorsement questionnaire asked local candidates to explain whether they consider themselves anti-Zionists and if they support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The group’s outsized focus on the Jewish state, Weininger said, is “not only far removed from the responsibilities and priorities of an alderman, but also risks fueling anti-Jewish sentiment, harassment, and ultimately, violence against Chicago’s Jewish community”…

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) suggested in an interview with The Washington Post that he believes Democrats can still win the Senate even if far-left Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom Schumer has endorsed, loses in November, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “A path to winning back the Senate clearly goes through Michigan, but we have a whole bunch of different paths,” Schumer said.

The Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, is spending $3 million on a new ad campaign to defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, portraying him as a career politician who enriched himself while in Washington…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for results from today’s key races in Florida and California. Polls close in the Sunshine State at 7 p.m. ET, and in the Golden State at 11 p.m. ET.

Hannan Lis, Brian Hermelin and Rob Orley, three prominent Jewish Democratic bundlers in Michigan, are hosting a fundraiser tonight for the state’s Republican Senate nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), as some Jewish Democrats in the Wolverine State consider flipping their votes against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Read Lis’ comments to JI here.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) will face off in a debate tonight hosted by the South Carolina GOP, a week ahead of their runoff election.

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Good Monday afternoon.

This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

President Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News this morning that the White House is communicating directly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that Tehran should “raise the white flag of surrender,” as the 60-day memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran — which was intended to lead to the creation of a permanent peace agreement but was quickly deemed moot by both parties — officially expired today without a deal in sight.

Jared Kushner separately told Fox News about the status of talks with Iran that Trump is “focused on economic pressure” but is still open to reaching an agreement, adding that dialogue between the White House and “different areas of the Iranian government” is “probably more robust than it’s maybe ever been” and that the conversations are “positive”…

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Trump also threatened in his interview to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if the country “gets in the way,” amid Muscat’s negotiations with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he doesn’t think Oman “behave[s] very well” and that the U.S. would “handle them very easily.” He also reaffirmed his recent claim that he intends to declare the strait a U.S. territory, saying he “think[s] it’s a great idea”…

---

Responding to Trump’s threat, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced he intends to introduce a war powers resolution when the Senate returns from recess to prohibit U.S. military action against Oman…

---

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “deep and constructive discussions” with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov and Kushner in Jerusalem today, where the parties agreed to establish two working groups: one on the “disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza,” which they agreed should happen before “any reconstruction,” and a second on sanitation and public health concerns in the enclave.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also met with the group and said he was “impressed that Israel’s security interests are an important and central element of their plan”…

---

After the meetings, Kushner told Fox News that he predicts there will be progress in starting to demilitarize Gaza “in as little as 30 days” and beginning to fill in Hamas’ terror tunnels “in the next 60 to 90 days.”

Despite Trump stating in his interview that Israel should not be conducting any more strikes in Gaza, Kushner said the Board of Peace would “not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that if Hamas doesn’t follow through on its commitments, Israel will “have a lot more support from the U.S.” to “finish the job.” He called his Sunday meeting with Hamas leaders “cordial” and said they “said all the right things” but that they are “hard to trust”…

---

Trump said today it’s “most appropriate” that he “stay out of” Israel’s upcoming elections but added that he “may endorse somebody” anyway….

---

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed claims by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the region of Kurdistan, that his office was attacked by Iranian drones: “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi said on X, claiming that Iran has historically “protected” the Kurds. It was a striking characterization given that Iran has repeatedly struck Kurdish opposition bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, including during the current war, and has a decades-long history of suppressing its own Kurdish population…

---

New York City leaders are condemning a series of inflammatory posters opposing a new housing development in Chelsea that use antisemitic, racist and homophobic language, including a call to “stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan,” tying the project to “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and claiming that “Talmudists are trained to cheat.”

City Hall called the posters “vile” and claimed the rhetoric “has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” while Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said, “Disagreement over housing policy is legitimate. Dehumanizing your neighbors is not”…

---

Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) continued to spar this week over the University of Washington’s decision to cancel a planned speech by antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

After Goldman argued initially against Jayapal’s denunciation of the school, the congresswoman said she “completely disagree[s] with [Goldman’s] analysis of free speech”; Goldman responded that students have ample access to “Piker’s racist and anti-American views,” but the university has a responsibility to prevent discriminatory conduct or a hostile environment for Jewish students that could interfere in their ability to participate on campus…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at AIPAC’s involvement in tomorrow’s special election in California’s 14th Congressional District, where state Sen. Aisha Wahab is facing off against former Dublin, Calif., Mayor Melissa Hernandez, who is backed by the pro-Israel group.

Florida will also hold its primary elections tomorrow, where several pro-Israel and Jewish candidates are facing off against far-right and far-left extremists. Read more on the races and their implications here.

The Sephardic Rabbinical Conference will conclude in New York with speakers including Israeli Consul General Ofir Akunis; Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at UJA-Federation of New York; Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of programs at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center; and rabbis from around the world.

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SEPHARDIC SUMMIT

Sephardic rabbis and leaders gather in New York to build a stronger voice in Jewish institutional life

The second annual Sephardic Rabbinic Conference, backed by the Orthodox Union and UJA-Federation, will bring together around 150 participants from a dozen countries to address leadership gaps and Diaspora institution-building

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Andy Baker, a White House deputy national security advisor and one of Vice President JD Vance’s closest foreign policy aides, is leaving the Trump administration in the coming weeks.

Baker, a former foreign service officer at the State Department, served as Vance’s national security advisor in the White House and in Vance’s Senate office before joining the White House National Security Council this spring. He emerged as a low-profile but influential figure within the Trump administration on foreign policy matters and was directly involved in diplomatic talks with Iran in the aftermath of this year’s war.

Baker served concurrently as White House deputy national security adviser and the vice president’s national security adviser, placing him in Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump’s respective orbits.

Baker was characterized in a Politico profile in February as “a self-described ‘realist’ who is skeptical of traditional American alliances and U.S. military intervention abroad” and said he “aligns with the ‘restrainer’ wing” of the GOP.

News of his departure comes after Cliff Sims was tapped in May to succeed Baker as the vice president’s national security advisor. A source close to Baker told JI that he stayed in the role for months longer than planned to allow for “smooth transitions” for Sims and State Department Counselor Michael Needham, a top Rubio aide who also serves as a White House deputy national security advisor alongside Baker. 

Baker, who has young children, is planning to enter the private sector in order to spend more time with his family, a source close to him told JI. Baker is joining America Global Strategies, a political consulting firm run by Robert O’Brien, the White House national security advisor in the first Trump administration, according to a source familiar with the situation. 

“This has been an amazing journey,” Baker said in a statement on his departure. “I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved and, of course, am incredibly grateful to the president, vice president, and Secretary Rubio. I’ll never be far away.”

Vance described Baker as “an exceptionally gifted, deeply thoughtful advisor who has served the president and me with distinction. He has been an indispensable member of our administration’s national security team.”

“For the over three years that Andy has been by my side, I’ve always valued his counsel and have been grateful for the difficult work he’s done to ensure the United States is the safest, most secure, and most capable nation on Earth,” the vice president said in a statement. 

Rubio said, “Andy has been an invaluable asset and key member of the President’s national security team who has greatly advanced the America First agenda. Andy has been a trusted, loyal, and critical advisor through every success and I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors!”

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said in a statement that, “From day one, Andy has worked tirelessly to put America first and get deals done for the President around the world. He’s also a great friend.”

“Andy is a brilliant foreign policy mind and close friend,” Needham said of Baker. “I look forward to continuing to benefit from his insights as he advances America’s interests from the outside.”

Good Thursday afternoon.

This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that his Office to Combat Antisemitism will be releasing a municipal plan to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

The mayor marketed the plan as the “first-in-the-nation,” even as former Mayor Eric Adams already released a “blueprint” for combating antisemitism on his last day in office, which included the city adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a policy that Mamdani repealed on his first day.

The move comes days after Mamdani hosted a roundtable with rabbis in the city who asked the mayor to back off his attacks on Israel, a request that Mamdani did not reference or commit to addressing in his remarks…

---

The California state Legislature is considering a bill to require state agencies to include “Jewish” as an ethnicity option on all forms that collect demographic data. The move would make California the first state to officially consider Judaism as more than a religion for identification purposes…

---

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday brought by the Trump administration against Harvard University alleging that the school showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

The judge ruled that the few campus incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to find “any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day”…

---

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X today that she had communicated her “concerns” to the University of Washington about its decision to cancel an appearance by far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, and encouraged student groups who “want to hear from Mr. Piker to work with the University to ensure they can proceed.”

Piker had earlier this week denounced Democrats who didn’t “speak out against this clear violation” of the First Amendment due to his “position as a prominent critic of Israel”…

---

Former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is expected to headline a Labor Day rally for the Hancock County Maine Democrats next month, his first public appearance since dropping out of the Senate race after he was accused of rape by a former romantic partner…

---

White House advisor Jared Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week with Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to discuss the Hamas disarmament deal, Axios reports…

---

CENTCOM announced today it is undertaking efforts to establish the “first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force,” including consulting with and inviting regional partners to join, that will work to utilize unmanned, one-way attack drones “from above, on, and below the sea” in the Middle East…

---

The U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, sources told The Washington Post, as the armed drones have been targeted by Tehran and its proxies in Yemen and Iraq…

---

The Pentagon is sending the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as reports and lawmakers indicate that conditions aboard the ship are deteriorating after a record 200 days without a port call; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the concerns about the Abraham Lincoln today as “completely misrepresented”…

---

Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), facing a runoff special election to be the GOP nominee for her late brother’s Senate seat, announced she is co-sponsoring the Jewish American Security Act, the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act, a bill on Iran sanctions and a bill on Iranian human rights and internet access…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at how Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is avoiding contending with the anti-Israel turn of her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in her race against state Sen. Scott Wiener.

President Donald Trump will appear with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for New York governor, at an event on Long Island honoring law enforcement officials.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a member of the Squad, will appear at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alongside anti-Israel progressives running against Jewish Democrats Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), as well as socialist Colorado Democratic congressional nominee Melat Kiros.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat shalom!

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SCOUT’S HONOR

Scouting America offers ‘safe space’ for Jewish campers to hold Shabbat services

The group’s new national chair, Ricky Mason, is believed to be the first national chair to receive an aliyah at the Scouts’ Torah service

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Good Wednesday afternoon.

This P.M. briefing is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

Today’s Daily Overtime was curated by JI U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

A State Department official pushed back on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments in southern Lebanon today, where he said the IDF would remain deployed in a security zone, contrary to the agreement signed between Washington, Jerusalem and Beirut.

“The United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states,” the official told Axios…

---

Sources told Reuters that Israel and Lebanon have agreed that countries including Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia could contribute troops to an international force meant to oversee Hezbollah’s disarmament; an Israeli official denied any decisions had been made on the issue…

---

President Donald Trump continued to boast about the success of the U.S. campaign against Iran, stating again in a post on Truth Social today that the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz” and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “decimated and fleeing.”

Meanwhile, out of the 166 ships that have transited the strait so far this month — a significant decrease from the average before the war — only two are known to have used the U.S.- and Oman-backed route, according to The Wall Street Journal…

---

In a rare interview with Western media, top IRGC advisor Mohammad Reza Naqdi told “PBS News Hour” that Iran is prepared to continue hostilities through the end of Trump’s term and accused the U.S. of waging a “war without strategy”…

---

The New York Times documents the efforts being made by Gulf countries to construct routes to move oil out of the region that do not rely on the Strait of Hormuz…

---

Board of Peace head Nickolay Mladenov denied in a post in Hebrew today that there is any financial agreement between the board and Hamas, refuting a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the board would cover Hamas’ debts up to $400 million.

The disarmament roadmap states that the new Palestinian technocratic government will “assess the legitimate commitments to suppliers, contractors and other parties — up to a total amount of no more than $400M — and address them”; Mladenov said in his post that such processes “are not channeled through Hamas” and that “all accounts are open to full scrutiny by the donor governments”…

---

The publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Michael Morris, penned an open letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) today pressing the senator over his repeated votes to block U.S. military sales to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

“I apologize for being blunt, but please, stop lying to me and your constituents. I hear you claim, over and over again, that you support Israel — that your support is ‘ironclad.’ It is not,” Morris wrote…

---

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) denied today that the more than $30 million of support she received from AIPAC’s super PAC in her failed run for U.S. Senate backfired, saying on CNN that those who criticize AIPAC “maybe don’t understand what the group is” and that she’s “proud of the friendships and the relationships I have there [and] the really good Americans” who make up its membership…

---

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping away from her role at the end of the month, Trump announced today, in order to spend more time with her family. The president said Leavitt will now serve as “one of my top outside advisors”…

---

Josh Kushner, managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to purchase a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye on Jewish Insider for a look at local Jewish political organizing efforts in major cities across the country.

The Hudson Institute will hold an event examining the state of the ongoing conflicts in the Gulf with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Behnam Ben Taleblu and Hudson’s Michael Doran, Ludo Hood and Zineb Riboua.

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BALLIN’ OUT

Josh Kushner, Bob Iger purchase Los Angeles Lakers for record $12.5 billion

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Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, said last month that he would be able to resolve all remaining Holocaust restitution issues within the next two and a half years, before the end of the Trump administration, two sources with knowledge of the remarks told Jewish Insider.

The assertion — made during the July annual meeting of the board of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, better known as the Claims Conference, in New York last month — has left experts in the field skeptical. The U.S. has been pursuing Holocaust restitution issues for decades.

The comments also come amid deliberations inside the State Department over the potential merger of the office of the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust issues, who has historically been the U.S. lead on Holocaust restitution matters into Kaploun’s office. Those efforts at consolidation have divided Jewish community organizations.

Kaploun, in a speech, told attendees at the Claims Conference meeting that because of his contacts and connections, he personally, in cooperation with others in the Trump administration, would be able to resolve the long-standing diplomatic struggles that have hampered restitution efforts.

A State Department spokesperson emphasized the administration’s commitment to Holocaust-related issues.

“The Administration is committed to holding governments accountable for failures to return or provide restitution or compensation for Nazi-stolen assets,” the spokesperson said. “The Administration continues to advance this commitment, including through efforts to combat antisemitism and address Holocaust-era issues.”

The spokesperson noted that Kaploun, since taking office, had secured Armenia and several Latin American governments’ willingness to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, attended memorials at the Jasenovac concentration camp and Donja Gradina memorial and spoke at the March of the Living.

“Secretary Rubio has been clear: 81 years is too long to achieve a measure of justice for the victims and their families,” the spokesperson continued. “Around the world, Ambassador Kaploun continues to reiterate [the] unprecedented commitment of the Trump Administration to these issues.”

But in the room, the comments were met with skepticism.

“The tone … was basically, ‘I’m coming in, and I know what needs to be done, and I’m going to do it my way despite whatever anybody else feels or does because I have the backing of the administration,’” one source, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the meeting, explained.

The individual said that the comment “surprised” many people present.

“These are thorny issues that people have been working on for decades. We all wish that progress would be very fast, but there are complicated political, legal, economic and moral issues that sometimes require a lot of negotiation, a lot of research,” the source said, “not necessarily things that could be done in a matter of months.”

A second individual, also granted anonymity, said that the comments were met by the Claims Conference meeting attendees with “a large amount of eye-rolling,” skepticism and general dismissal.

In a statement to JI, Mark Weitzman, chief operating officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the leading organization in the Jewish world overseeing restitution issues, thanked the administration for its focus on Holocaust restitution issues.

“We very much welcome the continued commitment from the US Administration to treat Holocaust restitution as a top and urgent priority. As survivors pass away, time is not on our side,” Weitzman said.

Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor offered similar sentiments.

“The renewed commitment from the Administration to put its full weight behind outstanding restitution issues is critically important,” said Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor.

Michael Bazyler, a law professor focused on Holocaust and human rights at Chapman University who has worked for years on Holocaust restitution issues, explained to JI that Poland has been the biggest remaining obstacle to such efforts, as it is the only EU country that hasn’t passed a law setting out procedures for restitution, despite facing pressure to do so.

Survivors have sought restitution through the Polish court system but have been consistently rejected, Bazyler said, even when providing comprehensive documentation.

During President Donald Trump’s first term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue while in Poland and Congress passed the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today Act, leading to a State Department report that spotlighted issues with Poland. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who at the time was serving in the Senate, was one of the lead sponsors of the JUST Act and a prominent advocate on the subject of Holocaust restitution while he was on the Hill. He also led a letter while in the Senate calling on Poland to pass legislation to create a restitution mechanism.

The State Department spokesperson highlighted Rubio’s work and focus on the issue, noting that he has said in the past, “We must fight for justice and restitution and ensure that the truth of the Holocaust is taught to every generation.”

The U.S. has sought for years, under successive administrations, to exert diplomatic pressure on Poland to create a restitution process, but Poland has had “absolutely no interest” in doing so and sees no “reason … to do this right now,” Bazyler said.

“Let me just say this: When Ambassador Kaploun says, ‘I can solve this,’ I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Bazyler said.

“This is incredibly delicate, incredibly sensitive,” Menachem Rosensaft, a Cornell University adjunct law professor involved for years in post-Holocaust issues, told JI. “You can’t go with a sledgehammer on countries like Poland, like Lithuania, that have been reluctant or unwilling to provide restitution for all kinds of reasons, and the effort is one of diplomatic subtlety, diplomatic finesse.”

Rosensaft said that the notion that such issues could be resolved in a year or two is “illusory.” 

“I concede to his good intentions. I don’t question his sincerity,” Rosensaft said. “But I … don’t think anybody can deliver in that framework.”

The exact amount of restitution Poland owes is undefined, but could total in the billions of dollars, Bazyler said, given that, in Warsaw alone, major urban development is taking place in an area once owned primarily by Jews. He said there’s also no central database or registry of outstanding restitution claims, either for Poland or globally.

The House voted 314-104 on Wednesday to reject an amendment to the 2027 State Department appropriations bill that would have cut all $3.3 billion in annual U.S. aid to Israel. However, 103 Democrats, a near-majority of the caucus, voted in favor of the measure, with 98 others voting no and 10 voting present.

The record number of Democrats voting in favor of cutting off U.S. aid to Israel highlights the extent to which Democratic support for the Jewish state has eroded, and comes months after a vote in which 40 Senate Democrats backed blocking some weapons sales to Israel. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced the amendment last month to eliminate the $3.3 billion in annual foreign military financing provided by the U.S. to Israel as laid out in the 2016 memorandum of understanding between the two countries. The Kentucky lawmaker, who was defeated in his GOP primary this year, was the only Republican member to support the amendment.

Some Democratic officials — on both sides of the issue — described Massie’s amendment as poorly drafted and overly broad, warning that it would also impact non-military aid as well as U.S. Embassy operations in Israel. Democratic leadership ultimately did not whip members for or against the vote.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a letter on Tuesday that he planned to oppose the amendment and efforts to strip all U.S. aid to Israel, despite also noting that the relationship between the two countries requires “urgent change.” 

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) also voted no on the amendment. Aguilar told Jewish Insider last month that support for Israel’s right to exist in safety and security should continue to be a policy position of the Democratic Party, but cautioned that support for Israeli government policies would not be unconditional. 

Meanwhile, House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), in announcing she would vote yes, noted that the measure was “overly broad” and “not an attempt to have a serious and necessary debate about offensive military aid to Israel.” Despite her criticisms, she said her vote was a signal that the relationship needs to change.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), once a reliable supporter of Israel, supported the Massie amendment, but called it an “unfortunate choice.”

“The United States must be a force for security and stability. The American people are rightly demanding an end to a perpetual cycle of war, and the Netanyahu government cannot maintain its current course,” Pelosi said. “Therefore, while this amendment is ill-conceived, I vote yes for the message that it sends.” 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a critic of Israel who is a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028, called the vote a “very important moment.”

“A majority of Democrats voted in favor of this Massie amendment. To me what this says is that the majority of the Democratic party is most in touch with the American electorate writ large … and the Republicans are not,” Cortez said. “This has been an issue where both parties have been resistant to change.” 

Ocasio-Cortez said lawmakers who voted against the amendment are “stuck in the past.” 

Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement on Tuesday that he would support the amendment because the “American people are crying out for an end to U.S. tax dollars subsidizing Israel’s military.” Casar and the CPC whipped Democrats to support the amendment.

“At a time when millions are struggling to make ends meet, we are sending billions of dollars to a military that has killed tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon,” Casar wrote. “I am aware House Democratic leadership has a different position on this amendment … I respect their leadership.” 

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the former No. 2 House Democrat and a staunch supporter of Israel, opposed the amendment and argued it would “dangerously undermine America’s national security,” limit the U.S.’ ability to counter terrorist organizations and make it harder to leverage the U.S. relationship with Israel toward peace.

“I understand the frustration many members feel with some of the policies and actions of the current Israeli government — as well as their concerns about its commitment to the peace process and a two-state solution,” Hoyer said. “However, this amendment would embolden the enemies of peace, those who seek the complete elimination of Israel, and those looking for an excuse to murder Jews. It is a vote to weaken our ability to engage in the region, and it is a vote against American security, against American interests, and against Americans’ safety.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), who voted no, lambasted the amendment as having no legislative impact or role in helping the prospects for Middle East peace.

“This cynical Republican amendment was put forward to stoke division and divide people here in the United States, not end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians or provide a path forward,” Schneider said. “I will seek to understand how such a flawed legislative proposal — one that would hurt Israelis and Palestinians, as well as America’s standing in the world — generated support.”

He said that supporters of Israel must work to “rebuild a bipartisan consensus” in support of Israel as well as Palestinian self-determination.

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA), who ultimately voted against the amendment, said that under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Israel has lost its way,” suggesting that Netanyahu had undermined Israeli security and damaged the U.S.-Israel alliance.

“Yet, as a Jewish refugee who fled oppression in the Soviet Union, I have long believed that Israel is a refuge for many families like mine,” Vindman said. “These convictions made this one of the most difficult votes I’ve cast because Israel needs to change course. However, I could not support an amendment as poorly written as this one that would eliminate key funding provisions that support Palestinian security forces, humanitarian aid, and defensive systems to protect innocent civilians.” 

Key Democratic committee leaders, including the ranking members of the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees, all voted against the amendment, while Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, voted in favor.

Several pro-Israel House Democrats who are facing contentious primary challenges in which Israel has become a key issue — including Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO), Shri Thanedar (D-MI) and Ed Case (D-HI) — voted against the amendment.

Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Angie Craig (D-MN) also voted against the amendment, while Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) voted present. All three are running for the Senate.

But Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who is running against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in Massachusetts and has tried to tack to the progressive Markey’s left, said in a statement released prior to the vote that he would support the amendment, writing, “We simply cannot continue to condone Netanyahu’s actions that are against our moral conscience and our own national security interests by perpetuating the status quo.”

Other lawmakers who have generally been reliable supporters of Israel — including Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Pat Ryan (D-NY), Laura Friedman (D-CA) and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) — voted for the amendment. 

“I just voted to block sending $3.3 billion of our taxpayer dollars to Netanyahu’s government. It’s wrong on every level,” Ryan said. “I expect groups like AIPAC will not support me in my future elections and frankly, I don’t want their support. Hardline stances that refuse to stand up to a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime have no place in our politics.”

Auchincloss said that his vote to cut funding to Israel was designed to send a message to both President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. 

“With their disastrous war against Iran, their empowerment of settler violence in the West Bank, and their strategic incoherence against Islamist terrorism, both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have sacrificed [Congress’] trust,” Auchincloss said.

He said that the amendment is “not the ideal mechanism of action,” and raised concerns about Massie’s use of antisemitic tropes in his reelection campaign.

“I have weighed these problems against the central thrust of the amendment: there must be consequences for Trump and Netanyahu,” Auchincloss continued. “Those consequences should not impair the State of Israel’s right to defend itself against the atrocities of the terrorist regimes that threaten it. Israel and the United States have common interests, shared values, and a long history. Israel and the United States are allies.”

He also said that upcoming Israeli elections, the next memorandum of understanding with Israel and the long-term impacts of the Iran war offer “an opportunity to renew the U.S.-Israel alliance on shared principles and a bipartisan basis going into the 2027 appropriations process.”

Groups including AIPAC, J Street, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Democratic Majority for Israel and the American Jewish Committee all opposed the amendment, though J Street said the result sent a “strong message” that Democrats agree that the party should pursue a “fundamentally different American approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship and the region.”

Over a dozen Democrats previously endorsed by AIPAC, including Auchincloss, Clark, Friedman, Pelosi, Pettersen, Ryan, Smith and Reps. Gabe Amo (D-RI), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Josh Harder (D-CA), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Bill Keating (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Richard Neal (D-MA) and Joe Neguse (D-CO), voted for the amendment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Tuesday that he opposes an effort to strip all U.S. aid to Israel out of the 2027 State Department appropriations bill, but also argued for “urgent change” to the U.S.-Israel relationship, including changes to U.S. aid going forward.

Addressing the amendment led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Jeffries cited concerns raised by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Greg Meeks (D-NY), respectively the ranking members of the Appropriations and Foreign Affairs Committees, as well as J Street, calling the amendment “overly broad” and suggesting that it would impact nonmilitary aid and U.S. Embassy operations.

Jeffries also argued that the amendment would “restrict our country’s ability to confront Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region who are sworn enemies of both the United States and Israel.”

The New York Democrat accused Republicans of advancing the amendment “for nakedly partisan reasons,” but said that Democratic leadership would not whip members on the issue and that “there are good faith reasons” for lawmakers to vote either way.

He went on to argue that an “urgent change” is needed in the U.S. relationship with the “far-right Netanyahu government” and Middle East policy in general, calling for a “major reset” based on support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and strong support for a Palestinian state. He added that a “meaningful change in direction is needed” on U.S. aid to Israel at the conclusion of the current memorandum of understanding in 2028.

“Israel has an advanced economy and is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons, as the Prime Minister recently acknowledged,” Jeffries said, suggesting he supports an end to direct military aid at the end of the current MOU — a shorter timeline than has been advocated for by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Accordingly, any future security arrangement between our two countries should be structured consistently with defense agreements that exist with our other Western allies and strictly adhere to our human rights laws and values.”

He also said that the next MOU should continue to protect Israel’s qualitative military edge and advance “mutually beneficial joint technology, innovation, research and further development of defensive programs” — something that some in his party have sought to end.

Jeffries lambasted Netanyahu, accusing him of damaging Israel’s reputation and standing in the U.S. and around the world, harming normalization efforts and undermining peace efforts. He called for sanctions and criminal liability for Israelis involved in violent activity in the West Bank.

Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a bill on Tuesday that directs the State Department to work with U.S. allies to dismantle and replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The “Replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act” would give the secretary of state 180 days to submit a “comprehensive strategy, coordinated with international partners and allies,” to dismantle UNRWA, including a detailed timeline for the wind-down, identification of governmental or non-governmental entities responsible for taking over UNRWA’s portfolio, a funding plan and a transition plan.

The secretary would be required to begin implementing the plan within a year of submitting the strategy.

The legislation also demands oversight, accountability and neutrality mechanisms. 

The bill requires that “no interruption of critical humanitarian services occurs” during the transition period.

“UNRWA has repeatedly failed to meet the basic standards of accountability and neutrality that the international community should expect from any humanitarian organization,” Lawler said in a statement. “Humanitarian aid must reach those who need it, not strengthen organizations that undermine peace and security. This legislation provides a responsible path to replace UNRWA with trustworthy partners while ensuring critical humanitarian assistance continues uninterrupted.”

Groups including AIPAC, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Christians United for Israel and FDD Action are supporting the bill.

“UNRWA is a deeply compromised organization that is beyond any capability for reform. It’s time for the U.S. to implement a serious plan to eliminate and replace UNRWA once and for all,” AIPAC said in a statement.

Matt Kenney, JINSA’s vice president of government affairs, said that UNRWA “has forfeited any claim to serve as a credible humanitarian partner in the Middle East,” citing the organization’s ties to terrorism. UNRWA employees were found to have participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and otherwise have ties to the terror organization.

“UNRWA does not resettle refugees; UNRWA recruits refugees. How an organization continues to exist for over half a century, despite receiving billions of dollars from the American taxpayer, yet has not managed to resettle one single refugee is beyond me,” CUFI Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Hagee Parker said in a statement. She called UNRWA an “institutional failure.”

House Democrats remain divided over a push by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to slash $3.3 billion in military aid the U.S. is set to provide Israel in the 2027 State Department funding bill, and top Democratic leaders are continuing to keep their own positions vague. 

But when that vote comes to the floor is still uncertain, as a handful of hard-line Republican rebels have pushed normal House business to a halt. Some senior House Democrats indicated that, even if they don’t support this particular effort, they still seek changes to the U.S.-Israel relationship.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) continued to withhold his position on the amendment, after saying a day prior he might have more to share on the subject after a caucus meeting on Tuesday morning.

“Those conversations are ongoing,” Jeffries said. “We had a very productive meeting today, and as I’ve indicated, there’s a lot that needs to happen differently to get to a place where there’s a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and we all need to focus on actually achieving a two-state solution once and for all.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the No. 3 House Democrat, said at a press conference on Tuesday that Democrats had continued to air a variety of views on the issue at the caucus meeting. But he again declined to offer Democratic leadership’s view on the subject, pending whether the amendment would actually come up for a vote.

“Whether you are supportive or in opposition to the Massie amendment, that doesn’t mean that we feel everything is going well in that region, and that doesn’t mean that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has a blank check,” Aguilar — generally viewed as one of the more staunchly pro-Israel members of Democratic leadership — said. “It also doesn’t mean that our aid and support will go on forever, and we will continue to work through that.”

He said that Democratic leaders would have more to share if and when the amendment comes up for a vote. Pressed on how and whether Democrats can explain their decision on the issue, Aguilar called it “tough and emotional for the American people,” before pivoting to criticize GOP policies.

The timing of the vote on the amendment remains in question, as right-wing Republicans have stalled the House floor for the second week in a row, blocking the procedural measure that would advance consideration of the State Department funding bill, as well as the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) — the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee — joined his counterparts on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in opposing the amendment, putting the top Democrats on each national security committee in agreement. But he said he would support conditioning U.S. aid to Israel.

“The Massie amendment is way too overbroad,” Himes told Jewish Insider. “I am all in favor of making sure that the Israelis don’t get weapons that can find their way into settlers’ hands in the West Bank, [and] put some conditions on the way they conduct their wars in Gaza and in Lebanon. But this proposal is way overbroad.”

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) criticized Republicans for allowing the amendment to come to the floor at all. Republicans blocked another Massie-led amendment aiming to strip U.S.-Israel cooperation provisions out of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act from coming to the House floor.

“I still hope that [House Speaker Mike] Johnson (R-LA) pulls it,” Landsman told JI. “The other side allowing this to come to the floor is truly a mystery to me. My hope is that ultimately Johnson appreciates how terrible this is and the kind of conflict and division it creates. It hurts us, it hurts our partner [and] everything we’re working to do in the Middle East.”

He said he believes Republicans are allowing the amendment to move forward as a deliberate wedge to divide Democrats.

“You don’t play around with issues like this,” Landsman said. “This stuff can become very dangerous very quickly. … Why does he keep using Israel this way? It’s not right, and I think he’s getting a lot of calls from his supporters saying, ‘Stop doing this. Leave this issue alone unless you’re actually voting on something meaningful, but don’t give Thomas Massie airtimes for his grievances as it relates to an entire community of people.’”

Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) told reporters that he expects a “significant number of Democrats” to support the amendment. He said there’s a “growing number of members” that do not support providing additional weapons “for Netanyahu” but “I respect that others may have a different opinion.”

“What I think we’re all trying to get united around is the idea that everybody in the Democratic caucus should be working towards there being peace in the region, stability for Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike, and working to make sure that the Israeli government does not drag us back into war with Iran,” Casar said.

Asked about Democratic leadership’s silence on the issue, Casar said “the leadership should listen to our members, listen to our voters and do their best to provide guidance and information.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that “after witnessing U.S.-funded weapons help perpetuate genocide of Palestinians,” the American people “want to see more accountability into where public taxpayer dollars are going.”

As Washington, D.C., prepares to host a weekend of July Fourth hoopla on the National Mall, senior Trump administration officials, diplomats and Jewish communal leaders will gather on Friday evening across from the Lincoln Memorial for a Shabbat dinner celebrating America’s 250th birthday. 

Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs,  and Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, are hosting the Shabbat dinner at the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to an invitation obtained by Jewish Insider. The July 3rd gathering is co-hosted by the State Department and Combat Antisemitism Movement. 

Attendees can expect to walk away with branded yarmulkes, Jewish prayer books and special challenge coins. Several hundred people are expected to attend, a source familiar with the event told JI. 

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee are warning that an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut aid to Israel from the State Department’s annual funding bill could have further-reaching consequences than intended and impact a range of other programs and issues, Jewish Insider has learned.

Those concerns come amid reports of an outpouring of agita among House Democrats about how to approach the amendment — a reflection of how far debate among Democrats over aid to Israel has shifted.

Though Massie has focused his messaging around the amendment on the $3.3 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel laid out in the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, the amendment also includes blanket language stating that “none of the funds made available under this Act shall be obligated or expended for Israel.”

Democrats on the Appropriations Committee are warning that it would be up to the State Department to interpret how to implement the amendment, but that the amendment would likely also require the department to withhold funding for joint U.S.-Israel development programs in underserved countries, the Middle East Partnership for Peace program, the Middle East Regional Cooperation program supporting Israeli-Arab scientific cooperation and longstanding funding for refugee resettlement in Israel — a line item that dates back to efforts to resettle Soviet refugees.

The legislators believe, depending on the State Department’s interpretation, it may also defund U.S. Embassy operations in Israel, U.S. support for the Palestinian Security Forces, educational and cultural exchanges and even U.S. military sales to Israel not funded by the U.S.

Democrats on the committee are also emphasizing that Israel is one of 35 recipients of U.S. military funding, that the funding includes requirements on how it is used and that the orders in question generally take years to fulfill.

Funding for cooperative missile-defense programs with Israel would not be impacted by the amendment, as that funding comes through the defense appropriations process, a separate bill.

The amendment was originally set to come up for consideration this week in the House but — amid a rebellion by some House Republicans over the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act, President Donald Trump’s top-priority voter ID bill — Republicans were unable to approve a procedural vote to open consideration of the State Department bill.

House Democrats are set to hold a virtual meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation.

AIPAC has been lobbying aggressively against the amendment, with an action alert to members urging them to contact their representatives in Congress to oppose the amendment. In messaging for Democrats, the group emphasized that the memorandum of understanding was finalized by the Obama administration and in the eight appropriations cycles since, “Congress has thus far never failed to ensure Israel has the resources it needs to defend its families.”

“Israel is on the front lines fighting against our shared enemies in the Middle East,” the AIPAC messaging reads. “Robust U.S.-Israel security cooperation is vital to advancing our mutual security interests around the world. Cutting funding for assistance to Israel would embolden our adversaries and undermine a key pillar of longtime U.S. national security policy.”

The message also describes Israel as a “model ally” defending the U.S. and shared values against common enemies and the funding as a “smart and cost-effective investment.”

J Street is also opposing the amendment, focusing on its impacts on MEPPA, MEPI and MERC, which the group says “play an important role in peacebuilding and people-to-people relations, including focusing specifically on Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding in the case of MEPPA.”

The group did not specifically defend the military funding but said it “supports a rapid and responsible phaseout of the $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel when the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding expires in FY2028 and believes the United States should honor its existing commitments rather than abruptly terminating assistance.”

At the same time, it offered talking points for members who ultimately support this amendment: “Given the realities on the ground, Members may choose to support this amendment,” adding that members should note that the funding does not impact missile defense and should express support for restoring civil programs.

The anti-Israel group A New Policy is also claiming in messaging to members that the U.S. funding for Israel set to be disbursed this year would be consistent with the MOU because of the additional funding appropriated in the 2024 national security supplemental bill. But the MOU specifically guarantees $3.3 billion to be provided annually each year, without consideration of any additional funding provided in other years.

DMFI is also urging lawmakers to reject the amendment, emphasizing both the military and non-military impacts.

“Israel is facing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region. Cutting off Israel entirely would not create peace. It would embolden America’s adversaries and make a wider regional war more likely,” the group said on X, emphasizing that U.S. support to Israel ultimately helps defend the U.S. and keep American forces out of harm’s way.

DMFI also said that offensive weapons systems are needed to prevent attacks before they happen, and that “eliminating all U.S. funding for Israel is not serious oversight. It is abandonment without a plan.”

Trump urged Republicans to abandon their obstructionist tactics on the issue, and their weekly schedule released Friday indicated that Republican leadership intends to seek to bring the State Department appropriations bill forward again in the coming week.

Lawmakers are also slated to consider the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act on the floor next week.

That bill will bring with it more fights over the U.S.-Israel relationship, with plans by Massie to offer an amendment to eliminate a relatively routine provision on U.S.-Israel military cooperation that that far right and far left have falsely framed as a merging of the American and Israeli militaries and a surrender of U.S. sovereignty to Israel.

Had the House opened consideration of the State Department bill last week, it was also set to consider an amendment by Massie on cutting U.S. funding for Jordan, including military aid, as well as an amendment by Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) banning any funding for the U.N. and an amendment by Roy to cut funding for the Middle East Partnership Initiative, which funds educational exchange programs for students from the Middle East, among other programs.

J Street, in its communications with lawmakers, offered more robust support for the military funding for Jordan.

The State Department announced on Thursday that nine new parties had signed on to Pax Silica, the U.S.-led initiative uniting American allies with the aim of developing global supply chains for artificial intelligence and the production of semiconductors, chips, critical minerals and energy sources to reduce global dependence on China.

The announcement came from Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs and the architect of the project, during the Pax Silica Summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, which brought together artificial intelligence and tech companies, prominent investors, senior business executives and top officials from at least two dozen countries seeking partnerships and investment opportunities with fellow signatories of the alliance.

Helberg told attendees that the European Commission, the Netherlands, Germany and Greece had officially joined the alliance and that Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and Panama would sign on this week, bringing the total number of signatories to 22. 

Helberg also suggested Italy would soon join the alliance and said that 35 countries had signed on to a global AI opportunity declaration that the U.S. had spearheaded as part of the initiative. 

Among those in attendance for the opening of the two-day summit were American Israeli venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, Indian Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and former Italian Ambassador to the U.S. Armando Varricchio.

The summit also was the setting for the “first trilateral economic dialogue” between the U.S., Israel and the UAE, Helberg said., where he was joined by Israel’s National AI Directorate head, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Erez Eskel, and United Arab Emirates Minister of State Saeed Bin Mubarak Al Hajeri. 

Helberg posted a photo of the three men standing in front of their respective countries’ flags to X and said, “In President Trump’s first term, the Abraham Accords showed peace builds prosperity. In his second term, under Secretary Rubio leadership, Pax Silica is showing shared supply chains builds shared economic security.”

It came more than seven months after the State Department launched Pax Silica with the goal of boosting diplomatic ties between U.S. allies by encouraging the partnerships that create shared economic incentives. Israel was one of the founding nations of Pax Silica when the U.S. launched the initiative last December alongside Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar joined the alliance in January. 

Helberg used his remarks on Thursday to encourage U.S. allies to embrace collective efforts to address shared challenges on AI and energy.

“Governments everywhere are asking many of the same questions,” Helberg said. “How do we build trusted AI ecosystems? How do we secure resilient supply chains? How do we ensure our citizens share in the prosperity that AI can create?”

“No country can answer those questions alone,” he continued.

The undersecretary of state touted to Jewish Insider in February Israel and Qatar’s participation in the expanding alliance, despite the deeply hostile relationship between the two countries, as proof that bypassing traditional security agreements and instead encouraging increased economic cooperation through U.S.-led frameworks can create pathways to diplomacy.

“This is the first time that Israel and Qatar have been brought under the same framework and signed the same document to actually agree that shared supply chains are more important than shared ideologies,” Helberg told JI at the time. 

He told the Financial Times this week that Israel and the UAE’s successful use of American technology in building out their respective tech sectors served as evidence that the U.S. was not using the initiative to solely promote its own interests. “These countries punch far above their weight, so that should be a really strong counterexample to folks,” he said. 

Helberg posted on X on Thursday that the U.S., Israel and the UAE held a first trilateral economic dialogue on the margins of the summit. “In President Trump’s first term, the Abraham Accords showed peace builds prosperity,” he said. “In his second term, under Secretary Rubio leadership, Pax Silica is showing shared supply chains builds shared economic security.”

Helberg unveiled several new ventures on the first day of the summit, including the Pax Silica Artificial Intelligence Assistance Project, which he described as a service “for Pax partners that ship high-value AI supply chain products through Panama,” and PaxPass, an application he said was aimed at streamlining the movement of “the critical goods that power the AI economy,” along with a $50 million commitment from the U.S. to finance the platform. He also revealed plans for the U.S. and Kazakhstan to jointly establish an economic security zone in the Central Asian country to protect mineral security.

He announced the establishment of The Foundry School, a workforce development initiative partnering the State Department with Stanford University to “equip entrepreneurs, engineers and advanced manufacturing leaders across the Pax Silica economies.” Helberg said the State Department would also sign a memorandum of understanding with Stanford to “develop a first-of-its-kind curriculum for institutions across Pax Silica economies to adopt and teach.”

“Our hope is that this is only the first of a handful of such zones across the Pax Silica network, creating a connected ecosystem where investment, innovation and trusted production reinforce one another across partner countries,” Helberg told attendees. 

Jewish communal groups are at loggerheads over the possibility of merging two related but distinct State Department offices: the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and special envoy for Holocaust issues.

Some Jewish groups recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in support of the concept of merging the two offices, while others have sent letters in recent  months opposing such a move.

Proponents of combining the two offices say that doing so consolidates linked issues under the authority of one envoy with ambassador-rank status, while maintaining the work of both offices. Opponents say that combining the two teams would undermine and diminish the work of the Holocaust affairs envoy and risk politicizing critical work on Holocaust restitution.

The reexamination of the two roles comes ahead of the expected retirement of Ellen Germain, who has served as special envoy for Holocaust issues since 2021. Advocates on both sides of the debate said they understand the State Department is considering whether to merge the two offices, though no final decision has yet been made. Multiple communal letters reference rumors about the possibility of a merger of the two offices.

The antisemitism envoy office focuses on combating antisemitism globally, and is led by a political appointee chosen by the president and confirmed by the Senate, who has typically changed with each administration. The Holocaust affairs envoy office focuses on Holocaust restitution and education issues, as well as combating Holocaust denial and distortion, and is led by an apolitical career Foreign Service Officer, often maintaining their role across multiple administrations.

The Department of State did not provide comment.

In a June 10 letter, groups and leaders including the Combat Antisemitism Movement, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Coalition for Jewish Values, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Orthodox Union, World Jewish Congress, Zionist Organization of America, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, former antisemitism envoy Elan Carr, former deputy antisemitism envoy Ellie Cohanim and former deputy antisemitism envoy Karen Barall, wrote to Rubio urging him to merge the two positions.

“The historical realities of global antisemitism and the preservation of Holocaust memory are inextricably linked. Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented and sophisticated surge in global anti-Jewish hostility, which frequently weaponizes Holocaust denial, historical revisionism, and the distortion of Nazi-era atrocities to fuel modern hatred,” the groups wrote. “Fragmenting our diplomatic response across two distinct offices dilutes administrative efficiency, risks duplicative efforts, and underutilizes vital Department resources at a time when maximum strategic impact is required.”

The groups said that combining the two offices “will streamline U.S. foreign policy implementation and provide foreign governments and international bodies with a singular, high- level point of contact in the form of [current antisemitism envoy] Ambassador [Yehuda] Kaploun, elevating the visibility and diplomatic weight of the SEHI portfolio” and help facilitate the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism worldwide.

The Holocaust issues office currently falls within the State Department’s Europe portfolio, while the antisemitism office has a global mandate.

Groups including the American Jewish Committee, American Joint Distribution Committee, Agudath Israel of America, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, The National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry and the World Jewish Restitution Organization — many of which deal directly with post-Holocaust and restitution issues — are opposing the move.

The Holocaust issues office “serves as a critical statement to the world of American values and moral leadership and of the singular significance that the United States attributes to commemoration, research and remembrance of the Holocaust, as well as the commitment of the United States in seeking justice for Holocaust survivors,” they said in a joint letter to Rubio in late April, a draft of which was obtained by JI.

The groups described the office as a critical resource for the Jewish community, which has received strong support from Congress. “In a world where there is less and less knowledge of the horrors of the Holocaust, and there are fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors, it is imperative that this office which is dedicated solely to these goals, continue to stand as a beacon showing the special commitment of the United States government to education about the Holocaust and the United States’ role in leading the quest for justice for the victims and their families internationally.”

The groups urged Rubio to appoint a “senior diplomat” to fill Germain’s role upon her retirement.

Numerous Jewish organizations have also weighed in individually, on each side of the issue.

In favor of a merger, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also wrote to Rubio this month in favor of combining the two offices. He said that combining the offices under a Senate-confirmed ambassador will “elevate the issue set; strengthen U.S. representation on key international fora like the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; and send a clear signal to foreign counterparts that the United States remains committed to these issues.”

“Ambassador Kaploun has made clear that the status quo must be broken if we are to finally achieve a small measure of justice. This means strengthening accountability, working with Jewish communities, and seeking results, not conferences and photo-ops,” Cooper said. “I look forward to supporting him in those efforts.”

The World Jewish Congress also expressed support for merging the two offices, arguing in a May letter to Rubio that the “Holocaust issues today differ from those of the postwar and restitution eras.”

“The central challenges now concern Holocaust denial and distortion, the erosion of historical memory, and the exploitation of Holocaust revisionism in service of contemporary antisemitism and extremism,” the WJC letter reads, adding that the issues are now far larger than Europe.

But that’s far from a consensus view within the Jewish community.

Opposing a merger, AJC CEO Ted Deutch separately wrote to Rubio in March to “respectfully underscore the critical importance of maintaining the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues as a separate, prominent, and fully empowered office within the Department, and to urge that the process of selecting a qualified Special Envoy be set in motion without delay.”

“Maintaining a dedicated and empowered Special Envoy ensures that the United States can continue to press governments to meet their commitments, resolve outstanding restitution matters, combat Holocaust distortion and antisemitism, and uphold justice for survivors and their families while it is still possible to do so,” Deutch said, particularly at a time of rising Holocaust denial, distortion and inversion, including by public figures and leaders, and when many Holocaust restitution claims remain unresolved.

Robert Williams, the USC Shoah Foundation’s chair and CEO, also urged Rubio, in a letter in late May, to keep the two positions separate.

“Merging these offices risks diluting their effectiveness. This is something we can ill afford in our trans-Atlantic relations or in our work in North America,” Williams said, particularly after Canada eliminated its own antisemitism envoy. “Respecting the relevance of the Holocaust and justice for the survivors, while simultaneously focusing the fight against antisemitism is only possible if State maintain[s] both offices with their complementary yet different strengths and areas of expertise.”

A source familiar with the situation said that some in the Jewish community feel that having a senior FSO in the Holocaust affairs envoy role has historically served the office well, insulating the position and the issues from politics.

The source said that some in the community see the move to combine the offices as driven by Kaploun, and believe it to be an effort by the antisemitism envoy to expand his influence over various issues relating to the Jewish community.

At the same time, the source acknowledged that there could be value in placing the Holocaust affairs envoy’s responsibilities in the hands of someone such as Kaploun, who has the ear of President Donald Trump, in addition to other senior officials.

Barall, who serves as the chief policy officer for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said that discussions about combining the two offices are longstanding, dating back to the Bush administration, when the antisemitism office was first established.

“We’re at a time where resources are limited, and combining expertise and budgets under a unified strategy can create greater impact without sacrificing the mission,” Barall said. “When you have two different offices working independently and in parallel of each other, it doesn’t benefit anybody.”

She said that it’s not helpful for the Jewish community and is confusing to foreign interlocutors to have two separate offices, which sometimes are undertaking duplicative or contradictory efforts.

Alyza Lewin, the president of U.S. affairs at CAM, echoed that argument, calling the current separation “awkward and inefficient” for interlocutors with the offices.

“It makes sense for the two offices to be combined, so that the issues are addressed together with one voice, with consistency, and it also, quite frankly, elevates the Holocaust issues today” under the supervision of a Senate-confirmed official reporting directly to the secretary of state, Lewin said.

She said that her understanding is that there would be no reduction in staff or resources to either office, and that the Holocaust affairs envoy’s staff would move to the antisemitism envoy’s team, ensuring no loss of expertise or capacity to work on Holocaust issues.

Lewin also argued that, with the shrinking number of Holocaust survivors, the work of the Holocaust affairs envoy is shifting toward a greater emphasis on issues like Holocaust memory, Holocaust denial and Holocaust education, which she said are a “key part” of modern antisemitism.

Opponents of a merger say that the extent of that shift is overstated, and that the issues of the Holocaust affairs envoy remain critical, and distinct, from those of the antisemitism envoy.

“I worry … that a merger brings with it a risk that these offices’ individual tasks will be harder to accomplish, and at least in the short term, and that could inhibit our ability to, A, push back against the world’s oldest hatred, and B, as the head of a Holocaust institution, ensure that we have a future that remembers, learns from, and respects the history of the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance over the long term,” Williams, the USC Shoah Foundation CEO, said.

He also argued that Holocaust restitution issues remain a critical and ongoing task and will not disappear in the near future — pointing to Congress’ recent passage of a new law relating to restitution issues and some countries that continue to resist restitution efforts.

Williams further argued that Holocaust education and antisemitism are related but ultimately distinct issues. And, he said, the U.S. should not necessarily model its own approach on other countries’ decisions to combine antisemitism and Holocaust issues into a singular role, though he said he did not doubt Kaploun’s personal capabilities and effectiveness.

“None of these countries have been as effective as morally clear and as useful in ensuring a future for the fight against antisemitism and a future that remembers and respects the Holocaust, as has the United States, and I think a major factor in that has been because we have divided labor effectively,” Williams said. He warned that consolidating the positions could ultimately open the door to antisemitism and Holocaust work being subsumed into a broader portfolio in some future administration.

Menachem Rosensaft, a Cornell University adjunct law professor involved for years in post-Holocaust issues and fighting antisemitism who has worked with multiple envoys in both offices, said that combining the two teams “risks undermining the effectiveness and the professionalism of the Holocaust-era office.”

“I think both are important offices, both are important areas, but they’re also different,” Rosensaft said. “One of them is a politically oriented office looking at contemporary manifestations of antisemitism abroad, and the other is an office whose purpose… is to effectively assist in Holocaust-era restitution, mostly benefiting Holocaust survivors and their heirs, and those are two very different functions.”

He emphasized that the Holocaust affairs envoy position is in some ways “much more sensitive and delicate” because it requires navigating complex bureaucracies in Europe, a task which he said is best left to an apolitical career official rather than a political appointee — even as he praised Kaploun’s credibility on the issue of antisemitism.

The State Department’s top legal advisor on Wednesday drew a direct connection from the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 — which sought to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians — to the global rise in Islamist terrorism, in remarks delivered at an event in Washington marking the anniversary of the deadly 1994 terror attacks on the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The suicide bombing, orchestrated by Hezbollah, killed 85 people and injured more than 300 others one year after the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House. 

Diplomats, survivors of the attack, Jewish community members and State Department officials gathered on Wednesday at the U.S. Institute of Peace to commemorate the July 18 attacks, where U.S. and Argentine officials vowed to work together to fight Islamist terrorism. Reed Rubinstein, the State Department legal advisor, used his remarks to herald President Donald Trump’s efforts to fight terrorism, which he described as a course correction from decades of failed leadership. 

“The fruit of those accords paradoxically included a massive increase in brutal terrorism,” Rubinstein said, referring to the Oslo Accords. “Oslo led to an unprecedented wave of suicide bombing and death.”

He criticized activists who called the dead “sacrifices to peace,” chastising them for using biblical language “to justify the murder of many as ‘unfortunate but necessary’ sacrifices on the path to peace.”

“In those days, and for so many years after, when moral clarity and truth telling were required, the leadership failed,” said Rubinstein. He took aim at institutions like the United Nations, universities and the media for failing to speak out against antisemitism — and placed blame on Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden. 

“Candidly, prior to Jan. 20, 2025, the United States government more often than not failed, and in many cases failed spectacularly,” said Rubinstein. “But under President Trump, things have changed. Under his direction, the United States has taken and is taking decisive and unprecedented steps to fight antisemitism.” 

Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, called Argentina a “model for the world” in combating terrorism. He shared that two days earlier, during a visit to the South American country, he met with President Javier Milei and thanked him for designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. 

“Argentina has transformed from a beacon where terrorism once reigned supreme to a beacon of Jewish life,” said Kaploun. 

Other senior State Department officials at the event included Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs; Thomas DiNanno, under secretary of state for arms control and international security; and the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, Gregory LoGerfo. Argentine Ambassador to the U.S. Alejandro Oxenford introduced the event, which was organized by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the Democratic Socialists of America’s efforts to boost affiliated candidates in New York City’s congressional primaries next month, and talk to the State Department’s Sarah Rogers about the Trump administration’s moves to fight antisemitism while preserving free speech protections. We report on NY-15 candidate Michael Blake’s endorsement from a group that attacked incumbent Rep. Ritchie Torres over his “Jewish donors,” and cover President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he may not agree to a deal to end the war with Iran absent commitments from Gulf states to join the Abraham Accords. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Eyal Shani, Ron Baron and Tali Farhadian.

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

What We’re Watching

• Kuwait said that it activated its air defenses overnight in response to what it called “hostile missile and drone threats,” without identifying the source of the attacks. The announcement from Kuwait’s armed forces came hours after the U.S. struck Iranian attack drones in the Strait of Hormuz — the second time in three days that the U.S. has conducted strikes on Iranian targets — and Islamic Republic forces fired on four ships attempting to traverse the strait.
• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is slated to deliver the commencement address at Yeshiva University at the school’s graduation ceremony this afternoon.
• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is scheduled to appear with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch today to brief media about security ahead of Sunday’s Israel Day on Fifth parade.
• The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History is holding its annual Only in America Gala tonight in New York, honoring Jane and Stuart Weitzman.
• Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan will square off in a debate this afternoon at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD AND MATTHEW SHEA

We reported earlier this month on the series of vacancies in key ambassador-level posts throughout the Middle East — in countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait. A senior State Department post overseeing Middle East issues also remains vacant, after the previous nominee was blocked by lawmakers.

At this point, time is running short for President Donald Trump to fill any of those vacant posts before the confirmation process potentially becomes more difficult in the Senate after the midterm elections. 

Processing the nominations will take time: The chamber is set to be out of session for significant portions of the next few months. And there will be various other critical bills — including government funding, the annual defense bill and a potential third reconciliation package, to process on the Senate floor. Even ahead of floor proceedings, the vetting process in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can, itself, take months before nominees appear for a confirmation hearing.

If Trump seeks to fill these posts, it will likely be in the administration’s interest to do so before the end of the current Congress, as GOP control of the Senate for the final two years of Trump’s term is not assured, and even if Republicans retain the majority, it could be with an even smaller margin.

It’s not just Democrats who have proven to be an obstacle to some of the administration’s picks. Amer Ghalib, Trump’s original nominee to be ambassador to Kuwait, was blocked by Republicans over his history of antisemitism, among other issues. And Joel Rayburn, tapped for a top Middle East job in the State Department, was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who also slowed down proceedings for U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz.

That said, it’s not clear whether the administration will prioritize filling these vacancies. Earlier this month, experts told Jewish Insider that the White House has seemed content to vest responsibility for broad Middle East portfolios within a tight circle of personal allies of the president, including White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack — whose role has particularly concerned some Republicans. Many experts have argued that leaving the positions open is unwise and risks harming U.S. influence and diplomacy in the region.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told JI that “the department has confidence in our ability to communicate with our counterparts around the world and advance the national interest.” 

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

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

DSA quietly poised to make inroads in NYC’s congressional delegation

As an emboldened socialist wing of the Democratic Party gains traction across New York City in the aftermath of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory, Jewish leaders and moderate officials are bracing for the possibility of multiple upsets in key House races that could reshape the ideological orientation of the state’s congressional delegation, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

State of play: Three races have drawn heightened attention in recent weeks, including a marquee House contest playing out largely in progressive Brooklyn where Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is seeking to fend off a serious challenge from former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. Meanwhile, in upper Manhattan and the Bronx, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) is facing what looks like an increasingly credible challenge from an anti-Israel organizer. And in the race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), her favored primary candidate is struggling to compete against a democratic socialist endorsed by Mamdani.

Read the full story here.

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MINNESOTA MANEUVERS

Angie Craig will not seek Dem Party endorsement amid opposition from left-wing activist

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), a moderate Democrat running for Minnesota’s open Senate seat, said on Wednesday that she would not seek the support of the state Democratic Party at its convention being held this weekend — effectively ceding that endorsement to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, her left-wing opponent, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

What she said: Craig, who will still run in the Aug. 11 primary, said “the DFL endorsement process just doesn’t reflect the full scope of the party that we are and the purple state that we have become,” referring to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Minnesota’s Democratic affiliate, which was already expected to back Flanagan.

Read the full story here.

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ESCAPE HATCH

Trump suggests he may not sign Iran deal without Abraham Accords commitments from Gulf countries

President Donald Trump signaled on Wednesday that he may not agree to a deal to end the war with Iran if Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the region do not join the Abraham Accords, arguing that the Gulf nations “owe that to us,” Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.

Deal or no deal: The president made the comments while taking questions from reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, where he was asked if he would accept a peace agreement with Iran that did not address uranium enrichment. Trump responded that he would agree to a deal that allows for continued negotiations on some issues, though he repeatedly said he would not allow for “a crummy agreement.”

Read the full story here.

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Q&A

State Dept. official Sarah Rogers urges protecting free speech while fighting antisemitism

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, maintained that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech, including for extreme views, does not take away from its opposition to antisemitism, telling Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs in a wide-ranging interview that “the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid.”

Also, and: “I don’t see this as a line-drawing exercise between opposed priorities,” Rogers said. “There’s really no conflict between opposing antisemitism on the one hand and opposing censorship on the other. America has a proud history of opposing both. Censorship has not kept antisemites out of power, it has been deployed by antisemites who gain power.”

Read the full interview here.

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ON THE SCENE

In fiery address, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch rails against HUC ordaining anti-Zionist rabbis

In a fiery keynote address opening the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference on Wednesday morning, Ammiel Hirsch, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s senior rabbi, denounced Reform religious seminaries that ordain anti-Zionist clergy members and doubled down on the importance of Jewish particularism, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports.

What he said: “We cannot succumb to those who preach a false philosophy of Jewish universalism that camouflages disdain for Jewish particularism under the guise of a sometimes sweeping, self-righteous, sanctimonious and suffocating misunderstanding of tikkun olam,” said Hirsch, to wide applause. “Any seminary that either in word or deed, in principle or impression, acquires the reputation of being hostile to Zionism – a seminary that ordains anti-Zionist clergy – has no future in America,” he said, also to wide applause. 

Read the full story here and sign up for eJP’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.

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NOT CONVINCED

Ritchie Torres challenger Michael Blake endorsed by group that attacked congressman over ‘Jewish donors’

Michael Blake, the anti-Israel candidate challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in a Democratic primary in the Bronx, accepted an endorsement on Wednesday from a small progressive group that, in its announcement, attacked Torres for his relationship with “Jewish donors,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The group, Progressive Voters Network, also maintains an active endorsement of Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic Texas Democratic primary candidate who faced condemnation from across the party and was repudiated even by other far-left groups.

What they said: “This AIPAC puppet has raked in millions from the zionist lobby while our people struggle with rent, groceries, and crumbling NYCHA buildings,” the announcement reads. “Torres prioritizes his Jewish donors over his own Black and Brown constituents, cheerleading genocide and shielding war criminals instead of fighting for affordability and justice.”

Read the full story here.

Denial: House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) political spokesperson denied on Wednesday allegations that Johnson was involved in boosting Galindo.

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Worthy Reads

Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The Free Press’ Eli Lake profiles the Pentagon’s Elbridge Colby, as the under secretary of defense for policy, an opponent of military action against Iran, finds himself defending the Trump administration’s policies vis-a-vis Iran. “The perception inside Washington in the early months of the second Trump presidency was that Colby and the Pentagon bureaucracy would slow-walk military plans for Iran. The hawks may still have sway in Congress, but the populist restrainers were taking over the national security state. That’s not what happened. Instead, the military provided Trump with war plans for Iran, and the president approved them. … What emerges is a man caught between the contradictions of Trump’s second-term foreign policy. ‘The president is not with him when it comes to Iran,’ one administration official told me.” [FreePress]

Undoing UNRWA: In The Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich considers how President Donald Trump could effectively shutter the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which he describes as the “front office” of Hamas. “Mr. Trump cut Unrwa’s funding in 2018 and again in 2025, citing revelations that a dozen employees participated in the Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But U.N. agencies, and Unrwa especially, are designed to be insulated from accountability. Unrwa was created by the General Assembly in 1949 as a temporary mechanism to assist Arabs displaced during Israel’s War of Independence. While it can be closed only by the General Assembly, strategically applied pressure from the U.S. could go a long way.” [WSJ]

Tea Party for Dems: Semafor’s Burgess Everett, Nicholas Wu and David Weigel talk to Democratic officials about the growing concerns around statewide nominating conventions, which in a number of cases this cycle have served to amplify ideological rifts within the party. “The role of party conventions and assemblies is sparking heated debate in the Democratic Party as it seeks to both capitalize on anti-Trump sentiment and anoint candidates who can win general elections. Some Democrats see closed, activist-driven state party events as opportunities to tap into powerful grassroots energy, but others worry that the functions are brewing a liberal version of the anti-establishment tea party.” [Semafor]

A Path Out of Isolation: In The New York Times, RAND’s Shira Efron considers how Israel’s upcoming elections provide an opportunity to reverse Israel’s deepening global isolation. “The task ahead is twofold: to protect Israelis from real dangers, and to persuade the wider world that Israel’s security and its democratic character are not mutually exclusive. The coming elections may not answer everything the international community asks for, but they can stop the slide into isolation, rebuild some trust and allow pragmatic steps that make Israel less alone, and more secure.” [NYTimes]

Word on the Street

A new Emerson College national poll finds that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, if he runs for president in 2028, would be statistically tied with Vice President JD Vance; the poll finds Vance winning 36% of the GOP vote (down from 52% in February), with Rubio tallying 35% (up from 20%)…

The poll also finds former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading the field of prospective Democratic presidential candidates with 18% of the vote; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro landed in fourth place with 10% of the vote, one of his strongest showings in any national poll to date…

Politico reports on NY-12 congressional candidate Jack Schlossberg’s recent comments to a private group at New York’s Harmonie Club, in which he diverged from some of his recent, critical positions on Israel, telling attendees he was “a stronger supporter of Israel than I ever thought I would be”; in a series of X posts responding to Politico, Schlossberg claimed the article “isn’t true” and was “written in bad faith”…

Chicago Jewish leaders raised concerns about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan, released Tuesday, for the city to combat hate crimes; Alderwoman Debra Silverstein, the only Jewish member of Chicago’s City Council, called Johnson’s plan “a watered-down version” of a proposal recommended by the city’s Commission on Human Relations…

The Washington Jewish Week endorsed former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie in the capital’s Democratic mayoral primary, arguing that “Washington deserves better” than Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who earlier in the campaign vowed to avoid events that “promote Zionism” and campaigned with a Washington legislator who accused Jews of controlling the weather…

The Wall Street Journal profiles Baron Capital’s Ron Baron, the longtime tech skeptic who has in recent years made significant investments in Elon Musk’s ventures, including X and SpaceX…

The New York Times reports on what Jewish students and faculty at Harvard University describe as a changed campus climate in the two years since anti-Israel and antisemitic activity at the school garnered national attention during the 2023-2024 academic year…

Israeli chef Eyal Shani opened an outpost of his restaurant chain Miznon at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center…

The American Jewish Committee is selling its longtime Manhattan headquarters to real estate developer Gary Barnett’s Extell Development for $39 million, eJewishPhilanthropy‘s Judah Ari Gross reports…

Authorities in London determined that a fire at a kosher grocery store in the heavily Jewish suburb of Golders Green, an area that has faced several arson attacks in recent months, was “non-suspicious”…

The British Museum postponed an event slated for today to celebrate Jewish Culture Month, saying that “a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the programme”; the museum said it intended to reschedule the event “when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself”…

Yad Vashem announced plans to open a Holocaust education center in Munich, which will be the museum’s first international educational center…

An IDF soldier in the Givati Brigade’s Rotem battalion was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack along Israel’s border with Lebanon; two reservists were injured by a second explosive, one seriously…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the “elaborate deception” effort in which sanctioned Iranian oil is transferred between ships at sea to obscure the cargo’s origin and enter markets…

Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara intends to file an indictment against Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in connection with the leak of classified documents to German newspaper Bild…

Iran expanded its restrictions on international news organizations operating in the country that would ban the outlets from sharing material with Israeli media as well as Farsi-language media outside of the Islamic Republic…

The U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle interviews Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi about relations between Hargeisa and Jerusalem following Israel’s recognition of the East African nation; Abdullahi said he plans to visit Israel later this year as the countries build “links in security, the economy, trade and diplomacy”…

Former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian was named the CEO of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage…

The Heritage Foundation announced that Mollie Hemingway, Yoram Hazony, J.C. Huizenga and Lawrence Blanford are joining the think tank’s board of trustees…

Pic of the Day

Reps. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), left, and Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), who are in Israel this week while the House is in recess, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday in Jerusalem. The two GOP legislators also met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and visited the Western Wall complex, where they met with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.

Birthdays

Fashion designer and the founder of WeWoreWhat, Danielle Bernstein turns 34… 

American oncologist whose work has contributed to major developments in childhood leukemia treatment, he was the president of the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C., John Laszlo turns 95… Founding rabbi of both Lincoln Square Synagogue in NYC and later Efrat, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin turns 86… Director of UCSF’s Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, he won the 1997 Nobel Prize in medicine, Stanley Benjamin Prusiner M.D. turns 84… Executive director of Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Jerome H. Kadden… Former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani turns 82… Former mayor of Toronto, John Howard Tory turns 72… Author of 14 novels and a children’s book, Millions of Maxes, Meg Wolitzer turns 67… Winnipeg-born attorney, previous campaign chair for Winnipeg’s Combined Jewish Appeal and governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Gail Sheryl Asper turns 66… British comedian, screenwriter and singer, he is the author of a 2021 book on antisemitism, Jews Don’t Count, David Lionel Baddiel turns 62… Secretary of state of the United States, he is also serving as acting national security advisor, Marco Rubio turns 55… Four-time U.S. national fencing champion and a two-time Olympian, then an attorney who clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eric Oliver “Nick” Bravin turns 55… Longtime member of the Knesset on behalf of the Likud party, now serving as Israel’s consul general to New York, Ofir Akunis turns 53… Guitarist, composer and leader of the bands Rashanim and Zion80, Jon Madof turns 52… Rabbi of Boston’s South Shore Congregation Sha’aray Shalom, Eric M. Berk… Dancer and choreographer, Brian L. Friedman turns 49… Senior manager in the executive office at The Pew Charitable Trusts since 2015, Lauren Mandelker… Singer-songwriter, artist and filmmaker, Adam Green turns 45… Entrepreneur focused on real estate, technology, media, consumer products and manufacturing, he is a member of the Pritzker family of Hyatt Hotels, Matthew Pritzker turns 44… Former Jewish liaison for New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, he is now the managing principal of Asher Strategies, David A. Lobl… Founder and CEO of At The Well, a women’s wellness organization rooted in Jewish spirituality and women’s health, Sarah Michal Waxman… Founder and CEO at Vista Nexum, Adelle Malka Nazarian… Freelance journalist writing about culture, she was previously an associate editor for The Forward, Thea Glassman… Named for his father, a Wall Street Journal bureau chief who was kidnapped and murdered by Pakistani terrorists a few months before he was born, Adam Daniel Pearl turns 24… Israeli swimmer, she competed in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, Aviv Barzelay turns 24… Irwin Weiss… 

We reported earlier this month on the series of vacancies in key ambassador-level posts throughout the Middle East — in countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait. A senior State Department post overseeing Middle East issues also remains vacant, after the previous nominee was blocked by lawmakers.

At this point, time is running short for President Donald Trump to fill any of those vacant posts before the confirmation process potentially becomes more difficult in the Senate after the midterm elections. 

Processing the nominations will take time: The chamber is set to be out of session for significant portions of the next few months. And there will be various other critical bills — including government funding, the annual defense bill and a potential third reconciliation package, to process on the Senate floor. Even ahead of floor proceedings, the vetting process in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can, itself, take months before nominees appear for a confirmation hearing.

If Trump seeks to fill these posts, it will likely be in the administration’s interest to do so before the end of the current Congress, as GOP control of the Senate for the final two years of Trump’s term is not assured, and even if Republicans retain the majority, it could be with an even smaller margin.

It’s not just Democrats who have proven to be an obstacle to some of the administration’s picks. Amer Ghalib, Trump’s original nominee to be ambassador to Kuwait, was blocked by Republicans over his history of antisemitism, among other issues. And Joel Rayburn, tapped for a top Middle East job in the State Department, was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who also slowed down proceedings for U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz.

That said, it’s not clear whether the administration will prioritize filling these vacancies. Earlier this month, experts told Jewish Insider that the White House has seemed content to vest responsibility for broad Middle East portfolios within a tight circle of personal allies of the president, including White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack — whose role has particularly concerned some Republicans. Many experts have argued that leaving the positions open is unwise and risks harming U.S. influence and diplomacy in the region.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told JI that “the department has confidence in our ability to communicate with our counterparts around the world and advance the national interest.” 

A State Department official claimed that the Trump administration is on track to have more nominees confirmed in the first two years of Trump’s second term than the Biden administration, and praised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for working to promptly confirm its nominees. The official also noted that the State Department had reestablished a committee to review potential career foreign service officers who could be elevated to ambassadorial posts.

Elliott Abrams, who served as U.S. envoy to Iran during the first Trump administration, however, warned that it might be “too late” to clear the nominations. He added that “it does not seem that the administration is very concerned” with the issue.

“Normally any administration would try to fill as many ambassadorial posts as possible before the August recess. But it is a little late, because in order to do that you have to have people cleared, formally nominated, go through hearings, be voted out of committee and then come to the floor for a vote,” Abrams said. “I doubt the administration will rush to get ambassadors in place now, because it just does not seem to be a very high priority for the president.” 

Alexander Gray, who served as chief of staff on the National Security Council in Trump’s first administration, suggested that the White House should prioritize advancing qualified nominees for ambassadorships and criticized Democrats for what he described as a “long history of stymying President Trump’s nominations, regardless of whether they are in the majority or the minority.”

“The administration should continue to prioritize sending qualified ambassadors aligned with the president’s agenda to strategically significant countries, and pressuring Senators to confirm them expeditiously,” Gray said. “Historically, presidents received considerable deference in the confirmation of ambassadors. President Trump and Senate Republicans should demand similar treatment today.”

Other Trump allies argued that filling the ambassadorships is less critical, doubling down on the belief that the administration’s current approach of running Middle East policy through Trump’s inner circle is effective.

“In this region, trusted relationships, direct lines of communication and confidence from the president matter more than whether an ambassador is in place,” Jason Greenblatt, who served as White House Middle East envoy in the first Trump administration, said. “The leadership and senior diplomats in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have strong and trusted relationships with President Trump and with the group doing much of the day-to-day work, including Steve Witkoff, Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio, Vice President Vance, and Jared Kushner. That group has President Trump’s deep trust and direct access to him. That remains true regardless of how Senate politics develops.”

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, maintained that the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech, including for extreme views, does not take away from its opposition to antisemitism, telling Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview that “the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid.” 

The senior U.S. diplomat acknowledged the tension between allowing hateful views on social platforms and concerns about rising rates of antisemitism globally, though she maintained that the path to successfully responding to Jew hatred requires support for free speech protections, and said that she looks forward to visiting Israel in the future. 

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Jewish Insider: You have been unequivocal in your public statements about the rise of antisemitism globally being a serious problem, while also maintaining your position on free speech protections. How do you draw that line between promoting free speech culture while ensuring you have the tools to fight antisemitism?

Sarah Rogers: I don’t see this as a line-drawing exercise between opposed priorities. There’s really no conflict between opposing antisemitism on the one hand and opposing censorship on the other. America has a proud history of opposing both. Censorship has not kept antisemites out of power, it has been deployed by antisemites who gain power. 

[Supreme Court Justice] Oliver Wendell Holmes was the first to say that freedom of speech really means freedom for the thought that we hate. You can guard that principle while still saying, “Okay, there are some thoughts that we hate, and we’re going to speak against them, and we’re going to explain why these people are wrong, and we’re going to fight that battle in the marketplace of ideas.” I think every free speech advocate makes normative judgments about the speech that’s on offer, and a normative judgment I’ve always made is that the Nazis may have the right to post, but also the Nazis are bad and sick and stupid.

JI: How do you, or the State Department more broadly, view efforts to counter foreign operations and propaganda campaigns, especially with regard to media where the location of origin is often hidden? 

SR: Countering what is called in the [State Department] statute “foreign malign influence” is part of my statutory mandate, and we take it seriously. There are a whole bunch of tools in what you might call the counter-propaganda toolbox. 

This is an information environment where legitimacy and trust are more important than ever. Right now, we’re in this liminal zone. I think technology will refine this landscape a bit, but we’re in a zone where any image or any video can be fake, and so it is more important than ever if we were trying to persuade the global public that they can trust us. 

What I’m looking for ways to do now, and what the State Department wants to do now, is to counter these kinds of influence operations chiefly through exposure and through counter speech. We can expose the foreign providence of a lot of information and the inauthentic nature of some of the behavior. That doesn’t mean we have to reach out behind closed doors to Twitter or Facebook and urge them to censor anyone concurring with a particular narrative. We don’t have to do that. It is not my job to dictate what Americans can say or see online, but I can tell Americans what we and our partners are seeing online and let them make up their own minds. 

One thing that my office has done in the past also is try to promote technologies that improve the information environment and make that environment one in which we can more easily communicate about American priorities. 

I don’t want to fund tools that put a centralized thumb on the scale of permissible opinion, or that try to choke off permissible opinion before it gets to the public sphere. What I’d rather do is prospect and promote tools that respect and empower the audience to discern true and authentic information and have the kinds of conversations they want to have. 

Both X, formerly Twitter, and Meta have started rolling out the “Grok, is this true?” feature. It’s kind of interesting. Everyone knows the LLMs are trained on a consensus model of available opinion. A lot of them have gobbled up like most books ever written. They’ve scoured social media. When these models first debuted, they were pretty clunky. There was a whole genre of AI discourse that just consisted of people making their LLM say insane, woke, Kafkaesque things, but the models have gotten better. They’ve gotten better to the point where most people, even people with unpopular opinions, trust them to kind of collate facts. 

There are now some early scientific studies showing that, as a result, interacting with AI chatbots depolarizes people politically. It is conducive to lessened political extremism, and I think making that kind of tool available is an example of something we can do that doesn’t make people feel coerced or condescended to, it doesn’t spark that kind of oppositional, anti-institutional reflex, because you’re just letting them have access to something that they want and they enjoy. We’ve also seen those exact tools used to push back on antisemitic propaganda online.

JI: Can you speak to how private industry and social media companies have responded to your engagement on these issues?

SR: I’ve had a lot of congenial interactions with the tech sector. I’ve been accused by critics, including in Europe, of essentially being too staunch an advocate for the tech sector, which is ironic because I started my free speech activism career as a thorn on the side of Big Tech. When we’re advocating for the freedom of our companies not to censor, then of course they’re grateful. I also think, though, that within Silicon Valley, within the investor class and the executive class, and then the user bases of these companies, there is a real organic demand for ways to harness the powers of invention to make the information environment better. 

I have intentionally avoided having any interactions with tech companies that could reasonably be expected to result in the removal of content. If I ever had reason to do that, like if there was a tweet with the nuclear codes in it or something like that, I would try to make sure that I disclosed that to the public, but I avoid it as a matter of practice. Still, I have conversations all the time with people in the tech industry who are interested in how we discern content provenance, how we can help people integrate AI in ways that are less conducive to kind of AI psychosis type outcomes, how we can promote truthful information.

The only reason the information environment feels so new and different is because Americans are so good at innovating things that spread like wildfire and change the world. That’s fundamentally good. Now we’re in this new information environment, and you’ve probably heard me say this before, that this is on par with the invention of the telegraph or the film strip, and so there’s going to be some shudders and spasms as we adjust, but we can use the power of innovation and invention to make our environment better, not worse. I think tech is very receptive to that, especially because there’s all this kind of almost superstitious anti-tech discourse right now, and so there’s a natural appetite to prove that chorus wrong.

JI: With that in mind, how would you describe your role in terms of responding to this growing threat of foreign disinformation and the outgrowth of antisemitism that such propaganda efforts cause? Do you see your role as more of a behind the scenes dealmaker or something else?

SR: I would not say my role principally consists of brokering informal understandings with tech companies. I think because my role has a tech component of its portfolio, it’s just natural that I have some conversations and relationships with tech companies, but zooming out, my role is public diplomacy. That includes civil society grant making, it includes a lot of public advocacy, it oversees educational and cultural affairs, so I have a really broad umbrella of stuff I can do to interact with the information environment generally. 

On antisemitism, we have funded interfaith cultural restoration projects and educational projects to promote cross-cultural understanding and diffuse hatred. We are trying to promote tools like AI to rationalize and depolarize the information environment. We’re doing all that stuff, but the information environment part is only part of it. 

We are looking for more opportunities to publicly and candidly communicate on trends we’re seeing in the information environment, and we want to do it in a way where it doesn’t sound like we’re scolding the audience and telling them what not to believe. We just want to credibly share aggregated statistics and facts about what we’ve observed, and I want to make sure that we get that right. 

That means number one, I’ve actually instructed my staff, like whenever we operate on this issue, we need to literally or figuratively make a commitment to not censor American speech or censor anybody. We want to do the counter speech and exposure, and I think you’re going to see more of that.

I’ve collaborated a lot on the antisemitism issue with Rabbi [Yehuda] Kaploun, who’s our special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. We have participated in the Shabbat dinners with him. We had Rabbi Kaploun organize a Shabbat with officials from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and with a bunch of members of the administration. It was a really powerful coming together around this issue, and I think you’re gonna see more of those kinds of activities that my office is proud to be involved with, too. 

JI: Do you coordinate with other agencies and other departments to ensure that these efforts don’t overlap or contradict each other, be it about antisemitism or free speech or anything else that you’re doing?

SR: So one thing that I’ve done is I’ve encouraged my public diplomacy staff, who do kind of overt messaging for the State Department, to make sure that they are coordinated with other parts of the government, including, for example, the Department of War, who are engaged in messaging activities of overlapping topics in the same region. That’s just common sense, so we want to make sure that all of our messaging activities are aligned, or at least not at odds with each other. 

I think a great thing about this administration compared to the first one is that when President Trump staffed his first administration, he was kind of newly triumphant and his coalition was still consolidating, so there wasn’t this existing infrastructure and existing talent pool of people who were aligned with the administration’s foreign policy vision, and now there are. Because of that, I have great relationships with counterparts at other agencies, and it’s very easy for us to have these conversations, though all conversations you have in the government take longer and are more kind of bureaucratically ritualized than they should be.

JI: Have you made any efforts in your role promoting public diplomacy to highlight the U.S.-Israel relationship?

SR: The answer is yes. I was actually just in close touch with the Israeli Embassy about some America 250 commemorative activities that we were going to undertake, including “America Day” celebrations at three university campuses in Israel. We’ve done a lot of interfaith and church restoration activities in the Middle East that Israel is very supportive of. 

I also hope to visit Israel when scheduling considerations permit.

JI: Looking toward Europe, you and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) both spoke at the Hudson Institute last week about the free speech conversations we’re seeing across the Atlantic. What we’re also seeing are sharp rises in antisemitism across the continent. Do you connect the two? And if so, what do you see as the prescription for solving both issues?

SR: I absolutely connect the two. It’s interesting, another thing I always say when people ask me about this sort of tension between antisemitism and free speech is that I had my staff run numbers on this. When it comes to actual antisemitic hate crimes, not speech crimes, but crimes where someone gets hit or synagogues vandalized, the per capita rate of those in continental Europe and elsewhere in the Anglosphere is much higher by orders of magnitude than it is the United States, even though we have open season free speech, and they all reportedly have laws against antisemitism. 

There was this incident in London a few years ago where a caravan of pro-Palestine protesters drove through a reputedly Jewish neighborhood in London, screaming through a megaphone, “F*** Jews. Rape their daughters. Free Palestine.” There were no hate crime charges. I think London police claimed there wasn’t enough evidence that they’d done it, even though it’s on video. So who does get prosecuted under these hate crime laws? 

There is this famous Nazi hunter in France, Serge Klarsfeld. He’s one of the most famous Nazi hunters. He has a son, Arno Klarsfeld, who’s a well-regarded French jurist who actually helped prosecute some of the Nazi collaborators. Arno Klarsfeld was pursued by French authorities under French hate speech laws for basically saying that France should do mass deportations of people who’d already had their asylum hearings and were adjudicated as deportable. He was basically advocating for the same kind of policy that President Trump has tried to use to mitigate antisemitism in the United States.

You have this decorated French Jewish antisemitism jurist being threatened with legal punishment just for advocating a deportation policy, so that’s an obvious nexus, and I’m not saying it’s the only one, but it’s an obvious nexus between censorship law and antisemitism. 

After the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia, you had a proposed hate speech law in response that would have had an exemption for any speech that’s religious. Well, if you were an ISIS jihadist, your speech was religious, so you’re basically carving out the exact ideology that appeared to have motivated that attack. So that’s how I see these issues in relation to one another.

JI: Is there anything else about Europe’s broader handling of antisemitism that concerns you?

SR: I think often there’s a sense that if you ban antisemitism legally then you have done the work required to oppose it, and I don’t think that is the story that the crime statistics tell. I don’t think it is the story that the political landscape tells. I’ve had many conversations with earnest European interlocutors who genuinely oppose antisemitism and want the best for the Jewish people in their countries, and so I don’t think bad faith is to blame. I just think that these laws are not the answer.

JI: One last question. I want to ask about Germany, specifically the far-right Alternative for Germany party. You’ve met with some of their officials and praised them specifically on free speech issues. AfD is a far-right ultra-nationalist party whose leaders have espoused antisemitic and pro-Nazi sentiments. Do you see these parties as antisemitic, and do you think the same free speech principles should apply to them despite their historical legacy? 

SR: I had one meeting with one AfD official and immediately was lambasted for purportedly being pro-Russia. The point I made at the time was that if this guy were really a Russian asset, he’s a pretty bad Russian asset, because he condemned censorship in that meeting and Russia’s a big fan of censorship. I also stand by what I also said at the Hudson Institute, which is that European policymakers don’t need to give right-wing parties a monopoly on common sense when it comes to mass migration or things like internet regulation. In fact, it would be healthy to have a democracy where multiple parties are against destructive mass migration, for example. 

In terms of Germany and its specific legacy on Holocaust denial laws, what I would say is this: I come from an American First Amendment tradition, so I would not want to see laws in the United States like that, but if the only thing these European countries were prohibiting was actual Holocaust denial or actual rank incitement of genocide against Jews, then I don’t think you’d be seeing as many arguments between, for example, European authorities and American internet platforms. 

We didn’t sanction [Former European Commissioner] Thierry Breton for asking that X take down a Holocaust denial post — that post would be protected under the First Amendment, but that didn’t lead to the sanctions. What we sanctioned Thierry Breton for doing was threatening an American company with European regulatory penalties for allowing an American politician, President Trump, to speak on an American platform, so our laws do differ there, but if that were the only difference, I don’t think you’d be seeing these flare-ups. The differences are far greater than that.

Senior Israeli and Lebanese officials will reconvene on Friday at the State Department to continue peace talks, a State Department official said, after the parties concluded the first day of negotiations in the third round of the U.S.-led talks on Thursday with no further agreements secured. 

The official said in a statement, “We had a full day of productive and positive talks that lasted from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. We look forward to continuing this tomorrow and hope to have more to share then.”

Israeli and Lebanese officials did not speak to the media on their way out of the Harry S. Truman Building, though all parties are expected back at the State Department headquarters at 9 a.m. ET on Friday to resume talks. 

The talks come three days before the three-week ceasefire which was extended during the second round of talks late last month is set to expire. 

Participants on Thursday included U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter; Brig. Gen. Amichai Levin, the IDF’s chief of strategy; Brig. Gen. Erik Ben-Dov, the acting Israeli military attaché in the U.S.; Yossi Draznin, Israel’s deputy national security advisor; U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa; Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadah; Simon Karam, Lebanon’s former top envoy to Washington; and Brig. Gen. Oliver Hakmeh, Lebanon’s military attaché in Washington. U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham, a close Rubio advisor, was also present, as were other senior Israeli military representatives.

Ahead of Thursday’s talks, Lebanese officials told the Associated Press that their main objective  was to get their Israeli counterparts to agree to a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanese territory, and that they would address the domestic political issues in Lebanon surrounding Hezbollah’s disarmament after that.

Israeli officials, on the other hand, have described disarming Hezbollah as a necessity to furthering an agreement with Lebanon.

As was the case with prior rounds of talks, representatives for Hezbollah were not invited to participate. The terrorist organization has condemned the Lebanese government for engaging directly with Israel and refused to participate in the U.S.-led ceasefire. 

President Donald Trump said while announcing the three-week ceasefire extension that he would not prevent the Israelis from responding if under threat by Hezbollah, and the parties have continued to exchange fire regularly throughout the ceasefire. 

The president also expressed his hope that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun would meet in person during that three-week period, a prospect which Aoun has thus far continued to reject. 

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📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

The gunman who attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, Cole Tomas Allen, was arraigned in Washington this afternoon. He is being charged with transportation of a firearm between states, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, which carries a potential life sentence. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine said Allen, 31, had “a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol and … three knives and other dangerous paraphernalia” during the attack. He will remain in detention with another hearing scheduled for Thursday…

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump met with his national security team this morning where they discussed Iran’s latest proposal to end the war, which reportedly includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz but postponing talks on the country’s nuclear program…

German Chancellor ‌Friedrich Merz said the U.S. is “being humiliated” by Iranian leaders after negotiations between the two countries this weekend were called off.

“The Iranians are obviously very skilled ⁠at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” Merz told a group of students. The result is “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards,” he added…

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised how “courageously and heroically the people of Iran are fighting for their independence” in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today in St. Petersburg. Araghchi thanked Russia for standing by its side and said the countries will continue their “strategic partnership”…

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said today that the terror group will not disarm, despite the Lebanese government’s intent to remove the group from power in the south of the country under the terms of the ongoing ceasefire with Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have continued to exchange fire throughout the ceasefire, including a wave of Israeli airstrikes today in response to Hezbollah’s deadly drone attack that killed an IDF soldier and wounded six yesterday… 

New Department of Homeland Security training materials allow green card applicants to be denied for antisemitic and anti-Israel social media posts and activism, as well as anti-American activism, The New York Times reports. The documents, distributed to immigration officers last month, cite “as an example of questionable speech a social media post that declares, ‘Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine’ and shows the Israeli flag crossed out”…

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha summoned Israel’s ambassador to the country to protest the arrival of a ship allegedly carrying grain taken from Russian-occupied Ukraine at Israel’s Haifa Port, Sybiha said on X. Sybiha also denounced Israel’s “lack of appropriate response to Ukraine’s legitimate request” regarding a similar vessel that docked in Haifa last week.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed Sybiha for his announcement: “Diplomatic relations, especially between friendly nations, are not conducted on Twitter or in the media,” Sa’ar wrote. He said that “evidence substantiating [Ukraine’s] allegations have yet to be provided” and that “the matter will be examined”…

Several pro-Israel House Democrats in Florida could lose their seats after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a new congressional map that eliminates their districts — state lawmakers are expected to approve the map for use in this year’s midterm elections at a special session of the state Legislature tomorrow.

The new map could give the GOP up to four additional House seats by redrawing Democratic-leaning districts, including those of Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL)…

Claims by New Jersey congressional candidate Adam Hamawy that the Gazan hospital where he volunteered as a trauma surgeon in 2024 during Israel’s war with Hamas was a “completely benign civilian hospital with no tunnels underneath it” are false, The Washington Free Beacon reports.

While Hamawy claimed in an interview shortly after he returned that “there were definitely no tunnels underground and no command base there,” Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed a year later “in a tunnel directly under the hospital emergency department, where he was leading a high-level meeting with senior Hamas terrorists,” the Free Beacon writes…

All five of Pennsylvania’s living former governors, both Democrats and Republicans, released a statement today calling on state officials to prioritize the safety and security of Gov. Josh Shapiro, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

The letter came days after state Treasurer Stacy Garrity — Shapiro’s leading Republican opponent in this year’s gubernatorial race — said the state will not pay for security upgrades made to Shapiro’s privately owned family residence, done after the state-owned governor’s mansion was targeted in an antisemitic arson attack last spring…

The New York Times chronicles Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s turn away from the Democratic Party and increasing political involvement, including against the proposed “billionaire tax” in his home state of California.

“I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place,” Brin told the Times. Brin, who is Jewish, has also been disturbed by the Democratic Party’s leftward shift on Israel policy…

Toronto-based Jewish advocate Adam Hummel argues in the “Boundless Insights” Substack that “anti-Zionism” is an obsolete position, given the 78-year-old existence of the State of Israel. 

“Israelis don’t owe anyone an argument for their existence. …  The debate is over, not because one side won, but because the thing itself came into being. They are a people. They speak a language. They live on a piece of land and have mortgages. That is what peoples do. The Greeks do it. The Poles do it. The Québécois do it. The arguments about whether they should are, at this point, a leisure activity for people who live elsewhere”…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a profile of Keith Sonderling, the acting secretary of labor, who is Jewish and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, following the resignation of Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

The Zionist Rabbinic Coalition will present its first “Pillar of Zion” award to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) at the organization’s fifth annual National Conference in Washington. Other speakers at the three-day conference will include Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter; State Department antisemitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun; Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon; and Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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Nearly two months after the U.S. and Israel jointly launched a military campaign against Iran dubbed Operation Epic Fury, Washington acknowledged in a new State Department memo that its decision to participate in the conflict came — at least in part — at Israel’s request. 

The statement, in a document authored by State Department Legal Advisor Reed Rubinstein, notes that defending Israel is just one part of a larger rationale for attacking Iran’s capabilities that Rubinstein says relies on decades of evidence. But it comes after several Trump administration officials pushed back on the narrative that Israel had forced the White House’s hand. 

“​​The United States is engaged in this conflict at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States’ own inherent right of self-defense,” Rubinstein wrote in the document, dated Apr. 24. 

The memo is the most detailed look yet at the Trump administration’s justification for the latest conflict with Iran, which began on Feb. 28. Lawmakers, including leading Republicans, have at times expressed frustration that the administration is not being transparent enough in providing information about the war effort. 

There is currently a ceasefire in place as the two countries are engaged in negotiations, although President Donald Trump has threatened to restart military strikes if a deal is not reached. 

While Rubinstein writes that Israel requested the U.S. participate in striking Iran, his broader argument is that Iran has demonstrated “malign aggression” against the U.S., Israel and other allies in the region for decades. Therefore, according to Rubinstein, this latest salvo is merely the next stage of a decades-old conflict that began anew last June. 

“The operations recommenced in late February were part of an armed conflict with Iran that has been ongoing for years and, at the very least, since June 2025” when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, Rubinstein writes. Since the conflict did not officially end in June — a ceasefire is not the same as a formal agreement to end hostilities — he concludes that it has been ongoing, and the current fighting is just a new phase in the war. 

“If a conflict has not ended, then it must be ongoing,” Rubinstein argues.

The memo documents Iran’s extensive history of targeting American forces and assets, including through its proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. He dates this part of his analysis back to 1979, when the Islamic Republic was created, arguing that the country has been attacking the U.S. and its “interests and its allies” ever since. It was Iran’s “clear pattern of unprovoked aggression and direct and proxy attacks against Israel and the United States” that spurred the U.S. to act last June, he writes. 

Rubinstein concludes by pointing out Iran’s response to the U.S. attacks: “wreaking havoc throughout the region.” That, according to Rubinstein, “further underscores the fundamental necessity, utility, reasonableness, and lawfulness of Operation Epic Fury’s mission and goals.”

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, in their draft 2027 funding bill for the State Department, are again aiming to leverage U.S. funding to the United Nations and other foreign programs to seek accountability for involvement by U.N. employees and others in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

They made similar efforts during the 2026 government funding process, but the provisions were ultimately excluded from the final 2026 funding bill.

The bill introduces a new version of the provision put forward by House Republicans last year that would withhold funding for the United Nations secretariat — the U.N. management headed by the secretary-general — until the U.N. agrees to waive privileges and immunities for United Nations Relief and Works Agency employees or employees of other U.N. entities in cases involving gross violations of human rights, acts of terrorism, support for terrorism or other serious criminal conduct.

The move is an effort to respond to findings that UNRWA employees took part in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and subsequently were involved in holding hostages and engaging in other terrorist activity in Gaza.

The provision also withholds any funding for any entities that fail to comply within 90 days with U.S. inspector general requests related to projects and programs in Gaza, the Oct. 7 attacks or support for terrorism.

“The bill also includes a provision to help provide justice for victims murdered in the October 7 terrorist attacks, including 50 American citizens, by requiring full accountability for the UNRWA staff involved in this vicious attack,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the bill, said at a Thursday meeting. “In addition, the bill includes a new provision cutting off funds to any international organization that refuses to cooperate with inspector general investigations into whether October 7 terrorists are on its staff.”

Under the 2026 funding bill, 10% of U.S. funding to the U.N. and its agencies is conditioned on the State Department’s certification that the recipients of that funding are taking credible steps to counter anti-Israel bias, informing donors when aid has been diverted or destroyed and implementing policies to vet staff for terrorist affiliations, among a range of unrelated reforms. 

In the new bill, House Republicans proposed increasing that to 15% of the funding in question.

More broadly, the bill would leverage U.S. foreign aid by tying aid levels to cooperation with various U.S. priorities, including recipients’ U.N. votes and their efforts to oppose U.S. adversaries, maintaining a provision first implemented in 2026.

It cuts funding for the U.N. by $1.8 billion, including slashing all funding for the U.N.’s regular budget, as well as cutting nearly $1 billion from humanitarian assistance programs generally.

It maintains the now-multiyear provision banning U.S. support for the UNRWA, as well as enhanced vetting and oversight procedures for assistance to the West Bank and Gaza. And it bans U.S. funding for the U.N. Human Rights Council and its Commission of Inquiry investigating Israel, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

The bill eliminates a previous provision allowing the administration to waive a ban on U.S. aid to U.N. agencies or bodies led by states that support terrorism.

Overall, the bill cuts an additional $2.69 billion from the State Department budget — 6% of its 2026 funding — while maintaining the annual $3.3 billion military aid for Israel.

The bill adds a new provision prohibiting the admission or resettlement in the U.S. of any foreign national from Gaza.

It maintains bans on any effort to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem, or to establish any other U.S. diplomatic facility in Israel’s capital. It also maintains existing prohibitions and restrictions on U.S. aid to the Palestinians, and a ban on the taxation of U.S. aid, a provision crafted in response to Palestinian Authority policies.

It continues the U.S. weapons stockpile in Israel for an additional year, through 2029. 

Regarding Iran, the bill would maintain bans on any Iran nuclear agreement that is not submitted to Congress for review, and would bar the revocation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terrorism designation.

The bill would allow for continued U.S. aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces — which some Republicans argue should be cut off if Beirut’s military continues to fail to comply with its obligation to disarm Hezbollah.

House Republicans are seeking to strip out longstanding human rights conditions on a portion of the proposed $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Egypt, an effort that the Senate has previously rejected — though those conditions have habitually been waived by both the Trump and Biden administrations. It instructs the State Department to seek a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding with Egypt on military aid. The bill also includes $125 million in other national security aid to Egypt.

It would provide $845.1 million in budget support and $425 million in military aid to Jordan.

It fully defunds the U.S. Agency for Global Media — which, under previous leadership, faced criticism for a slow response to the protests in Iran — instead providing $540 million for a new “International Communications Activities” program requested by the president.

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers like you — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Talks between Israel and Lebanon, which are currently underway, were moved from the State Department to the White House. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were spotted arriving there together this afternoon, and a White House official told Jewish Insider that President Donald Trump would greet the participants at the opening of the discussion…

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who returned to Washington in order to participate in the talks, also stopped by Capitol Hill where he met with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)…

While the bombing campaign in Iran is on pause, the battle at sea continues: U.S. forces boarded another vessel carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean this morning and Trump said he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz — just as a third U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in the region…

Trump also said Iran is “having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is,” indicating the regime may still be struggling to present the U.S. with a unified proposal. “The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!),” he claimed.

In response, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and President Masoud Pezeshkian, both considered relative moderates, issued nearly identical statements on X pledging “complete obedience to the Supreme Leader”…

Iranian officials tell The New York Times their new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive but injured, and so far ruling differently than his late father; the younger Khamenei is relying on Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders to provide him advice to make decisions “as though he is the director of the board.” 

Khamenei’s injuries are extensive and he is largely inaccessible in person: “One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery”…

U.S. officials are expressing concern over the military’s ability to defend Taiwan from China in the near future should the need arise, given that the U.S. has burned through more than 1,000 Tomahawk missiles and more than 1,500 air-defense missiles in the course of the war with Iran so far, supplies that could take up to six years to replace…

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar named Israel’s first Christian ambassador, George Deek, as the country’s special envoy to the Christian world, JI’s Lahav Harkov reports, after several recent controversies in Israel relating to Christians. Deek is part of the Arab Orthodox Christian community in Jaffa…

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined other Michigan Democrats in denouncing Amir Makled, a Democratic nominee for regent of the University of Michigan, over Makled’s past comments expressing antisemitic sentiments and support for terrorism.

“I’m going to have a problem with any candidate — Democrat, Republican or independent — who shares antisemitic and hateful posts on social media. Especially when they refuse to disavow those comments or show remorse,” Slotkin said in a statement to JI’s Marc Rod, in response to a question about Makled…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give advance notice to senior Republican senators before announcing yesterday that he was firing Navy Secretary John Phelan, causing surprise and confusion on Capitol Hill. “I found out about it the way everybody else did,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told JI’s Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod of the Pentagon’s announcement on social media of Phelan’s dismissal.

Trump praised Phelan in a post on Truth Social this afternoon and said he’d “certainly like to have him back within the Trump Administration sometime in the future” — Phelan had reportedly bumped heads with Hegseth but had a close relationship with the president…

Nearly half of young American adults view Israel as a burden to the United States, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll of 18- to 29-year-olds. The survey found that 46% of young Americans consider Israel to be mostly a burden to the U.S., compared to just 16% who say Israel is mostly a benefit, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.

In addition, Ukraine, which has also received U.S. support in its lengthy war with Russia, was also determined to be more of a burden by young Americans — 31% of respondents said Ukraine is mostly a burden, while 21% said it is mostly a benefit…

The Wall Street Journal‘s Matthew Hennessey issued a defense of Elliot Kaufman, a member of the Journal‘s editorial board, after Trump slammed him on Truth Social as an “idiot” and a “moron.”

“What triggered the president’s ire was an op-ed under Mr. Kaufman’s byline headlined ‘The Iranians Take Trump for a Sucker.’ That’s a provocative title, yes, but the piece delivers on the provocation. Mr. Kaufman wasn’t calling Mr. Trump a sucker; he was merely pointing out that the Iranians are acting like they think he is one. The piece offers plenty of recent evidence to support that claim,” Hennessey wrote…

American journalist Shelly Kittleson details in The Atlantic her experience being kidnapped and held hostage by the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah terror group in Iraq for nine days earlier this month…

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, who stepped down last month, is returning to Joshua Kushner’s venture firm, Thrive Capital, in an advisory role…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for an interview with Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) as he introduces a buffer zone bill in Congress, which follows legislation under consideration in New York and elsewhere, aiming to protect attendees at houses of worship.

Washington is abuzz ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, being held at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night. The event will be headlined by American Israeli mentalist Oz Pearlman and attended by Trump for his first time as president, alongside celebrities (including Trump fan Nicki Minaj), politicians and media figures. Politicos and reporters will schmooze at events beginning this evening through Sunday morning.

We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!

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The Trump administration’s latest push to ease tensions between Israel and Lebanon faces another key test this week as diplomats prepare for the second round of direct talks between the two countries on Thursday.  

The State Department-hosted discussions are expected to focus on extending the current ceasefire, which is due to expire Sunday, and a reported U.S. request that Beirut repeal long-standing laws that criminalize contact between Lebanese citizens and Israelis. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said his aim in the talks is to see the IDF withdraw completely from the country. 

The discussions follow a historic first meeting last week — the highest-level direct dialogue between the two nations in over 30 years. Since the ceasefire went into effect shortly after the meeting, Hezbollah has repeatedly fired on Israeli troops, provoking retaliation by the IDF. Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire agreement.

Over the weekend, Hezbollah killed two French soldiers who were part of the U.N. peacekeeping force, prompting some leading Republican lawmakers to call for conditioning future U.S. support for the Lebanese Armed Forces on tangible action in disarming Hezbollah.

The talks also come as President Donald Trump extended the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran indefinitely until negotiations between Tehran and Washington are complete. Should the current halt in hostilities fall apart, experts suggested to JI, Hezbollah may reignite hostilities with Israel on an even broader scale. 

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Jewish Insider that he wants to see “peace” between Israel and Lebanon, adding that it would be a “great alternative” to the status quo.

“We’ve just got old leaders on all sides and all they want is war because it keeps them in power,” Burchett said. “Old men make decisions and young men die. I think they [Lebanon] are realizing maybe capitalism is probably a better route and not killing all their people.”

Burchett also expressed that he would “absolutely” back the U.S. pushing Lebanon to repeal its anti-contact laws. “I love the First Amendment, and I like it all over the world,” he said. 

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) shared the sentiment, telling JI he hopes “we can get a deal there,” adding that he would like to see a ceasefire extension to help achieve that. 

“If the Lebanese people have made a decision that they don’t want Hezbollah in their country anymore, they don’t want the Iranians having control over their country, I think that’s great news for Lebanon,” Moskowitz said. He also expressed support for the U.S. urging Lebanon to repeal anti-normalization laws, stating, “If repealing the law is a step to get a deal, then I support it. There needs to be a deal.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) said he is hoping to see the ceasefire extended, adding that “we all hope for the disarmament and hopefully disbanding of Hezbollah.”

“We’ll see whether the Lebanese government is going to make good on its promises to have a monopoly of force in its own territory,” Sherman said. He added that should the U.S. push Lebanon to repeal its anti-normalization laws, it would be an “excellent step.” 

“It would be a good idea and hopefully done in coordination with other good steps by both Israel and Lebanon,” Sherman said. 

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) also agreed that such action “would be a positive step forward toward long-term peace and stability.” He added that he would like to see the current ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon be extended.

“Obviously we want long-term peace and stability,” Lawler said. “Talks have been going relatively well. We will see what comes next.” 

Robert Satloff, executive director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he anticipates that the meeting “will be the bridge between last week’s historic opening on Lebanon-Israel direct talks and the start of formal negotiations between the two sides.” He said that it is “quite likely the two sides will agree to extend the ceasefire.” 

“One can also expect discussion of other elements that will contribute to the success of the talks, including a possible meeting between U.S., Lebanese and Israeli leaders, the U.S. request that Lebanon repeal repressive laws that ban contact between citizens of the two countries and measures the Lebanese army and security forces should take to signal that this ceasefire will produce a better outcome for all parties than what followed the November 2024 ceasefire,” Satloff added. 

Rachel Brandenburg, a senior policy analyst at Israel Policy Forum, said “the mere fact of a second meeting is a positive sign.”

“Top priority for Israel is the disarmament — and more so, dissolution — of Hezbollah, and retaining the freedom of action to continue to strike Hezbollah where and when they determine necessary for their own self defense,” Brandenburg said. “For the Lebanese government, sitting at the table with the Israeli government is both politically risky and an important opportunity for them to be recognized as and assert their place as the only recognized authority of the Lebanese state.”

David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, meanwhile, said that expectations for talks “should be kept low” and expressed skepticism over whether Beirut would truly work to disarm Hezbollah. He argued that Lebanon is seeking a return to the status quo, noting that despite Trump’s intentions to bridge ties between the two nations, “President Aoun declined to speak with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and sources close to Aoun have rebuffed the possibility of a meeting between the two leaders as ‘premature.’”

“The question is whether Lebanon is seeking this breathing room as an end in and of itself or to begin gradually acting against Hezbollah,” Daoud said. “As matters stand, I see no indication of the latter.” 

Daoud noted that Lebanon has had a “strong reluctance to call out Hezbollah by name since the ceasefire took effect” and also referenced a statement from Salam in which he said the country is “not seeking confrontation with Hezbollah.” 

Yoni Tobin, a senior policy analyst at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, also called for caution in optimism over the talks, stating that a ceasefire “does not constitute progress,” also noting that past ceasefires that halted fighting between Israel and Hezbollah “only kicked the can down the road in terms of disarming Hezbollah.” He also expressed skepticism over Lebanon repealing its anti-normalization law. 

“Beirut repealing its law criminalizing communications should be a clear-cut U.S. demand in talks, but I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that is on the table right now — though it should be,” Tobin said. “As one of the main funders of Lebanon’s military, Washington has the leverage to compel Beirut to reverse this arcane law, which remains an obstacle to what is squarely in the American interest: a normal, productive relationship between Israel and Lebanon.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is keeping the door open to a possible 2028 presidential run, saying “only the good Lord knows” what comes next as he continues to reestablish himself in the private sector and policy world after serving in the first Trump administration. 

In a wide-ranging interview with Jewish Insider, Pompeo emphasized that there will be a “donnybrook” of competing visions for both parties in the next election cycle, and urged candidates to focus on “important issues” rather than online theatrics. He also praised Columbia University, where he now teaches at the School of International and Public Affairs, for “beg[inning] to get back the correct leadership … in a way where more voices can be heard.”

The conversation came one day after Pompeo made a brief visit to the State Department for a private ceremony unveiling his official portrait. The gathering included an appearance by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who delivered remarks to the crowd on his predecessor’s tenure as the chief U.S. diplomat. 

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Jewish Insider: What’s your message to the current Iranian leadership if you were traveling to Islamabad, Pakistan, on behalf of President Trump to negotiate an end to the war in Iran? 

Mike Pompeo: My message would be that you’ve lost. You’ve lost the people of your country, who no longer want you to lead. You’ve lost the capacity to project terror around the world. You’re about to lose any capability to use nuclear weapons to continue to blackmail the world. The Strait [of Hormuz] is going to be reopened. You’re going to miss payroll in just a few weeks, because you’re not going to be able to ship product and receive currency that is usable in foreign exchange, and people will stop doing their jobs. 

You miss payroll enough times and all of a sudden, Hezbollah decides it’s not as great a fighting force, or the Shia militias, or the knuckleheads in Yemen, the Houthis. They’ve all become hooked on Iranian money. 

There is a solution that is different to that. It’ll mean you’re not in power. It will mean that you lose. It will mean that you personally lose power, but the other alternative is that you will be killed. 

JI: Do you think that the president made the right decision by reentering negotiations with the Iranians when he did, or do you think there are targets he should have hit beforehand, for military or diplomatic leverage?

Pompeo: I think the blockade is sufficient to merit another try. Look, I’m deeply skeptical. I’m not sure there is a decision maker in Iran today. I think there are multiple fractured decision making processes and lots of confusion.

I don’t know that he needed to go after additional targets. The denial of their capacity to move product through the strait is a very significant impact on them, but I do think it’s the case if, in fact, the Iranian regime cannot coherently present a resolution that will look and feel to them like surrender … — because they’re going to give up the entirety of their nuclear program, they’re going to have to stop funding their proxy forces, their ballistic missile program is gone, their industrial base will have to be shut down and redirected towards commercial activity, not terror; that will feel like surrender to them — then I think the president will have to begin to go back at some of those industrial targets that continue to pose risk to Israeli and American servicemembers that are in the region, and more broadly, to commercial activity that needs to move through the region as well. 

JI: We’re seeing a lot of reporting about various terms that the Trump administration has purportedly offered Iran in these talks, specifically when it comes to the enrichment of uranium. There have been reports suggesting the U.S. proposed a 20-year moratorium on Iran’s enrichment program, while others allege a 10-year pause is being discussed. What do you make of these reported offers and, more broadly speaking, what would a good deal look like to you?

Pompeo: Color me cynical, but having lived as a secretary of state for two and a half years, when I see that reporting — and I don’t have first hand knowledge — I suspect that is someone playing games. 

I put no credit in anything that I read in The New York Times or The Washington Post, only in the sense that they don’t know or they heard from a single individual that wasn’t actually representing the holistic view of the U.S. government. I spend no time thinking about those. I do spend a lot of time thinking about what “good” looks like. Good is infinity. 

I’m also practical as someone who was a practitioner. I get it. You don’t ever get forever, but you don’t put external constraints on duration when it comes to something as serious as a regime that is in power with the capacity to inflict enormous harm on the world, with a conventional force that is serious and a nuclear capability that is real. 

There’s two things. One, you can’t pay them. That’s what President Obama, then President Biden tried to do, send pallets of cash to buy your way out of this solution. The regime is not for sale. Second, I think it’s also the case that you can’t falsely give them hope that says, ‘You’re going to be able to return to status quo in five years, 10 years, 20 years from now. I think it’s the case that we’ve reached the moment where now this is a durational change in the nature of the regime. 

Maybe some of the names will be the same, maybe the good spirit will move them and they will become a normal nation again. These are the things we hope and pray for as Jews and Christians, but we also do it with the knowledge that it is unlikely, and that means we have to change the leaders that are actually directing activities inside of the country.

JI: Do you think NATO has handled this moment and responded to President Trump deciding to take action in Iran well? The president is vocally frustrated with them and thinks they’ve been a thorn in the administration’s side.

Pompeo: We all know that you figure out exactly who’s with you in times of stress. This is true in our personal lives. It’s true in our professional lives. It’s certainly true in sovereign interactions. 

Putting aside NATO for the moment, the way some of the European nations have behaved is absolutely abhorrent. I get that they weren’t brought in at the beginning and how that makes it complicated and it creates hurt feelings, but this isn’t about feelings. This is about national sovereignty and the safety of their own citizens. 

Whether it was Spain or another nation that wouldn’t do so much as to be quiet and allow our aircraft to fly through their space, for someone who has been a staunch defender of NATO, because I believe deeply it has been important to the United States of America and to global security, to watch a leader of a country cozy up to China while the United States is doing its level best to save the very security for his own citizens is deeply indecent. 

I hope there will come to be an understanding that America is indeed the good guy in this all throughout Europe and many nations in Europe, that’s why I hesitate to broad brush NATO. Many nations in Europe have actually been great and have done their best with the tools that they have available. Others have chosen a path that is very different from that. I think that will be something that takes a long time to rebuild — the trust with those countries — and they’ll have to demonstrate that they are worthy of partnership with Israel or the United States or the West.

JI: Are you still facing death threats from Iran or has your standing with Tehran changed as a result of the war?

Pompeo: As far as I know, they have not lifted the fatwa on me, so yes. We still do our level best to have adequate security to keep me from being killed by the Iranians, who have repeatedly said that they would like to see me go away. 

JI: How would you grade Israel as an ally, both historically and in the last few years in the post-Oct. 7, 2023, landscape? 

Pompeo: First, the United States and Israel have sovereignty, they’re independent of each other, and a different set of priorities and a different set of understandings on particular matters, very full stop. Second, they are the most fundamentally important ally and a great partner and enormous friends and important to the United States in so many deep ways. 

As a Christian, this matters to me, but more importantly as a security matter, I had no better partner than the Israeli intelligence services when I was CIA director and Prime Minister Netanyahu and the foreign policy and security team inside of Israel when I was secretary of state. They did so many things to help America, often when it was difficult and much more in our interest than theirs. 

That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have knock down, drag out fights over certain things. I’m sure that’s going to be true. We’ll have different target priorities, and that’s normal. It would be odd if you didn’t find that, but boy, I don’t know that the United States has ever had a closer military and security relationship than today between the United States and Israel, and I think the Iranians found that out the hard way. 

They saw us flying together. They saw us intelligence sharing together. They saw the hard work that is the logistical tail that sits behind all of this. It doesn’t get much glory, but you’ve got to move a lot of ammo, a lot of fuel, a lot of people, a lot of stuff. We did that alongside Israel, and it would have been very difficult for either of us to have achieved what’s been achieved today without the other.

JI: With that in mind, we’re seeing a real shift in attitude, especially with young people, both in the Democratic and Republican parties on supporting Israel. What’s your reaction to this and what do you think was the catalyst for this change? Do you attribute it to negative feelings about the war on terror in the 2000s? What role do you think antisemitic figures in the podcast space play?

Pompeo: The causation is so difficult to identify. I think probably each of those has some element of impact and shaping. Israel has always been a flashpoint because of the conflict between Israel and the terrorists, but it’s been framed as a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with Israel pitched to most of the world as the bad guy in that. My judgment is nothing could be further from the truth. 

Israel has simply wanted to live as a sovereign, independent nation. It’s made many offers. The Palestinian Authority rejected them for decades. I think that has worn on a certain piece of the intelligentsia, the American left and some pockets on the right for sure. Some of it’s rooted in antisemitism, almost certainly. Some of it’s rooted in that it’s popular. It’s cool on a campus because the faculty is all talking about the genocidal horrors inflicted by Israel, which, I mean, it’s just patently false. I think each of those things contribute to it. 

My prayer and my hope is, and I think this will prove to be true, that in the end, decent people who are part of Western civilization can identify evil from good, and will see the difference between the two. They may not like a particular strike that the United States takes somewhere where innocent civilians are killed — it’s true, as collateral [damage], it happens — but they will be able to see the difference between genocidal intent, that is driven by the Iranian regime around the world, and a desire for peace, which is driven by nations like the United States and Israel. 

That means those of us who see it that way have a duty to try and articulate it, to explain it, to be relentless in articulating why that’s true, not to call people names, not to mock them, but rather to make the arguments, to use reason to convince them of reality and of the truth about what’s really taking place there. I pray one day that the bad guys will lay down their weapons, because the moment they do, the reality will be before us all. There will be peace.

JI: Staying on politics, there’s a lot of trepidation from Republicans on Capitol Hill about how the November midterms are going to play out. Do you share that concern?

Pompeo: Having served in Congress, having been elected four times, I’m always mindful that this conversation isn’t that important. What’s really important is that you work your tail off, and you, the candidates, have the first responsibility, and the rest of us try our best to help them. 

It is the case, I think, that there’s a lot of energy in the progressive movement on the left today. I think that energy is there that sometimes has been more on our side. When I got elected in 2010, we had 74 brand new Republicans in districts we hadn’t won in years and years, so there was more energy. I think the next six months require us to go build that energy. If we build that energy, I think we’ll do better than the mean.

 These midterms are always tough for the party that’s in control. No reason to think that historical change will take place, but if you work hard and tell a story properly, which is that these conservative ideas will deliver better outcomes for America, then we’ll do better than I think some of the fearmongers are predicting. 

JI: Do you worry about the situation in the Middle East hurting Republicans in November? 

Pompeo: You’ve seen that already. You’ve seen Sen. [Chris] Murphy (D-CT) do this. You’ve seen Sen. [Bernie] Sanders (I-VT) do this. They’re already trying to say: ‘This was a war of choice. President Trump failed. This is a disaster. Look how expensive gasoline is.’ So yes, this will be part of the political conversation, but that just means you have to go and articulate the why of this. 

I know how people are struggling, and I feel bad when I see gas prices high for everybody too, especially the least amongst us, but I’d remind them we just have lived in this false state for so long where we thought we could just ignore this problem when it had to be solved. If the price of that, of solving that and keeping Americans for decades to come from Iran with a nuclear weapon, then to pay a little bit more at the gas pump for a little while is an acceptable cost, in my view. 

I think most Americans actually get that, and they just need to understand the why and the how. When explained, I think they’ll come to the same conclusion I do, that this was a noble and important decision that President Trump made, and that it is, in the long run, better for them and their children and their grandchildren. We [Republicans] shouldn’t play politics with it either, because this is about national security, but we should articulate the rationale for why this is the best outcome for every American, Democrat and Republican alike.

JI: How are you looking at the 2028 Republican presidential bench? Do you see yourself being a part of that race?

Pompeo: It’s gonna be a donnybrook on both sides. I think there will be lots of candidates who present themselves, and I love that. As for what comes for the Pompeo family next, only the good Lord knows. We’ll see. I have a brand new grandson, I’m loving life, but we’ll see. 

But I will say something that I do think is really important about the 2028 election. I hope it’s fought over important issues in a rational way. I hope the progressives show up and make their best arguments to the American people, and that the center-left and center-right do the same, and the MAGA folks and the right wing, just everybody don’t do memes, don’t tell fibs, don’t think, ‘Gosh, I was really good. I owned a lib on X.’ That might bring a sugar high, but what it doesn’t do is really deliver for the American people. I hope the campaign will turn out to be about things that really matter and be discussed in a serious way, and if so, I always have confidence the American people will get it right.

JI: What are the next steps for you in your career? 

Pompeo: I’m back in the business world. It’s what I did for most of my life, before I ran for Congress. I’m involved with a private equity firm. I’m helping a couple other businesses as a board member, back in the capitalist mode, and that’s great because there’s lots of risk but lots of joy. … I’m keeping my hand in the policy space too. I teach at Columbia University and at Liberty University, two very different institutions, and I love them both, each in their own way. Then I’m trying to help some candidates be successful in these midterm elections as well.

JI: We’ve covered Columbia closely at JI since Oct. 7, and it’s notable for them to have a voice like yours join their faculty. On that front, what’s your take on the lack of campus protests or encampments against the Iranian regime? We’re not seeing the same type of protests we saw against Israel taking place against Iran.

Pompeo: It’s a great question. It got out of control because of failed leadership. The institution’s leaders failed those students. They didn’t keep the students safe. They didn’t set the correct boundaries. 

We all want to protect First Amendment freedoms. That’s what college is about. Knock yourself out. You can say crazy stuff, but you can’t threaten and you can’t put other students at risk, and you can’t blockade classrooms so the students can’t enter. That’s just functionally terrible leadership.

I think what you’re seeing is some of these institutions have begun to get back the correct leadership, and I think they’ve actually done it in a way where more voices can be heard. 

I was at another liberal campus a few weeks back, and some of the conservative students were still saying to me that they felt like it was still difficult to speak up in class, and that the faculty was, they didn’t use the word oppressive, but they felt the faculty was difficult. I hope that veil will be lifted, and I hope those students and all students that have different views will all feel comfortable saying, ‘Here’s what I think, and here’s why I think that.’ Then somebody will challenge them and say, ‘Well, have you thought about X or Y,’ or ‘I see it differently.’ That’s what these institutions are all about. It’s what Columbia was when it was at its finest. That’s what Harvard and Dartmouth and Liberty all should aspire to.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is no stranger to policy conversations about homeland security and terrorist attacks. As a former CIA analyst and an official at the State Department and the Pentagon, national security has been a top issue for her since her first campaign for Congress, in 2018. 

Now she must apply her policy expertise to a tragedy that is immensely personal: the attack earlier this month at Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., where a heavily armed man with ties to the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah drove an explosive-laden car into the building and opened fire, before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one else was killed.

“As a senator, I’ve had to rush home for five or six mass shooting events. This one was by far closest to home. Knowing the actual people, knowing the head of security, who was the one who secured my family’s events a month and a half ago, it was just particularly personal,” Slotkin, who is Jewish, told Jewish Insider in an interview in her Capitol Hill office last week.

“I think about if my own family had been in the building. I think about my own staff [who] had family members in the building. It just brought it home in a very different way. The line between who I am as a person and who I am as a leader got completely blurred and still is,” she added. 

In an emotional conversation with JI, Slotkin proposed ways for Congress and the federal government to better respond to the threat of violent, antisemitic extremism. But even as she discussed ways to take action, she spoke with alarm about the growing prevalence of antisemitism on both sides of the aisle, which she described as out of control. 

And she was clearly shaken by an attack that was potentially inches away from being much worse.

“I think it could have been one of the worst mass killing events in U.S. history were it not for the private security that happens to be very top-notch there, and everyone doing their jobs almost perfectly,” she said. “I think it just has contributed to a feeling for many inside the state that the very things that make Jewish life valuable are becoming the soft targets.” 

During Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation hearing earlier this month, which took place days after the Temple Israel attack, Slotkin asked the former Oklahoma senator, a Republican, to work with her on improving the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program. She told JI that her conversations with him have continued.

“I don’t think we’re accurately staffed to the threat in the federal government,” she said. “My personal feeling is we’re at the level where we need, between FBI and DHS, a task force on countering antisemitic hate … Right now, we don’t have a special unit where the officers and the intel professionals get really deep on some of the the particularities of Jewish issues.” 

Congress allocated $274.5 million in 2025 to help nonprofits pay for security expenses, a figure Jewish groups believe is far too low. Slotkin wants to see more money for the program, but she also wants to improve the process for the organizations that are approved to receive those funds. 

“I think making that program, which is a very important program not just to the Jewish community, but making that more streamlined, is our responsibility,” she said. “The Temple Israel folks will tell you in detail how cumbersome that grant program is, that even when you get the money, there’s so much paperwork, so many hoops, such a lag, that it’s actually not meeting modern-day timelines.” 

Mullin said similarly in his confirmation hearing that “the amount of paperwork once you’re approved to get the funding flowing, and then the paperwork that’s followed up on is way too encompassing,” and vowed to work to “streamline” the program.

Temple Israel is one of the largest synagogues in the country and one of the best-protected. Not all institutions will be able to offer that same level of security, Slotkin warned. 

“​​Smaller institutions are just left to figure out how they could possibly protect themselves when Temple Israel became a threat,” she said. 

Slotkin is also pushing for a pilot program connected to the grant program that would give “quick reimbursement dollars for local law enforcement to help secure these locations.”

“The local law enforcement communities know how to help secure a location and know how to help secure on High Holidays or on Shabbat or all those things, but they’re often overstretched themselves,” Slotkin said. “If you pay that local police force for their extra time, it brings dollars into that police force [and] provides professional security for Jewish institutions. Nothing’s perfect, but it all just adds another layer.” 

The real issue, Slotkin pointed out, is antisemitism — and she said the playbook used to address extremism before a person becomes radicalized should be better applied to fighting antisemitism. 

“I think there’s a much bigger problem and question about, How do you deal with rampant antisemitism that’s just become normalized on both the left and the right, and sort of stop what we call the ladder of escalation when a person first starts? This is a very classic radicalization ladder that we see for groups like Al-Qaida,” said Slotkin.

She described the ladder like this: a “normal civilian” sitting on their computer who gets radicalized online, then posts hateful content to their profiles, before vandalizing a Jewish institution and perhaps getting into verbal or physical fights, which might then give way to plotting extremist violence. 

“We have to figure out how to stop and intervene before people start climbing that ladder,” she said. 

“I think [the attack] contributed to this feeling for some that this problem is completely out of control, but the threat is now coming from both the left and the right and from mentally ill people in the middle, and we are not positioned properly to deal with that threat,” Slotkin said. “I don’t think anyone in the Jewish community feels like we have figured out the best way, in particular, to deal with left-wing antisemitism. The Jewish community is pretty used to dealing with white supremacy and threats from the right.”

One day after the attack, Slotkin attended Shabbat services with the Temple Israel community. The gathering was held at Shenandoah County Club, which is located across the street from Temple Israel and serves the Chaldean community, a group of Iraqi Christians. A ballroom in the country club was where parents, teachers and children gathered when they were evacuated from the synagogue during the attack. 

Amid the bleak news that followed the attack, Slotkin wanted people to remember what the Chaldeans did. 

“I literally could not contain my emotion when the community was giving a standing ovation as they brought in the religious leaders, Iraqi American men in religious garb, to thank them,” said Slotkin. “In our hour of greatest need, they did not flinch. And I think Jews in our community for three generations will remember that.” 

A group of congressional Democrats is urging the State Department to restart chartered evacuation flights and take additional steps to help U.S. citizens who wish to leave Israel amid the ongoing war with Iran.

The lawmakers described the State Department’s current partnership with El Al, which launched on March 13 with a limited number of special evacuation flights for U.S. citizens, as insufficient. The Israeli airline has currently suspended registration for the flights, and government-imposed security restrictions are limiting passenger capacity on each flight and reducing airport operations.

“We were shocked to learn this week that as the military conflict in Iran escalates and continues to threaten the safety of U.S. citizens in the Middle East, the State Department has abruptly and effectively ended emergency evacuations for Americans out of Israel,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday. “As Israel continues to face threats from hostilities with Iran, the State Department cannot abandon American citizens abroad. Failing to assist Americans in their time of need is totally unacceptable.”

The letter, led by Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY), was co-signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Don Davis (D-NC), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Greg Landsman (D-OH), George Latimer (D-NY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Pat Ryan (D-NY), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), John Mannion (D-NY), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Johnny Olszewski (D-MD).

According to the letter, the State Department is urging Americans to rely on commercial transportation or the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, and El Al lacks the capacity to carry all U.S. citizens who wish to depart, leaving Americans “without real options.” The information provided by the State Department, the letter reads, is “causing frustration, anxiety, and fear.”

“In the midst of a conflict, U.S. citizens should not have to wait weeks to be able to board a commercial flight or cross the Israeli border into another country to find their way home. It is unacceptable for the State Department to leave them on their own,” the letter continues.

In a press release Thursday, the State Department heralded its partnership with El Al, which it said has “already allowed more than 2,000 American citizens to return to the United States from Israel.” 

The airline “will continue to reserve a percentage of seats on all regular U.S.-bound flights for Americans wishing to depart Israel” and has 28 flights scheduled over the next week “to the extent permitted by the Israeli authorities,” the State Department said. The release did not acknowledge that the registration form for the evacuation flights is currently closed.

Democrats have accused the administration of failing to adequately prepare to evacuate U.S. civilians, or government personnel, from the Middle East before launching the war in Iran.

The lawmakers called on the State Department to restart charter flights from Israel and elsewhere in the region; reopen the State Department’s crisis intake form, which helps citizens receive emergency information; activate a crisis task force to assist Americans attempting to leave Israel; and provide clearer information on commercial air travel options.

Thousands of Americans, currently in Israel, are unable to access flights home and are not being offered alternative travel options or any additional assistance by the State Department,” their letter reads. “Additionally, the Department’s inconsistent guidance and lack of responsiveness have added to uncertainty and fear, making the situation even more dire for impacted families.”

In its press release, the State Department defended its evacuation efforts: “After the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the Department offered charter flight options to thousands of Americans wishing to leave Israel to Athens and destinations in the United States, as well as ground transportation options to Egypt — with supply exceeding demand on nearly every chartered flight and bus.”

The first State Department evacuation flight from Israel landed in Athens on Friday afternoon, where its passengers were greeted on the tarmac by U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kim Guilfoyle.

The approximately 50 individuals consisted mainly of family members of U.S. Embassy staff and government employees, who had been stranded in Israel for the past week amid widespread flight cancellations as Iran continues to launch missiles and drones at the country and around the region.  

A Jewish community leader who was on the flight, and requested not to be identified by name to discuss a sensitive security situation, told Jewish Insider that the evacuation effort was run “as efficiently and easy as possible.” 

They said about a dozen embassy employees have been assisting evacuees with finding places to stay in Athens and booking flights back to the U.S. — and doing so quickly as the flight landed just hours before Shabbat. 

“Some of us had very short notice” that they were selected for the flight, the source said, after they had filled out the required crisis intake form with the State Department.  

“Hopefully this is the first of many flights able to take off,” they continued. The State Department is “working to get more flights up in the air as soon as possible to get [all Americans] home as soon as possible. It was an easy experience for us.”    

The U.S. is working to evacuate its citizens from several countries around the Middle East. The State Department announced that its first charter flight from the region arrived back in the U.S. on Thursday, and nearly 20,000 Americans have been able to return home. President Donald Trump praised the mission on Friday morning, writing on Truth Social, “We are moving thousands of people out of various. Countries throughout the Middle East. It is being done quietly, but seamlessly.”

While the flight out of Israel ran smoothly, some of the first repatriation flights carrying Israelis who had been stranded abroad were briefly held mid-flight on Thursday as Iranian missiles were fired at central Israel.

Good Tuesday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

Previewing his State of the Union address tonight, where it remains to be seen if he will make any announcements on Iran, President Donald Trump told reporters, “Iran wants to make a deal more than I do, but they just won’t say the sacred phrase: ‘We won’t build nuclear weapons,’” signaling that the two sides are still at an impasse ahead of the third round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed the congressional Gang of Eight, the bipartisan set of leaders advised on classified matters by the executive branch, this afternoon to provide an update on Iran, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly joining the discussion. The White House did not brief the group before striking Iran last June, drawing ire from Democrats…

Ahead of the meeting, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told C-SPAN about potential Iran strikes, “Closed-door briefings are fine, but the administration has to make its case to the American people on something as important as this”…

Around a dozen U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets departed from the U.K. today to be deployed at an Israeli Air Force base in the south of the country, as over 150 aircraft are being moved to the region. Military experts told The Washington Post that the “assets being assembled are indicative of a multiday campaign without a ground invasion”…

The Coast Guard is investigating a swastika drawn at its primary recruit training center in New Jersey, where Coast Guard commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday quickly flew to address recruits and staff about the incident. Lunday recently came under fire from Congress, and had his confirmation delayed, over a change in Coast Guard policy that downgraded the swastika from a prohibited hate symbol to “potentially divisive,” which was eventually walked back.

Regarding the recent incident, Lunday said in a statement to The Washington Post, “Anyone who adheres to or advances hate or extremist ideology — get out. Leave. You don’t belong in the United States Coast Guard and we reject you”…

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) is pushing for legislation to require an affirmative congressional vote prior to the U.S. reaching any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports, following a notification from the administration to Congress indicating that it is moving toward a deal that could allow Riyadh to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

The notification procedures, which do not include specific terms of a potential deal, suggest that Saudi Arabia will not be required to agree to more intrusive International Atomic Energy Agency inspections or “gold standard” safeguards — which would require Saudi Arabia to agree not to enrich or reprocess nuclear material — used for the U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates…

The Justice Department sued the University of California today under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination, alleging that the UCLA campus created a “hostile work environment against Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff.” 

During campus anti-Israel protests in 2024, the DOJ said, “the University allowed antisemitic harassment to continue unabated for days” and “has ignored, and continues to ignore, gross and repeated violations” of time, place and manner restrictions on student protest. The department further claimed Jewish and Israeli faculty at the school have been physically threatened, ostracized, harassed, forced to take leave and assaulted…

The New York Times details efforts by New York’s business community and Democratic establishment to organize and promote the moderate wing of the party in response to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power. Some of the individuals involved, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo allies Phil Singer and Steven Cohen, are considering forming PACs, watchdog groups, lobbying campaigns and more…

New York’s Working Families Party endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) yesterday over Mamdani’s objections. The mayor has been backing Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who, like Mamdani, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and a vocal critic of Israel, and he had lobbied the WFP to endorse her or to stay out of the race. WFP’s director, Jasmine Gripper, told the Times, “At the end of the day, Zohran is an individual who gets to weigh in as an individual”…

A new poll from the University of New Hampshire found oyster farmer Graham Platner with a commanding lead among likely Senate Democratic primary voters, outdistancing Gov. Janet Mills by 34 points, with the primary less than four months away. In a general election matchup with incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Platner leads Collins by 11 points, while Mills and Collins are neck-and-neck…

Khalid Turaani, executive director of the Ohio branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), testified at the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee last week against a bill to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, where he claimed that Israel operates the world’s largest human skin bank and harvests the skin from deceased Palestinians. “And if I call them Nazis,” Turaani continued, “your law is going to punish me.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s Ohio River Valley office condemned Turaani’s speech, saying that the “antisemitic organ harvesting myth plays on the blood libel trope, which has spurred the torture, murder, and expulsion of Jews for centuries”…

The U.S. Embassy in Israel announced that, as part of the government’s “efforts to reach all Americans,” the embassy will be providing consular services for one day only at several locations across Israel and the West Bank, including Ramallah and the Jewish settlement of Efrat…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for the highlights from President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, taking place at 9 p.m. ET tonight, as all eyes are on possible U.S. military action against Iran.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Israel tomorrow, where he will be greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before addressing the Knesset. In the evening, the two leaders will have dinner at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. Read JI’s interview on Modi’s visit with Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar.

The New York City Council will hold its first hearing on Council Speaker Julie Menin’s bill aiming to create “buffer zones” around houses of worship to protect from disruptive protests. The bill’s language was updated last night to remove the original 100-foot figure, which had reportedly emerged as a point of concern for the NYPD.

Congressional candidates from Illinois’ 9th District, where pro-Israel spending is boosting state Sen. Laura Fine and attacking Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, will hold a debate on local news. 

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Sue Altman pivoting on Israel as she runs in safely Democratic N.J. district

The progressive activist ran as a pro-Israel candidate in a neighboring swing district, but is now walking back her support as she runs to succeed Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman

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PRAIRIE STATE OF PLAY

Raja Krishnamoorthi emerging as the strongest ally of Jewish voters in Illinois Senate race

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton seems to be running to the congressman’s left on Israel, even as Rep. Robin Kelly is the most outspoken critic of Israel in the race

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Good Monday afternoon!

This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next.

It’s me again — Danielle Cohen-Kanik, U.S. editor at Jewish Insider and curator, along with assists from my colleagues, of the Daily Overtime. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.

📡On Our Radar

Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking

As rumors abound about the possibility and timing of U.S. strikes on Iran, the State Department ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. “Based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint,” a State official told Fox News…

Nearby, amid the buildup of U.S. military assets in the region, American refueling and cargo planes were spotted at Ben Gurion Airport…

President Donald Trump denied reports that Pentagon officials, namely Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, are raising concerns about striking Iran, writing on Truth Social this afternoon, “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”

“He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack,” Trump said of Caine, while alluding to the potential breadth of military action against Iran… 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back his visit to Israel, originally scheduled for this weekend, to March 2, The Jerusalem Post reports, days after the next round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Geneva on Thursday…

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a leader on foreign policy among Democrats in Congress, told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that he heard “pretty stark early warning signs of some challenges where core allies do not share our priorities” on a potential Iran strike during his recent trip t0 Europe, which included stops at the Munich Security Conference, along with meetings in Ukraine and Moldova with top European diplomats.

Coons laid out what he hopes to see from the president: “A) Consult Congress. B) Make a case to the American people about why this is in our national security interest. C) Clarify what on earth he’s planning with this Board of Peace … And D) If he’s going to work with close allies to ramp up pressure to try and achieve something at the negotiating table, he should work with close allies”…

Anthony Driver Jr., a union organizer and candidate in Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, doubled down on his recent repudiation of AIPAC, despite previously having little public record on Israel policy issues. Following a press conference last week where Driver, who is running against AIPAC-backed Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, denounced the pro-Israel group, he returned donations from major Democratic Party donor Michael Sacks over the finance executive’s ties to AIPAC.

Sacks, who was a major backer of former President Barack Obama and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said in his reply, “It is truly sad there is so much anti Israel sentiment and outright Jew hate that Anthony found himself in this position. I can only hope that the electorate rejects hate in all forms”…

As more details emerge about Rep. Tony Gonzales’ (R-TX) alleged affair with a staffer who later committed suicide, a poll commissioned by the campaign of Brandon Herrera, Gonzales’ opponent, shows the congressman trailing Herrera by a whopping 24 points among likely GOP primary voters. The story, which entered the news cycle right as early voting kicked off, could catapult Herrera, a social media influencer with a history of antisemitism, to the Republican nomination and on to Congress…

Investigators at the cryptocurrency giant Binance found last year that about $1.7 billion had been sent from two accounts to Iranian entities with links to terror groups, The New York Times reports, even after Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023 and vowed to prevent sanctioned actors from accessing its platform. Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was jailed for his role in the saga, in October 2025…

The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival backtracked in its defense of a juror selected for a judging panel who had posted antisemitic and anti-Israel content online, whom it had stood behind even after the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta announced it was withdrawing its funding and support of the event over the pick. 

The festival changed its tune yesterday, saying it is “first and foremost, a Jewish institution” and has “a responsibility, particularly at this fraught time, to stand firmly against antisemitism and to affirm the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.” It said it would review its “organizational processes and policies, including those related to antisemitism, BDS, and cultural boycotts”…

The French Foreign Ministry has moved to block U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner’s access to government officials after he declined to appear for a summons by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot today, which was issued after the U.S. Embassy reposted comments by Trump about a far-right French activist who was killed in a clash with far-left protesters. It was Kushner’s second summons, after his first last year when he accused the French government of not adequately combating antisemitism…

⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today

An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead

Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at Sue Altman’s shifting views on Israel as the formerly pro-Israel congressional candidate is now running in New Jersey’s more heavily Democratic 12th Congressional District.

We’ll be watching for mention of President Donald Trump’s thinking on Iran as he delivers the annual State of the Union address tomorrow night. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “advancing national security through commercial diplomacy” with Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs, who recently told JI that he hopes the Pax Silica initiative, which he leads, “will pave the way for peace and economic integration” in the Middle East.

Australia’s royal commission on antisemitism, formed after the Hanukkah terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, will hold its first public hearing, though no testimony or evidence will be heard.

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OVERTON WINDOW

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BIG TENT SHABBAT

State Dept. Shabbat dinner draws UAE, Saudi ambassadors and senior Trump officials

The dinner was hosted by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. antisemitism special envoy

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Several dozen diplomats, senior Trump administration officials and Jewish communal leaders gathered at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace on Friday night for a Shabbat dinner hosted by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. antisemitism special envoy, according to a source who attended the dinner. 

A day earlier, that same space had hosted the inaugural Board of Peace meeting. 

The gathering brought together a coterie of Washington officials, including Princess Reema, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, even though ties between the two Gulf nations have been strained in recent months. Other diplomats in the room came from France, Germany, Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and Jordan, according to the source. 

Kaploun, who started at the State Department in December after being confirmed by the Senate, spoke at the event. He had recently returned from his first overseas trip, with stops in London, Switzerland and the Munich Security Forum. Reed Rubinstein, the State Department legal advisor, also spoke, as did Princess Reema. The Saudi diplomat talked about how close Israel and Saudi Arabia were to normalization before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and that she hoped to get back to that point, although normalization efforts have stalled. 

“Kaploun hosting Arab and European diplomats for a traditional, family-style Shabbat and watching them love every minute of it is one the most clever displays of soft diplomacy I’ve ever seen,” the attendee, who requested anonymity to discuss an off-the-record event, told Jewish Insider. “The Saudis called for normalization. Who saw that coming?”

Most attendees were either diplomats or Trump administration officials, but Republican donor Miriam Adelson was also in the room. Combat Antisemitism Movement founder Adam Beren and board member Arie Lipnick, Conference of Presidents Chair Betsy Berns Korn and Jewish Federations of North America Chair Gary Torgow were also in attendance. 

“Diplomats and leaders from across our country and across the world gathered together in a comfortable setting in our nation’s capital and shared a meaningful meal,” Korn told JI. “Ambassador Kaploun explained the importance of Shabbat as well as a heartfelt speech about the dangers of hatred. His powerful message of peace and community resonated throughout the room. We need more of this diplomacy.”

Guests noshed on Shabbat fish, potato kugel, matzah ball soup and more, along with Mediterranean desserts in honor of iftar for the Muslim diplomats in the room, according to the source. 

Jeremy Lewin, the acting under secretary of state for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, attended the dinner, as did Sarah Rogers, under secretary of state for public diplomacy, and Pierre Gentin, general counsel at the Commerce Department. 

Kaploun said at the event that he plans to host more Shabbat dinners in the future. 

Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the newly confirmed U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, was interrupted three times during a Thursday afternoon think tank event about his new role.

The first was a phone call from Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, which he sent to voicemail. The next two were protesters who had somehow made it through security at the conservative Hudson Institute to loudly chant “free Palestine” in the midst of Kaploun’s remarks before being escorted out. 

Those unexpected interruptions framed Kaploun’s pitch as he settles into his new role at the State Department: First, that he will be successful because he is working on behalf of an administration that is committed to fighting antisemitism (“If you want to know how the administration works together, that was Harmeet Dhillon,” he said as he silenced his phone). And second, that education — and pushing back on false narratives about Israel and the Holocaust — is the most important way to combat antisemitism. 

“The hardest job that I have is how you effect a change in education across the board, by teaching people not to hate, and that’s the battle,” Kaploun said in a conversation moderated by Hudson senior fellow Michael Doran. 

Kaploun, a businessman and Chabad-trained rabbi, was confirmed by the Senate in December, must now build out a staff at the State Department and figure out how to make an impact diplomatically.

“The task is a daunting task, but we are blessed that this administration has really made antisemitism a priority, and how to combat and deal with antisemitism is something that the president and the secretary of state have made it perfectly clear that this is one of the priorities of the administration, is holding people accountable,” said Kaploun.

He said most countries in the world have a problem with antisemitism, and his message to leaders in those countries comes back to President Donald Trump: “You start with the concrete policy that antisemitism isn’t tolerated by this administration, period,” said Kaploun. Then, he said you turn to “quiet diplomacy to get results.”

For instance, he said Armenia has indicated to his office that its leaders are willing to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an international organization that drafted a working definition of antisemitism that has been adopted by dozens of nations, including the U.S.. Kaploun also said he worked with U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White to pressure Brussels to reverse its decision to end a federal police security presence in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter. 

Kaploun identified Hungary, Romania, Albania and Armenia as countries that are “making sincere efforts in dealing with antisemitism.” He said Turkey and Pakistan both leave “a lot to be desired currently,” and that “England is a particular concern” because of “the rise of mass migration.” 

The ambassador-level position has a global remit, but Kaploun was not afraid to weigh in on domestic antisemitism, too. 

“I think the best argument right now in this country to combat antisemitism and combat Holocaust denial is, you’re treading on the memories of every American soldier who fought tyranny, fought to liberate Europe from the Nazis and liberated the death camps,” said Kaploun, who also argued that ignorance about American Jewish history contributes to antisemitism — and called for people to argue that anti-Jewish hate is anti-American.

“It really is a lack of knowledge about the contributions of Jewish Americans to America, that people fled here for religious freedom,” Kaploun said. “That’s something that this country stands for. So when you are going against the same groups that have the same values, Judeo-Christian values, you are anti-American, because you’re going against what our founding fathers wanted for us.”

Kaploun has not yet announced any international trips. But his goal for all countries, he said, is a “basic human morality.”

“We’re far from getting every country on board,” said Kaploun.

👋 Good Monday morning!

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Friday’s meeting between the Saudi defense minister and Jewish leaders in Washington, and talk to the State Department’s Jacob Helberg about the Trump administration’s efforts to push AI as a uniting force in the Middle East. We report on South Africa and Israel’s tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions amid a deepening rift between Pretoria and Jerusalem, and have the scoop on a new bipartisan letter from Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Claudia Tenney, and Jared Golden blasting progressive groups over their silence on Iran’s crackdown on protestors. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Greg Meeks, Deni Avdija and Craig Newmark.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

• The annual Web Summit conference kicked off on Sunday in Doha, Qatar. Earlier today, Issam Hijazi, the founder of new social media app UpScrolled, took the main stage, from which he boasted that the app “[doesn’t] have to rely on Zionist money, or Silicon Valley money.” Read more on Hijazi’s remarks from JI’s Lahav Harkov here.
• Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal is in Washington today for meetings with senior U.S. officials, two months after a previously planned trip was scrapped at the 11th hour over a statement put out by the military criticizing Israel.
• Following last week’s decision by the European Union to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror group, Iran summoned EU ambassadors stationed in the country over the designation. The move comes shortly after Iran’s parliament speaker said that the country considers the militaries of all EU member states to be terrorist groups.
• LionTree’s Aryeh Bourkoff is hosting his annual MediaSlopes gathering in Park City, Utah, ahead of the 10th Annual Silicon Slopes Summit, which kicks off Wednesday.
• Pedestrian transit resumed at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt today, 10 months after it was closed following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REASSURANCE ATTEMPT

Saudi defense minister pushed back on realignment concerns in meeting with Jewish leaders

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

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

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

Read the full story here.

Coordination confirmation: The Wall Street Journal reports on the “increasingly anti-Israel tone” taken by Saudi government-backed media outlets, noting that Saudi officials confirmed that the campaign “has been directed by the kingdom’s leadership and takes aim at [Israel-United Arab Emirates] ties, which make for an easy target to swing public opinion.”

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SUPPLY CHAIN DIPLOMACY

Jacob Helberg is betting AI will be a bridge across a fractured Middle East

Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs recently returned from a trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where he presided over a series of signing ceremonies for Pax Silica, an effort by the Trump State Department to bring American partners together to develop AI supply chains that rely less intensively on China. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch last week, Helberg said the trip was “incredibly significant, because this is the first time that Israel and Qatar have been brought under the same framework and signed the same document to actually agree that shared supply chains are more important than shared ideologies.”  

Eye on the prize: “Our goal has been the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and the president’s been very, very clear and vocal about that,” said Helberg, a China hawk who is leading the Pax Silica initiative. “When people do business together, when people focus on shared goals, you inherently create, identify and focus on things that people agree on. It’s certainly my hope that this will pave the way for peace and economic integration of the region.” 

Read the full interview here.

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RHOADES’ RUN

Swing district Democratic congressional candidate in Omaha blasts rivals over their criticism of Israel

Democrat Crystal Rhoades, the district court clerk of Douglas County, Neb., is running for Congress in the state’s 2nd District on an unapologetically pro-Israel platform, with the explicit goal of blocking a progressive whose record on Israel has raised concerns from becoming the party’s nominee in the critical swing district, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What she’s saying: Asked by JI in an interview last week why she’s running for Congress, Rhoades answered simply, “to stop John Cavanaugh,” referring to the Democratic state senator seen as the front-runner in the race. In her interview with JI and a position paper she authored on Israel, Rhoades expressed a deep commitment to the Jewish state, its security and the U.S.-Israel relationship, and offered significant criticism for fellow Democrats who are critical of Israel. She traced her support for the Jewish state to her time as a teenager working in a nursing home, where she helped take care of a Holocaust survivor and first learned about his story, antisemitism and the Holocaust.

Read the full story here.

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DIPLOMATIC SPAT

South Africa banishes Israeli diplomat days before vote in Congress on trade benefits

South Africa and Israel banished each other’s highest-ranking diplomat serving in each country, after a video of Israel offering water technology and medical aid to minority tribes angered Pretoria last week, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

Zoom out: The diplomatic row took place days before Congress is expected to vote on renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which would allow many products from the continent to enter the U.S. duty-free. The Trump administration has considered removing South Africa from the program because it is a “unique problem,” as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer described it in December. Removal from AGOA would adversely affect about half of South Africa’s exports to the U.S., its second-largest trading partner, Bloomberg reported.

Read the full story here.

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EXCLUSIVE

Reps. Gottheimer, Tenney, Golden blast progressive groups over silence on Iranian crackdown on protests

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Jared Golden (D-ME) blasted a roster of progressive groups for their silence regarding the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown on recent protests, following the organizations’ outspoken criticisms of Israel over the past two years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. 

What they said: In a letter sent on Monday addressed to the League of Conservation Voters, Democratic Socialists of America, Sierra Club, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Jewish Voice for Peace, Queers for Liberation, Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, the lawmakers said that “as the Iranian regime guns down peaceful protesters, tortures dissidents, and shuts off the internet to hide its crimes, your voices are unfortunately and conspicuously silent.”

Read the full story here.

Preemptive action: Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rand Paul (R-KY), leading voices in the Senate on war powers issues, introduced a war powers resolution on Friday to block military action against Iran without congressional approval.

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TOXIC TECH TALK

In Doha, UpScrolled creator alleges Jewish tech execs are ‘controlling the media,’ rejects ‘Zionist money’

Issam Hijazi, creator of the new social media platform UpScrolled, presented his app as a way to escape “control [of] the narrative” by pro-Israel figures and said that he doesn’t need to rely on “Zionist money,” in his remarks at Web Summit Qatar in Doha on Sunday night. UpScrolled topped the charts in Apple’s app store in recent days, after an American investor group finalized a deal to buy part of TikTok from its Chinese owners, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

What he said: Hijazi, a Jordan-born Australian citizen who identifies as Palestinian, said in an onstage interview that “we cannot keep blaming the algorithm or tech” for censorious social media, “because there are people who are gilding this tech … who train this algorithm to flag things that don’t really go well with their propaganda or agendas. It became very obvious from the latest acquisition of TikTok by Larry Ellison and [Michael] Dell, and [Ellison] is one of the biggest donators [sic] for the Friends of the IDF.” The UpScrolled founder evoked a classic antisemitic trope to describe the Jewish tech entrepreneurs: “They’ve been controlling the media, as in the TV news outlets, for the past, I don’t know, six years, and now they understand social media is the new way to get information out, so they want to control the narrative again.”

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

‘Loose’ Nukes: In The Wall Street Journal, David Albright and Andrea Stricker address concerns about the fate of Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material should regime change occur in the Islamic Republic. “These ‘loose’ assets risk falling into the hands of rogue actors, militias or nonstate groups. They also pose severe hazards to people in the region through accidental release or abandonment. The international community, led by the U.S. and Europe, with Russian and Chinese buy-in, must develop contingency plans to prevent this. … Risks to nuclear and radioactive materials during state collapse aren’t new, and effective prevention depends on proactive planning. Disaster following the collapse of the Soviet Union was averted largely by quick actions of the U.S. government, working in cooperation with former Soviet states.” [WSJ]

Red Sea Signal: In his Substack “The Abrahamic Metacritique,” Hussein Aboubakr Mansour considers the role of the Red Sea corridor in the political shifts underway across the Middle East. “If the Saudi pivot is a strategy, the Red Sea littoral is its primary theater of application; if the Abraham Accords represented a vision of an integrated regional order anchored in normalization and infrastructure interdependence, the Red Sea is where that vision encounters the structural obstacles to its realization. … What appeared as discrete events — Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, the Southern Transitional Council’s (STC) military offensive across southern Yemen, Saudi airstrikes on Emirati weapons shipments, Somalia’s abrogation of all agreements with the UAE — are, as a matter of fact, moves within a single interconnected contest, each triggering countermoves across nominally separate theaters.” [AbrahamicMetacritique]

Word on the Street

President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh, the son-in-law of philanthropist Ronald Lauder, to be chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve on Friday, elevating an outspoken critic of the Fed’s current leadership who has recently indicated support for Trump’s broad goals of lowering interest rates, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…

The U.S. would prefer a negotiated agreement with Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview that aired on Israel’s Channel 12 on Saturday night, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, alleged on Friday that the Trump administration sidestepped standard congressional review procedures to fast-track a $6 billion arms sale to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Gregory Bovino, the head of U.S. Border Patrol, reportedly made antisemitic comments about Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, who was unavailable to work on Shabbat, during a recent phone call with federal prosecutors; read JI’s October 2025 interview with Rosen, during which he said he was motivated to take the position because of the “rapid escalation of violent antisemitism”…

Former Harris County, Texas, Attorney Christian Menefee won the special election in the state’s 18th Congressional District to succeed Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX), who died last year; Menefee runoff victory over former Houston City Councilmember Amanda Edwards further shrinks House Republicans’ majority, 218-214…

The California Department of Education found that the Oakland Unified School District engaged in antisemitic discrimination in multiple instances since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and called for the Bay Area district to take corrective measures, including training for faculty and students regarding antisemitism awareness…

In the 46th annual State of World Jewry address at the 92NY in Manhattan, The New York Times‘ Bret Stephens said that the effort to fight antisemitism, “which consumes tens of millions of dollars every year in Jewish philanthropy, is a well-meaning but mostly wasted effort,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports for eJewishPhilanthropy…

The New York Times profiles Forward senior political reporter Jacob Kornbluh, the “London-born former professional lox-slinger” who is “ubiquitous on the forever-circuit of Jewish politics” as he covers New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…

Israeli basketball sensation and Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija has been selected as a Western Conference reserve for the NBA All-Star Game, becoming the first Israeli-born player to earn an appearance in the league’s marquee midseason showcase, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…

Gal Hirsch, who who was appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to coordinate the government’s hostage-release efforts, said that the Biden administration’s pressure on Israel during hostage negotiations was “screwing up the negotiations” and “giving [Oct. 7 mastermind and former Hamas head Yahya] Sinwar exactly what he wants”…

Israel is halting the Gaza operations of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) over the group’s refusal to provide the names of its Palestinian staffers for vetting for possible links to terror groups; MSF slammed the decision, saying it was a “pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance”…

The Wall Street Journal spotlights the Gen Z protesters who have taken to the streets of Iran in recent weeks during the country’s widespread protests…

Iranian screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, who co-wrote Oscar nominee “It Was Just An Accident,” was arrested for signing onto a letter criticizing the Iranian government for its recent crackdowns on protesters in the country…

Emirates is preparing to restart flights to and from Israel in the coming months after a two-year pause following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza…

United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed canceled a planned trip to Japan this week amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and Iran, citing “domestic circumstances”…

The Wall Street Journal reports on a $500 million investment deal between a UAE-linked investment fund and the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, that will give the Emirati firm a 49% stake in World Liberty; meanwhile The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick does a deep dive into the Trump family’s finances and recent business dealings, finding the family had made $4 billion since Trump’s second inauguration by leveraging the power of the White Hosue…

The New York Times covers a clandestine Egyptian military base in the country’s west that is being used to aid in drone warfare in neighboring Sudan, where Cairo is carrying out strikes targeting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battling the country’s military…

Pic of the Day

Philanthropist and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark addressed the Jewish Community Relations Council-New York’s annual Congressional Breakfast on Sunday in New York. Speakers at this year’s breakfast included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY).

Birthdays

Actress and comedian, Lori Beth Denberg turns 50… 

Chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp and Expedia, Barry Diller turns 84… Mayor of Irvine, Calif., Larry Agran (family name was Agranowsky) turns 81… Host of the Food Network program “Barefoot Contessa”, Ina Rosenberg Garten turns 78… Actor, comedian and singer, Brent Spiner turns 77… Journalist, novelist and author, Michael Zelig Castleman turns 76… U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) turns 74… “Washington Secrets” columnist at the Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard… Science fiction publisher and author, Selina A. Rosen turns 66… Rabbi at the Pacific Jewish Center (the Shul On The Beach) in Venice, Calif., he is also a practicing attorney, Shalom Rubanowitz… Sportscaster who currently does play-by-play for the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, Kenny Albert turns 58… Movie and theater actress and screenwriter, Jennifer Westfeldt turns 56… Tony Award-winning actress, Marissa Jaret Winokur turns 53… Board-certified ophthalmologist, she is married to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and sits on the board of the Kennedy Center, Dr. Dana Blumberg… Basketball coach for many Israeli teams over more than 20 years, Dan Shamir turns 51… Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose stage name is Mayer Hawthorne, Andrew Mayer Cohen turns 47… Assistant professor at Clemson University, Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, Ph.D. … Senior staff writer at GovCIO Media and Research, Ross Gianfortune… U.S. senator (R-AL), Katie Boyd Britt turns 44… Television and radio host, David Pakman turns 42… Deputy special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism during the last three years of the Biden administration, Aaron Keyak… Actress and musician, Zosia Russell Mamet turns 38… Former Team Israel baseball catcher, he is now director of business development at a hospital in Las Vegas, Nicholas Jay “Nick” Rickles turns 36… Avi Katz…

State Department officials who were tasked with deporting foreign students accused of antisemitism and threatening American national security warned that the efforts may present free speech concerns, according to government documents that a federal judge released last week. 

The several hundred pages of previously sealed federal documents are connected to the ongoing deportation cases against Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung and Badar Khan Suri, each of whom U.S. immigration authorities targeted because of their involvement in anti-Israel activity at American universities. 

The Trump administration has said in public statements that the students were ordered to be deported because of their involvement in antisemitic and pro-Hamas activities, but little evidence was shared publicly at the time to back up the allegations. 

The students have challenged the deportations with mixed results. Khalil — a protest leader at Columbia’s anti-Israel encampment in 2024 — was the first to be arrested, in March 2025. His detention, as a green card holder, became a cause célèbre on the left among activists who argued that President Donald Trump had overstepped his authority. Khalil was released from detention in June, but a federal appeals court last week paved the way for his deportation, potentially to Algeria. 

In a series of memos last year sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio from John Armstrong, a senior State Department official who oversees visas, Armstrong made clear that Rubio would have to directly approve the students’ deportations, noting that they are likely to draw intense scrutiny, particularly after Khalil’s legal challenge against his own deportation. For cases where the reason to deport somebody is based on their “past, current or expected beliefs, statements or associations that are otherwise lawful,” the secretary of state must “personally” make a determination that their actions “would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest,” a March 8, 2025, memo to Rubio said. 

One case concerned the visa status of Öztürk, a Turkish student at Tufts University who was ordered to be deported last March and was arrested by federal agents on her way to a Ramadan event. A senior Department of Homeland Security official told Jewish Insider last year that federal investigators “found Öztürk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” The only public evidence at the time connecting her to the anti-Israel protest movement was a 2024 op-ed in Tufts’ student newspaper that she penned with three other students calling for the university to divest from Israel. 

One of the State Department memos unsealed last week revealed that this op-ed was the sole basis for the effort to deport her — and that department officials recognized it might face legal challenges. 

The op-ed divulged that Öztürk was a member of Tufts Graduate Students for Palestine, which the immigration investigators noted was suspended by the university. Öztürk’s involvement with the group “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization,” investigators concluded. The memo revoking her visa declared that she co-authored an op-ed “that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.” 

But in assessing the strength of DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators’ conclusions, Armstrong noted one potential weakness: “While Öztürk has been involved with actions protesting Tufts’ relationship with Israel,” he wrote, the investigators have not “provided any evidence showing that Öztürk has engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally.” Nor did they prove that she was involved in the activities that led to the pro-Palestine group being suspended by Tufts. 

For Khalil and Mahdawi, the case to deport rested on their leadership roles in anti-Israel protests at Columbia. Khalil “created a hostile environment for Jewish students,” officials wrote, as an encampment leader and “a key figure in the March 6 Barnard College library occupation, where protestors distributed Hamas-authored flyers.” 

Mahdawi, “through his leadership and involvement in disruptive protests at Columbia University, has engaged in anti-Semitic conduct through leading pro-Palestinian protests and calling for Israel’s destruction,” authorities concluded. “The activities and presence of Mahdawi in the United States undermines U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.” 

The only person who was directly linked to supporting Hamas was Suri, a Georgetown researcher whose wife is the daughter of a former Hamas official. 

“The type of intimidation and incitement attributable to Suri potentially undermines the peace process underway in the Middle East by reinforcing anti-Semitic sentiment in the regional [sic] and thereby threatening the U.S. foreign policy goal of peacefully resolving the Gaza conflict,” officials wrote. But they also noted the challenges the case might face on freedom of expression grounds.

“Given the reliance on Suri’s public statements as an academic, and the potential that a court may consider his actions inextricably tied to speech protected under the First Amendment, it is likely that courts will closely scrutinize the basis for this determination,” one memo reads. 

These immigration cases, early in the first year of Trump’s second term, were heavily scrutinized. Even though fighting antisemitism was a stated reason for the Trump administration’s decision to remove the students, some Jewish leaders were concerned about the heavy-handed tactics and limited information shared about their arrests. 

None of the five students is still in detention, and they are each challenging their deportation orders.

The finalized 2026 funding package for the State Department, released Sunday, leverages a portion of the U.S.’ contributions to the United Nations and its agencies to push for changes in what the U.S. has said is the institution’s anti-Israel bias and antisemitism.

The bill withholds 10% of the U.S. contribution for the U.N. or any U.N. agency until the State Department confirms to Congress that the agency is “taking credible steps to combat anti-Israel bias,” putting measures in place to inform donors of when funds have been diverted or destroyed, “effectively vet[ting]” staff for ties to terrorism and taking steps to address antisemitism, among a variety of other anticorruption and accountability measures.

The moves put new financial teeth behind longstanding U.S. efforts to combat antisemitism at the U.N., as well as to ensure stronger oversight following revelations that members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

However, the provisions relating to the U.N. in the final bill are significantly scaled back from the House’s draft of the legislation — which would have cut all U.S. funding for the U.N. regular budget and withheld funding for the U.N. secretariat pending a series of specific accountability steps relating to UNRWA personnel.

The explanatory report accompanying the bill includes a new requirement for relevant investigators general to provide a plan to Congress to conduct “risk-based investigations and related oversight of United States-funded implementing partners” of any aid provided in Gaza and the West Bank. It directs the administration to focus on reports of staff or contractors for such aid providers who have ties to or involvement in terrorism, and provide recommendations for addressing and preventing these issues.

The legislation maintains longstanding mechanisms governing U.S. aid to Gaza and the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority and new accountability measures implemented following the Oct. 7 attacks, as well as a ban on U.S. funding for UNRWA and a ban on funding for the U.N. Human Rights Council and its Commission of Inquiry investigating Israel.

It provisions limiting U.S. assistance to U.N. bodies if the Palestinians receive status equivalent to that of a state in any U.N. body.

The legislation provides the expected $3.3 billion in funding for military aid to Israel, as per the terms of the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding. It includes a new $5 million allocation for historical, archeological and cultural initiatives to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. It also bans relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Jerusalem.

The bill includes cuts to a number of U.S. assistance programs in the Middle East, including cutting funding for the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act program from $50 million to $37.5 million, for Israeli-Arab scientific partnerships from $8.5 million to $7 million and the Middle East Partnership Initiative from $27.2 million to $20 million. 

It holds funding for joint U.S.-Israeli development projects in third countries at $3 million.

The legislation provides a significant boost in funding for the office of the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism — $2.6 million, up from $1.75 million. 

It also instructs the antisemitism envoy and the special envoy for Holocaust issues to work with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to prioritize efforts with U.S. partners to address Holocaust denial and distortion and antisemitism on social media and in artificial intelligence, and to brief Congress on a plan to tackle these issues. It directs the antisemitism envoy to consult with Congress on programs to combat antisemitism more broadly as well.

“At a moment when antisemitism is surging worldwide, the $2.6 million included in this minibus for the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism is both necessary and timely,” Lauren Wolman, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director of government relations and strategy, told Jewish Insider. “Antisemitic hatred is spreading across borders and being supercharged online, with real-world consequences for Jewish communities everywhere. This bill will strengthen U.S. leadership in confronting global antisemitism and sends a clear signal that combating antisemitism and Holocaust distortion is an urgent national priority.”

The legislation requires the administration to report to Congress on the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran, as well as on U.S. efforts to eliminate Iranian oil exports to China — including the specific dates of communications between U.S. and Chinese officials about those imports.

The bill continues to bar the administration from revoking the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terrorism designation, or entering into a nuclear deal with Iran in contravention of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. And it permits the use of funding to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, support democracy in Iran and otherwise combat Iranian malign activities.

It mandates that the State Department lay out a strategy, within 90 days, to expand the Abraham Accords, specifically including the possibility of providing arms transfers and other defense materiel to signatories.

The legislation includes $1.65 billion in funding for Jordan — $845 million in budget support funding for the government and $425 million in military aid.

The bill provides $1.425 billion in funding for Egypt, $1.3 billion of that in military aid, with $320 million conditioned on various human rights benchmarks, though those conditions can — and traditionally have been — waived.

For Lebanon, the bill provides $112.5 million, maintaining existing provisions and accountability measures emphasizing reforming the Lebanese Armed Forces and combatting Hezbollah. 

The bill permits the provision of funding for nonlethal assistance in Syria, but bars the use of any funding to support Iranian, terrorist or Russian objectives and requires the administration to consult with Congress prior to providing any such funding.

It also requires the administration to report to Congress on the treatment of minorities in Syria and on whether the new Syrian government is taking “all sufficient actions” to protect them.

The bill allocates $20 million for the office of the special envoy for the Middle East, $2 million of that dedicated to activities in Lebanon, and $7 million for the office of the special envoy for Syria.

Several other provisions related to the Middle East that were included in the original House draft of the bill, including restrictions related to the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, preventing the establishment of additional diplomatic facilities in Jerusalem other than the U.S. Embassy and a directive to treat the West Bank and Gaza as separate entities for budgeting purposes have not been included in the final version of the bill.

From the House’s explanatory report, the negotiated version of the bill adopts anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions provisions, as well as expanded vetting procedures to ensure political neutrality by aid recipients; new oversight requirements for U.S. aid to Syria; a report on antisemitism by foreign governments; a requirement for the State Department to report to Congress on efforts to end the PA’s terror payments program; and a report to the Congress on the possibility of a memorandum of understanding with Egypt on Security Assistance.

The legislation removes provisions included in 2024 appropriations legislation that prohibited military education and training funding for Saudi Arabia and that barred funding to support a Saudi nuclear program unless Saudi Arabia agreed to strict controls including renouncing uranium enrichment and reprocessing.

Jeremy Carl, a Trump administration nominee for a senior position at the State Department, has expressed a range of derogatory views of the Jewish community, characterizing in writings and public interviews the community as holding a victim mentality, downplaying the significance of the Holocaust to the Jewish story and experience, musing about the need to address the what he called the “Jewish Question” and characterizing Jews as religiously incorrect and in need of conversion.

Carl also rejected the argument that Israel is the United States’ strongest ally and was deeply critical of Christian Zionism. He has additionally espoused a view of the United States as a white, Christian nation, claiming that white people are undergoing a “cultural genocide” and deliberate replacement.

Carl was nominated to be the assistant secretary of state for international organizations in June, but did not move forward to a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before the end of this year’s Senate session. Should the Trump administration still want Carl in the role, it will have to re-file his nomination in the new year. Carl said in a response on X that neither he nor the administration have decided whether to resubmit the nomination. Carl served as deputy assistant secretary of the Interior in the first Trump administration.

“Jews have often loved to play the victim rather than accept that they are participants in history. That means that at times of course they’ve been victims but they also can be perpetrators,” Carl, who was raised in a secular Jewish household but converted to Christianity, said in a 2024 interview with “The Christian Ghetto” podcast, saying that some Christians have been “understandably” resentful of Jews throughout history.

“I think it’s inevitable of course that people will always take their own side in [a] historical quarrel. The Jewish community has kind of done [that] to an unusual extent,” Carl continued. 

While he offered disclaimers that he was not speaking about all Jews, he generally painted with a broad brush, characterizing the majority of the Jewish community in largely pejorative ways.

He said that the Holocaust “kind of dominates so much of modern Jewish thinking,” adding that he believed it to be “very unhealthy.” 

“Now, when you’re getting to this next generation — everybody has traumas in their past. How much are we going to relitigate them?” Carl asked rhetorically. “There’s a level of [self]-involvement there that I kind of find a little distasteful.”

He also said that he feels that “mainline Christian[s]” do not expect as much from Jews as they could and are “very reluctant to criticize Jews or Jewish communal behavior even when, in my view, that might be very warranted.”

Carl said that Jews, meanwhile, “tend to see evangelical Christians in a very negative light … and I frankly think reflects poorly on the Jewish community.” 

He claimed that the Jewish community is afraid of Christian communal unity as a legacy of past conversion efforts.

Carl also declared that Jews have never been oppressed in the U.S. and added that “the notion that Jews are the downtrodden here just doesn’t really match with actual reality. I understand why this type of attitude can cause resentment among some Christians who observe it. … Even when I was Jewish, I found it distasteful.”

In a lengthy response on X, Carl dismissed Jewish Insider’s reporting as a misleading and agenda-driven smear.

“I have never ‘downplayed’ the Holocaust, one of the great horrors of modern history, except in the overactive imagination and perhaps bad faith portrayal of the author,” Carl said.

At the same time, in “The Christian Ghetto” interview he claimed to reject conspiracy theories about the Jewish community as a whole and the neo-Nazi Groyper movement, saying that adherents go too far in their hatred of Jews in unproductive ways.

“Nobody can just take a small sip of the drink in front of them, which is the ‘Jewish Question,’ and imbibe carefully and have a mature discussion on it,” Carl said. “[They] need to overdose massively on it, to the point that they just begin saying completely ridiculous and absurd things.”

Carl said that such activity makes him shy away from “critique” of the Jewish community “because you don’t want to be lumped in with these clowns.” He declared that Jewish activists “love the Groypers because they’re just so discrediting of anyone who would ask questions about any of this,” referring to Jewish political activism.

He also claimed that Jews are “more susceptible to political radicalisms of all types and political ultra-enthusiasms” due to a “misplaced religious impulse” of Judaism “searching for the Messiah that had actually been found.”

“I have, of course, been very critical of the political activities of much of the establishment Jewish community since most of the community is liberal and I am a conservative. This should surprise nobody, nor is it a scandal. I have also been critical of the extreme neoconservatives such as those who seem to be pushing this hit piece,” Carl said in his response.

Carl also said on “The Christian Ghetto” podcast the U.S. should have less of a relationship with Israel, and was highly critical of Christian Zionist ideology that attaches a theological dimension to support for Israel.

He said that while from a secular perspective, he feels “vaguely positively disposed to Israel,” he rejects Christian Zionism and the “theological trappings that some Christians put around Israel.”

“At a basis, I have a very pro-Israel view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in abstract, I just don’t want us involved in it that much,” Carl said. “The amount of time and energy that America spends on this question — often to the detriment of our own national interest. Nor do I accept that Israel is our greatest ally.”

He characterized himself as a “Buchananite” and a “Paul-ite” in his ideology.

Carl said in his response that he is fully supportive of the Trump administration’s foreign policy and support for Israel, including the administration’s sanctions on the International Criminal Court and the UN’s “Israel monomania.”

He said in an interview with “The Will Spencer Podcast” that conversion from Judaism is a “very fraught thing” and that, in many Jewish families, “it would be easier to convert to Satanism honestly, in some ways.” 

He said on “The Christian Ghetto” podcast that Jews have been a “particularly thorny problem” in their resistance to conversion to Christianity. He said he does not believe, from a theological perspective, in religious pluralism, and characterized Judaism as an incorrect and invalid religious practice, arguing that Christians should be trying to convert Jews “where we can.”

In his response, Carl said, “As a Christian I want everyone to embrace the Christian faith, especially my family and friends, because I believe Christianity to be true, and other religions false. Again, this is not a scandal except perhaps in the minds of the author and his editors who evidently believe that standard beliefs held by the vast majority of Christians throughout history are scandalous.”

Carl has also espoused a vision of America as a white, Christian nation, and asserted that white people in America are subject to “persecution” and a “cultural genocide.”

“American whites are victims of a cultural genocide,” Carl said at the 2024 National Conservatism conference. “I’m suggesting this partially again to troll any leftist media who might be in the room and furiously scribbling my unforgivable hate speech in their notebooks. But I’m not saying it entirely for that purpose.”

He’s the author of The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism is Tearing America Apart, which dismisses the idea of rising white supremacy and focuses on the thesis that anti-white policies are endemic in modern America.

The original title of the book, Carl revealed in a 2024 essay, was It’s Okay to Be White, which has become a slogan used by white supremacists. 

He states in that essay that demographic shifts in the country are the result of “a great replacement of whites,” referencing the conspiracy theory that a shadowy force is attempting to replace the country’s white population with immigrants. He declared that the great replacement is “a fact” and “a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”

“I can understand why [Indian President Narendra] Modi wants India to be a Hindu nation, because I want America to be a Christian nation, defined not in total but in part by its European historic identity,” he continued. 

He added in “The Christian Ghetto” podcast interview that he does not “really believe in Judeo-Christian — I think America is a Christian nation.”

He said in “The Will Spencer Podcast” interview that his book was designed to help white people “figure out a way as a white person to navigate around the issue and also understand that you’re not crazy. The sorts of things you’re experiencing in terms of discrimination or racism, etc. are very real and that you don’t need to put up with that.”

At the same time, Carl did acknowledge in that interview that America would never be an “ethnically uniform” or “racially uniform” way and “that’s okay, that’s manageable,” but that the country should have a “sense of a majority tradition … majority religious practice” and a “tolerance for other minority groups to all be within that culture.”

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

CNN previously reported that Carl scrubbed thousands of inflammatory posts after his nomination.

This article was updated on 12/21/2025 to include Carl’s response.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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